"Home Entertainment" is movie industry jargon for the various forms films take as they come into a consumer's home. Originally just VHS, now it encompasses Blu-ray, DVD and an ever increasing number of digital solutions, streaming services and more.

The massive growth in home theaters and media rooms as families seek high-quality and impact entertainment at home holds significant sales potential for Christian retailers. Even churches are following this trend. The Barna Group reports that 88% of U.S. churches with greater than 250 members now have large screens used for playing multimedia and film for services.

And for the shoppers in your store, what's being played on many of those home entertainment and church systems? Faith and family films.

Unfortunately, far too many Christian retail stores are still squeezing DVDs into old music fixtures or sticking them spine-out on shelves in the back of stores at a time when the DVD category in the Christian retail market is experiencing sales 60% greater than 2008 (based on Nielsen SoundScan overall year-to-date top video unit sales Jan. 1-Oct. 15, 2009, versus the same period the prior year).

It's time to grab this category by both horns. Here are a few simple ideas to help grow and further develop your store's home entertainment sales:

1. Make a statement. While some stores may not have huge selections of home entertainment products, try pulling them together with music and software, creating a "Recorded Media" or "Enrichment, Education and Entertainment" section. A buyer or department manager focused on this new "department" will become more efficient, and highly specialized and responsive to new products and customer needs.

2. Expand offerings. If your selection in these recorded media product lines is lacking, expand the selection—now. They're out there. One important goal for any retailer is to be relevant, and shoppers want a wide selection of movies, music and other recorded media content.

3. Shout it out. Now that you're ready to grow your sales, tell your customers about the incredible new selection by including in local advertising, mailers/catalogs, out-of-store and in-store signage and on your Web site.

4. Provide value. It's next to impossible to compete with big box retailers on price. The only real weapons against them are selection and service. The competition is hit- and new release-driven, and finding even the most family-friendly movies requires navigating offensive and inappropriate content in the stores. A dedicated faith and family recorded media section in a Christian store will be able to offer the best content, in stock and in a trusted and safe environment. Try experimenting with things like "movie of the week," selling a selected film at or below cost, encouraging multiple purchases and leaving a "low price" message in the minds of your customers.

5. Grow with your customers. Don't stand still. Consider adding high definition DVD products (Blu-ray), more software formats (PSP, Apple, Nintendo DS), expand the audiobook footprint and add a wider selection of family-friendly or even challenging and thought-provoking films for parents/adults.

Rich Peluso is vice president of Affirm Films, the faith-based label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Inspired in part by the confessions of Mother Teresa in which she wrote of feeling a loss of God's presence, author Gary R. Habermas turns his attention to a question he says is discussed by many Christians. Why is God Ignoring Me? (978-1-414-31688-8, $13.99), releasing next month from Tyndale House Publishers, centers on what it means to feel overlooked by God.

Habermas, a Liberty University professor and chair of the department of philosophy and theology, said: "Everywhere we turn, our world seems to be spinning out of control. ... It seems as if God has given up, turned His back, and closed Himself off from our pain."

Part of what makes God seem absent is the human tendency to focus on the negative and forget times of miraculous divine intervention, Habermas suggests.

"I believe that God does speak and intervene and that He actually does it with some frequency," he writes. "Unfortunately, we often miss it because we are not listening or looking in the right places."

The book begins with documented stories of healings, angel sightings and near-death experiences.

"Any discussion of God's silence would be incomplete without first entertaining the question of miracles and supernatural activities," he writes.

Habermas goes on to address the times when prayers to alleviate suffering seem to go unanswered and what lessons can be learned from periods of spiritual dryness. Sometimes, he writes, suffering serves a purpose, offering the experience of biblical figures in support. Focusing on Job, Habermas challenges readers to trust God.

"We know so much more than Job ever did, especially regarding the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ," Habermas says. "With such a foundation, we are more than justified to trust God with those matters with which we don't understand."

To order, call Tyndale at 800-323-9400 or visit www.tyndalebooksellers.com.

Megachurch leader encourages godly dependence rather than self-reliance

In Unmerited Favor, Joseph Prince, senior pastor of Singapore's New Creation Church and Bible teacher on the TV program Destined to Reign, wants believers to know that they are not limited by the constraints of their own abilities, but that they can rely on God's grace to put them at the right place and at the right time for life's opportunities.

"Many people don't realize that salvation is much more than being saved from hell for heaven," Prince told Christian Retailing. "In this book, I elaborate further on the definition of 'salvation'—soteria in Greek—which denotes an all-encompassing wholeness, completeness and success."

That success encompasses every aspect of life, not only as it relates to material possessions, but also wholeness in families, marriages and careers, Prince said.

"If we as parents desire to see our children succeed in life and enjoy lives that are meaningful and blessed, how much more does our loving Father in heaven want the same for His children?" he asked.

The title of the book refers to the fact that the whole life Jesus offers isn't something that can be earned. It is the very core of the gospel, the "new covenant," said Prince, adding: "There is nothing we can do to merit, deserve and earn God's favor today—it comes only by way of the cross alone."

Prince contrasts this unearned favor with "self-centered" favoritism.

"Unmerited favor is about being dependent on Jesus for your success, whereas favoritism is depending on your own efforts to become successful," he said. "Favoritism requires you to maneuver, manipulate and position yourself for success, and it results in all kinds of compromises."

Unmerited Favor will benefit from a significant media campaign that will include mentions on Prince's program, promotion on his Web site, a 30-day Christian radio blitz and print advertising.

For more information, visit www.strangbookgroup.com. To order, call Strang Book Group at 800-283-8494.

Sheila Walsh opens up her life to readers in Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God (978-1-400-20243-0, $21.99, Thomas Nelson), releasing Feb. 16. The author, a popular speaker at Women of Faith events and a TV talk show host, shares her journey from fear to freedom.

Walsh's depression took her from the television studio to a psychiatric ward before her fears were reduced to one question from God: Do you trust Me? Having previously told about her emotional and spiritual free fall in Honestly, she writes in the new book that "now I'd like to tell the rest of my story."

Walsh writes about the 10 biblical figures that have taught her the most about trusting God, including Anna, Mary and Martha, Paul, Tabitha and Gideon. "I think I am more like Gideon than Tabitha," she writes. "At certain points in my life I've felt God calling me to places I didn't want to go because others would do a better job than me."

Walsh draws from those characters and her own life to illustrate the importance of trusting God.

"I can say that learning to trust changes everything; no matter how painful the transformation, you will not regret a moment lived, tear shed or fear faced along the way," writes Walsh. "That's because when you are called out of crippling fear, you are not returned to business as usual. There is a world of breathtaking wonder wrapped up in trusting God with everything you have and everything you are. You will discover you are free."

For more information or to order Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God, contact Thomas Nelson at 800-251-4000, or visit www.thomasnelson.com.

Beth Moore draws from personal experiences to address familiar topic

Beth Moore, a favorite teacher and speaker among women, deals with a pressing issue facing women today in So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend To Us. The idea for the book, she said, stemmed from her last Bible study release on the life of Esther.

"We touched on (insecurity) just enough (for it) to come wide awake in my soul," she said. "If God has something on His mind that He wants me to research toward and listen to Him about, He'll make it to where I can't get enough of it—and that was true with (this subject)."

Moore said that everywhere she turned, she began to see the effects of women struggling with insecurity in their lives, from the casual attendees of her live events to women in political life she met at the National Day of Prayer event in Washington D.C.

"It spans professions and vocations," she said.

The topic of insecurity is "complicated" for Christian women, the author believes, because of issues of pride and humility.

"I especially felt in some ways that Christian women had an extra complication with it," she said. "Because, how do we grow in our sense of God confidence and security without getting it all messed up into lack of humility and all those other types of issues? It's complicated for a woman of God that wants to be a humble servant before Him and have a heart that's pleasing to Him."

Instead of diving into research, which the author normally does when preparing for a study, she drew from personal encounters with women who shared their stories with her. "Not a single woman I've met in the past year has been safe around me," she said.

So Long, Insecurity will be promoted extensively in February through a Church Communication Network (CCN) prayer simulcast followed by a four-city book tour. Moore will also address the subject of insecurity in an April CCN simulcast.

To hear a podcast of the interview with Moore, visit www.christianretailing.com.

For more information or to order, call Tyndale House Publishers at 800-323-9400 or visit www.tyndalebooksellers.com.

Mix Groundhog Day with the "Left Behind" series and you might end up with In the Blink of an Eye (8-93261-00185-1, $19.95), a thriller from Pure Flix Entertainment that released last month.

The 85-minute end-times drama stars David A.R. White as a detective plunged into a recurring nightmare when his wife and friends disappear during a dream vacation. Unraveling links with the crime underworld, the cop is also forced to investigate his personal beliefs and recognize that earthly paradise is only temporary.

The film was shot in March on a 120-foot yacht in Mexico's Sea of Cortez and saw White wearing several hats. As well as taking the lead role, he helped write and produce the movie, which also features his wife, Andrea Logan White.

In the Blink of an Eye also reunited White with Eric Roberts (L.A. Confidential, The Dark Knight), with whom he appeared in 2000's well-received Christian drama Mercy Streets.

"He has told me that he really likes doing films that he knows his daughter can watch," White said of Roberts' recurring involvement in Christian-themed films.

Like Roberts, White enjoyed mainstream acting success before appearing in and producing faith-based movies, spending four years in the cast of Burt Reynolds' TV series Evening Shade. In recent years the one-time Moody Bible Institute student who quit school to pursue a career in Hollywood has devoted himself full time to Christian filmmaking, helping found Pure Flix Entertainment.

"We make these films primarily to encourage the church, first and foremost, and for them to use as outreach tools," White said.

But In the Blink of an Eye "will have some crossover appeal for the suspense and the action."

In the Blink of an Eye is distributed by EMI CMG Distribution. To order, go to www.emicmgdistribution.com or call 800-877-4443.