Proverbs 23:12 (NIV)

If your store carries DVDs, what kind? Just teaching materials-pastors' sermons and Bible study curriculum? Or do you offer inspirational and family-friendly movies, too? If so, how do you decide what to carry? What are the best ways to promote and display your DVD titles? What questions do you have about the category?

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That figure comes from a study by Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity (CGP), which found that church donations to international relief organizations based in the U.S. jumped 17% from 2006 to the following year, with 74% of American congregations giving toward global aid agencies.

The average church gave $11,960, and more than a quarter gave directly to programs in other countries for a combined $3.3 billion. Other means of church giving included short-term mission or service trips (34% of all congregations), as well as long-term development projects (30%) that contributed more than $1.4 billion to aid countries.

Oh, the question that drives every committee that has started a bookstore to its knees!

First, involve your church's business administrator in helping you understand your state laws. Each state differs on which items are taxable and which are not. While doing this homework, also read up on your state and city regulations regarding retail operations.

In addition to supplying members of the congregation with good Christian resources, church bookstores can provide a place for people to connect. Coffee corners offer an opportunity for shoppers to peruse new materials and visit with one another, but there needs to be enough space in the store for such areas to be a "quiet" spot-not always easy when room is at a premium during busy Sundays. And suitable flooring and fixtures make it easier to keep the area clean and attractive.

by Pat Odom

Training your sales team to identify the difference between a feature and a benefit of a product can boost your ministry results. Someone taught me this easy-to-remember tool using the sale of facial cleansers. One product's feature was that it was a pink cream; another was that it felt rich. Did those facts make the sale? No, its benefit was that the cream moisturized the skin while cleansing, reducing the appearance of aging. Saving a youthful look was the personal gain that put the cream into a shopping cart.

Working at home these past few weeks instead of spending all my days at the church bookstore has been a real eye-opener. Among the things I have become aware of in a new way is the ease of Internet ordering-and the challenge that presents to church bookstores.

When I was managing the bookstore at Houston's First Baptist Church all those years, before its recent closure, I always gave the church staff a hard time about not coming to the bookstore or e-mailing me with their needs, whether it was one book or multiple copies for a class.