Wheels of Wisdom: Life Lessons for the Restless Spirit by Tim and Debbie Bishop has picked up its third book award. This will never get old! Last week, the Jenkins Group announced the medalists in its 2018 Illumination Book Awards. According to the inscription on each medal, these awards are “shining a light on exemplary Christian books.” Wheels of Wisdom earned a bronze medal in the devotional category. Here’s our news release with reaction.
Not so fast!
In 2017, Wheels of Wisdom captured two first-place awards. In May came the National Indie Excellence Award for inspiration and, in November, Debbie and I received the gold medal for Christian devotional at the Readers’ Favorite International Books Awards ceremony in Miami. One might think a third-place award doesn’t measure up, but we’re very pleased with this award.
Here’s why.
We’re in good company
Tying for the gold medal in the devotional category were two books published by HarperCollins, Jesus Always by Sarah Young and Unshakeable by Christine Caine. HarperCollins is a mega-publisher with a large Christian book division comprised of the former Christian publishing houses of Zondervan and Thomas Nelson. This organization has plenty of knowhow, connections, and resources to crank out top-flight books and push them to market with pizzazz.
Sarah Young has already experienced enormous success as an author. Her devotional entitled Jesus Calling has sold over 20 million copies since its release in 2004. As of the date of this blog post, Jesus Calling remains the #1 seller in Christian devotional and sits at #3 in Christian inspirational on Amazon – even some thirteen years after its initial publication. Over 16,000 reviews back it’s 5-star rating. Wow!
Christine Caine is another New York Times bestselling author as well as a world-renowned evangelist and activist for worthy causes. She hosts her own weekly television show on Trinity Broadcasting. Her initiatives include the A21 Campaign to combat human trafficking and Propel Women. Over a half million people follow her on Facebook and 336,000 on Twitter.
We feel honored to be sharing a lower rung on the podium of the Illumination Book Awards with such illustrious authors. Congratulations to them as well as to Mary Dodd, author of The Pink Toolbelt: Spiritual Remodeling for Women, which took the silver medal. We find ourselves among some prominent and successful advocates of the Christian faith. It’s a good place to be.