1. Offering a dose of escape and a dash of hope, Christian fiction is selling strong during this time of economic adversity. Christian nonfiction is not doing as well:

Karen Ball, executive editor at Southern Baptist-owned B&H Publishing Group, said that people are looking for a way to escape from the bad news of layoffs and plummeting stocks. “When reality gets ugly, fiction takes off,” she said.

2. The Christian Post reports Americans helped The Salvation Army raise a record $130 million:

Surpassing the previous record total of $118 million, the 2008 Red Kettle campaign saw a 10 percent growth in donations – the largest one-year jump since 1997.

3. One-thousand Christian radio stations collect more than $3 million in donations to combat global hunger.