Throughout the week of the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), retailers were shown how to use social media to cultivate customer relationships. Gunnar Simonsen, general manager of the Christian Supply Centers in the Pacific Northwest, exposed retailers to social media techniques in a variety of settings, including a music marketing workshop and the Retailer Idea Exchange.

Bookstore Manager Software has announced its acquisition of Just in Time Digital (JITD), including rights to content and patents. Bookstore Manager and JITD will transition their current joint venture to the new ownership structure immediately.

"This move consolidates our efforts to provide retailers the best service and pricing for recorded media burning and digital transfer technology," said Randy Voorhees, Bookstore Manager founder and president. "We are confident this move will allow us to offer our customers new and affordable options that also integrate with their current technology."

Paul LaRue, president of JITD, added: "With over 900 active retailers, we feel Bookstore Manager can take this technology to new heights. Our joint venture has yielded both successful and rewarding opportunities to help stores service their customers better."

Bookstore Manager, founded in 1990, offers technology solutions including inventory control, point-of-sale (P.O.S.), customer kiosks for Christian retail stores, while JITD launched in 2005 to provide on-demand manufacturing for JustMeMusic's personalized music projects. JITD expanded its offering to include in-store, on-demand disc manufacturing for Christian retailers.

Independent music distributor Central South Distribution has formed a partnership with Lataillade Entertainment, headed by Vicki Mack-Lataillade and her husband, Claude Lataillade, and GRAMMY-nominated songwriter-producer Rene Moore, head of Ruff Town Entertainment Group.

Beverly Lewis and Wanda E. Brunstetter will appear on Chris Fabry Live! on Moody Radio tomorrow, July 17, to discuss the popularity of Amish fiction. Danae Dobson will also appear on the program.

For stations and airtimes, go to www.moodyradio.org/brd_FindaProgramSummary.aspx?id=18284.

Denver-the site of the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), which runs through today-has truly been the Mile High City for several exhibitors.

"It's been a phenomenal business at ICRS for us," Bob Taylor, CEO of Things Not Seen (TNS) Clothing & Accessories, said. "We're amazed. The first day of the show for retailers is usually a day of looking and gathering their thoughts. But our existing major accounts have come by already and increased orders. We've already added eight to 10 new retailers."

The movie about saving lives that has saved marriages has also saved some Christian bookstores. The makers of Fireproof, who also co-authored the best-selling tie-in book The Love Dare, told yesterday how they have heard from Christian retailers who attribute strong sales of the book-now with 3 million in print-and DVD to keeping them in business.

Teen issue authors Michael and Hayley DiMarco head out from Denver on an ambitious, long-distance project to give the Bible a fresh, "authentic" voice, and raise awareness of a growing social problem.

The husband-and-wife team whose Hungry Planet publishing enterprise has seen more than 30 books released in the last six years, will be traveling around 10,000 miles in the next few months to record the entire New Testament using homeless narrators.

Touring the country with their 3-year-old daughter in a 40-foot mobile home, the DiMarcos will be recruiting volunteer narrators through homeless ministries for the project, using the New Living Translation and due to be released by Tyndale House Publishers.

The couple will be writing and video-journaling about their trip, and posting resources on their Web site, www.hpbp.org, that will give ways for readers to get involved in local community projects. Michael DiMarco said the new Bible recording was intended for the generation to which he and his wife were committed, which "connects with social justice and authenticity, grittiness and rawness."

As The Hungry Planet Bible Project gets under way, Tyndale is preparing the release of No Room at the Inn: An Advent Devotional Experience, which features a narration by the homeless of the Christmas story. The Hungry Planet Bible Project New Testament is a special edition created for mass distribution to food pantries, homeless shelters and organizations serving the poor and needy.