Zondervan announced July 30 the promotion of Madison Trammel to senior acquisitions editor for digital, reference and reflective titles. Trammel will work within Zondervan’s church, academic, reference and reflective (CARR) publishing group, which is led by Stan Gundry, senior vice president and editor in chief for Zondervan.

Trammel will serve as the lead acquisition editor in the reflective category and will oversee Zondervan’s reference publishing. He will also give editorial direction to the group’s digital publishing initiatives.

Trammel has been a part of Zondervan’s editorial team since January 2011, when he began as acquisitions editor in the CARR group. He is a graduate of Multnomah Bible College with a double major in Biblical Studies and Journalism. In 2004, he received a master's degree in Christian History and Theology from Wheaton College.

Before joining Zondervan, Trammel was a writer/editor and editorial supervisor at Wycliffe Bible Translators, an editorial intern with InterVarsity Press, an associate editor with Christianity Today and an acquisitions editor for Moody Publishers.

Provident Distribution announced July 31 a new relationship with Nashville-based CNI Distribution. With this new agreement, CNI will provide order fulfillment services for Provident Distribution.

The full transition of all order fulfillment is expected to be completed by spring 2016. All other distribution functions, including sales, credit and marketing, will remain with Provident Distribution.

"Provident Distribution remains committed to the physical retail environment and to serving the individual needs of artists, songwriters, filmmakers and distributed labels,” said Terry Hemmings, president and CEO of Provident Music Group. “For more than 20 years, our partners have been accustomed to a very high-quality experience, thanks to the outstanding work of our distribution center. CNI’s well-established reputation specifically within Christian retail, churches and direct-to-consumer avenues ensures that our tradition of excellence in fulfillment services will continue into this next chapter.”

Provident Distribution's in-house clients include Provident Label Group, Provident Films, Essential Music Publishing and Essential Artist Services. Provident also works with Fair Trade Services, Gotee Records, StowTown Records, RCA Inspiration, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox and others.

“It is truly a privilege to partner with an organization of the quality and respect of Provident Music Group," said Ed Clydesdale, CNI’s president and CEO. "We look forward to providing our enhanced services to accompany the great quality of music and entertainment that Provident offers.”

CNI Distribution, a division of Christian Network International, is one of the largest independent Christian product fulfillment and distribution companies in the world. CNI represents clients including Dave Ramsey’s Financial Solutions, The Gideon Bible Society, The United Pentecostal Publishing House, Cloud Ten Pictures and Crossroads Entertainment.

The August issue of Christian Retailing shows Christian retailers how they can prepare their stores for Christmas with a “retail reinvention.” Christian retailers can generate interest by doing something unusual or different in their stores. See what suggestions we've found to help stores build guest traffic at this important time of year. The digital issue is available online here.

The August issue also features an interview with church store manager Kelly Graham Flores, who shares tips for running a successful children's department. In another feature, Tyndale’s Linda Howard discovers happy endings with middle-grade readers. We also look at the Fair Trade business and see what the Christian products industry can learn from its general market counterparts.

The August columns are headlined by a variety of interesting voices. Ramsey Solutions’ Chris Brown offers his expertise on retail financial management. Munce Group President Kirk Blank discusses boosting sales and growing goodwill in his Store Traffic Builders column. The Parable Group's Erik Ernstrom explains why accurate data is critical in retail, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing's Scott Etheridge offers preparation points for Christmas.

Click here to receive notice in your email inbox that the new digital issue of Christian Retailing is available.

The Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI) included InterVarsity Press (IVP) and Rose Publishing on its list of Best Christian Workplaces for 2015. This honor indicates employees in Christian workplaces experience work that is meaningful and life giving.

To earn certification as a Best Christian Workplace, organizations participate in BCWI's employee engagement survey and meet predetermined standards of excellence. The survey covers eight factors defining BCWI's "FLOURISH Model," including Fantastic Teams, Life-Giving Work, Outstanding Talent, Uplifting Growth, Rewarding Compensation, Inspirational Leadership, Sustainable Strategy and Healthy Communication.

“The tremendously positive results of this survey are a tribute to everyone who works at IVP,” said InterVarsity Press publisher Bob Fryling earlier this year. “We are greatly encouraged by the affirmation of our strengths as well as the identification of areas for growth. I am particularly grateful that our highest ranking is in the category of ‘job satisfaction,’ which the writer of Ecclesiastes says is a good gift of God.”

Rose Publishing President Gretchen Goldsmith also expressed her thankfulness for the honor in February.

“We feel truly honored,” Goldsmith said. “We have an excellent staff, but we never expected to achieve this designation our first year (of participation). We are grateful.”

The importance of staff culture is growing as more organizations are making it one of their top three strategic initiatives. BCWI’s list of 117 certified organizations is larger than ever, as many more organizations survey their staff to discover the health of their workplace culture.

Certified Best Christian Workplaces are global and represent all facets of ministries from churches, private schools, universities, parachurch missions, product and services, book publishers and radio stations. This year the study began to include Christian-led businesses.

Historically, BCWI has surveyed over 180,000 employees from 702 unique organizations in seven countries. In the past year ending in June, 234 organizations participated in the survey; of those, 117 achieved certification. Attaining BCWI certification is not easy as, according to the BCWI, many organizations survey multiple years before receiving this distinction.

Christian rock group Pillar is releasing its first album in six years. One Love Revolution was made possible through the support of the band’s loyal fan base, and is scheduled to release on CD as a LifeWay Christian Stores exclusive Aug. 18 with a digital release to follow Aug. 21.

“Making this record was not only humbling just to have another opportunity, but it was an honor, an honor to regroup and put together our best effort to date,” said frontman Rob Beckley. “We had a purpose beyond a career. It was about inspiring people to know Christ better and to engage in a fight that outlasts their own legacy!"

New York Times best-selling author Lysa TerKeurst, along with Proverbs 31 Ministries, released a new mobile app July 20. Called First 5 (first5.org), the app was received with great enthusiasm, seeing more than 100,000 users download it in the first 48 hours of release.

The app moved to No. 57 of all free apps and No. 2 in lifestyle apps in the Apple App Store. It was in the “trending searches” list in the store the day after release, and download numbers continue to grow rapidly. As of today, the app has been downloaded 225,000 times.

The International Network of Children’s Ministry (INCM) announced Tuesday that it has adopted the International Children’s Bible (ICB) as its official translation, the result of a partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishers. This partnership coincides with Thomas Nelson’s upcoming product releases that feature the ICB translation, the first version of the Bible translated specifically for children.

“Thomas Nelson shares our dedication to igniting a passion for God’s Word in children’s hearts,” said Matt Guevara, executive director of INCM. “The opportunity to do so by encouraging kids to read the ICB was one we were thrilled to join, especially alongside such a strong partner. One of the most powerful things we can do to anchor today’s kids in God’s Word is to provide Scripture to them in a language they understand and enjoy reading. These Bibles provide not only a trustworthy translation, but an experience that will enrich children’s lives for years to come.”