Nuts & Bolts
News
It’s time to check in about a few things that are new with The Missouri Methodists. First, last month the magazine was delivered in a plastic bag with the 2015 Catalog of Spiritual Formation for Next Generation Ministries. I can’t take any credit for that publication, it was prepared by the Camping and Retreat Ministries staff. The camp book has been traditionally sent out to people who had participated in camps the year before.
This publication had been sent to that group as well, but it seemed that many people in the Conference did not realize that camps were being offered in the summer of 2015, due to the news about the Conference-owned locations not being used. There are camps being offered, and they still have room for more. The Camping and Retreat Ministries staff wanted to put the catalogue in more hands so people are aware of this.
We’ve also started accepting paid advertising. This isn’t exactly something new – we also accepted paid advertising in the newspaper, The Missouri Conference Review. When we changed to the new format, I had just not made it a point to invite potential advertisers into the magazine. We now have policy in place to support accepting ads, and the invitation has been made. If you know someone who could provide a benefit to our readers by advertising in these pages, please pass along the opportunity. It doesn’t have to be a business focused on churches necessarily – an architecture firm or a roofing company may also find mutual benefits from advertising to our readership.
Finally, this issue contains a business reply card to make it easy for your church to order additional copies of this magazine. It costs more to mail the magazine than it costs to print it, so getting a box full is the most economical way to go. Several churches have been doing this already. Some just get 10, some get more. You can personally give them to leaders in your church whom you want to keep informed, or you can just make them available in public spaces.
And don’t forget, the magazine is available online. Just go to www.moumethodist.org/momethodists, and you will find the current and past issues. You can also install it as an app on most smart phones and tablets by searching your app store for The Missouri Methodists.
So that’s the nuts and bolts of the magazine. But how about the content? It’s hard for me to look over the table of contents of this issue without being impressed with the scope of ministry that can be reported on in a single month. Various projects in Haiti, youth worshipping together during Holy Week, progress report from our new church start in Ferguson, wood-cutting and food ministries, those stories from a few churches don’t even scratch the surface of the depth of ministry going on in the United Methodist Church in Missouri on any given week. It’s an honor to have a role in sharing these stories with you.