Pastor and author Louie Giglio has withdrawn from participating in President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony later this month because of backlash from gay rights activists over his stance on homosexuality from a sermon in the mid-1990s.

Giglio, whose latest book, I Am Not, But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story of God, was released last month by Multnomah Books, was selected by President Obama

to give the benediction at the inauguration ceremony for his second term on Jan. 21—the the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation—because of Giglio's campaign to end slavery worldwide.

In a statement Jan. 10, Giglio said he feels the benediction he was invited to deliver will be "dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration."

"Clearly, speaking on this issue [homosexuality] has not been in the range of my priorities in the past 15 years," said Giglio, the pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and leader of the Passion Conferences. "Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.

"Neither I, nor our team, feel it best serves the core message and goals we are seeking to accomplish to be in a fight on an issue not of our choosing, thus I respectfully withdraw my acceptance of the president's invitation," he added. "Our nation is deeply divided and hurting, and more than ever need God's grace and mercy in our time of need."

There was similar protest against Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan), participating in Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration over his conservative stance on homosexuality and abortion.

A source on the inaugural committee said that it was Giglio's choice to remove himself from the inauguration and that his replacement has not yet been picked, The Huffington Post reported.

CNN reported that Giglio "was chosen because he's a "powerful voice for ending human trafficking and global sex slavery" along with his efforts in mobilizing young people to also become involved with these issues.

CBA and CLC Ministries International, a ministry with 180 bookstores in the U.S. and around the globe, have joined in a mission-retail partnership called the Legacy project—The Call Never Ends. The partnership aims to encourage retired and transitioning retailers to use their skills to help stores overseas.

Knowing that retailers who have retired or have closed their stores for any number of reasons often still have a passion for the retail ministry, CBA and CLC are inviting them to volunteer in Christian bookstore start-ups and turnarounds or at stores recovering from disaster or trauma in one of 58 countries CLC serves.

CBA and CLC will work together to identify and recruit missionaries. CLC will assess and train them, then deploy them for service.

Candace Tucker, manager and buyer at CLC Bookcenter in Center City Philadelphia, was on to hand at CBA's NEXT 2013 event—concluded today in Atlanta—to present the new venture, highlighting projects in countries including Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"Your calling truly does never end," Tucker said. "There is something after."

Retailers will serve as missionaries, but their housing and healthcare will be provided for during their time of service.

CBA President Curtis Riskey said it is "an opportunity for booksellers to continue in ministry abroad."

Pastor Mike Ashcraft, author of My One Word: Change Your Life With Just One Word (Zondervan), challenged general session attendees today at CBA's NEXT 2013 to resolve to focus on just one word this year, a word that reflects what they most hope God will do in them.

Instead of saying to God, "This is what I would do if I were you," Ashcraft urged attendees to ask, "God, what do I do next?"

He emphasized walking by faith—a way of life that pleases God.

"Faith by its very definition implies uncertainty," Ashcraft said.

And rather than projecting an image that everything is perfect, as Christians often do, he recalled the fact that faith is a process.

In trying to be perfect or right all of the time, he said: "What we have done is eliminate the process out of our faith."

Ashcraft has made a habit of journaling, which grew out of his attention problem, but he encourages every believer to keep a journal in order to have "a record of God's work" in their lives. Along with writing, he espouses reading, which "makes you slow down."

Ending his message, he emphasized that God's priority is clearly stated in Prov. 4:23: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

In other activity at the event today, workshops continued with two offerings, one on Making E-books Profitable led by Zach Wallington of Christian Supply, and the other on Customer Relationship Management with Bob Negen of Whiz!Bang Training and Ann Kardos, manager of Logos of Kent in Kent, Ohio.

CBA's NEXT 2013 event, held in one of AmericasMart's three buildings in Atlanta, concluded today. Held just prior to one of Atlanta's major gift shows, which many Christian retailers also planned to attend, the training event attracted 94 retailers and 35 people from 11 sponsoring companies.

Seeing the show as "very positive" and "upbeat," George Thomsen, chairman of the CBA board and general manager of The Harvest Bookstore in Riverside, Calif., said: "People seem to be able to enjoy being able to engage one-on-one, face-to-face, sit across the table. It's more intimate."

Observing that "there's a lot of encouragement that goes on here," along with idea sharing," Thomsen said: "I think ICRS [International Christian Retail Show] is very, very important, but something like this is, by design, a little more intimate, and there's a great benefit in it even though it's small."

This year's theme for the event was "Be Inspired." Along with being inspired by speakers including author Mike Ashcraft and Blessings retailer Mark Hutchinson, retailers received instruction in workshops on topics ranging from e-books to customer relationship management.

Sandy Cregg of Sacred Melody in Syracuse, N.Y. said the event helped her fill in some gaps in helping her store succeed.

"When you're trying to make your store successful but have missing pieces of the puzzle," she said, "when you come here I get a lot of those missing pieces."

Katrina Skinner, also of Sacred Melody, enjoyed connecting with her fellow retailers.

Workshop speakers set out to equip and educate retailers at CBA's NEXT 2013 event, being held at AmericasMart in Atlanta.

Running Jan. 9-10, NEXT features multiple speakers at workshops on inventory management, category marketing, in-store events, cause marketing and navigating AmericasMart for The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, which many retailers plan to attend following the CBA training event, which concludes today.

In the Inventory Management session, Mark Hutchison, president of Canadian chain Blessings, offered tips on merchandising, product selection, marketing and measuring non-moving inventory. In picking "key, hot titles" retailers can get behind with an all-out push, he said Blessings moved 3,000 books of Billy Graham's Nearing Home (Thomas Nelson). In church supplies, Blessings sold a remarkable 1.85 million communion cups in one year and now has its own logo on the communion cup box.

Candace Tucker, manager and buyer at CLC Bookcenter's Center City store in Philadelphia, and Eli Hochstetler, owner of Gospel Book Store in Berlin, Ohio, the heart of Amish country, also added their thoughts on inventory management. Tucker emphasized ordering from various sources in order to accommodate the customer and not being afraid to upcharge for special handling. Hochstetler noted the value of not simply relying on the computer to keep track of inventory, but for store staff to truly know the placement of particular titles on the shelves.

Click here for more information on CBA’s NEXT 2013. 

The Parable Group has unveiled new upgrades to its website, which serves as the e-commerce site for the marketing group's 26 brick-and-mortar retail locations nationwide.

The improvements include a homepage redesign, a selection of 17,000 e-books, enhanced search mechanisms, a 'Pick Up In Store' feature, gift cards offered online and free mobile apps for devices such as iPhones, iPads, Droids and Kindle Fire.

"Instant customer access to local store stocking levels has helped drive traffic to stores for several years, and our new Pick Up In Store feature has further helped increase local purchases this Christmas season," said Parable CEO Steve Potratz.

Parable Manager of Business Development Erik Ernstrom added: "We're making it easy for family and friends who may be spread out across the country to still keep their gift purchases local. Grandma can purchase a gift card from her local Parable store, then either send that card, or email the number to her grandson anywhere in the country. He can then redeem that card in his local Parable store or on Parable.com where the local store gets credit for the sale."

Since Parable launched free mobile apps last fall, 8,500 apps have been downloaded by consumers.

"With the rising popularity and adoption of smartphones and tablets, we decided to reach our online customers through their device and provide a useful tool connecting them to the Word," said ParableMarketing Strategist Sally Ross. "Our Bible apps have been widely received and have helped brand us to consumers in the mobile market."

In the fourth quarter of 2012, mobile and tablet traffic on Parable.com increased 78.73% versus the same time frame in 2011 and online transactions made with mobile devices quadrupled during the Christmas season compared to the previous year, Parable officials said.

Click here for more information on Parable's enhanced website.