Trust partnership

“So if you’re not going to tell me in your column who to vote for, then maybe I just won’t renew my membership next time around.” A longtime WORLD reader had a twinkle in his eye—and I knew that he was pulling my leg. But only in part.

There are two main reasons why WORLD doesn’t endorse political candidates.

Reason #1: We’re a nonprofit organization, deriving a third of our revenue every year from the charitable gifts of our readers and friends we call “WORLD Movers.” Internal Revenue Service rules prevent nonprofits such as ours from making such endorsements. We knew that when we applied for the status, and that didn’t bother us because of Reason #2, which is by far the more important one.

Reason #2: We respect our readers. For 35 years now, we’ve believed that if we are diligent in offering you enough solid ideas, data, information, and evidence, you can make prudent decisions when you go into the voting booth. The very fact that you’re a WORLD member tells us you’re capable of peering thoughtfully through the lens of a biblical worldview. We don’t have to dictate to you.

We’re here because other people were diligent and faithful in their giving a generation ago.

Granted, the cultural and political seas do seem especially turbulent this fall. And yes, the assignment of picking a president has perhaps become harder in 2016 than ever before. But WORLD’s cadre of journalists is doing the best job it’s ever done in terms of giving you what you need to help make wise decisions at the ballot box. WORLD has covered eight presidential elections since we launched this ship (WORLD Magazine) in 1986—but none of them with the depth and helpfulness provided for the current campaign.

WORLD’s staff is able to do that right now because so many of you readers have, through the years, provided that “over-and-above” support that makes it possible for us to assemble a group of journalists who can speak the language our readers are eager to hear. I remember when we started WORLD how an expert in publishing challenged me to identify a “typical target” for our magazine. After discussion, I pictured a young wife and mother, standing at her sink, busily preparing dinner for her family. At her ankles were two toddlers. With all that, how could she possibly have time or energy to develop this perspective called a “Christian worldview”?

That’s where we thought we might help! Not to dictate to this young mom what to think or how to vote. But to offer enough solid data, information, and evidence so that readers like her might move thoughtfully, biblically, and prayerfully toward their own choices and decisions. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for those 30-plus years—except that now that young mother is a generation older. Her toddlers from the 1980s are now the new young parents, facing all their own challenges.

That’s the way it’s always been in God’s kingdom. One generation prepares the way for another. The next generation stands on the shoulders of faithful folk who joined this journalistic voyage three decades ago. “Perspective is everything!” these world-movers cried. And they set out to support the production of a trustworthy lens for gathering, weighing, and analyzing world news from a biblical point of view: That’s WORLD. We’re here because other people were diligent and faithful in their giving a generation ago.

Now, to that lens we call a “magazine” we’ve added a variety of related tools: WORLD Radio, which produces a daily digital half-hour radio news magazine as well as a weekend interview program; and WORLD Digital, a convenient daily read on the top news of the day. That, I think you’ll agree, is some toolbox.

Every November for the past several years, I’ve made a fundraising appeal in this column, and every year faithful members contribute as much as they can to help build that toolbox. I’ll be honest with you: I’m still planning to put such an appeal in an upcoming issue.

But what I’m asking here is a little different. I’m suggesting, at the time of this organization’s 35th birthday, that we have to be reaching a whole new generation of members, supported by a whole new generation of donors who’ve not given before. If you want to be part of that new generation, may I suggest sending along $35 (at least) as a tax-deductible gift, taking note of World News Group’s 35th anniversary? It’s easy to do online at wng.org/worldmovers.

Of course, in asking such a favor, we’re by no means telling you what to do. We’ve come to trust you!

Email jbelz@wng.org