The journal you hold in your hands recently was given an honor unusual for a periodical in its first year. On May 22, the Evangelical Press Association named it Periodical of the Year. Members of the journalism faculty at the University of Mississippi, judges of the competition, commented, “The Magazine of the Year has a short publishing record, but it has had amazing success. Clearly, it has filled a need in the church market as an uncommonly purposeful, well-edited journal. LEADERSHIP’s articles illuminate what must be normal church problems, and they propose sensible answers with a minimum of preachiness. The writing is commendably concrete.” LEADERSHIP was consistently rated “excellent” in every category. Judges’ comments included: “Crisp, focused advice . . . a lively interview . . . vivid . . . original idea, well executed . . . appealing.”
Philip Yancey, a member of the EPA board, wrote in his congratulatory letter to Terry Muck, “It’s by far the earliest any magazine has gotten such an honor from EPA, and you can be justly proud. I sat in board meetings where we reviewed the decisions of the judges, and everyone was in accord completely that LEADERSHIP deserved this kind of outstanding recognition. It has set a standard for other journals of its category and has enlivened the climate of EPA publications.”
Very special congratulations go to founding editor Paul Robbins, who before LEADERSHIP’S launch date traveled the country for months to learn the questions church leaders were asking, and then worked through six-day weeks for months at a stretch to get the first issues into print. With his own pastoral experience, Rob was able to hone in precisely on genuine needs and find active pastors and writers who could speak to them. His vision, tenacity, and readiness to work through four and five extensive rewrites on articles made possible the kind of quality the judges cite.
Joan Nickerson, veteran art director of Campus Life, did an outstanding job of switching gears to thoroughly research various formats and then produce the unique layouts of LEADERSHIP. Laurie Powell, administrative assistant, dug in from the beginning to handle a thousand details and, as a former English teacher, became our resident expert on style as copy editor. Thanks also to Nellie Strehl, who during those first issues handled the production details so capably, and to Dan Pawley, assistant editor.
It’s a great joy to be able to cite the initiating staff for their uncommon dedication and skill, and to see how the newer staff members are developing an even more effective product.
But journalism awards aren’t the bottom line. You, the reader, show by your enthusiasm whether LEADERSHIP is hitting the mark or not. In that category, we have truly been amazed by the response. Our latest press run is 70,000-far exceeding our initial projections.
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Since this is a practical journal, I want to share an idea that has proven extremely practical to me over the years. It’s for those of us who face desks piled high with papers, who daily wonder what in the world we should start on next. It’s a device for guilt-free “procrastination.”
Ever wish you could just scoop all the papers off your desk and into a bottomless pit? Ever have projects you know you can’t work on immediately, but you can’t stash away because you might forget them? Faced with these problems some years ago, I set up a very simple system: hanging folders in my desk, one for each workday of the week, one for each month. Any time I come to a nagging project I can’t handle quickly, I ask myself, “How long can I put this off? A day? A week? A month, or two, or four?” I drop it into the folder farthest into the future. Ah, no guilt! I’ll get to it when I pull, say, the July folder. It’s amazing how many times July comes and I can then toss it into August or September. The trick on this is to daily pull the day’s folder and process the contents.
Such a “tickler file” is good only for things you can’t handle immediately. 4 The old adage, “Try to handle each piece of paper just once,” still applies. I have a tall stack on my desk, and I try to force myself to take items one by one and do whatever’s necessary. Try not to let the tickler file become an excuse for true procrastination-shuffling papers instead of taking action.
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Let me move to something far more practical than tickler files. Is prayer practical? I wonder if we really think so. I read in Oswald Chambers’ Daily Thoughts for Disciples this statement: “We take for granted that prayer is preparation for work, whereas prayer is the work . . . intercessory prayer is God’s chosen way of working. … “
I asked myself, “Do I really believe prayer is the most powerful force available to me? If so, why don’t I pray more?” My actions show my true beliefs. If I genuinely believe prayer moves the hand of God, and brings me into his perspective toward everything and everyone around me, then what kind of priority ought I to place on it?
What is the first obligation of a spiritual leader? Daily I’m becoming more convinced that it is prayer. Our clever solutions can backfire, our massive efforts-though all done in his name- become hollow memorials if we are prayerless.
We all have so much more to do than we have time to do it. But Jesus faced the same problem. He spent much time in prayer, and-yes-some things didn’t get done. But all that his Father assigned him he accomplished.
Prayer puts everything into focus, especially our daily tasks. Shortly after reaching these conclusions, I read Eugene Peterson’s articles “The Unbusy Pastor” (p. 70). It resonated with the same message.
Want a spiritual and practical lift? Read Gene’s article. Read Helmut Thielicke’s “Talking About God or With God?” in our Summer, 1980 issue. Get a copy of Chambers’ Daily Thoughts for Disciples and brood on it. Through prayer, we really can change the world, but in the ways the Holy Spirit will put into our minds.
Harold L. Myra President, Christianity Today, Inc.
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