CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey says he needs the ideas of retailers to help the retailers' trade association.

Making his first public appearance since he was appointed to the 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 last week 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 in June. 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."

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