Valley Park auto repairs come with prayers

VALLEY PARK, Mo. -- Some customers of the new Christian Brothers Automotive get more than 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. The Bynums were chosen by Texas-based Christian Brothers executives because, among other qualifications, they are what the company's founder Mark Carr called "born-again Christians."

"We all have a common denominator in Jesus Christ, and that makes everyone on an even playing field," Carr said. "Christians are not perfect by any way, shape or form, but I'm comfortable with them because Christ is the boss of their store."

The company's mission is "to glorify God by providing ethical and excellent automotive repair service for our customers, according to Colossians 3:17."

That verse from the New Testament says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Carr said the company's business is mostly marketed by word of mouth, propelled by what he calls "the wow factor." Most of its customers are women, he said.

Christian Brothers builds its lobbies to look and feel like a doctor's office. The lobby of the company's Valley Park franchise features plants, leather furniture and reading material including a Bible. And for those who can't wait for their car, the company offers a courtesy shuttle.

Christian Brothers Automotive is an $80 million company with 59 franchises, mostly in the Bible Belt.

Susan Hunt-Bradford, a 48-year-old from Fenton who teaches at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, has taken her car to Christian Brothers three times twice for oil changes and once to get her brakes fixed.

Hunt-Bradford was first attracted by the convenience of Christian Brothers' shuttle service but said the company's principles helped it retain her business. She ultimately paid less for her brake job than Christian Brothers' original estimate, for instance.

"They were able to get the brake pads on sale, and they passed along the discount to me," Hunt-Bradford said. "Christian or not, a lot of companies wouldn't do that."

The process of vetting a possible Christian Brothers Automotive franchisee is thorough. Carr said three applicants are turned down for every one allowed to open a franchise. A potential franchisee goes through a series of nine interviews, including one with the company's chief operating officer, about the depth of his or her commitment to Jesus Christ.

While Bynum said religion is not a factor in the hiring decisions of his Valley Park franchise, during the hiring process, he said, "we try to let people know what this company's about and what we stand for."

Carr said he hears the occasional comment typically from other Christians that his company is trading on faith to bring Christians in the door.

"That doesn't even faze me because I know what my relationship with God is," Carr said. "If I'm using (God) to make money for me, I've got real issues when I die. And I don't need that."