CBA leaders George Thomsen and Aurelio Barreto are due to be among the speakers sharing their expertise and insights at Christian Retailing’s Retailing ReBoot West in California, next month.

The two men will be taking part in educational sessions addressing issues such as how stores can improve their customer service and inventory changes in the light of digital publishing. There will also be discussions, networking sessions and business meetings to help stores deal with the changes the industry is facing and prepare for the important Christmas season.

Retailing ReBoot West will be held Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 17-18 at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, Calif. Store representatives registering for the event can bring a second attendee for free, while qualifying attendees will have accommodation and some travel costs reimbursed.

Among suppliers registered for the event are Crossway, DaySpring, Kerusso, Tyndale House Publishers, DaySpring and Zondervan.

Chairman of the board of CBA, Thomsen is the general manager of the Harvest Bookstore at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and a consultant to other church and independent retail stores. 

Barreto, gift director on the CBA board, is founder and CEO of C28 stores and apparel supplier Not of This World. He was one of two first industry recipients of the Champions of the Faith award at the International Christian Retail Show in July.

Retailing ReBoot West is being staged following the success of Christian Retailing’s Retailing ReBoot in Orlando, Fla., in April.

Rose Seeley, manager of Cottonwood Bookstore at Cottonwood Church, said that the Orlando event gave her “more practical information and ideas than I have ever got from any one show I have been to.”

She added: “I love ReBoot because of its size and atmosphere. It’s intimate and therefore conducive to connecting and collaborating with others. And I’m so excited that Cottonwood Church is hosting the first Retail ReBoot West because that opportunity will be made more available to churches and other stores in the West.”

For more information or to register, go to www.retailingreboot.com, or contact Derek Bjork at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 407-333-0600, ext. 2283.

The new publishing company founded by audiobook supplier eChristian has announced the acquisition of The Livingstone Corporation, the group behind scores of specialty Bibles. Details of the deal have not been disclosed.

The Livingstone team will become part of recently founded eC Publishing Group (EPG), which comprises eChristian and Mission Books imprints and eChristian’s extensive audio division.

Livingstone was founded in 1988 by the creators of the award-winning Life Application Study Bible. Named after famous missionary-explorer David Livingstone, the group has since worked on more than 100 other Bible projects and 400 books.

“We are thrilled to add the expertise of Livingstone to eChristian’s publishing and digital initiatives,” said eChristian CEO Todd Hoyt. “Livingstone is best at what they do for publishing and product development, and they will continue to serve the entire Christian publishing industry.”

Livingstone co-founder and CEO Bruce Barton said that the move would enable his team “to step up to the digital challenges that lay ahead. We are encouraged by the larger mission and impact that we can have together.”

The publisher at EPG is Christian publishing veteran Dan Balow, who joined eChristian last year. The company’s first book releases this fall—in both print and digital versions—will include eChristianBooks’ The Disciplines of the Christian Life by Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner depicted in the 1981 Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, and Mission Books’ The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the 19th-century Russian writer.

The family behind the surprise best-seller Heaven is for Real have signed a licensing deal with apparel and accessory company Kerusso.

A T-shirt and wristband will go on sale in stores from mid-October. The yellow tee with the book title on the front and the message “and you're going to like it!” on the back, will retail for $18.99-$20.99, depending on size.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the demand for products, and Kerusso has now taken that burden off us,” said Todd Burpo, who authored the account of his son Colton’s near-death experience and account of visiting heaven.

Since Thomas Nelson released the book late last year, it has sold 5 million copies, been translated into 30 languages and rested on the New York Times best-seller list for 42 weeks. A children’s edition of the book releases in November.

The Kerusso tee is available in small, medium and large children's sizes as well as adults’ small through 3X. The yellow rubber wristbands bearing the title will retail for $1.99 each.

“Kerusso’s mission is ‘Proclaiming the Good News to the world through products about Jesus,’ ” said Vic Kennett, Kerusso president and CEO. “I can’t think of a more exciting way to do that than helping the Burpo family spread Colton’s amazing story. We’re thrilled to help them tell the world that heaven truly is for real.”