LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 51

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

SYNOD REPORTS
• a rotating content feature on the home page that allows ministries to highlight important programs and timely resources.
• a tabbed section on the home page, allowing a variety of information to be displayed in a small amount of space.
• improved left-hand menu functionality.
• quick-search for churches, church workers, and schools available from every page.
• “Share This”—allowing visitors to bookmark and share lcms.
org pages with friends through their favorite social network.
• Multi-Site Search—offering results not only from lcms.org
pages, but also from lcms.org PDFs and documents, LCMS
blogs, Concordia Publishing House, Concordia Historical
Institute, Lutheran Hour Ministries, and the Lutheran Women’s
Missionary League.
In addition to redesigning lcms.org, this division also is undertaking the creation of a microsite dedicated to delivering the Good
News of Jesus Christ to a public that may not know anything about
Christianity, may want to know more about the LCMS, or may be
searching for answers and comfort for the hurts in their lives. This
microsite will be completed on the same timeline as the overhauled
lcms.org, set to launch in late 2010.
The Lutheran Witness:

Now in its 129th year, The Lutheran Witness continues to serve as
the flagship publication of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
The mission of The Lutheran Witness, as one of the two official
publications of the Synod, is clear and direct: “To provide Missouri
Synod laypeople with stories and information that complement congregational life, foster personal growth in faith, and help interpret the
contemporary world from a Lutheran Christian perspective.” That
goal was at the heart of the founders’ vision for The Lutheran Witness
in 1882, when Rev. Charles A. Frank became the magazine’s first editor, and it remains the goal of the magazine’s staff today.
As with almost all magazines, whether consumer or trade, secular or theological, the past three years have been a challenge for
The Lutheran Witness. Changing demographics and reader habits,
the advance of technology and new sources of information, and a
depressed and struggling economy have contributed to a continued
slow decline in readership of the print version of the magazine. Yet,
The Lutheran Witness, with the help of Concordia Publishing House,
remains a strong, viable publication, and compared with other denominational magazines, some of which have seen their readership fall
by half recently, has weathered the cultural and economic changes
reasonably well.
While these changes have presented significant challenges (e.g.,
today, The Lutheran Witness reaches only about one in five LCMS
households), they also offer new opportunities for a publication that
offers a bold, vibrant, life-affirming, and distinctively Lutheran witness to the world. To that end, the Board for Communication Services
and Concordia Publishing House, the board’s partner in publishing
the Witness, are committed to enhancing the look, feel, and content
of the magazine; to reminding its readers—and potential readers—of
the valuable resources available through the magazine; and to making
the magazine easier to subscribe to and acquire—to, in fact, making The Lutheran Witness everything that a denomination’s flagship
magazine should be.
The Lutheran Witness Online:

What do readers in Australia, Finland, Brazil, and Côte d’Ivoire
have in common with those in the United States? All have visited

51

the Web site of The Lutheran Witness recently. In fact, the site (lcms.
org/witness) regularly attracts visitors from more than 80 countries
around the world.
Created initially as a site offering only links to PDF versions of
archived issues of The Lutheran Witness, lcms.org/witness was significantly upgraded at the beginning of 2007. Today, it offers access
not only to archived issues of the Witness from 2002 through 2009,
but also to complete versions of the current month’s cover story;
complete versions of selected departments, including “Lifeline,”
“Letters,” and “From the President”; and exclusive Web-only features that range from commentaries which complement stories in the
print version of the Witness to “Classic Witness” features that reacquaint readers with authors and stories from issues of long ago (and
sometimes not so long ago).
Down the road, the online version of the Witness will play an
increasingly essential role in providing readers with timely, thoughtprovoking, and useful information about the Church, our Synod, its
people, and our Lutheran Christian faith.
Whether in print or online, in the coming months and years, readers of The Lutheran Witness can expect compelling stories that touch
their lives, help them grow in their faith, improve their understanding of the Church and our Synod, and encourage them to reach out to
their neighbors, whether around the block or around the world, with
the Good News of Jesus—and all from the Synod’s best writers, educators, and theologians.
Lutheran Witness District Editions:

Thirteen of the 35 LCMS districts have their monthly district editions “stitched into” the body of the national Lutheran Witness.
This program benefits those districts by making it easier and more
economical for their members to receive The Lutheran Witness, while
also receiving BCS editing services and a savings in postage for their
individual publications, which range from four to 20 pages.
Working closely with district editors and Concordia Publishing
House, a BCS staff member each month prepares the inserts for publication and provides color PDFs for district Web sites, as requested.
She also works with the Synod’s Ministry to the Armed Forces in producing the quarterly “So Help Me, God” newsletter, which is mailed
with Portals of Prayer.
Few things would delight the BCS more than to have other districts opt to participate in our “stitched-in” plan. Few things could
do so much so fast for the long-term health of The Lutheran Witness.
Reporter:

Reporter—the Synod’s official newspaper—each month goes
to nearly 35,000 professional church workers and congregational
lay leaders, including delegates to the LCMS convention, and to
subscribers.
Through this award-winning publication, readers stay abreast of
newsworthy developments in the Church and learn about ministry
resources offered by Synod departments and LCMS-related entities.
Among major developments in the past triennium, monthly cost
savings of about $1,000 were realized when a new printer for Reporter
was engaged in fall 2007.
Costs also have been kept reasonable by a small staff, as aggressive efforts to sell advertising continue. Also, ad rates and the number
of advertisers have held at a steady level over the past three years,
despite the uncertain economy.
In the same period, the number of regular inserts placed by Synod
boards, commissions, and other groups increased dramatically from
14 to 29 annually. With these inserts, Reporter offers a cost-effective
2010 Convention Workbook

2010 Convention.indb 51

4/15/10 2:38 PM