Some things can't wait

I like my ducks in a row. Each summer I try to take ample time with staff and advisors to plot the editorial course for the year ahead. Normally we work to introduce changes in September. But since we cannot "plan" the news, most of our attention turns to those parts of the newspaper where we can be more intentional.

And that’s when we direct our thinking to columns and columnists. If there’s one certainty we can (theoretically) control, it’s to expect a particular number of words from particular contributors in particular topic areas by a specified date. Having this flow of editorial content locked in for a year helps us cope more easily with the inevitable fluctuations of advertising, vagaries of news articles and shifting enthusiasms of feature projects.

But even certainties are open to adjustment. Not long ago freelance writer Patricia Paddey approached ChristianWeek with a column idea that caught our immediate attention. "I believe people are, generally speaking, natural voyeurs," she began. "We enjoy peeking into the private lives of others; learning the intimate details of those lives, and then evaluating how, in comparison, our own measure up. This is, perhaps, especially true of our peers.

"To that end," she continued, "I’ve been thinking ChristianWeek’s target readers might also like to learn about their peers. How does the president of World Vision manage to squeeze personal devotional time into his day and where does he spend that time-at the office, at home or elsewhere?

"How does the newly appointed head of the Canadian Bible Society cope with the realization that there simply isn’t the funding necessary to implement some of the plans he had for that organization? What does Ron Mainse hope to do differently as executive producer of 100 Huntley Street than his father did?"

Patricia went on to propose a regular profile column that would look at a different Canadian Christian leader each time, which she said "open up endlessly interesting possibilities." We agree. She then followed up with a sample column on Ron Mainse (which we expect to publish next month) and an insightful article on how Glen Pitts is thinking about introducing some changes at the Canadian Bible Society.

Her columns do a remarkable job of introducing CW readers to actual leaders in real life situations. Because a huge part of this newspaper’s purpose is to help our readers develop as mature Christian leaders in contemporary Canada, the examples she highlights are vitally important. We believe the "Leaders in Focus" column, which we plan to run in every second issue, will rapidly become essential reading.

Turn to page five to find out why we gave long-term planning the kiss-off and started the column right away.