Letter from the associate editor
And that’s the news from CW
R emember how Garrison Keillor used to start his stories on A Prairie Home Companion? "It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon." Then he would launch into a narrative detailing all the exciting and trying events that made for anything but a quiet week.
Here at ChristianWeek we are still waiting for that quiet week in the midst of trouble and hard work. Despite dealing with the threat of financial disaster and the setback of a postal strike, we managed to produce a solid 20-page paper in December and prepare for our January 6 edition.
Many of you have called to see how we are doing and to offer support, and for this we are grateful.
So how are we doing? Just fine.
Julie Dykstra, our advertising director, sold more advertising for our one December issue than we usually get for two issues this time of year. Andy Single, whom we fondly call "tech boy," has filled in on many tasks, from typing articles to laying out the pages, keeping up the website and updating the subscription database. Brenda Paddock-Thiessen, who leaves very shortly to do some work with World Vision in the Dominican Republic, has volunteered part time as receptionist.
Eagle eye
And then there’s Sharon Reimer, our bookkeeper, who is keeping an eagle eye on all expenditures. We can’t buy so much as a box of Kleenex for the office without her approval! (And believe me, we have needed a few Kleenexes lately.)
Neil Janzen, who agreed to be our interim manager, has been a blessing. One of his tasks is to meet with creditors, most of whom have been incredibly gracious, patient and understanding. But we want to treat those whom we owe money with integrity and respect, and Neil has been working at ways to pay them that would keep them happy without breaking us.
Doug Koop and I have continued to make assignments, edit material, write stories, solicit photos and pull the works together. We have both been amazed at the writers who still want to work for us when they haven’t been paid yet for previous work. Some writers have donated articles. We are moved and encouraged by their gestures.
We know from phone calls, letters and e-mails that people care about us and about the paper. "You can’t shut it down," many told us point-blank when we called some of our friends for advice a couple of weeks ago. The Canadian church needs this voice, they told us. Some of those we called immediately promised financial support, even though we weren’t asking for it. But it was a vote of confidence that boosted both our bank account and our morale.
Humbling
The affirmation is humbling. We want to keep producing what our readers have come to expect. But we don’t want to stop there, either. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve both our content and the visual appearance of the paper. We hope, soon, to have time to develop ideas for the future–and resources to carry out those ideas.
In the meantime, we are thankful to God for taking care of us. His faithfulness is great, and every morning we see new mercies.
And we thank all of you who have prayed, called, given or written–or have simply remained avid readers. ChristianWeek is nothing if there are no readers, and we appreciate every one of you.
About that quiet week in Lake Wobegon–thankfully, every year we close our office between Christmas and New Year, allowing staff some time to relax. By the time you read this, we will have had that week off, and will be eagerly looking forward to seeing what the New Year will bring.
And that’s the news from ChristianWeek, where…
– Debra Fieguth
