Believe (Capitol Christian Distribution), the first DVD in the new children's series, “Iesodo” (pronounced YAY-Sa-Doe), has continued to top the sales lists for Christian retailers. 

“We are enthusiastic about ‘Iesodo’s strong performance right out of the gate with our first DVD release, Believe,” said Eric Rollman, producer and CEO of Rollman Entertainment.  “ ‘Iesodo’ is the No. 1 new kids animated property at Christian book stores in the fourth quarter, and our December performance exceeded expectations with the most number of units sold per week since its release in October. We’re seeing 100%-plus growth week over week, which positions us very well for our second release, Love, in January.”

Despite a disappointing finish to the season, retail sales for Nov. 1-Dec. 24 grew 3.5% versus the same period in 2012, according to data from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse.

Holiday-related sales, including clothing, electronics, jewelry and other key gift categories, rose 2.3% compared to the same period the previous year. This was the largest such growth in three years.

Howard Books and New Day Christian Distributors have reported strong sales at Christian retail, spurred on at least in part by Phil Robertson’s recent controversial interview in GQ magazine.

The patriarch of the Duck Commander clan famous for A&E’s hit series Duck Dynasty, Robertson spoke against homosexual behavior as well as other sexual immorality, greed, idolatry and more. The interview got him in hot water with the network, which suspended him from the show “indefinitely.”

Logos Bible Software has been honored as one of the Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work For in 2014. The Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award is based on the voluntary input of current and former employees who provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and leadership via Glassdoor’s anonymous online survey.

What began as an after-hours project to sharpen the programming skills of a couple of Microsoft employees became Logos Bible Software in 1992. This small start-up project to make Bibles searchable would eventually lead an industry with innovations in multilingual electronic publishing, linguistics, semantic search, digital asset management and software development and design across every major consumer platform. From its humble origins as two guys in a basement, Logos has grown to more than 360 employees with one campus near Seattle and another in Phoenix.

Charisma House has announced that The Harbinger, a book warning of God’s judgment on America by Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn has officially reached the milestone of 100 weeks on both the New York Times printed and extended best-seller lists. Although falsely and prematurely reported by other media outlets in the last few days, Charisma House was the first to accurately report on this after receiving confirmation from the New York Times.

Published on Jan. 3, 2012, The Harbinger debuted on the New York Times best-seller list its first week of release and has gone into reprint 22 times, selling more than 1.2 million copies. Maintaining momentum through media appearances, enthusiastic readership and a viral video taken at the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Prayer breakfast which garnered more than 500,000 views online, Cahn’s first book has become a catalyst for spiritual growth and part of national discourse in the United States.

J.I. Packer’s classic, Knowing God (InterVarsity Press), turned 40 this year. More than 1.5 million copies have been sold to date.

“Forty years after its publication in 1973, Knowing God continues to bless readers around the world,” wrote John G. Stackhouse Jr. “It continues to inspire authors, too, as it does what very few books have been able to do: present page after page of carefully nuanced Christian doctrine in a style that people actually enjoy reading.”

Winter storms stymied a last-minute retail rally this holiday season as many procrastinating shoppers were kept from stores in final days before Christmas. ShopperTrak—the world’s largest counter and analyzer of retail shopper traffic—reported that, for the week of Dec. 16-22, in-store retail sales decreased by 3.1% from the same week last year. Retail brick-and-mortar shopper traffic decreased by 21.2% compared to the same time period in 2012.

"Bad weather throughout the country kept some shoppers away from stores,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. “This past week was their final opportunity to complete their holiday shopping before Christmas—and though many did finish making their purchases, retailers did not see as many shoppers as last year."