That is the appeal from publishing leader Mark Kuyper, who says recent research has underscored the "staggering" potential for "ministry, discipleship and growth" among Christians who are not reached by existing marketing efforts.

The president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association says that though he is an active Christian and involved in his local church, he rarely hears about Christian resources outside of his work life.

"It appears that a lot of us don't use the media where Christian suppliers' marketing messages are typically sent out," he writes in an "Industry Issues" guest commentary for Christian Retailing. "I don't listen to Christian radio, watch Christian TV or read Christian magazines. ... At home, my wife and I occasionally receive a mailer from our local Christian store, but it's easily lost in the deluge of catalogs, circulars and junk mail we receive."

But recent studies have found 76% of the U.S. population identify themselves as Christian, 50.9% of them claiming to be Protestant, while 75% of the population reads books. Of these, two-thirds read the Bible and other religious works-yet Christian books account for just 4.7% of the average book consumer's spending.

"I believe the market for Christian books is far larger than the core audience we usually talk to," Kuyper writes. "Now is the time to actively and creatively develop new ideas and strategies to reach beyond our current customer base, to communicate with ... countless others who would be interested in, and whose lives would be changed for the better by, our content."

Kuyper's article, "Our greatest challenge, our greatest opportunity," is the latest Web-special monthly commentary from trade association leaders in Christian Retailing's "Industry Issues" series. Other contributors are CBA President Bill Anderson and Gospel Music Association President John Styll, who offer comments and opinions on key issues and trends.

Click here to read the complete article.

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