The shortened holiday shopping season spurred consumer spending in November, as Americans took advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals to make holiday purchases. November retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 0.6% seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The report is consistent with NRF’s holiday sales forecast of 3.9% growth.

“Consumers took advantage of a very promotional holiday season to shop at their favorite retailers during the Thanksgiving weekend,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Consumer confidence and sentiment are steadily improving, but spending remains at a modest pace. While it seems that the economy is improving, the future remains far from certain.

Munce Group is seeking to meet the needs of Christian retailers who are unfamiliar with the country’s largest gift mart with its new CPE at AmericasMart. The shorter-format CPE will be held in Atlanta, Wednesday, Jan. 8, in conjunction with The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market.

As the Jan. 7-14 show draws buyers from around the globe, visiting AmericasMart’s three multi-story buildings can be intimidating for newcomers. To offer guidance for how best to shop the show, Munce is hosting Christian retailers—not just Munce Group members—at AmericasMart.

Munce Group is seeking to meet the needs of Christian retailers who are unfamiliar with the country’s largest gift mart with its new CPE at AmericasMart. The shorter-format CPE will be held in Atlanta, Wednesday, Jan. 8, in conjunction with The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market.

As the Jan. 7-14 show draws buyers from around the globe, visiting AmericasMart’s three multi-story buildings can be intimidating for newcomers. To offer guidance for how best to shop the show, Munce is hosting Christian retailers—not just Munce Group members—at AmericasMart.

The Robertson family’s Duck the Halls (Universal/Capitol Christian Distribution) is ringing up sales at Christian retail stores.

The latest SoundScan report for the week ending Dec. 8 shows the seasonal CD at No. 4 behind No. 1 Wow Hits 2014 (Wow/Capital Christian); How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection, Chris Tomlin (sixstepsrecords/Capitol Christian); and Christmas, Francesca Battistelli (Fervent Records/Word Distribution). Rounding out the top five is Wow Christmas (Blue) (Word Records/Word).

Music executive Scott Godsey is joining Daywind Records as its vice president encompassing A&R responsibilities, ushering in a new season for the label. In its 26-year history, Daywind has only had two A&R directors.

In his new role, Godsey will give creative direction to Daywind’s artists, seek out the next generation of Southern gospel music ministries and develop audio, video, digital, merchandising and live experience ventures to bring the label’s artists in closer relationship with their expanding audience.

Duck Dynasty stars Willie and Korie Robertson will be featured in God’s Not Dead, an upcoming movie from Pure Flix Entertainment. Pure Flix will release the film on more than 600 screens nationally March 21.

“The trailer has been viewed by 4.8 million people and we've generated 230,000 fans on Facebook—about 10 times the social media numbers for other films in this genre at this point before release,” said Russell Wolfe, CEO of Pure Flix Entertainment. “With over 1,100 requests from churches for group tickets, we attribute this interest to the film’s topic as well as our outstanding cast, which includes Willie and Korie Robertson of Duck Dynasty.”

Texas-based husband and wife worship duo Tyler & Bailey Dodds’ new EP, Songs for the Church (Tyler & Bailey Dodds/Catapult Distribution), hit No. 1 on iTunes Christian & Gospel chart on its release day, Dec. 10.

“We simply wanted to allow our church body to continue worship outside the walls of our church,” said Tyler, who serves as worship pastor at Stonegate Fellowship in Midland, Texas, where Bailey also regularly leads in worship. “When this record debuted at No. 1 on the Christian and Gospel charts today, we were blown away by the response.”