Longtime church bookstore champion Geni Hulsey was honored for her work at the second Gathering of Church Bookstores in Houston, held April 19-21.

Hulsey was recognized as Manager of the Year in the first annual awards ceremony at the event, which attracted more than 400 registrants from 43 states and 14 countries.

Hulsey was honored for her leadership of The Garden Bookstore at Houston's First Baptist Church, which hosted the event, organized by The Church Bookstore magazine. She was chosen from an online poll of hundreds of church bookstores across the country.

Manager of The Garden Bookstore for more than a decade and a frequent church bookstore trainer at industry events, Hulsey was appointed founding president of the Church Bookstore Network earlier at the Gathering.

The new group will provide training, support, fellowship and access to resources for churches with retail operations set up to serve their congregations and local communities.

Store of the Year was the bookstore at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, managed by mother-daughter team Deb and Kelly Graham. The pair was recognized for “outstanding contributions to the development of Christian retail in local churches.” Vendor of the Year was Spring Arbor Distributors.

The gathering featured training sessions on management and retailing practices, and an exhibit area with more than 60 suppliers. Attendees also visited local area church bookstores, including the one at pastor/author Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.

The trip to Lakewood was one of the highlights of the Gathering for Linda Medema, manager of the bookstore at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minn. “It has been really good to get with your peers and see what the struggles are and how to help each other,” she said.

The event was “good, almost overwhelming” for Tom Perkins, co-manager with his wife, Karen, of the bookstore at Calvary Chapel Coastlands in Corpus Christi, Texas “A lot of this is new to us,” he said. “We got a lot of really good information.”

The Gathering was “an answer to prayer” for Karen Singleton, manager of the bookstore at Mountain View Community Church in Temecula, Calif. “I am excited to go back, because now I know what I need to do and can articulate it clearly to our team so that we can work together to make the bookstore all that God wants it to be.”

The third annual Gathering of Church Bookstores will be held at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, April 11-14, 2007.

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