The next issue of the Baptist Standard will arrive in readers’ email inboxes, rather than mailboxes, Jan. 14. But first, right after New Year’s Day, all current Standard subscribers automatically will receive in the mail the monthly print publication, CommonCall: The Baptist Standard Magazine.
Baptist Standard Publishing—the publications’ parent organization—decided to launch CommonCall magazine and make the Baptist Standard digital-only after years of research and soul-searching, Editor Marv Knox reported.
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The January issue of CommonCall focuses on the theme of the moment—“change.”
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“The launch of CommonCall and the reconfiguration of the Baptist Standard represent the biggest news-delivery changes in our 124-year history,” Knox said.
“We realize some of our readers wish we’d never change, and we regret disappointing them. But these moves offer us the first opportunity to increase our circulation in more than 30 years.
“We believe Texas Baptists will love CommonCall, which we lovingly call ‘Baptist Standard’s Greatest Hits.’ And Standard readers are going to enjoy our fast, user-friendly new digital edition.”
The January issue of CommonCall focuses on the theme of the moment—“change.” It features ministries that change lives in positive ways, families who change their neighborhoods for the better and a story about how answering God’s call can mean a change in vocation.
The full-color, 32-page magazine also includes a column by Jim Denison, president of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture and theologian-in-residence with the Baptist General Convention of Texas; a pastor’s reflection on a Bible verse about change; a vignette from Texas Baptist history; and an idea-sparking story about a Panhandle church’s “Great Commission Celebration.”
In addition, each issue of CommonCall features a brief summary of regional, national and world news, along with church anniversaries, ordinations and obituaries, the popular “On the Move” column and “Edgewise,” a new column by Knox.
The digital Baptist Standard will continue to carry the content readers have been accustomed to seeing in news-print, but it will be delivered electronically.
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Each issue will feature a lead story on a topical theme, developed by the Baptist Standard staff in cooperation with New Voice Media partners at Associated Baptist Press, Virginia’s Religious Herald and Missouri’s Word & Way.
It also will include the latest news related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, as well as state, national and global news about Baptists; quick-to-read “Texas Tidbits,”“Baptist Briefs” and “Faith Digest” columns; and the “Around the State” section with its “On the Move” column.
The electronically delivered Baptist Standard also will include a column by BGCT Executive Director David Hardage, Knox’s “Down Home” column, the “Right or Wrong” ethics column, editorial/opinion articles, letters from readers and Bible study lessons.
Each current subscriber will be entitled to two subscriptions to the digital edition of the Baptist Standard. Once a subscriber provides those email addresses to the Standard, readers will receive an emailed table of contents with links that take them directly to articles of interest online.
Subscribers also will receive a user identification number that allows them to register on the Baptist Standard website and access premium content whenever they want it.
Nonsubscribers will continue to be able to access top news and cover packages from the website, but other premium content—such as columns and Bible study lessons—will be restricted to paid subscribers who register online.
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