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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

November 10, 2008 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Unchurched Beliefs 63% of young adults said they would attend a church if that church “presented truth to me in an understandable way that relates to my life now.” 15% of the younger unchurched attended church weekly as a child and have no current animosity toward the church, yet 37% are hostile toward the church and Christians. 4 of 5 unchurched adults aged 20 to 29 in the U.S. believe a supreme being exists. Though they are not attending church, 3 of 4 claim the existence of God does or would impact their lives, but this does not seem to translate into involvement in a church. Most of the younger unchurched actually do believe in God and that He is the God described in the Bible. A significant number believe in God but are not sure the God of the Bible is the only God. 98% of young unchurched African-Americans and 84% of Hispanics agree God exists vs. 76% of unchurched Anglos. Nearly three-quarters express some level of agreement that the Christian church is generally helpful to society. Young unchurched African-Americans agree more than others (25% to 7%) that the church is the only place to learn what it means to be Christian. (Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley and Hayes, B&H Publishing Group 2009)

Single Boomers Nearly one-third of all Boomers (some 25 million) are spouseless. (12% never married, twice the rate of the previous generation; 16% are divorced or separated and 4% are widowed.) (Boomer Consumer: The blog 10/6/08) 

Hispanic Direct Engage Hispanics data shows direct-mail is twice as effective with Hispanic parents of teens and pre-teens as it is with non-Hispanic parents of children the same age, 11% vs. 6%. During the past 7 days, Hispanic parents with children ages 12-17 paid more attention to direct-mail advertising than non-Hispanic parents. Vertis’ Customer Focus study also found that, when ready to make a purchase, Hispanic parents with children 12-17 (12%) are more likely than their non-Hispanic counterparts (5%) to turn to direct-mail to help them make a decision. (Engage Hispanics 10/30/08) 

Tough Odds Although the data is 4 years old, it is basically unchanged in ’08: 950,000 titles out of 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies, while just 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies. Only 10 books sold more than a million copies in ’04. Fewer than 500 sold more than 100,000. Nearly 200,000 new titles are published each year. (Publishers Weekly, 7/16/04)  

Think Outside the Box “It typically takes a novel stimulus (either a new piece of information or getting out of the environment in which an individual has become comfortable) to jolt attentional systems awake and reconfigure both perception and imagination. The more radical and novel the change, the greater the likelihood of new insights being generated.” (Iconoclast by Gregory Berns, Harvard Business School Pub. Corp., 2008). 

How Often Do You Pray for fellow Christians you know? Among Protestants, 27% pray every day, 25% a few times a week, 14% weekly, 17% monthly, 8% a few times a month and 9% rarely or never. How often do you pray for your church and church leaders? 20% of Protestants pray every day, 18% a few times a week, 16% weekly.  (LifeWay Research Insights 10/15/08) (The Shape of Faith to Come: Spiritual Formation and the Future of Discipleship, Dr. Brad Waggoner, B&H Publishing Group, 2008) 

Will, Skill & Till Contrary to conventional wisdom—and in many cases, to instinct—a recession might be just the time to increase marketing spending, thereby taking advantage of listing competitors and capturing the attention of cash-strapped consumers. Many companies will tend to conserve during difficult times, but a number will increase spending for strategic reasons. Not every company can or should expand during a downturn. Those who do need to have the will, the skill and the till. The will—a culture to resist the instinct to pull back in tough times. The skill—a competent and creative marketing team. The till—resources ample enough to weather the tough times plus increase marketing spend. During a recession, you’re unlikely to see returns immediately, so you’ve got to have sufficient resources.  I can help you make these strategic choices. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  (Deliver Magazine 11/08) 

VBS Alive In ’07 3 in 4 U.S. churches held a VBS, according to the David C. Cook Landmark Study. Fewer than 8% of churches are experiencing any decline in their VBS. 42% of all VBS programs saw growth. Estimating 60 kids at an average-sized VBS, 13.3 million enjoyed 3.3 million hours a week—or 380 years of Bible training—at VBS this past summer. As in the past, children who come to VBS are energetic, demanding, loving, self-centered and open. But modern society has also made them different. Now they are bred to need constant noise, activity and movement. Their social milestones are being pushed younger and younger. Children may bring their appointment books to VBS. They may dress more like teens or talk about their personal trainers at the gym. They are getting “older” at a younger age. Some have diminished creativity or willingness to take the creative initiative, because they are used to always having an adult “coach” around to tell them what to do. They are used to being entertained. They are visually adept from hours of playing video games and watching TV, but many are less developed verbally and interpersonally. (Christian Retailing 11/10/08) 

Giving Of the $300 billion given annually in the U.S., 32% is given to religion organizations, 14% to education, 10% to human services, 8% to health oriented causes, 7% to public charities, 4% to arts/culture and 2% to environmental causes. (Giving USA, Kluth.org 10/08) 

Living Together According to U.S. Census data, the number of couples living together increased from 439,000 to 5,500,000 over the 4 decades between 1960 and 2000. (Boomer Consumer: The blog 10/6/08) 

Vocational Training is among the leading trends in Christian higher education, reports the 180-member Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. “Our member institutions stand on the threshold of providing students a sound education, preparing the next generation to meet the demands of a shifting world,” said CCCU President Paul R. Corts. (Christian Post 10/9/08) 

Improve Board Meeting Efficiency Board meetings are costly and should be highly productive. I can help your Board accomplish more and make better informed decisions without longer meetings. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  

Google has reached an agreement with book publishers and authors that will pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits over its book-scanning efforts. It outlines the framework for a new ASCP-type system that will channel payments from book sales, advertising revenue and other fees to authors and publishers with Google collecting a cut. Under the agreement, Google will show up to 20% of the text at no charge to users. It will also make the entire book available online for a fee. Universities, libraries and other organizations will be able to buy subscriptions that make entire collections available to their visitors. (NY Times 10/28/08) 

Harrison House Publishers filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in order to implement a restructuring and permanently improve its capital structure. Chapter 11 reorganization provides the company with the opportunity to protect its assets during this time with a structured focus on building for the future.  Normal business operations will continue during the process. (ECPA Rush to Press 10/27/08) 

The Green Bible, which highlights verses and passages that speak of God’s care for creation in green ink, is the latest “eco-friendly” Bible. This NRSV Bible by HarperOne is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. It boasts endorsements from Sierra Club, The Humane Society of the United States and the Eco-Justice Program office of the National Council of Churches. (Christian Post 10/25/08) 

Value Shoppers Deloitte’s 23rd annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends finds 59% of consumers plan to reduce spending this holiday season. Higher food (73%) and higher energy (69%) prices are the top reasons. Categories most likely to be down from ’07 are: home improvements, home/holiday furnishings, non-gift clothing, socializing away from home, charitable donations and entertaining at home. They will buy 21.5 gifts on average vs. 23.1 in ’07. 73% say the best value for their money will determine where they shop, and 72% say low prices will. More will shop at discount/value department stores, warehouse clubs, dollar stores, outlet stores and off-prices stores. Even flea markets (7%) and re-sale/used merchandise stores (6%) are cited. (Center for Media Research Brief 10/31/08) 

Zondervan has acquired BibleGateway.com—the most popular Bible reading and research Website. Also acquired was Gospel Communications’ online community of Christian organizations, Gospel.com. There are plans to expand BibleGateway’s user interface and add Zondervan proprietary reference materials, plus partner with other content providers. (Christian e-Tailing 10/30/08) 

Tough Marketing Problem? Call on me for a cost-effective solution. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Books & Blogs Thomas Nelson has launched a program to enroll interested bloggers and provide them with free review copies of select titles in exchange for the promise of posting at least a 200-word review on a blog and at Amazon.com. Nelson CEO and active blogger Mike Hyatt credits his own blog with inspiring the idea. He said, “My goal is to have a rich database of bloggers who are actively selecting Thomas Nelson products they are interested in to read and review. The positive reviews will be a priceless word-of-mouth marketing vehicle, and the negative reviews will be a useful tool in understanding why a product might not have sold.” (Publisher’s Lunch 10/29/08) 

Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com