High court ruling for or against the craft chain would provide definitive answer for contraceptive mandate

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has asked the Supreme Court to hear the recently appealed Hobby Lobby health care case. The latest turn in the controversial case could provide a decisive answer on whether the Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—can legally require businesses to offer certain forms of contraception in violation of the owners’ religious beliefs.

Although there is no guarantee that the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case, the official request makes it more likely, as does the fact that multiple similar cases have been brought to federal courts in recent months. A ruling by the Supreme Court would remove inconsistent application across jurisdictions, which would be especially useful for businesses such as Hobby Lobby that have locations in multiple states.

“The United States government is taking the remarkable position that private individuals lose their religious freedom when they make a living,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead lawyer for the Hobby Lobby case. “We’re confident that the Supreme Court will reject the government’s extreme position and hold that religious liberty is for everyone—including people who run a business.”

In June, the craft chain won a victory before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected the government’s argument that David Green’s family-owned businesses—Hobby Lobby and Mardel Christian Stores—could not legally exercise religion, according to the Becket Fund. The court further said the businesses were likely to win their challenge to the HHS mandate.

The government’s petition comes the same day as a petition in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius, another case involving the mandate.

If the petition is granted, the case would be argued and decided before the end of the Court’s term in June 2014.

New gift magazine and virtual show to help strengthen retailer-supplier connection

Christian Retailing has some new ventures in the works as we seek to better serve the Christian products industry.

As our readers know, for years we have published a sister magazine, Inspirational Gift Mart, and with the increasing reach of Christian-themed gifts, we believe it is time to relaunch this publication. 

Christian retail stores have long been more than bookstores. They now tend to be “lifestyle centers.” And the fact that stores are increasing floor space and allotting more inventory dollars for inspirational gifts shows just how important this category is. As a result, we want to further serve the retailer and the inspirational gift supplier.

Starting with the January 2014 issue, there will be a change in our gift magazine’s name as well as other developments. I’ll leave you anticipating what the latter might be, but for now let me share the new name: Inspirational Gift Boutique.

We hope Christian retailers will find our new gift magazine to be an even better resource in scanning the broader market for great gifts to offer, and we trust that inspirational gift suppliers will find the new magazine provides a stronger connection to inspirational gift retailers. We also expect to distribute the magazine through key gift marts, including AmericasMart in Atlanta.

Another exciting plan that’s coming to fruition is the relaunch of our Virtual Trade Mart, arriving soon at our website, www.christianretailing.com. There, we will provide a user-friendly, yet informative web-based program where publishers, suppliers and distributors of Christian products can reach store buyers. At a minimal cost to our advertisers, the Virtual Trade Mart will help to showcase their offerings to the industry.

Will these efforts help you build your business? We believe they will, but we’d like to hear from you. Please see all of our contact information on p. 3 of this issue, or drop in on our Contact Us page at www.christianretailing.com to get to know our editorial and advertising team members.  Most of all, thank you for reading Christian Retailing!

‘Purpose Driven’ author and pastor Rick Warren continues to win support from Christian retailers

Pastor Rick Warren had a startling revelation the day he baptized 827 adults. As he immersed all those folks he thought, “Wow! Everybody’s fat!” His second thought was, “But I’m fat too! I’m as out of shape as everyone else is!”

That revelation, which he records in the introduction to The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life, became the basis for a new interest in his own health and a doctor-designed plan implemented by 12,000 Saddleback Church members starting in January 2011. Collectively they lost more than 250,000 pounds.

The name of the lifestyle plan is derived from the Old Testament account of Daniel and his friends who chose not to eat the food the king wanted them to eat, but succeeded in remaining healthy with a diet that pleased God.

On sale in stores Dec. 3, The Daniel Plan, “is the biggest release coming from HarperCollins Christian Publishers in fiscal 2014,” said Annette Bourland, senior vice president and group publisher of Zondervan Books.

The Daniel Plan is co-written by Warren, Daniel Amen, M.D., and Mark Hyman, M.D., with the two doctors helping to create and implement the Daniel Plan program at Saddleback. Dr. Mehmet Oz of the Emmy Award-winning The Dr. Oz Show also helped create the plan, but contractual obligations prevented him from co-authoring the book. Others who participated include Saddleback’s Director for the Daniel Plan Dee Eastman and exercise guru Sean Foy.

Warren has had his detractors, however, as some have wondered why he chose the physicians he did rather than professing evangelicals. For instance, Dr. Oz often talks of New Age practices on his television show. Still, Christian retailers, who have been longtime active proponents of Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life (PDL), have voiced support for the new project.

“From the onset, retailers caught the vision of The Purpose Driven Life and understood the consumer demand,” said Londa Alderink, senior marketing director for trade books at Zondervan. “This type of supportive activity—in-store positioning, sale pricing, appropriate stock levels—certainly played a part in the best-selling status of PDL.”

Bookstores ranging from LifeWay Christian Stores to independents such as Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich., have vowed support of The Daniel Plan.

“LifeWay Christian Stores is excited about helping our customers understand and use the innovative products Warren has developed to achieve a healthy lifestyle,” said Marty King, director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources. 

Sue Smith, manager at Grand Rapids’ Baker Book House, a key independent in Michigan, also supports the launch of The Daniel Plan. 

“PDL was the beginning of an understanding that Christian bookstores could handle such a hot book with huge sales,” Smith said.

That understanding continues with Warren’s The Daniel Plan. 

“We will promote the book, pairing it with Warren’s 10th-anniversary PDL so people can make the connection between the two,” Smith said.

In addition, Zondervan is releasing The Daniel Plan Journal on Dec. 3, followed by a 100-recipe cookbook in April 2014. Apple and Android Daniel Plan apps also will be available this year.

Also included in the array of related products are curriculum kits with a participant’s guide, leader’s guide and DVD featuring all three authors and Foy, who organized the fitness part of Saddleback’s Daniel Plan. The individual pieces are available Dec. 3, with kits available several weeks later. Sony Films, Saddleback and Zondervan also have fitness videos in the works.

Zondervan is offering merchandising kits that include header and shelftalkers for retail endcap displays, as well as a multi-use floor display. The display holds 24 trade-book units and 16 journal units, with a plug that hides a tray that can hold more of the original titles or 12 units of the cookbook. 

Alderink and Bourland see the book placed not in diet or exercise sections of stores, but in Christian Living or Self-Help. 

“My dream is for The Daniel Plan to transform our thinking about health and our value as a person,” Bourland said. “This is not just a book about food or fitness, which are only two-fifths of the book. There is equally weighted importance placed on faith, focus and friends.”

Dr. Amen remembers walking into church one Sunday and experiencing the following: doughnuts for sale for charity; bacon and sausage on griddles; hot dogs being grilled for lunch; and the minister talking about an ice cream social.

“During the service I prayed that God would use me to change the culture of food at church,” Amen said. “Two weeks later Rick Warren called and said he was fat, his congregation was fat—and could I help?”

Between August 2010 and January 2011, the doctors built the program, which launched Jan. 15, 2011.

“Our plan all along was to pilot the Daniel Plan at Saddleback, but to bring it to churches worldwide,” Amen said.

For Dr. Amen, a psychiatrist, the Daniel Plan is about getting the brain right, which, in turn, helps the body and soul get right.

“There aren’t just physical consequences to bad food choices, but mental, emotional and spiritual consequences,” he said.

Bourland and Alderink have fielded questions about why Warren has spearheaded such a book so soon after the death of his son Matthew. Warren, they said, believes that all five Fs of the book—faith, food, fitness, focus and friends—contribute to a mentally healthy life. Warren’s son struggled with negative thoughts and depression, and Warren sees The Daniel Plan as a first step toward mental health.

Alderink said booksellers across the world are responding. Zondervan cites retailers in South Africa, where the number-one health issue is obesity, as especially excited about the release. There also have been numerous conversations about translation rights.

“When I signed up, it wasn’t just to get Saddleback Church healthy, but to change the vision of health for the global church,” Amen said. 

Said Zondervan’s Bourland: “We see the potential of The Daniel Plan to be a movement within the church, much like The Purpose Driven Life.”

Mark Burnett, Roma Downey join with Fox for new film

Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, producers of the hit History Channel miniseries The Bible, have signed a contract with 20th Century Fox to take the story of Jesus to theaters in 2014. Son of God,  a feature-length film, will use and expand on the sections of the miniseries about the life of Christ, creating a sweeping narrative from His birth through His resurrection.

“While we appreciated the interest from other distributors, Fox was the right choice for us,” Burnett told Variety. “We have crafted a powerful standalone movie that is a completely emotional, uplifting experience for audiences.”

Downey, who will play Jesus’ mother, Mary, starred in CBS’s hit show Touched by an Angel in the 1990s. Burnett, her husband, is an Emmy Award-winning producer of myriad reality TV shows, including as The Voice, Survivor and The Apprentice.

The Bible averaged 15 million viewers in five two-hour parts on TV, and more than 1 million DVD units of the series have been sold to date. According to distributor Fox, it is the highest-selling TV-to-disc title of the past two years, and the highest-selling TV miniseries of all time.

Fox will also handle the home video release of Son of God, whose release date is yet to be determined.

The Christian products market benefited from the DVD release of The Bible as well as companion products, including Carpentree’s line of licensed framed art and FaithWords books and audiobooks such as A Story of God and All of Us by Downey and Burnett and similar titles for Easter and Christmas.

Work of acclaimed author-theologian whose death is marked this month is ‘simply unprecedented’

One of the most influential writers on modern philosophy, theology and apologetics is undoubtedly the late, great C.S. Lewis. Fifty years ago this month, the Oxford don and seminal author died, but the lasting impact of his work is perhaps greater than ever.

“The longer I have been in religious publishing (which is longer than 30 years now), the more I appreciate how unique and how profound Lewis’ influence has been,” said Michael Maudlin, executive editor for HarperOne, publisher of Lewis’ works. “Whether we acknowledge him or not, he is the measure for everyone else of what a public intellectual for Christianity can be and should be.”

Lewis was a pioneer in bringing Christian fiction into the popular consciousness, with his allegorical fantasies in the “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, science fiction “Space Trilogy” and his timeless take on spiritual warfare, The Screwtape Letters.

“Lewis crafted wonderful works of fiction before Beverly Lewis and Frank Peretti made that genre acceptable to the Christian market,” said Rick Lewis (no relation to either author), manager of Logos Bookstore of Dallas.

Though many best-selling books are released into the Christian marketplace every year, few authors have stood the test of time as well as Lewis.

“I want a frontlist title that will become a strong backlist title,” Logos’ Lewis said. “Those do not seem to come along as often as they used to.”

“C.S. Lewis is a great example of an author that holds enduring value, one whose works speak to the head and to the heart.” Lewis added.

Logos’ Lewis has seen the theologian’s books have profound effects on readers of all ages and at all stages of their spiritual journeys. From Mere Christianity playing a key role in a conversion that played out in his store to Grief Observed bringing comfort to the bereaved, the longtime retailer’s observations testify to the staying power of Lewis’ writings.

“All this, decades after the pen was laid aside,” he said after rattling off a litany of examples in which C.S. Lewis’ works have played a key role in the lives of readers.

Sue Smith, CBA chairman and store manager of Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich., agrees.

“C.S. Lewis holds a cornerstone on Christian literature,” Smith said. “His writings continue to be sought after for most who take their personal faith journey seriously, and they hold consistent demand with most stores.”

The British theologian will also be formally recognized in his homeland on the anniversary of his death. He will be inducted into the Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 22.

The same day, Lewis will be celebrated at the American Academy of Religion meetings in Baltimore by Maudlin and authors N.T. Wright and Robert MacSwain, who will be reflecting on Lewis’ career.

HarperOne is also commemorating Lewis’ work with a revamped website, CSLewis.com, and publication of a special annotated edition of The Screwtape Letters.

The new edition of Screwtape will include “biographical and literary background information behind the book as well as quotes from Lewis’ other works to help explain and deepen our appreciation for what he is saying in Screwtape,” Maudlin said. “It is a beautiful volume.”

Beyond the spiritual and theological impact of his works, Lewis’ sales continue to be strong. “The Chronicles of Narnia” was brought to a new generation of fans via feature film, while HarperOne’s C.S. Lewis Signature Classics editions have sold nearly 10 million copies since 2001. Mere Christianity, the best-selling book from that series originally published in 1952, has sold more than 150,000 copies in the last 12 months alone—60 years after its original release.

“The idea that someone who passed away 50 years ago is still selling at such a rate is simply unprecedented,” Maudlin said. “His spirit haunts every popular Christian author, and we are all better off because of it.”

Russ Doughten Films closed its doors Sept. 15, according to a company representative.

The news came on the heels of the death of company founder and head, Russ Doughten, at age 86. Doughten died Aug. 19 after a protracted battle with a cardiac illness.

Russ Doughten Films was the flagship studio for the pioneer Christian filmmaker. The production company was behind more than a dozen evangelistic films—including the 1970s’ “Thief in the Night” series shown in many churches and which laid the groundwork for Left Behind and other end-times thrillers.

‘Nobody can afford to procrastinate,’ says company founder

Retail sales will increase this holiday season, according to ShopperTrak, but retailers will have a shorter window in which to earn their share. A shorter holiday season will mean more cutthroat competition as retailers vie for a piece of the consumer spending pie.

The Chicago-based shopper analytics company forecasts a 2.4% increase over last year’s holiday season. However, overall foot traffic is expected to decrease 1.4% compared to last year.

This decrease in shoppers is largely due to the reduced window of time retailers have to capture peak holiday spending this year, as only 25 days lie between Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Christmas this year, compared to 31 days in 2012. Additionally, there are only four full weekends within that period versus five last year.

“Nobody can afford to procrastinate,” said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin. “Retailers must have their holiday marketing and operations ready to go when November begins, as consumers will be ready to take advantage of those deals.”

Holiday sales and store shopper traffic historically account for about 20% of annual retail activity.

“Although the economy continues to recover slowly, consumers remain cautious about spending and are not ready to splurge,” said Martin. “Even though online buying increases each year, brick-and-mortar sales remain retail’s largest profit opportunity. Retailers who deliver a seamless experience both in-store and at every customer touchpoint have the chance to capitalize and grab their share of wallet when shoppers visit the stores.”

CFI’s customer satisfaction survey shows how important it is to know ‘what drives customers back to the store’

Retailers need improvement in pricing, checkout process and store associates, according to a survey conducted by CFI Group, a customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm. However, the survey did find that retailers’ physical store and online presence were meeting customer expectations.

The ongoing, benchmark study was conducted to gain an understanding of how satisfied retail customers are today—focusing on intent to make repeat purchases, develop an affinity toward a brand and recommend retailers to peers.

“Understanding what drives customers back to the store is critical to a retailer’s business performance,” said Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. “This study provides retailers with an understanding into how to improve their customer satisfaction within the segment they serve and their brand communities.”

The study used the American Customer Satisfaction Index methodology to measure six key elements of the consumer experience: physical store, associates, merchandise, price, checkout and online presence—to identify the top drivers of retail customer satisfaction.

Based on the findings, CFI recommends the following actions for driving positive customer experience and engagement:

The price is right: As the economy comes out of its recession, customers are still price and value conscious. Focusing on the store’s strength as it relates to price—value, quality, sales, etc.—can set a retailer apart from the competition and attract and retain consumers.

Train, train and train your associates: Store associates are a leading driver of customer experience. Creating a pleasant, helpful atmosphere creates a better customer environment and encourages customers to stay longer and purchase more.

Maintain all channels of communication: Millennials prefer passive communication, while baby boomers are more inclined to engage with associates via face-to-face. Customers who can select the manner they choose (email, social media, phone, etc.) to connect with a retailer are far more likely to engage with associates in a meaningful way.

Regularly monitor and measure customer satisfaction: Consistently benchmarking customer satisfaction will allow retailers to compare themselves against competition. Measuring customer experience allows companies to uncover actionable insights to improve performance across every customer touch point.

Group Publishing presented its annual Community Service Awards on Aug. 29 in Johnstown, Colo. 

Every year, Group gives a portion of its profits to service-oriented organizations and leaders in northern Colorado. Since 1997, Group has donated more than $1 million through its awards.

This year, the publisher gave $61,000 to organizations in such categories as Educational Services; Social Services: Faith-based; Services for Youth; and Church-based Outreach. Larger special awards were also conferred, including the Special Church Award, which was presented to Warriors for Christ, and the $25,000 Outstanding Award, which was given to Amy’s House for Girls.

Addition to newly formed Christian division helps lift revenue to near pre-recession levels

The acquisition of Thomas Nelson is the main driver of the 15% increase in revenue for HarperCollins in the fiscal year ending June 30. HarperCollins finalized the purchase of Nelson in July 2012.

Revenue and earnings for the publisher were $1.37 billion EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), up from $1.19 billion EBITDA the previous fiscal year. This brings the company’s income nearly to pre-recession levels.

While Nelson and the creation of the HarperCollins Christian umbrella—which also includes Zondervan, part of HarperCollins since 1988—are cited as the primary drivers of increased revenue, the growth of e-books also played a role. The publisher’s e-book sales accounted for 19% of revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, up from 16% the year before. Lower manufacturing costs from increased digital sales as well as greater synergies in the Christian division were also key components. Gains were offset somewhat due to HarperCollins leaving the third-party U.S. distribution business as well as charges from Canadian and Australian operations.