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Paul Davis, 67, a U.K. Christian music pioneer and founder of New Christian Music (NCM), died from cancer May 6 in a hospice in Leighton Buzzard, England. Doctors discovered a brain tumor in February. A journalist, record producer and broadcaster, Davis wrote several books, including the biographies of Pat Boone, George Hamilton IV and George Beverley Shea. For the last 26 years, Davis had served as lead pastor of Leighton Christian Fellowship—a church he formed with Hazel, his wife of 46 years. A 400th anniversary commemorative edition of the King James Version published by Oxford University Press has become a surprise hit with Australians, completely selling out, according to the publisher, who is scrambling to print more copies. With 1,520 pages and a retail price of $120, the Bible is faithful to the 1611 original—replete with arcane prose and more than 350 printing errors. A Christian bookstore in County Armagh, Northern Ireland is hoping to reach new customers around the world after launching what is believed to be the first iPhone application for a Christian retailer. One of the biggest Christian booksellers in the U.K., ICM Books Direct has embraced e-commerce and tripled sales through its Web site in the last year. The Council of Churches of Malaysia and the Christian Federation of Malaysia have expressed frustration over the repeated detention of Bibles written in the nation’s language, Bahasa Malaysia, in the ports of Kuching and Klang because they feature the word “Allah.” The Malaysian government prohibits the word in Christian publications, arguing that use of the term might cause confusion among Muslims, who make up about 60% of Malaysia’s population. Since March 2009, all attempts to import the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia have been thwarted. |
There will be no Christian Retailing Update report Monday, July 4, when the offices of Christian Retailing will be closed in observance of the Independence Day holiday. 
The Outsiders by Needtobreathe (Atlantic Records/Word Distribution) remained atop SoundScan's Christian/gospel music Christian retail chart for sales the week ending June 26, while The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (Campbell-Stone Media/Amazing Media/Inspirational Entertainment/Word) continued to hold the top spot of the Christian Videos list. 
Tommy Nelson is relaunching "Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends" line, with a possible movie in the works. 
Christian publishers and suppliers are releasing several products related to Courageous—from the makers of the hit movie and best-selling DVD Fireproof—which will release Sept. 30. 
Courageous, the widely anticipated follow-up from the makers of the hit movie Fireproof, will be shown at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Atlanta, next month. 
Recently rebranded from Christianaudio, audiobook supplier eChristian has announced plans to launch two book imprints, eChristianBooks and Mission Books. 
Industry leaders have paid tribute to longtime Christian publisher and CBA founding member Robert L. Kregel, who died June 24 after a brief illness. Regarded as a pioneering giant in the Christian product industry, the former president of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Kregel Inc. was 92. 