Barbour Publishing CEO Timothy Martins announced that Mary Burns has been promoted to the position of president and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

Martins, who served as Barbour’s president for over 20 years, will remain active with the company as CEO and serving on the company’s board of directors. Burns, a 23-year veteran of Barbour Publishing, has served as vice president of marketing for the majority of that time. The executive team will now report directly to Burns. Together they’ll be responsible for executing Barbour’s strategy and managing the business.

Martins commented on Barbour's future under Burns' leadership.

“I'm ecstatic about the possibilities for the company and its owners under Mary's leadership and look forward to watching her very capable team reach new heights in the months and years to come,” Martins said.

Burns cast a sunny vision for the company's future.

“I’m excited to take on the leadership role of president," Burns said. "With our recent transition to an ESOP, there are endless opportunities for Barbour to grow and continue our success in book publishing. It will be my pleasure to guide our motivated and dedicated team in accomplishing the goals we have set for the future.”

Burns also announced the promotion of Shalyn Sattler to the position of vice president of marketing. Sattler, who joined the Barbour team in 2005, has served as director of marketing in recent years. With this promotion, she will now be responsible for providing team leadership and strategy for all of the company’s marketing activities.

Sattler said she was pleased to receive this promotion.

“I’m incredibly honored to accept this new position with the company that has become my family over the past 12 years,” Sattler said. “Book marketing has drastically changed since I first began my career, but I’m energized by the challenge of continually finding new and better ways of connecting readers with our uplifting products.”

Donald Trump is six months into the U.S. presidency, and opinions about his job thus far certainly fall all along the spectrum of approval or disapproval. One fact that can’t be overlooked is that President Trump has embraced the guidance of Christians who helped elect him.

A new book from Charisma Media CEO Stephen E. Strang, who strongly backed Trump in the election, will consider how the president’s faith has perhaps grown and strengthened in office. God and Donald Trump (FrontLine/Charisma House), to be released Nov. 7, seeks to help readers understand who Trump is, what he really believes, where his vision for America will lead the country and where God is in all of this.

“With pundits asking, ‘How did he win?’ my new book explores whether there was a supernatural element involved,” Strang said. “Christian leaders prophesied before the election that God had raised up Trump to lead the nation through a time of crisis. But could this billionaire reality-TV star actually convince the voters he was for real? And if so, what is God doing, now not only in Donald’s Trump’s life, but also in the nation?”

Trump is an enigma—a brash self-promoter, casino owner and man of the world. Yet he is also a devoted husband and father who has surrounded himself with men and women of faith and has made religion a key component of his image. Strang’s God and Donald Trump will explore:

● How family and childhood influences shaped Trump’s character and worldview
● How openness to evangelical leaders helped build his commitment to religious liberty
● How his election as president was predicted years before by charismatic prophets
● How he captured the largest evangelical vote in history and won the Electoral College
● What he really believes and how those beliefs helped shape his campaign promises

God and Donald Trump is a powerful first-person account of one of the most contentious elections in American history, with exclusive interviews and insightful commentary from the men and women who were there.

After interviewing Trump, Strang, an award-winning journalist, founder of Charisma magazine and successful businessman, was involved with other Christian leaders who campaigned for Trump’s election. Strang also attended the 2017 election-night victory party in New York because he believed the prophetic ministers who said Trump would win.

Lucy Diaz Kurz has rejoined the Charisma House book group after a seven-year interval.

Kurz relaunches her career at the publishing house as vice president of marketing, a title she held from August 2004 to September 2010. In this role, she will oversee strategic marketing efforts for all book imprints, including Charisma House, FrontLine, Siloam and Passio.

As the most industry-awarded Hispanic woman in the Christian bookseller market with many gold, platinum and New York Times best-seller distinctions, Kurz has represented hundreds of artists and authors and thousands of products.

“We couldn’t find a better fit for this role than Lucy,” said Marcos Perez, publisher and executive vice president of Charisma House. “Her industry experience and marketing expertise will help to transform and restrategize our book marketing efforts.”

Kurz’s widespread years of professional experience include successful roles as senior vice president of business development/consulting for Synergy Crosslinx Holding LLC, president of development at Gospo Centric and B-Rite Music, president at Lucy Diaz Kurz Consulting, vice president of marketing and corporate officer and vice president of special projects for Integrity Inc.

“With an impressive track record in the industry such as Lucy’s, we expect great things to come,” said Steve Strang, founder and CEO of Charisma Media. “Most importantly, she brings biblical knowledge to the role, which is paramount to achieving our mission as a company.”

With her successful completion of studies in two global networks providing qualification to teach in more than 1,300 international Bible schools worldwide through Rhema Bible Training Center and DOMATA School of Ministry, Kurz brings a wealth of biblical expertise to Charisma House, which is the publisher of the Modern English Version Bible translation.

Charisma House has published 13 New York Times best-sellers, including The Harbinger, The Mystery of the Shemitah and The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn; Fasting by Jentezen Franklin; 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese; and The Seven Pillars of Health by Don Colbert, M.D.

The Association of Logos Bookstores announced this year’s Books, Author and Representatives of the Year. The awards, presented at Unite 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio, honor outstanding work in the Christian publishing and retailing fields.

Each spring, members of the Association of Logos Bookstores nominate and then select Books of the Year winners in seven different categories, as well as an Author of the Year whose body of work exemplifies the power of books to change lives forever. Finally, Christian retail store managers nominate 22 outstanding field and inside representatives, who are honored for their service to the stores.

Executive director Becky Gorczyca was proud to honor 2017’s winners.

"We consider it a privilege each year to acknowledge, encourage and thank these other participants in our shared mission in Christian retailing," Gorczyca said.

Anne Graham Lotz received the award for Author of the Year. The seven Books of the Year were James K. Smith’s You Are What You Love (Brazos Press/Baker Publishing House) for Theology, Doctrine and Reference; Sharon Garlough Brown’s Barefoot (InterVarsity Press) for Fiction; Ann Voskamp’s The Broken Way (Zondervan) for Spirituality and Devotion; Priscilla Shirer and Gina Detwiler’s The Prince Warriors (LifeWay) for Youth; Shauna Niequist’s Present Over Perfect (Zondervan) for Christian Living; George McDonald and Ruth Sanderson’s The Golden Key (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) for Children’s Picture Books; and Makato Fujimure’s Silence and Beauty (InterVarsity Press) for Christianity/Culture.

The 17 representatives honored for their work were Gary Sipes (B&H), Connie Hall (Crossway), Steven Bartch (David C Cook), Robert Splinter (Group Publishing), Dean Cook (HarperCollins), Regina Hughes (HarperCollins), Gary Comeforo (HarperCollins), Jeff Miller (HarperCollins), Jerry Gortmaker (Noble Marketing), Lane Davis (Noble), Ryan Garrett (Noble), Ted Terry (Noble), Harley Rollins (Rollins Pilot), Trevor Rollins (Rollins Pilot), Mary Lou Alexander (Spring Arbor), Dave Salzmann (Tyndale) and Troy Baker (Tyndale).

CBA's Unite 2017 in Cincinnati had an intentionally smaller footprint but saved money for the Christian retail association. The exhibitors seemed mostly pleased, although they acknowledged there were fewer retailers who attended. The international booths were also set up in a separate exhibit area, which led to some complaints, but the international business was generally good, according to exhibitors.

Dicksons’ Stephanie Flinn, vice president of product development, brought to their booth gifts appropriate for the season that retailers would be buying now. With a smaller show floor this year, exhibitors reduced their booth space.

Flinn also noted that she had some “great conversations” with internationals, which is a major focus of the show.

Craig Cable of Group Publishing also said his company had “lots of great discussions and meetings” at Unite.

Brian Adkins, founder and CEO of Scripture Candy, had a good order-writing show.

“We were also exposed here to the Empowered Life group that bought 15 stores [from Family Christian Stores]. … That within itself makes the show," Adkins said.

Sister Antonia Cleverly connected with customers at the booth for Paraclete Press, which hasn’t been at CBA’s show for more than 10 years. The publisher returned this year, she said, because of its selection of titles appropriate to the evangelical market. Paraclete is also strengthening its publishing on the ecumenical side.
“We’re trying to talk with other distributors and also we had some rights appointments, so it’s a good opportunity for us to do some other connections, not just bookstores,” Sr. Antonia said.

“I would say we had moderate expectations, and they were met,” she added.

Designer Mindy Kinnier, who owns gift company Rooted Ink with her two sisters, is exhibiting at Unite for the first time. The young company is new to Christian retail, but has an inventory that should appeal to Christian stores. Rooted Ink focuses on prayer journals, including some for children and youth, and also sells sermon notebooks and Scripture prints.

“We had a few Christian bookstores contact us just through our website, so we thought we’d come and get some exposure here,” said Kinnier, whose parents owned a Christian bookstore in Orange County, California, for 28 years.

Karen Ganovsky, founder and owner of Neckglasses/NeckBlessings, had a positive outlook on Unite 2017 and is looking forward to the convention in Nashville, where it will be for the next two years.

“The response has been fabulous and positively uplifting,” Ganovsky said. “We placed more orders than anticipated and have met so many warm and welcoming people. We are very happy we chose to exhibit at Unite 2017.”

In a cooperative industry project, CBA will provide Christian stores the ability to sell products online with in-store customer pick-up. The "Get It Local Today" program, scheduled to launch this year, offers retailers without advanced online capabilities a way to show store inventory and sell or reserve the product online for customers' in-store pick-up.

Using technology pioneered by the Covenant Group, the project enables publishers, suppliers and authors to refer their website visitors to buy from local Christian stores for immediate pick-up or to order online for drop-shipping. This gives publishers and suppliers an alternative to refer website buyers to Christian stores, not only to Amazon or big-box retailers.

Supplier-website referrals can be directed to specific Get It Local Today product pages for purchase through any local Christian store listed on the website.

CBA's store-locator site, christianstores.org, also will refer store searches and website visits to local stores for purchase. The site was recently relaunched with consumer-oriented content focusing on consumer needs. It offers personality profiles and interviews, new product releases, independent product reviews, best-seller lists and more. The Get It Local Today e-commerce engine will power the site.

The website repurposes content from CBA's Christian MARKET monthly magazine and other media in a content-marketing strategy to be part of consumers' new "purchasing journeys" to find resources, solve life problems and learn about new Christian content.

Christianstores.org includes a "Life Helps" topical listing to recommend best-selling resources for life issues, such as grief, marriage and addictions. The list is used with permission from Books That Change Lives, CLC Publications. Eventually these "retailer-recommended" listings will link to individual pages for local purchase.

An added retailer feature is the use of "post-sale credit" technology from The Parable Group. This will enable participating retailers to redeem sale and promotional credits in an automated way from publishers and suppliers for products sold on Get It Local Today.

Retailers earn most of the margin on products sold through the website, giving them financial incentives to participate.

"We want to create a way for the entire industry to connect to customers and bring them into Christian stores," said CBA President Curtis Riskey. "Store traffic will never be the way it once was because of the Internet and e-commerce, but brick-and-mortar retailers still have the advantage if they can connect to customers the way they are shopping today."

Connecting individual store inventory for specific products on the website is critical. "This is essential," Riskey said, pointing to iQmetrix research that says consumers are 73 percent more likely to visit a store if they can see in-store inventory online.

"The research also reported that 75 percent of consumers expect online ordering to also offer in-store pick-up," Riskey said. He said participating retailers should enroll in CBA's free CROSS:SCAN data-reporting service to automate inventory reporting. CROSS:SCAN inventory data will be fed to the site so customers can see individual on-hand inventory and have confidence product will be in the store when they get there.

Chuck Wallington, head of the Covenant Group and president of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, South Carolina, said the project could not happen without the cooperation and collaboration from numerous industry partners.

"It's more important now than ever before in our industry's history for us to work together across the industry-retailer to retailer, and retailer to supplier-to leverage the assets we have together for the benefit of both our industry and the future effective distribution of the products we all cherish," Wallington said.

The website will list all Christian stores for which CBA has complete records, but stores with reported in-stock inventory will be listed with priority highlighting. Stores without inventory may be listed, but the selection will be grayed out because inventory status is unknown.

The site also will be a good source for frontline product knowledge on new releases with information, reviews and editorial highlights.

"All of retailing is going through challenging times, even though research shows that 85 percent of retail sales will still be through brick-and-mortar stores through the foreseeable future," Riskey said. "Being able to provide a compelling in-store experience plus offering the convenience and speed of ordering online are a winning combination in the new retailing world."

CBA’s Unite 2017 drew show attendees to a Duke Energy Center ballroom for the “Envision the Legacy” banquet Thursday night. The event featured the ministry of Christian illusionists Rod Robison and Adrian Van Vactor. Their book, Unmasking the Masquerade (Encourage Publishing), written with illusionist Toby Travis, was given to attendees that evening, and they held a book signing after the event.

Fortune 50 business leader Terence Chatmon also spoke on the importance of instituting a spiritual leadership plan for the family. Chatmon, who worked for Johnson & Johnson, Citibank and Coca Cola, is now president and CEO of Fellowship of Companies for Christ International. His debut book, Do Your Children Believe? (Thomas Nelson), demonstrates the importance of being purposeful about leaving a spiritual legacy in the family.

CBA President Curtis Riskey, board chair Sue Smith and retailer and board member Vicki Geist presented five awards during the event. CBA’s Lifetime Achievement Award was given posthumously to Dan Hobson, gift pioneer and Carpentree founder. Hobson’s wife, GInny, who is vice president of Carpentree, and their son, Jordan, vice president of sales at the company, received the award.

The association presented the International Lifetime Achievement Award to Chris Johnsen, who is from South Africa, and founded Christian Art Distributors and Christian Art Gifts. Christian Art Gifts Hong Kong also was established in 2016.

CBA honored HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) with the Industry Champion Award. Presented to Senior Vice President Tom Knight for the company, the award was given to commemorate HCCP’s support of the independent Christian retailer.

CBA presented the Ministry in Action award to the Tyndale House Foundation. Mark Taylor, president and CEO of the foundation and of Tyndale House Publishers, was honored to receive the award, which was given, in large part, because of Tyndale’s work with Oasis International on the Africa Study Bible.

Retailers Bill and Ila Ballou, owners of Solid Rock in Kearney, Nebraska, were also honored for their work in the store and community. They were on hand to receive the Jim Carlson Spirit of Excellence Award.

Riskey told retailers that “with change comes pain,” reminding them of how important it is to stand together, unite and have faith. “God is still on the throne. … We have a hope and a future.”