Christian Observer – Our Renewed Vision And Expanding Mission – 2009

Greetings in our Lord’s Name, the only Name under Heaven by which we may be saved! (Acts 4:12)

As we enter 2009, the editorial laborers of the Christian Observer working under the tutelage of Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott have inherited a wonderful legacy of service to the Reformed and Christian community. As with all inheritances, we feel the heavy weight of responsibility lest, like the Prodigal of Luke 15:11-24, we squander it.

Our mission continues to be the same as 1813 – to report on the news from what we term the “self-affirming Reformed Community”. Likewise our task is to minister to the spiritual needs of our readers through articles which, in conformity to Holy Scripture and the Westminster Standards, edify the saints and call them to holy action.

The publishing tools of our trade have changed forever however. They are no longer ink and the printing press. We compete in a world of digital communications and the expectation is that our communications will be forthcoming not just monthly – as in the paper and ink past – but even daily. To continue as a monthly print publication would have meant certain death and the squandering of our inheritance had we refused to change.

These changes are not without discomfort for us. There was a certain relief at putting an issue “to bed”. Readers too could once expect a monthly publication, read it through, and go on about their lives till the next month’s publication. But today, no issue is ever truly finished. Instead, we are constantly at work editing and preparing material to be posted constantly… some series like Rev. T.M. Moore’s devotions on the Law of God running daily. Others like Presbyterians Week being published weekly. And many other articles being posted as available.

Our readers still, however, have a choice as to how they will receive their news.

By visiting ChristianObserver.org and subscribing in the email form you’ll find on every page, that allows you to receive a Daily Email consisting of All Articles Published within the last 24 hours. This includes Presbyterians Week which, in this format, arrives Thursdays instead of Wednesday.

By using the email below, Subscriptions@ChristianObserver.org and putting “Subscribe” in the email, you can receive one weekly email on Wednesday with a summary of the news. Because it is just a summary, it’s also a reminder to visit ChristianObserver.org to see what else might have been missed.

If you’re on services like Facebook or Twitter, you’ll find us there too (if you don’t know what that is, just ask a teenager and they’ll be glad to inform you!). Many find these efforts confusing, but it’s what’s required to be responsible stewards of the inheritance we’ve received these days… not a flight of fancy or mere attraction to gadgetry.

So, thanks be to God, we have entered 2009 with the technology and staff in place to continue our work into the foreseeable future! And thanks to God’s grace and the instrumentality of the Internet, we hope to extend the work of the Christian Observer geographically and generationally. In the last month alone we’ve received visitors from 57 countries and territories! As new content is published, we hope a variety of new readers will be encouraged in the Gospel.

Like all publications of our venerable age, the transition to the internet is relatively easy. The transition to profitability is not. Not that profit was ever the point. Thanks to a volunteer staff, volunteer writers, and extremely low overhead, we do not have the financial burdens many print publications have (even major daily newspapers who once thought their revenues would continue indefinitely!)

What we DO urgently need is the Grace of God and, as a result, we solicit your daily prayers for this ministry.

And keep an eye out for writers under 40 – your “sons in the ministry” perhaps – who love the Lord and are seeking to faithfully uphold His Word in these days. Perhaps they have material we can use here. Part of our work is to train the writers of the future, not simply congratulate ourselves with the riches God has given us in our present regular contributors who feed us so well.

With that, I will close this month’s letter. Our prayer is that you too will be renewed for service to our Lord in 2009 and that, together, we may be found faithful in the days ahead.

As always…

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Áldás és békesség! (Grace and Peace!)

Rev. Chuck Huckaby
Associate Editor

Rev. Chuck Huckaby is an Associate Editor of The Christian Observer. He has ministerial standing in the Calvin Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church.