By Mark A. Taylor
I have a friend who can”t wait till Christmas to give his wife her gift. He”s so excited about his “perfect find,” he wants her to see it immediately. His anticipation for her pleasure is greater than hers!
We feel the same way about the “gift” we”re offering you this week. You”re holding it in your hands, a newly redesigned version of CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
Our goal was to introduce our new look with the July 18 issue we”ll distribute at the North American Christian Convention. But the design was finished ahead of schedule, and we decided, “Why not now?”
I”m sure our anticipation exceeds yours, because you didn”t even know this was coming! But if you”re surprised, we hope you”ll also be pleased by the new face we”ve put on an old friend.
The changes start with the cover. Our new logo is bold and contemporary, but also solid, not trendy””exactly like our vision for this magazine. In a day of exponential change, you won”t pay attention to a resource that looks out-of-date or old-fashioned. But all of us need guy wires anchoring us to the rock of eternal truth. That”s our aim for CHRISTIAN STANDARD, to help Christian churches tower above a sure foundation amid the gales of cultural confusion.
Our new cover tag line, “Resourcing Christian Churches,” supports this goal. It is a fresh way of restating CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s mission since our founding 144 years ago.
We are by, for, and about Christian churches and churches of Christ worldwide. We provide a linkage for the members of these congregations, especially their leaders. We remind them of their common heritage and help them with issues all of them are facing. No other publication has such a singular stance: to foster dialogue with and encourage progress among those with every perspective found in our diverse fellowship.
The inside changes could be viewed as only cosmetic. But I resonate with the comments of World magazine”s publisher when he introduced his readers to their redesign last month. “A print magazine should be both thoughtfully and practically designed,” he wrote, “but also elegant. We want to be good, true and beautiful.”
Thanks to our new template, created by Tricia Hayden (www.haydendesign.com), we have become much better looking. These pages are less type-heavy; they allow more room for compelling photography and illustration; they attract readers to the important ideas and information contained in our content.
But all of that only paves the way toward our ultimate purpose: engaging concerned Christians in substantive discussions about how to move the church forward. When readers like you participate with us in that quest, we”ll know our gift has made an important difference.
Author: Christian Standard
Contact us at **@********************ia.com
