Megachurch Pastor and National TV Host Signs Book Deal
with WaterBrook Multnomah
Contact: Beverly Rykerd, Publicity Director
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 20, 2015)—Leon Fontaine, pastor and host of “The LEON Show,” which airs on The Miracle Channel and TBN, has signed a major book deal with WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of the Crown Publishing Group at Penguin Random House. Currently entitled Spirit Contemporary, the book is scheduled for release from WaterBrook Press in summer 2016, in print and digital formats.
Fontaine is senior pastor of the 10,000-member Springs Church, one of the largest interdenominational churches in Canada with six campuses in four cities. He is also CEO of Miracle Channel, and host of “The LEON Show,” which is aired throughout Canada and 150 additional countries.
In Spirit Contemporary, he addresses problems in the church such as: Why do so many become turned off when Christians try to share their faith? Why do our young people fall away from God? Why do many intelligent, well-educated people seem to run from all things Spirit-filled? And why don’t we see more evidence of Christ’s power in the marketplace and on the streets just as much as we do in church?
Through a mixture of personal stories and practical teaching which Fontaine has been incorporating into his church for many years, Spirit Contemporary will encourage readers to experience God’s presence and power in their lives while reaching out to those outside the church in a contemporary and effective and relevant way.
“I am thrilled to work with WaterBrook Press/Penguin Random House to publish this book in response to a huge problem facing Christianity today,” Fontaine says. “So many people are tired of strange, pushy, religious, judgmental and boring Christians…so much so that they are searching elsewhere for spirituality because Christianity doesn’t seem like a viable option. Spirit Contemporary is the answer to this problem. It’s redefining church and changing what the world thinks it is to be a Christian!”
Alex Field, WaterBrook Multnomah vice president and publisher, and Bruce Nygren, senior editor, jointly acquired the project. Fontaine is represented by Tom Winters of Winters and King, Inc.
“Leon Fontaine’s personal experience with the book’s major theme made this a most compelling acquisition,” Nygren said. “Before he became a pastor, Leon learned how to live out his faith in a practical but effective way as a first responder. The book relates some of the amazing incidents where ‘God showed up’ in emergency situations—an encouragement to every Christian to trust God more.”
# # #
ABOUT WATERBROOK MULTNOMAH
WaterBrook Press is an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Penguin Random House (http://global. penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in: the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.
WaterBrook Press is an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Penguin Random House (http://global. penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in: the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.
For more information on this release, please contact Beverly Rykerd at the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Publicity Office at 719-268-1935 or brykerd@penguinrandomhouse.com