Editorial: Some Magazine Business

Welcome to the July issue of Watchman Magazine. It has been a hectic several months, and this editor feels like he just got off of the Texas Giant Roller Coaster at Six Flags over Texas. In addition to several meetings, a trip overseas, and the continual day to day rushing about with my work and my family (four kids), I had two computer crashes that affected my ability to publish the magazine. But, we have come out the other side. The rapids have been ridden, and we have a few minutes calm before the next wild ride. We have been able to upgrade our computer equipment, Tom Roberts has some wonderful material in the offing for the August issue of the magazine, and we have a “new and improved” Watchman Magazine lined up for you this month.

A Wonderful Theme for the Month of JulyThe articles entitled “Letters to Our Children”, are only three in number, and fairly short. Penned by Tom Roberts, they are long on relevance, however, and I commend them to our readers. These letters have been published once before in 1978. The reading of them led to several restorations of children lost to the world, and many good comments. I would encourage every parent with a young teen to sit down with them and read the material. It may touch their heart! Search EngineYou may have noticed on the front page of the magazine this month a new feature. We have added a “search engine” which allows you to search every article on the Watchman site, both current and past issues, using key words. Be sure to try it out. We are convinced that this will greatly enhance the effectiveness of the Watchman site as a research tool. The search feature is given to us by “whatUseek.” This is a free service, it is paid for by the advertisements that you see on the tope of the search results page. The “whatUseek” spider indexes our site each month, and so the results are always current. I would encourage any churches or individuals out there to utilize this service to enhance their own websites. The URL is www.whatuseek.com. New Spanish Language PageAs you know, time constraints and schedule conflicts necessitated brother Stephen Houchen severing his relationship with the magazine as its Spanish Page editor. Stephen did a fine job for us, and we are sorry that he no longer could contribute in that capacity. For the last six months, we have not had a Spanish presence on the Magazine. With this issue, that presence returns. We are so please to announce that brother Wayne Partain has agreed to be the Spanish page editor. Brother Partain is well respected for many years of service in Spanish speaking works. His biographical sketch here on site is a very interesting read. I would encourage you to take the time to learn more about brother Partain by clicking here. Brother Partain has renamed the Spanish Page “Escudriñad las Escrituras”, “Searching the Scriptures.” A More Active Reader Response PageThe Reader Response page has long been an neglected part of this magazine. We receive many letters to the editors, and due to the ease of email, and the fact that each writer has his email address appended to his article, our writers receive many comments as well. We do not wish the Reader Response page to be utilized as an “attaboy” page, or a page consisting of the mundane month to month comments that come our way. We appreciate such messages, but we wish the reader response page to remain relevant long after the event which caused the response is past. As such, we limit exchanges to controversial items which must be dealt with, or substantive biblical discussion. Readers are encouraged to send such responses to the paper. We intend to publish such messages with more regularity than we have done in the past. This month we have updated the page with a response sent to us by the elders of the University Heights church in Lexington, KY. They objected to a portion of the editor’s comments written by Steven Deaton in his April “Voices from the Past” column. Feel free to read this exchange by clicking here. Our DesireOur desire as a magazine is to benefit you the reader. We can do this by continuing to present for your study timely Bible studies and discussions. By supplying the material, and utilizing technology to make it user friendly, it is our hope that Watchman will bless you as you seek to serve the Master.Be sure to read all of the fine articles in this month’s Watchman, and let others know about the magazine. Our paper cousins have to charge a subscription due to costs of printing, but Watchman is free. Well, except for the cost of the computer, software, internet service, etc. But as long as you have all that “stuff” anyway, you should take advantage of the material we supply each month! Happy Reading!