It seems that with the ongoing difficulties of the economy impacting church budgets, all operations of the local church—including the store—are being re-evaluated and weighed.

While there are financial aspects to having a church-based store, the spiritual reasons are so much more the driving force in creating a retail outlet in a church and I believe need to be remembered as leaders consider the store's role in the life of the congregation.

First and foremost, the store is there to provide materials that support the other ministries of the church.
Through the store, church staff can be sure that they and others in the congregation have access to doctrinally relevant material for members' studies.

Another reason for the store is to provide evangelistic material for the visitors who come to your church for various activities. Through the store they can find items that will help them understand their need for a relationship with Christ.

Probably as important as the material these seekers will find in the store are the people they will meet there who are willing to help them find their way to saving grace in Christ.

As staff members, we have many assignments in our stores, and sometimes have commitments to other ministries of the church as well. It is easy to allow people to come and go in the store, helping them find a book, check out or place a special order, without really considering the significance of that one encounter.

But we must never lose sight of the fact that each person coming into the store has a need—and sometimes it is more than a gift or a card or the latest fiction book.

The greatest privilege we have is serving those who are lost or dealing with a special circumstance.
As we chart the sea of paperwork, orders and staffing demands, we need to constantly remind ourselves of that.

But more importantly, we need to let the rest of the staff and church know about these encounters.
I believe that the reason some of our church leaders are re-assessing the purpose of their bookstores is that we may report the numbers, the gains and losses, the best-selling books and so on, but we fail to talk about the impact we have made spiritually among those who come into the store.

Let me make a suggestion: Keep a journal near the register and encourage each staff member before he/she finishes the shift they are working to jot down any conversation, prayer time or other spiritual impact the store or staff might have had on a customer. It need not be a narrative, just a note, so that you will be reminded of the event.

For one thing, I believe you and your staff might be blessed and surprised at how many of these encounters you have.

More importantly, you will also be able to show the senior staff that the real purpose for the store is being fulfilled. Lives are being touched, and many times changed, because the bookstore is there—not only with information, but also with people to help lead them to the right information and to help them understand how it can change their lives.

Having spent hours sharing issues and ideas from their stores at The Gathering in Louisville, Ky., earlier this year, Martha Brangenberg, Donna Duckhorn and Rachel Savage agreed it would be helpful not only to hear about the other operations but also to see them in action.

Their late-night talks while rooming together at The Gathering have led to an informal small group that sees them in regular contact and visiting each others' stores to offer and receive hands-on help and encouragement.

The first on-site get-together took Brangenberg and Savage to Duckhorn's store at Northland: A Church Distributed in Longwood. The trio spent nine hours—"a long day, but very energizing," Duckhorn said. "We all have Bookstore Manager, so it was great to stand at a station and ask questions and follow through right there to try and learn new things that the P.O.S. can do. We could have talked and trained all day on the P.O.S. and never have exhausted our questions," she added.

"We moved shelves, put up signage, reworked our card area. They helped me set up DaySpring cards in the system the way they were designed to be," Duckhorn said.

Read more about the trio's "Swap Shop" friendship in the October issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

More than 100,000 businesses offer personalized products these days, amounting to sales of $28 billion-plus, and the church bookstore, due to its nature, is a prime candidate for this product selection.

As you decide whether or not to carry personalized products, consider the following:

People love personalized gifts. There is something incredible about seeing your name&mdashor the name of your church—on a product.

Personalized product is unique. A journal may be pretty and well-organized, but when your name is on the outside, it makes it appear more important.

You have a built-in loyalty. When you place the church's name on a product, customers might feel more compelled to purchase it because they love the church.

Personalized product is timeless. It is a simple, reliable and ongoing reminder to your congregation and their friends of who you are and how you minister in their lives.

Personalized gifts are memorable. For example, a Bible with a person's name engraved on the cover becomes a keepsake for years and years.

Personalized gifts come in all price ranges. From 89-cent fad pens to gold-plated pens that start at $100, the possibilities are endless.

Personalization begins with the capability to engrave or imprint. The number of Bibles you sell in a year will determine whether it is more financially feasible to imprint in-house or to outsource the job to a printer.

Personalization of gifts has become more affordable in the past few years, thanks to reasonably priced equipment made available due to advancements in technology. With increased means of production, it is possible to create items for our stores/churches that fit our needs. We can offer anything from T-shirts for the youth group to church-wide cookbooks.

Most retailers who carry personalized product understand that more time and effort must be spent securing these products than is needed for normal buying. But they also find that these products carry a higher rate of customer satisfaction. Repeat buying of personalized product has proven to be a huge plus for stores.

--Deb Graham is co-manager and buyer at Prestonwood Baptist Church Bookstore in Plano, Texas.

--Click here to read the complete article: http://www.thechurchbookstore.com/a.php?ArticleID=14809

The question is, worthwhile to whom? Typically volunteers are able to give only a small amount of time to the church. Their hearts may be with you, but they also have pressing responsibilities at their homes and jobs, so, many times, volunteers over-promise and cannot give as much time as they would like.

Each store must create its own philosophy concerning the use of volunteers. A staff member must be designated to manage the volunteers and keep a training schedule. Volunteers need to feel comfortable with their assigned duties, so you must make the time for training.

The length of time that a volunteer can serve depends upon his or her ability and your need. Don't sell them short in their usefulness. If volunteers are trained and you are prepared, one volunteer for one hour a week can be very productive, while four untrained volunteers who give four hours each week in which you are not prepared can be a futile time of "baby-sitting."

Making volunteers' time worthwhile is the responsibility of the leadership, so consider carefully when you accept or recruit volunteers for your store.

Got a question for Betty Bookstore? Write to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Study co-author D. Michael Lindsay (Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, Oxford University Press) explained: "While everyone in the workplace has to make decisions—whether they're the janitor or the manager—the most consequential decisions are made at the top, and we wanted to look at how they affect their businesses."

Drawing from personal interviews with 360 evangelical Christian CEOs, presidents and chairs of large businesses and their equivalents in government and politics, nonprofits, arts, entertainment, the media and professional sports, Lindsay identified four decision-making styles: pragmatic, heroic, circumspect and brazen.

'Pragmatic' leaders are like former PepsiCo CEO Steve Reinemund. "Most people assume that evangelicals think that they have all the answers," said Lindsay. But many "are certain that they don't have all the answers. Their decision-making is largely pragmatic, and they hope they wind up making the right decisions."

'Heroic' leaders like Enron whistle-blower Sherron Watkins see their decisions as correct and right, regardless of whether others would agree. She was "the perfect example of a person in power who is religious and couldn't let her morals get checked at the door. ... Her religion played a significant role in her deciding to do something that would likely cost her job and could bring down a major company."

'Circumspect' leaders such as John Aden, formerly of Mac Tools and now senior vice president of Wal-Mart International, are "deeply religious but (not) outward about it." Aden "might not be a vocal evangelical, (but) he does manage as one and makes personal decisions based on his faith."

'Brazen' leaders—like former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner—"are the most unabashed and feel that religion and their job go hand in hand."

For more information, go to http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/news2010-08-25-evangelicals.shtml.

We offer a 25% discount on orders of 10 or more of the same ISBN of regular retail, normally discounted items. Offering this helps me meet my minimum-order requirements, works towards free-freight quantities and encourages small-group reorders.

Cathy H. VanDervort
Manager, Inter-City Christian Bookstore
Allen Park, Mich.

New releases understandably get a lot of time and attention, but backlist remains the backbone of many stores. What is one of of your perennial best-sellers, why and what do you to to keep promoting it?

Share your experiences and ideas with others at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

Col. 3:16, New International Version