"We thank the Lord for a great event where effective ministry and profitable business was experienced by all attendees-retailers and exhibitors alike," said Munce Group President Bob Munce.

Munce Group Chief Operating Officer Kirk Blank added: "It was a joy to see Munce, Parable and Covenant member stores, and church bookstores and non-affiliated independents together in one place. The past few days exceeded my expectations."

The theme for CPE Hershey was based on 15:4-6, which says in part "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus... ."

The event featured a Bible conference led by Lysa TerKeurst, president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and Zondervan and Harvest House Publishers author. CPE Hershey also featured author Sheila Walsh, musician Guy Penrod and best-selling author David Jeremiah.Additionally, there was a screening of the new movie, The Imposter, starring Kevin Max and Jeff Deyo.

"We had four DaySpring reps in our booth and we wrote a bunch of great orders," DaySpring representative Kevin Backes said. "We were busy the whole time. ... There's nothing else in our industry like CPE."

David Austin from Bridgestone Multimedia added: ""We wrote more business in the first day of CPE than we did at any tradeshow we did last year--and maybe even combined."

Munce emphasized order writing at CPE Hershey by motivating retailers with a reimbursement program that helped offset travel, food and hotel expenses based on reaching order-writing goals.

Munce serves more than 560 member stores in 49 states and Canada. Munce's CPE Nashville is scheduled for Sept. 12-14 at the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, Tenn.