Warner Faith, home to best-selling preacher-authors Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer, is to change its name in the wake of its parent company's acquisition by French publisher Lagardère SCA.

Although Warner Faith has up to five years to make the change, it will happen “as soon as we can think of one,” Publisher Rolf Zettersten told Christian Retailing. “It is better to do so sooner rather than later,” he said, because the more distinct the Warner Faith name becomes, “the harder it is to change.”

Lagardère's near-$540-million purchase of the Time Warner Book Group (TWBG) was announced last week. It makes Lagardère the third-largest publisher in the world, which Zettersten said was good for Warner Faith.

“We are thrilled with the acquisition because it puts us with a large global book publisher that is committed to book publishing,” he said. “We are absolutely delighted to be a part of such a large book-publishing enterprise.”

Established in 2001 as TWBG's Christian imprint, Warner Faith has secured a strong foothold in the market. Osteen's November 2004 release, Your Best Life Now, has sold almost 4 million copies, achieving best-seller status with The New York Times.

Last October, Warner Faith announced the acquisition from Harrison House of the complete list of charismatic pastor Creflo Dollar's books, which includes contracts for an undisclosed number of future works.

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