Halle Joy owner Steve Slaughter has found a way to give college students a hand up, while benefiting from their new designs created for his women’s accessories company.

In return for his teaching at Texas Christian University, offering students guidance in product and textile design, Halle Joy gets new designs from students at the acclaimed school.

Product design students create a collection for Halle Joy, and textile design students create a new base fabric for handbags. At the end of each semester, one product is selected to become a part of the Halle Joy offering.

Designs by Gardenfire—known mainly for apparel—now appear on BelieveTek technology products under a new partnership between the two companies.

BelieveTek, a faith-based technology company owned and operated by Steve Crawford and Josh Warren, wants to bring a message of “accountability when surfing the Internet, so we are working on some designs for the keyboards and mice for that reason,” Warren said.

Under the new agreement, Gardenfire designs will be used on BelieveTek’s wireless keyboard ($59.99 retail), wireless mouse ($34.99), iPhone and Samsung case ($24.99); iPad case ($34.99) and Kindle Fire case ($29.99).

Ralph P. Martin, a prominent Bible scholar and author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, died Monday, Feb. 25, in Southport, England. He was 88.

Martin was professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he served for many years. He was also an associate professor in biblical studies at the University of Sheffield and taught at the Graduate School of Theology of Azusa Pacific University.

Martin's doctoral dissertation, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii. 5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship (Cambridge University Press), established him as an authority on Phil. 2:5-11. In 1997, his dissertation was reissued by InterVarsity Press (IVP) as A Hymn of Christ.

Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the New Testament, Martin served as co-editor of IVP's Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments.

"Martin's graciousness and moderation in dealing with sensitive issues of New Testament criticism is a model that calls for reflection and emulation in our increasingly polarized environment," said IVP Senior Editor Dan Reid. "IVP is thankful to God for the gifts and generosity of this remarkable Christian gentleman and scholar."

Among other titles, Martin also wrote Philippians in the "Tyndale New Testament Commentaries" series (Tyndale House Publishers); and Mark: Evangelist and Theologian (Zondervan) and Worship in the Early Church (Wm. B. Eerdmans). He also served as editor of several titles in the "Word Biblical Commentary" set (Thomas Nelson).

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who worked with noted Christian author Francis Schaeffer on a pro-life book and video series, died Monday, Feb. 25, at his home in Hanover, N.H. Koop, who had been ill for several months and suffered kidney failure, was 96, Reuters reported.

Known for his trademark bowties, suspenders and gray beard, Koop served as surgeon general from November 1981 until October 1989, taking hard and sometimes controversial stands on abortion, AIDS, fatty foods, drugs and cigarettes—calling for warning labels on all tobacco packaging. Known as "America's Family Doctor," he was one of the most recognizable figures in the Reagan administration, spotlighting a formerly obscure government position, Reuters reported.

A devout Presbyterian, Koop also co-wrote Whatever Happened to the Human Race? (Crossway, 1983) with Schaeffer. The book, which analyzed the impact of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, was turned into a highly regarded DVD series with the same title and released by Vision Video.

Koop was also the co-founder, along with the late Harold O.J. Brown, of the Christian Action Council, renamed Care Net, which now supports a network of pregnancy resource centers.

Koop's death was announced by Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine, where he founded the C. Everett Koop Institute. He was only 16 when he entered Dartmouth and later graduated from Cornell Medical College.

"Dr. Koop was not only a pioneering pediatric surgeon but also one of the most courageous and passionate public health advocates of the past century," said Wiley Souba, dean of the school. "He did not back down from deeply rooted health challenges or powerful interests that stood in the way of needed change. Instead, he fought, he educated and he transformed lives for the better."

In September 1995, President Bill Clinton awarded Koop the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. Koop is survived by his wife, Cora, three children and eight grandchildren. His first wife of 69 years, Elizabeth, died in 2007.

Religious presses reported a nearly 23% increase in e-books for the first 10 months of 2012 versus January-October 2011, with sales of more than $48 million, according to the latest figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The association has also seen double-digit growth in religious digital books during several past reports.

Overall, religious book sales for the year-to-date versus the same time frame in 2011 saw a more than 6% drop to more than $473.7 million. AAP has seen a decline in overall religious book sales during recent reports.

Religious paperback sales experienced a nearly 18% decrease for the year-to-date versus January-October 2011, with sales of more than $144 million. In the same date range, religious hardcover sales were down 4.5%, with sales of more than $234 million.

With nearly 1,200 publishers reporting, AAP's Monthly StatShot report included data from Concordia Publishing House, Gospel Light, Moody Publishers, NavPress, Thomas Nelson and Tyndale House Publishers, among others represented by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

God's Inspirational Promises (Thomas Nelson) by Max Lucado recently received an Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Platinum Award for sales of more than 1 million copies via all retail channels.

Gold ECPA Awards, marking sales of more than 500,000 copies, also went to three other Nelson titles: God's Promises for Women by Jack Countryman; Heaven Is for Real for Kids by Todd and Sonja Burpo; and My First Study Bible by Paul J. Loth.

Earlier this year, ECPA also recognized A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers) with a Platinum Award. Gold ECPA Awards went to Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen (FaithWords); How to Hear From God by Joyce Meyer (FaithWords); The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group); and One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (Zondervan) among others.

The year's recipients of the Gold, Platinum and Diamond (more than 10 million copies in sales) awards will be honored at the ECPA Awards Banquet, to held April 29 during the association's Leadership Summit at Ingram Publisher Services' headquarters outside of Nashville.

Click here for a complete list of ECPA Diamond, Platinum and Gold Award recipients. 

InterVarsity Press (IVP), Crossway and Wm. B. Eerdmans had two titles each among Preaching magazine's annual "Ten Books Every Preacher Should Read" in 2013.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler's survey of the year's best books for preachers includes: Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles by Graeme Goldsworthy and Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves (both IVP); Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church by Gregg R. Allison and God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology by Gerald Bray (both Crossway); The Juvenilization of American Christianity by Thomas E. Bergler and The Intolerance of Tolerance by D.A. Carson (both Eerdmans); Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction by Jonathan T. Pennington (Baker Academic/Baker Publishing Group); Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD by Peter Brown (Princeton University Press); Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray (Crown Forum); and Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Douthat (Free Press).

Click here for more information on Preaching magazine's "Ten Books Every Preacher Should Read" in 2013.