David C Cook’s cornerstone Sunday school curriculum, Bible-In-Life, marked its 50th year of changing lives in 2014. Since Bible-In-Life began in 1964, it has reached readers around the world from toddlers to adults.

A second acclaimed curriculum from David C Cook, Echoes, reached its 25th anniversary this year. Designed for families, Echoes is one of the most widely used resources for African-American churches.

Hillsong UNITED continues to make an impact with their No. 1 single “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” as the song has received RIAA Platinum status. Hillsong was included also in 10 of Billboard’s End of Year charts topping five of the charts: Top Christian Artists, Hot Christian Songs, Hot Christian Songs Artists, Christian Airplay Artists and Christian Digital Songs. As the group wraps up an incredible 2014 with awards and sales recognition, UNITED looks forward to 2015 as they will release new music with a full-length studio album.

In addition in April 2015, Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment will release nationwide the film, Let Hope Arise - the Hillsong Movie.

“The last couple of years have been an expectation-busting-juggernaut of pure grace and madness,” Hillsong Creative Director and Worship Leader Joel Houston said. “It’s been beyond what any of us could have thought, and we’ve chosen to not take a moment of it for granted. The last 12 months have been spent throwing ourselves into this next project and season like it’s all we’ve got, and we’re simply trusting that the same mysterious breathe that got us this far will take us deeper all over again.”

Since the release of UNITED’s 2013 album “Zion,” which was their most successful and fastest selling album to date, the band has continued to grow their international reach. Zion produced UNITED’s No. 1 hit, the Platinum-selling and multiple-Dove winning single, “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail).”

This was the group’s first No.1 radio single, cracking the longest reign on Billboard’s airplay/sales/streaming-based Hot Christian Songs chart. The lyric video for “Oceans” has a staggering 22.4 million views.

Most recently, UNITED was award five GMA Dove Awards including the coveted Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Oceans.” They were also nominated for their first American Music Award earlier this year. 

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company has announced that William B. (Bill) Eerdmans Jr. will step away from his role as president and publisher and assume the role of chairman of the board of the family-owned company, effective immediately.

Replacing him as president and publisher is his wife, Anita Eerdmans (pictured left), who previously served as vice president of Marketing and of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. She will be only the third president/publisher in the company’s 103-year history.

There will be no Christian Retailing Update on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. CR Update will resume Monday, Dec. 29.

In the meantime, we invite you to click here and read the free digital issue of Christian Retailing’s December issue. 

Techniques and processes put in place to thwart criminal activity around retailers’ return policies continue to be put to the test, and with steadily improving retail sales, even more is on the line when it comes to losses from return fraud.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2014 Return Fraud Survey completed by loss prevention executives at 60 retail companies--grocery, department, discount, specialty and small retailers—the industry will lose an estimated $10.9 billion to return fraud this year. Additionally, of those surveyed, retailers estimate $3.8 billion will be lost to return fraud this holiday season alone. Overall, retailers polled estimate 5.5% of holiday returns are fraudulent, similar to last year’s 5.8%.

Award-winning home improvement show Designing Spaces will feature Family Christian Stores in a holiday edition Thursday, Dec. 25, at 7:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime Television. The special is part of the “Getting Ready for the Season” programming line-up.

Rochelle Traub from Family Christian will show viewers a wide array of the chain’s gift selections, including nativity sets, Christmas-themed books and music, and will share how the nonprofit retailer gives back to charities.

B&H Kids’ The Big Picture Interactive Storybook Bible is No. 1on the CBA best-sellers list for December in the Children’s category. It also landed at No. 22 on the overall book list.

The storybook Bible’s complementary versions in the Big Picture Interactive Bible brand—Bible Stories for Toddlers New Testament, Bible Stories for Toddlers Old Testament and Bible Stories in 5 Minutes—were Nos. 2, 4 and 6, respectively, on the list this month. The Big Picture Interactive Bible also ranked second on the Children’s Bible list.