Introducing the Digital Beacon

Jesus told a parable, recorded in three of the Gospels, about the importance of pouring new wine into new wineskins. Perhaps calling the digital Beacon a new wineskin is a stretch, but we do hope it will be a format that delivers fresh, compelling content to an audience that will grow to be even larger in scope than the readership of our print version.

You may wonder why the change from print to digital was necessary. The following is an excerpt of a letter from CMC’s Publication and Literature Committee that was included in the December 2019 issue of the Beacon:  

Conrad Showalter has served skillfully and faithfully as editor of the Beacon for many years. He is concluding his service as editor on December 31, 2019. This reality, combined with the recent financial struggles of the publication, has forced us to make some difficult decisions. The December issue of the Beacon will be the last print edition for now. Sometime in the first quarter of 2020 a digital monthly edition will be launched. There will be no charge for the digital edition. This will be published primarily by the CMC office staff with some oversight by the Publication and Literature committee. We understand that many of you prefer a print copy. The new format will have a link that will produce a print version that could be printed by the recipient or by churches for their members. While this is not comparable to the current print version, we believe that the switch to digital has potential to increase the readership of the Beacon.

Initially the digital version of the Beacon will be a simple publication including a feature article and articles from CMC, Rosedale Bible College, and Rosedale International. In time we hope to add special features that were popular in the print edition such as introductions to CMC churches, births, deaths, and other news from around CMC. We also welcome your suggestions for features and topics you would like to see covered in the Beacon. Please submit suggestions to beacon@cmcrosedale.org.

Writers Wanted!

The members of the Publication and Literature Committee are recruiting authors to write the feature article each month. In the coming months they are looking specifically for articles focused on CMC’s commission and commitments, but would also welcome articles written on a different subject of particular interest to the author. Because of our commitment to offer a printable version of the Beacon, feature articles must be of a specific length in order to fit the print template. With that said we are looking for articles of approximately 650 words. If you would like to submit an article for consideration, please send it to beacon@cmcrosedale.org.

People Want Community

In a note from a CMC pastor in which he was describing what their church is doing to try to keep people connected online while they aren’t able to meet in person, he said he keeps thinking, “People don’t want a sermon, they want a community.”

In many ways the Beacon has fostered community since its beginning in 1971. Following the announcement that the Beacon is going digital, we received expressions of appreciation from numerous people, some who are no longer a part of a CMC church, for the way in which the Beacon kept them connected to CMC.  Our desire is that this new format will help keep us connected as well.