Books, brick, and mortar

I just purchased our "summer reading" books at Vine and Branches bookstore in Lodi.

In case you haven't heard, Pastor Perry encouraged the congregation to read three books along with him while he's on his sabbatical this Summer. They are:

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller

I'd strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of each of them and read them with us this summer. I'd also encourage you to buy them from your local Christian book store. Why? Here's a story:

I was trying to find a Christian bookstore while on vacation recently. In both Seattle and Portland I had great difficulty locating one. Many Christian book stores I had frequented in the past had been shut down. (I was able to find several good stores in Salem, Oregon however). I don't want to drone on about economics and e-commerce, but I do want to offer an encouragement to support your local Christian book store. It's great to have a great one in Lodi, where we can look through books, get exposed to products we might not otherwise encounter, and learn about events happening in our local Christian community.

I know you might save a few bucks here or there by shopping online (or maybe not! Sometimes there are great sales and discounts at local stores), but can you smell the pages online? I think not.