New home sales fell for the third straight month in July, another sign that the housing industry remains weak and is hurting the economy. If the current pace continues, analysts predict 2011 will be the worst year for new-home sales in at least half a century. Sales fell nearly 1 percent in July to a […]
The Holy Spirit is on the move in the small town of Brooksville, Fla., observers say. With the local economy in shambles—including a 9.1 percent national unemployment rate—even the ever-popular Starbucks restaurant closed its doors. Yet the Rising Sun Café, owned by John and Lisa Callea, continues to buck the trend. Within a year of
Author William P. Young’s contract dispute regarding his runaway best-seller, The Shack, has been settled out of court.
Court documents show that a jury trial was scheduled for late September in Ventura, Calif., but on Aug. 12 the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Young filed suit in November 2009 against Brad Cummings and Wayne Jacobsen. Windblown Media countersued for $5 million in federal court and made a claim over the authorship of the book. Cummings and Jacobsen collaborated with Young in writing what became a No. 1 New York Times best-selling novel and founded Windblown Media to publish it after it was rejected by multiple publishers. Cummings did not respond to queries for comment.
Hachette Book Group, which in 2008 began to distribute The Shack, also filed suit against Young and Windblown Media to determine where royalties should be paid and to protect itself from future lawsuits. In the wake of the dismissal, Hachette’s statement to Christian Retailing on the case was: “We’re very pleased that the parties have resolved their differences and we can move forward.”
Asian stocks dropped Friday over growing concerns of a possible U.S. recession and the growing debt crisis in Europe.
This news followed Thursday’s rough tumble on Wall Street where new jobs numbers spurred another sell-off.
Nearly 408,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week, up 9,000 from the week before.
Consumers annually buy about $4.63 billion in Christian products. Christian retail sales account for more than 52 percent of these sales. That means Christian stores sell more Christian products than all the general market stores, discounters, warehouse clubs, and direct sales, according to the CBA.
As industry transition and opportunity collide, Christian Retailing magazine is repeating its popular Retailing ReBoot event this fall.
Retailing ReBoot West is set for Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 17-18 at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, Calif. The event will include presentations, discussions, networking sessions and business meetings to help stores deal with the changes the industry is facing and prepare for the important Christmas season.
Retailers and suppliers have welcomed a Christian Retailing initiative to promote support for and unity in the industry.
They have signed rallying point pledges committing to the ministry of Christian bookselling and helping to ensure that it continues. The effort has spread overseas, with store and publisher representatives in the U.K. promoting the pledges there.
The drive was launched in July by Christian Retailing Publisher Steve Strang, as part of a move to help stores in the face of ongoing changes in the industry, “to encourage and equip and support them as they renew their faith and vision.”
So much for stabilizing the markets with a Federal Reserve promise to keep interest rates low. Europe’s debt problems are sending a ripple effect through U.S. stock markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial average declined 519 points, or 4.6 percent, on Wednesday. The dip marks the third time in the last five trading days that the Dow has lost more than 500 points. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq dropped 101 points, or 4.1 percent, and the S&P 500 is down 51 points, or 4.4 percent.
But now is no time to panic. So says Dave Ramsey, a nationally syndicated radio show host discussing personal finance topics. Ramsey has launched what he calls “The Great Recovery,” a grassroots movement spread by people who are tired of looking to Washington for answers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday saw its worst day since Dec. 2008, with the day’s final numbers dropping 600 points.
As the U.S. national debt continues its climb past $14.5 trillion, Charismatic and evangelical Christian leaders are responding from various perspectives. Some take a prophetic look. Others take a pragmatic look. But all agree that something has to change.
International evangelist Perry Stone, known for his end-time prophetic ministry, addressed the economic collapse in his Aug. 8 “Prophecy Update.” In his update, he notes that the federal government couldn’t even begin to cover its debt—even if the richest of Americans were taxed 100 percent of their earnings.
U.S. stocks swung upward in early trading Tuesday after their worst drop since 2008.
Despite the Dow’s 193-point rise, economists are still concerned the world may soon fall into a recession.
Earlier Tuesday, Asian markets plummeted a second time after briefly stabilizing.
“It’s a complete meltdown. It’s like the financial crisis or the financial tsunami. There is a complete loss of confidence,” said Francis Lun, managing director at Lyncean Holdings Ltd., an investment holding company in Hong Kong.
“China’s leaders want their voice to be heard more by policymakers in the U.S.,” said James Roy, Senior Analyst of China Market Research.
Industry leaders have paid tribute to longtime Christian publisher and CBA founding member Robert L. Kregel, who died Sunday (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.
After his father died in 1939, Kregel took over the family’s used book business at age 20 and expanded the company into a publishing house and bookstore chain. In 1949, he began publishing classic reprints under the Kregel Publications name. Kregel Inc. now includes Kregel Publications, its Spanish imprint, Editorial Portavoz, and two Kregel Parable Christian Stores in the Grand Rapids area.
Kregel, who served a two-year term as CBA’s president from 1960-1962, attended the association’s first meeting at Chicago’s LaSalle Hotel in 1950.
Chandler David Owens, an internationally known Christian leader, passed away at age 79. Owens served for more than 35 years as a member of the general board of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and from 1995 to 2000 as presiding bishop of the denomination. Including a period of childhood preaching, Owens’ ministry spanned
Citing the economic slowdown, Focus on the Family announced earlier this week that it will lay off 202 employees and turn four of its print magazines into online publications. Founded by James Dobson, the nonprofit organization will terminate 149 employees and eliminate 53 vacant positions—about 18 percent—of its 1,150-strong staff, company officials said. Focus previously
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