May 26, 1999

Standard plans free website, more lessons
___DALLAS--A free weekly website, enhanced capabilities to produce church newsletters and expanded offerings in weekly Sunday school lessons were approved by the Baptist Standard's board of directors last week.
___All the changes are foundational steps to reposition the Standard for meeting the needs of Texas Baptists in the 21st century, said Editor Marv Knox. Additional changes and new products will be introduced over the next few years as the Standard seeks to become more relevant to a younger generation while continuing to serve its traditional base of loyal older readers, he said.
___The most immediate change will be removing the current subscription fee to the Standard's website effective June 1. As of that date, visitors to the website (baptiststandard.com) no longer will be required to enter a password to gain access to the paper's full content in electronic form.
___A new website design will highlight all the week's headlines, along with regular features of the print version, including the editorial, Knox's "Down Home" column, letters to the editor and news briefs.
___Also, the content of the Standard's website gradually will be enhanced over the next few months, Knox said, to include some articles, letters to the editor and photos not published in the print edition. Other regular features will be added, including devotionals, sermons, Bible study helps and "He Said/She Said," a column on family relationships written by Managing Editor Mark Wingfield and his wife, Alison.
___The Standard also will increase its on-line resources for Sunday school commentaries and helps, an action to be mirrored in the Standard's print version as well.
___Beginning next March, Standard subscribers will be given a choice of receiving either a page of commentaries related to the Sunday school lessons published by LifeWay Christian Resources or a page of commentary on the new Texas lessons to be published by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The paper's directors approved adding the commentaries on the new Texas-based lessons as an alternative to the page of commentaries on LifeWay lessons currently offered in the Standard. No subscriber will receive both pages of lessons; rather, subscribers will receive one or the other, according to the choice made by them or their church.
___Directors also urged the Standard staff to add a third and possibly fourth option in Sunday school lesson commentaries: Spanish and Korean commentaries on the new Texas-based lessons.
___"We're tremendously excited about the possibilities for providing Bible study material," Knox said. "Sunday school lessons have been a favorite part of the paper for decades. By offering our readers a choice of lessons, we will make the material more relevant for them. And by linking the lessons to web-based products, we will be able to offer a wealth of outstanding material."
___The board also approved purchase of equipment necessary to begin producing church newsletters in what was described as a "new and better" way that will benefit churches and allow for additional improvements in the newspaper.
___Currently, about 130 churches and 20 associations publish their weekly or monthly newsletters in conjunction with the Standard. Most of these newsletters are printed on the back page and inside back page of the Standard, which means newsletter subscribers don't see the articles that appear on those pages in the Standard's regular edition.
___Beginning sometime in late summer or early fall, church and associational newsletters will be printed on white or colored paper and wrapped around the outside of the newspaper or inserted into the newspaper before mailing.
___"This change presents many benefits for our partner churches," Knox said. "It will give the churches a better-looking product on better paper and with more visibility. It will make the full edition of the Standard available to all subscribers. And it will give churches more flexibility in producing the kind of newsletters they want.
___"Best of all, this enhanced newsletter service can be offered at no additional cost to the churches," he added.
___Current newsletter customers will receive additional information in the mail about the enhanced newsletter service, Knox said. Other churches interested in the new newsletter services should contact David Clanton at (800) 749-4610, ext. 15.
___Finally, the board approved a staff recommendation to reduce the number of issues published annually from 51 to 50. The issue to be dropped will be the one traditionally published the week after the Fourth of July.
___For this year, that means the Standard will not publish an issue dated July 7.

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