Our people

My wife Jennifer and I are Canadians. We’ve lived in the U.S. for 29 of the past 34 years. We came to Virginia 23 years ago to teach journalism at Patrick Henry College and feel very blessed to be here. We love our church. Our daughter and her family live nearby. It’s hard to imagine moving. This is home.

But when I go back to western Canada to visit relatives, I still feel that tug. I seldom miss the snow. I do miss the grandeur of the Rockies and the view from my parents’ old acreage. It really strikes me when I walk into Walmart or visit our former church. I hear folks complaining about the Liberals in Ottawa and the Calgary Flames’ losing streak, and I think to myself, “These are my people.”

I got that same feeling a few years ago when I attended a gathering for the entire WORLD staff in Asheville, N.C. I’d been working part time with WORLD since 1999 and had recently ended a 22-year run as Mailbag editor. At the time I was doing some stories for WORLD Radio.

That first morning when I walked into the conference room where the entire staff was gathered for a devotional, I looked around and thought, “These are my people.”

When you’re with your people, you can be yourself. You share interests and a way of thinking and talking. People disagree about this or that, and sometimes even argue, but we’re all on the same team. We have a common understanding about what’s important and why. And if you’re with people who also share faith in Christ—well, that’s not just special. That’s eternal.

I had a great time at that retreat. We sat around and talked about Christian journalism. We recalled how Joel Belz’s vision, wisdom, determination, and faith led him to found WORLD Magazine in 1986. And we talked about what it means to do journalism with a Biblical perspective.

After 30 years doing and teaching journalism, this is what I tell my PHC students: The journalist’s task is to see the world clearly and then tell the stories that help other people see it clearly, too. “Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see,” wrote the 19th-century British art critic John Ruskin. “To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.”

The Bible is the only authoritative source of key truths about God, humanity, and reality. We need it to see the world clearly. Therefore, a reporter can tell the whole truth about this world only insofar as Scripture shapes his or her reporting and writing.

That’s why journalism is a noble and deeply Biblical calling. To do it faithfully requires the gifts of the storyteller, historian, philosopher, theologian, and sometimes scientist or economist. Journalism matters because to live rightly we must first see the world clearly. We must understand the times in which we live, the culture that shapes our imaginations, and the people God calls us to serve and love. Our neighbors.

Like Israel in Babylon, Christians are called to seek the good of the city to which we’ve been exiled. We know that we have a life beyond this one. We’re citizens of heaven first, but we’ve all been called in many different ways to serve our neighbors now. We understand that the political realm can be very important and often is, but it’s not ultimate.

Christians are supposed to be salt and light. We want to preserve and defend the best parts of our culture—of Western civilization itself—but we never paper over its weaknesses and failures. We must tell the truth.

That’s been WORLD’s approach for over 40 years. It resonates deeply with me. So when Nick Eicher and Kevin Martin called last fall to talk about some new roles with WORLD, I tried to play it cool.

Sure, let’s talk about it, I said.

But inside I was thinking, “This is awesome.”

Now as editor-in-chief of WORLD and executive editor of WORLD Magazine, I get to spend much of my time with my people. They’re the reporters, editors, and producers who make up what I think is the best Christian news organization in the world. Check the masthead on page 4 of the print edition. You’ve read and seen and heard them all. I’m honored to help them honor Christ in their journalism.

I’m even more blessed that we at WORLD News Group can serve you, our readers, listeners, and watchers. We’re telling true stories so that you can live out in faith the callings that God has placed on your lives. You’re our people. And I hope you consider us your people.