Dear Friend,
Notice these vital words of Jesus Christ that are also a
mandate to His disciples today: "The Spirit of the LORD
is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim
the acceptable year of the LORD" (Luke 4:18-19.). We
have a responsibility to follow Christ’s lead in publishing
and preaching a message of hope to the world—the gospel
of the Kingdom of God. Some new and exciting possibilities
are on the horizon for doing just that.
We are developing plans to build a video studio at our home
office near Cincinnati, Ohio, for the taping of television
programs and educational videos. Once programs are produced,
we will be able to place them on our Web site where they can
be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can also offer
short, daily commentaries on critical news items, showing
how they relate to the Bible. We will continue using cable-access
television stations, as we have been doing for the past several
years with the Tomorrow (produced in Portland, Oregon) and
Good News (produced in Beloit, Wisconsin) televisions programs.
As funds permit, we will also research the use of commercial
television.
Beginning in February 2004, a total of 50,000 pieces of our
new "first contact" literature will be test-marketed
on 50 university and college campuses in six states. There
will be 25,000 copies of Sex Outside of Marriage: What's
the Big Deal? and 25,000 copies of The Debt Trap:
How Do I Get Free? made available on these campuses.
These 3 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch mini-booklets of 700 to 1,500 words,
will include a business reply response card, so interested
readers will be able to subscribe to both the Good
News and Vertical
Thought magazines by simply dropping the card in the mail.
Also, we will soon focus more print advertising toward reaching
younger-family households, ages 20 to 40. As an example, we
will test an American Baby magazine co-op mailer
in March 2004. This mailing test will reach 153,000 first-time
mothers whose median age is 29. As funds are available over
the next 12 to 16 months, we will advertise to about 2,656,000
similar young family households. Of those who receive our
advertisement, we could expect to add 32,000 to 48,000 brand-new
Good News subscribers.
 Finally,
this January-February 2004 issue of The Good News
will be our 50th issue—a new milestone! The emphasis
of this issue is the four horsemen of Revelation 6. On the
cover you will find new artwork that we had specially created
for our use—now and for future publications.
We certainly hope The Good News provides you with
valuable understanding and enlightenment. Don’t forget
that we also have numerous booklets covering many important
biblical and prophetic topics. You are welcome to order copies
or download them directly from our Web site: www.ucg.org/booklets/.
Sincerely,
Roy Holladay
President
United Church of God, an International Association
|
