Broncos Kicker Tours Iraq; Hachette Signs Jay Bakker

by Lynn Garrett, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 1/30/2008

Jason Elam, Denver Broncos All-Pro kicker and two-time Super Bowl winner, is touring Iraq this week and next (Jan. 28-Feb. 8) to visit the troops as part of the Super Sunday Tour. Elam just published his first novel, Monday Night Jihad with coauthor Steve Yohn (Tyndale House). The central character of the book serves in the Air Force Special Ops in Afghanistan and goes on to play pro football. Those on the tour—which includes both players and cheerleaders—will watch the Patriots and the Giants play in the Super Bowl along with the troops. Elam is blogging and posting pictures from the tour on www.mondaynightjihad.com.

Hachette Book Group division FaithWords has signed Jay Bakker—son of Jim and Tammy Faye—to a two-book deal. Bakker watched his parents’ television ministry implode in the PTL scandal when he was 11 years old. He left the church, became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and later recommitted himself to Christianity. Bakker now heads his own ministry, Revolution, which holds services in a bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The first book under contract—“an exploration of the true inclusive message of the grace and love of Jesus,” according to FaithWords—will be published in 2009. A DVD of One Punk Under God—part of a Sundance documentary series—shows Bakker in action and came out last May. Bakker’s first book, a memoir entitled Son of a Preacher Man, was published by Harper San Francisco in 2001.