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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

February 25, 2009 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

G for Generosity A growing mindset among consumers disgusted with greed and its dire consequences has been branded “Generation G.” This collaborative, free, creative, crowd-sourced, gift-sharing movement that (especially online) has in new ways unlocked the perennial need of individuals to be appreciated, loved and part of the greater good and to contribute and help—to basically find status and gratification in something other than consuming the most or the best. The trend taps into a holistic desire to be both good and generous. (Trendwatching.com 1/5/09) 

The Most Effective Leaders are always investing in strengths. “The odds of an employee being engaged are a dismal 1 in 11 (9%). But when an organization’s leadership focuses on the strengths of its employees, the odds soar to almost 3 in 4 (73%). (Strengths-Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams and Why People Follow, Tom Rath  and Barry Conchie, Gallup Press, 2008) 

Different Affiliation 44% of Americans profess a different religious affiliation from the one in which they were raised. Excluding shifts between Protestant denominations, the number is 28%. (The Pew Forum 1/26/09) 

Opportunity in Crisis Did you know the Chinese character for ‘crisis’ is the same one as for ‘opportunity’? It raises the question: How can we find the opportunity in crisis or chaos? Although chaos and chaotic systems appear to be random and out of control, patterns emerge and suggest or actually reveal an inherent order at the heart of seeming chaos. Understanding this is the first step toward finding the pattern of order that waits beneath the facade of a chaotic situation. However, often it takes fresh eyes—objective eyes—to find it. Let me help you find opportunity in your crises! Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or visit www.garydfoster.com. (Ivy SeaZine 2/10/09) 

Social Networking 54% of American adults under 30 belong to an Internet social networking site, such as Facebook or MySpace. A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 45% of 30-somethings are into social networking, while participation is far lower by those over 40. Among those who belong to such sites, 88% use them for personal reasons while 11% do so for business. 62% have reconnected with someone from their past through the sites. (Rasmussen Reports 2/3/09) 

Meet Needs 66% of churched young adults rated the opportunity to meet the needs of others (locally and globally) as extremely important in their lives. 47% of unchurched young adults agree. (LifeWay Research Insights 2/3/09) 

The End is Near 11% of Americans say they believe the world will end in their lifetime. 4% strongly agree and 7% somewhat. 60% disagree with 49% strongly disagreeing. 29% state they don’t know if the world will end in their lifetime. Americans age 25 to 34 stand out as the age-bracket most likely to believe the world will end in their lifetime: 17% agree while 50% disagree. 13% of 18 to 24 year-olds agree. (LifeWay Research Insights 2/3/09) 

Religious Beliefs and religious behaviors are capable of encouraging people to exercise self-control and to more effectively regulate their emotions and behaviors so they can pursue valued goals, finds Univ. of Miami professor Michael McCullough. Religious lifestyles may contribute to self-control by providing people with clear standards for their behavior, by causing people to monitor their own behavior more closely, and by giving people the sense that God is watching their behavior. (Psychological Bulletin 1/09) .

Most/Least Religious States 65% of Americans say religion is an important part of their daily lives, according to a new Gallup Poll. The top 10 most religious states are  Mississippi (85%); Alabama (82%); South Carolina (80%); Tennessee (79%); Louisiana (78%); Arkansas (78%); Georgia (76%); North Carolina (76%); Oklahoma (75%); Kentucky (74%) and Texas (74%). The 10 least religious are Vermont (42%); New Hampshire (46%); Maine (48%); Massachusetts (48%); Alaska (51%); Washington (52%); Oregon (53%); Rhode Island (53%); Nevada (54%) and Connecticut (55%). (Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 1/20/09) 

Spiritual Gifts The most commonly claimed gifts among self-proclaimed Christians in the U.S. are teaching (9%), service (8%) and faith (7%). Those are followed by encouragement (4%), healing (4%), knowledge (4%) and tongues (3%). The gift of leadership was mentioned by just 2%. (Barna Update 2/9/09) 

Fireproof, the DVD, finished #1 on the SoundScan Christian Videos list for sales its premier week. (Christian E-tailing 2/5/09) 

Rural Pastor Shortage Trace Haythorn, Fund for Theological Education, says fewer than half the rural churches in the U.S. have a full-time seminary-trained pastor; in parts of the Midwest, the figure drops to 1 in 5. Why are the pastors disappearing? Mainline churches and some Evangelical prefer their ministers seminary-trained. But the starting salary for debt-burdened seminary grads runs to $35,000 a year; that can break a poor and aging congregation. For the first time in American history, the majority of seminarians aren’t from rural areas. Shannon Jung, a rural-church expert, says, “A town without a Starbucks scares them.” Denominations are exploring ways to allow laypeople to preach. Some ordain laymen and -women but restrict them to their home pulpit. (Time 1/29/09) 

Think Like A Customer/Donor Do you really know what a customer or donor experiences when they engage with your organization? I can give you a thorough first-hand and objective customer/donor perspective along with practical tips to insure every experience they have enhances their relationship with you. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Subject Line Epsilon research shows, overall, shorter subject lines correlate with higher open rates and click rates than longer ones, but subject line word order, word choice and brand and audience awareness are also critical success factors. (Center for Media Research Brief 1/23/09) 

Details Matter Quirky and cute ads were effective in the 90’s because they made corporate America warm and approachable. People still like these ads and may even compliment you on them, but they’re no longer driving traffic. Buying decisions are increasingly based on logic. Give customers a no-loopholes warranty and a story that rings true, and they’ll respond. Let me “logic-test” your ads before you needlessly burn up cash resources. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  (Monday Morning Memo 5/21/07) 

ECPA is partnering with Read How You Want, a pioneering Australian electronic publishing company. The agreement offers member publishers a chance to license their books in emerging and print-on-demand formats for various reading needs. Read How You Want provides customized book-printing solutions in niche formats. It takes the existing print-ready PDF version of any book and converts it to a wide variety of formats, including DAISY (an XML format for digital readers), commercial Braille, EasyRead large print or custom word patterns (for print-on-demand, customized books), as well as Kindle and other e-book formats. (CBA Retailers+Resources Industry Brief 2/9/09) 

World’s Largest E-bookstore Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sees Kindle becoming a general e-bookstore not tied only to their proprietary reader. He says, “We want to make Kindle a bookstore—the largest e-bookstore in the world, with 230,000 titles and growing. We want to make those titles also available on a bunch of different devices and then synchronize them with Kindle.” It appears Amazon plans to put the same software on computers and mobile devices to have Kindle software on many more devices than the Kindle itself. (Publisher’s Lunch 2/10/09) 

Women Breadwinners The proportion of working women has changed little since the recession started. But 82 % of job losses have befallen men, who tend to work in distressed industries: manufacturing and construction. Women tend to work in less economically sensitive areas: education and health care. In recessions, the percentage of families supported by women tends to rise slightly. As of 11/08, women held 49.1% of the nation’s non-farm jobs (47.1% of the total workforce). Women are much more likely to be in part-time jobs without health or unemployment insurance. Even in full-time jobs, they earn 80¢ for each $1 men earn. A deep and prolonged recession may change not only household budgets and habits, but also challenge traditional gender roles. (N Y Times 2/6/09) 

Role Models Only 3% of Americans teens say they see members of the clergy as role models, according to a Junior Achievement survey on teens and ethical decision-making. 54% see their parents as role models, followed by friends (13%), teachers or coaches (6%) and siblings (5%). 11% say they don’t have any role models. (Christian Post 2/18/09) 

Sales of Religious Books increased 3.5% in December, reversing a downward trend for several months. All book categories rose 9.7% for the month, according to the AAP.

Religious book sales were $49.3 million for the month but finished the year down 7.6%.  (Christian E-tailing 2/12/09) 

Charities that use premiums to fundraise will bear the brunt of 5/11/09 postal rate increases. Nonprofit parcel and Nonflat Machinable rates are slated to increase almost 10%.  (Nonprofit Times 2/17/09) 

Ethically Prepared? 80% of U.S. teens believe they are ethically prepared to make moral business decisions. but nearly 40% believe they need to “break the rules” in order to succeed, finds a Junior Achievement survey. More troubling, 27% think behaving violently is sometimes, often or always acceptable. 20% report to have personally behaved violently toward another person in the past year. Among those who say they are ethically prepared, 49% say lying to parents and guardians is acceptable. 61% say they have lied to their parents or guardian this past year. This should prompt concerns about teens’ future workplace behavior and forecasts serious challenges to businesses as to how they will need to prepare and train these future leaders. (Christian Post 2/18/09)

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