Rick Warren, best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For? (Zondervan) and founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., launches “Daily Hope with Rick Warren” national radio programming starting Easter Sunday. This includes a 25-minute program and one-minute teaching spots, to begin Monday, April 1.

The half-hour daily program will feature a practical message by Warren, intended to encourage, equip and train people to fulfill God's purposes for their life. The daily 60-second teaching spots will address timely issues and topics.

"For 32 years, I said 'no' to radio because I felt God called me to preach to my local congregation rather than compete with other local churches for a national audience," said Warren. "But one year ago, He began to put a burden on my heart and a passion for broadcast ministry, born from three deep convictions.

Wellspring Christian Resources of Urbandale, Iowa, is closing April 7. Founded Oct. 23, 1943, Wellspring began as an outgrowth of Rev. Edward Boone's radio programs heard on KRNT and WHO radio in Central Iowa.

John Desaulniers Jr, who runs the store with sons Joe and Wesley, bought the store two years ago from Bev Channell and her daughter, Kelly Maigaard. The two women had taken over the former Boone's Book and Bible Store.

Revealing Jesus, Darlene Zschech’s new album from RGM-NEW BREED Music (Provident Distribution), released last week, taking top retail sales spots around the world, including peaking at No. 1 in Australia and No. 3 in the U.S. on iTunes Christian & Gospel charts, No. 5 on the Singapore iTunes Pop Albums chart and No. 4 on the Official Christian & Gospel Albums chart in the United Kingdom. 

Produced by five-time GRAMMY Award-winner Israel Houghton and featuring guest appearances and song co-writes with Houghton, Michael W. Smith and Kari Jobe , the Revealing Jesus CD/DVD release, as well as the book of the same title, was celebrated March 19 in an exclusive “social fusion” tweet, chat and interview event on Get Real Live. The event featured Zschech, Houghton, Smith, Jobe and Paul Baloche, who wrote “Your Name” featured on the album. Since mid-February, more than 48 million Revealing Jesus Twitter impressions were generated.

Christian Retailing is calling on all vendors planning to exhibit at the 2013 International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) to submit their booth numbers, new product information and show specials.

Please click here or go to www.christianretailing.com/icrs to submit your exhibitor information—or as much as you have available at present—to help retailers plan ahead for ICRS. Christian Retailing will publish ICRS information free of charge in its June and July issues, with the July issue available to show attendees at the Charisma Media booth.

For information on exhibiting, visit www.christianretailshow.com.

Aiming to capitalize on the success of the History Channel's The Bible TV miniseries, two studios are working on competing movie projects based on the biblical book of Exodus.

Best known for his role as Batman, Christian Bale is set to play Moses in Ridley Scott's forthcoming 20th Century Fox film, Exodus, focusing on the Old Testament leader's life, including his relationship with Pharaoh Rameses II, according to Deadline.com.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg has reportedly stepped down as director of Paramount Studios' Gods and Kings, with Oscar-winning Life of Pi Director Ang Lee expected to replace him, The Guardian reported. Gods and Kings is described as an epic biopic of Moses "in a gritty Braveheart-meets-Saving-Private-Ryan style," the British newspaper said.

"Fox and Paramount have surely noticed the ratings on History Channel's The Bible miniseries," Deadline.com observed. "There is certainly a global audience for a retelling of the Moses story with the technological advancements made since Charlton Heston played him in the 1956 Ten Commandments, a film that was one of the biggest blockbusters of its time."

Zondervan has sold more than 11 million units in print and digital formats of the updated New International Version (NIV) since its release two years ago. The NIV has maintained its status as the most-read modern English translation—with more than 450 million copies in print since its initial debut nearly 35 years ago, according to the publisher.

"We are elated that the NIV remains the translation of choice for millions of people around the world who want to read and understand God's unchanging Word in today's language" said Chip Brown, senior vice president and publisher at HarperCollins Christian Publishing and Zondervan. "Since its debut in 1978, the NIV has become and remains the world's best-selling Bible by God's grace and because the NIV translation philosophy uniquely translates directly from the original Bible languages into the way English is spoken today."

In the past two years, Zondervan has released more than 500 products featuring the updated NIV, which has been buoyed by the popularity of The Story—an abridged, chronological version of the Bible that has sold more than 1 million copies. The Story, which condenses the Bible in 31 chapters in the format of a novel, has repeatedly topped the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Bible best-sellers.

Additionally, the updated NIV Study Bible, released in October 2011, has sold more than a 250,000 copies. The NIV Thinline Bible, one of the first print products to release with the updated NIV text, has sold nearly 1.1 million copies, while the NIV Bible e-book has sold more than 500,000 units.

Translated by the Committee on Bible Translation, the updated NIV, which replaced the 1984 NIV and the 2006 Today's New International Version (TNIV). The revision of the NIV was announced in September 2009 and its translation was completed in a year, with the new text made available online for review and comment. The TNIV—beset by criticism for some of its gender-related changes—was phased out.

LifeWay Christian Resources decided early last year to continue selling the updated NIV in its LifeWay stores, despite an appeal to stop doing so. A nonbinding resolution presented in the Southern Baptist denomination's 2011 convention argued that the revised NIV was "inaccurate" and used "gender-neutral methods of translation."

Randy Newman’s Evangelism: Engaging People's Hearts the Way Jesus Did has reached 50,000 copies in print since its 2003 publication.

Questioning Evangelism argues that asking questions and starting meaningful conversations is a far better method for sharing the Christian faith than hard-sell tactics or prepared lectures or statements. Raised Jewish, Newman specializes in helping people of different backgrounds discuss matters of faith. 

“My hope in writing this book is to help non-evangelists do the work of evangelists,” he said. “I see evangelism more as a dialogue than a sales pitch, and I want to help people know how to use questions to promote two-way conversations.”

For more information, visit Kregel Publications at www.kregel.com.