‘Love Dare’ best-selling Christian book of 2009

Written by Eric Tiansay

Monday, 01 February 2010 03:38 PM America/New_York

Alex and Stephen Kendricks' The Love Dare (B&H Books/B&H Publishing Group) surpassed William P. Young's The Shack (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group) as the best-selling Christian book of 2009, according to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

The publishers group released its listing of last year's best-performing titles with its February charts. Francis Chan's Crazy Love (David C. Cook) was third in the 2009 list, ahead of Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson). The top 10 also included Gary Chapman's perennial The Five Love Languages (Northfield Publishing/Moody Publishers) at No.6.

The ECPA also introduced a new list, for multichannel sales, drawn from Christian, general market and Internet retailers. There, Max Lucado's Fearless (Thomas Nelson) is No. 1, followed by The Shack, Jesus Calling and Crazy Love. Next was Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan).

The top 10 Christian retail sellers for February are: 1. Jesus Calling; 2. Crazy Love; 3. Fearless; 4. The Love Dare; 5. The Love Dare Day by Day by Stephen & Alex Kendrick (B&H Books/B&H Publishing Group); 6. The Shack; 7. Forgotten God by Francis Chan (David C. Cook); 8. The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg (Zondervan); 9. Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (Zondervan/HarperCollins); 10. 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper (Revell/Baker Publishing Group).

The top 10 Bibles for February are: 1. Text Bible, NKJV (Thomas Nelson); 2. God Sightings: The One Year Bible, NLT, paperback (Tyndale House Publishers); 3. ESV Outreach New Testament (Crossway); 4. God Sightings: The One Year Bible, NIV, paperback (Tyndale House Publishers); 5. Chronological Study Bible, NKJV, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 6. NIV Adventure Bible, hardcover (Zondervan); 7. Gift and Award Bible, KJV, black leatherflex (Thomas Nelson); 8. NIV Outreach Bible, paperback (Zondervan); 9. Word of Promise Audio Bible (Thomas Nelson); 10. The Daily Bible, NIV (Harvest House Publishers).

Except for the multi-channel list, the ECPA charts are drawn from Christian retail stores across the country, through its PubTrack Christian data system. Book lists are based on trade discounted titles selling in at least 20% of reporting stores. Tracts and booklets are excluded. Sales are based on the four weeks ending Jan. 16.

Click here to see the ECPA's February best-seller lists in full.