Celebrity News:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Zondervan, the world's leading Bible publisher, has donated 1,600 copies of the audio book of the year, Inspired By ... The Bible Experience, to Prison Fellowship, the world's largest non-profit prison outreach ministry. Inspired By ... The Bible Experience features more than 400 world-renowned celebrities and Christian leaders, including Forest Whitaker as Moses, Bishop T.D. Jakes as Abraham, Cuba Gooding Jr. as Jonah, Denzel and Pauletta Washington performing Song of Songs, Nick Cannon as Adam and Angela Bassett as Esther.
Zondervan and Prison Fellowship's goal for Inspired By ... The Bible Experience is to foster Bible engagement among prisoners by making the Bible available to them in a fully-produced audio format. The copies will be distributed to prison chaplains through 21 Prison Fellowship regional offices for shared use in 1,600 prison libraries across the country.
"Zondervan and Prison Fellowship have a shared goal of transformation," said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship. "The best way to change our world is to transform the hearts of the people and families within our communities, and we believe that truly restorative change comes only through building a relationship with Jesus Christ. The availability of a fully- produced audio version of the Bible only amplifies the impact that this product and this partnership will have."
Critically acclaimed for its best-in-class production quality, the New Testament edition of Inspired By ... The Bible Experience has quickly become the category leader. Since its release last fall, Inspired By ... The Bible Experience has sold more than 325,000 units and has become not just the bestselling audio Bible, but also one of the industry's fastest-selling new Bibles, outselling perennial bestsellers.
"We have the utmost respect for the work Prison Fellowship is doing to bring God's truth to prisoners, and we are proud to equip them in advancing the great work they are already doing," said Paul Caminiti, vice president and publisher of Bibles at Zondervan. "We hope our donation of Inspired By ... The Bible Experience will help inmates experience the Word of God like never before."
Inspired By ... The Bible Experience Complete Bible will be released in October 2007.
In addition to brisk sales, Inspired By ... The Bible Experience has received unprecedented consumer satisfaction and national recognition, including numerous five-star reviews, Audio Book of the Year - the highest honor of the Audio Publisher's Association - an AudioFile Earphones Award and a nomination for an NAACP Image Award, among others.
About Prison Fellowship
Prison Fellowship was founded by former Nixon aide Chuck Colson in 1976. Now the world's largest prisoner-focused ministry, Prison Fellowship brings life-changing hope to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families across the United States and in 114 countries. Prison Fellowship is a ministry of PFM, also led by former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley.
About Zondervan
Zondervan, a HarperCollins company, is the world's leading Bible publisher. With a vision to see more people engaging the Bible more, Zondervan offers bestselling study, devotional, reference, text and audio Bibles designed for every age and stage of life. Zondervan holds exclusive North American publishing rights to the New International Version (NIV), the most popular modern English translation of the Bible with more than 220 million copies in print worldwide. In addition to Bibles, Zondervan has been publishing bestselling books, curriculum, children's, and new media products for the past 75 years.
Zondervan