Mart Green
This Book Is Alive™
Mart Green began his retail career in the home of his parents as a youth. With $600 his family started Hobby Lobby in their living room, now a chain of over 500 hobby, arts and crafts stores. At 19, Mart established Mardel, a chain of Christian and educational supply stores. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Mardel has 35 stores in seven states.
January 2005, Christian Retailing named Mart Green one of the Top Fifty People who have most impacted and shaped Christian retailing in the last half century.
July 2008, CBA awarded Mardel the 2008 Jim Carlson Christian Bookstore of the Year Award.
In addition to growing his business, Mart is Founder and CEO of Bearing Fruit Communications. He was commissioned for this purpose at a June 1998 meeting of the North American Forum of Bible Agencies. Bearing Fruit Communications produced the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. It won two awards: the 2002 Heartland Film Festival "Crystal Heart Award," and the 2004 Palm Beach International Film Festival "Audience Favorite Documentary Feature Award."
Bearing Fruit Communications was renamed EthnoGraphic Media (EGM) in 2007. As a non-profit Scripture engagement company with a mission statement, “Storytelling that honors our search for significance and inspires loving action,” EGM’s current productions address today’s issues: Miss HIV, The Grandfathers and Little Town of Bethlehem.
June 2002, visionary Green founded and is Executive Producer/CEO for Every Tribe Entertainment, a feature film production company. Their movie End of the Spear released to theaters in January 2006 and won the "Grand Prize Award" at The Heartland Film Festival. In May 2007 the soundtrack won the "Dove Award for Instrumental Album." Millions in the U.S. viewed End of the Spear with great impact, and it is now being shown in many countries around the world.
With Mart's outstanding success in retail, he brings sound business sense and a strong commitment to the story in each of the films. “This Book is Alive” best describes Mart’s motto. His passion is to shape culture through the true stories we tell through film.
January 2008 Mart went on another adventure as he became Board Chair of the Board of Trustees at Oral Roberts University (ORU). ORU was one of five institutions to be selected for the 2007 Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Award for Institutional Progress in Student Learning Outcomes. CHEA is an association of 3000 degree granting colleges and universities.
CBMC honored Mart with the 2011 Salt and Light Award because his life strongly reflects Matthew 5:13-16:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."Mart has been married to his wife, Diana, for 30 years. They are the parents of 4 grown children and proud grandparents of two.
