Focus, focus, focus! That's what I keep hearing from every corner of the marketplace, whether it be financial, retail, wholesale, oil or books. The advice of the sages is to find out what you do best, what your market is, and stay focused on that. Buy for that market, market to that market, and don't go chasing rabbits (tiny markets that just drain you of time and resources).

As church bookstores, we have one primary market-the members of and visitors to our church. It is our ministry to respond to the needs of the individuals in that market.

It is a difficult statistic to measure because of factors like repeat visits and business from church staff, but it seems to be the consensus that most church bookstores are only reaching about 20% of their membership. My constant question, is how do we attract the other 80%?

On the surface, inventory management is a simple process. After all, there are only two things you need to avoid: having too little inventory and having too much.

Keeping a perfectly balanced inventory is no easy task, though. Out-of-stock items may easily attract your attention and quickly get corrective action, but overstocked items sit quietly on the shelves. Understandably, these overstocked titles are easily overlooked, as the daily tasks of bookselling and taking care of customers take precedence.

However, to achieve a balanced inventory, you need to pay as much attention to the bottom of your inventory as you do to the top. This will enable you to recover valuable dollars that could be better invested in other titles.

Making a decision about flooring has always been a hard one for Betty. I like the feel of cool tile, yet last December when Sister Angela dropped a Christmas ornament and it broke into hundreds of pieces, for a moment I wished we had all carpet. But then when overzealous Clyde--the season's self-appointed wassail maker--spilled a pot full of Christmas cheer, I longed for tile.

Carpet is economical to install but has a shorter life expectancy than tile. Although the newer carpets have built-in, stain-resistant fibers, they still show dirt and wear and tear. However, carpeting can also work as a valuable noise buffer for your store.

That's the evidence from a Barna Group survey which found that "congregational size is related to the nature of a congregation's religious beliefs, religious behavior and demographic profile." The study found "clearly significant" differences between small and large Protestant churches in terms of adherents' theological beliefs.

From a a survey of more than 3,000 adults, "statistically significant" differences on 17 indicators of religious belief and behavior-such as whether or not the Bible is totally accurate in all the principles it teaches and church involvement-were found between churches with 100 or fewer attendees and those drawing more than 1,000.

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John 1:16, NIV