Recognizing the challenges seminary students face as they graduate, Fuller Seminary and its president, Mark Labberton, are doing all they can to arm Fuller faculty, staff, students and graduates with Labberton's new book, Called: The Crisis and Promise of Following Jesus Today.

First, Fuller set out to make the book accessible to every student, including the large numbers of Korean and Spanish-speaking students at the seminary.

"Prompted by Fuller's vision for the project, we are thrilled to be simultaneously releasing this book in three languages together with our Korean and Spanish publishing partners. It is an exciting opportunity to reach a broad spectrum of readers both in the United States and across the world," said Cindy Bunch, Labberton's editor at InterVarsity Press.

Thanks to a generous gift from a longtime friend of Fuller, copies of Called were sent to all Fuller faculty, staff, students and graduates with a surprise note in each book that was revealed on Fuller's Instagram account (@fullerseminary) in September: "We were excited to pass out free copies of Mark's new book to faculty and staff today, and he wrote a letter to put inside. When we opened it, we were shocked: Mark is donating all the royalties from Called to create student scholarships!"

Labberton said, "Donating the royalties of Called to our students comes both out my own need when I was a student and out of the deep awareness and empathy for the need of Fuller's current students. They are passionately pursuing God's call and I am doing all I can, as Fuller is doing all it can, to lighten the financial burden. We are committed to forming leaders for a changing church and world. I am delighted these royalties can help that effort."

Bob Fryling, publisher at IVP, said, "Mark Labberton has been a great friend and partner with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and InterVarsity Press. He is the author of three very successful IVP books and embodies a common ministry vision of being a thoughtful and active witness in the world. Mark's generous decision to use his royalties from his new book Called for scholarships reflect his deep commitment to the work of God by investing in students. IVP is privileged and delighted to publish Mark and his books."

In Called, Labberton briefly identifies the crisis facing today's church and provides a fundamental understanding of every Christian's vocational call in our world. Labberton writes: "People ask many questions about how their lives relate to the world. What are our lives in this world about? What are we to make of being human? Why are we here? Is there a reason we are alive, and, if so, how would we know what that is? These questions are brought on at times by beauty and joy, but also by the daunting facts of our own lives or of the world around us. We look around in doubt, in pain, in suffering. These are human questions asked throughout history by those inside and outside the church." Labberton's other books with IVP include The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice and The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus.

Labberton said, "I believe IVP wants to do all it can to help its authors and readers live into God's call. Sharing in this effort together has been very exciting, not least in their commitment for Called to come out simultaneously in English, Spanish, Korean, digital and audio!"

The Korean publisher for Called is Korea IVP (www.ivp.co.kr/) and the Spanish publisher is Editorial Mundo Hispano (www.editorialmh.org/).