CASCADE TOWNSHIP -- Sales of Zondervan's new edition of the New International Version (NIV) Bible are up despite being denounced by Southern Baptist Convention pastors.

Church delegates of the world's largest Baptist denomination - 16 million members - voted at their annual meeting last month to ask their denomination-owned retail chain LifeWay Christian Resources not to sell the Bible translation that features gender neutral language, according to a story in the August edition of Christianity Today. The chain continues to stock the book while reviewing the request, according to the article.

Sales of NIV 2011 have exceeded expectations, according to the Cascade Township-based Christian publishing house which holds the North American publishing rights for the updated Bible translation.

"They are up in what has been a declining trade-book market,” Verne Kenney, executive vice president of sales at Zondervan, told Christianity Today.

Despite some churches' preference for the older edition of the NIV, the publisher says it has no plans to reprint that version.

E-mail Shandra Martinez: smartinez@grpress.com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/shandramartinez