Bill Greig III and wife Rhonni bring new trade strategy and distribution set-up to new church resource company

Bill Greig III, former president of Gospel Light, and his wife, Rhonni, are resetting their direction with an innovative new publishing company called Churchgrowth.org, which is also its domain name.

This transition came about as the Greigs sensed a shift in this season of life. Bill took a sabbatical from Gospel Light in 2013 to consider the couple’s future direction. Going through multiple transitions, not the least entering the “empty nest” stage of life, the Greigs sensed that God was shifting them into a new season. Bill believed that God was leading him to leave Gospel Light—a company founded by Henrietta Mears and handed down to his care from his father and grandfather—and to implement a new virtual-publishing model with a new team in place.

Confirmation came when he presented his ideas to Rhonni, and she told him of a dream she had had a year earlier of a virtual publishing company with limited infrastructure, but with significant impact found by combining new technology and social media with the truths of the gospel.

Bill was reminded of a ministry based in Forest, Virginia, in the Lynchburg metro area, Church Growth Institute (CGI), founded by Larry Gilbert. After initial inquiries, the Greigs found elements of their new publishing model already in place at CGI—a strong mission and position in an important market niche, foundational biblical resources used by thousands of churches, a value proposition that allows customers to choose between “free” and “premium” resources, more than 5 million users of the “Team Ministry” Spiritual Gifts Inventory, over 700,000 customer email addresses, a leading web domain and a profitable e-commerce store.

CGI’s missing elements were a trade strategy and a distribution partner, as for 36 years, its resources had only been available through direct sales to churches and individuals.

“When I saw how Churchgrowth.org was connecting their resources with their end consumer, I saw the potential for God to use these systems, with some upgrades and fine tuning as well as partnering with wtrade distributors and bookstores to reach many more churches and individuals,” Greig said.

With the new company in place, all ChurchGrowth.org resources are available to trade accounts through Advocate Publisher Solutions at Send The Light Distribution. Retailers can find more information at ChurchGrowth.org/Trade.

The primary trade strategy for the Churchgrowth.org relaunch is to update the best-selling “Team Ministry” spiritual-gift resource line with expanded editions and formats that work best in bookstores. Five new products in the line are expected to ship in December with a Jan. 1, 2015, publication date.

“ChurchGrowth.org publishes the top Spiritual Gifts Inventory available, and we are delighted to see it finally available for retailers to access and offer to their customers,” said Darren Henry, president of Advocate Distribution Solutions, a division of Send The Light Distribution. “Bill and his team are doubtlessly going to build upon its already incredible success and introduce new products that will help Christians everywhere gain insight and growth in their church and spiritual lives. Send The Light is proud to offer these items!”

The Greigs have embraced their new assignment as co-owners and partners.

“It has been a year of trust, faith and experiencing God’s unmerited favor as we have leaned into this new endeavor with Christ as our foundation and sustainer,” Rhonni said.

Bill sees a bright future for the company.

“The entrepreneurship gifting my father fostered in me, along with my strategic and visionary strengths helped me to see that with some innovation, the Lord’s blessing and wisdom, Churchgrowth.org has only opportunity and growth ahead,” he said.  —Johnson

Christy Award-nominated novelist sees great benefit in Christian retailers’ customer connections

Lisa Wingate has published more that 20 books, but never has she dreamed the entire plot of one of her novels—until The Story Keeper, that is. Her newest novel with Tyndale House Publishers is out this month and promises as much emotion and drama as The Prayer Box (Tyndale, 2013), which was one of her two Christy Award nominees this year.

“I dreamed the plot, woke up and wrote it all down,” Wingate said, referring to The Story Keeper. “I wrote out a synopsis and was going to meet with my editor the following week at the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference. This was a different book than what I had planned, but I told her I really wanted to write this book, and she was fine with that.”

Wingate, who lives with her family in Texas and makes her own prayer boxes (to hold prayer requests or favorite scriptures), is no stranger to writing novels. Her first, Tending Roses, was published in 2001 with New American Library (NAL)/Penguin Group USA and is now in its 21st printing. Its first home was in ABA stores, but these days it’s also carried in Christian retail stores as a Penguin Praise title. Sales are at about 200,000 copies, Wingate said.

“The ABA publishers said they loved it, but it had too much church stuff,” she said. “The CBA publishers were saying they loved it, but it’s not historical fiction and nobody gets saved. But NAL published it as women’s fiction. It was a crossover book before there was any such thing.”

Nearly 15 years ago, when Tending Roses released, it was brick-and-mortar stores such as Barnes & Noble selling the book to readers who were “looking for gritty novels with a faith element, and a lot of readers wanted that.” Wingate has sold more than 1 million copies of all of her titles since then.

These days the author “loves being an ambassador for Christian fiction” and is eager to meet readers at signings and share her story.

“What I love about my books being in Christian retail is that the stores are so relational,” she said. “When I go to a signing at a Christian retailer, the people are so much more interested in talking about the book and finding out about your journey. Readers know the cashiers well and are frequent customers.”

Christian retail stores have helped to boost sales of Wingate’s books.

“Christian retailers have been great for my books,” she said. “One of the biggest things is that retailers know authors who are similar and are able to recommend my books. I hear a lot from readers who say they found my books when they asked about other novels. That’s the skill of the retailer knowing their books well.”

Tyndale is eager for readers to discover Wingate, who also has been published by Bethany House (Baker Publishing Group). To increase awareness ahead of the release of The Story Keeper, another of her Carolina books, Tyndale offered The Prayer Box at a deep discount. The company included the first chapter of The Story Keeper in the $5 copies of The Prayer Box and promoted it through marketing group catalogs.

Stores such as the two Kregel Parable Christian Stores in west Michigan took advantage of the promotion. The stores sold 40 copies in June and 35 in July, plus ordered ahead.

“Our two stores sell a lot of fiction, and we have a lot of fiction readers on staff, so it’s easier to recommend books, especially Lisa Wingate’s books,” said Jeremy Fleming, manager of the two stores. “The nice thing about the $5 book is it introduces people to an author they wouldn’t pick up if only seeing the name on the shelf.”

Fleming, who stocks all of Wingate’s books, plans to reserve feature space for The Story Keeper when it releases.

“She’s a very good writer, and we want to get her name out based on previous purchases and reader recommendations,” Fleming said.

Wingate herself participates in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Book” campaign, which takes place several months prior to the release of each book. Early copies of the book travel around the country in “Sister Circles” of readers, who interact on the Sisterhood’s Facebook page, get acquainted via email and leave their thoughts in the margins of the shared books.

“These women become ambassadors for the book and begin driving early word-of-mouth for The Story Keeper. They spread the word within their book groups, church groups and local areas, thereby driving sales for local Christian bookstores or favorite Christian online retailers,” said Cheryl Kerwin, senior marketing manager for Tyndale. “This year, over 130 women participated in 23 Sister Circles, and The Story Keeper traveled from coast to coast.”

Wingate is also going on a seven-state book tour that will include church, community and store events. CBA retailers will sell books at some of the events.

Family Christian, Mardel, LifeWay and Parable Group stores all do well with Wingate’s books, as do a number of ABA retailers in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, where her Tyndale books are set, and at SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) stores in Texas and across the South.

Tyndale has purchased targeted online media that reaches previous buyers of Wingate’s books and Christian-fiction buyers.

Wingate is “quickly becoming one of our most popular authors,” Jan Stob, senior acquisitions editor for fiction, told Christian Retailing. “Her fan base is growing, and she’s becoming popular because she finds unique ways of getting the word out about her books.”

She has released two e-books, both tied to her Tyndale titles. The Sea Glass Sisters is a prelude to The Prayer Box, while The Tidewater Sisters is a postlude.

“These are nice little discoveries for her rabid fans, whether a longtime fan or a new fan via her Tyndale books,” the Tyndale editor said. “They have sold well.”

Stob pointed out that there are underlying themes to Wingate’s Tyndale books, though each can stand alone. Wingate has a third print book and a third novella under contract, and “we’re hoping to extend that,” she added.

“Readers are discovering her beautiful prose, but they will also recognize themselves or people they know in these stories of women struggling with their pasts,” Stob said. “Lisa’s writing makes you stop in the middle and savor the imagery or a phrase. You can read them over and over again.”

Wingate remains committed to finding and keeping her readers, especially those who shop at Christian retail stores.

“Retailers are passionate about connecting books to readers who will love them,” Wingate said. “They are smart about positioning my books near other books readers like, which is so valuable to me. It all goes back to the relational aspects of Christian stores. Bookselling is incredibly different when there are close relationships there.”

Best-selling author and blogger Jen Hatmaker is taking her family to HGTV. With her Harley-riding pastor-husband and their five children, Hatmaker launches an eight-episode home-renovation reality series Aug. 7, airing at 11 p.m. EST/PST.

Titled My Big Family Renovation, the show chronicles the family’s journey as they sell their Austin, Texas, home and buy a 1908 farmhouse in nearby Buda, Texas.

Barna Group presented Americans age 18 and over with a list of current best-sellers and new releases, asking which books they can check off their own reading list. Among the 20 titles presented, three of the five most widely read were released as major motion pictures during the past year.

Catching Fire, the second installment in Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” trilogy, topped the list of recent books Americans have read from cover to cover, while Ender’s Game, the classic military sci-fi coming-of-age novel by Orson Scott Card, came in second.

Pelican Book Group, a division of Pelican Ventures LLC, is introducing a new fiction imprint, Pure Amore. With its initial titles releasing in October, Pure Amore will be the first romance-genre imprint to promote abstinence before marriage.

Nicola Martinez, editor-in-chief at Pelican, expects the content of the books to be embraced by Christians and non-Christians alike, but had a specific goal in mind with the new imprint.

The Mystery/Romance chapter of Romance Writers of America—also known as the “Kiss of Death” chapter—recently announced the winners of the Daphne du Maurier Awards at the Romance Writers of America national conference in San Antonio.

Dani Pettrey’s book Stranded (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) was named the winner in the Inspirational Romance Mystery/Suspense category.

New Growth Press and Key Life Network have forged a strategic publishing partnership. The partnership enables Key Life to focus on its primary mission of communicating God’s radical grace to sinners and sufferers while allowing New Growth to publish and distribute fresh, gospel-centered content.

Key Life Network, producer of “Key Life” and “Steve Brown, Etc.” nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, has been teaching a message of grace and freedom for more than 25 years. The founder of Key Life, Steve Brown, also has written numerous best-selling books, including How to Talk so People Will Listen (Baker Books/Baker Publishing Group) and Three Free Sins (Howard Books).