Isn’t it nice when you see folks who know their stuff do something really well? You can’t help but admire them when it’s clear they are experts in their field. Where companies are concerned the same thoughts can be applied too. Here’s an example of one of the very best in the Christian publishing field who simply excel, and to think - it was Billy Graham who first started them out…

Who am I talking about? Christianity Today International of course. This year this hugely influential magazine publisher celebrates 50 years of successful publishing after being birthed out of a vision by Billy Graham in 1956. Here’s what he says sparked him to action…

“About two o’clock one night in 1953, an idea raced through my mind, freshly connecting all of the things I had seen and pondered about reaching a broader audience. … A couple of hours later, the concept of a new magazine was complete. I thought its name should be Christianity Today... I thought it should have the best news coverage of any religious magazine.”

His vision became reality when 285,000 pastors then received the magazine for free to ‘prime the pump’ and get the presses rolling. Today, Christianity Today is the flagship publication out of the 12 excellent magazines published by CTI. Importantly, it’s through these these 12 well written paid periodicals, CTI reaches over 2.5 million readers.

Notwithstanding their flagship offline operations, CTI have certainly not let the Internet Age pass them by. In fact they’ve grabbed it with both hands - and got it right too.

ChristianityToday.com completes their internet arm, and attracts over 2 million unique visitors per month. This comprehensive and easy to use website not only provides multiplicity of content channels but also many downloadable resources.

Besides their web site visitors, their total circulation of 34 e-newsletters additionally reaches 1.2 million subscribers via their email inboxes on a regular basis. Pretty impressive.

Today “print-plus” (ie multi-media content) has become their essential watchword for future Christian readership trends. So let’s contemplate this for a moment; through both print and print-plus channels, CTI brings content in all it’s a variety of forms to at least 4.5 million readers.

Finally, celebrating their 50th Anniversary with the announcement of their “50th Anniversary Channel” which includes online video, I’d suggest they’ve pretty much achieved Billy Grahams original goal. However, it’s their present day forward thinking which places them way ahead of the pack. In the words of their current President Paul D. Robbins, they are now not just ‘publishers’ but truly an “international communications ministry.”

I’d say they’re a Christian publishing company which have got it right, wouldn’t you?

Copyright 2006 Jessie Lin - Research Analyst