by Sarah Yardley

More than 80 churches from around the country gathered in Santa Ana, Calif., Jan. 21-22, for encouragement, fellowship and practical training at the 10th annual Calvary Chapel Book Ministry Conference. Almost 200 church store representatives were in attendance.

The primary focus of the event was the encouragement and enrichment of those invested in book ministry. Anthony Gosling, sales and marketing manager for Christian Focus Publications, said that he had a "truly inspirational couple of days. ... The speakers were excellent and the messages merged together so very well. The worship was refreshing, the fellowship was wonderful, and the opportunities to speak to the store managers were helpful."

Attendees heard messages from Britt Merrick, author of the forthcoming Big God (Regal Books); Ergun Caner, author of Unveiling Islam (Kregel Publications) and Holier Than Thou (Abingdon Press); and worship leader Brenton Brown (Everlasting God, Adoration, EMI CMG Distribution). There were signing sessions with authors Bob and Emilie Barnes and Catherine Martin (Harvest House Publishers).

Practical training included sessions on "Casting a Vision for Ministry" and "Bibles and Translations" by Mark Taylor, president of Tyndale House Publishers, and "Why CDs Still Matter" by Les Coughran from EMI CMG Distribution.

For those unable to attend, notes and audio/video files from the sessions can be downloaded at connect.calvaryd.org.

-Sarah Yardley is general manager at Calvary Distribution in Santa Ana, Calif., a wholesale distributor for Calvary Chapel churches and bookstores.

'Wise management' tips in Houston

by Geni Hulsey

Several church bookstores in the Houston area gathered for fellowship and sharing Feb. 18 at Sagemont Church where Vivian Binks serves as manager of the bookstore founded in 1995.

Dennis Woods, manager of Sugar Creek Bookstore at Sugar Creek Baptist Church and leader of the Houston church bookstore group, presented a program on the elements of merchandising. He shared with the dozen or more in attendance that merchandising is "wise space management and the presentation of your product." He outlined what customers are looking for inside and outside the store and gave tips for each category of books and each department in the store.

The group welcomed a special guest to their gathering—John Bisagno, pastor emeritus of Houston's First Baptist Church, where he served for 30 years. He spoke about what motivated him to rewrite and expand a book about relationships he had published in the 1970s, Love Is Something You Do, and gave each attendees an autographed copy.

The next meeting of the group will be May 10 at First Methodist Church in downtown Houston.

-Geni Hulsey is president of the Church Bookstore Network and former manager of The Garden Bookstore at Houston's First Baptist Church in Houston.

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