The post-mortem has begun on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's (ECPA) Christian Book Expo, which drew a “hugely disappointing” 1,500 to the Dallas Convention Center, March 20-22.

While people are looking for the positive side, there's no getting away from the fact that it was “not just your run-of-the-mill disaster, but a disaster of epic proportions,” according to book Chip MacGregor, a supporter of the consumer-event concept. He sees the biggest single problem being the $29 admission charge, contending that people don't want to have to pay to go and buy books.

Thomas Nelson chief Michael Hyatt (who is also chairman of the ECPA and its CBE organizing committee) acknowledges MacGregor's points, while maintaining that, organizationally, it would have been a great event if folks had shown up.

Hyatt wonders whether some publishers will want to try again next year, in an economic climate that means that “really can’t afford to try too many things that don’t promise an immediate payback.”

Among those hoping it does happen is Mary DeMuth, one of the 200-plus authors who took part in the event. As a Dallas-area resident, she suggests in her March 23 posting that poor promotion in the area was the big culprit and offers more than a dozen suggestions for improving things next time.

Meanwhile inspirational writer Holley Gerth--who had one person show up for her signing at CBE and spotted one publisher's rep asleep at his booth--wonders whether there might be a challenge to our industry in the disappointing turnout. “It could be our moment to reach out in new ways, bare our hearts, open our lives, meet people where they are and stop expecting them to come to us,” she writes. “If we do not, I'm afraid we risk being irrelevant.”

Finally, an interesting perspective from a secular online books site , speculating that the CBE turnout could mean Christian publishing is set to be hit “even harder than other parts of the industry” by the recession. “At a time when people are focusing on keeping their houses and their jobs, is the investment in a book that will help them purify their souls one of the luxuries that can be cut back on?”

Your thoughts?

After posting bail, John Maxwell is a free man again. The leadership guru recently attempted to board a flight with a firearm in his carry-on luggage, a mistake he recounts vividly on his blog, Maxwell on Leadership in a post entitled “Stupid is as Stupid Does.”

Maxwell said he had been given the gun as a gift from an attendee at one of his speaking engagements, placed it in his carry-on and forgot about it until he arrived at airport security. Calling it “one of the stupidest things I've done,” the author recounted the experience in the blog.

“I was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail, where I was fingerprinted and photographed,” he said. “ Needless to say, it opened my eyes to a world I’d seen only in the movies. I was glad when I posted bail and was able to leave.”

Maxwell compared himself to the characters Mr. Magoo and Forrest Gump and relayed a leadership lesson for his blog readers:

An opinion piece that sees "a major collapse of evangelical Christianity" within the next ten years has many people talking-and provides plenty of discussion material for those in the Christian products industry.

In a column for The Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer argues that "the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it."

And that's not all. "Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures."

Looking ahead, he sees some signs of hope. Among them, that "a small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development."

Spencer's original essays, from which the Monitor article was drawn, can be found at his Internetmonk.com Web site, which he describes as "dispatches from the post evangelical wilderness." 

What do you think about his assessment?

Book agent Chip MacGregor prompted a lively debate at his blog recently (http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com/main/2009/02/a-quick-qanda.html) when he commented on LifeWay Christian Stores' stickering some of the books it sells—such as “emergent church” titles--with “read with discernment” advisories.

Describing the move as “deeply stupid,” he argued that while he may not agree with everything an author says, “these are books, for crying out loud. And the best books are the ones that make us think... to put warning labels on them smacks of the worst aspects of Christian legalism.”

Not everyone agreed with him. “Yes, they could just refuse to sell the books they think are damaging, but they also can make a statement,” went one response. “Some people won't like the statement and they'll quit shopping at LifeWay. Others of us will like the statement and we'll start supporting them. “

What do you think? How far should stores go in exercising care and control over what they offer?

If your passion for selling Christian books is being squelched under the weight of business concerns, spend a few minutes with Byron Borger, from Hearts & Minds in Dallastown, Pa.

His store regularly provides book tables for churches and conferences—lots of packing and unpacking of boxes and long hours.

Writing of his experiences serving the Jubilee students' conference held recently in Pittsburgh (http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/, Feb. 17), he admits to having been overwhelmed by all that still needed to be accomplished with the event due to begin soon.

“This was chaos in the primordial Genesis sense.  I wanted to crawl up under the boxes and cry,” he recalls. Then, “the miracle happened, we pulled it off, God gave our desperate spirits renewed energy and soon we had a great looking, full-service bookstore set up complete with a few good volunteers...”

Given the opportunity to recommend several titles from the platform to attendees, Borger later reflected: “I guess we won't know the impact of these moments of learning for years to come...our prayer, though, is that these days in Pittsburgh--and their reading of books bought in weeks to come--- will help shape the character of tomorrow's leaders, impact the nature of cultural institutions, and sustain authentic and normative reformation of society.”

That's what it's all about.

Meanwhile, the folks at CBA have announced a relaunch for the trade association's Industry Blog http://cbablog.typepad.com/cba/, Feb. 16), dormant since early December.

Among the forthcoming new features promised are success stories from within the Christian retail industry, details on channel-wide exclusives like the recent “Operation Worship” Bibles program and consumer habits information.

Marriage and family issues writer and novelist Mary DeMuth hasn't stopped at addressing the sometimes painful legacy of family secrets in fictional form in her forthcoming Daisy Chain (Zondervan, March 1).

The one-time missionary to France, now based in Texas, has launched a Web site, http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org/, where people are invited to post their own real-life family secrets as a step towards healing.

Early anonymous posters have written movingly about the pain of sexual abuse, financial troubles, affairs and drugs. DeMuth responds with a note of encouragement to each and plans to add a weekly testimony from those who have experienced healing as a result of facing long-avoided difficulties in their upbringing.

Her hope is that writing openly, even though they do not identify themselves, will encourage contributors to try to find someone with whom to talk through their difficulties.

“God heals us in many ways, but it is hard to get healing when you are walking in darkness,” she said, believing that the new Web site could be “the first little pinprick of light in the midst of darkness.”

DeMuth became a Christian as a teenager after a childhood that included rape and bereavement. She has authored five books, with three more titles following Daisy Chain in the next year.