January 2004, ushered in a impending change of leadership with nominations being opened for the next slate of Operating Board members. Voting commenced at the end of the month and in February, the 2004 ACFW Operating Board was announced:

President - Rachel Hauck
Vice President - Tracey Bateman
Secretary - Susan Downs
Treasurer - Susan May Warren
Volunteer Coordinator - Kaye Dacus

That same month, the Board announced that a prayer loop was being established for all prayer requests. This would provide members more liberty to share prayer requests and would facilitate focused prayer for members' needs.

The 2004 Merit Scholarship program for the National Conference was announced in March by Vice President Tracey Bateman.

April brought another shifting of volunteers as Kaye Dacus temporarily took over as Crit Group Coordinator from Marge Brooks. This change necessitated finding a new Birthday Greeter. For this, Greg Williamson stepped up to the plate. Then in May, Vickie McDonough permanently took the helm as Crit Group Coordinator.

Also in May the 2004 Book of the Year contest was announced by the new coordinator for this program, Suzi Reed. Also, the 2004 Noble Theme finalists were revealed. Winners would be announced at the National Conference to be held in Denver.

In June, Lianne Lopes had to step down from the webmaster position and Tiff Miller stepped into her shoes.

As ACFW continued its growth spurt, the need to increase newsletter staff led to editor, Lisa Tuttle announcing Laurie Alice Eakes would be doing the Author News feature and Melody Lee, conference information.

Jeanne Leach announced the Conference Mentor Program in July and asked people with conference attendance under their belts to mentor people who were attending one for the first time.

As the conference drew closer, Tiff Miller began the 40 Days of Prayer with a scripture and prayer written for each of the 40 days leading up to the conference.

The Operating and Advisory Boards held a joint meeting on September 26, 2004, prior to the 20004 National Conference.

The National Conference opened on the afternoon of September 16 and ran until September 19. Francine Rivers was the keynote speaker. Coordinator, Tammy Alexander, and her committee of Rachel Hauck, Jeanne Leach, Sandra Moore, Carrie Turansky, Diana Urban, and Allison Wilson received kudos for a wonderful and well organized conference.

During the conference Colleen Coble was honored as the first ACRW Mentor of the Year.

On September 18, 2004, President Rachel Hauck made the momentous announcement that in order to better reflect ACRW's identity as being about romance and a whole lot more, the Advisors and Operating Board agreed unanimously to change the name from American Christian Romance Writers to American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). The name change would officially go into effect in October 2004.

Awards for the Book of the Year and Noble Theme Contests were announced at the conference.

Volunteer Coordinator, Kaye Dacus, handed out the Book of the Year awards:

WOMEN'S FICTION
HISTORICAL
Randy Ingermanson - PREMONITION

CONTEMPORARY
Kristin Billerbeck - WHAT A GIRL WANTS

LONG ROMANCE - 80K AND UP
HISTORICAL
Robin Lee Hatcher - CHASING KATIE

CONTEMPORARY
Susan May Warren - THE PERFECT MATCH

SHORT ROMANCE - 45K-75K
HISTORICAL - (tie)
Tracey Victoria Bateman - BUT FOR GRACE
DiAnn Mills - TEMPORARY HUSBAND

CONTEMPORARY
Sharon Dunn - SASSY CINDERELLA

NOVELLAS
HISTORICAL
Pamela Griffin - ENGLISH TEA AND BAGPIPES

CONTEMPORARY
Deborah Raney - PLAYING BY HEART

Noble Theme Coordinator, Sandra Moore, Announced the winners of the 2004 Noble Theme Contest:

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
1st - Nicole Cooper - KILL ME IF YOU CAN*
2nd - Jill Nelson - THE RELUCTANT BURGLAR
3rd - Joy Liddy - FUGITIVE ANGEL

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
1st - Audra Harder - ROUGH AND READY
2nd - Connie Stevens - CARETAKER OF HER HEART
3rd - Roxanne Sherwood - A PERFECT LOVE

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
1st - Mary Connealy - ROOM FOR GOD'S WRATH
2nd - Vickie McDonough - HIS BELOVED ENEMY
3rd - Mary Connealy - CHINA DOLL

WOMEN'S FICTION
1st - Tammy Alexander - UNSEEN WITNESS
2nd - Margaret Mosely - SOMETIMES CRAZY
3rd - Marcia Gruver - IMPOSTER

BEST OVERALL ENTRY: Nicole Cooper - KILL ME IF YOU CAN. For this honor, Nicole was the recipient of the Noble Theme Scholarship sponsored by literary agent Janet Kobobel Grant.

ACRW/ACFW reached a milestone during the weekend when the New York Times published an article about the organization and the rise of Christian fiction's popularity.

As was announced at the Conference, the name of American Christian Romance Writers was officially change to American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in October.

In December, Tammy Alexander announced her resignation as Conference Coordinator to be able to devote more time to her writing.

ACFW ended 2004 with 650 members strong.

In January, Karen Kingsbury resigned from the Advisory Board citing a packed schedule, and in March, Randy Ingermanson joined the AB to take her place.

On April 21, 2004, the Operating Board notified members of the first ever dues increase for ACRW. New member fees would increase to $40, while renewal dues would be $35.

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