The good road ahead

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST:Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Before we wrap up today, I want to take a moment to mark a transition here at The World and Everything in It.

This week, I’ve officially jumped back into the role of executive producer. Working alongside me will be a capable, younger, but highly experienced producer whose voice you already know well: Lindsay Mast.

In a sense, you could call this a return for me. But that hits my ear a little funny. Because I never left, and I plan to keep this microphone close for as many years as I’m able.

So I’d rather think of this as a return to what Joseph Slife and I started back in twenty-eleven. That was when the two of us recorded a demo episode for commercial radio … before we even knew what to call this thing. A weekend broadcast followed later that summer on hundreds of stations, syndicated by the Salem Radio Network.

Then, by May of twenty-thirteen, daily episodes began. And since that time we have never missed a deadline. Not one. We’ve served up something on the order of thirty-three hundred programs.

That’s a lot of episodes for a medium as young as podcasting. Many of the most widely known shows have yet to reach even twenty-five hundred episodes.

We started early. And from the beginning, we committed with the Lord’s help to showing up every single day.

This program matters deeply to the future of WORLD … stepping back into its leadership reflects that priority. And with enormous confidence in Lindsay leading our highly capable team … I’m grateful for the challenge.

This year, in 20-26, The World and Everything in It marks its 15th anniversary. You don’t get that far without help … and along the way, many people have carried the responsibility for this program.

One of the key people has been Paul Butler.

Paul served as executive producer of WORLD Radio for more than five years. During that time, he helped steward close to fifteen-hundred daily programs, along with special weekend editions and our radio news efforts. Taken together, that represents nearly half of all the episodes we’ve produced. And more than sixty million downloads.

Those numbers matter. But what matters more is the care Paul brought to the work: for the journalism, for the people producing it, and for you, the listener who trusts us each day.

Paul is going to remain in the thick of the work of WORLD. And he’s stepping into a role that plays directly to one of his greatest strengths—directing our internal training program.

Paul’s an outstanding teacher, something he’s demonstrated year after year in the WORLD Journalism Institute. In the years ahead, he’ll be focused on helping build the professional skill of our journalists organization-wide. But I suspect he’ll always have a special place in his heart for the broadcasters.

As for this program, we’re grateful for the way God has blessed what’s been built—and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead.

Lindsay’s going to manage the day-to-day … and she and I will be working with a talented team of writers, editors, reporters, technical producers, and journalists across WORLD. Together, we’re committed to the same things that have guided this program from the beginning: careful reporting, thoughtful conversation, and a clear Christian worldview brought to bear on the news of the day.

We’re excited about how many new people we’ll reach.

About the stories we’ll tell.

And about the way we’ll tell them.

Thanks for listening. We’re glad you’re here with us as we take the next step at The World and Everything in It … Talk to you Monday!

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