When the Saints Go Marching Into Cuba and Myanmar
Two long-closed countries are opening up. Should US short-term missionaries go?
After nearly 30 years of holding Acquire the Fire conferences across America, Teen Mania will take its flagship event a destination off-limits until recently: Myanmar (Bu…
When the Saints Go Marching In
Cuba and Myanmar are opening up. Should US short-term missionaries go?
After nearly 30 years of holding Acquire the Fire conferences across America, Teen Mania will take its flagship event a destination off-limits until recently: Myanmar (Burma).
N…
When the Saints Go Marching In
Cuba and Myanmar are opening up. Should US short-term missionaries go?
After nearly 30 years of holding Acquire the Fire conferences across America, Teen Mania will take its flagship event a destination off-limits until recently: Myanmar (Burma).
N…
America’s Largest Christian Bookstore Chain Files for Bankruptcy
CEO: ‘We have carefully and prayerfully considered every option.’
Family Christian Stores (FCS) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Yet the ministry assured customers yesterday that it “does not expect” to close any of its more than 250 stores or lay off any of its approximately 4,000 employees.
“We strive to serve God in all that we do and trust His guidance in all our decisions, especially this very important one,” stated FCS president and CEO Chuck Bengochea. “We have carefully and prayerfully considered every option. This action allows us to stay in business and continue to serve our customers, our associates, our vendors and charities around the world.” [Full announcement below.]
With 266 stores in 36 states, FCS is the nation’s largest chain of Christian stores as measured by locations, not sales. (For comparison, LifeWay Christian Resources has 185 stores in 29 states.) In 2014, FCS generated $216 million in gross revenues, notes Randall G. Reese at Chapter 11 Cases.
FCS bought itself back from private equity owners in 2012 and pledged to donate 100 percent of its profits to widows and orphans. One example: It partnered with Karen Kingsbury to donate 2013 Black Friday sales to help Haiti orphans. FCS recently expanded into filmmaking, with 90 Minutes in Heaven to be the first of a planned two movies made each year.
In a video message to customers, Bengochea named the recession, the digital revolution, and the company’s debt load as factors leading to FCS’s bankruptcy.
“I wish that we had alternatives but we do not,” he said.
On its FAQ page, FCS stated that it moved forward with bankruptcy “after much prayerful consideration and only after working to cut costs and taking other steps. We …
America’s Largest Christian Bookstore Chain Files for Bankruptcy
CEO: ‘We have carefully and prayerfully considered every option.’
Family Christian Stores (FCS) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Yet the ministry assured customers yesterday that it “does not expect” to close any of its more than 250 stores or lay off any of its approximately 4,000 employees.
“We strive to serve God in all that we do and trust His guidance in all our decisions, especially this very important one,” stated FCS president and CEO Chuck Bengochea. “We have carefully and prayerfully considered every option. This action allows us to stay in business and continue to serve our customers, our associates, our vendors and charities around the world.” [Full announcement below.]
With 266 stores in 36 states, FCS is the nation’s largest chain of Christian stores as measured by locations, not sales. (For comparison, LifeWay Christian Resources has 185 stores in 29 states.) In 2014, FCS generated $216 million in gross revenues, notes Randall G. Reese at Chapter 11 Cases.
FCS bought itself back from private equity owners in 2012 and pledged to donate 100 percent of its profits to widows and orphans. One example: It partnered with Karen Kingsbury to donate 2013 Black Friday sales to help Haiti orphans. FCS recently expanded into filmmaking, with 90 Minutes in Heaven to be the first of a planned two movies made each year.
In a video message to customers, Bengochea named the recession, the digital revolution, and the company’s debt load as factors leading to FCS’s bankruptcy.
“I wish that we had alternatives but we do not,” he said.
On its FAQ page, FCS stated that it moved forward with bankruptcy “after much prayerful consideration and only after working to cut costs and taking other steps. We …
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