Why I am Glad to be Living at This Time

I sent out my monthly email newsletter this morning.  With the touch of a button, I had scheduled the newsletter to go to almost five hundred individuals at exactly 7:00 AM central time.  Within minutes I was able to log on and check to see who had opened the email.  I did the writing and layout myself.  I even added pictures and graphics with a click of my mouse.  I had my wife do the editing and proofreading.  The marketing service I use allows me to maintain a mailing list and monitors who is reading my publication and what links they follow.  They even offer ideas on how to reach a broader audience more effectively.

I couldn't help but think about how different my world is than thirty years ago.  It was about that time that I, along with good friends Larry Brandt and Jack Giles, launched Parish Ministries Resources. We were directors of Christian education (DCE's) and our goal was to produce resource materials that our peers would find useful.  Our first product was a quarterly newsletter, Insights into Christian Education.  In addition to monitoring trends in Christian education and offering tips for professional educators, we reviewed products.  What Consumer Reports Magazine did on automobiles and refrigerators, we did for Sunday school, vacation Bible school and adult education materials.  We got a lot of positive feedback.  One major Christian bookstore in Chicago even asked us to do their annual VBS workshop.  They liked the fact that we didn't try to sell a product, but rather helped leaders identify the curriculum that was most suitable for their needs.

Jack, Larry and I were able to keep that ministry going for eight years, even though it never reached the point where we broke even.  It continued to cost us money out of our own pockets just to keep things afloat.  In the end we sold the publishing rights to LEA-TEAM (now the Parish Education Network of the Lutheran Education Association) for $1.00.  Overhead expenses did us in.  Most of our money went into typesetting, printing and postage.  It probably cost us about a thousand dollars to do each issue of Insights into Christian Education.  The monthly expense to do my Passing the Torch newsletter is about 2% of that.

We all should feel blessed to live in such a time as this.  The resources and the network we need to pass on the traditions of faith and values to our children, and grandchildren are readily available.  We have no excuse.  God has provided us with all the tools we need and he has blessed us with an awesome, life-changing message to share.  Pass the Torch!