Beyond the Plush Nativity: What a Viral Advent Toy Reveals About America’s New Faith Marketplace

On the surface, Lillian Richey’s “Finding Jesus” Advent toy looks like a heartwarming holiday human-interest story: a Dallas mom creates a Christ-centered alternative to secular Christmas products, sells 10,000 units, and rides what some are calling a “faith revival” in America. Underneath, it’s a revealing case study of how religion, grief, politics, and consumer capitalism are converging in a pivotal moment for American Christianity.

This doll isn’t just another Christmas product; it sits at the intersection of several powerful trends: the commercialization of faith, the search for meaning in a fractious political era, the rebranding of evangelical family life for a new generation of parents, and the growing narrative around a post-secular America. Understanding why an explicitly Christian toy can sell out in a culture often described as secularizing tells us far more about the country than about one company’s sales numbers.

From Elf on the Shelf to ‘Finding Jesus’: A New Phase of Faith-Based Consumer Culture

To see what’s new about Richey’s product, it helps to see what isn’t. Christian consumer markets have been robust for decades. In the 1990s, Christian bookstores were a staple in many suburbs. In the 2000s, products like VeggieTales, Bibleman, and WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets defined a youth-oriented faith merchandise boom.

What’s different now is the way faith products are positioned as correctives to secular culture rather than just Christian alternatives. If Elf on the Shelf and advent calendars with chocolate defined the previous generation of holiday merchandising, “Finding Jesus” represents a deliberate attempt to reclaim that space with a theological center of gravity.

Instead of merely adding a Christian option to the shelf, this product is built around an explicit critique: Christmas has become too chaotic, too commercial, too secular. Richey’s own framing—wanting something “easy, simple, all in one” and “all Scripture — no commentary”—is designed to appeal to parents exhausted by both the culture wars and the consumer treadmill. The product is not just selling a toy; it’s selling relief from cultural and spiritual dissonance.

The ‘Faith Revival’ Narrative: Grief, Politics, and Religion Collide

The article links the popularity of “Finding Jesus” to a broader “faith revival,” explicitly tied to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and reinforced by a high-profile comment from Donald Trump about religion “coming back to America.” This points to a larger shift: religious language and practice are increasingly framed through political and emotional events rather than through congregational life alone.

Historically, American religious revivals have often followed crises—a Civil War, economic collapse, or periods of moral panic. The First and Second Great Awakenings arose during profound social dislocation. The post-9/11 era saw a brief surge in church attendance and spiritual searching. Today’s version is more fragmented and mediated: it flows through digital networks, influencer ecosystems, and partisan media rather than tent revivals or circuit preachers.

In this ecosystem, an Advent toy becomes more than a product; it is a symbol that can validate a narrative: that after tragedy and cultural conflict, Americans are returning to faith. Whether the data supports a sweeping “revival” is another question—but the story of revival itself is powerful, and products like “Finding Jesus” help give that story tangible form.

What the Data Actually Says About a ‘Religious Comeback’

Any claim that religion is “coming back” to America has to be weighed against long-term trends:

• Pew Research Center found that the share of U.S. adults who identify as religiously unaffiliated (“nones”) rose from about 16% in 2007 to nearly 30% by the early 2020s.
• Regular weekly church attendance has fallen steadily across most Christian traditions, with some exceptions in certain evangelical megachurches and immigrant congregations.
• Younger generations show particularly sharp declines in institutional religious participation.

At the same time, there are countercurrents:

• Religious publishing, especially Bible sales, often spikes around major crises (e.g., early COVID-19 period, national tragedies).
• Christian streaming content, podcasts, and social media ministries have grown significantly.
• There is evidence of localized or movement-based surges in religious interest, such as campus revivals, retreat movements, or influencer-led Bible-reading campaigns.

From this vantage point, the better lens on “Finding Jesus” isn’t that America is wholesale returning to church, but that pockets of the country—particularly conservative, church-attending families—are doubling down on creating a distinctively Christian home culture. The toy thrives in a segment that is not collapsing so much as reorganizing itself around home-based faith formation, often as a response to perceived cultural hostility.

Why Products Like This Resonate With Millennial Christian Parents

The Christian parents buying this kit are often millennials who grew up in two overlapping worlds: 1990s evangelical culture and late-stage consumer capitalism. They are deeply familiar with branded spirituality—youth group merch, Christian rock, purity rings—and equally familiar with burnout from hyper-commercial parenting.

Now in their 30s and 40s, many of these parents are trying to resolve competing pressures: they want to give their kids “magical” holiday experiences without feeling like they are betraying core beliefs. The language of “finding Jesus” taps into this tension perfectly: it spiritualizes the scavenger-hunt format popularized by Elf on the Shelf, while clearly distinguishing itself from it.

Significantly, Richey emphasizes that the product is “all Scripture” with “no commentary.” That is not just a theological position; it’s a trust-building move in a deeply polarized Christian landscape. Parents wary of doctrinal controversies, conspiracy-tinged content, or political radicalization can be reassured: this toy is safe, apolitical—just the Bible, presented in a child-friendly way.

The Overlooked Story: How Grief and Martyrdom Narratives Fuel the Faith Economy

The article’s reference to Charlie Kirk’s assassination as a catalyst for renewed Bible reading reveals another powerful dynamic: the mobilizing force of martyrdom narratives within contemporary American Christianity.

When political or cultural figures are framed as having “given their lives” for faith, family, or country, their death can be interpreted not just as tragedy but as a call to spiritual renewal. In such an emotional climate, actions that might previously have seemed ordinary—buying a devotional toy, attending a Bible study, sharing a verse on social media—take on heightened symbolic meaning.

The faith marketplace is acutely sensitive to these shifts. After major shocks, there is often a surge not just in religious attendance or prayer, but in the consumption of religious goods: Bibles, devotionals, online courses, symbolic items. “Finding Jesus,” launched into a culture primed by both social anxiety and politicized grief, becomes part of a broader vocabulary of response: We are under threat; therefore we must return to the fundamentals of faith, starting with our children.

Commercializing Devotion: A Double-Edged Sword

There is an unavoidable tension at the heart of stories like this: a product that aims to fight secular consumerism does so by succeeding in the marketplace. This raises several questions:

• Does embedding sacred practices into consumer products help families actually deepen their spiritual lives, or does it risk reducing faith to a curated aesthetic?
• How do we distinguish between genuine religious revival and savvy branding aimed at a pre-existing, loyal demographic?
• What happens to families who can’t afford such products—are they subtly excluded from this new form of “faithful” Christmas?

On one hand, tools like “Finding Jesus” can lower the barriers for overwhelmed parents, providing structure, ritual, and Scripture in a digestible format. On the other, they risk reinforcing a model where spiritual formation is outsourced to purchasable kits, and where the line between devotion and consumption becomes increasingly blurred.

Expert Perspectives: Faith, Family, and the Post-Secular Home

Sociologists of religion point out that the story is less about a simple “return to church” and more about the ongoing privatization and personalization of faith.

Christian Smith, a leading sociologist of religion at the University of Notre Dame, has long argued that American religion is deeply shaped by what he calls “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” – a personalized, feelings-centered spirituality. Products like “Finding Jesus,” he might note, tap into a desire to see God as intimately present in the everyday lives of children, while still fitting neatly into a consumer framework.

Meanwhile, religious historian Dana Robert has documented how Christian women historically played crucial roles in shaping domestic religious practice through home devotions, storytelling, and seasonal rituals. In that context, Richey’s project is part of a centuries-long pattern: women creating and curating tangible tools to transmit faith to the next generation, now translated into 21st-century entrepreneurial form.

Finally, theologian James K.A. Smith has argued that our habits and rituals—what he calls “cultural liturgies”—shape our hearts more than abstract beliefs. An Advent toy, used faithfully over weeks, can indeed act as a formative ritual, teaching children not just information about Jesus, but associating joy and anticipation with the Nativity story instead of with gifts alone.

What This Might Signal About the Future of American Christianity

Several implications emerge from the “Finding Jesus” phenomenon:

1. Home is the new sanctuary. As institutional trust declines, Christian parents are investing more energy in home-based spiritual formation—Advent kits, family devotionals, streaming worship, and faith-based media.
2. Micro-brands will increasingly shape religious identity. Instead of denominational publishing houses dominating, small founders like Richey—often discovered through social media—are becoming key catechists for the next generation.
3. Faith and politics will remain entangled. The way this toy is framed within a narrative of national revival, presidential rhetoric, and the death of a political activist suggests that faith products will continue to be interpreted through partisan lenses, whether their creators intend it or not.
4. Material culture will define memory. Children raised with Christ-centered toys and rituals will carry those physical memories into adulthood. Whether that leads to robust religious commitment or a nostalgic, aesthetic Christianity remains an open question.

What to Watch Next

Several developments will show whether this is a fleeting trend or part of a deeper realignment:

• Do we see sustained increases in church involvement among families adopting such products, or do spiritual practices remain primarily home-based and privatized?
• Will mainstream retailers significantly expand faith-centered holiday offerings, or will these remain niche, online-driven products?
• How will progressive and mainline Christian communities respond—will they create their own parallel products, or resist the commodification of Advent altogether?
• Does the “faith revival” narrative translate into measurable changes in civic behavior, such as charitable giving, volunteering, or local community engagement?

The Bottom Line

“Finding Jesus” is more than a plush doll with puzzle pieces. It’s a snapshot of an America where religious identity is increasingly shaped in the marketplace, at home, and online; where grief and politics fuel spiritual search; and where millennial parents are trying to reconcile their faith with an all-encompassing consumer culture.

Whether or not a broad national revival is underway, there is clearly a revival of something: the determination among a sizable segment of Americans to inscribe faith more deeply into the everyday lives of their children. Toys like this are the new icons of that determination—soft, cuddly, and commercially savvy, but also pointing, for many, toward something they believe is far beyond the shelf.