By Mike Willis
With this issue, Volume XXII of Truth Magazine is completed. There will not be an issue of the paper published next week in accordance with our agreement with the post office. Consequently, our next issue will be the special issue on the book of Romans-a 32 page special study which I can guarantee you will want to treasure up for future study and reference. We have several specials in mind for the coming year, so I am certain that you will want to stay with us through our twenty-third year and to tell others about Truth Magazine.
I would like to announce that our next issue will begin a new arrangement with a new printer. We have decided to move Truth Magazine from our printer in Berne, Indiana to a new printer in Tompkinsville, Kentucky. This change is being made in order to get your paper to you on time. Our present printer has put out quality work but has not honored our printing dates despite our repeated efforts to keep the magazine on schedule. Consequently, we have reached the point at which we must change printers to try to keep Truth Magazine on schedule. We hope that this transition can be made as smoothly as possible, although I am sure that we will run into some unforeseen difficulties.
With the change in printers, some of the changes in our previous announcements regarding the format changes of the paper are necessary. It was with a great deal of reluctance that we previously announced the change from our previous format. We had announced that our paper would be printed on the same quality of paper as Searching the Scriptures and would be one color printing. We are not able to avoid these changes because of our change in printers. We shall keep color on our front cover. This will mean that our front cover will stay virtually the same; it will have color on front and back and retain the picture on the cover. Hence, this change in printers should do several things for us. We will keep the quality of paper which we are presently publishing and will keep it on schedule, the United States Post Office cooperating.
The schedule which we will labor to maintain for mailing is to have the paper in the mail two weeks prior to the date printed on the cover. We have sought to do this ever since I began editing the paper. I have turned in copies of Truth Magazine four to six weeks in advance of the time when they were to be mailed. Frequently, this material has set in the hands of our printers and was not mailed until two weeks after the date on the cover. When one adds to this the delay caused by the poor mail service, you can understand why you have been getting your paper late. When I finally got thoroughly disgusted with the service we were getting, I would complain to the owners of the printing establishment. They would resolve to get the paper back on schedule. Then, before too long, they would lag again and we would be behind schedule once more. We finally decided that something had to be done to get better service from our printer. Hence, the change in printers was arranged.
As we look forward to the coming year and Volume XXIII of Truth Magazine, we are excited about the possibility of serving you better than we have in the past. Yet, let me take a few moments of your time to publicly express gratitude to those to whom it is due.
I would like to thank our writers for their contributions for the last year. We have had three special studies in this volume of Truth Magazine. They were as follows: (1) The Lord’s Day and Other “Holy” Days, (2) “Go Ye Into All The World,” and (3) An Assault on Modernism. In addition to these special studies, we have had a special series of articles on home and family life written by Leslie Diestelkamp as one of the highlights of our publishing year. These and other works make Volume XXII a volume which I know that you will want to keep in your library. Be sure to order your bound volume early. We only save 200 bound volumes and when these are gone, there will be no more printed. So, if you want this special year of Truth Magazine, send in your order now.
We would like to also thank our readers for their cooperation in circulating Truth Magazine. Our circulation has grown exceedingly well this year. Already we are within five hundred subscriptions of having a circulation which is as large as it has ever been at anytime in the past. We say think you for your help.
As is our customary practice, the final issue of each year contains our index to the articles which have appeared throughout the year. This index is produced in an effort to make the fine material written by our authors as easily assessible as is possible. Those who keep the bound volumes of Truth Magazine use the material for future reference. This index makes the articles easily found whether they are remembered by author or by subject matter.
We think that Truth Magazine is one good way of spreading the word of God. Whatever amount of good which we are presently doing could be increased by the simple increase in circulation. I wish that every one of our readers would take the time to kindly recommend that one of their friends subscribe to the paper. Many of our friends do not even know that a paper such as Truth Magazine even exists. They would be delighted to receive one if someone would take the time to show it to them and recommend it to them. Will you help us to increase our circulation by telling one of your friends about it?
As this year comes to a close, we are reminded that the days of our lives are quickly slipping by. We are, indeed, one step closer to the judgment of God and the crown of life laid up for us than we were yesterday. A time such as this to look backward over a year’s work and to assess our work is worthwhile. It reminds us to put God first in our lives, to work to do His will, and to encourage others to do the same. As we move into 1979, let us each resolve to labor in His kingdom with all of the ability which we have.
The staff of Truth Magazine and Cogdill Foundation hope that 1978 was a pleasant year for you. We are looking forward to serving you in 1979.
Truth Magazine XXII: 50, pp. 803-804
December 21, 1978