What’s Your Ministry? Warren Farha's Faith-Focused Bookstore - Eighth Day Books

How a Love for Literature and Orthodoxy Shape a Store Dedicated to the Good, True, and Beautiful

OYM was blessed with the opportunity to interview and speak to Warren Farha, the owner and founder of Eighth Day Books, a unique bookstore in Wichita, Kansas. With a deep passion for literature, theology, and history, Warren has created a space that not only serves as a bookstore but as a community hub for those seeking to explore the intersection of faith and knowledge. In this interview, we explore Warren’s journey of curating a bookstore that reflects his Orthodox Christian faith, the importance of literature in shaping one's understanding of the world, and his advice for young people looking to integrate their passions with their faith.

OYM: Could you maybe begin by giving us a biography about yourself and your history in the Orthodox Church?

Warren Farha

Warren: Sure. I was born in 1955 here in Wichita. I’ve lived here all my life. My family was part of the immigrant

Lebanese community in Wichita, which dates back to the early 1890s. I’ve been a member of Saint George Orthodox Church my entire life. It’s now Saint George Orthodox Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America.

My father was a Lebanese merchant, following in the footsteps of many before him. He started as a grocer, but eventually, our family business transitioned into building materials. My brother, two sisters, and I all worked together in that business.

In 1988, I faced a personal crisis—the death of my first wife in an auto accident. It was a turning point. I had two young children and needed to find a new way to live. So, I left the family business. It was a difficult decision, full of second thoughts and regrets; but ultimately I decided to start a bookstore. That same year, I founded Eighth Day Books here in Wichita.

How that came about is a long story in itself.

In the early 1970s, I got involved with an evangelical group connected to the Jesus Movement. That movement, which started on the West Coast, spread across the country reaching Wichita around 1970. I became part of it, forming deep and cherished friendships. This was around 1972 and onward. That experience challenged me to define my identity as an Orthodox Christian. Through reading church history and familiarizing myself with the Church Fathers—their beliefs, their teachings—I realized that they belonged to the Orthodox Church. That understanding deepened my appreciation for my own Orthodox heritage.

The Jesus Movement was a positive experience, but necessarily incomplete. What completed it for me was my Orthodox faith.

Beyond that, I also studied religion and classical studies at Wichita State University, and I surrounded myself with friends who were passionate about books. From as far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by reading. In my young adulthood, my closest friends and I read books for fun, discussed them for fun, and constantly exchanged ideas. We often imagined what the perfect bookstore would be like. Those conversations shaped my thinking long before I ever had the chance to start one.

So when I did open Eighth Day Books, all of those influences came into play—my background in the family business, my studies at Wichita State, my friendships. I wanted the bookstore to focus on the classics—whether in religion, philosophy, literature, the arts, or children's books. I wanted it to house books that were perennially important, books that had shaped Western civilization for centuries.

But beyond that, I also wanted to bring Orthodoxy into the broader cultural conversation. From the beginning, I worked to build the best Orthodox section I could imagine, including writings of the Church Fathers and the ancient monastic tradition. Over time, Eighth Day Books has developed one of the most extensive Orthodox [reference]  sections in the country—not by my design, but as a natural result of that original vision. I hear this from widely traveled visitors, and it’s something I take as confirmation of what we set out to do.

People often ask whether Eighth Day Books is an Orthodox missionary activity. The answer is no—or at least, not originally. My goal was to create a vocation I could dedicate my life to, and that happened to be a bookstore rooted in the classics. But because Orthodoxy is an essential part of who I am, it naturally became an essential part of the store.

I see my work as an extension of my baptism. As an Orthodox Christian, my faith is at the core of who I am, and my work reflects that—hopefully in a meaningful way.

OYM: Could you talk about how you started Eighth Day Books and what that process was like back in 1988?

Warren: Well, I knew quite a bit about books, but I knew nothing about what running a bookstore would be like. I had a lot of experience in retail, but it was in groceries, damaged freight, and building materials—a long way from the book world. So I started by going through my own home library, writing down the names and addresses of publishers, and sending out letters saying, "Hey, I'm going to open this bookstore. Would you please send me your list?"

That was the first step—making publishers aware that a bookstore was coming to Wichita. There were already several fine bookstores here, but mine was going to be different, as I’ve tried to explain. Soon, catalogs started pouring into my home and I began ordering books using the template I had in mind: classics in literature, religion, history, the arts, and so on.

I found a space in the heart of Wichita, on the historic East-West street, Douglas Avenue. It was an old building, originally a home, converted into commercial space in the early 1970s. It felt just right for books. The space was divided into multiple rooms, as a home is, and eventually, it became about 3,000 square feet filled with books and icons. Icons have been an essential part of the store since the very beginning.

I learned as I went. I discovered the American Booksellers Association, wholesalers in the book business, and how to order from multiple publishers at once instead of individually. It was a learning curve, but it’s the old story: "Build it, and they will come."

And people came. There was a hunger for serious books—classics, theology, church history, Christian spirituality. From the beginning, I wanted Eighth Day Books to stock the best of Orthodox theology, spirituality, and history. But I also wanted it to stock the best of the classic Christian traditions—Protestant and Roman Catholic. My goal was to lay the best of each tradition side by side.

I believe that by doing so, the Orthodox tradition shines all the brighter. Customers trust that I’m not trying to proselytize—I’m simply laying it out there, letting them make their own decisions. But they will be aware that the best of Orthodoxy is available on the table.

People from all different backgrounds came in, and the store began to flourish. In 2002, we moved to our second location, where we’ve now been for over 20 years. This time, we own the premises instead of leasing. Thank God, the last four or five years have been the best in our business history. I’m incredibly grateful.

I also can’t say enough about the people who have worked here. I call them employees, but that word doesn’t do them justice. I prefer to call them colleagues, fellow workers—because that’s exactly what they are.

OYM: Could you talk about some of the challenges that came with starting Eighth Day Books and how you overcame them?

Warren: We overcame them pretty much by persevering through them.

One of the first big challenges came a few years after we opened, when big-box bookstores arrived in Wichita—places like the precursor to Barnes & Noble as well as Waldenbooks. Eventually, Barnes & Noble and Borders themselves moved in, which was tough for independent bookstores like ours.

But the bigger challenge was the rise of online bookselling. Amazon came onto the scene in the late ’90s and early 2000s, becoming a huge force in the industry. Whether in bookselling or publishing, Amazon is the elephant in the room. They control much of what gets published, how it gets distributed, and how it’s marketed. Their deep discounts have distorted book pricing, making it difficult for independent stores to compete.

Still, we found ways to adapt. We started selling books online through our own website and on various marketplaces, including Amazon and AbeBooks. We also took our books on the road, setting up at Parish Life Conferences around the Midwest and beyond. Since the mid’90s, we’ve traveled from coast to coast with a van full of books, selling at gatherings like the Circe Institute and other classical education and theological conferences.

Another major challenge is that people, in general, are reading less. And when they do read, it’s often online through what I call “Gnostic books”—others call them Kindles or e-books. I believe digital reading is an inferior way to engage with a text. It degrades attention spans and diminishes the ability to read deeply. That’s a broader cultural challenge, but it affects bookstores like ours directly.

Despite all this, we’re going to stick around. We’ll keep doing what we know how to do—selling the books we believe in. We’ll keep providing a space where people can encounter serious books and thoughtful conversations. And we’ll keep going as long as God gives us breath.

OYM: Could you talk about how you curate your inventory and the books in the store? What exactly do you look for?

Warren: First of all, it comes from my own background—my own reading and interests before I ever opened the store. I have always been fascinated by history, whether American history, world history, or church history. I've read fairly deeply in church history and have an interested layman's experience in reading theology. So those were all part of my background from the very beginning.

Then there's the influence of my friends—one of whom is a world-class biblical scholar, another who earned his PhD at Columbia University and has taught literary studies for 25-30 years now, and another who got an engineering degree from MIT. I am deeply grateful that I've been able to be part of a circle of friends like that. And of course, you learn about books from people like that.

I also listen to my customers. I pay attention to the people who come into the store and ask, "Do you have this book or that one?" There are often books I've never heard of, but I'm very careful to jot down titles every single day. I also read countless book reviews in journals and magazines. That’s an important part of curating the selection here.

You just have to keep your eyes and ears open all the time—to books, their publishing, and trends in the book world. So those are the tools involved in curating a selection.

My background in college was religion and classical studies, and that is reflected here on the shelves of our store.

OYM: Are there certain books that customers often look for? Is there a particular bestseller or a general genre that people tend to gravitate toward?

Warren: Well, Orthodox books. There’s a thriving Orthodox community here in Wichita;but even beyond Wichita—online and at conferences—a lot of Orthodox come to the store or visit our book tables.

Beyond the Orthodox community, I'll name a couple of authors who are always in demand. One of them is Fyodor Dostoevsky, of course. I think The Brothers Karamazov is beyond great literature—it’s almost a catechetical text, in my opinion. So people come in here for Dostoevsky.

Another author who is widely read and has millions of devotees is Wendell Berry—the Kentucky farmer and former teacher of literature at Stanford University. He’s a novelist, poet, and essayist. A champion of traditional agricultural methods. A champion of the environment and the conditions that degrade it. Just really a formidable intellect. But he also has a writing style that’s so winsome. His novels are beloved by many people.

So he's right by the front door, and Dostoevsky is on the other side of the front door. It’s kind of a picture of what a lot of people who come into our store are looking for. I would start with those two authors.

Also, when you come in the front door—if you go straight ahead—there's a shelf of what I call "books about books." Books about reading. Books about the history of books. Books about authors. That’s kind of the introduction to the whole store.

OYM: What role do you see books and literature playing in shaping an Orthodox Christian’s faith and their understanding of the world?

Warren: I have always been deeply moved by the proclamation on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, in which the icons are held up, and the priest or bishop makes a proclamation that ends with: "This is the faith that has established the universe." Now, you can't make a more astounding claim than that—that's an ultimate claim. But what it means is that Orthodoxy is the key to unlocking the treasures of everything that is good, true, and beautiful. And that includes the world of books. The best of what has been thought and written is involved in that proclamation that the Orthodox faith is the faith that has established the universe.

It has to include everything that is good, true, and beautiful. From the very beginning, the tagline for our store has been: "That which is true is ours." That phrase is really a statement of Saint Justin Martyr from the middle of the 2nd century. When describing ancient philosophers and literary figures, he said that everything good, true, and beautiful in those writers belongs to the Church.

So he wasn’t afraid of reading pagan literature—pagan philosophy, pre-Christian philosophy—he wasn’t afraid. He was bold and courageous in proclaiming that within those philosophies and literary monuments are seeds of the Word—Logos spermatikos. And that principle has guided us from the very beginning. That has not changed, and that guides and protects our curation of the store.

OYM: Based on your experiences, what advice or guidance would you give to a young Orthodox Christian who wants to start a ministry or a store project—something rooted in the Orthodox faith?

Warren: I would begin by saying: pay attention. Pay attention to your loves. Pay attention to your passions—not in the bad sense of sinful obsessions, but the activities and subjects that completely absorb you.

In my case, it began with a love for reading. A love for ideas. A love for influences. And however imperfectly, a love for Christ and the Church.

It's also important to realize that all kinds of occupations can be a means of mission—a means of service to Christ. Every single person, whatever their work is, needs to submit it and bring it under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

So that means: if you're a great basketball player and you intend to make basketball your vocation—glorify Christ in it. If you're a great baker—glorify God in it. The list is endless. It doesn’t have to be a specifically religious vocation.

Now, God knows we need people who have that calling. But as C.S. Lewis put it so brilliantly in one of his essays, what we need are not just more evangelists, but rather writers who are Christians and can express, in their writing, a vision of the good, the true, and the beautiful. We need scientists who believe and who express, in the integrity of their work, a vision of God and His relation to the universe. That’s what we need—people who bring into their vocation a love for Christ.

So, pay attention to the things that drive you—the good things that drive you—because those loves and drives are expressions of the image of God in you. And those expressions are infinitely varied.

Pay deep attention to those, because through them, you will discover who you are as a human being—as a beloved creation of God. And that will help unlock the question of vocation.

OYM: Any final message for readers?

Warren: Go out there and find a good book and read it. It’ll be good for you—it will be good for your soul.

For more information about Eighth Day Books, visit its website at eighthdaybooks.com.