Demand surges for Christian products

LOVELAND – Amazing change can come from one, small idea.

Thom Schultz was looking for materials to help him teach teens at First Christian Church in Loveland and was unsuccessful in his search. He saw a need for educational materials for Christian educators and decided to try and fill a portion of the need.

So in 1974, Schultz sat down at a typewriter in a spare bedroom and published his first issue of Group Magazine – a grassroots newsprint publication with ideas for church youth leaders.

Since that time, Group Publishing Inc. has grown from a husband-and-wife operation to an organization employing 280 people at its Loveland headquarters. The organization has grown from that single magazine publication to a company with 1,000 different books and other ministry resources used in more than 100,000 churches.

“It started with a $500 investment just to pay the initial printing fee, and the magazine started out as a very humble, meager little publication,” Schultz said. “It eventually and gradually caught on, attracted more and more readers. After that first magazine got started and attracted some readers, we were able to move onto other things.”

Group is also responsible for youth work camps which last year involved 20,000 teens working in 60 locations across the United States and North America. Group started its first work camp in 1976 to help recovery efforts after the Big Thompson Flood.

The growth of Group Publishing is the result of hard work, but it is not the only Christian products business experiencing dramatic growth.

According to the Christian Booksellers Association, Christian-product sales by CBA member suppliers through all distribution channels were just under $4.2 billion in 2002 the latest year available, an increase from $4 billion in 2000. The Association of American Publishers said religious book sales, which are 5 percent of the total market, grew 37 percent in 2003, compared with flat sales for general hardcover and mass-market books.

“Group is growing right along with the Christian product industry,´ said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of marketing and technology, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. “They are a significant player within the church resource group.”

Gallagher said the Christian Publishing industry is a $4.5 billion industry, with $2.5 billion in book sales. The balance consists of music and curriculum sales.

In its 2003 Stats Christian Retail Trends report, the ECPA said Group Publishing sold 207,325 units and that the company holds 10.51 percent of the market share of the church and ministry category. The report also states that Group had a gross revenue of $3.66 million within the category.

“I would say Group is within an elite group of church providers who consistently rank in the top three of church resource curriculum,’ Gallagher said. “I think the industry looks to them to be an innovator and a leader in new product concepts.”

Group offers curriculum for children and youth education, volunteer coordination and pastor education.

Schultz and his wife, Joni, say a creative staff with a desire to excel is the company’s reason for success.

“We just have such a great staff which has bought into our mission,” Schultz said. “It’s what inspires our people to work hard day in and day out. It also encourages them to serve the customer really well because they are heart and soul really into our mission.”

Group recently completed a 48,000-square-foot expansion, doubling its building size, and plans to hire 150 people over the next few years.

“We now have over 125,000 square feet on the campus,” he said. “It is simply an effect of growth in several areas. We are just growing, in our markets and our audiences.”

Schultz said the company plans to expand into men- and women-specific ministries and continue to expand its curriculum lines.

“We are devoted to new ways to help our customers develop new ways to be more effective,” he said.  “Practically from the day we invent a mold, we are looking for how we can break it and come up with a better one. And, that just happens over and over again as we compete against ourselves.”

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