Berean Christian Stores has announced ambitious growth plans, which calls for doubling the size of the chain by the end of 2014.

"We had a very successful fourth quarter in 2012 and are off to a very encouraging start in the new year," said Bill Nielsen, chief operating officer of Berean. "Starting as early as summer of 2013, we will be looking to aggressively increase our store count. While we are developing our new store model that will result in new stores over the next 18 months, we are also very open to possible acquisitions.

"We are in the middle of multiple cordial discussions with several owners to see if acquiring their stores would be a good fit for both parties," he added. "The owners of Berean have set a goal of doubling the size of our company over the next 18 months. Our vision for growth is firmly planted on a commitment to help our customers be Christ to the world as they give hope to those who are hurting and in need."

Based in Cincinnati, the 18-outlet chain—which dates back to 1934—joined Covenant Group last June, increasing the country's second-largest independent Christian chain's membership by approximately 50%.

Berean also recently contracted for a chain-wide operating systems upgrade for improved business performance and store growth.

Nielsen told Christian Retailing that the Christmas season was "strong overall" for Berean stores.

"This was the result in large part due to strong Thanksgiving results and the last half of December, which was very strong as well," he said. "We achieved this with less price-discounting than in prior years. Instead, we focused on increasing the number of customers we reached out to overall and then increased the frequency we touched them with a direct mail, emails and mass media.

Christmas season sales were up about 7% compared to 2011, with books, Bibles, videos and gifts the "strongest categories" for Berean, Nielsen added.

"As importantly, we increased our stock levels exponentially to ensure that we maximimzed the customer traffic we had with a greater breadth and depth of product than we had ever had," he said. "As a result, we saw more traffic converted into transaction while also seeing about a 10% increase in the average sales per transactions."

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) has announced a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources to host Immerse, the organization's annual industry music conference.

GMA's fifth annual Immerse will be held May 26-29 at LifeWay's headquarters in downtown Nashville. LifeWay’s 21-acre campus allows the conference to be held in one location, with more than 1 million square feet of space for concerts, conferences, networking events and meals, GMA officials said.

"I am grateful to the leadership at LifeWay for opening their extensive campus to Immerse," explained GMA Executive Director Jackie Patillo. "Their commitment to excellence and willingness to facilitate this conference is exciting. This partnership is in keeping with GMA's goal is to bring the music industry together to pour into the lives of our future leaders."nnual Immerse will be held May 26-29 at LifeWay's headquarters in downtown Nashville. LifeWay's 21-acre campus allows the conference to be held in one location, with more than 1 million square feet of space for concerts, conferences, networking events and meals, GMA officials said.

Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship, added: "The heart of our calling is to serve churches in their mission of making disciples that will take the gospel to the world. We believe Immerse does that by equipping young creatives with the tools to spread the gospel through music. We are thrilled to be part of it."

Immerse offers up-and-coming songwriters and business professionals to get hands-on training from music industry leaders. Programming for this year's event will include classes in music business, songwriting, artist development and "reVIEWyou," which combines mentoring with a songwriting and performance competition, feedback and on-stage opportunities.

Click here for more information on Immerse.

GRAMMY-winning and multi-Platinum recording artist Chris Tomlin's latest album, Burning Lights (sixstepsrecords/EMI CMG Distribution), landed on the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 chart earlier this week.

It marked only the fourth time ever that a Christian album hit No.1 on the main U.S. album chart, but the second time in the past six months as TobyMac's Eye On It (ForeFront Records/EMI CMG) debuted at No. 1 in September.

With more than 72,000 units sold, Burning Lights marks the biggest first-week sales of Tomlin's two-decade career, reflecting a 60% increase compared to first-week sales of Tomlin's last studio album, 2011's And If Our God Is For Us (sixstepsrecords/EMI CMG), which sold 45,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Released Jan. 8, Burning Lights also claimed the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Christian & Gospel Albums chart. The album's first single, "Whom Shall I Fear [God of Angel Armies]," also claimed the No. 5 spot the Top 5 on Billboard's Christian AC, No. 6 on the National Christian Audience, No. 7 on the AC Indicator and No. 16 on the Hot Christian Songs charts the week of Jan. 14.

Tomlin's Burning Lights Tour begins Feb. 19 in Charleston, W.Va., visiting 34 cities, including New York, Seattle and Dallas, before wrapping at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver on May 4.

Besides TobyMac, Tomlin's chart-topper puts him in the company of country star LeAnn Rimes, whose inspirational record You Light Up My Life reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1997, and Bob Carlisle, who notched two weeks on the top spot in the same year with Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace).

Click here for a Christian Retailing interview with Tomlin about Burning Lights.

Click here for more information on Chris Tomlin's Burning Lights tour.

Seventy percent of Christian store shoppers say they would buy an e-book at a Christian retail store, with many options now available to Christian market retailers, according to publishing strategy and services agency Somersault Group. A three-person panel from the agency reported on “Tech, Trends and Retail Success” during CBA’s NEXT 2013 training event in Atlanta last week.

Observing that Christian consumers are adopting tech tools at a fast pace, the panel indicated there are five tech trends that are impacting retail: e-books, mobile, print on demand, augmented reality and cashless culture. Four retail trends—showrooming; SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile); omni-channel; and personalization—were also noted as significant to retailers.

Baker Publishing Group has expanded its distribution partnership with MBS Direct Digital to include e-books.

"MBS has done an excellent job of selling our academic titles to the schools and students they have served over the past several years," said David Lewis, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Baker Publishing Group. "It is with great anticipation that we are working with MBS in 2013 to convert several of our titles to digital books that will work on their system.

"They have an excellent reputation of meeting the needs of schools and students with quality service," he added. "We hope that making several of our better-selling texts available as digital books through MBS will help them to continue to meet the demands of this market."

More than 900 higher-education institutions and public schools use MBS Direct's technology, service and partnerships. Its digital platform features embedded resources, note sharing and text-to-speech capabilities. Click here for more information on MBS Direct Digital.

Tyndale House Publishers celebrated in November when a federal court stopped enforcement of President Obama's abortion-pill mandate, but the battle is not over. The Obama administration filed an appeal Jan. 15.

The administration argued that the Carol Stream, Ill.-based publisher doesn't meet the criteria for religious exemption from the mandate, despite the fact that it is the world's largest privately held Christian publisher of books, Bibles and digital media—directing 96.5% of its profits to religious nonprofit causes worldwide.

"Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish," argued Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who is representing Tyndale House. "Regrettably, the administration does not want religious freedom to stand in the way of imposing Obamacare.

"The district court rightly halted Obamacare's abortion-pill mandate against Tyndale House, but the administration continues to argue that a Bible publisher isn't religious enough to qualify as a religious employer," he added. "For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn't religious is startling. We will continue to argue on appeal that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution's protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes."

The publisher is subject to the mandate because Obama administration rules say for-profit corporations are categorically non-religious, even though Tyndale House is strictly a publisher of Bibles and other Christian materials and is primarily owned by the nonprofit Tyndale House Foundation. The foundation provides grants to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world.

In its opinion accompanying a preliminary injunction order in Tyndale House Publishers vs. Sebelius, the court wrote that "the beliefs of Tyndale and its owners are indistinguishable. ... Christian principles, prayer and activities are pervasive at Tyndale, and the company's ownership structure is designed to ensure that it never strays from its faith-oriented mission.

"The court has no reason to doubt, moreover, that Tyndale's religious objection to providing insurance coverage for certain contraceptives reflects the beliefs of Tyndale's owners," the court continued. "Nor is there any dispute that Tyndale's primary owner, [Tyndale House] Foundation, can 'exercise religion' in its own right, given that it is a nonprofit religious organization; indeed, the case law is replete with examples of such organizations asserting cognizable free exercise and RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] challenges."

Winter Jam Tour Spectacular—Christian music's biggest tour and the No. 1 tour in the world for the first quarter of the year for the past two years—launched this month with sellout performances, playing to more than 36,000 people in three nights.

Kicking off its 18th year Jan. 4 in Charleston, W.Va., the tour—headlined by GRAMMY-winning multi-Platinum recording artist TobyMac—also saw capacity crowds in Charlotte, N.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Concluding March 30 in San Antonio, the 44-city tour also features Red, Matthew West, Jamie Grace, Sidewalk Prophets and Royal Tailor, as well as speaker Nick Hall. In addition, the Youth Music Vault Pre-Jam Party includes performances from Jason Castro, OBB and Capital Kings. Admission is $10 at the door, with no ticket required.

Playing to a total of nearly 535,000 people last year, Winter Jam outpaced attendance for all other tours, according to Pollstar's 2012 Worldwide First Quarter Ticket Sales Charts—Top 100 Tours, bypassing such key tours as Cirque du Soleil; "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; Pink Floyd's Roger Waters; The Black Keys; Jason Aldean; and Brad Paisley.

"We are more passionate than ever about the ministry that drives the tour," said Eddie Carswell, creator of Winter Jam and founding member of NewSong. "Led by TobyMac, this year's lineup represents the diversity—and future—of Christian music."

Click here for information on Winter Jam 2013 Tour Spectacular.