by Andy Butcher

There are bigger and busier operations out there than The Faithful Source, but it could turn out to be as significant for the church bookstore world as a near-neighbor has been for global communications in the last decade.

That other party would be Internet pioneer AOL, whose campus is just a mile or so from The Faithful Source's home at Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) which occupies a former warehouse in Ashburn, Va., bought for a song following a business' crash.

In the same way that AOL opened up a new cyberworld for many, The Faithful Source may present a new paradigm for church-based retailing. Serving a growing congregation and reaching out in a low-key way to the local business community, the store is an integral part of the church's mission ... yet at the same time it is run completely separately by a former independent Christian retailer.

Store owner Bill Tilley and church leaders at CFC describe the arrangement as a win-win, minimizing their respective challenges and maximizing the opportunities. It's a model that is drawing interest from other churches looking to start bookstore operations-but one that came about almost by accident.

Read the full report in the July-August issue of The Church Bookstore.