Suppliers discuss the niche category of group study materials and how retailers can make the most of it

While Christian Living and fiction titles appear widely on the shelves of general market retailers, curriculum remains more of a specialty category with which Christian stores can set themselves apart—and build important relationships with local churches.

As DVD-based small group study materials gain in  popularity, broadening the choices in curriculum resources, Christian Retailing spoke with representatives of three leading suppliers about trends and opportunities.

Taking part in the discussion were:

• Larry Carpenter, until recently president of Standard Publishing

• John  Raymond, vice president and publisher of church engagement, Zondervan

• Amy Reuscher, product manager for Group Publishing

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What does the growth in curriculum say about the church and the way people learn and are involved in church life?

AMY REUSCHER: I think the growth can be attributed to several factors.

One is that people are learning in such various ways, and small groups provide the flexibility and intimacy that a lot of times people are not seeing in the dated curriculum. A lot of churches and individual groups are moving away from the dated curriculum and moving towards small groups.

I think it also shows a shift in culture with a lot of the non-churched and “de-churched” people forming their own small groups outside of the traditional church setting.

JOHN RAYMOND: A couple of other things have probably encouraged that.

As the megachurch movement has been growing in the last couple of decades, they have discovered that while they are getting bigger, they also need to get smaller. And because they are not small churches anymore, they needed to figure out a way to connect their people.

Also, when the 40 Days of Purpose campaign out of Saddleback Church came into play with The Purpose-Driven Life, of course, Rick Warren encouraged everybody in their churches to form these small groups for at least six weeks. That was another little catalyst.

LARRY CARPENTER: A second thing that we noted is the need for more entertainment value. Today’s generation is raised more on video games and instant gratification. ... They need more stimulus than just, “Today we are going to talk about the book of Acts.”

The third thing is what the Barna Group noted in its research, that the fastest-single-growing element of the church is the home churches. As people are sort of getting away from the four-wall, brick-and-mortar church and just worshiping in people’s homes, they need some sort of curriculum to use, and the large dated curriculum programs don’t work so well in that environment.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: How is curriculum different to, say, 20 years ago?

RAYMOND: One of the biggest shifts is the change from just the old, print study Bible guides where you would open it up and read through the Bible and have some questions and you would all sit around in a group and answer. We have seen an explosion in this decade of video curriculum.

That can come through many forms, but a lot of it is author-based. A lot of groups or even Sunday school classes are inviting authors into their group or into their classroom via video. Partly that is because of a new generation of people who like to watch rather than read.

REUSCHER: Another thing people are looking for is shorter studies and studies that have less prep. As people just get busier and busier, they are not wanting to spend a lot of time outside of their small group setting to prepare or follow up on what they have learned.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: Isn’t there a danger of dumbing things down?

CARPENTER: There is a chance of that happening, but if a company is careful, it can introduce something that has entertainment value that still has a strong biblical message linked to it. One of the products over the last 20 years that was really a breakthrough product was the Andy Griffith television show Bible study.

Of course, that was not a Christian program, but what (author) Steve Skelton did was pull out clips that  had strong moral stories. You would actually watch an episode of the Andy Griffith show for half an hour and then he had a discussion guide for the next half hour.

RAYMOND: Using television shows and/or movies is a bit tricky because, what was kind of the primary use for that in the first place? When I think of entertainment, I look at it from a different perspective—what we want is tremendous content, but we do it in a little different way, like on location. In other words, if an author or a speaker is going to tell story connected to the content they are delivering, could we put them in the environment where that story actually happened?

The other thing that we found is letting people tell their real stories. We have incorporated testimonies from people that coincide with the speakers’ theme ... a real-life story much like something that would appear on 20/20 or Nightline.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What goes into developing small group curriculum?

RAYMOND: We’re finding that for small groups, we need to keep our curriculum between four and six weeks—most of it is six—and that the length of time that people want to watch video can vary from about 12 minutes to up to 25 minutes. Those are factors in how we create it.

The bigger thing that we look at is, where are we pulling our curriculum from? Whenever we have a best-selling book of any sort, we can almost count on the curriculum being successful because there are people who will automatically encourage others to be part of it.

Another factor is related to churches or organizations that are larger and that have developed their own curriculum—they field-tested it in their environment and now they want to take it to the mass population, and we found good success in working with some of our partners in developing curriculum that way, too.

CARPENTER: It’s tricky when you deal with dated curriculum as well as small group. For small groups, one of our main guiding principles is universality ... a topic that everyone is going to want to talk about for the next four to six weeks. Thematic is also very important—if you can tie it in with something that is happening in pop culture at that point in time or with some other element of the church.

For example, one of our best-selling small group study guides each year is one that ties in with our Vacation Bible School.

RAYMOND: When you are basing it on a book, you have to figure out the timing. One way is a churchwide campaign—when the book launches, provide sermons to a pastor, the book for everybody to read and then a curriculum for every group to use.

On the other hand, when a book does well, it can have a life of its own for a year or two years or even beyond that, and then a curriculum can be created and still be successful.

Amazingly, when we put Jim Cymbala’s book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, we didn’t do a curriculum until about seven years down the road. But we made it on the theme of prayer and because that is a passion for Jim Cymbala, there was actually an audience that was wanting a video experience on prayer.

We didn’t even title it after any best-selling book, we just called it When God’s People Pray, and that has been one of our best-selling curricula for the past three or four years.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What are the opportunities for stores with curriculum?

REUSCHER: A lot of repeat business, because when they are doing two, three, four, five different small group settings a year, they are definitely coming back into the store a lot, and that gives the retailers other opportunities to sell other products to them as well as their small group product.

Another opportunity they have is to try to connect to the church in a larger way—build a relationship not only with the small group pastors, but also small group leaders and members who are coming in, but then try to build that stronger relationship overall with other areas of the church those people are involved in.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: Are stores making the most of such opportunities?

CARPENTER: All the stores need a little help in figuring out how to sell these. There is a fundamental difference in the way that dated curriculum is bought and what we refer to as unstructured curriculum, for small groups.

Dated curriculum is pretty easy. Every church has a Sunday school director or a pastor in charge of education whose job it is to figure out what the more structured classes are going to be for the next quarter or semester.

The undated, unstructured small group-type things are much more free flowing—(the members) tend to turn to that small group leader and ask them to pick out what to study for the next six weeks. What does that small group person do? They want to go out to a Christian retail store and browse through that section.

So, frankly, the design of the product, the cover images, become more important because it’s more than likely more of an impulse purchase than a Sunday school director picking something out of a catalog. That is an opportunity for the store to have a well-marked, well-organized section where those small group leaders can browse.

RAYMOND: I think the church is the secret to retailers’ success, if they would build the relationships.

They have to get to know who are these key people and have somebody in the store who could really help small group leaders when they walk in and look at the options. That is going to require that a store have good samples of what’s available.

One of the ways that they can do that is to utilize a video player or a computer to actually let people experience some of these curricula. At Zondervan, we provide DVD samplers to bookstores so they can actually see what it would be like to actually go through a session.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What about merchandising?

RAYMOND: We have gotten feedback from our sales reps that over the years a lot of people have had these Lucite displays on their shelves where they can actually slide in Bible study guides or any kind of curriculum. We found that those can work just as well for a video and a participant’s guide as they can for a Bible study thing.

So, instead of stacking everything on a shelf spine out, find things within your store that you could put on the shelves face out, grab people’s attention.

A second possibility to highlight some of the small group curriculum, particularly related to books, would be create author endcaps or resource endcaps where you can highlight an author or a theme.

REUSCHER: We are not a big book publisher, but we have partnered with some other companies—for example, we have done two Tony Dungy Bible studies. So, great—everybody is buying the book, which is in a different section of the store, but then you have the study guide which is spine out only and in the Bible study guide section. It’s very difficult for customers to even know there is a related product, let alone find it.

Try to find a win/win solution ... and that can also go back to relationship building.

One idea an account shared with us was that instead of giving a bulk discount to a small group leader who came in to buy for the entire group, sell those products at regular price, but then give them coupons to pass out to their group members to get them back into the store for the next go round.

RAYMOND: One of the things that stores are going to have to wrestle with is that they are going to possibly have to think about what would it be like to offer discounts more aggressively or more often to small group customers.

The brick-and-mortar store has to think strategically, how in this world where people can buy anything, anywhere at anytime, can we offer something that will encourage them to come to our store and to encourage them to what we have to offer.

CARPENTER: Hand-selling at the retail level is probably more important in the small group curriculum section than any other. Why? People, when they are buying for themselves, the only person they have to please is themselves. But with a small group, you are buying for five, 10, 15, 20 other people, and so making sure that you get it right is more important.

So having a well-trained staff that knows what is in each, it’s more important for them to be knowledgeable on that area (more) than perhaps any other section in the store with the possible exception of Bibles.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What about new resources?

CARPENTER: It’s Your Move is based on board games—we have gone back and picked out all the great board games from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

Then we have a second series, Through Artists’ Eyes, and it’s three books—God’s Word on Canvas, God’s Word on Glass and God’s Word in Stone. And this is for people who are perhaps a little bit more intellectually oriented than the ones who play Monopoly. It picks beautiful works of art, then ties it in (to the Bible).

REUSCHER: Growing Out: From Disciples to Disciplers is a six-book series that is a guided path to spiritual maturity. It takes people through growing in Jesus, growing in character, growing in their gifts and then up into growing in leadership.

Then we have Make Your Group Grow, and this is to get groups growing both numerically and spiritually. The author, Josh Hunt, did surveys of several small group leaders and pastors that he has been working with churches across the country ... talking about how to get your group growing.

RAYMOND: The big ones this year are Prodigal God by Tim Keller, which has done extremely well, and The Me I Want to Be, a new book, a video curriculum from John Ortberg.

In the summer we’ll be launching a similar kind of thing with the brand new book and video curriculum from Bill Hybels, called The Power of a Whisper.

Read excerpts here and listen in on the whole conversation at roundtable.christianretailing.com.

Incoming CBA Chairman George Thomsen on the organization, the industry and their futures

When George Thomsen takes over as chairman of CBA next month, it will mark a major new season for the retailers’ trade association.

The first church bookstore representative to head the group’s board, Thomsen inherits the leadership of a downsized organization with a new top executive.

Since he was appointed to the board in 2008, becoming chairman-elect last year, Thomsen has seen the departure of longtime President and CEO Bill Anderson, the sale of the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the adoption of a new management model with Curtis Riskey appointed as executive director.

In addition, CBA has continued to reshape its International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in  light of suppliers’ cutting back on their investment in the show and its ongoing evolution from an order-writing event to one more about networking, relationship building and industry dialogue.

Still overseeing Harvest Bookstore at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif.—an award-winning church store—and serving as a consultant to other retailers, Thomsen talked with Christian Retailing about his appointment, prior to this year’s ICRS.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What has been the most encouraging thing for you in the past few months?

GEORGE THOMSEN: I have been very encouraged by the offers of prayer and support for CBA from many of our industry leaders and partners. I can only begin to tell you how much this has meant and been appreciated by CBA, the board and me personally. There is a new spirit of realistic optimism and hope as well as a desire and willingness to work together.

It would not be unfair to say that CBA needed to change to facilitate this and in many ways I think it has. Times are tougher, and many of us are feeling the same pain points. Tough times also humble us and bring us to our knees. We need to recognize this and find ways to help each other for the good of the entire industry. This is Christ honoring and Christian obedience in action.

What has been the most disappointing thing for you?

Without a doubt I would say it has been an attitude of negativity by some in our industry in the face of these past few months. While most have been supportive and encouraging, it does hurt to hear unfounded rumors, gossip, comments and speculation by an uninformed and vocal few.

The last two years we have heard negative rumors about pre-registration for ICRS that were not anywhere near close to being true. These rumors were circulated by several in our industry. When CBA sold its building, someone blogged, “Is the ship slowly sinking?” Why can’t it be that,  “CBA has exercised good stewardship in divesting itself of a huge financial burden that threatened its very existence”? It is unfortunate in a Christian industry that we have gossip and rumors.

I appreciate the fact that Stephen Strang (owner of Christian Retailing publisher Strang Communications) did the biblical thing and brought an unfounded rumor to my attention rather than passing it on. Earlier in the year, I called Stephen when I heard an untrue rumor about Christian Retailing. I wish this was the default way that everyone in our industry would handle these things.

What were some of the biggest challenges CBA has faced in recent times?

We have had several significant ones. Like most organizations, the difficulty of the times has dictated that we have to live on less. We have had to watch our budgets very closely. The board and staff take our stewardship role very seriously. The staff has done a wonderful job in keeping expenses at a minimum. Also, finding a new leader for our organization was challenging.

We were blessed that in Curtis Riskey we had an outstanding person in-house and that God had been preparing him for this call over the last two years. The challenge for us now under reorganization is to figure out what is vital, what is dispensable and how to more effectively manage the organization with a smaller staff. Part of our stewardship duties resulted in the sale of our building.

What factors went into the decision to sell the building?

While the building has been a blessing to CBA and those other Christian ministries that lived there, we could no longer justify owning it. It had gotten to a point where the building owned us and was taking us away from our core competencies. It did not fit what we were about. We no longer needed the amount of space we once did. And, in a down commercial real estate market, it was difficult to lease out the space we did not need.

Also, the responsibilities of being a landlord took energy away from the vital tasks of CBA. We did not want management of the building to keep us from delivering value to our members. The board clearly felt that good stewardship required selling the building. We were very blessed to find a suitable buyer in this market.

We are also thankful that we and the other Christian ministries continue to reside in the same building. The sale of the building has helped to strengthen CBA financially.

How will the new leadership and structure at CBA benefit members?

There are several ways that I think this will happen. First, our new executive director, Curtis Riskey, is a retailer himself and has a passion for helping Christian retail succeed. Hence, there is no lack of understanding or disconnect between what goes on in the offices in Colorado Springs and the realities of business life in Christian stores.

Secondly, our new structure is less costly and more efficient. Resources are now more available for the business and mission of the association. And that business is about helping retailers succeed. As chairman of the board, I will have a more active role in speaking to our industry. This is something I felt should happen even prior to my chairmanship. The chairman speaks for the board and members need to hear from the members they have elected to lead their organization.

What is CBA planning to do to rally the industry and renew some sense of optimism for the future?

I think optimism is important and can be a good thing, yet it is possible to be optimistic to a fault and we don’t want to fall off that side of the horse, either. I prefer to think in terms of being “realistically optimistic.”

Hopefully CBA can be a catalyst to dialogue and change in our industry culture. For that to happen, we need to be willing to work together and to develop synergy. We need to get people together and talk about what we can do to make the industry work better and to be sure that we are not working at cross-purposes. You have heard me float the idea of an industry summit, and that is still something I would like to see happen.

We also need to revisit our past and remember why it was we got into this industry/ministry. We did not do it to get rich, and we knew that it would not be easy. I think that we have become less satisfied now because the boon years are in our recent past and memory. We have tasted that success and expect that it will always be that way.

What changes would you like to see in our industry?

We are a Christian industry and I am thankful for the many godly men and women who serve the industry, yet we don’t always behave in God-honoring ways. I would like to see that change.

Whatever we do or whatever successes we have, it is not worth it if we compromise along the way in order to achieve it. We must not be pragmatists to the point that the ends justify the means if the means are not pleasing to God. We must be sure that what we write, what we publish, what we sing, what we produce is biblical and honoring to the Lord.

We need to honor our commitments, whether they are contractual or financial. We need to be straightforward in our dealings with each other. We need to resolve our differences out of court. We need to pay our bills. We need to govern our speech so that what we say is true and edifying to those who hear. We must not engage in industry gossip or rumors. We need to love each other more and quibble less. We need to pray more and rely less on our own strengths.

When we honor God, He will honor us.

You have been quoted as saying that “CBA has a strong board.” Can you elaborate on that?

I think the CBA board, while certainly not perfect, has several strong qualities. First, we respect each other. We value and hear each other out in the boardroom. We do not always agree, but at the end of discussion, we still love and value each other. We care about what is right, not who is right.

The board does not shy away from difficult discussions and decisions. We recognize that diversity and differing opinions can actually be healthy and a benefit to an organization and we even seek that out. We also have a good mix of different skill sets and backgrounds. The current board is blessed with more financial acumen than perhaps any board in CBA’s history. This has particularly served us well as we have had to make adjustments in these difficult economic times.

We have a mix of entrepreneurs, managers, implementers, visionaries, those with multi-board experience and some with association experience. We have people who love and care greatly about the industry and what happens to it.

What do you believe are the three most important issues facing the Christian products world in general and Christian retailers in particular?

I am not sure that it is easy to separate the Christian products world from Christian retailers. There is a symbiotic relationship. Certainly channel management is a significant concern. It is understandable that suppliers want greater distribution of their products. That has to be at the heart of most of their mission statements.

And yet, Christian retail remains uniquely important and relevant. We need to find programs like channel exclusives, differentiated channel strategies and consumer awareness of Christian retail. Consumer awareness is important because there are more people today asking the question, “How come there is not a Christian store in my community?”

Consumers need to understand that this is part of the fallout of the change in how they purchase product. Yet, they still recognize the intrinsic value a Christian store brings to a community. We have to get that word out. We also need to help retailers become forward-thinking and adaptable to the changing realities in the world of retail—whether it is embracing technology, dealing with consumer purchasing habits or identifying and developing strategy around Christian retail’s unique value proposition.

Our industry has been behind the curve of the electronic/digital revolution. In many cases we are shutting the barn door after the horse is long gone down the road. In the future, we need to be more proactive and on the cutting edge.

Is there a future for indies in Christian retailing? Isn’t the future for chains and churches?

I believe there is. We are seeing indies that are not only surviving, but thriving in the ABA (general market) and in CBA as well. However, it is not easy and it takes hard work. It requires the right mind-set, toughness and resolve.

Stores have to not only do the basics well, but (also) have to go beyond the fundamentals. They have to find what they can do better than anyone else and be sure that they play to those strengths. People still want connection, they want to be known and want to share their passion for whatever it is they enjoy with other people.

I read an article in my local paper this past weekend about an indie store in my town that is doing well and the importance of developing a sense of community in the store.

With Christian suppliers now strong in other channels, does CBA have as much influence with them as it used to?

Christian retailers have something that other channels don’t have and can never have.

We are a channel that cares more about and knows more about their products than do the secular retailers. We got into this industry because we believed we were called to it and wanted to serve the Lord. We are committed to the product because we care about it and value it for what it can do in a person’s life.

There is great transformational value in Christian books and Bibles. We are evangelists for the product. Secular retailers, whether brick and mortar or click and mortar, are only committed to the point that it rings a cash register. Once the desire drops off, the product is off of their shelves.

With regard to the amount of influence we have with suppliers, I am not sure how you measure that. I suspect in some ways we have less influence than we once had, but I do believe that we should have significant influence with them. If we can work together and find ways to leverage our collective strength, we can increase our influence with suppliers.

This is an area in which we need to do a better job.

Does digital publishing signal the demise of brick-and-mortar bookstores, as some are predicting?

I hope this is not the case and don’t think it will be. It will surely have an effect and retailers need to face up to the implications of that.

However, I don’t think the effect will be as decimating for the book as it was for music. There is a tangible experiential aspect of enjoying a physical book that is difficult to replicate with an e-book. That is why publishers have gone to the effort of craftsmanship in what they publish. Cover design, cover construction, font, graphics, paper and even smell are things that many people appreciate when they hold an actual book in their hand. “Book people” savor these things.

Yet the reality is that not everyone considers these things as important, certainly not as important as the content. The unknown is how widespread the impact of the digital revolution will be on retailing as we have known it. There will continue to be booksellers, and the ones who are successful will be those who are innovative and adapt to the market realities.

What will happen to ICRS in the future? Will there be some kind of combined show next year?

While there has been a downturn in ICRS in this economy, this year it did comparatively better than other trade shows. Our total attendance was down around 2%, while most shows have been down 16% this year. What we also experienced in 2009 was that those who came to ICRS came to do business, and so far what I have heard this year, this was also the case.

Sometimes numbers can be misleading. An example would be a store that in previous years brought the entire family, now may only be bringing two people. So while fewer badges are issued in that case, the decrease in the number of buyers is much smaller. I think we also are seeing that the stronger retailers are the ones who are still out there and coming to the show. I heard from several exhibitors that last year they felt that people were uncertain about what might happen and that this year people are essentially saying, “OK, now we know what it is and we can deal with it.”

While our total attendance was off a small amount, we saw pockets of growth. The total number of exhibitors was up, and once again international attendance increased. Exhibitors are making adjustments also and have found that they can still have a productive show with less exhibit space, a smaller staff and without expensive custom exhibitory.

I don’t know the exact future of the show, but we are optimistic and have dates booked several years out. Yes, we have talked with some other organizations about co-locating or merging shows. There is a definite interest in this and it is a real possibility. Whatever we do, we must continue to do whatever it takes to see that ICRS delivers value to those who attend. Curtis Riskey, Scott Graham and the team in Colorado Springs are working hard to find ways to increase exhibitor return on investment.

Christian publishers look for sports books with ‘substance’

Although the Indianapolis Colts were the favorite to win the 2007 Super Bowl, few in the book world expected their coach, Tony Dungy, to follow his National Football League (NFL) title with a championship-level publishing record.

However, when Dungy’s Quiet Strength (Tyndale House Publishers, 2007) topped the New York Times best-seller list, it sparked a wave of Christian-based sports books. Another crop of titles is releasing during the second half of 2010.

“We have seen a huge spike with Dungy’s book, which we were in the auction for,” said Mark Tauber, publisher of HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. “This was a whole new world of sports memoirs that can work, especially when they have a faith piece to them.”

“It’s one of the iconic books of the decade,” said Todd Starowitz, public relations manager for Tyndale.

Nearing the 1.2 million mark in sales, Quiet Strength did so well that many Christian retailers were disappointed in the sales of his follow-up, Uncommon (2009)—even though the latter has sold more than 300,000 copies.

Still, Dungy has developed a solid following; his latest, The Mentor Leader, released Aug. 3. His astonishing success also keyed Tyndale’s major push into the genre. Among its string of best-sellers: Don’t Bet Against Me! (2008) by Deanna Favre, wife of star quarterback Brett Favre; The Winners Manual (2008) by Ohio State coach Jim Tressel; and Game Plan for Life (2009) by ex-NFL coach and NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs.

First Things First (2009) by now-retired quarterback Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda, is another Tyndale best-seller about to release in paperback. Also coming out in paper, FaithWords’ Role of a Lifetime by sports broadcaster James Brown releases Sept. 2, a year after the publication of the hardcover edition.

In July, Tyndale released Coming Back Stronger, the memoir of 2010 Super Bowl-winning quarterback Drew Brees. The New Orleans Saints’ book debuted at No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal list and in the top five on the Publishers Weekly and New York Times hardcover nonfiction lists. On book tour, he signed approximately 22,500 books.

Brees’ book is doing well largely because of his high profile in the sports world, but an upcoming title shares the story of the unknown Faith Christian School football team from Grapevine, Texas.

Tyndale will release Remember Why You Play in October. The book is sports columnist David Thomas’ account of the Faith Christian season that included a game against the Gainesville State Tornadoes, a school for juvenile offenders. The story is being made into a movie, One Heart (Et3rné Films/Birchwood Pictures), slated for premiere in November 2011.

Sports are stirring enough excitement that they convinced Barbour Publishing—more familiar for its Amish fiction and Heartsong romance novels—to enter the field. Senior Nonfiction Editor Paul Muckley said its new Playing With Purpose by Mike Yorkey is unusual for a Barbour stand-alone title.

The book profiles three National Football League (NFL) rookie quarterbacks: Sam Bradford of the St. Louis Rams, Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos and Colt McCoy of the Cleveland Browns. The trio routinely competed for college football’s coveted Heisman Trophy.

“This proposal caught our imagination because the three quarterbacks profiled all have such a clear Christian testimony,” Muckley said.

Bridge-Logos Publishers, another house with a modest sports history, added two titles to its 2010 lineup. Just out is Gators for God by Suzy Richardson, which reviews the testimonies of former players like Tebow and Danny Wuerffel.

“We think the stories of men who are in the book will serve as role models for boys,” said Bridge-Logos Publisher Lloyd Hildebrand. “Because of players who are well-known, we believe it has great national and even international potential.”

Bridge-Logos’ other sports entry is March’s Rekindle Your Dreams by Trish Porter. Although a 1988 Olympic high jumper, a neck injury forced her into retirement. After returning to competition in her 40s, Porter became a world-record holder. Her book appeals to women because it encourages them to pursue their passion, Hildebrand said.

Although Howard Books only does one or two sports titles a year, it landed a coup with the memoir of recently retired Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden. A well-known figure in Christian circles, Bowden’s Called to Coach debuted in August.

In October, Howard will resurrect the saga of Marion Jones, the former Olympic champion who was stripped of her gold medals after a doping scandal.

Now playing pro basketball, Jones is a frequent speaker to youth, urging them to make the right choices—symbolizing her book’s title, On the Right Track.

“Their faith stories are what’s most attractive about both books,” said Rebekah Nesbitt, vice president and editor in chief.   “These people have had an impact on culture. People talk about them.”

WaterBrook Press is dipping its toe into the sports field again with The Walk, an Oct. 5 release by free-agent running back Shaun Alexander, who previously told his life story in Touchdown Alexander (Harvest House Publishers, 2006). His new book focuses on a walk with God rather than sports.

“We see him as a Tony Dungy-style Christian leader, speaker and teacher with a long and fruitful ministry career ahead of him,” said Ken Petersen, vice president and editor in chief of The WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

A tough sell

Despite Tyndale’s success, Starowitz said sports books aren’t the easiest product to market. A former media relations assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles and current statistician for the Chicago Bulls, Starowitz said Tyndale researched the genre after Dungy’s debut topped the Times’ list.

“It was one of only 20 sports books that had ever reached No. 1,” Starowitz said. “It’s not an area that is as successful as most people think.”

The lukewarm reception to several sports titles is one reason B&H Publishing Group is largely on the sidelines today, according to Gary Terashita, executive editor of the Fidelis Books imprint.

He points to modest sales for Beyond The Game (2005), a youth title co-authored by Yankee star Andy Pettite; The First Tee Shot (2004) by PGA golfer Wally Armstrong; and Every Child is a Winner (2002) by Upwards founder Caz McCaslin.

The Nashville house has also done several sports-themed Bibles and devotionals, but Terashita prefers titles by well-known athletes.

However, even high-profile athletes have to go beyond “how I won it,” said Steve Lawson, acquisitions editor for Regal Books.

“We look for titles with substance, with a strong spiritual value and takeaway,” said Lawson, whose company published The Greatest Coach Ever: Timeless Wisdom and Insights of John Wooden, bumping up its release several months to July after coaching legend John Wooden died June 4 at age 99. Written with Fellowship of Christian Athletes members, The Greatest Coach Ever is a collection of 52 tributes from coaches, athletes and friends influenced by Wooden’s philosophy.

Demand for Regal’s Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success has skyrocketed since Wooden’s death, prompting Gospel Light to print 100,000 more copies, company officials said.

This month Regal also issues former coach Tom Osborne’s Secrets to Becoming a Leader.

“If you look at the success of Tony Dungy, John Wooden, (pitcher) Josh Hamilton or Joe Gibbs, it’s not just giving their ‘how they came to Christ’ testimony. It’s how they lived out their faith,” Lawson added. “The ones that tend to be written like an expanded sports page will get a lot of initial buzz just because of the person’s name. But there’s got to be more to it for it to … have staying power.”

Pluses in retailing

Just as sports books offer hurdles for publishers, they pose marketing challenges. Most retailers don’t have a Sports section, generally shelving the titles in Biography, Inspirational, Men’s or Devotionals.

Kevin McDonell, senior book buyer for Mardel Christian & Education, called the category “up and down” for the Oklahoma City-based chain. Dungy’s first two books have been the strongest recent titles.

“I believe they can,” he said of sports books’ value. “I know Dungy’s (first) book had a great message in it. We saw many churches use it and the corresponding curriculum to host men’s Bible studies.”

In the NFL hotbed of Green Bay, Wis., football books outsell soccer, golf and other sports, said Karen Grosse, owner of Lighthouse Christian Books. She said that illustrates that sports that are big in a particular area will sell there.

Football’s popularity in Green Bay explains the appeal of Dungy’s books, although not many other titles have sold well lately. Grosse attributes that to big box stores discounting them heavily, meaning Lighthouse isn’t “top of mind” for sports.

Still, the store carries a large selection, with the main criteria for stocking a particular book an example that enables young people to look up to sports figures. In the past, books by such Packers as Reggie White, Ken Ruettgers and Josh Bidwell have stirred excitement, with their book-signing parties well attended.

“I believe most of these books are good for the Christian channel,” Grosse said. “We have people involved in many areas of sports. They like to read stories about the lives of sports figures and the paths that they have taken to get where they are.”

Others see pluses in sports as they utilize personal appearances, regional titles or merchandising tie-ins.

Sports fan Arden Bender of Bender Parable Christian Store near Buffalo, N.Y., hosted a late June book signing with Jill Kelly, wife of former Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Jim Kelly, for her Prayers for Those Who Grieve (Harvest House Publishers, June).

Bender has been working to arrange a return appearance tied to her latest release, Without a Word (FaithWords, Sept. 9). The newest book chronicles the story of the Kellys’ son, Hunter, born with a rare disease that later claimed his life.

This month Harvest House is releasing a companion volume by Jill Kelly, Prayers of Hope for the Brokenhearted.

To be featured on NBC’s Today show Sept. 9, Jill Kelly is well-acquainted with Bender’s store; she’s a regular customer. Her June appearance there attracted a steady flow of customers and sales of 45 books.

In the past, Jim Kelly has also made personal appearances, signing memorabilia for a purchase of a Hunter’s Hope Bear. Sales raise money for the Kellys’ foundation.

“I think these books are good for the Christian channel,” Bender said. “There’s a lot of Christian sports fans out there. Or maybe men who don’t necessarily read a lot, but something like that would be more of a draw for those who are ‘closet readers’ or only read once in awhile.”

They don’t have to be national draws, either. Last fall the Lemstone Parable store in Hiram, Ga., sold more than 200 copies of Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans by former pastor Ed McMinn.

The series is produced by McMinn’s Extra Point Publishers. The company focuses on the Southeast, with 19 editions for fans of such schools as Georgia, Auburn, Clemson and Florida State.

“I’ve done a couple church events and men’s events, and they’re pretty popular,” store owner Mike Dunn said. “It’s a regional thing that’s still building.”

Dunn displays the books with other products like writing tables and pens with scriptures. He leaves the table in place for at least the first month of football season.

Another retailer located 10 minutes from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp stocks football-themed purses, totes, license plates and other items. The Steelers are most popular, followed by Penn State and Pittsburgh.

Manager Becky Sharp said Majesty Christian Store in Greensburg, Pa., started carrying the merchandise two years ago. Majesty uses a display kiosk in its mall location to attract shoppers.

“You can walk into any store and find T-shirts and hats,” Sharp said of their alternative selection. “The purses are one of our biggest sellers. We draw people who aren’t even Christians, who wouldn’t (ordinarily) step foot into a Christian bookstore.”

DVDs are a growing category for many stores, though quality concerns are an issue

In the wake of a major spotlight for DVDs at this year’s International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), our latest Vital Signs industry survey looks at what stores are thinking and doing about this growth category.

DVDs offering wholesome entertainment can help Christian stores establish a competitive difference, according to the vast majority of respondents. Three-in-four retailers said that they saw DVDs as a way of setting their stores apart, while an even greater number (81%) believed that customers will “go out of their way” to purchase “wholesome entertainment” they can’t find elsewhere.

LOOKING AHEAD

There was concern, however, that the draw may be short-lived, as 83% predicted that  secular retail will “skim off high-margin sales,” as has been the case with popular Christian books and music products.

Growth will come in the feature-film segment, according to 23% of retailers, while 40% predicted a decline in consumer demand for music and concert DVDs, as well as a drop in the sales of teaching/preaching programs.

PRODUCT MIX

Feature films and children’s programming make up the majority of titles carried in most stores, although we found the mix to be different in church stores compared to for-profit outlets. A typical commercially run store carried four feature film titles for every three children’s DVDs, while the average church store was heavier in children’s titles.

Many stores (52%) reported carrying more than 60 different titles, and a handful said that they offered far more than that. The greatest number of titles carried by one store in our survey was 592, with nearly half (47%) being full-length feature films.

Overall, the majority of feature-length adult DVDs carried by Christian stores were in the faith-based category (52%) where the plot and outcomes are “decidedly Christian.”

CONSUMER HELP

The majority of retailers weren’t yet familiar with the new rating system for DVDs proposed by CBA and The Dove Foundation, when we asked them about it in June. Many who had heard of the concept, debuted at ICRS, offered guarded support. Among the comments were:

“Customers who are extremely picky and unthoughtful will get a little more info on whether to watch. ... The con is that it’s just going to be more confusing, and thoughtful customers will think more poorly of the industry.”

“It [will] clearly communicate to the customer what type of DVD they are buying. Especially as the main CBA distributors of DVDs begin carrying more family-friendly-only titles, my customers need to know if a movie is faith-based or just family-friendly—or they complain to me about it ‘not being a Christian movie.’ ”

SELECTION

Only 11% of stores told us that they provided a DVD rental service, with stores affiliated with churches typically more likely to have a library on campus that would rent to parishioners.

There was something of a gap between the content consumers told us they were looking to buy and that which retailers said they were willing to carry.

A strong majority of retailers (76%) told us they believed that consumers would purchase “B” quality film projects as long as there was “a strong Christian plot and outcomes.” However, only 57% of consumers said they were likely to buy lower-caliber films solely for their content.

There was support among 53% of retailers for an accessory that strips out offensive portions of movies, but only one in three consumers say they would be interested in buying one.

DVD DISCUSSION

With staff or industry colleagues, talk about the following:

Is the DVD section in your store an intentional destination or a profitable impulse sale?

Are there affinity groups in your community that would respond favorably to a special promotion around DVDs, such as a Christian-school or parent-teacher group?

Do you actively promote DVD sales with monitors playing new releases?

Jim Seybert is an author and consultant living in Arroyo Grande, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Representatives of three leading suppliers of small group curriculum discussed the category recently with Christian Retailing editor Andy Butcher.

Taking part in the conversation were Larry Carpenter, then president of Standard Publishing; John Raymond, vice president and publisher of church engagement for Zondervan; and Amy Reuscher, product manager at Group Publishing.

{mp3}Curriculm{/mp3}

Click here to download the file.

If the road to that other place is paved with good intentions, it must also have a lot of sinkholes—a hazard we know something about here in Florida.

You can lay a nice new track and paint fresh markings, but if there is nothing of substance underneath, it’s only a matter of time before you’re going down rather than ahead.

This sad reality comes to mind at a time when I am vigorously enthused about a new sense of direction for our industry.

There’s fresh leadership at CBA. A sense of renewed commitment to and appreciation of the Christian retail channel from some suppliers. A new level of openness to cooperation and collaboration.

Take Christian Store Day, debuting next month. More than a year of discussions and negotiations have gone into the event, and credit to those who have been involved in the efforts. Then there are the ongoing talks about some sort of industrywide platform to help Christian stores provide e-books for their customers.

Yes, we have much to be encouraged about. But I believe that we also need to be realistic in the days to come, or things could come crashing down. So let me offer some cautions as we work on the road in front of us.

Compromise does not have to be a dirty word. We may be confident about the vision that God has given us, but it’s easy to confuse that endpoint with the actual implementation of getting there. Just because someone suggests a different route to the one we have mapped out doesn’t mean we won’t get where we want to.

Win-win isn’t always possible. Sometimes it’s enough that neither side loses, in the short term—at least they get to stay in the game together. Buying into the idea that there’s always an immediate fix that’s great for everyone ignores the fact that change can be a process that unfolds in stages and time, not as an instant event.

Let’s not rush to question others’ motives. It’s too easy to give ourselves a pass and decide that “they” have bad or selfish intent because our plans or programs are at cross-purposes. Maybe we should focus more on the facts of the matter—and addressing them--and invest less emotional energy in deciding why they did this or that. We all know what assuming does.

Hold our certainties lightly. I’m not talking about being careless about our core values, but be honest, how often do we end up majoring on minors? Just because we need to do it this way doesn’t mean everyone else has to. Try insisting everyone else paddles on the left-hand side, like you, next time you are in a canoe and see where that gets everyone. Nowhere fast. And dizzy.

Faithful does not mean successful. At least, not in the 21st - century Christian terms we have generally come to accept (big name, big car, big house. Big deal). God does bless, but not always in the ways we might think. Seems to me that the heroes of Heb. 11 would not get a book deal or a TV spot if they were around today.

Unity isn’t easy. The Bible exhorts us to “make every effort” to maintain the bond that we share with other believers. In other words, it’s not just about having a fuzzy feeling, and it won’t just happen. And, given that God commands a blessing where unity is found, we should not be surprised that there are efforts afoot to pull us apart.

With all this in mind, I encourage you to embrace opportunities to collaborate and cooperate. Stores, sign up for Christian Store Day. It may not be everything you would like, first time out, but the indie music store initiative it is based on took time to grow into the success it is now, and you can be part of making sure it has a future.

Will the e-book initiative in the works suit everyone? Unlikely, but that does not mean it isn’t worth supporting.

Back to the road: If we are going to get ahead, we are also going to have to go deeper and lay some good foundations for the future.

I have just read your April editorial, “Wanted: big-picture thinkers,” and I have to say that it spoke to me loud enough to prompt this response.

I moved to the area where I live a few years ago and opened my store, expecting great support from the churches and community. After all, this is a very conservative, churchgoing, KJV-only, Southern gospel-listening bunch of people, so why wouldn’t they appreciate a Christian bookstore?

Well, I was wrong in my thinking. I have offered pastor discount programs, a place for pastors to network together, a coffee shop, a place to hold Bible studies or to just gather and many other ideas—but to no avail. Businesswise, I do well enough to pay the bills (barely, some months), but ministrywise I feel like I have failed at everything that I have tried.

If you have any suggestions that I may try, then please send them my way.

Darlene Alldredge

Owner

His Place Christian Resources

Lineville, Ala.

I enjoyed your editorial in the April issue. I have been in business seven years, and my vision for the store was and is that it would truly be an oasis for people.

I also have a coffee shop with espresso drinks/fresh fruit juices, smoothies and muffins. I had hoped the coffee shop would draw non-Christian people in and it has. I consider it my outreach.

I hope your article encourages many others to come up with creative ideas to connect and spread the gospel.

Jane Cook

Owner

Oasis Christian Bookstore

Farmington, Mo.

Thank you for the May 27 Christian Retailing Update report about our new “Free Bible Charts of the Month” program for helping bookstores. We now have nearly 100 Christian stores using this program.

I wanted you to clarify a couple of things about the article. Stores and their customers do not go to the Rose Web site, but to FreeBibleCharts.com, a deliberately non-branded Web site. Store customers do not download nine e-charts at one time. In the “Free Bible Charts of the Month” program for bookstores, they download only one free Bible e-chart per month.

For more information, contact Eric Lau at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Gretchen Goldsmith

President/CEO

Rose Publishing

I recently read a Christian Retailing report that, starting Aug. 1, every Thomas Nelson Bible will be guaranteed for life against manufacturing defects in what was “believed to be an unprecedented quality pledge.”

I would respectfully like to point out that Fireside Catholic Publishing for over 40 years has provided a Lifetime Guarantee of all its Bible line, should the Bible ever prove unsatisfactory due to manufacturing defects.

We welcome Thomas Nelson’s commitment to quality. However, it can hardly be described as unprecedented.

Mark Brosz

Vice President Sales and Marketing

Fireside Catholic Publishing