Curtis Riskey tells bookstore representatives that booksellers trade association ‘needs your ideas’

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey has urged input from retailers to help the trade association better serve the industry.

Making his first public appearance since he was appointed to the leadership position to replace longtime President and CEO Bill Anderson, Riskey spoke during gift supplier P. Graham Dunn’s Dealer Conference—which drew around 200 store representatives for the March 23-24 event to the company’s Dalton, Ohio, headquarters.

“One of the biggest reasons why I came to CBA … is because I feel like we can all help one another,” said Riskey, 43, who has been on the staff of CBA since 2007 and served as its interim executive director since Anderson’s departure last October. “By all of us coming together and working together, it lifts that load.

“We can’t do it alone; we have to do it together,” he added. “For any of you who are members of CBA, I work for you. … It’s not my association, it’s all of us. And for those of you who are not members of CBA, I would encourage you to become (a member). Not just because we are looking for $250 every year from you. It’s what you can bring. We need you. We need your ideas. We need your help.”

The owner of a Christian bookstore in Oshkosh, Wis., Riskey also spoke about Christian channel-exclusives such as the Operation Worship Bible campaign with Tyndale House Publishers, in which more than 600,000 units have been sold since it began in 2008.

“How many of those Bibles are going to stay in a Muslim country when those troops come back?” he asked. “That’s the ministry; that’s what’s happening. We have letters from soldiers testifying what effect that Bible had in their life. Many have come to know Jesus Christ. Because of that, that’s why we are in this. We are trying to create more of these kinds of campaigns. Things where you can participate, where it is exclusive to you, and we are going to try to drive this because we want you to have shelter.”

Riskey also spoke about CBA’s next Christian retail channel exclusive campaign—a partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International, a ministry for young mothers.

Details of the initiative with Baker Publishing Group (BPG) are due to be unveiled at the International Christian Retail Show in St. Louis this month. Centering on the BPG’s forthcoming Momology by Shelly Radic, the promotion is due to begin in the fall.

Riskey said MOPS was “going to be pushing” the book to its groups nationwide. “We are going to drive them to your store to get them,” he said. “We need to be the missionary initiators within our community. We need to be the place that churches go to for advice on how to reach the community.”

Meanwhile, Anderson has broken his silence concerning his sudden departure from the organization after more than 30 years. The longtime leader of the retailers group said that a leadership transition committee had been working behind the scenes for the past few years prior to his abrupt October resignation.

Careful planning had been underway for several, “but in the context of the October board meeting, it became evident that I should resign,” he wrote in a guest column in the April issue of CBA’s Retailers + Resources magazine.

“The decision was not made in haste, although it was quick and immediate,” he added. “Sometimes God’s hand of direction cannot be explained or predicted. But His grace prepares, and His Spirit leads.”

Anderson—who served CBA for 31 years, 24 of them as its leader—has since begun a consulting service to help CEOs and associations. “I’m excited the Lord is directing me to use my knowledge, skills, abilities, training and experience to help my colleagues succeed and grow,” he wrote.

Anderson said that CBA was “in the good hands of board leadership and a strong staff—lean, keen and capable.” “I urge you to work together support your new leaders and be active members in CBA.” He encouraged readers to “keep on keeping on” in their “high and holy calling” and “sacred trust to take His Word deep into the marketplace.”

CBA announced in March that it would not be filling Anderson’s role, instead shifting its management and leadership style and appointing Riskey as executive director. Regarding the change in management style, CBA Chairman-elect George Thomsen said that the board felt it “best fits CBA’s needs for this day and age.”