Free advice tied listeners into a consumption-based evangelical community that generated vast revenue

Evidence

Through books, newsletters, and especially radio, Dobson became a fixture in the homes and lives of tens of millions of Americans. As one faithful listener described: “[Focus on the Family] was so knitted into the fabric of my thinking and beliefs that it’s hard to pick it out now. Because it has become so much a part of us.” By the 1980s Dobson was receiving hundreds of thousands of letters a year, the vast majority from women. Attentive to his “constituents’” needs, Dobson assembled a team of staffers who offered tailored advice and recommended various Focus on the Family publications. His organization dispensed this advice without charge, asking only for “suggested donations.” In this way, Dobson amassed a loyal following, a community united by the consumption of his freely given advice. The money followed. By 1987, Focus on the Family had developed into “a full-blown evangelical media empire” with a budget of around 34 million; by 1995 the budget surpassed 100 million. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 197

Categorization

• XREF: Evidence for the consumer-culture-transmission thesis the reader must assess; connects to the book’s opening claim that this strand was built through books, radio, and merchandise rather than pulpit theology. Echoes Milgrom’s point that gifts forge ongoing relational bonds.