Do you have staying power? Some 20, 30, or 40 years from now, will people look back at your career in publishing and see a faithful communicator who skillfully and consistently carried out the ministry to which he had been entrusted by God?

Two such faithful communicators were honored recently for their decades of service in Christian publishing.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) posthumously honored writer/publisher Ken Taylor, author of The Living Bible and founder of Tyndale House Publishers, when they announced the Kenneth N. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award at an Industry Awards Celebration May 3.  According to ECPA Executive Director Stan Jantz, the award was “established to recognize a Christian publishing leader who exemplifies a lifetime of achievement through initiatives and programs that have spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Ken Taylor

Les Stobbe

Two weeks later, the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Institute presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Les Stobbe, whose career in Christian publishing to date has spanned 60 years. Over the years, Stobbe has served as a writer/author/journalist, magazine editor, bookstore buyer and supervisor, book publisher, educator, CEO, trainer, and literary agent. He continues to serve as a writer, literary agent, and workshop leader.

Not everyone is recognized with a lifetime achievement award as they come to the end of their career in Christian publishing. But there is One who does recognize the years of faithful service. And his “Well done, good and faithful servant” is all the recognition we need.

This blog post and others like it can also be found on Magazine Mavin.