The Evangelical Christian Publishing Association (ECPA) is pressing ahead with plans for a major new trade show.

More details about the Christian Book Expo will be released soon, ECPA President Mark Kuyper said last night in his opening address at the organization's 2007 Management Conference at the Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

ECPA planning commitee members are due to meet again this week to discuss the event. Last summer, Kuyper told Christian Retailing that the ECPA and the Spanish Evangelical Products Association were discussing collaborating on an event that would be open to the public.

Kuyper also revealed new promotional plans for the organization's annual book awards, which were revamped last year with a new judging process and the former 20 categories being slimmed down to just six, as part of an overhaul intended to promote sales at Christian retail stores.

Kuyper said that agreements had been reached with multiple retailers to promote the program this year, including the Parable and Munce Groups and Family, Berean and LifeWay Christian Stores. Borders and Barnes & Noble were also on board, he said, with Books-A-Million also expected to participate.

More than 100 people are registered for the three-day “Rethink” management event, which includes presentations from three leading Christian publishing CEOs on how they have been leading change at their organizations since taking over in the last couple of years.

The industry was facing times of great change, which forced publishers “to rethink what we do,” Kuyper said. “Innovation needs to be a continual process in all of our companies,” he said, with it being “all the more important now in this sea of change.”

The conference features a prayer labyrinth laid out in a ballroom adjoining the main meeting room to give attendees an opportunity to “focus in on God,” Kuyper said, as they reflect on the presentations and discussions.

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