This is the last “newspaper” we will publish every other week. Instead, in the last week of May, our readers will receive the June premiere edition of our new monthly, news-feature, full-color magazine, “The Courier: Informing and Inspiring South Carolina Baptists.”
Considerable time, study, prayer and planning have gone into this process. Our mission remains the same. Our goal is to be better and more effective in the ministry of Christian journalism.
In addition to our new magazine, you will also be able to access a redesigned website with news that is updated daily and a video feature that we plan to use for interviews. I will also be doing a five-minute daily video devotional on the website, beginning with a series on the Sermon on the Mount that will run for several weeks.
In addition to the redesigned website, our new print magazine will be available online as an e-edition for those who like to connect with iPads, iPhones, or Android phones and tablets.
Our coverage of church news will continue — both in the pages of the Courier and at BaptistCourier.com. Some of the features currently in place will continue. Also, new features are being added, including a Christian worldview and apologetics section written by religion professors from our three Baptist universities. Ed Leap, M.D., will be writing a column called “Wholly Healthy” that focuses on wellness, including diet, health and exercise. Charles Lowery has a piece in this edition about mothers, and we are planning for his humorous writings to be a staple of The Courier.
Our readership survey helped us see what our present readers want, and we have done our best to respond to those insights.
Just as the new Courier will look different, our overall ministry will be updated. We are extending our ministry and expanding our brand with the addition of our new book-publishing division. Our publishing package for South Carolina Baptist writers will include the promotion and marketing of the books we publish through the magazine as well as through Amazon and other outlets. All manuscripts we receive will be evaluated on the basis of our statement of faith, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Each book we publish will also be available as an e-book. If you have been thinking of writing a book — or are already working on one — contact us. I am convinced we can offer you a package as good as, or better than, any publisher for South Carolina Baptists.
To our loyal readers and to those new subscribers who will be joining us, our commitment is to produce a top-quality publication that honors Jesus Christ and helps people know Him and follow Him more completely. Our desire is to tell the stories of those who are telling THE story and to connect South Carolina Baptists with each other in our calling to be followers and servants of Jesus Christ.