Placing an In-Store Pick-Up

Did you know that you can reserve books online?

If you don’t want to have your books shipped because you know you will be in town, check out our web site! You can browse for books and add them to your cart. Once you have found all the books you are looking for, you have the option of selecting In-Store Pick-Up. You won’t have to pay until you get to the store.

To Place an In-Store Pick-Up

1. Make sure you are logged in to your account.
2. Add all the items you wish to buy to your shopping cart.
   Note: For the most-accurate order, try to add all the items you want before submitting your order. This way, everything will print on a single slip, which helps us gather your order.
3. Click My Cart, which is located at the top of the screen. Click In-Store Pick-Up.
4. Review your order. Type your name in the Name box. Type your phone number in the Phone box. Click Save,

Super simple! Just keep in mind we can currently only hold an order for 24 hours. We typically collect orders at the beginning of the day. If you place a hold in the afternoon, be sure to call us before you drop by just to make sure we’ve had time to process the order.

Inventory Reduction Sale

Perhaps the hardest part of preparing for the new education wing was making room. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, our store is pretty heavily stocked as it is. So, in order to make room, we sorted through all the books that have sat on our shelves since 2009 and reduced their prices. These books range from $1-4 (a few are just a bit more, but everything is at least 50% off). They can be found in the future education wing.

The thing to remember: These books will be gone soon. We are waiting to hear back from a contact who will relieve us of all these books before the June 1^st deadline. So, these reduced items will be gone before the next sale. When they are gone, they are gone. There are some real treasures in there if you are prepared to search.

Happy hunting!

Redeemed Music and Books, Your Education Station!

If you have visited the store in the last month, you will have noticed quite a few changes. Rest assured, despite a few expressed fears, we are not closing.

We are remodeling for our new education section. Yes, our homeschool section is so popular that we need to make it bigger! This increase in space will help us prevent the crowded aisles that I’m sure have caused more than a few headaches. We are also hoping to expand the types of homeschool products to more than just books. For example, we got in a few unopened Bob Jones dissection kits! Previously, we haven’t had the space to carry something like this, but in the new education section we will finally have the room to offer more supplies for your homeschool needs.

How to Be a Successful Trader (At Redeemed Music and Books)

We get the questions all the time:

• What kind of books are you guys looking for?
• Should I bring in “X”?
• How many boxes can I bring in at a time?

Well, the answer to all these questions is “it depends”. Not very helpful, is it? Let me see if I can clarify things a bit.

We are always interested in books published by Christian publishers and books that are family friendly. We buy a variety of history books—typically those that are popular or new—and we try to keep a well-stocked section of classic fiction (authors such as Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Rudyard Kipling, etc.) As long as a book is published by a Christian publisher or is family friendly, our decision to buy or reject a book is based on two things: condition and the current inventory for that title.

What tends to get a book rejected are books that have significant physical blemishes—water damage, rips in the cover, binding damage, excessive library or “used” markings—or books with writing and highlighting in them. Yes, we would love to take in more Beth Moore workbooks and Abeka student texts, but if they are filled out—even a little—we can’t really sell them. If, however, you have home school student texts or tests that are mark-free, it is almost a guaranteed buy!

Ok, so how much should you bring in at a time? That depends on how quickly you want the store credit. We can get through the small orders quicker than the big ones. In general, figure a five minute wait on bags or small boxes; larger boxes may take about ten minutes per box. If you are crunched for time, it may be best to bring in a small order; if you have a lot of time to kill or just want to drop things off, then we can better accommodate larger orders. Again, it all depends on your particular needs.

Hopefully the above tips can help you maximize your book-trading experience. If you have are unsure about a book, bring it in anyway. If you have further questions, post them in the comments section below. We’d be happy to answer them.

And don’t forget to check our our website for recent arrivals!

Mars Hill Worship 1

posted by Steven

Even though this was a randomly chosen CD, I have actually heard it before.  My first encounter with Mars Hill Worship 1 was back when I was in college.  That would have been the extremely late 90s and early 2000s.  I was at a campus ministry student leadership conference and overheard a couple of worship leaders discussing this CD, which was made by a church that was engaging with the artistic world in a new way.  This church was Mars Hill, the one in Seattle with Mark Driscoll, not the one with Rob Bell.  This artistic engagement was one of the factors that led to the early success of Mars Hill.  Even now, if you visit the Mars Hill web site, you will notice a great deal of thought has gone in to web and graphic design.  Truly, Mars Hill is on the cutting edge of Christian artistic engagement.  Mars Hill Worship 1 was getting quite a bit of early buzz.  I’m not sure how influential their music became (nor do I know if they released a Mars Hill Worship 2), but Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll continue to be influential among evangelicals, especially those in the Reformed movement.

I think I was initially mislead by both the name of the CD and the fact that we had categorized the album as “praise and worship”.  Now technically, this is correct, but it is also misleading.  This album doesn’t fall into the praise and worship movement that gave rise to artists such as Chris Tomlin or Matt Redman, or even the works of Vineyard or Maranatha.  Mars Hill Worship seems to be a project that allowed the musicians and singers in the Mars Hill community to direct their gifts toward God.  They recorded an album where they praised God through music and styles that they enjoyed.  This is definitely an act of worship, making the CD a worship effort on the parts of the musicians, even if it isn’t an album that lends itself to congregational singing.

With this distinction in place, the variety of styles presented on this album go from being initially confusing to engaging.  And variety is the spice of this album.  It opens with a grunge-influenced rock piece (not surprising from musicians living in Seattle), meandering through Depeche Mode influenced electronica, flirting with shoegazing, and even hitting the points of jazz and soul before the album is complete.  Due to this variety, the album is can be difficult to engage with.  You genuinely don’t know what you are going to get from track to track.  This may be the album’s greatest weakness.  If you find a track with a style you enjoy, you can be assured that there are no other tracks that are similar.  But if you enjoy a wide-variety of musical styles, this can be a fun album.

As for the lyrics, many of the songs are based directly on scripture, hymns, or church writings.  The songs don’t always lend themselves for a sing-along, but they are thought-provoking and refreshing.

So, if you are looking for something a little different with a wide-variety of sounds, this may be an album you want to check out.  The review copy will be available at the front register at Redeemed Music and Books for the amazingly low price of ONE DOLLAR!!  This is on a first come, first serve basis (in store only, no holds please).  Once it is gone, it is gone.