Veteran Christian filmmaker Ken Curtis died Jan. 3 after a long battle with cancer in Palm Harbor, Fla. He was 71. Curtis was the founder and president of Gateway Films/Vision Video and Christian History Institute. Curtis—who produced The Cross and the Switchblade, a 1970 film starring Pat Boone as inner-city minister David Wilkerson and Erik Estrada as gang member Nicky Cruz—specialized in featuring the stories of early Christian pioneers such as William Tyndale and John Wycliffe through films and videos.  

Teen sailor Abby Sunderland has signed with Thomas Nelson to write a book telling how she set out to become the youngest person in history to circumnavigate the globe alone last year. Unsinkable: A Young Woman’s Courageous Battle on the High Seas is to be released next month.   

Longtime Billy Graham Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea was to be honored for his gospel music career with a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy. The presentation was to be made at a special ceremony Feb. 12 during GRAMMY Awards week, a few days after Shea’s 102nd birthday. Shea has recorded more than 70 albums, earning 10 GRAMMY nominations and winning once, in 1965.   ?

Heralding the release of The Four Holy Gospels—an exquisite edition of the four Gospels in the English Standard Version—Crossway hosted renowned artist Makoto Fujimura with a Jan. 21 exhibit of his work from the project. Published in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version Bible, The Four Holy Gospels incorporates five large-scale paintings, four opening plates—one for each of the Gospels—plus 89 initial letters, each painted and many adorned with gold flecks and foil. Known for his use of traditional Japanese Nihonga techniques and his passion for reconnecting spirituality with fine art, Fujimura attended the exhibit at Crossway’s Wheaton, Ill., headquarters.