Saturday, July 18, 1998

Christian booksellers convention shows range of religious products

By Jeffrey Weiss

The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - What would Jesus buy?

If he were wandering through the Dallas Convention Center on Monday, he could start with a "Golf Angel." Inside a gold golfball-shaped jewelry box, a winged golden figure swings a driver. Or he could have selected a quarter-sized pendant - a gold crown of thorns. And there were dozens, maybe hundreds of items emblazoned with the query: What Would Jesus Do?

Clearly, the CBA has gone beyond its origin as the Christian Booksellers Association.

This week's exhibition is the 49th annual gathering of the owners of the nation's Christian bookstores and the folks who make the stuff they sell. More than 10,000 people wandered the 6 acres of exhibit space and 1,552 booths Monday, the first full day of the show.

CBA officials said first-day attendance was high enough that they expect this year's event to have record crowds. Preliminary events started Friday. The show goes on through Wednesday and is not open to the public.

Mostly what visitors will see are books, Bibles and their multimedia successors: religious software, Christian videos and faith-friendly music. But a substantial corner of the hall - about a third of the booths - is devoted to "gifts and specialty items." And some of those seem a long stretch from Scripture:

The bottle cap etched with "Jesus is Lord." A metal zipper pull with "DARE to be" cut into it. Then there's the guy in the frog suit.

He works for Dickson's, a company that makes all kinds of religious products. The frog is this company's answer to the WWJD query.

Fully Rely On God - FROG.

The T-shirts, hats, cups and doodads are designed to catch the wave of WWJD - the hottest recent phenomenon in Christian marketing.

Frogs are hot in secular marketing - this year's decorator animal. Why not turn it into a sacred theme, asked Melissa Bane, Dickson's marketing coordinator.

"The key is to find something people can identify with," she said.

The Jesus of the New Testament was short on merchandising advice. And the big business that Christian-themed stuff has become troubles some in the middle of the business.

"Sometimes I feel there is some sort of a contrast," said David Beaupre, product development director for Monarch Creations.

His booth featured the zipper pulls. It also had Bible verses and images on bookmarks and pins. Most of the stuff on display this week answers a spiritual hunger, Beaupre said.

"It's a way for people to express their faith," he said. "That's what it comes down to."

It's a question of intent, said Robert Anderson, creator of Redemption, a Bible-based role-playing card game. And with almost 250,000 games sold, Anderson offered no apologies for his success.

"To do a Bible-based game I can turn into a ministry, that's a dream for me," he said.

There were T-shirts reading, "He who dies with the most toys still dies." A tie covered in images of golfers and the words "Whole in One; Col. 2:10." A pen with "Smile, God loves you" on the side.

Jaime Gomez of Visual Witness produces a unique skateboard design. Where most skateboards have rock-music or other secular decorations, Gomez puts Christian messages.

What would Jesus think?

"I do not think he'd have a problem with it, as long as we've done it in accord with his will," Gomez said.

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