By Kevin Slimp, UM Insight Publisher
I suppose it wouldn’t be right to publish our first issue of United Methodist Insight without sharing a few thoughts.
When I first heard that Cynthia Astle was going to close United Methodist Insight back in January, I wrote to her right away to see how I could help. I’ve been around a while, long enough to have been a huge fan of United Methodist Reporter when it was read by just about everyone, lay and clergy, in the denomination.
I didn’t know Cynthia, but I would see her name, read her stories, and greatly admire her work from afar.
I became familiar with United Methodist Insight during the most recent General Conference of The United Methodist Church. When I noticed that Cynthia was the editor/publisher, I became a fan right away.
After contacting Cynthia in January, we began discussing a possible transition of United Methodist Insight to Market Square Publishing, where I’m publisher. We could tell right away that we held similar journalistic ideas, theologies, and entrepreneurial spirits.
Plans were put into place for Market Square to begin publishing UM Insight later in the fall. However, as plans go, things changed quickly two weeks ago when Cynthia’s husband, John, suddenly required full-time care, and Cynthia is his caretaker.
I had already begun contacting potential new columnists to join the current columnists at United Methodist Insight and had recruited a managing editor, Mark Wilson. Without Mark, we could never have pulled off this issue as quickly as we have. He and I split duties to make sure the first issue would be ready by September 3 – complicated by the fact that I was traveling to speak at conferences from August 27 through September 6 – and we continued recruiting more people to help.
At last count, we’ve gotten commitments from 30 columnists and writers, 22 of them new to United Methodist Insight. You’ll probably recognize most of their names.
Please bear with us over the next four weeks as we get acquainted with UM Insight's editorial system and begin implementing new features. My guess is that by October we will have a UM Insight that looks familiar to longtime readers and attractive to new readers.
Until then, say a few prayers for us and invite your friends to join us.
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After spending 15 years working in the local church and serving with the Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church, Kevin Slimp enjoyed a career as a journalist, consultant, and noted expert in the news media industry, often referred to as "The News Guru." From 2012-2016, he wrote a syndicated column titled The Good Folks of Lennox Valley, carried by more than 400 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. In 2016, Kevin founded Market Square Publishing Company, which publishes books by United Methodist writers, and ClergyEducation.com, which provides continuing education for United Methodist leaders.
Kevin has authored several books. His favorites are The Good Folks of Lennox Valley and Who Killed A.J. Fryerson?
Kevin makes his home in Knoxville, Tennessee.