The Editor Who Cancelled His Subscription

Meet Christianity Today‘s new managing editor. You’ve already seen Mark Galli’s work as our part-time book-review editor, but this is the first issue he has guided from start to finish. Mark has been at Christianity Today‘s parent company since August 1989, when he left his six-year Presbyterian pastorate in Sacramento, California, to work on Leadership, our sister publication for pastors. Since then he has grown in editorial experience and skill as he has taken the lead on two other CTi magazines, Christian History and Computing Today, as well as Leadership’s Preaching Today tape series.Back in 1977, Mark canceled his subscription to CT as he joined others in protesting the magazine’s decision to move from the high-rent cultural hub of Washington, D.C., to the decidedly less expensive backwaters of Carol Stream, Illinois. Many interpreted that economy measure as CT’s abandoning evangelical engagement with American culture. Now Mark knows those fears were unfounded, and he sees the irony of his wanting to work at CT: because it helps Christians engage the culture.Mark wants to help our readers think more clearly about their faith and act more faithfully. “I’m deeply sympathetic to people in the local church, especially to the challenges they face as they seek to live out the gospel,” Mark says. Mark, who grew up in the Santa Cruz area, is a graduate of both the University of California at Santa Cruz and Fuller Theological Seminary. He remembers his Fuller days as “the Battle for the Bible,” the era in which CT’s editor criticized Fuller for its revised statement on biblical authority. Eventually a new CT editor, Kenneth S. Kantzer, wrote a bridge-building letter to the Fuller administration, which Mark recalls as posted for all the students to see.After seminary, Mark spent four years in Mexico City as an associate pastor of an English-speaking church for expatriate workers before his pastorate in Sacramento.Mark and his wife Barbara have three children: Luke attends The Colorado College, Katie is a high-school junior, and Theresa is beginning junior high school.Mark has been married to Barbara for 25 years. How did they celebrate the big occasion? “We still owe each other a celebration,” he says, smiling sheepishly. I guess we won’t let him edit Marriage Partnership, another CTi magazine, any time soon.• • •With this issue, we say goodbye to Richard Kauffman, who leaves CT to become the pastor of Toledo Mennonite Church. During his nearly five years as an associate editor, Richard brought us many thoughtful and provocative articles, including “Trained to Kill,” one of the most popular cover stories in this magazine’s history (Aug. 10, 1998; www.christianitytoday.com/ct/8t9/8t9030.html). To date, readers have ordered more than 70,000 reprints of this powerful article to share with their friends.Richard will continue to serve CT’s readers by editing our Reflections page from his new home in Ohio.

Copyright © 2000 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Losing Our Promiscuity: There is no contraceptive for a broken heart—that's what the sex-without-commitment generation has discovered. And now the church has an unprecedented opportunity to reach it.

Cover Story

Losing Our Promiscuity

Consider This: The God of Alan Dershowitz

Incarnating Mystery

The Just-Chaplain Theory

Consider This: The Bobo Future

Praying for Hope

In the Word: Stony the Road We Trod

Your World: Every Day is Casual Friday

‘Rice With Chicken’ Writers in Demand

Kazakhstan: Central Asia's Great Awakening

The First Black Liberation Movement

News

Film: Cameras Rolling

Building a Bridge

Uganda: Innocence Stolen

Bush and Gore Size Up Prolife Running Mates

The Back Page | Philip Yancey: Lessons from Rock Bottom

Is Suicide Unforgivable?

Evangelism: Is Amsterdam 2000 Graham's 'Swan Song'?

Briefs: The World

Trading on Faith in China

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from July 10, 2000

Greece: Identity-Card Data Divide Churches

Trade: Freer Trade, Freer Faith?

Briefs: North America

Trends Church Guarantees 'Express Service' for Busy Believers

Updates

Religious Freedom Ruling Set

Sex and the Single Christian

Africa: World Bank, Local Pastors Link to Fight Poverty

Church Disputes: Culture Clash

Hit the Wall and Keep Going

View issue

Our Latest

Excerpt

There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Proper’ Christmas Carol

As we learn from the surprising journeys of several holiday classics, the term defies easy definition.

Glory to God in the Highest Calling

Motherhood is honorable, but being a disciple of Jesus is every woman’s primary biblical vocation.

Advent Doesn’t Have to Make Sense

As a curator, I love how contemporary art makes the world feel strange. So does the story of Jesus’ birth.

Advent Calls Us Out of Our Despair

Sitting in the dark helps us truly appreciate the light.

Public Theology Project

The Star of Bethlehem Is a Zodiac Killer

How Christmas upends everything that draws our culture to astrology.

News

As Malibu Burns, Pepperdine Withstands the Fire

University president praises the community’s “calm resilience” as students and staff shelter in place in fireproof buildings.

The Russell Moore Show

My Favorite Books of 2024

Ashley Hales, CT’s editorial director for print, and Russell discuss this year’s reads.

News

The Door Is Now Open to Churches in Nepal

Seventeen years after the former Hindu kingdom became a secular state, Christians have a pathway to legal recognition.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube