An author and ministry leader who champions high standards for girls and young women has urged Christian suppliers and retailers to take a close look at their own lives to avoid any double standards in business.

"We have to be willing to examine our lives to see if there is any potential for hypocrisy," says Dannah Gresh, author of the "Secret Keeper Girl" teen series and founder of the Pure Freedom ministry. Is there "a disconnect between what we are selling and how we are living," she asks in an appeal in the next issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

Her "Industry Forum" guest column acknowledges the stresses of business and competition for members of the Christian retail industry as they "desperately seek to live the messages we hope will sell."

Gresh admits her own struggles in following "fellow best-selling authors for teen girls progress with rapt self-consciousness." She confesses that "it gets hard for me to remember that whole 'same team' thing when I'm worrying about making payroll for my staff," and shares exchanges with other writers who tell of the challenges they face in living what they teach.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that this whole Christian retail thing just works better if we live it better than we sell it," Gresh writes. "As we share Dave Ramsey's books on biblical finances, can we say with certainty that we are living above the weight of debt in our ministry finances? When we encourage a weepy wife with a copy of The Love Dare, can we say that we've been protecting our own marriages?"

Read Gresh's complete article in the June 8 issue of Christian Retailing .