CHICAGO, IL (March 12, 2013) – Outreach Magazine has named two books by Evangelical Covenant Church authors to receive the magazine’s 2013 Resource of the Year award.

Among the 22 award recipients is The Post-Black and Post-White Church, written by Efrem Smith, superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, and Missional Preaching: Engage • Embrace • Transform by Al Tizon, an ordained Evangelical Covenant Church minister and associate professor of holistic ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Smith’s book was honored as the magazine’s Cross-Cultural Resource of the Year, with Tizon’s book honored as Outreach Resource of the Year.

“I would just say that I’m very honored that Outreach Magazine would recognize my recent book,” Smith said. “In our ever-increasing multiethnic and multicultural reality, I really hope this will be a fruitful resource for churches and pastors.”

The book connects theology, practical ministry models, and real stories of people in multiethnic Christian communities.

In commending Tizon’s work, Knute Larson, retired pastor of The Chapel in Akron, Ohio, says, “Al Tizon carefully takes the popular ‘missional’ word and shows in three foundational chapters how it is God’s middle name, how it should guide the way we study and preach the whole Bible, and how it cannot be separated from worship.”

Twenty-two resources were chosen in different categories. Nearly 160 resources published between November 1, 2011, and October 31, 2012, were submitted to the magazine for consideration, according to the publication. Experts in each of the categories judged submissions.

Click here to read the complete list of honorees.

“The Outreach Resources of the Year feature is itself a valuable resource for church leaders,” said Outreach editor Brian Orme. ”It brings deserved attention to resources that can help churches better understand the culture we live in, the dynamics at work in a variety of settings, and how to share the Gospel and reach our communities for Christ.”