The United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) announced July 11 the purchase of the Lake Front Office Park in the MetroCenter business district in Nashville and is in the planning stages for a major renovation of the buildings. UMPH anticipates moving its headquarters to the MetroCenter property in 2015, where the UMPH distribution center is already located.

The current headquarters building and adjacent properties at 201 8th Avenue South, totaling over seven acres across from the Music City Convention Center, has been divided into four parcels, two of which have been sold. The third and largest parcel, the site of the UMPH headquarters building and parking lots, is under contract for a sale that will be finalized at the time of the move to the new offices. The fourth parcel is currently being retained by UMPH as a parking lot.

Three of late author Diann Hunt’s friends are celebrating her work in light of Hallmark’s movie adaption of Hunt’s For Better or For Worse (Thomas Nelson, 2008).

“The four of us—Kristin Billerbeck, Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter and Diann Hunt—often talked about what we would do if one of us ever landed a movie deal,” Coble said. “We would definitely attend the premiere together! We dreamed of limos, red carpets and cameras flashing.”

The Green Prince, an Israeli documentary based on Mosab Hassan Yousef’s best-selling memoir, Son of Hamas (Tyndale Momentum), will release in theaters in the U.S. on Friday, Aug. 8. The film made its world premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema: Documentary.

The Green Prince tells the story of Yousef’s journey from young militant to Shin Bet spy.

Baker Book House has invited two well-known representatives for the gay Christian community to speak on how the church and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community can discuss faith issues with grace. “The Church & Homosexuality: A Model Dialogue” will take place Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, store.

The two speakers are Justin Lee, executive director of the Gay Christian Network and author of Torn: Rescuing the Gospel From the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate (Jericho Books), and Wesley Hill, assistant professor at Trinity School for Ministry and author of Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality (Zondervan).

Moody Publishers announced its decision earlier this month to reduce the number of titles the company will release each year, including fiction under the RiverNorth imprint. The publisher also plans to continue the acquisition of fiction, though fewer titles will be published.

Moody has published from eight to 12 fiction titles annually, and will now focus on publishing three to four per year. Debbie Keiser’s position, associate publisher at RiverNorth, also has been eliminated.

Stanley Monroe Horton, 98, of Springfield, Missouri, died Saturday, July 12, at Maranatha Village in Springfield.

Son of Harry Samuel Horton and Myrle May Fisher, Horton was born May 6, 1916, in Huntington Park, California. His maternal grandparents, Elmer Kirk Fisher and Clara Daisy Sanford, participated in the historic Azusa Street Revival of 1906, leading the nearby Upper Room Mission. In the words of Assemblies of God General Superintendent George O. Wood, Horton has served as a “bridge linking the Azusa revival to the present day.”

Customers in the Kent, Ohio, area recently named their family-owned Logos store the top bookstore in the region above many other local book retailers. The store is located in a Victorian-style house in Kent.

Responses from voters highlighted the helpfulness and friendliness of the staff, who are “willing to go above and beyond”; the “cozy” welcome customers receive; and the store’s “great variety of books and gifts.” One customer lauded the fact that the owners “support local business.”