<\/p>\n
Hobby Lobby \u2014 a Christian-owned retailer \u2014 is giving away half a million copies of investigative journalist and author Lee Strobel\u2019s book defending the biblical story of Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n
Strobel appeared on the latest episode of CBN\u2019s \u201cFaith in Culture,\u201d where he announced the craft store was giving away 500,000 copies of \u201cThe Case for Christmas,\u201d a gesture he described as \u201cwonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strobel\u2019s book \u2014 and Hobby Lobby\u2019s decision to give thousands of copies away \u2014 comes at a time when Americans are more open to spiritual themes.<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0data from Lifeway Research, while fewer than 50% of Americans attend religious services during the Christmas season, more than half (56%) have said it is likely they would go to church during the holidays if someone they knew invited them, including 40% of the religiously unaffiliated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is such a powerful statistic,\u201d said Strobel, referencing Colossians 4:5-6, in which the Apostle Paul wrote, \u201cBe wise\u00a0in the way you act toward outsiders;\u00a0make the most of every opportunity.\u00a0Let your conversation be always full of grace,\u00a0seasoned with salt,\u00a0so that you may know how to answer everyone\u201d (NIV).<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201cHere we have the Christmas season \u2014\u00a0this is an opportunity for us to seize. \u2026 Invite them to Christmas Eve services at your church. Yeah, it\u2019s a little uncomfortable to do sometimes, but take a spiritual risk and invite them. Don\u2019t just say, \u2018Hey, why don\u2019t you come?\u2019 Offer to pick them up and take them. \u2026 Then you\u2019re pretty much 100% assured they\u2019re gonna show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The author, who came to faith in Jesus years ago as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune when he set out on an ultimately failed endeavor to disprove the Gospel, encouraged believers to boldly share their faith.<\/p>\n He referenced a conversation he had with the late evangelist Luis Palau at the end of his life. Palau told Strobel, \u201cLee, when you get to the end of your life and all is said and done, you\u2019ll never regret being courageous for Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s not leave anybody behind this Christmas,\u201d Strobel said. \u201cLet\u2019s share the Gospel far and wide, let\u2019s invite people recklessly to come to church with us and you\u2019ll be surprised at how many people \u2014 as that statistic indicated \u2014 will say, \u2018Yes.’\u201d<\/p>\n Strobel originally published \u201cThe Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger\u201d in the early aughts, but released a \u201ccompletely revised and updated version\u201d in September, telling CBN News he thought a rewrite was needed due to \u201cnew discoveries\u201d in linguistics and archaeology that warranted \u201ca fresh version of the book.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Hobby Lobby, the company \u2014\u00a0which has more than 1,000 stores across the lower 48 U.S. states \u2014\u00a0is known for its commitment to Christian principles.<\/p>\n On\u00a0its website, Hobby Lobby says it is \u201ccommitted to [h]onoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles, offering our customers exceptional selection and value, [and] serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals, and nurture families.\u201d<\/p>\n CBN News has reached out to Hobby Lobby for a statement on the giveaway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hobby Lobby \u2014 a Christian-owned retailer \u2014 is giving away half a million copies of investigative journalist and author Lee Strobel\u2019s book defending the biblical story of Jesus\u2019 birth. Strobel appeared on the latest episode of CBN\u2019s \u201cFaith in Culture,\u201d where he announced the craft store was giving away 500,000 copies of \u201cThe Case for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[434,1725,813,416,3709,1979,3144,3145,208,660],"class_list":["post-13075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-biblical","tag-book","tag-christmas","tag-copies","tag-defending","tag-giving","tag-hobby","tag-lobby","tag-million","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}