Companies that provide yellow-page listings of Christian-owned businesses are gaining ground in Colorado and nationally as Christian shoppers look for businesses that share their faith.
Jim Endley, who publishes the Shepherd’s Guide in Colorado (www.shepherdsguide.com), is putting the final touches on the Denver-area edition of the free business directory, 35,000 of which will be distributed this summer at churches, grocery stores and Christian bookstores.
Red Letter Publishing, a Fort Collins-based competitor of the publication, says listings in its 28 markets nationwide are increasing by about 10 percent each year.
“There have always been people that are really concerned about the types of people they do business with,” said Barry Hultgren, owner of Red Letter Publishing, which produces the Christian Business Directory (www.redletter.com). “They like to support somebody that is on common ground with them.”
The growth of both businesses comes at a time when companies are trying to reach more specific audiences with their advertising – whether by faith, ethnicity, age, income or hobby.
“Advertisers in general have realized that broad- brush advertising isn’t as effective,” said David Miller, executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. “If you can home in on a specific demographic, you are going to be more successful.”
Doug Scheidt launched the Shepherd’s Guide in Baltimore in 1980 – a time, he said, when most Christians weren’t declaring their faith so openly.
“Now the president of the United States is not afraid to say that he prays and that Jesus is his Lord,” he said. “And Christians are feeling it’s OK to say they’re Christians, even in the workplace.”
Time magazine reports that 88 million Americans call themselves born-again Christians, and the number of Christian-owned businesses is estimated at more than half a million. The market for Christian retail products reached $4.34 billion last year.
Users of Christian business guides say they are drawn to them because of the perception they’ll be treated more ethically than they would by another business.
“I like to support the Christians out there,” said Kerry Griesemer of Highlands Ranch. “They seem honest, and I think they have integrity.”
Griesemer and her husband, Tom, chose their children’s dentist, Scott Tidwell of Rocky View Dental in Littleton, through the Shepherd’s Guide.
She and others like her may be one reason listings in the Shepherd’s Guide have more than doubled nationally in the last five years, to 20,000 in more than 100 markets.
In Colorado, growth has been slower. The company launched under a different local publisher who ran the office for a short time before ceding control of the territory to an out-of-state office. The change caused listings and publication schedules to falter, Scheidt said.
Endley and his family moved to Castle Rock in 2003 and bought the franchise. They published their most recent Denver-area guide in late 2004 and plan to distribute 2006 guides in the metro area.
Endley doesn’t turn away non-Christian advertisers. Instead, business owners are asked to sign a pledge that they have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Those who sign can include a shepherd symbol in their ads.
The cost of advertising in the Shepherd’s Guide is significantly less than more traditional yellow pages – about $175 a year for a small ad, according to The Washington Post – because it reaches fewer people.
Nonetheless, advertisers who use the guide say it’s a steady generator of business.
“We get constant hits from the Shepherd’s Guide,” said Bob Lowry, an Allstate Insurance agent in Castle Rock.
Both the Christian Business Directory and the Shepherd’s Guide say they are in the process of expanding their distribution to grocery stores and other secular locations as interest in their products grows.
Lawyers, mechanics, insurance salesmen, dentists and home-improvement contractors are among the most popular categories in both directories. Such advertisers say it’s because their professions rely on a stronger level of trust than other business deals.
“When people come to me (through the Shepherd’s Guide), a big level of trust has already been achieved,” said Tidwell.
The Shepherd’s Guide will mediate if consumers have problems with an advertiser. The Christian Business Directory will bar advertisers who have a history of complaints from consumers.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
