04/14/14

Gospel Light has entered into a Letter of Intent to sell the publishing assets of Regal Books to Baker Publishing Group. According to Stan Jantz, interim CEO of Gospel Light, and Baker president Dwight Baker, the goal is to have the final purchase agreement signed in May and the transaction closed by June 30, 2014.

“Over the last several months, the board and leadership of Gospel Light made a strategic decision to concentrate on Gospel Light’s core mission,” said Jantz. “From the time Henrietta Mears founded Gospel Light in 1933, resourcing churches with curriculum and Vacation Bible School materials so they can reach children and families with the gospel has been at the core. In order to concentrate on that mission, the board decided to find a compatible new home for Regal’s authors.”

Dwight Baker is keenly aware of that compatibility. “As a family-owned publisher of three generation and 75 years, Baker Publishing Group has a long-standing fellowship with the Gospel Light/Regal Books community,” he said. “Our two respective publishing programs complement each other well. I have observed with admiration as Regal introduced such authors as George Barna, John Perkins, Norm Wright and Dutch Sheets to a wide readership. This is the legacy of Regal, and a standard that we are compelled to maintain.”

“Regal was founded by Bill Greig Jr. in 1965, and the first book published was How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious by Fritz Ridenour,” Jantz added. “That the book is still in print and still selling, with the author living 30 minutes from our home office in Ventura, is a fitting testimony to the staying power of Regal’s authors and mission. The Greig family is pleased that the legacy and ministry of authors like Fritz and hundreds more published by Regal over the years will continue to grow within the Baker Publishing Group.”