Getting the Story

Whenever a natural disaster shakes up some part of the planet, we at Christianity Today immediately start looking for a Christian perspective. Major media outlets and relief organizations highlight many things of interest to us, but invariably we find that nobody is as interested as we are in what's going on in local churches. That's why we so often send our own reporter.So to Haiti we sent CT senior writer Tim Stafford, but even he was not prepared for one aspect of the trip:

The Port-au-Prince airport is a madhouse of people trying to get out. Coming in from Santo Domingo was hard enough—I got left behind by my missionary flight and ended up running onto a shaky commercial flight after handing over a bundle of cash. Getting out—well, I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Three or four well-hewed plans collapsed on me. And I was running out of money. Credit cards are worthless pieces of plastic. No atms, no checks, no nothing. If you spend your last dollar, you are going to be lining up for those World Vision food distributions. I've been to some pretty remote places, but there was always some way to get money. Not in Port-au-Prince.

Read the rest of Tim's report, "'Best Time for a Christian'," on how local church leaders are already thinking about the rebuilding process.Not all stories demand equal risk, but they require equal commitment to getting the story right. Online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey, who does a lot of reporting as part of her job, put it this way:

Reporting is the best form of truth telling, since journalism separates fact from fiction. It allows you to ask questions no one else feels comfortable asking to get to the root of the matter. Journalists are the ones who actually communicate to the community what happens behind closed doors.

Sarah's reported piece in this issue, "Practically Theological," tries to puts legs on our cover story about the crucial role theology plays in spiritual growth. Her story separates church reality from spiritual idealism.

For us, journalism is not just a profession but also a ministry. And an unusual ministry it is—one that strives to tell the truth, that asks questions others are afraid to ask, and that communicates what's going on in thriving U.S. megachurches and with Haitian pastors who just saw their church building collapse.

Next month: Scot McKnight, N. T. Wright, and Craig Keener discuss how much we can know about the "real Jesus"; a photo essay takes us on the Jesus Trail in Galilee; and we'll hear the one thing pastors can do to improve their preaching.