The Abilene Christian University Press takes the concept of a “publishing house” pretty seriously. The university’s book publishing arm, active since the early ’80s, currently operates out of a converted residence on Campus Court. The living room functions as the reception area, the bedrooms as offices and the kitchen as … well, the kitchen, but one with a pantry stocked with printer paper. It may seem like a modest setup, but ACU Press and its Leafwood Publishers trade imprint have been on a recent upswing. This, in an industry that has struggled to keep pace with technological leaps, as bookstores shutter and larger publishers trim their staffs.

When Eric Dishongh began exploring the history of the Churches of Christ in the New Orleans area, he never dreamed it would lead to him to writing a book. “What started as a curiosity about the Churches of Christ quickly turned into a research project,” said Dishongh, the minister at the Hickory Knoll Church of Christ in Harahan since 2002. “I realized there was a story here that no one had ever written or told, and I felt it should be told.”

Kimberly Mauck is the new reviews editor for The Christian Chronicle. Mauck, a member of the Northwest Church of Christ in Durant, Okla., succeeds Harold Shank, who left the position as he moved to West Virginia to become president of Ohio Valley University.

The first time Mike Cope tried to write about his daughter Megan, he couldn’t completely commit himself to the project. Megan, a vibrant but mentally disabled girl, spent the last four years of her life in a “medically fragile” state before dying of pneumonia in 1994 at age 10. Cope, a former minister at Highland Church of Christ, felt the need to make sense of the senseless loss of life.

A retired university president can play only so much golf and can spoil the grandchildren just part of the time. After that, what’s on the agenda? For J. Terry Johnson, former Oklahoma Christian University president, writing books fills many hours. His latest two works are bound to interest many Oklahomans and others.

See a video and interview with Lynn Anderson. The former minister at the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, is battling lung cancer. He’ll debut his new book, Talking Back to God: Speaking Your Heart to God through the Psalms, at the 67th annual Pepperdine University Bible Lectures in Malibu, Calif.