A message from Geni Hulsey, president of the Church Bookstore Network:

Recently I had an e-mail from a great bookstore manager asking how most church bookstores handle message recordings of their Sunday services and any other recordings by visiting speakers. To me, his inquiry sure sounded like the basis of a good article.

I decided to ask some very knowledgeable folks--the regional directors of the Church Bookstore Network--for their input, and the answers I received were, much as I expected, quite different. That is the very essence of the church bookstore-business and ministry is orchestrated by the leadership of each particular church.

Rose Seeley, manager of Cottonwood Bookstore at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, Calif., told me that her bookstore is responsible for all of the duplication and has the church's graphics department design and print the labels (so that they have the church branding on them). The store realizes any profits involved and also handles the duplication and sales of CD recordings from the large conferences the church hosts each year.

Susan Chipman, director of retail services at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind., stated that the bookstore there has always been responsible for the production of CDs and works closely with the tech team that actually records the messages. The store bought all the equipment and supplies necessary and keeps all of the profits, "which is not much anymore."

The interesting thing is that technology has nearly put them out of business in this area: Because they make the sermons available for free online and have even "started an Internet campus," there is little demand for recordings.

With this in mind, if you are trying to decide whether to take on the responsibility of sermon duplication and/or sales, consider any plans your church has to make the sermons or Bible studies available for free through the Web or social media.

Rusty Miller, manager of Inklings bookstore at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo., said that the bookstore purchases sermon CDs from the media department of the church with a 70/30 split-much as did at the store I managed at Houston's First Baptist, with a 50/50 split. Inklings keeps a good number of the most recent series on hand, but takes special orders for archived sermons or sermon series.

Rick Jones, manager of Bellevue Christian Bookstore at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., reported a similar approach to Inklings, with the exception of the financial arrangements. The cost and revenue from the pastor's sermons come out of and go into a special fund. The bookstore treats the media department as it does any other vendor, but there is zero cost for the pastor's sermons. All others have a cost involved and are priced accordingly by the bookstore.

One last twist-some pastors handle all of their sermon recordings and sales through a separate ministry on radio, TV or the Web. The bookstore will still have the recordings available for shoppers, but buys them from the ministry. That little bit of wisdom came from Dottie Poythress, media center director at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga.

Well, I warned you. This area, like so much of what we do as church bookstores, is totally governed by the leadership of the church. My best piece of advice is to listen to that leadership, hear their hearts about this ministry and comply as best you can. This is not necessarily a place where you want to worry about the dollars.

Most "tape ministries" are just that-ministries. Consider this your way to reap from those "fields that are white unto harvest."

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