Tim Van Eijl of Shepherd's Voice Christian Bookstore in Onalaska, Wis., said he attends CBA conferences to network, see new products and "to bounce ideas with each other."

The highlights for him at this Advance were Tuesday's speech by author Gracia Burnham, a performance by singer Nichole Nordeman and his planning sessions with Parable.

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Stella Oluydmi traveled from Nigeria to buy products for her store-Bible Wonderland in Surulere, Lagos.

"The purpose of coming is to see the new product," she said. "I like to see what I really want and how it's packaged. I know what my customers really want."

Oluydmi said she buys the bulk of her shopping twice a year-at Advance and CBA International. Other ordering is done via the Internet.

She said "good sellers" are titles by T.D. Jakes, Joyce Myers and Myles Munroe.

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Stan Engle, owner of Lifehouse Books and Coffee in Oklahoma City, Okla., wasn't that impressed with some of the selections.

About Independents Day, he called a presentation on merchandising to the senses "interesting."

Engle wasn't sold on the messages from others about giving the customers what they want. "We need to be doing something to give them what they need," he said Thursday during the Expo. "I don't think everything on this floor is doctrinally sound."

Engle said he was shopping for "some good doctrinally sound books and edifying music."

He said he hadn't been to a CBA conference for seven years but compared the bowls of candy at so many booths to what's happening in churches.

"We're using sugar as a bait to come in and get the Truth," he said. "That's kind of indicative of what's happening in the church. We're using different kinds of bait, wordly things to draw people to the Word."