There's much more than just Bibles at the Cokesbury Christian Bookstore in Maple Lawn. While customers can certainly pick up Christian study aids, cards, jewelry with inspirational sayings and plenty of commentaries and devotionals, the bookstore also carries an eclectic assortment of volumes on global and social issues.
On its shelves one can find a copy of "The Indispensable Guide to End-of-Life Care" by Sharyl Peterson, get some help from "Revolutionary Parenting" by George Barna or energize playtime with "101 Great Games for Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers" by Jolene L. Roehlkepartain. A volume of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches stands on the shelf of biographies, and tomes on world religions and peacemaking. Tucked into the section of personal growth is Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" and Beth Moore's "So Long Insecurity."
"We're here to meet the customers' resource needs for their Christian journey," says store manager Denise Karau, who relocated from Minnesota to run this newest addition to Cokesbury's nationwide chain of 60 bookstores.
The company is part of the United Methodist Church and is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn.
The Fulton branch occupies 2,000 square feet on the first floor of the church's Baltimore-Washington Conference Mission Center, which opened in October 2010.
Painted in crisp green and gray, the store also carries church supplies like bulletins, candles and clergy robes, as well as popular Christian fiction by authors like Jan Karon, Ted Dekker, Francine Rivers and Joseph Girzone.
Cokesbury Christian Bookstore, 11711 E. Market Place, Fulton. 301-317-6814.