'The Vow' -- The Book Behind the No. 1 Movie -- Now a New York Times No. 1 Best Seller

'The Vow' Tops Times Best-Seller List; Joins Three Other Faith-Based Books

B&H Publishing Group Scores With Four Books Among New York Times Best Sellers: 'The Vow,' 'The Resolution for Men,' 'The Resolution for Women,' 'The Love Dare'

Contact: Julie Fairchild, 214-536-0037, Julie@Lovell-Fairchild.com; Monique Sondag, 214-536-4319, Monique@Lovell-Fairchild.com

NASHVILLE, Feb. 17, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Vow, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter's amazing, true story of faith and commitment and the inspiration behind the No. 1 movie in the country, topped the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list in its first week of re-release.

From B&H Publishing Group, The Vow joins three other film-related, faith-based books as national best sellers, including The Resolution for Men, The Resolution for Women and The Love Dare, Nos. 10, 12 and 13, respectively on the Times paperback advice list.

"The phenomenal success of these books -- each dealing with the importance of faith and commitment in the family -- shows the great hunger for encouraging and inspiring messages today," said Selma Wilson, B&H Publishing Group president. "The Carpenters, Alex and Stephen Kendrick and Priscilla Shirer are sharing needed and wanted truth and doing so in a way that encourages and engages readers."

The Vow traces actual events from the 1990s, when Kim and Krickitt Carpenter met, fell in love and married. Just 10 weeks later, the couple survived a terrible car wreck with Krickitt awakening in the hospital married to a stranger. The accident had claimed 18 months of her memories, including all recollection of Kim.

With Kim committed to his marriage vows and Krickitt maintaining her strong Christian faith, even if recent memories were gone, the couple began the long road to a rebuilt relationship, choosing to fall in love again and capping that with a second wedding ceremony and renewal of their vows almost three years later.

Their story inspired the No. 1 movie in the country, THE VOW starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, which took in over $40 million its opening weekend. The Vow book, in addition to its No. 1 rank on the Times non-fiction best-seller list, also earned the No. 7 spot for combined non-fiction print and e-books. The book, originally released in 2000, launched again Feb. 10 with an additional chapter and photos updating the Carpenter's story.

"Krickitt and I feel very blessed that our story might give hope to others facing difficult circumstances," Kim Carpenter said, "and inspire them to stick together for better or worse, in sickness and in health."

Also from B&H Publishing Group, three more books with connection to faith films maintained best-seller status.

• The Resolution for Men by brothers and filmmakers Alex and Stephen Kendrick with Randy Alcorn issues a call to godly parenting, challenging fathers to resolve to be the kind of dads God means them to be and their families need them to be. The book title relates to the film COURAGEOUS, which featured four fathers publicly resolving to lead their families well.
  
• The Resolution for Women, by nationally know speaker and Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer with Alex and Stephen Kendrick, offers help, hope and challenge to women desiring to find God's will and live it God's way in their lives and the lives of their families.
  
• The Love Dare also is by Alex and Stephen Kendrick and now marks more than 170 weeks as a Times best seller. Reflected in the Kendricks’ hit movie FIREPROOF, The Love Dare challenges readers to offer 40 days of acts of unconditional love to spouses.

About B&H Publishing Group
B&H Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, is a team of more than 100 mission-minded people with a passion for taking God’s Word to the world. Among its print and digital releases for the trade, church and academic markets, recent titles include New York Times No. 1 best seller The Love Dare and the award-winning HCSB Study Bible.

To learn more, visit: BHPublishingGroup.com

And visit Lovell-Fairchild.com/pressroom for press material on:

• The Vow
• The Resolution for Men
• The Resolution for Women
• The Love Dare

For interviews, contact: Monique Sondag 214-536-4319 Monique@Lovell-Fairchild.com

Ohio Churches Facing Head on in the Contraception Debate

(Updates with University of Dayton decision in 15th paragraph. For more 2012 campaign news, see ELECT.)

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- After Masses last weekend at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in suburban Cleveland, the Reverend William Bouhall collected signatures opposing President Barack Obama’s requirement that health insurers provide contraceptives.

“As they were signing the petition, people were saying, ‘That doesn’t sound right, father,” Bouhall, pastor at the church, said in a telephone interview. The church also plans to collect signatures after Masses this weekend, he said.

The response in Ohio churches to Obama’s action has included a letter from Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon that priests read to their flocks, a blast of e-mails that St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Brunswick sent to parishioners and members of Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in suburban Akron mailing postcards to lawmakers, pastors said.

With the nation’s seventh-most-populous state poised to help decide the presidency this fall, the ecclesiastic outreach is forcing the faithful to decide whether the president’s contraceptive policy is a women’s-health issue or an intrusion on religion. Ohio is a microcosm of the nation, and the issue may shift enough votes to swing the Buckeye State, said John Green, a University of Akron professor who specializes in religion and politics.

‘Assault on Religion’

“To the extent that this is seen as a religious-liberty issue, it could present some problems for President Obama and the Democrats in Ohio because they would be on the wrong side of Catholic identity,” Green said in a telephone interview. As a public-policy issue, it may “on balance favor President Obama.”

On Jan. 20, the administration said it would enforce a requirement of the 2010 health-care overhaul that employers offer contraceptives as part of their health insurance, including hospitals and universities with religious affiliations. After complaints from some church leaders that they would have to violate their tenets, Obama said Feb. 10 that insurance companies must offer birth control directly and pay for it, removing the institutions from the equation.

Republicans, including presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, have all criticized the rule. Romney has said Obama was waging “an assault on religion,” and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has said the House would pass legislation to overturn it.

‘Common-Sense Issue’

In Boehner’s state, Obama’s policy angered many members of the Catholic church, which opposes contraception and abortion. Some, however, said that decision would have little effect, because so many of the faithful use birth control. About 98 percent of Catholic women with sexual experience use contraceptives at some point in their lives, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York research organization that compiles reproductive health data.

“The typical woman spends five years pregnant or trying to get pregnant and 30 years trying not to get pregnant, so it’s a common-sense issue for women,” Beth Zaworski, a Catholic nurse from Lorain, said in a Feb. 13 conference call with reporters hosted by groups including NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

The issue may be more telling in the Midwest, which has more traditional Catholics than other parts of the U.S. because ethnic groups from Eastern and Central Europe settled there, Green said. Catholics composed 18 percent of Ohio’s population in 2010, according to the state’s Catholic Conference.

Losing the Flock

While Obama won the state in 2008 with 51.5 percent of the vote, according to the secretary of state, exit polls showed he lost among Catholics by 47 percent to 52 percent.

A national poll by the Pew Research Center conducted Feb. 8-12 among 1,501 adults found that 48 percent support an exemption to the rule for religious-affiliated institutions and 44 percent said they should be required to cover contraceptives. Among Catholics who have heard at least a little about the issue, 55 percent favor giving an exemption and 39 percent oppose it, the survey found.

“It’s a basic attack on our rights for freedom of religion,” said Trish Shaw, 48, a member of St. Ambrose Church in Brunswick. It’s the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s largest parish, with 14,000 members.

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WARNING: How Planned Parenthood hooks kids on sex

STAFFORD, VA, February 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Planned Parenthood kicks off National Condom Week tomorrow, it will also be actively engaged in selling sex to children as young as those in grade school with graphic videos and books.

The American Life League has compiled a video exposing some of Planned Parenthood’s disturbing materials that are presented to school-age children across the country.

“Any parent that sees the video of Planned Parenthood’s material for school children will be horrified,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League. “Planned Parenthood’s business model is aimed at making money from people who are engaged in sexual activity. Those are the women who will have abortions, which made up 51% of Planned Parenthood’s clinic revenue in 2010.”

In one section the video, “Hooking Kids on Sex,” talks about a book for 10-year-olds with graphic images about how to masturbate, put on a condom and have sexual intercourse.

“If a dirty old man showed this book to kids in a park, he’d be arrested,” said Sedlak. “Why does Planned Parenthood, a taxpayer-funded organization, get to distribute these books to our children and get more government money?’

LINK TO ADULT CONTENT VIDEO by American Life League

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WARNING: MTV's 'I Just Want My Pants Back' Causes Stir with Parents Television Council

A conservative media watchdog group is going after MTV for airing a television program with inappropriate content that targets children as young as 12.

Parents Television Council accuses the cable channel of taking HBO-style content and marketing it to a Nickelodeon-age audience. Dan Isett is director of public policy for the PTC.

"MTV has a new show called 'I Just Want My Pants Back' -- and as you might imagine it's a show that's absolutely replete with both sexual content and sexual dialogue," he says. "And it's one that's been mis-appropriately rated as appropriate for a 14-year-old child -- and MTV is on the record as having targeted a demographic beginning with children as young as 12."

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Limbless Nick Vujicic got Married

Following news of his engagement with his fiancé last August, Nick Vujicic, limbless Australian motivational speaker, got married with with Kanae Miyahara on February 10th in California.


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