A few weeks ago, my son, Clay Gillespie, wrote about his first job at Breedlove’s. For this article, I found it only fitting that I ask him to share about his next work adventure which set him on a course which he is still on today…

Word and Song, previously located at 210 North Main in Seminole, served the community for many years as a local Christian book, music and gift store. As a frequent customer I spent hours hanging out at Word and Song and listening to “Demo” CDs. This was before online music and the only way to find out if you wanted to buy a CD was to actually go test it! One afternoon as I was browsing the music selection another customer asked Laurie Phillips, the owner, some questions about the music. I spoke up and answered the questions and suggested some selections to the customer. Fast forward a few weeks later and Laurie offered me a job working a few days a week. Those few days a week turned into full time over the next summer when Laurie asked me to take care of the store while she was out of town for a month. From 1995 to 1999, I spent almost every day helping customers, merchandising the store and even ordering the products. Laurie trusted me, and it was a crash course in store management.

Working downtown Seminole during that time now reminds me of a Hallmark movie. The shop keepers and café owners all knew each other and looked after one another. I can still tell you the daily food specials at Lunch and Such, where I ate almost daily. I became friends with those working at Sharpe’s, L&L Jewelry, Jones Jewelry, and The Vogue, just to name a few. I also became friends with many customers and even today when I am home visiting, it never fails that I will run into someone at Wal-Mart that will say they miss Word and Song.

Those years at the Christian bookstore changed my life in a few important ways. I grew up in church, which I am thankful for, but I also grew up in some denominations that might have unintentionally given me the idea that we understood the Bible better or more fully than other denominations. As I became friends with members and pastors of other churches, I started to realize that their faith was just as genuine and that we have more in common than we do differences. I also started to read books from authors of all different types of churches in the Christian Faith instead of just choosing the ones I knew I already agreed with. This created a hunger in me to study and decide what I actually believed instead of just what I had been told.

Working for Laurie also helped create a love in me for travel and adventure. Laurie took me to California for the Christian Bookstore Convention where I stayed in my first “fancy” hotel. She also invited me on trips with her family, including a Caribbean cruise, where I tried foods I had never tasted and saw places I had only seen in magazines. Since then, I have traveled to Africa, Central and South America, Europe and 46 of the 50 states. I now get a little restless if I haven’t been to an airport in a few months! I am proud to have grown up in Seminole but because of Laurie broadening my view of the world, it showed me there is so much to discover and see.

Even though I attended college at night during my time working at Word and Song, I was really in training during the day for what would become my career. I would go on to become a manager for Family Christian Stores in 2000 where I spent several years before managing a Barnes and Noble Bookstore. In 2006 I accepted a position where I managed the “bookstore” for the Women of Faith tours that traveled to 30 arenas across the nation each year. To this day, I love walking into a bookstore and smelling the books and coffee where I definitely feel at home. If it weren’t for Laurie Phillips seeing something in me and giving me a chance, I am not sure what my career would have been. I am thankful that sometimes small decisions we make are actually divine appointments with God placing us right where he wants us.

A note from me: Once a customer wanted a certain Bible that wasn’t in the store. Clay knew the guy really wanted it ASAP, so he called me quickly to ask me to watch the store while he drove all the way to OKC to get it. In no time he was back with it to make the customer happy.

While he was gone, business was slow at that time, so I began checking the aisles for purchases. My creativity mode kicked in, so I took the liberty to change a few items around—very few, mind you. Well, as soon as he came back and entered the store, he stopped midway, and said something like, “Wait a minute. Something’s different.” Miraculously, he went directly to the few items over the whole store and put them back, and said, “There!” with a smile. I just couldn’t be offended by that smile of his as he followed it by asking, “How’s business?” and that’s all I’m going to say about that…