The pink-accented Bible with The Message text--which retails for $17.99--releases Sept. 15 to coincide with October's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. NavPress is donating a portion of profits to breast cancer research.

In Why I Stayed, to be released in January 2010, she will share a message of forgiveness and love regarding her husband, also the founder and ex-senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.--whose confession to sexual immorality in November 2006 led to his downfall.

Longtime retail trainer and consultant Mike Hockett was a familiar face at ICRS, but in a new role. The former CBA staff member was in Denver as head of his own new consultancy.

Along with Chief Operating Officer Dorothy Gore and Director of Finance Becky Kennedy, Hockett was let go in May by CBA as part of a restructuring intended to "reset" the association for the future.

Hockett then began his Colorado Springs, Colo.—based Strata Consulting, serving as president and senior consultant. CBA entered into a contractual arrangement with Strata, as several of his company's consultants—including Bill Flandermeyer, Jo Ann Panter and Beverly Miller—led workshops at ICRS.

Hockett "continues to play an integral role" in serving retail trade association members, utilizing CBA Consulting Services and the CBA Custom Inventory Accelerator," association officials said. "Through this partnership, CBA will continue to offer training and business solutions that meet the needs of retailers."

A month before he left CBA, Hockett was part of the Christian Music Retail Conference—held during the Gospel Music Association's Music Week—as he gave a talk on how to train music sales staff.

Hockett has more than 30 years of retail experience in the areas of training, technology, operations and store management—working for various companies, including Family Christian Stores, Lemstone Books, Sears and Dollar Tree.

"Small- to medium-size businesses need affordable consulting," Hockett said in an introduction to Strata’s new Web site. During nine years with CBA, he "developed a concept to make consulting affordable. I found independent contractor consultants with retail experience and experts in other types of business to provide consulting on an as needed basis."

Hockett is co-developer of CBA's Custom Inventory Accelerator, an inventory tool that maximizes long-tail backlist through localized product assortments. This tool helps retailers identify crucial backlist product by category or department to meet local customers' preferences and demands.

The tool incorporates budget realities so retailers gain optimum return on inventory investment with available dollars. Some test stores doubled category sales with Hockett’s consulting and the Accelerator tool.

CBA's 60th summer convention debuted a series of Product Intelligence Tours. Sponsored by suppliers, the 30-minute presentations offered retailers merchandising and marketing tips in the areas of apparel, Bibles, fiction, gifts, home entertainment and music.

Christian bookstore representatives learned about a new technology-based initiative from CBA to help frontliners and were introduced to a summer makeover for Symtio, a retail digital content system, during the convention.

The retailers trade association touted its CBA Connect—which provides online training for store workers—as "an industry portal, and the way of doing business in the future," according to CBA President and CEO Bill Anderson.

Christian retailers were urged to tap into the benefits of social media at last month's International Christian Retail Show (ICRS).

Though actual attendance was down for the July 12-15 event at the Denver Convention Center, the CBA show found a broader audience through participants' use of digital services like Twitter and Facebook.

While some general categories may be flagging because of the economy, representatives of niche markets at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) were crediting it and a historic election for increased interest in opportunities they offer to Christian retailers looking to set themselves apart.

Editorial Unlit exhibited in the international marketsquare for the first time, as part of downscaling its presence at the show and also connecting more directly to the global rights community, where the growth is.