All I can say is wow.

I found this on UCCTruths.com. Quite amusing.

~Shane

March 2, 2006

Ooops... Sometimes it's not God that's speaking

St. James UCC of Limerick PA recently had a bible quote on it's web site in a banner above the "God is Still Speaking" logo which said... "If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine" (Luke 4:7).

Unfortunately, the quote is attributed to Satan in his temptation of Christ. The quote has been removed and there's a note about it on the site:

For those of you who were kind enough to inform us about our previously inaccurate quote...we thank you! We were recently made aware that the former quote we had posted in the header on our site was actually not based on the word of Jesus but was a quote posed to him during his temptation. As soon as we were made aware of this we removed the quote from our site.

Store conversations

Sometimes I overhear customer conversations.

OK, I don't do it on purpose, it just happens.

So, a 24 year-old was looking at some music, and his phone rings.

"Hey, did you know that Blindside has a new album?
Yeah, it's called The Great Depression. You do?
Wow, you're way ahead of me. Hey, can you hook me up?
OK, I'll be over in 10 minutes."

End of conversation.

This guy puts the CD down that he was about to buy, and leaves the store to go to his friend's house to claim his brand spankin' new illegal copy.

This is not a good situation... for us or for the artist. We lose. They lose.

And the person making the illegal copy, and in doing so breaking the law, sins. And they lose.

What else can I say?

~Shane

I've been thinking about love.

OK, so it's February, and the topic of love comes up a lot this month. But that's not really why I've been thinking about it. I heard about a bookstore that also has a cafe (one of the few cafe's in town). Starbucks moved into their town. Engaging in a little friendly retail combat, this bookstore decided to advertise on a roadside billboard. The advertisement said something like this -

"So, what's coffee without love? (Store Name)"

I laughed when I heard this.
But for some reason, I kept thinking about it.

In the meantime, I've been listening this week to a CD from CBA Independants Day, January 2006. There was a panel of store owners talking about their strengths, differences etc. The moderator asked the panel if they read the book, "The Myth of Excellence" and asked the panel which area they excelled in: price, product, access, experience, and service. Most of the panel said that they excelled in experience. They also talked about what made their stores different, and I was hearing a lot of neat ideas. But there was no talk about loving the customer.

So, what's a book without love?
or
So, what's a Christian Bookstore without love?

I serve my customers every day, but not always out of love.

The past couple of days, I've been trying to serve my customers, and love them. I think I've been inspired by Father Tim, from Jan Karon's Mitford series. This guy isn't perfect, but he is always serving and loving. Even when he questions himself and his motives, he's still serving. And, he loves the people he serves.

I've been asking myself, "what does it look like to love a customer?"

One thing I've decided is that I should try to limit multitasking when helping a customer - they get my full attention. This is, for the most part, pretty difficult for me. When I'm in mulitask mode I'm still thinking about what I was working on while I'm pulled away from it. Instead of being totally present with a person, I'm mentally partially there, and partially somewhere else.

I've been reminding myself that customers need and deserve my full attention, so I'm able to serve and love them fully (they have, after all, made time to go out of their way to come visit the store) .

I'd like to say more, but I have to go help a customer.

Shane

Conversation with a baby bird

On my way in to open the store this morning there was a baby bird trying to fly from the roof of the store, and it almost hit our store front window, then glided down to the cement sidewalk. It was breathing pretty heavy, like it had a good workout, or a good scare. I said, "Looks like your trying to fly little bird. Me too, me too."

Sneaky Thieves love Christian products

I'm really not very happy right now. I just found out that some items were stolen from our store. They did it right under our noses too.
It's always disturbing to me that people would steal stuff from a Christian Bookstore. I caught an older lady stealing a DVD from us last fall. I had to confront her about it, and as she gave the DVD back to me she said, "Oh well. Hard times. God Bless."

I'm not kidding.

The DVD was The Passion of the Christ. Widescreen.

Again, I'm not kidding.

The next day I called our local security company and had them install a security tag system at the entrance of our store. I noticed that not as much stuff was missing after the security system was installed. But unfortunately it can't stop real thieves.

That's who came in the store today.

I was walking around the store, checked on the bible section and noticed an empty bible box on the shelf. No bible to be found. Navy bonded leather, New Living translation, Life Application bible, ON SALE for $59.97 I might add. But the thief apparently needed a bible but not the box. I'm thinking it was easier to put it in their coat without the box. I also found a security tag ripped off of something else, and I wondered what else they stole. I looked around the area to see what was small but expensive, and got my answer right away.

The NIV/KJV Bookman, $79.99 price tag. Missing.

Even before the security system was installed, the main things getting stolen were DVD's and CD's. Not bibles.

I was pretty angry for the next hour. I prayed a lot. I don't like to be angy. I wondered if the thief would read the bible. They can't return it anywhere, it doesn't have a box! As for the bookman...
I got on the phone right away and called another Christian bookstore that's about 15 minutes from our store, and told them to be on the lookout for someone trying to return a bookman, and gave them the ISBN for it.
Who knows, maybe we might catch the crook. But, odds are, we won't.

I feel torn. I'm angry because someone stole stuff from our store. I'm sad that it was bibles. I would gladly give anyone a bible that asked for it. We keep copies at the store for just such a purpose. I just don't understand what would drive a person to steal bibles. It's way beyond my ability to comprehend.

Then again, I'm not exactly innocent of sin either. Most people don't realize that when they sin, it has a ripple effect, like a drop of water in a pond. Sin doesn't just effect the one who is committing the sin. The sin ripples out and hits everyone around them, people the sinner knows and people the sinner doesn't know. Bowling over the guilty along with the innocent.

I'm still hoping the missing bible gets opened up and read by the one who took it.

~Shane

Tyndale's selling policy

I like Tyndale. This is from Tyndale's FAQ section of their website... Tyndale link

FAQ's results
Authors and Books
I'm having trouble finding something you've published/where can I buy your products?

Answer:
Tyndale does not sell directly to the consumer. So, even if we have what you're looking for, you still need to purchase it through a retailer. If you are having difficulty finding a product, it may be out-of-print; in that case, you still need to contact your local Christian bookstore or online retailer to help you find a copy. Tyndale doesn't keep track of each store's inventory and couldn't tell you where an out-of-print book might be. You may purchase our products wherever Bibles are sold, including Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Crown, Barnes and Noble, Borders and Musicland, and they can also be purchased online.
Click here to use our store locator.

I applaud their policy for not selling direct to consumers. That's got to be a tough one to stick to, when it seems so popular for a publisher to go direct these days.

Regarding the options listed for purchasing their books, I think it would have been nice to see something like "your local Christian Bookstore" in the list. I know, I know. They said that phrase earlier in the answer, but when I got to the end, all I remembered from the list of store options was Borders (my closest non-Christian Bookstore competitor). For some reason or another, my brain tends to remember the beginning and/or the ending of something I've read. Forget all that stuff in the middle. But that's just me. I'm just happy that they mentioned "your local Christian Bookstore" anywhere.

Tyndale is fair. I also tried the store locator, and it lists Christian Bookstores on the left, and Non-Christian Bookstores on the right. Interesting...
~Shane

Channel Conflicts A Sour Note for Music Publisher

There's something brewing with the music publishers as well... link to article Mel Bay (my first guitar book in grade school was by good 'ol Mel) is going through some changes. The web is screwing up the way they used to do things... we're going to see more and more of this kind of conversation. The theme I'm seeing, is that no matter what industry we're in, there's big changes happening. We can't operate the way we used to. It's just not going to work anymore.
~Shane

Green Key Supports Retailers

Just thought I would ad something that was a bit positive. The news is a couple of weeks old, but I just found out about it today, and was quite happy. Green Key Books is doing a fine job on conecting with retailers. And I have to add that my personal experience with them has been great. Thanks!
~Shane

Here's a reprint of the news release...

GREEN KEY BOOKS NEWS RELEASE

PUBLISHER SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT RETAILER WITH TELEVISION ADVERTISING - 01/18/05

January 18, 2005—Holiday, FL—Green Key Books recently produced two television commercials for GOD’S WORD™ Translation that promoted the two locations of Sweet Spirit Christian Bookstores in Marietta, Georgia.

Store manager Bob Camp was thrilled with visibility the ads brought to the Sweet Spirit stores. “We had quite a few new customers come in to our store because they saw the ad on television,” said Camp. “In October our sales were quite down. We’d been losing much of our business to big box stores and online retailers. We were facing a loss for the year; but this ad campaign gave us a huge boost. Spiritually, it was a big encouragement to us and an answer to prayer.”

“We are very pleased with the success of the advertising campaign that we test marketed in the Atlanta area and the lift it gave to Sweet Spirit Christian Bookstores. We are committed to working with independent retailers to creatively promote our products while driving business to their stores,” said Peter Castor, president of Green Key Books. “We are thankful for the significant contributions independent retailers make to the Christian retail industry. They are an integral part of the success of our business.”

The advertising campaign featured two original thirty-second commercials that ran more than 300 times on cable networks Fox News, Home and Garden Television (HGTV), Lifetime and The Learning Channel (TLC) in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Each cutting edge spot was filmed on location in New York City. One featured a twenty-something female discussing her realization of God’s purpose for her life and the other featured a young male businessman discussing the importance of God’s Word in his life. The spots concluded with the name and contact information for Sweet Spirit Christian Bookstores.

GOD'S WORD® Translation continues to gain momentum as people everywhere discover its natural English language and easy readability.

One of Those Days

You ever have "One of Those Days"?

It all started when I when to the bank drive-thru this morning. The teller working on my deposits was obviously still in training. I don't have a problem with that, I've got some time.

The guy behind me has NO time.

He starts to beep his horn. At first, I thought it was an accident.

It wasn't.

After the 3rd horn beeping session, one of the tellers opens the door and screams at him, then slams the door. I personally wouldn't recommend this action for good customer service, but it made me feel a little better, in a weird sort of way. At least beepie wasn't just annoying me.

I left the bank feeling embarrassed and angry, even though I didn't do anything. I was just waiting for the newbie teller to do her stuff. And I just couldn't shake the bad mood I was now in. It's amazing how other peoples actions can affect me so dramatically. There's a lesson here somewhere, I think.