It's time to renew our faith, to navigate a changing industry

 The Bible says without faith it’s impossible to please God. Yet many Christians—including many in our industry—are living in fear, not faith. After the boom of the '80s and '90s, more Christian books were sold in secular channels; digital methods of distribution ate away at sales; many found the transition to the next generation wasn’t smooth; and on top of everything, the economy turned south in 2008.  

What else can go wrong, they said, as more stores closed?

As a result the industry has shrunk. Even though good things are happening and some are prospering, the prevailing thinking too often is not one of faith and vision.

I believe our industry could learn from what happened in Australia in the late 1980s when Dr. David Yonggi Cho from South Korea visited the nation and challenged the small-mindedness of the Pentecostal leaders he met with.

Australia is a very secularized nation. The percentage of Christians in church on Sunday is much lower than the United States. Australia has never had a huge revival. I know this because my late father-in-law, Harvey Ferrell, pastored in Sydney when my wife was a teenager. The churches were small and it was a struggle to grow.

Cho, who founded what became the world’s largest church, challenged the Australian leaders he met on their lack of faith.   He said their churches didn’t grow because they didn’t believe they would.  

The leaders took his challenge to heart—especially the Assemblies of God. Andrew Evans, who was head of that denomination, told me Cho’s challenge was a turning point. Today the Assemblies of God is the largest Protestant denomination in Australia. Many of its churches, including churches pastored by Evans’ two sons, have thousands of members.

One of the A/G churches, Hillsong, has had influence around the world: Ever heard the song, “Shout to the Lord”? And soon we’ll write about Koorong, the Christian bookstore chain that is thriving in Australia.

FAITH TO GROW

I’m not a Cho, but I know it takes faith to grow. I started very small in 1975 and in the early days had to believe God for every dollar that came in the door. Yet my organization and I went through a slump. I took a sabbatical in 2009, which I write about in the accompanying article. Now we have a vision for the future and have seen some amazing turn arounds. The Lord gave me some strategies a year ago which have resulted in significant growth and extended reach for our Ministry Today magazine brand.

Now Christian Retailing is making some strategic changes, too, to address the changes we are seeing in our industry.  

Internally we’re moving some of our staff as we focus on new initiatives. For example, Dave Condiff, the longtime publisher of Christian Retailing, has moved to head up our company’s entire advertising department. We welcome back to the Christian Retailing team Cliff Morales, who did a great job in advertising a few years ago.

As a magazine, Christian Retailing is more focused on the business of retailing and on featuring stores that are prospering. We’re inviting industry leaders to be guest editors beginning next month to get their perspective and to make reading the magazine a more exciting experience.  

We know you can get information from many sources. But we want to give you a vision for what is happening overall and help you to stay connected month by month with the Christian Retailing community both in print and online, with new products you’ll see coming, with small intimate events such as our West Coast ReBoot or our planned Gathering in Dallas next spring.

But we also want to encourage people to believe God. I’m reminded of the thousands of Christians in ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ, Youth With A Mission and so forth that believe enough in what they are doing that they raise their own support.  

MINISTRY CALLING

I know that some of the many Christian retailers who have the same sense of ministry calling are weary right now, even worried. They have seen others fall by the wayside. We want to come alongside those who are still standing, to encourage and equip and support them as they renew their faith and vision.  

This is not the only tough time and ours is not the only industry to undergo change. Sure, times are difficult, but what good can result as we pray, pursue business excellence and persevere? I remember Robert Schuller’s famous line that was the title of his best-selling book: “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

That’s why we have initiated “The Christian Retailing Pledge” presented here. It may be stating the obvious and maybe it won’t change behavior, but it’s a sort of vow to keep trying and to never give up and to help others.  

We are encouraged by those at the International Christian Retail Show who were willing to quickly sign it so we could print their names in this issue. Won’t you add your name to the list as we update it in print and online? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone in the industry signed this pledge?

Finally, the rebranding our company did caused us to articulate our vision statement for Christian Retailing, and it’s appropriate as we institute changes to publicly state our vision for the magazine and what we believe is important.

Meanwhile, please give us your feedback. We’ll be doing more surveys; we’ll have community forums online; and we hope you'll attend our small regional meetings. Those who participated in our Retailing ReBoot event last spring in Orlando, Fla., were so encouraged. The event was so positive that we have decided to repeat it on the West Coast.  

I believe the excitement that was generated is an indication of positive momentum in our industry. I hope you plan to attend Retailing ReBoot West in October. You can find more information and register here.

For us, changing times involved changing our name

Throughout Scripture, God often changed a person’s name before something significant happened in their life. After a remarkable encounter with the Lord, Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. Saul became Paul. 

It’s probably not a big deal to you, but I’ve started going by Steve Strang for the past year after using “Stephen Strang” my entire adult life. Though I’m obviously not in the same category as those biblical giants, this shift has come out of some significant changes in my own life. 

I took a sabbatical in mid-2009 to reflect in life and deal with the enormous changes that were hitting my company after 33 years of uninterrupted growth. During that time, the Lord began dealing with areas of pride in my life, and I realized that I always felt a little “puffed up” when using Stephen rather than the name all my friends call me—Steve. The truth is, I originally began using my formal given name right out of college because I thought it sounded more sophisticated. 

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying anyone who prefers to be called Stephen is prideful. But for me, it boiled down to answering a question someone challenged me with: What does the Lord call me? 

When God speaks to me, He calls me Steve. He’s not as interested in how sophisticated my name sounds as He is in being my closest friend. So at a time when the Lord was pointing out the pride in my life, it was an easy shift to make.

But what about my other name? Strang is more than just my last name; it’s what we have called the company my wife, Joy, and I founded more than 30 years ago. We started using “Strang Communications” partly because of the long tradition of publishing houses being named for their founders. After all, it meant I’d make sure it stood for the highest standards of quality and integrity because it was my name.

As the company grew, I began to think maybe it would become a legacy at some point. Maybe someday people would utter “Strang” in the same reverenced breath as Thomas Nelson, the 18th-century Scot who began selling books door to door and whose company evolved into today’s publishing giant. I remember as a 28-year-old meeting Pat Zondervan shortly before he died and wondering if someday I’d be an important publisher, too.

Our company’s success fueled this fire. The press occasionally wrote about the “Strang empire.” We landed a few books on the New York Times best-sellers list. I was named by Time magazine as one of the most influential evangelicals and began to be sought after by politicians. 

It all began to feel pretty good. Yet gradually the very thing I hated in others—pride—crept into my own thinking. I tried to keep my pride in check a couple of times by asking trusted leaders such as Jack Hayford and Mike Bickle if we should change the name of the company. They felt there was no reason to change, that Strang had become a respected and worthy brand. 

But as I reached middle age, I grew more and more wary of things we published and how it would reflect on me personally—after all, my name was on it. With people working “at Strang” and Google marking our office location by my name, I began to feel more like a landmark. This was hardly why I began publishing a small Christian magazine that encouraged people to embrace more of the Holy Spirit.

At the same time that we realized the company had to retool for a new generation and rebrand ourselves, I decided I had to rid myself of anything that drew attention to me instead of Christ. Was I put on earth to serve Him or to build a legacy to myself? I knew the answer. 

The scripture “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) became alive to me. 

So as I made other changes in my life, I decided to take my name off the company. 

It took a year to brainstorm with staff, family, authors and customers. But earlier this year our company officially became Charisma Media. Charisma is our strongest brand. It refers not only to spiritual gifts, but also to our calling and passion to serve God and the church. Media signifies the diversified ways we can communicate—not only in print through magazines and books, but also online, via apps and the myriad of other digital vehicles. 

While my wife, Joy, and I are totally focused on serving God by leading this organization, we know we won’t be doing this forever. Charisma Media is the legacy we want to leave so others can reach their generation as we have tried to reach ours, just as my mentors such as author Jamie Buckingham, publisher Robert Walker and others did before us.

I’m no Saul of Tarsus, nor did Jesus blind me on my way to work one day. But my “encounter” has resulted in some significant name changes, both personally and professionally. And with Strang Communications becoming Charisma Media, we have great faith for big things in the future—all for God’s glory.

Now that you understand the reason and passion behind our corporate name change, let me take a moment to also restate our commitment to helping you and your respective business-ministries also continue to serve our Lord and your customer needs to your fullest and best potential. 

Whether you’re a retailer or a supplier, Charisma Media stands ready to help you become the best at what you’re called to do. We remain optimistic about the opportunities for our industry and passionate about reaching the world with the life-changing messages found in the myriad of products our industry's dedicated suppliers and retailers make available to consumers. I am pleased to stand by your side as a brother in Christ and look forward with enthusiasm to working together, Charisma Media and you.

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