Representatives of church, independent and chain stores convening at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., this week see great value in coming to The Gathering 2010, but they came for different reasons.

Kris Jodon, manager of a 700-square-foot store at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, sees the Christian Retailing event as a learning opportunity. "I'm here to continue to learn how to manage the bookstore," she said. "I'm interested in Bookstore Manager software, things that will make managing the store easier, and I love networking with other people so that I have contacts I can call afterward. And I chose The Gathering because it is small, basically, because I've not been to anything else."

Peggy Womer of Destiny World Outreach Center in Killeen, Texas, also benefits from the training. Aside from coming to get "new ideas, to keep our bookstore fresh," she has "walked away with a tremendous amount of knowledge, and we take it back and we put it to work," Womer said.

Tarneice Mines, manager of Glad Tidings Bookstore at Reid Temple in Glenn Dale, Md., has been coming to The Gathering for three years. With her church and bookstore expanding to two locations, Mines brought along three others and came for ideas as well as products to stock the new location. "We get amazing discounts on the products," she said.

Shannon Lang of Church of the King, Mandeville, La., is aiming to learn how to run her bookstore more efficiently and "also to meet different people and see what they're doing in their places and to find out what's new in the product area."

Rose Seeley, manager of Cottonwood Bookstore at Cottonwood Church in Orange County, Calif., has attended the event for three years. She said she enjoys meeting other church bookstore managers. "Developing the relationships has been invaluable to me as I've grown over the years and just grown in my position," she said.

Previously held in Texas and Florida, The Gathering was held in Louisville to make it easier for more store representatives to drive in for the event.

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