This year's International Christian Retail Show was very positive in many ways, but for those of us in the church bookstore world, one of the most exciting things was the announcement of the new chairman-elect of CBA, our retailers trade association.

That's because George Thomsen was named as the person who will now take over the chairmanship in October next year. The manager of the bookstore owned and operated by Harvest Church in Riverside, Calif., George served as one of the first regional directors of a very young and undefined Church Bookstore Network.

He was a guiding force in those first years and brings to any leadership table not only expertise in finance and management, but a passion for this industry as a whole-and church bookstores in particular. I am excited about what I believe he will now bring to the wider industry. I believe that George, without showing partiality to any part of the industry, will lead CBA in these challenging times of change in a God-honoring manner.

The economy, the explosion of technology, the demise of so many stores-both chain and independent-are challenges that our industry is facing every day. I know that George will come to the table with a determination, and the experience and expertise to help existing stores work through each of these problems.

I have sat in several of George's workshops on finance and management at previous Church Bookstore Network events. He knows well how to economize without sacrificing availability of product. He believes in putting systems in place so that operations stay smooth in times of change. He believes in technology and stays abreast of all that is happening-but never at the sacrifice of customer contact and customer care.

And he believes in this industry-as a whole. He wants to see it grow and understands that cannot happen unless we all work together for the greater good of Christian retail. So you may understand why I am so thrilled to see George's time serving this industry. We have been blessed in CBA with great leadership over the years, but I truly believe George has been chosen "for such a time as this."

Our part at this time in the history of Christian retail and CBA is to pray-not just for George, but for the entire board, the paid staff of CBA, and for the vendors and retailers.

May I challenge you to pick one day each month on your prayer calendar to pray for Christian retail? List all of the parts of the industry, and pray for each one just once each month. I believe if we do this there will be someone praying every day for our industry.

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