HarperCollins' new Christian division, comprised of Zondervan and the newly acquired Thomas Nelson, has announced its new leadership team, featuring executives from both publishers.

Reporting to Mark Schoenwald, newly named president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing Division, the team includes:

*Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Stuart Bitting (formerly executive vice president and CFO at Thomas Nelson);

*Senior Vice President of Zondervan Book Publishing Annette Bourland (formerly senior vice president and publisher at Zondervan);

*Senior Vice President of Thomas Nelson Book Publishing David Moberg (formerly vice president and group publisher at Thomas Nelson);

*Senior Vice President of Bible Publishing Chip Brown (formerly senior vice president and publisher at Zondervan);

*Senior Vice President of Church, Academic and Reference Resources Paul Engle (formerly senior vice president and publisher at Zondervan);

*Zondervan Editor-in-Chief Stan Gundry (formerly executive vice president and editor-in-chief at Zondervan);

*Senior Vice President of eMedia Eric Shanfelt, who had the same position at Thomas Nelson;

*Senior Vice President of Spanish and International Publishing Tod Shuttleworth (formerly senior vice president and group publisher at Thomas Nelson);

*Managing Director of Live Events Management Carol Nygren (formerly executive vice president and managing director of live event management at Thomas Nelson);

*Senior Vice President of Sales Tom Knight, who held the same position at Thomas Nelson;

*General Manager of Bible Gateway Rachel Barach, who had the same position at Zondervan;

*Senior Vice President of Support Operations and Human Resources Al Kerkstra, who held the same position at Zondervan;

*and Director of Corporate Communications Casey Harrell, who had the same position at Thomas Nelson.

"I am confident in this team's ability to lead the company through decisions that will be crucial for driving growth and fulfilling the publishing groups' missions," Schoenwald said. "We will continue to work through every aspect of the business to build an organization focused on innovation and execution, committed to honoring God and serving our partners."

Announced earlier this week, the leadership team will "work together to preserve the two publishing group's unique editorial focus, while pursuing mutually beneficial collaborative opportunities for the new division," HarperCollins said.

Formerly president and CEO of Thomas Nelson, Schoenwald reports to Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, and serves on the HarperCollins executive committee.

Last fall, HarperCollins agreed to buy Thomas Nelson, but did not disclose the purchase price although it was reported by several media outlets to be $200 million. In mid-2010, an investor group led by Kohlberg & Co. bought majority ownership in the Nashville publishing company.

Capitalizing on the growing digital market, Thomas Nelson has sold more than 100,000 apps based on 10 of its books and devotionals. The apps include Sarah Young's mega-selling devotional app Jesus Calling, Todd Burpo's Heaven Is for Real for Kids and Max Lucado's Live Loved.

"Apps offer a new level of accessibility for this outstanding devotional content, and we are thrilled to see the success of these apps," said Laura Minchew, senior vice president and publisher of specialty products at Thomas Nelson. "I especially love the ease of sharing content via Facebook or Twitter and the immediate giftability of the apps."

Ranging in price from $3.99 to $9.99 each, the apps are offered through the iTunes Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, with some available for Droid devices.

Meanwhile, two of Nelson's titles—Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas and Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory—were among a select group of e-books that Amazon recently offered readers in celebration of the first anniversary of the Kindle Daily Deal promotion. Both of the New York Times best-sellers were offered at a discounted rate. 

Elsewhere, the Parable Group has released two free mobile apps with the full text of the Bible, plus a selected book in audio. Each app features a different translation—The Word of Promise in the New King James Version and The Truth & Life in the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition—for Apple and Android devices, as well as Amazon's Kindle Fire. 

The apps are "specifically designed with our core customer in mind, so they are user-friendly,” said Sally Ross, Parable Agency marketing specialist and project leader. “There are great ways to customize the app with font size, scrolling options, highlighting, bookmarks and audio playlists. And best of all, a customer can access their Bible from anywhere."

 Click here for more information on the free Bible apps. 

To promote the Sept. 4 release of Steven Furtick's Greater: Dream Bigger. Start Smaller (Multnomah Books), the author and lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., and his congregation are hosting a live online Greater Day event at www.greaterbook.com and www.elevationnetwork.com.

The promotion includes a Greater Day Twitter campaign to donate backpacks to school children in need for every copy of the book sold on its release day. For each message sent via Twitter to #greaterbook confirming a copy of Greater was purchased from any retailer, a backpack with school supplies will be distributed or given through a network of partner churches and outreaches across the country.

From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST today, online viewers of the Greater Day event can participate in the Twitter campaign and also hear from Furtick as he goes behind the scenes and describes his heart and vision for Greater.

The book draws on the biblical story of Elisha to empower readers to take a God-given dream from idea to reality. Greater is a follow up to his 2010 book on prayer, Sun Stand Still (Multnomah Books).

Click here for more information on the Greater Day promotion.

Meanwhile, author Austin Gutwein is hosting a live Facebook webcast Sept. 6 to focus on themes of her book, Live to Give: Letting God Turn Your Talents into Miracles, released by Thomas Nelson in August.

At the conclusion of the Live to Give online event, the winners of a monthlong "Get and Give" social-media contest will be announced, including the winner of a Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet and $250 donated to the winner's charity of choice.

Click here for more information on the webcast.

Standard Publishing has released the 60th edition of its top-selling Standard Lesson Commentary, the publisher's annual Bible guide that comes in several editions.

The commentary—in King James Version (KJV) and New International Version (NIV)—is frequently on Christian market best-seller lists this time of year, having recently held several high-ranking spots on the General best-sellers from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

The Standard Lesson Commentary is used by thousands of churches to guide weekly discussions for a year of studying God's Word.

"The commentary does more than highlight trending topics of the day," said Senior Editor Jonathan Underwood. "Our readers and students have come to rely on its 52 weeks of lessons to paint a bigger picture of God's Word."

"We credit the success of the Standard Lesson Commentary to the reliably solid material, which includes verse-by-verse exposition of Scripture, discussion questions and adult-appropriate learning activities," said Vice President of Marketing Stephanie Woeste.

"This has kept the commentary solidly in the top sales spot for the last 20 years. We have also responded to the way today's readers consume information by developing electronic versions and, recently, e-book editions for both the KJV and NIV commentaries."

Each of the yearly editions released since the 1950s have followed the ISSL/Uniform Series, which creates a six-year study plan for the entire Bible.

"Students and leaders find they are better equipped to navigate issues of daily life and develop a closer relationship with God when they understand the entire truth of God as told throughout Scripture," Underwood said. "The method we've perfected over the last 60 years provides a foundation on which all other discussions and learning can take place."

Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have reached a $69 million deal with several states over alleged price-fixing for e-books. Based on statements from attorneys general in Maryland, Ohio, Texas Colorado and Florida, the settlement was made earlier this week, and must be approved by a federal judge in New York, Bloomberg reported.

"Unlawful collusion and price-fixing not only violates antitrust laws, it is anti-competitive and inconsistent with the free market approach that is critical to our economy," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement. "[The] settlements provide refunds to customers who paid artificially inflated prices for e-books."

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust suit in April against computer giant Apple and five major publishers—including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group (USA) and Holtzbrinck Publishers (Macmillan)—to allow greater competition on e-book prices.

The DOJ said that the defendants sought to raise e-book prices "significantly higher" than the $9.99 level at which they were selling, Bloomberg reported. The publishers viewed online retailer Amazon.com's discounted prices on e-books as a "substantial challenge to their traditional business model," according to the complaint.

Hachette, which publishes Christian books under its FaithWords and Jericho Books imprints, said in a statement that the company had "reluctantly agreed to join the settlement," but that it "was not involved in a conspiracy to illegally fix the price of e-books."

HarperCollins—the parent company of Zondervan and Thomas Nelson—responded in a press release that it "did not violate any anti-trust laws and will comply with its obligations under the agreement."

Simon & Schuster, which publishes Christian titles under Howard Books, has not issued a statement.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the settlement "will repay consumers affected by [the] price-fixing schemes and will restore competition in the electronic book market."

She said about 97% of consumers will get notice of the settlement by e-mail. In addition to Florida, 54 attorneys general in other states, districts and U.S. territories joined in the settlement, Bloomberg reported.

The makers of Unconditional, a Christian-themed drama scheduled for a Sept. 21 theatrical release, have announced partnerships with national nonprofits, such as Feed The Children, Arrow Child & Family Ministries, Here's Life Inner City and more than 150 other local service organizations across the country.

The partnerships are a direct response to the film's ACT campaign, a movement encouraging moviegoers to serve alongside such organizations and ministries to help make a difference in their communities.

Unconditional tells the story of Samantha Crawford (Lynn Collins), whose storybook marriage is wrecked by a senseless act of violence. "Papa" Joe Bradford (Michael Ealy), Crawford's childhood friend, leads her on a journey back toward unconditional love.

Produced by Harbinger Media Partners, the film is based on the real-life Joe Bradford, who serves seven at-risk communities in Nashville through his Elijah's Heart ministry.

"My dream is that Unconditional inspires cities to unite in love to rescue one of our most precious commodities: thousands of at-risk and fatherless children torn by poverty and oppression," said Bradford, co-producer of the film.

In June, Xulon Press released A Walk of Love, Bradford's autobiography. On Sept. 1, B&H Books will release a novelization of Unconditional by Eva Marie Everson.

"It's encouraging to know that the film is resonating with those serving their community on a daily basis." said Ealy, a Golden Globe nominated actor. "This film is important to me because not only is it entertaining, it will inspire viewers to go out and make a difference."

Click here for more information on Unconditional and the ACT campaign.

More than two years after David Platt's Radical (Multnomah Books) released, it has reached 100 weeks on the New York Times Advice & Miscellaneous Paperback best-seller list. With more than a million copies in print, the book, which also continues to appear on the CBA Top 50 list, first debuted on the New York Times list on June 6, 2010—just weeks after it was published.

A hardcover combined edition of related books The Radical Question and The Radical Idea is planned for release Oct. 2 from Multnomah Books, offering an introduction to Radical's challenge to the contemporary church: "What is Jesus worth to you?" In the book, Platt, pastor of the Church at Brook Hills, a 4,000-member congregation in Birmingham, Ala., explores what a commitment to Jesus would actually look like in action.

In a promotion to support Radical, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group is hosting a contest to give one winner a $1,000 Visa gift card to help with his or her mission trip expenses. The contest runs through Sept. 9 and is open to U.S. residents age 18 or older who will participate in a mission trip between Oct. 1, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2013.

Click here for more information on the contest.