Former Gospel Light President Bill Greig III 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 and felt that God was leading him to leave the company, which was founded by Henrietta Mears and handed down to his care from his father and grandfather, and to implement a new virtual-publishing model.

New York Times best-selling author Wanda E. Brunstetter will visit Pennsylvania bookstores for a signing tour in August. The Amish-fiction author will promote her latest novel, The Healing Quilt (Aug. 5), and the play Half-Stitched: The Musical, based on her best-seller The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club.

The Healing Quilt is book three in the “Amish Quilting Club” series from Barbour Publishing and follows retired newlyweds Emma and Lamar Miller to Florida, where they have decided to buy a winter home in Sarasota and lead another quilting class with a new group of unlikely students. 

Adam, Luke and Levi Klutinoty—three brothers collectively known as About A Mile—released their self-titled debut last week from Word Entertainment. This week, the Word Entertainment group, whose name originates from the belief that Jesus carried his cross “about a mile,” has the best-selling album debut in its genre for a new artist this year, and hit No. 4 on iTunes’ Christian/Gospel album chart.

Produced by GRAMMY-nominated and Dove Award-winning producers Ian Eskelin (Francesca Battistelli, Sidewalk Prophets, All Star United) and Howard Benson (Hoobastank, Daughtry, Third Day), mixed by Neal Avron (Weezer, Linkin Park, Switchfoot) with additional mixing credits from Chris Lord-Alge (Muse, Creed, Daughtry), About A Mile continues to gather acclaim. Word Entertainment celebrated the band’s debut, hosting an event in its Nashville offices.

Heaven Is for Real landed on Christian retail-store shelves July 22. The Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD was a hit at the box office, raking in more than $90 million.

Based on the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent and published by Thomas Nelson, the movie recounts the true story of Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear), a small-town pastor whose young son, Colton (Connor Corum), miraculously recovers from a near-death experience with vivid memories of his visit to heaven.

B&H Publishing Group author Trevin Wax was named to Christianity Today’s “33 under 33” list of influential millennial Christians. Wax is the author of four books, including 2013’s Gospel-Centered Teaching.

In the July/August issue, the magazine (CT) named 33 young believers who “are leading today’s church in key ways—and who embody what it will look like in the years to come,” and came up with a list of men and women under age 33 who are influencers “in business and nonprofits, media organizations and ministries, academia and the arts.”

The National Retail Federation on Wednesday lowered its retail sales forecast for 2014 because of slow growth recorded during the first half of the year, but it said sales are expected to grow significantly faster over the next five months. NRF forecasted in January that retail sales would grow 4.1% in 2014 over 2013, but today’s revision lowers the forecast to a 3.6% bump.

NRF calculated that sales grew 2.9% during the first half of the year and are expected to grow at least 3.9% during the second half. The numbers include general retail sales and non-store sales and exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

Barbour Publishing has announced it has signed a contract with Josh McDowell—best-selling author, speaker and founder of Josh McDowell Ministry, a ministry of Cru (the U.S. division of Campus Crusade for Christ International).

Under the contract, Barbour will release two titles under its new Shiloh Run Press imprint, which focuses heavily on the Christian Living category and on uniquely qualified new and experienced authors.