In the summer of 1993, following the death of both of her parents within a 10 month period, Jami responded to the promptings she had been receiving to join a Christian community. Because her husband, David, was raised Catholic, she selected that denomination and began taking instructions on becoming a Catholic. David, at the same time, decided to return from his 30 year sabbatical and joined Jami in a "refresher course" on Catholicism. Jami was baptized at Easter 1994.

Shortly thereafter, one of the people at St. Francis de Sales, their Church Community, commented that she thought we should open up a Catholic retail operation as the closest such store was over 40 miles away. In August 1994, we took one small room of our antique shop and dedicated it to Catholic merchandise. Also during this period, we would periodically "take the show on the road" and set up our wares at both St. Francis and at St. John the Apostle in Leesburg. The St. Francis Catholic Shoppe, as it was called, grew so rapidly that within six months of opening, it had to be moved to a larger room. A year later it was moved into two rooms of the existing antique shop. This growth was in spite of the antique shop only being open three days a week!

During the summer of 1997, both of us were prompted separately by the Lord that He wanted us to do more for all the Christians of our local community, not only the Catholics. We prayed, discussed and sought counsel from our friends and family. In the Fall of 1997 we laid down a fleece for the Lord. We said that we would open a Christian retail business if He would (1) sell 16 acres of land we owned in Stafford County, Virginia - which we had been trying to sell for several years and (2) that we wanted one person to buy all the remaining antiques so that we would not have to "piecemeal" the merchandise to sell it.

Within 30 days of the fleece we had gone to settlement on the land. A developer inquired as to the land's availability and before we knew it, it was sold. We had packed up all of the antiques and collectibles and placed an ad in one local antique trade magazine. After fielding three calls, a young woman from Arlington called and inquired as to whether our antiques were still available and what size truck she would need to move them. We suggested that first she might want to consider looking at the items. She thought that was a good idea and made an appointment for the following day. David was so excited that he called Jami from next door and they met on the street and prayed. We prayed that not only would this individual come, but that she would come that day and buy all of the items. About two hours later, she called and said she had finished her work and inquired if she could visit that day. Of course!! We prayed again (not on the street this time), that she would like what she saw and agree to our price. When she arrived, Jami showed her where all of the boxes of items were and told her to take her time going through the boxes. Less than a half hour later she said she was satisfied, wrote a check for a down payment, sent the balance within three days and within two weeks had movers hauling everything away. Praise God!

David spent the next three months painting walls and stripping floors. During the 1997 Christmas season, David’s family visited and we showed them our restoration efforts. One of his brothers inquired as to how we would handle Catholic and non-Catholic merchandise, knowing that there are some Christians who do not understand Catholicism. David replied that he was going to let the Lord handle it. Three days later while reading Scripture, David was led to Romans 10: 12-13 which reads "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." This has been our guiding philosophy ever since.

In January 1998, we attended our first Christian Booksellers Association convention in Nashville to purchase merchandise for the Shoppe. There were over 400 vendors offering all sorts of Christian and inspirational merchandise. At the end of our first day of walking and looking, we were totally overwhelmed and we had not purchased any merchandise. Upon returning to our hotel room we prayed for guidance. The next day we both could feel the Lord’s hands on our shoulders as He guided us around the showroom floor, directing us to items He wanted in His Shoppe. We asked for the merchandise to be delivered beginning in March as we still had much to do to get the Shoppe ready.

As the purchases began to arrive, David would price them and Jami would do the merchandising. One evening in late March, as we sat on the floor pricing, we told the Lord that we would understand if we couldn’t fill up all seven rooms of the Shoppe initially and that our new customers would also understand. On April 1, 1998, we opened our doors to the public and every room, every nook and cranny and every available space was filled!

In the summer of 2005, after five years of being confused with the Salvation Army (which also has a store in town), we decided to modify our name.  On July 1, 2005 after much prayer (and another fleece), we officially became The Christian Shoppe.

Just about every day since our opening, the Lord has sent us new customers and He has given us steady growth. There is no doubt in either of our minds that this is what the Lord has in mind for us. We love working in and for His kingdom, but the glory, honor and praise for the success of this Shoppe is His.

Dave & Jami Dittmeier