The absence of most of the typical contemporary Christian best-sellers reflects the culture at Bethlehem Baptist Church, which is probably most noted for its well-known pastor—theologian and best-selling author John Piper.

His books and audio sermons are widely available at the store, along with works by current writers like John MacArthur and Randy Alcorn, but most of the books there are by great Christian thinkers of the past, such as John Bunyan and Jonathan Edwards. The emphasis is part of the church's firm commitment to the basics of biblical teaching and solid theology in the tradition of its Reformed Christian heritage.

As a result, the inventory at Bethlehem Bookstore doesn't change drastically from year to year. However, Lund does look over new release catalogs to stay up-to-date with what is available, largely relying on a handful of publishers who consistently publish titles that align with the church's values.

And when a book by one of Bethlehem's favorite classic authors or theologians is re-released in a new format or edition, Lund generally orders five to 10 copies to give it a trial run in the store.

Specific Selling

The store's stated objective is to "be widely known for offering a selection of Puritan and Reformed titles, English Standard Version (ESV) Bibles, and Pastor John Piper's books and audio products at a great price."

Located just inside the church's main entrance, to the left-hand side of the foyer, Bethlehem Bookstore's unassuming front doors welcome congregants into a tidily arranged, 1,080-square-foot room filled with bookshelves.

Parallel shelves run the length of the store, with few endcap displays. A slat wall along the right-hand side of the store holds mainly Piper products, including books and audio resources.

In the far back corner, beside several windows, a table with chairs provides customers with a sunny spot to peruse their books before purchasing. The room's left-hand wall hosts one of the store's few merely decorative elements—a row of portraits of historic church leaders.

The store pays no rent, and the church also covers overhead charges such as utilities, so it can pass on considerable discounts, notably on all of Piper's books. "If it was up to him, we'd give every single book away," Lund said.

Other sections also carry regular discounts, such as commentaries, which are generally 25% off, and books on apologetics, which are generally 20% off. Church staff members also receive an additional 30% discount.

To keep the store looking fresh despite a largely unchanging inventory, Lund makes it a point to regularly rearrange displays and highlight new books. Often his highlighted books correspond with the church's current sermon series or Sunday school emphasis.

Bookstore Beginnings

Before there was a Bethlehem Bookstore, for years a sizable book cart offered select titles to church members. But, in 2003 the church's downtown campus was rebuilt, leaving room for a full store.

Lund assumed the manager's role in 2005, having previously worked for the Desiring God nonprofit organization that oversees distribution of Piper's teaching and writing. The mission of both Desiring God and the bookstore is centered on "Christian hedonism," a concept conceived by Piper that asserts "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

The ministry takes its name from the title of Piper's best-selling 1986 book, but he has written more than 30 others, including Don't Waste Your Life, which received the Gold Book Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) in 2007 for selling more than 500,000 copies since its release from Crossway in 2003, as well as What Jesus Demands From the World (Crossway, 2006), which won the 2007 ECPA Christian Book Award in the Christian Life category.

Desiring God provides all Piper's books to the bookstore—for which it is responsible—for free, with proceeds going to the general ministry fund. Since the aim is "not to make a fistful of money," noted Lund, the ministry offers most of Piper's more than 30 titles for free download at its Web site.

Additionally, though the same policy is not offered in the bookstore, the Desiring God Web site—which draws more than 8 million hits a year—has a "Whatever-You-Can-Afford" policy. "It's a philosophy of (Piper's) ministry to give away all that we can," Lund said.

In addition to free book downloads, all of Piper's sermons are also available to the public on the ministry's Web site at no charge. As a result, audio sales at the store are "not terribly significant," Lund said, except for the occasional customers who enjoy the convenience of having sermons on CD without having to download them themselves.

Besides the bookstore and the Web site, Desiring God is also responsible for a variety of ministries including a radio program, conferences, international ministries and children's curriculum through the Children Desiring God department.

Outside Opportunities

Like many larger churches today, Bethlehem Baptist Church is now a multi-site church body. Its main campus is located in downtown Minneapolis, with a south campus in the suburb of Burnsville, and a north campus in the suburb of Mounds View.

Bethlehem Bookstore is located at the church's main downtown campus, but recently a smaller, portable version of the store was opened at the church's north campus. Consisting of five, double-sided, wheeling bookshelves and a P.O.S. system, the portable store offers attendees access to highlights from the store's inventory. At the church's south campus, a book table is run by church volunteer and elder David Clifford.

In addition to managing the multiple church bookstore locations, Lund is also responsible for managing the book tables at the Desiring God national conference and pastor's conference, which take place in Minneapolis each fall and spring, respectively.

He also manages book tables at the yearly regional conference, which takes the Desiring God ministry to another part of the country. Over the course of the year, book sales at conferences total about the same as sales in the actual bookstore. Banner of Truth, Soli Deo Gloria and P&R Publishers are a few of the publishers that Bethlehem Bookstore relies heavily on. Lund generally stays in close communication with his sales reps from these companies.

He invites a few reps to exhibit at Desiring God conferences, and he appreciates how they are able to tell attendees about some of Bethlehem Bookstore's favorite, lesser-known authors, such as Thomas Watson and Puritan Thomas Brooks.

Inventory Inclusions

Lund makes most of the decisions about what to carry at Bethlehem Bookstore, understanding the church's particular ethos well enough to know just what the congregation will want. But to help him stay current with the newest and best literature in each category, Lund relies on other members of the church's staff.

Sally Michael, minister for training and resources, helps Lund select new children's titles. Often she and her husband, David—who together run the church's children's ministry—will put together a list of recommended books relevant to an upcoming Sunday school emphasis.

Other leaders periodically put together similar lists for marriage courses, adult Sunday school classes or missions events.

Bethlehem Bookstore doesn't aggressively pursue small groups or insist that they order their materials through the store, but it does offer significant discounts to those groups that take advantage of its services.

The bookstore also resources the congregation during a prayer week that the church hosts each January, during which time a book is recommended to the entire congregation. Similarly, when a hot-button issue faces the church such as The Da Vinci Code phenomena, Bethlehem Bookstore seeks to provide the congregation with relevant materials.

The specific focus of the store is appreciated by customers like Sarah Porter. "I often feel overwhelmed when I walk into a local Christian bookstore because the Christian bookstore business has become so commercial and there is such a wide range in the quality of content," she said.

"It is really helpful to be able to walk into the church bookstore to find a selection that has been narrowed down to solid resources recommended by Bethlehem leaders and teachers," she added. "I'm so thankful to not have to wade through all the commercial Christianity to find solid, Christ-centered resources."

Although the inventory at Bethlehem Bookstore is grounded in the Reformed theology tradition, Lund said that he is more than happy to place special orders for customers for other Christian books—even if they don't completely adhere to the church's stated positions, such as the apocalyptic "Left Behind" fiction series.

Lund would have no problem placing an order for a book like that, he said.

However, if he were to fulfill a request for a book on a more controversial topic, such as open theism—the view that God's foreknowledge is limited, which Piper has challenged in a book—he said would probably gently advise the customer to read it with discernment.

And if a customer were to take issue with an item in the bookstore, Lund said he would defer to his immediate supervisor Scott Anderson, director of events and bookstore at Desiring God. However, Lund said that complaints are made "very rarely," even though the store carries a few controversial titles, to get the congregation thinking. "We don't necessarily shy away from controversy," he said.

Staff Support

Besides Lund and Anderson, the store's staff consists of sales associate Ryan Golias and six regular volunteers, who mainly help out on the weekends. Additionally, a squad of approximately 20 volunteers is on-call for Desiring God conferences.

Church members who volunteer at the conferences enjoy the opportunity to run the register, talk to customers and see all the new books, and, in exchange for their help, they get to attend for free. "We could not do our conferences without our volunteers," Lund said. "They put in many, many, many, many long hours."

Anderson is happy with the store's commitment to carrying high-quality inventory at affordable prices, but in the future he hopes to raise awareness of the store among the congregation. "Right now 'get it at the bookstore' hasn't displaced the default congregant notion, 'get it from Amazon,' " he said.

Before Golias, most of the previous sales associates at the bookstore were also apprentices at The Bethlehem Institute, a church-run program that offers Bible courses to congregants to help them "understand the whole counsel of God."

The institute is an intensive, two-year "mentored-ministry program" designed to prepare participants for future service in a church or on the mission field.

Apprentices from the program were a natural fit for bookstore work, Lund said, since they were generally people who loved books—particularly theology—and were also already reading a lot for class. "Most people who want to work in the bookstore or volunteer in the bookstore are book people to begin with," he added.

Although he had no background in bookstore work, he did have some business experience as an investment adviser. And—more importantly—he had a voracious appetite for reading. Lund said he had always been "just a guy who loves books."

"That's the joy of having my job," he said. "I can just grab any book off the shelf and meet God."

That is his long-term focus for the store, too: "Someday I'm going to sit at the feet of Jesus and He's going to tell me what He did as a result of these books." TCB

At A Glance

History: Began as a book cart; store opened in 2003 after church was expanded.
Floor space: 1,080 square feet
Inventory: 81% books, 10% Bibles, 7% music, 2% sermon audio CDs
Weekly church attendance: Main/downtown campus, 2,000; north campus, 1,200; south campus, 500
Annual sales: $250,000 in bookstore; an additional $250,000 through conferences
Hours: Sun., 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Mon., closed; Tues.-Fri., 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat., 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Location: On the left-hand side of the foyer, just inside the church's main entrance
Address: 720 13th Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55415
Telephone: 612-455-3440
Payment: Cash, checks, credit cards, plastic gift cards
Return policy: 30 days with receipt
Staff: One full-time, one part-time, six volunteers
MANAGER: Matt Lund
WEB SITE: www.DesiringGod.org/AboutUs/OurMinistries/Bookstore
E-MAIL: Matt.Lund@DesiringGod.org