By Jeff Herring, Executive Editor
I am honored to serve as the executive editor of the Baptist Trumpet. The months of March and April are set aside each year as a time of Special Emphasis for the ministry of the Baptist Trumpet. Associate Editor Allan Eakin and I are relentlessly doing our best to produce a weekly paper that will be useful to all our readers in the most cost-effective way possible.
We have had to raise our subscription rate over the past two years to bring it in line with the actual expenses to produce and send out the paper each week. Our new Total Access Subscription rate is $39 per year (86¢ per issue) for individuals and $36 per year (80¢ per issue) for church plan members. Since our new rate has gone into effect, it has allowed us to maintain an even keel regarding our finances, but we still have some extra expenses we must plan for over the next year.
The primary emphasis this year is raising funds to replace our computers. Our computer systems are showing some age and instances of being unreliable. This is not a good thing when working with deadlines to get the paper out each week. We are not there yet, but we are planning to raise the funds now so when it is time to move forward with the replacement, we will be ready ($10,000 for computer system replacements).
We are also still trying to finalize our software development that was part of last year’s Special Emphasis. Since we did not meet our goal last year to fully fund this project, we must make up those funds ($15,000 for software development).
Finally, as we transition to this new system, it will provide us with the opportunity to expand the resources we offer on our website, but it will take an investment to make it a reality ($5,000 for website resource development).
This makes our Special Emphasis goal $30,000. As you consider the Total Access we offer through the Baptist Trumpet, please prayerfully consider how you and your church can help us meet this year’s goal.
I hope you are taking advantage of all we have to offer through our Total Access Subscription, which allows access to everything for one price! Our mission is to keep the people in our churches informed about what is happening in the BMA, not just in Arkansas but all around the world. We also do our best to keep you educated about issues you need to be aware of as a Christian. And finally, we share stories and articles meant to inspire you to live your life as a fully devoted follower of Jesus.
We are the only BMA paper that produces a paper weekly (45 issues each year). This means we can provide you with more information in a timely manner. We do this by providing a printed paper mailed to your home, a digital version of the paper (the E-Trumpet) sent to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. and also through our website, BaptistTrumpet.com, which is updated each week with all the information you can find in the other forms of the Baptist Trumpet.
In each issue of the Trumpet, you will find BMA news from around the world, regular reports from each of our state departments (Central Baptist College, State Missions and the Youth Department — Student Ministry Matters), reports from our state missionaries and regular columns that address a variety of topics. One of my favorite columns is Spotlight on Missions, where we feature updates from our missionaries who are on the field all around the world.
Through our website, we also provide every subscriber with a customer portal that allows them to update their subscriber information, pay outstanding invoices or renewals and, for church plan customers, maintain their church plan members. The portal, as well as the premium content, is accessed using your login credentials. We encourage everyone, even if they do not want to receive the E-Trumpet, to add their email to their subscriber information so they can benefit from all we offer through the Total Access Subscription. The same login credentials can be used to access the amazing history of the BMA in Arkansas and beyond found in the Baptist Trumpet archives that date back to 1939.
I would love to come and share with your people how God is working through the ministry of the Baptist Trumpet. You can contact me by email at editor@baptisttrumpet.com or by calling the office at (501) 565-4601.
