Retail success stories and key category growth areas will be spotlighted at The Gathering 2009, the new winter industry event to be held in Orlando, Fla., Jan 7-9 next year.

Representatives of top stores from across the country will be among the presenters during the training and trade program at The Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort & Convention Center.

Sponsored by Christian Retailing magazine, The Gathering 2009 is an outgrowth of the previous Gathering of Church Bookstore events, broadened to include special focus elements for inspirational gifts and nonchurch retailers.

Among the training sessions will be presentations on how Christian retailers can increase sales in gifts, Bibles and children's products-widely recognized as three areas in which Christian retailers can outperform general market retailers who have been competing strongly for book and music sales.

The Gathering 2009 will open with a prayer meeting on industry issues to which participating retailers will be asked to bring photographs of their stores to provide a visual reminder of their needs throughout the rest of the event.

"The whole emphasis of the event is to start the year in a positive way," said Dave Condiff, advertising director of Christian Retailing. "It's an ideal time to review the past year, do business for the coming 12 months and hear from people who are successfully meeting some of the challenges that are out there."

"And there's no better way to begin our time together than by joining to bring our concerns and needs to God," he added. "We can learn a lot from each other, but ultimately we need to go to the source of all wisdom for answers, too."

Among those planning to be at The Gathering 2009 is Steffanie Methvin, bookstore manager at Christ Church Plano in Plano, Texas, who said: "It is always helpful to network with other bookstore folks there because I learn so much from them. I have come away with great ideas and suggestions and some new friendships."

She added: "I appreciate the care taken to select workshop topics and speakers who are relevant. I appreciate the vendors providing for authors and musicians to come and share and their generosity with their product giveaways ... the whole event is top quality in lots of ways."

At gift supplier Show Off Arts, owner Jeff Atwood said the company's first time at The Gathering of Church Bookstores this year was "a great event" and an opportunity "to meet with the leaders from these stores and learn how we can best develop product for their shoppers. We are excited about the growth in the event and look forward to being part of the 2009 event."

For more information about The Gathering 2009, go to www.christianretailing.com/gathering.

Author Kay Warren, the wife of pastor Rick Warren, spells out the gospel message and calls for changes in sexual behavior in an online interview with those said to be "today's leading thinkers, movers and shakers."

Warren, whose book Dangerous Surrender (Zondervan) was published last year, speaks about AIDS, church and government care for the needy and the Christian faith in the five-minute Big Talk interview hosted by the Web magazine Salon.com.

When asked why AIDS remains such a major issue, she comments on a lack of education and awareness, and "a reluctance in our culture to put any limitations on ourselves, on our sexuality." But without faithful relationships and commitments to one another, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV "are going to rise," she said.

Asked to explain the tenets of the Christian faith, she replies that God is the creator and sustainer of all and "sent His son Jesus to be the Savior for all the world and send the Holy Spirit to be a comforter and friend."

Salon.com's Big Think features "short, intimate conversations with leading thinkers, movers and shakers" on subjects from art and politics to religion and the environment.

See the interview at www.salon.com.

Linda Herrick of Two by Two Christian Bookstore in St. Cloud, Fla., was the grand prize-winner in the first-ever Barbour Fiction Café. Herrick won a $100 Starbucks gift card and one each of Barbour Publishing's fiction profit packs from the company's 2008 fall catalog.

Sponsored by Barbour Publishing, the event was a chance for retailers to interact with five of the company's fiction authors, including Wanda E. Brunstetter, Mary Connealy, Kelly Eileen Hake, Christine Lynxwiler and M.L. Tyndall. Retailers were given a card with all of the authors' names and received stickers from them before entering the cards for the drawing.

Other winners receiving $25 Starbucks gift cards and choice of one fiction profit pack included Jan Gobdey of Share His Glory in Bloomington, Ill.; Nancy Duso of The Chapel Store in Melbourne, Fla.; Linda Guest from Love Unlimited Christian Book Store in Elberton, Ga.; and Solomon's Porch Christian Books & Gifts in Benton, Ky.

Mary Burns, vice president of publishing, told Christian Retailing the event saw a "great turnout" and was a prime opportunity for authors to introduce retailers to their books.

"Everyone seemed very happy to meet the authors," she said.

Presentations, product displays, author signings and more ...Christian Retailing journalists captured the highlights of this year's International Christian Retail Show in Orlando, Fla.

To see their gallery: www.christianretailing.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1">Click here

SoundScan's Christian/Gospel music list saw Jeremy Camp's Beyond Measure (BEC Recordings/EMI CMG Distribution) remaining at the top of the list for sales the week ending July 13, while VeggieTales (Big Idea/Word Distribution) made a big splash on the Christian Videos list.

Following Camp's album were: 2. To Know That Your Alive by Kutless (BEC Recordings/EMI CMG); 3. How Can We Be Silent by BarlowGirl (Inpop Records/EMI CMG); 4. Wow Hits 1 by various artists (Wow Gospel/Provident-Integrity Distribution); 5. The Bird and the Bee Sides by Relient K (Capitol Records/Gotee Records/Word); 6. The Altar and the Door by Casting Crowns (Reunion Records/Provident-Integrity) 7. This Moment by Steven Curtis Chapman (Sparrow Records/EMI CMG). 8. Relentless by Natalie Grant (Curb Records/Word); 9. Rock What You Got by Superchick (Inpop Records/EMI CMG); 10. Let Freedom Ring by Bill and Gloria Gaither & Their Homecoming Friends (Gaither Music Group/EMI CMG).

In Christian Videos, the VeggieTales videos Big River Rescue, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie and LarryBoy and the Bad Apple (all Big Idea/Word) filled the top three spots. Following were: 4. How Great Is Our God by Louie Giglio (sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records/EMI CMG); 5. Let Freedom Ring by Bill and Gloria Gaither & Their Homecoming Friends (Gaither Music Group/EMI CMG); 6. Lessons From the Sock Drawer, VeggieTales (Big Idea/Word); 7. Indescribable by Louie Giglio (sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records/EMI CMG); 8. Love's Unfolding Dream (Fox Faith/Word); 9. God Bless America by Bill and Gloria Gaither & Their Homecoming Friends (Gaither Music Group/EMI CMG); and 10. Facing the Giants (Provident Films/Provident-Integrity).

The listings for videos, drawn from a national sample of mainstream and Christian store sales, and for music sales solely at Christian stores, are produced for the Christian Music Trade Association by Nielsen SoundScan.

Country Music Television (CMT), a unit of MTV Networks and Viacom, in partnership with Faith Time Inc., has announced the formation of Faith Time, a religious programming block. Beginning Sept. 1, Faith Time will be on seven days a week from 4:30-6 a.m. EST.

Faith Time, a media buying agency that promotes the faith sector, will begin airing religious and humanitarian shows on Viacom-owned channel CMT.

The partnership will allow for a low pricing policy that will help emerging ministries and churches establish a national TV presence. CMT has an audience of more than 88 million households.

"At half the price of comparable networks, Country Music Television's Faith Time block will quickly become an anchor for the early morning line up," said Kevin Cortez of Faith Time. "Few networks can claim 88 million households. Faith Time is pleased to have been selected to exclusively represent the Christian religious airtime on CMT."

Alice Cocco, director at MTV Networks, said: "Our viewers both share steadfast, traditional values with optimism for the future. CMT will enjoy the benefit that Faith Time Inc. will bring to its audience of down-to-earth, family and community-oriented viewers. We look forward to a long, successful partnership."

For more information on Faith Time programming, visit faithtime.tv.

The American Bible Society (ABS) has announced that its Contemporary English Version (CEV) of the Bible is now available on Amazon's Kindle book reader.

"We are excited about using this digital platform to share scriptural texts with all of those interested in the Bible, especially new and younger readers," said ABS Director of Licensing and Product Services Thomas Durakis. "Amazon Kindle is a new format and we embrace innovation as a way of extending the power of Scripture to everyone."

First published by ABS in 1995, the CEV Bible is a contemporary translation and not a paraphrase. Other Bible texts of the ABS, including the Good News Translation and the Spanish language Reina Valera Revisada 1960, will soon be available on the Kindle.

In response to the magnitude 7.9 quake that killed nearly 70,000 in central China in May, ZDL Publishing in China has donated books to the Red Cross of China (RCC), which requested donations of grief recovery materials.

ZDL has selected three titles for immediate distribution: Always Daddy's Girl and The Dance Goes On for parents, and The Three Trees for children.

In general, RCC, a government organization, has rejected any material that it perceives as "overly spiritual," ZDL officials said. "These books, though very overtly Christian, all have official ISBN numbers and therefore can be freely and legally distributed," ZDL added. "These books can be a cup of water to those that are hurting and bring the light and hope of God to people struggling in a dark time."

Founded in 2003, Beijing-based ZDL translates and distributes Christian books throughout China and in Chinese-reading communities around the world.

Morehouse Education Resources, a division of Church Publishing Inc., has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to Godly Play resources, including print products, artifacts and registration for training events, company officials said.

New York City-based CPI has long been involved in the publication of Godly Play print resources. The new agreement, which went into effect June 1, expanded that collaboration.

"For the past two decades, Godly Play has been increasingly recognized as a dynamic spiritual practice that is changing the way children understand God and transforming lives," said CPI Publisher Davis Perkins. "I'm delighted that Church Publishing is able to help this vital movement in Christian formation grow globally and expand programmatically in exciting new directions."

Inspired by the pioneering work of Maria Montessori and the movement she created that honors a child's natural sense of the sacred, the Godly Play Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization, was created by the Rev. Dr. Jerome W. Berryman, an Episcopal priest.

GPF, which works with adults as well as children in churches, schools, hospitals, families and faith communities, seeks to create spiritual formation through "playful orthodoxy," the organization said.

Best-selling author and founder of Ransomed Heart Ministries John Eldredge and Saddleback Church Pastor of Worship Rick Muchow have been added as speakers for GMA Music in the Rockies, a talent competition and training event sponsored by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) for Christian artists, songwriters and worship leaders. Held in Estes Park, Colo., this year's event will run Aug. 3-9.

Eldredge will be the keynote Worship and Inspiration speaker for GMA Music in the Rockies. Eldredge's books, including Wild at Heart, Epic and Captivating, co-authored with his wife, Stasi, have sold more than 8 million copies.

Muchow will also speak during one of the week's Worship and Inspiration sessions and will teach a class on "The Worship Service Makeover." Muchow manages the music ministry at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. He has authored The Worship Answer Book (Thomas Nelson Publishers) and launched EncouragingMusic.com, a Web site that provides musical resources to worshipers and church music ministries.

Registration information is available at www.musicintherockies.com.

Suppliers and retailers alike are hoping that some strong releases for the Christmas season will bring a boost to flagging music sales.

As well as a Christmas release from the GRAMMY-winning, multi-platinum group Casting Crowns, Provident-Integrity Distribution has planned holiday albums from the newly reunited Sixpence None the Richer and The Annie Moses Band, as well as the Christmas Offerings DVD from Third Day.

"We fully anticipate that our physical CD sales will be strong this Christmas compared to last year," not only with the holiday releases but also with sales from Third Day's highly anticipated release this month, Revelation, said Don Noes, senior vice president at Provident-Integrity Distribution.

EMI CMG Distribution will showcase new holiday offerings from artists including the Gaither Vocal Band, Mandisa, Mannheim Steamroller, Anne Murray and Amy Grant, with her newly compiled Christmas collection featuring four new tracks.

Word Distribution plans to offer Christmas projects from top artists in various genres, including BarlowGirl, David Phelps, pureNRG, Fernando Ortega, Travis Cottrell and Faith Hill, as well as a VeggieTales seasonal DVD/CD bundle.

"Generally, we had a couple of Christmas releases that didn't perform as expected last year, and had several new artists which take time to develop," said Jim Nehs, vice president CBA sales at Word Distribution. "These things combined with a market that is seeing a downward trend in and of itself put us down slightly from 2006 to 2007. As for this year, we are encouraged by the releases we have lined up and are planning an exciting season."

Read more in the Aug. 11 issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

John Morgan, an impersonator of President George W. Bush, is slated to appear on The 700 Club tomorrow, July 22.

Morgan unveiled his upcoming book, My Life as a Bush ... and My Heart for Imitating Jesus (Creation House, Sept. 2), at last week's International Christian Retail Show.

Crossway Books & Bibles author William Lane Craig will visit the set of FamilyNet Television's Mornings show Tuesday, July 22. Crossway recently released the third edition of Craig's book Reasonable Faith.

Zach Hunter, author of Generation Change: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Change the World (Zondervan), also will be featured on the Mornings show tomorrow.

For viewing times, visit www.familynet.com.

Multnomah Books has announced that sales of The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn have reached a million units. Released in 2001, the book explores six keys to finding treasure by cheerfully giving away what one cannot keep.

Alcorn's other Multnomah Books books include The Grace and Truth Paradox, The Purity Principle, and the fiction trilogy Deadline, Dominion and Deception.

Heather Payne has left Dove Award-winning, multi-platinum group Point of Grace (POG) after 17 years to devote more time to her family.

"The Lord has been slowly preparing me and it is time," Payne, who has four children, wrote last month on the group's Web site. "So, with no regrets but with overwhelming sadness, I am retiring from Point of Grace. This has been a very difficult decision, but it is the right one. There are some very exciting things ahead for POG. As hard as it is for me to swallow, I won't be a part of those exciting things … at least not in the same way I was."

On the group's Web site, Point of Grace members Shelley Breen, Denise Jones and Leigh Cappillino noted that Payne is "irreplaceable." "We are excited to continue with our ministry for as long as God allows, and it will be as a trio," they said.

The trio is currently working on three new songs for an expanded version of the group's latest album, How You Live, which will be released by Word Records in September. In November 2003, Terry Jones left the group to spend more time with her family after giving birth to her third child.

Bookstore Manager founder and President Randy Voorhees' “total technology solution” for Christian stores was developed as an answer to his own needs on the frontline of retail.

In a video presentation from his display at this year's International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), Voorhees tells how he began writing programs more than 25 years ago as a Christian bookstore owner, later making them available to other stores.

Voorhees' five-minute “virtual tour” from the July 13-17 event is one of almost a dozen special presentations from exhibitors for retailers and others unable to attend the CBA event in Orlando, Fla., giving them a quick overview of what they missed and extending show specials and offers.

Voorhees' Texas-based company now serves almost 2,000 Christian retail stores with point of sale, inventory control, product database, Web site and in-store burning options.

The special video presentations are available at the Christian Retailing Web site. To see video: www.christianretailing.com/virtualtradeshow/index.php">Click here