Welcome home

One recent weekend, I sat on the living room floor with my 3-year-old grandson Wyatt, building a house from Mega Bloks. You know—those giant Lego-like plastic blocks that debuted in 1985, triggering a Lego lawsuit that argued Mega Bloks’ interlocking design violated Lego’s trademark. Lego lost and preschoolers won: which is how Wyatt and I came to be erecting the house’s four chunky, colorful walls.

Now, I failed drafting in the eighth grade—I mean, really, what’s an eighth of an inch here and there? But we did manage to get all four walls standing at perpendicular(ish) angles. That’s when I noticed a problem. “Wyatt,” I said, “our house doesn’t have a door!” And so, we broke down a perfectly good Mega Bloks wall to create an entry, reinstalled the wall, then roofed the whole thing with a copy of Bluey: 5-Minute Stories.

Of course, our house would’ve served its playful purpose without a door or with a less imaginative roof. But sometimes, even things that are working just fine can benefit from a second look and a little imagination. With the magazine issue you are reading now, we’ve tried to apply both.

I’ll be up-front: We got a little pushback on our plan to go monthly. Some readers wrote to say we fig-leafed over simple cost-cutting with lots of happy talk about how great the new monthly would be. To be sure, we did consider the fiscal impact—to be good stewards of your money, we’d have to, wouldn’t we? That said, though, we counted costs in the context of WNG’s status as a full-service media company. In today’s fast-moving media environment, we deliver daily, weekly, and monthly news, features, and commentary via the platform that delivers each best. That’s good business, but it’s also on mission: News should be delivered, well ... when it’s new. That’s why many media groups have abandoned print altogether. Others now publish gaunt versions of formerly glorious magazines.

We took a different approach. While our biweekly format was working just fine, we took a second look, applied some imagination, and arrived at what we hope is a print publication that delivers what you came to expect from our biweekly, along with a whole lot more.

So, please think of this column as the door to your freshly upgraded print home for sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth. Come on in and see what’s new!

News: In our Dispatches and Notebook sections, you’ll find news that was still new—or underreported—at press time. As advertised, Human Race is back, along with a two-page Q&A with a different newsmaker each issue. This month: Josh Payne, an attorney whose firm may become the first to help gender detransitioners successfully sue healthcare workers for harms done.

Culture: We’ve retooled our books coverage to include more reviews of worthy fiction, as well as more reviews overall. I’m especially excited about two brand-new departments. For Quest, we’re asking prominent Christian thinkers to answer a two-fold challenge: (1) Tell us about a topic that launched you on an intellectual quest; and (2) share details about the four books that most shaped your thinking on that topic. This issue, you’ll hear from Micah Mattix, poetry editor at First Things, on the four volumes that helped him navigate what he calls “poetry’s tumultuous waters.”

Our second new department, Masterworks, explores important, often classic, works of visual art and architecture. This month, a look at the “most famous building in the whole world”—an homage to pagan gods redeemed.

Voices: Our new 112-page format also gives us space for two new Voices columns. I’m excited to welcome back Nick Eicher, co-host of The World and Everything in It. Nick has served WORLD readers and listeners for nearly 35 years. A news junkie (and excellent impressionist; you should hear his Joe Biden and Donald Trump), Nick will be taking you along each issue as he interviews fascinating newsmakers. This month: House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Bob Good, who has taken aim at National Public Radio in a quest to defund the network.

Our second new column will feature a rotating roster of guest writers, who will bring you smart takes on a range of topics. First up: Chelsea Boes, a brilliant young writer who’s been on the World News Group staff for 11 years. This month, Chelsea writes about recovery from religious snobbery—her own.

We think there’s a lot to love in this, our first monthly issue, and we’d love to hear what you think. Please share your comments with me at lvincent@wng.org.