Money Changers
From an article in The Bend Weekly and a link at Church Marketing Sucks.
The twenty-first century is a golden age for Christian-based entertainment: “The Passion of the Christ,” which took in over $370 million at the box office, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which took in more than $290 million domestically last winter, and Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” books, which have sold more than 50 million copies, are the most tangible examples of evangelical blockbusters.
In addition, according to the New York Times, “Christian music now racks up $700 million in sales annually. In 2004, sales of religious books reached $1.9 billion. Packaged Facts, a market-research firm, predicted that Christian products will generate $9.5 billion in sales by 2010.”
Wow. 9.5 billion dollars. What do you think Jesus would think? I’m not throwing stones, here. I buy Christian music and christian books, I took my kids to see Narnia…..the whole shebang. But what would happen if the church cut their buying by half? Say we took a measly 4.5 billion and invested it in changing the world, eliminating poverty and spreading the love of Christ. What would happen?
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