By Keith Bassham
Though most readers will receive this magazine before Thanksgiving, publishing realities demand I think in terms of the end of the year, and certain housekeeping chores make similar demands.
First a word about the Tribune ministry in general. The Baptist Bible Tribune is the magazine of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, telling the good news of what God is doing among the preachers and the churches of the Fellowship. That means in real terms that the agenda and primary content of the Tribune will be that of the Fellowship. We are friendly to others within the Baptist community and conservative Christianity at large, but our focus is Fellowship work.
The reasoning is self-evident. While there are other Christian publications I can recommend to readers, no one tells the story of our churches and ministries with the same enthusiasm and focus. Further, aside from the revenue we realize from individual subscriptions and advertising (generally about 20 percent of our budget), the support for this work comes from Fellowship churches. We receive monthly support from hundreds of churches, usually in conjunction with a church bundle subscription, and others participate in the annual offering we receive in February.
As I mentioned above, hundreds of churches receive bundle subscriptions for distribution among members. More than 10,000 churches receive at least one copy of the Tribune. The Tribune is made available to all the students in our Fellowship colleges. The missionaries receive the Tribune. Widows of ministers and retired ministers receive the Tribune. Newly planted churches receive Tribunes. All these get their Tribunes without charge (although note several dozen missionaries support the Tribune monthly), because of the generosity of the Tribune supporters.
And so, not just for me, but for all those who receive the magazine at no charge to them, thank you, faithful
Tribune supporters.
We will begin the church mailing soon for the annual February Tribune Offering, and I hope all our churches can participate, if only a little, to keep this vital ministry moving forward with the same quality and focus we have maintained for nearly 60 years.
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If you have not visited the Tribune website (www.tribune.org) in a while, take the time to check out the new look. Also, we have moved archival material from The Baptist Preacher, Baptist Preacher’s Journal, and important Tribune articles to a new website, Bread and Lentils (www.breadandlentils.org). This new website will replace the publications we had formerly produced for ministers, and both sites will have materials not available in our print editions, so you will want to check them often for changes, updates, and special downloads. For instance, during the BBFI Fall Meeting in Canton, Ohio, we provided a link on the website to allow people to see the webcasts of the meetings in real time. Also on the Tribune website, we featured Noel Smith’s classic essay on the arrival of fall, “Her Imperial Majesty Has Arrived,” last month, and this month we are featuring an audio file of Mr. Smith’s sermon, “The Church – The Pillar and Ground of the Truth.” This is a recorded sermon from the 1973 May Graduation Fellowship Week, and it was his last sermon given to a national Fellowship meeting. You may listen to it online, or download it to listen as you want. The Tribune is more than a magazine, much more.
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Our friend Tracy Dartt of the singing family, The Dartts, is awaiting a kidney transplant at press time. In the meantime, The Dartts are still working and ministering in churches (without Tracy for now), and the “God on the Mountain Legacy” CD and DVD are now available. According to Tracy’s website, www.darttmusic.com, the film will be available online through iTunes and other digital music providers. I urge those friends of the Dartts to visit the website and leave an encouraging message for Tracy and his family.
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Speaking of friends, Robert Sumner, longtime editor of The Biblical Evangelist, has released a new book, Fights I Didn’t Start and Some I Did. This newest work contains book reviews, essays, recollections, and page upon page of apologetics, irenics, and debates on theology, social issues, and Christian leadership. I found this fascinating 360 pages of logic and coherence hard to put down. I once told a friend that the trouble with a former pastor becoming an editor is that the pastor in me wants to smooth things over, and the editor in me wants to stir things up. Editor Sumner is pure hardwired editor, bold and controversial, and the best book reviewer I can think of for preachers. Order the book from Biblical Evangelism Press (www.biblicalevangelist.org) or email doc.sumner@juno.com.
The Tribune staff joins me in wishing you a blessed Christmas holiday, and a very successful New Year.