WILLOW Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 1 Connections: The More Things Change … The More They Change By Paul Braoudakis As I was preparing for a presentation recently, I was rummaging through some old files and came across the very earliest incarnations of this publication. It was dated early 1992 and the WCA Monthly, as it was then called, proclaimed the WCA’s mission on its front page: To assist churches in re-establishing the priority and practice of reaching lost people for Christ through church ministries targeted to seekers. Whew. Nice and succinct, huh? Much has changed in the past 16 years or so. Our monthly newsletter has become a quarterly magazine, our handful of Member Churches has grown to more than 12,000, and our “mission statement,” well, let’s say it’s a lot more inclusive now. We’re still very serious about reaching seekers, but we’re also quite devoted to building believers. You may have already been exposed to our ongoing REVEAL study, which challenged us to take a deeper look at the spiritual growth of our believers and galvanized our resolve to help other churches do the same. We’re incredibly excited around here to see what REVEAL will further show us as 2008 progresses. When the WCA Monthly started to grow and eventually became the WCA News, our first major shift occurred: The periodical had become less and less about WILLOW Creek Community Church and more and more about Member Churches of the WILLOW Creek Association. The stories of your churches began to shape the publication. Throughout the years, we’ve learned from each other and celebrated what God was doing in churches of all sizes, all across the globe. And along the way, we received lots of feedback about how the newsletter needed to do a lot more of that. And we listened. A few years ago, the newsletter became a full-blown, four-color magazine. We started going deeper in our story coverage. We covered not only churches, but other ministries that support the local church. We covered hot-button issues like plagiarism, copyright infringement, grandiosity, restoration, porn, and a bevy of other practical exposés to help better educate, inform, and inspire pioneering church leaders. The magazine has received two national awards, but we were never in it for the awards. They were simply a by-product of our desire to provide the most value-laden tool possible to serve you better. Hopefully, we’re headed in the right direction. As I scanned through some of the articles in this issue, I was reminded how far we’ve come — and how far we have yet to go. Kevin Kelly’s piece on page 15 reminds us that despite our best efforts to keep things predictable and safe, Christianity will look much different in the future than it does now. Are we ready for that? Our interview on page 19 with David Kinneman and Gabe Lyons REVEALs some things about our form of 21st Century Christianity that is driving people away in droves. Are we ready for that? And Dave Ferguson reminds us on page 29 that our churches need to do away with the thousands of competing messages we’re continually sending out and focus on one big idea. I know I’m ready for that! As we begin the 16th year of our publication’s existence, we sincerely hope that you will make this magazine your own. Write to us. Call us. Yell at us. Tell us what you like, what you don’t, and how this can become a more powerful tool in your ministry arsenal. We promise to listen. And, seriously, the more things change, the more we’re open to not staying the same! Paul Braoudakis is the executive director of Membership and Communications for the WILLOW Creek Association. Has been the executive editor of WILLOW since 1995. Top