I said years ago that when LifeWay wanted to change their name it was because they wanted to change their game. I think I might have been right.

Notice that all the comments came from people who make a living off the SBC, in contrast to Dr. Rogers who earned an honest living (just slightly sarcastic).

Sure, the SBC should seek to do better, go farther, dig deeper and reach higher; but a good word would be nice every once in a while. I’m not ready to pile on the SBC just yet. Rumors of her demise have come and gone before. The argument “God doesn’t need this or that” is a red herring. It is what we call in debate a “hypothesis contrary to fact.” You lose points for this.

Fact is: God does need me — at least according to the plan of salvation He Himself has established. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” We cannot get around the fact that God has limited Himself to “need people” which He chooses to use according to His sovereign will. So, my contusion is this:

“God wants to use the SBC as much as He ever did.” Let’s love the SBC at least as much as He does.

Just for the record: none of the men quoted impress me that much.

Bart and I “attack” people?

Bart stands on the truth of God’s Word, and he discusses issues that are important to him. Wally, the only attacking I see usually comes from you.

David

“wally” seems to make cameo appearances here and there throughout blogtown, just to stir the pot. I’ve got a sneaking supsicion he’s an old sidekick of Villa Rica.

wally

“I try hard not to be impressed with myself and I hope none of you are impressed with me!”

I think he has a great truth there for all who follow Jesus to consider.

cb

For the record, I try hard not to be impressed with myself and I hope none of you are impressed with me!

In fact, the more I get to know myself, the less impressed I am with myself. The people who know me best will attest to my utterly astonishing inability to impress. Oh, sure, I talk a good game, but up close I’m quite unimpressing. That being true, my hope is that His glory would shine through me though I doubt I will be too impressing anytime soon. And that is my hope for the SBC as well. Sure, the SBC is quite ugly in some ways and has warts, but what is more glorious that God using the fragile vessels that compose it for His glory? And I would encourage us to not just pray for God to be glorified through the SBC, but through the Assembly of God, Presbyterians, Vineyard, Dutch Reformed, etc, etc.

Peace to you,
From the Middle East

I agree totally with your four points.

The “problem” that I see is that in some cases it is not even possible to be loyal to traditions since the traditions that we could potentially be “loyal” to are gone.

Speaking of Lifeway: The landscape has changed things so much that the old business model couldn’t possibly exist even if we longed for it.

Take some examples from Lifeway’s book store/publications operation:

(1) The New American Commentary: this has been ongoing for at least 15 years. It is still not finished because of low demand. If the NAC was selling like hotcakes then I don’t think it would take very long for the volume on Revelation to come out. Lifeway could give some author a $80,000 advance, the author could take a sabbitical from his seminary post, and the volume would be there within a year. The problem is that sales are marginal so there is no economic model to drive this series to completion.

(2)In the the old days people went to the Bible book store to get books. Now they order them online at Amazon or CBD. Also, most classic books are in the public domain and available for free on CDs such as E-Sword. There is virtually no “retail” “trade book” sales of Christian books except for a few (maybe 20) popular authors. It is probably no accident that the only decent Lifeway stores are those next door to the seminaries. Both Golden Gate and Ft. Worth stores are way better stocked than the other stores. But unfortunately only six Lifeway stores can’t carry the frieght for the whole chain.

(3) AV stuff has changed dramatically away from “hard” stuff to soft media. We don’t have physical maps, flannelgraphs, etc much anymore. More and more we see video which is packaged on CDs. I went to the Lifeway store here in OKC on NW Expwy a few weeks ago to get a map of Paul’s Missionary journies. All they had was a few shopworn maps. No body wants this stuff anymore.

(4) A generation ago Lifeway and other Christian stores didn’t sell trinkets. Now proably 20% of the store is a Christian Gift shop.

(5)People now have software versions of Bible Helps. They don’t buy Holman Bible Atlases, Holman Bible Dictionaries, etc. much any more.

The idea of “institutional loyality” only goes so far because the stuff we might be loyal to is gone and it is not coming back. To the extent that Lifeway Stores are morphing into Christian-themed versions of Pier One Imports then I don’t think they belong under the SBC umbrella. We already have stores that do a better job at this namely the Mardel / Hobby Lobby operation here based in Oklahoma which is growing by leaps and bounds all over the Central USA. At the rate things are going I just don’t see the niche that the Lifeway stores are going to fill.

I’ve heard pastors complain how expensive Lifeway VBS material is. Although Lifeway does offer a generic version that can last over multiple years, Churches are asking for “refill kits” so they can use most of their stuff over again with just new “consummables” that they need each year. Churches want high production values AND they want to be able to use them multiple times. That way a church could cycle about three for four basic VBS themes for many years. I heard Thom Rainer himself defect this concern when it was raised from the floor in Louisville. I don’t think on a sustained basis the market is going to bear all the dedicated production cost for unique VBS material each and every year. I don’t things are too bright for Lifeway right now in the bookstore business, publishing business, or the retreat/conference ground business.

My prediction: (a) Glorieta and Ridgecrest will come back with the economy.

(b) The bookstores or publishing operations will ever really come back. They will continue to sink into the sand. They are based upon paradigms that are becoming increasingly obsolescent. Bookstores all over the USA are shutting down at an alarming pace. Walden and Dalton are skeletons of their former selves. Special bookstores such as Computer Literacy in Silicon Valley are long gone. I don’t see any different fundamentals at work which tells me that Lifeway is a special case that is going to give it long term staying power.

Bottom line: (a) Much of the traditional product lines that Lifeway has sold are obsolete. (b) Lifeway is only marginally attententive in modfying offerings to be cost effective in terms of how their their users percieve value.

If Lifeway issued stock I’d be selling it. It is going to take more than sourcing production to China to keep Lifeway viable.