Lauraine Snelling, known for her award-winning novels about Norwegian immigrants to America, is today (Sept. 26) being inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Jim Henson, Peggy Lee, Ann Bancroft, Knute Rockne, and Chet Atkins. Snelling is the author of 74 novels, 17 of them with Bethany House; Her books have more than two million copies in print. She will be honored at an awards ceremony in Minot, N.D., along with fellow honorees Clint Hill, co-author of Mrs. Kennedy and Me, and actor Josh Duhamel (All My Children, Las Vegas), a Minot native. Snelling’s Red River of the North, Return to Red River, Daughters of Blessing, and Home to Blessing series (all Bethany House), are set in North Dakota, where her mother was born.

Fourth Mission, the cultural programming project of Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is launching a new literary series on October 18. The first event will be a book launch discussion of Old First pastor Reverend Daniel Meeter's new book Why Be A Christian? (If No One Goes To Hell) an e-book from Shook Foil Books (July).The panel discussion on progressive Christianity will feature Meeter, novelist and nonfiction writer Rick Moody (The Ice Storm), and novelist and memoirist Darcey Steinke (Easter Everywhere) and be moderated by Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, a member of the Old First congregation and the co-owner and events coordinator of Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. For more information about this and other events in the series, go to http://www.facebook.com/FourthMission.

A new entry on the virtual shelf of electoral e-books comes from her.meneutics, the women’s blog of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today. What Christian Women Want This Election Season includes essays by blog writers Rachel Held Evans, Karen Swallow Prior, and others, as well as interviews with Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Nominations are open for the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Awards, honoring books from publishers with annual revenues of $400,000 or less. Nominations from any small Christian publisher—for books published in 2011 or 2012--are being accepted in 12 categories. According to CSPA, they “must be Christian in nature and intended for the Christian marketplace,” printed in English and for sale in the United States. The deadline for nominationsis November 15, 2012. For more information go to http://www.christianbookaward.com.

Kregel Publications has selected Kingsway Distribution of East Sussex, England, as their UK distributor, beginning September 1, 2012. Kregel also has announced the appointment of Fred Mabie as its new director of Kregel Academic and Ministry books. Mabie holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in Semitics and Near Eastern languages and culture. He has authored several commentaries and contributed articles in journals and Bible dictionaries.

Harvest House Publishers has announced several promotions in sales and finance. Brad Moses has been promoted to v-p of sales. Shane White and Suzanne Porter assume new roles as senior sales manager, CBA Division; and national gift and special markets sales manager, respectively. Eden Hicks has been promoted to manager of financial operations.

Steven Furtick’s new book Greater (Multnomah Books, Sept. 4, 2012) debuted at #4 on the New York Times Advice, How-To and Misc. bestsellers list this past Sunday (Sept. 23). Greater is Furtick’s second book and his first New York Times bestseller. He is the lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., ranked as one of the fastest-growing churches in America by Outreach Magazine.

This past weekend (Sept. , Joyce Meyer drew a record 26,400 women from 30 different countries to her 30th annual Joyce Meyer Ministries Women’s Conference in St. Louis. She also celebrated the #4 ranking of her latest book, Change Your Words, Change Your Life (FaithWords, Sept.), onthe New York Times Hardcover Advice, How-To and Misc. bestsellers list and reached 3 million likes on Facebook. The conference included a concert to benefit the city of St. Louis; admission was the donation of infant care items for Supply Hope, an outreach of Joyce Meyer Ministries that partners with local organizations to provide support for needy families.