Best-selling author Joel Osteen paid tribute to the work of church bookstores the evening of March 26, urging managers and volunteers to believe that God wants to multiply their efforts.

"We appreciate what you do to get the good news out to people wherever you are," Osteen told those attending the opening night dinner of the fourth annual Gathering of Church Bookstores. The three-day event, which runs through March 28, is being hosted at Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston.

Osteen's success with his multimillion-selling Your Best Life Now (FaithWords) and Become a Better You (Free Press) had given him "a new appreciation for the power of the printed word," he said. "The book has gone places I just never would have dreamed of."

Whereas in the past, people he met would say they had watched him on television, these days they were as likely to say that they knew him from having read his books, Osteen said. He encouraged church bookstore representatives to strive for excellence in their work and to have faith that God could enlarge their ministries.

Osteen was introduced to Gathering participants by Ted Terry, manager of the church's 9,960-square-foot Lakewood Bookstore, which last year was named Church Bookstore of the Year by readers of The Church Bookstore magazine. Terry thanked Osteen for his belief in and support for the bookstore's ministry.

Osteen's greeting and encouragement was followed by former world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman's telling how enthusiastic he was about sharing the story of his finding faith in God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir (Thomas Nelson Publishers). Now an ordained minister and businessman, Foreman recalled how he had dismissed Christianity until a near-death experience during which "Jesus Christ came alive in me to tell the world."

Two hundred and thirty representatives of 125 church stores from nearly 30 states and two Canadian provinces pre-registered for the Gathering, which features training sessions, worship and inspiration, fellowship and an exhibition floor with almost 70 exhibitors.

The Harvest Bookstore at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., received another major industry honor the evening of March 26, in the annual awards from The Church Bookstore magazine.

The bookstore at the church led by evangelist and author Greg Laurie was named Large Church Bookstore of the Year, having also been given one of CBA's Store of the Year prizes at the International Christian Retail Show last July. Five awards honoring "outstanding contributions in the development of Christian retail in the local church" were announced at the opening night of the fourth annual Gathering of Church Bookstores being held at Lakewood Church in Houston, March 26-28.

On hand to receive the Large Church Bookstore of the Year award was Harvest Director George Thomsen, recently appointed to the CBA board, and Manager Andrew McGovern. They were presented with a trophy by Geni Hulsey, president of the Church Bookstore Network.

Recognizing church bookstores in three size categories for the first time in 2008, awards were also given to Small and Mid-Size Stores of the Year, received respectively by Kerry Cleaver, a volunteer at Cornerstone Bookstore at Cornerstone Church in Bear, Del., and Rusty Miller, manager of Inklings Bookstore at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highland Ranch, Colo.

The Sales Representative of the Year was Matt Dickerson of gift supplier Dicksons. The Vendor of the Year award went to The WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, whose key accounts manager, Stuart McGuiggan, said that it was "an honor and a privilege" for the company to be involved in the church bookstore movement.