Pope Francis’ The Name of God Is Mercy (Random House) and Priscilla Shirer’s Fervent (B&H Books) were No. 1 and 2, respectively, on Christian Retailing’s most recent Nielsen BookScan best-seller list. Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson), the Kendrick brothers' The Battle Plan for Prayer (B&H Books) and Joel Osteen’s Fresh Start (FaithWords) rounded out the list's top five entries.

Augsburg Fortress (AF), headquartered in Minneapolis, announced Tuesday the sale of its Canadian distribution division to David C Cook Distribution Canada (DCCDC). This news follows the Feb. 29 management buyout of DCCDC by Executive Director Greg Tombs and Financial Director Hardy Willms.

The Canadian distribution division has been resourcing Christian and general market resellers and the church for over 30 years, and it will continue to provide a national, full-service sales, marketing and fulfillment operation. David C Cook’s resources will continue to be represented along with the other partners in Christian publishing, music, media, cards and gifts the organization already serves.

Religious presses improved in October 2015 compared to October 2014, according to the latest available Association of American Publishers’ StatShot report. While total industry sales were down 5.2 percent year over year, religious presses posted an 11 percent rise—the second-highest rise of the month. K-12 instructional materials (up 3 percent), children & young adult books (up 8.1 percent) and “all other” (up 11.5 percent) also improved this month, while every other category posted a decline relative to October 2014.

The increase is a very good sign for Christian retailers. The strong October improvement means that overall year-to-date religious sales have broken even with last year, after lagging behind for the first nine months. Religious presses have accrued $449.9 million in revenue to date in 2015. This trend defies the overall industry, which has declined by 2.8 percent in year-to-date statistics.

Pure Flix Entertainment continues to enhance its position as the world's largest faith and family-based film company with the announcement of its box office receipts for 2015. Pure Flix also announced significant developments across all of its divisions.

For 2015, the box office receipts for Pure Flix's four films—Old Fashioned, Do You Believe?, Faith of Our Fathers and Woodlawn—totaled more than $30.2 million, according to the company. God's Not Dead 2 from Pure Flix opens in more than 1,500 theaters nationally April 1.

Industry distributor and manufacturer Swanson Christian Products has been awarded an Environment Impact Certificate for its use of recycled corrugated packaging materials.

John McKinney, vice president for Swanson, was pleased with the honor.

"Swanson is excited and proud to be participating with Pratt Industries in the utilization of recycled shipping/packing materials.”

A Family Christian bookstore in South Bend, Indiana, closed last week, according to the South Bend Tribune. A manager of the nearby Family Christian location in Mishawaka, Indiana told the Tribune that the closure was due to poor sales.

Two 2015 titles from WaterBrook Multnomah received special recognition from Outreach Magazine in its yearly roundup of the best outreach-oriented books.

Stephen Bauman’s Possible: A Blueprint for Changing How We Change the World was chosen as Resource of the Year in the Social Justice category. In the book, Bauman—president of World Relief—provides a biblical vision for changing the world and the practical tools believers need to sustainably impact their workplaces, neighborhoods and cities. The paperback edition of Possible will release July 19.