RDA Folds Pastor Rick Warren's Print Vehicle

[brooklynite]

Source: Mediaweek

Reader’s Digest Association is folding the print version of Purpose Driven Connection, the quarterly Christian-themed magazine it produces with pastor Rick Warren, after paid subscriptions failed to take off.

Launched in January, Purpose Driven Connection sought to tap into Warren’s popularity as a minister and author of The Purpose Driven Life. It represented one of RDA’s big ventures as it sought to grow revenue outside its flagship, the pocket-sized Reader’s Digest.

The magazine was part of a multiplatform effort that included interactive DVDs, study group guides and access to the Web site. A one-year subscription costs $29.99, according to the site.

...snip...

“For Saddleback's part, they found that their community loved the content but paying for it was an issue, hence online being their chosen delivery point,” the rep said.

Read more: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazi...

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Why would you pay for religious dogma? I understand you can get it for free every Sunday...

[Angry Dragon]

1. One can find it everyday on certain channels

[Ian David]

3. I have those channels blocked. n/t

[Ian David]

2. Purpose Driven Connection is now Driven into the Ground. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Anything that takes a dime from that bigot's pocket is great

[robo50]

5. Yeah, that's fine with me. I have no love for that man.

[Demeter]

6. Pretty Pricy for the Ignorant and Poor

The middle class still isn't buying that product. For all the bleating and cacaphony, we are still a secular state.

[DeSwiss]

7. K&R

Birdbrains. You call it a donation, or "A Love Offering For The Lord." You don't call it a subscription! These Readers Digest people are just amateurs when it comes to religious huckstering.

- You've gotta have some sort of a stchick....

[chollybocker]

8. Even after he was personally invited to sit at the right hand of G... I mean Obama?

This economy is in worse shape than I thought!

[hmorehead]

9. Cheap bastards. Am surprised his market can read. Readers Digest Bible only had 7 commandments.

Never could figure out which ones were missing.

[Vidar]

10. Good riddance!

[merwin]

11. My church did several weeks of small groups based on Purpose Driven Life.

I couldn't make myself attend those.

Although, I am sooooo glad I attended last Sunday to hear the pastor rail on Christians in general during his sermon regarding fear stopping us from doing what we're called to do... ie: stop living within your comfort zone and go help people.

Basically blamed the media for spreading fear, pointed out how the swine flu is being hyped up as this huge pandemic that will kill everyone when NORMAL flu kills thousands every year... and how they hyped up SARS as this thing that was going to wipe us all out when it only killed a few hundred people... how we're so focused as a country on consumption that we forget what's important in life.

And my favorite line in the sermon: "Why are we so worried about defending marriage when we should be focusing on promoting healthy relationships?" Note that this was the week before we voted statewide to give domestic partnerships the same rights as marriage.

This is a Presbyterian church with what I would say is an equal split between liberals and conservatives. I'm guessing that he pissed off several members that day, unless the conservatives in the crowd didn't get what he was referring to, which I think could be the case for many of them.

As a very liberal Christian I tend to feel out of place often, which is probably why we would rather attend church 90 miles away when possible (where we used to live) as opposed to going to the one that is 10 miles away...

On a side note, one of the first times I heard him give a sermon he made an analogy between a passage in the bible and Rambaldi Fluid (from Alias). Honestly, if I didn't know he was a pastor I would never have guessed. His philosophy is to lead by example, not try to shove it down your throat. Being that the vast majority of my friends are athiests or agnostic, I've found from experience that a much healthier discussion comes from becoming a true friend to someone before discussion religion. Same goes for political discussions. You've got a much better chance of the other party actually listening and can have a much more intelligent discussion if you aren't in their face about it.

[LeftyMom]

12. Content aside, $29.99 a year for a quarterly magazine is outrageous,

assuming it's not a small press thing or a niche publication of some sort with higher associated costs and lower economies of scale. For a mass market publication, that's kinda crazy, even with the added DVDs (cheap to make) website (ditto) and study group guides (ditto) thrown in to obscure the fact that each magazine cost as much as a paperback book.