Longfellow once wrote, "The holiest of all holidays are those, / kept by ourselves in silence and apart; / the secret anniversaries of the heart." This issue of LEADERSHIP marks ten years of publication. As you can see, we haven't prepared a spectacular issue, complete with a slick, four-color spread featuring "Clergy Celebrities We Have Known." Nor will there be an opportunity to enter a "NEW! TEN MILLION DOLLAR ANNIVERSARY SWEEPSTAKES."

No, we prefer to mark this anniversary by remembering that ten years ago the launch of LEADERSHIP seemed like an enormous gamble. Even though the promotional test mailings were strong, authorizing a print run of fifty thousand felt like diving into the deep end of a very cold pool. We knew that the universe of potential subscribers contained about 300,000 pastor-readers. We also recognized the rule of thumb that if a magazine regularly can enlist 10 percent of its potential readers, success is likely.

Well, ten years later, our fears have been allayed by ...