Arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby celebrated the birth of Jesus in full-page newspaper ads during Christmas week.
Hobby Lobby’s ad features a simple star in the sky and the words, “It’s a boy,” followed by a quote from the gospel of Luke 2:11: “Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”
“This ad serves as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and celebrates what millions of people around the world and for centuries have considered a turning point in human history—the birth of Jesus Christ,” states the largest privately-owned arts-and-crafts retailer in the world in a press statement.
Hobby Lobby continues:
As with previous ads, Hobby Lobby partners with Need Him Ministry to invite anyone who would like to know Jesus as Lord and Savior to contact chataboutjesus.com. The ad also offers a free Bible for mobile devices at mardel.com/bible.
Since 1997, holiday messages have appeared in local papers in each town where Hobby Lobby has a store. With the addition of social media, many more thousands of people view and share the hope-filled messages.
Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, is the author of the book Faith in America, which tells the story of his company’s history of publishing holiday ads with Christian themes of faith.
According to Green, his father David, the founder of Hobby Lobby, was reading Christmas ads, including those for his own stores, and felt called by God to feature an ad that celebrated the true meaning of Christmas.
In 1996, David Green created a simple newspaper ad that began: “As you celebrate this Christmas season in the warmth of family and home, may you be drawn to the Savior; He who left the beauty of Heaven on our behalf and became like us, that we might become like Him.”
Hobby Lobby says its “core values” have always informed its corporate culture and determined how decisions are made.
These “core values” include:
- Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating in a manner consistent with Biblical principles
- Offering customers exceptional selection and value
- Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals and nurture families
- Providing a return on the family’s investment, sharing the Lord’s blessings with our employees and investing in our community
“These values led to the decision to close all stores on Sunday allowing associates time for family and for worship,” Hobby Lobby states. “They were also instrumental in the decision to give store employees pay raises well above the national minimum wage.”
Hobby Lobby has over 37,500 employees and operates in 46 states in the country.