Valley Park Auto Repairs Come With Prayers

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Some customers of the new Christian Brothers Automotive get more than an just an oil change or a new transmission.

“If the opportunity arises, and if someone shares certain details of their life, I might pray with them,” said Kip Bynum, the garage’s owner. “We’re led by what God sees fit to do.”

Catering specifically to Christians — who make up nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population — has become a legitimate and profitable marketing strategy for large and small companies.

There are Christian bookstores, moving companies, record labels, debt-consolidation agencies, health insurance companies, clothing brands, dating websites, and film companies.

Some companies target Christians overtly, while other businesses founded on Christian principles favor a show-by-example policy. Their target market may be wider, but such companies use the tenets of their faith — especially the so-called Golden Rule — to attract consumers.

“There is a very strong network of Christians marketing to Christians and really creating goods and services for that group,” said Mara Einstein, a professor of media studies at Queens College in New York. “There’s nothing wrong with deciding your market is a Christian market, but the issue becomes if you find that’s not a big enough target and then you have to appeal to a wider audience.”

Bynum and his wife, Lori, opened the first Christian Brothers Automotive franchise in the St. Louis area three months ago.

Read full story.

Photo: Brittanie Williams / P-D.

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