Sam E. Stone: Upon His Hiring as Editor . . . and Retirement

We are devoting our “Throwback Thursday” features during February to our long-serving editor Sam E. Stone, who died Jan. 25 at age 84. Sam served as Christian Standard’s editor for 25 years—longer than anyone else—before retiring in 2003.

(We are posting the first feature this month a couple of days late due to some necessary updates to our website.)

This first installment will focus on what two prior editors wrote about Sam upon his hiring for the position and conclude with what Sam himself wrote upon his retirement.

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Sam E. Stone, Editor, 1978

By Edwin V. Hayden
Editorial
May 15, 1977; p. 3

Samuel Edwin Stone, dean of Cincinnati Christian Seminary since 1974, has accepted our invitation to become editor of Christian Standard, beginning January l, 1978, with the retirement of the present editor.

No one could be more highly pleased with the arrangement than is the present editor. Paul’s reference to Timothy as one who had served with him in the manner of “a son with the father” (Philippians 2:22) would not have to be stretched a great deal to describe the regard in which Editor Hayden holds Editor-elect Stone. They first met in the fall of 1953, when Sam, then a senior in Highland High School, Albuquerque, N. Mex., visited Ozark Bible College, Joplin, Mo., and conferred with then­Professor Hayden about prospects for studying journalism in a Bible college. Sam enrolled at OBC the next fall (1954), and lived for a time in the house where the Haydens lived. . . . In Sam’s Junior year, 1957, he was editor of the student annual, The Messenger, with Professor Hayden as faculty adviser. In June of that year the professor became editor of Christian Standard. Shortly after Sam’s graduation—June 6, 1958, to be exact—he was married to a classmate, Gwen Gardner, with the wedding at Gwen’s home church in Mays, Ind., and with Editor Hayden officiating. Soon afterward Sam came to Standard Publishing, where for two years he edited youth periodicals.

Happy indeed is the parent or teacher who can watch his proteges develop into colleagues, exceeding their mentor in most of what they do. It has been so with Sam Stone, who has never hesitated either to acknowledge his debt to a teacher or to grow beyond any one teacher in developing his own ministry. Preaching ministries have occupied him at Summersville, Mo. (as a student); Monterey, Ohio; New Paris, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio (Western Hills) 1962-71; and Columbia, Mo. (Westside) 1971-74. Continuing studies have earned for him the Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary, with additional credits from Earlham College, Richmond, Ind., and the University of Missouri, at Columbia. His preaching ministries have left time to teach courses in journalism at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary and at Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Mo.

In Cincinnati Sam worked for some time as associate with Dr. Lewis Foster in the ministry of the Western Hills church; then was called as senior minister when Dr. Foster resigned to give his total attention to the graduate school at CBS. Eleven years later, when Dr. Foster left the dean’s office in order to teach full time, Sam was invited back from Columbia, Mo., to succeed him as dean of the Cincinnati Christian Seminary. . . .

The Stone family includes Jeffrey Edwin, who will enroll in Cincinnati Bible College this fall; and David, aged 15. Gwen has recovered sufficiently from injuries suffered in a 1967 automobile accident to become a leading participant in the spiritual life of the college family. She and the boys are a great asset to Sam’s ministry.

It might seem that the present editor of Christian Standard had chosen his successor all by himself. Not so! . . .

Much more significant [than the potential for Sam to have a long tenure as editor] are the editor-elect’s firm Biblical faith, his earnest commitment to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, his unpretentious Christian character, his transparent integrity, and his genuine love for fellowmen that wins their responding goodwill. These are immeasurable assets in a Christian editor. . . .

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Success and Succession

By Burris Butler
Jan. 1, 1978; p. 4

. . . Although Sam Stone is still a young man from my point of view (at age forty-one he is six years older than I was when I became editor), he brings to the editorship a wealth of experience in many areas of Christian ministry. He has ministered effectively in local churches, large and small. He has taught writing and Christian journalism in colleges and seminary. He once served on the Standard Publishing editorial staff as editor of Straight. He comes to Christian Standard from his position as Dean of Cincinnati Christian Seminary, a graduate school. He serves as elder in the congregation where he and his family attend faithfully. He teaches a rapidly growing Sunday-school class of young adults. He is in constant demand as a preacher and lecturer on many special occasions.

Sam is known, respected, and loved from one end of this land to the other, and wherever New Testament Christianity has gone around the world.

. . . As I think over the list of Christian Standard editors since 1866—Isaac Errett, Hugh McDiarmid, J. A. Lord, S. S. Lappin, George P. Rutledge, Willard Mohorter, Edwin R. Errett, this present writer, Edwin V. Hayden—I am struck by the variety of personalities and talents these men brought to the office. Yet each one used his abilities to serve New Testament Christianity through the instrument that had been placed in his hand.

Christian Standard, under the leadership of Sam Stone, will not be a duplicate of the journal under any of his predecessors, nor should it be. Sam Stone will leave his own mark on each issue, and so it should be.

I congratulate Edwin Vincent Hayden on a job well done. I extend my best wishes and offer my sincere prayers for Sam Edwin Stone as he enters into this responsible office.

May the best days for Christian Standard lie ahead.

Mr. Butler, editor of Christian Standard from 1944 to 1957, now serves as Editorial Counselor for Standard Publishing, Cincinnati, Ohio.

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A Final Word

By Sam E. Stone
Editorial
Feb. 23, 2003; p. 3

I began as editor of Christian Standard on January 1, 1978. At that time, my predecessor, Edwin Hayden, told me that if I stayed until normal retirement at 65, I would have served longer in that capacity than any other editor. I thought to myself, Yeah! That’s real likely! But here we are 25 years later!

The job has given me abundant blessings and opportunities. I’ve been privileged to travel to every one of the 40-some colleges and seminaries of the Christian churches and churches of Christ in the course of these years. I’ve traveled to 27 different countries, preaching in most of them. I have been privileged lo get to know and appreciate many of our readers as I met them when I visited their church or organization. I feel like I’ve been blessed with a firsthand look at the Restoration Movement around the world.

As most readers know, I care deeply about the principles of our movement. I believe in what our fellowship of churches is trying to do. We have some lofty goals, even though we don’t always live up to them. For example, “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love.” I think that’s great! But sometimes when I read the letters to the editor, I think a number of people have missed that part about “in all things, love!”

We published an article by Wayne Smith on capital punishment awhile back. He couldn’t believe how many critical letters he got. When he heard I was going to retire, he wrote me, “25 years of editing—that’s about the same as 50 years in a located ministry!” He added, “You have so many to feed and please.”

To tell you how I feel, I would use Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 11:28—“Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” . . .

Some of you have asked what I plan to do after retiring. As God gives me opportunity. I hope to continue to write and preach, to travel and teach. I want to do whatever I can to encourage the restoration of New Testament Christianity in our 21st-century world.

I also hope we can spend more time with our children and grandchildren. My greatest support has come from my family. Jeff and Dave have loved me and helped me in all kinds of situations. I can trust them always to give me their honest take on things—as well as some pretty good illustrations and jokes!

My wife, Gwen, has been my most faithful and constant encourager. I can’t count how many times she has prayed, “Lord, help Sam to know what to put in Christian Standard and what to leave out.” Wherever I have served in our 44 years of marriage—whether in the preaching ministry, the seminary, or the publishing house—Gwen has made my ministry her ministry. I could never have accomplished the things that I have without her cooperation, her caring, and her thoughtfulness. Today you could go back to any of the places where I have ministered over the years, and you might find some people there who didn’t like me too well, but all of them loved Gwen. And I do too.

. . . With gratitude to God for the privilege of ministering with Christian Standard for the past 25 years, I now look forward to joining thousands of other faithful readers around the world in watching what new blessings this magazine will bring in the coming years.