Serving the church

Bookstore provides ‘quality, meaningful service’

CHERYL GREEN, director of constituent services for UpWords Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of Max Lucado, reflects on the history of the church store that helped to launch the author’s bookselling ministry.

Tell us about the UpWords Bookstore at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. How did the store get started, and how do you function in conjunction with the church?

The UpWords Bookstore at Oak Hills is one facet of the UpWords ministry. About 20 years ago, a trusted member of Oak Hills Church named Gordon Carruth voluntarily began a small bookselling operation as a service to church members and visitors interested in purchasing books written by their new, young minister, Max Lucado. Together, Gordon and Max coined the name UpWords, and the bookstore consisted of a few folding tables in the corner of the church foyer. 

When the church moved to a new building where space was designated for a bookstore, Gordon retired, and Oak Hills Church leadership asked UpWords Ministries to take on the fiscal responsibility of the bookstore, and we were happy to do so.

What types of books do you carry?

In the early days, UpWords carried only books by Max Lucado. Gradually, a few other titles were added, and the product mix greatly expanded when a store location was designed in the new building at Oak Hills Church. Although guests in our store can find a full line of Lucado books, we hope to meet other expectations of our customers as well. We try to keep all titles that appear on the CBA lists for top sellers along with a variety of Bibles and study resources.

In the last several years, you've built up your offering of gift products. How does this fit into your overall strategy?

Our most popular item on any given weekend is the actual sermon message on CD. The church's technology team quickly duplicates the message and makes it available for purchase immediately following the service. Like many small retail bookstores, we also feel the impact of digital sales, both in music and books. Adding a carefully selected line of gifts has helped bring traffic to the store and provided a service to our customer base. 

In addition to the most popular music CDs, we try to stock music by guest worship leaders as well as the music enjoyed in our children's Bibleland programs. We have greeting cards and gift items, including some of the top-selling inspirational lines from Demdaco and DaySpring.

How many square feet is your store? How do you maximize the space?

Our store is approximately 1,000 square feet. The majority of space is taken for bookshelves, which fill the center of the store. The three perimeter walls contain best-sellers, children's books and gifts items. We have racks up front for music, greeting cards and more gifts. It's definitely a challenge to use our space to its best advantage. 

You've been selling books through MaxLucado.com for years. What advice do you have for Christian retailers and church bookstores looking to branch out into online stores?

We love offering Max's full product line both to constituents who visit our online store as well as those who call in or write to the ministry. We've certainly seen competition for Internet sales increase over the years. We realize we don't provide all the options of the Internet superstores, and we don't market as well as they do. However, we offer personal attention and knowledge of the products. We'll continue to sell online as long as it's a viable option for UpWords to do so. Anyone considering the launch of an online store should meticulously research all the factors. Staying upgraded and meeting the expectation of online shoppers can be tricky.

How does your online shopping offering compare with the physical store?

MaxLucado.com is limited to Max Lucado titles and a very select few others such as Karen Hill, Max's executive editor, and his daughter, Jenna Lucado Bishop. We have tried to define and stay within our niche in both areas of e-commerce and church bookstore. While both produce revenue that is beneficial to UpWords Ministries, providing a quality, meaningful service to our constituents is our primary motivation.

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