by Sandy » Fri Feb 26, 2016 10:27 am
I guess they don't have it all put together on the website yet. Actually, I don't have a problem with the name. It doesn't appear that they are "hiding" a Baptist identity, but maybe looking for a bit broader of a constituency to serve. Sometimes, people tend to not pick something up or use it if it is closely identified with a denomination or brand name that they're not familiar with, or to which they don't belong. And I also like the idea of coupling the publication with the lesson commentary. That's been a hallmark of Baptist state papers for decades. I taught Sunday school for years and years, and never used them because I mainly taught youth and college, and there wasn't much in there for them, but when I started teaching Senior adults, I used them a lot, along with Herschel Hobb's commentary that Lifeway still publishes. Costs of producing and mailing news journals like this are increasing, while readership is not. So figuring out how to increase the number of readers, including expanding the on-line presence, while cutting costs, like producing fewer journals during the year, is a good move. You can change the format, and keep most of the content, and probably do your readers a favor by sending it to them six times a year instead of twelve. You can update the online site, and maybe pick up a larger fringe audience with the name change, which helps your advertisers.