t the Adventist Review office the staff have been thinking new thoughts. We earnestly seek the Lord’s guidance to make the church paper just what He would have it to be in these last days. Here are some of the ideas and plans we’re working on:

 

• Living for Jesus 24/7. For many years the Review has served the church as the paper of the Adventist family. It’s been like a letter from home, sharing news and inspiring us as members of this marvelous worldwide family. That’s good; we don’t want to lose that emphasis.

 

But we feel impressed that the Review today needs to be much more. The times shout out that this world is going down the tube, that for Adventists it can’t be business as usual. Jesus is coming! Before our eyes society is crumbling, disintegrating. As in the days before the Flood, people’s creative energies seem bent on evil. Nothing is too vile, too debased to be excluded. Corruption and violence stalk abroad.

 

We, the Review staff, want to make the church paper a rallying point for Adventists of all ages and backgrounds who want to live for Jesus 24/7. We want to call our people to lives of radical discipleship, to make Jesus first and last and best in everything.

 

This means commitment to Jesus as Lord of all—all we are, all we would be. It means commitment to the mission He has entrusted to His followers. It means standing tall and, if need be, standing alone. Only Jesus matters.

 

Look for changes in the days just ahead as this new emphasis permeates the pages of the Adventist Review. And keep us in your prayers: pray that the Lord will send us writers and articles to match the times. (And remember this: the Lord may ask you to be part of the answer to that prayer!)

 

• Expanding the Review’s ministry. Already you can access the Adventist Review in print or online. Now we’re taking the next step—making the Review available on CD.

 

We think this will have appeal, and minister to, at least two different audiences:

 

1. Those whose diminished eyesight makes reading difficult or impossible. They have been a heavy burden on my heart as I have heard from them or their loved ones for many years. If you saw their letters, you would be moved as I have been. Often the writers are longtime subscribers and now, as life closes in, their joys are few. How they long to be able to read the dearly loved Review!

 

Review subscribers are maybe the most devoted class of readers you’ll find for any magazine. I have searched for ways to reward their loyalty, but up to now nothing has seemed feasible. A large-print edition was attempted just before I became editor, but it failed because of insufficient circulation.

 

New technology provides the solution I have sought. Articles from the Review can be recorded, reproduced on CD, and mailed out to those who want it in that form.

 

2. Others can read but find themselves pressed to keep up with the weekly issues. They have asked if we could put the Review on CD so they might listen to it as they commute or go about household tasks.

 

Interested? Or know someone who might benefit from this service? Contact us at www.old1.adventistreview.org, or call 1-800-456-3991.

 

• Help for church and school projects. Our schools and churches constantly need to raise funds for special projects—mission trips, school needs, and so on. I’m sure we’ve all given to children who come to our door asking us to help by purchasing some product, healthful or not so healthful!

 

Here’s a better way—easier, with a much more useful “product.” The Review and Herald, which prints the Adventist Review, has set up a Web site listing the Review and some other print selections. For every person you get to subscribe to the Adventist Review, for example, your project is credited with a commission of about $10 (30 percent on all products listed). It’s quick, easy, and safe with no cash transactions.

 

Right now we’re in the pilot stage; we expect to have the program in full gear by August 1, 2006. For more information, click on: www.reviewfundraiser.org.

 

Check it out. This could be just the solution that your school or church is looking for.

 

So what’s new at the Review? Plenty; all the above and more. We’ll keep you posted.