___ Christian products sell $4 billion. The sale of Christian products in the United States exceeded $4 billion last year, according to the trade group CBA, formerly known as Christian Booksellers Association. The figure is based on a survey of member suppliers, including book and Bible publishers and firms specializing in music, gifts and apparel. Bibles account for the largest single category of the sales, at $1.77 billion.
___ FAA must pay for religious discrimination. A Christian who was fired after refusing to work on the Sabbath has been awarded $2.25 million in a civil lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration. Don Reed, 45, suffered from religious discrimination when he lost his job as a Denver air traffic controller in 1995, a jury decided July 17. Reed, a non-denominational Christian, had worked there for five years.
___ Crystal Cathedral lays off staff. The Crystal Cathedral, the California ministry of Robert Schuller, has cut 6 percent of its staff, citing a drop in contributions. The megachurch in Garden Grove, Calif., has eliminated or frozen 37 positions during the last month, said Glenn DeMaster, the church's executive pastor. It has had a staff as high as 600, reaching that peak during its Easter and Christmas productions. The church has a $50 million budget.
___ Willow Creek goes satellite. Willow Creek Community Church, one of the nation's most prominent mega-churches, plans to establish satellite churches where worshippers will watch the service from the main location in South Barrington, Ill., via huge video screens. Church officials plan to open a dozen sites in the Chicago area within the next decade, the Chicago Tribune reported. Willow Creek representatives say they hope to reach more people, especially those who live more than half an hour away from the current location.
___ Faith fills a sandwich. When people in the so-called "sandwich generation" take care of their older family members, their chief source of support is prayer or faith, the AARP has found. The non-profit organization of members ages 50 and older released a survey July 11 that shed light on how people ages 45-55 cope with the dual duties of parenting their own children and caring for elderly parents. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said faith and prayer helped them in their caretaking responsibilities. Forty-two percent said their houses of worship or religious institutions assisted them.
___ Barna sees financial woes ahead. Churches may face rough financial waters as the baby boom generation, more than 76 million adults born between 1946 and 1964, hit their retirement years, according to pollster George Barna. He said at recent seminars in Illinois that baby boomers "are becoming the wealthiest generation and the most self-absorbed" as they age. "In days to come, I see them dropping out (of the church) as their children continue leaving the home."
___Boomers are now between 37 and 55 years old and in their peak earning potential. As they adjust to more limited incomes in retirement--or if they start to drop out of churches as Barna foresees--they'll be followed by the baby busters, a smaller segment of the population unlikely to amass the boomers' financial strength. That will lead to financial woes for churches, including foreclosures, he predicted, because the "baby busters are not as inclined to give" as their parents.
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