Off to Nashville...Who Will We Meet?


Whew! What a weekend away….we are still trying to recover from a lack of sleep-but it was well worth the trip. We left Saturday afternoon drove to the west side of St. Louis stayed at a hotel, and drove the rest of the way to Nashville on Sunday-a grand total of 12 hours driving time, but what feels like much more after sitting in a car for that long. As soon as we arrived we literally hit the ground running with events.

Operation Christmas Child
After checking into our room and into the conference, we each grabbed a bag or suitcase to collect books in at the Author Meet & Greet. There were two rooms full of authors with their new books to sign and distribute! Many of the authors are brand new authors, who are writing for the first or second time. At one point, I literally found the suitcase to drop off one bag full of books-it was too heavy to carry! I have selected several books to read and review and provide at least one book review a month just from the show. Immediately following the meet and greet was dinner at the banquet-but entering the banquet hall even five minutes late, it was over half empty as many retailers and authors had missed the dinner memo! Never fear, they didn’t starve, they began eating as they filtered in. We concluded the evening by listening to a young adult who had received a Operation Christmas Child shoebox as a child and the impact it made on him (watch for a blog about that later), attended worship with Pastor and Author,  Charles Stanley and Singer Kathy Troccoli. Needless to say, by this point we were all tired and ready to return to our room, to relax and rest. Click the link below to see a video of the event-and Carolyn is in the video!!!  Video from the Author Meet & Greet by CPE
Candace Payne (Chewbacca Mom)
  Monday is devoted to meetings and the Sales Floor where retailers are able to meet with various companies.  As Carolyn is the buyer for the store, she went to the Sales Floor to meet with our Sales Representatives from the companies we sell from. In addition, Carolyn was able to meet with several new companies that were at the show and able to see their product for the first time. Over the next month or two we will begin receiving the orders placed at the show-so be sure to stop in and see the brand new items!!!



Monday evening the banquet started promptly at 6:30pm and the room was full of retailers, distributors, authors, and event hosts. It is always fun to sit with other store owners, distributors, and authors sharing about ourselves and our career ventures. At the banquet we got to hear from two incredibly wonderful speakers. First, Candace Payne (aka Chewbacca Mom) gave us her brief story which led to the writing of her new book, Laugh It Up. Candace Payne is a comedian and kept us all on edge waiting for the next piece of the story.

Jimmy Wayne
Jimmy Wayne sang one of his songs for us, then shared his heartbreaking story of his childhood to being in the foster care system to being a teenager living on the streets and the home he found with an elderly couple. He is an advocate for the kids in the foster care system and wrote his story in “A Walk to Beautiful” and a new book for kids called Ruby the Foster Dog (click on the title for a book review!). 


Colton and Annie Dixon
And then to our surprise we got to meet the authors and have their books signed before the movie! We also got a group picture with each…..and with Colton Dixon and his wife, Annie who were in line to meet the authors too!

When we thought our hearts could not be pulled at any more, we made our way to the movie, picking up pop and popcorn on the way to our seats. The movie we saw is “I Can Only Imagine.” If the title sounds familiar it is the story of how MercyMe’s Bart Millard wrote their hit song “I Can Only Imagine.” I will admit, this is not one of my favorite Christian songs. Many would scoff at me saying that but here’s why-it was so heavily played on the radio that as a young teen, I grew tired of hearing the song. I still battle this issue with radio today. But I can also recognize the importance this song had as it crossed over between Christian radio and secular radio stations. Here’s my review: this movie is important and worth seeing. Whether you are a fan of the song or not, if you don’t see the movie, you’ll regret it. The movie releases in theaters March 2018 with the book releasing in February. Here’s the YouTube video of the trailer:

Tuesday wrapped up the conference and ended at noon with a giveaway on the Sales Floor. Unfortunately we didn’t win the giveaway-but we did become tourists in Nashville. Check back soon to see our tourist escapades! If you'd like to hear more please comment below or come talk to us in-store. Also we have autographed books for sale in the store!

Books, Books, & Nashville!

This weekend will be a busy weekend for some of us at the store. First, Saturday September 16th, the author Sharon Garlough Brown will be presenting at the Women’s Retreat at Salina First Covenant Church. In addition, two of our staff members, Carolyn and Karla will be there manning the book table with the three books in the Sensible Shoes series. Tickets for the event are $10.00 each, and can be purchased at the Salina First Covenant Church.

As soon as the book table is finished, Carolyn and Karla will be joined by Karen and Krystal to head to a work conference in Nashville, Tennessee. But this is no ordinary work conference-it is a mother/daughter’s trip! We will be leaving for Nashville on Saturday afternoon from Salina with plans to arrive in Nashville on Sunday afternoon. There are sessions that we can attend, worship, devotions, exhibitors, and a few special events.

While I can’t speak for my Mom or sisters, I(Karla) am most excited about the Author Meet & Greet. I enjoy getting to meet my favorite authors and they sign books for us and sometimes take pictures-it’s like that whole backstage fan treatment! We don’t know what authors will be coming this year but it’s definitely a highlight of the trip.

One of the special events will be the showing of the new movie coming out based on the writing of the song “I Can Only Imagine.” The song became an impactful song for many believers and one of Mercyme’s earliest hits. The movie will be out in 2018. I look forward to sharing with you my take on the film without giving away any important details. If you want to see the trailer now you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXC72KSauE.

Our trip is not going to be all work and no-play, we have plans to visit the Belmont Mansion, Belle Meade Plantation (both of which are highlighted in several of Tamara Alexander’s books!!!), the downtown district where the original Grand Ol Opry theatre is, as well as a few other stops along the way.

If you want to check-in on our travels I, along with others, will be posting pictures on our Facebook and Twitter feed. We will be driving back to Salina on Wednesday. Prayers for safe travels, good new memories, for those we are leaving behind for a few days and for those at the store are appreciated. I look forward to sharing our trip with you after we return!

Facts About: Abundant Blessings

Hello and welcome to our first ever blog! Within our blog you may find a series of posts relating to product, upcoming events and event reviews, touching stories from our staff or customers, life events, or uplifting thoughts. We welcome your feedback and shared experiences in the comments section! If you would like to share your story privately or have something you would like shared, you may also email us.


As this is our first blog, we would like to introduce who we are as a store and as a people. First and foremost, our store name is Abundant Blessings Christian Store, based in Salina, Kansas. We are a private Christian retail store seeking to enhance the lives of people of all Christian faiths by providing them with the products for their Christian lifestyle thus seeking to bless those within central Kansas in their personal Christian faith journey. We seek to develop a personal relationship with our customers in order to provide them with a unique buying experience. We are here to care about you and support you!

From Left to Right: Sandy, Gerald, and Carolyn


Now a little about each of our current staff:


Carolyn Funk is the Store Manager. Along with two others, Carolyn opened the store in December of 2013. Carolyn has an extensive background in Christian retail as she has worked a few other Christian stores in Salina, Kansas. Carolyn works diligently to select and order unique, interesting gifts as well as the traditional and collectable gift items. Carolyn actively looks for book, music, and movie specials while bringing in new and favorites authors and music artists.


Gerald Funk is a part-owner and a great supporter around the store. If you couldn’t guess, Gerald and Carolyn are married and will celebrate their 35th anniversary this year! Gerald is in charge of hanging posters, building new displays, and keeping everything looking nice for us.



From Left to Right: Gerald, Carolyn, Marty, and Sandy
Sandy West is the third part owner. Sandy has many years of experience in Christian Retail with Carolyn and Marty. Sandy loves to talk and help customers find that perfect gift, book, or bible they may be looking for.

Marty is one of our retail clerks. She has worked in Christian Retail with Sandy and Carolyn for many years, in addition to working in retail for much longer. Marty is one of our expert display people (meaning she displays a lot of the product within the store!), is always smiling and willing to help.




Lee
Lee is one of our retail clerks. Lee has worked for Abundant Blessings almost since the store opened and worked at another Christian store previously in town, as well as having years of retail experience. She is always willing to help customers and help with any tasks needed to complete in the store.

Chris is one of our newer retail clerks as she just started working with us this summer. While Chris may be a newer staff member, she is always gracious and willing to help customers as she becomes much more familiar with our computer system and processes in the store.




Fred is one of our on-call staff. While Fred doesn’t work on a regular basis with us, he is always willing to step in when we need him to. Fred has a servant heart and loves to talk with customers and help them find what they need or to just be a listening ear.




Karla is one of our store clerks and manages our social media pages (and the primary blogger). Karla enjoys connecting with customers, assisting customers, and is learning more about how to utilize the social media pages to benefit you (the customer) most.



That is a little bit about us, our staff, and our journey as a store so far. Our upcoming post will be about a conference a few of us are attending in Nashville, Tennessee next week!