Carpentree announced Friday the purchase of The Faith Collection, a Norman, Oklahoma-based supplier of inspirational and general gifts and décor. Carpentree’s owners say they welcome a new chapter in the 40-year history of the family-owned and operated company.

For more than 15 years, The Faith Collection has designed, produced and supplied original decorative crosses, photo frames and wall décor to leading general gift and décor stores across the country. The company offers both imported and American-made items. 

Best-selling author Mark Batterson has signed a major book deal with WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, for a follow-up title to his book In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day. Titled Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn’t Scare You, It’s Too Small, the book is scheduled to release from Multnomah on Sept. 6, 2016, in print, digital and audio formats. Multnomah will also release an updated edition of In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day on Aug. 16, 2016.

Batterson is the author of more than a dozen best-selling books, including the New York Times best-seller The Circle Maker. He is the lead pastor of National Community Church (NCC), located on seven campuses in Washington, D.C.

Respected New Testament scholar Ian Howard Marshall died Dec. 12 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. The author and editor of at least 38 books and more than 120 essays and articles, Marshall had a significant influence on both biblical scholarship and the church.

Marshall was an evangelical Methodist who was born and lived most of his life in Scotland. He taught New Testament at the University of Aberdeen for 35 years and was a professor emeritus for 16 years.

The National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association, welcomed Friday final passage by Congress of a wide-ranging spending and tax-relief package, citing provisions that would delay onerous portions of the Affordable Care Act, make it easier for businesses to share cyber threats and renew tax law that helps retailers create jobs while laying the groundwork for comprehensive tax reform.

The package would also make permanent a provision that allows retailers to depreciate remodeling and other improvements to their stores over 15 years rather than the previous standard of 39 years. The provision, which also applies to restaurants, is important because retailers typically remodel every five to seven years. In addition to helping keep stores attractive to customers and profitable, the remodeling work creates tens of thousands of construction jobs each year. A separate provision that allows 50 percent of the cost of improvements to be written off under “bonus depreciation” would be extended for five years and would be expanded to cover stores and restaurants that are owned rather than just those that are leased.

The December/January digital issue of Christian Retailing, available now, highlights how to attract new audiences using several new products on the market. Deborah Christensen highlights the completely reimagined, Scripture-based animated series, Superbook.

In addition, Merch-it! President Michelle Amster shows how properly merchandised displays can lead to increased sales. Linda Howard, acquisitions director for children and youth at Tyndale House Publishers, explains how to satisfy the voracious appetite of the YA reader, while Greg Erlandson, publisher of Our Sunday Visitor, equips retailers with seven tips for serving Catholics in the community.

Oasis Audio reports that its new consignment program has launched strongly in 2015. The program, which started in January with just two test stores, has grown to 96 Christian retailers this month. The growth has far exceeded the company’s original goal of 50 stores by year’s end.

The program, designed exclusively for the Christian retailing market, provides 150 units of Oasis’ choice to participating stores in exchange for shelf space 2 feet wide by 5 feet high. The store reports sales of the products in monthly reports and returns revenues to Oasis; in exchange, Oasis provides retailers with a 40 percent discount and an easy entry point into the lucrative field of audiobooks.

Retail fraud can be especially rampant during the holiday season when online and in-store traffic grows significantly. According to the National Retail Federation’s latest survey, retailers estimate that 3.5 percent of their holiday returns this year will be fraudulent, up slightly from the estimated 3 percent reported last year. Holiday return fraud is expected to cost retailers $2.2 billion, up from approximately $1.9 billion last year.

Retailers surveyed estimate that total annual returns will reach $260.5 billion, or 8 percent of total retail sales, with $9.1 billion of retailers’ annual returns expected to be fraudulent, or 3.5 percent of the industry’s total returns.