Longfellow once wrote, “The holiest of all holidays are those, / kept by ourselves in silence and apart; / the secret anniversaries of the heart.” This issue of LEADERSHIP marks ten years of publication. As you can see, we haven’t prepared a spectacular issue, complete with a slick, four-color spread featuring “Clergy Celebrities We Have Known.” Nor will there be an opportunity to enter a “NEW! TEN MILLION DOLLAR ANNIVERSARY SWEEPSTAKES.”
No, we prefer to mark this anniversary by remembering that ten years ago the launch of LEADERSHIP seemed like an enormous gamble. Even though the promotional test mailings were strong, authorizing a print run of fifty thousand felt like diving into the deep end of a very cold pool. We knew that the universe of potential subscribers contained about 300,000 pastor-readers. We also recognized the rule of thumb that if a magazine regularly can enlist 10 percent of its potential readers, success is likely.
Well, ten years later, our fears have been allayed by one of the most satisfying publisher-editor-reader relationships in religious-magazine history. With this issue, three million copies of LEADERSHIP have been printed, and most of those still stand prominently positioned on bookshelves of pastors’ studies across the country. LEADERSHIP has won many editorial awards through the years, but no honor has been more satisfying than to know it might be the most photocopied journal in America!
May we continue to reminisce? The idea for the journal developed eighteen months before publication began. The impetus was a practical one. Publishing experts were predicting that one-magazine companies wouldn’t survive the escalating costs of the 1980s. It was imperative to spread the economic dynamics of publishing over a number of publications. History has proven these predictions true.
At that time our parent corporation, CTi, was publishing one magazine, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, a bi-weekly devoted to thoughtful editorials, essays, and religious news. A high percentage of parish pastors, church staff members, and local-church lay leaders made up its readership. We took the experts’ counsel to heart and began looking for ways to mate the needs of our existing constituency with the necessity to start more magazines.
Demographic studies of CHRISTIANITY TODAY readers had shown us that the top five responsibilities of most parish pastors were preaching, administration, counseling, evangelism, and Christian education. Since CT magazine was already addressing four of the five on a regular basis, it seemed logical to create a magazine that talked about the “nuts and bolts” of church administration. I was commissioned to develop a magazine prospectus, take to the road, and find out how well this concept would be received.
My first dozen stops were like a tour of duty in local church ministry. I heard, saw, and rubbed shoulders with pain, frustration, joy, accomplishment, depression, ambition, burnout, failure-everything that occurs in daily parish life. Reaction to my “nuts and bolts” prospectus ranged from mild interest to total rejection.
While most pastors acknowledged that administration ate up a good bit of the time they coveted for other things, what they really wanted was personal encouragement and help in all areas of ministry: preaching, counseling, parenting, marriage, sexuality, personal growth, spirituality, and a host of other subjects. I vividly remember one pastor asking, “Couldn’t somebody take our daily agenda and explore it in depth?”
Well, I came home, discussed with my colleagues everything I had learned, and rewrote the prospectus. We decided to see if we could develop a magazine from what I had heard. Out of that second prospectus came four premises upon which the first issue, and every successive issue, has been built: (1) LEADERSHIP must be pro pastor. Material must be positive, inspirational, and motivational in its approach. Let LEADERSHIP become the pastor’s pastor. (2) LEADERSHIP must be practical. All material published in LEADERSHIP must be immediately applicable to today’s parish ministry. (3) LEADERSHIP must be people centered. Pastors, like everyone else, learn the most from other people, especially other pastors. LEADERSHIP must feature people, not theories and formulas. (4) LEADERSHIP must be fun. While the shepherding of souls is a serious responsibility, parish life is a three-ring circus. LEADERSHIP must help pastors laugh at themselves and their problems. The cartoons are forever!
Another couple of trips on the road with the new prospectus overwhelmingly demonstrated that we were on the right track and had the makings of a magazine that would work. I can still hear Orville Butcher, former pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church, in his booming voice, say, “Call it Leadership! That’s what we need: LEADERSHIP!”
Ten years and three million copies later, LEADERSHIP Journal is still working on these four premises. And we must be doing something right, for you have become the most loyal, responsive, and interactive readership an editorial staff ever could desire. Few magazines, religious or secular, enjoy a higher renewal rate. And I can’t think of any magazine whose readers faithfully rank the strengths and weaknesses of each major article, issue by issue.
We want to celebrate this tenth anniversary by thanking you, the parish pastor, for your support. You remain the beneficiaries of the greatest calling on earth, and if we have been able to help you with your task in any small way, then these ten years have been worth it. Keep telling us how we can help you for another ten years.
Paul Robbins, chief operating officer of Christianity Today, Inc., is the founding editor of LEADERSHIP.
Copyright © 1990 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
