Residents of Chicago got a pleasant surprise on the way to work last week, thanks to a unique promotion Crossway employees did for Kevin DeYoung’s Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem.

On Sept. 24, armed with flyers and more than 1,000 packets of Starbucks Via, a group of Crossway employees hit the streets of Chicago to promote DeYoung’s Crazy Busy. The team stood outside a key transportation hub to greet the morning rush-hour crowd with the gift of free coffee, conversation and a man dressed as an exclamation point.

The Parable Group is now serving 158 Christian stores with SnapRetail solutions, including Catholic, Munce Group and Covenant Group retailers. Launched in March 2012, the Parable and SnapRetail partnership is a comprehensive email and social marketing solution for retailers with more than 115,000 product images from more than 80 Christian publishers, music companies and gift companies.

“Email marketing is tremendously cost-effective,” said Steve Potratz, founder and CEO of Parable. “It’s exciting to see store owners realizing the potential they have for traffic growth and increased sales using email marketing–and emails that complement their marketing-group catalogs, no matter which marketing group they are with.”

Tyndale House Publishers announced the purchase of Happy Day and Faith That Sticks brands from Standard Publishing, a division of CFM Religion Publishing Group. 

“The Faith that Sticks and Happy Day brands will give Tyndale opportunity to expand our ministry to children by providing helpful products to their parents and churches,” said Doug Knox Sr., vice president and group publisher for Tyndale. “Our friends at Standard Publishing have successfully established a place in the market for the Faith that Sticks and Happy Day brands that we look forward to expanding upon.”

Wanda Brunstetter, New York Times best-selling author of Christian Amish fiction, has officially sold more than 7 million copies of her books.  She passed the 6 million mark in 2012, and has now sold another 1 million books in just over a year.

The Yakima, Wash., author’s novels have also appeared on the best-seller lists of USA Today, Publishers Weekly, CBA, ECPA and CBD.

LifeWay Christian Stores is in the process of opening and converting 17 new stores in seven states over the next two weeks, the result of the chain’s recent acquisition of Berean Christian Stores.

Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, the parent company of LifeWay Christian Stores, said the acquisition is a tremendous opportunity to serve more customers in new communities.

Si-Cology 1 by Si Robertson—better known as Duck Dynasty’s Uncle Si—and co-author Mark Schlabach hit No. 5 on the ECPA General best-seller list for the week ending Sept. 21.

The top 20 ECPA General best-sellers were: 1. Jesus Calling, Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 2. You’ll Get Through This, Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson); 3. Jesus Calling, Young, large print deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 4. Jesus Calling, Young, women’s edition (Thomas Nelson); 5. Si-Cology 1 (Howard Books); 6. Jesus Calling, Young, deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 7. When God’s People Pray, Jim Cymbala (Zondervan); 8. Unglued, Lysa TerKeurst (Zondervan); 9. KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2013-14, large print softcover (Standard Publishing); 10. One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan); 11. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing); 12. Gods at War, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); 13. The Playbook for Dads, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Ted Kluck (FaithWords); 14. The 5 Love Languages Military Edition, Gary Chapman, Jocelyn Green (Northfield Publishing); 15. Becoming a Woman of Excellence, Carol J. Kent (NavPress); 16. Kingdom Woman, Tony Evans, Chrystal Evans Hurst (Tyndale House Publishers); 17. Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer (FaithWords); 18. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); 19. Happy, Happy, Happy, Phil Robertson (Howard Books); 20. The Secret Keeper, “Home to Hickory Hollow” No. 4, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group).

Mission Pictures International (MPI) has announced the international distribution of six new titles.  MPI—a foreign sales, finance and distribution company specializing in family-based entertainment—will be showcasing the new movies at MIPCOM, a high-profile entertainment industry festival held Oct. 7-10 in Cannes, France.

“Our upcoming roster of films really touch on love, life and the struggles people face,” said MPI President Chevonne O’Shaughnessey. “We are enthusiastic and look forward to expanding them to our global audience.”