Nov 22, 2013
It’s Time
by Kevin Butler
I’m not sure how else to say it, so I’ll just run the press release/blog from October 28, 2013:
The American Sabbath Tract and Communication Council announces that the Director of Communications, Rev. Kevin Butler, has decided to step down effective June 30, 2014. Butler has served as Director of the ASTCC and Editor of The Sabbath Recorder magazine since January 1989.
At the end of June, Editor Butler will have overseen more than 275 issues of the Recorder and served the longest tenure of any SR Editor. “I never expected to be here at the Center much beyond three to five years. It has been an unbelievable and tremendous honor to serve with these wonderful people, doing what I could to keep up with the changing technology.”
Kevin conveyed that the June 2014 date would allow him to help prepare many things for the summer Conference in Minnesota—the promotion, the registration forms, the printed program, order logo items—but he believes that “25 straight years of covering the event is plenty.” Kevin’s chronic back condition has made the physical demands of the annual meetings a huge stressor, and he stated that he is “more than happy to turn all the ‘fun’ over to someone else.”
As of now there are no “new job” plans for Kevin after June 30 (he says that maybe he will take a sabbatical), and the Butlers would like to stay in the Janesville area. He will do what he can to help with the transition.
Butler closed his weekend announcement with, “Thank you for your prayers; please know that you have mine.”
When I first made the announcement to my new bosses on the General Council, I included “with a sad but relieved heart.”
This was not an easy decision, but the time has come to move on. I need to heal up—physically and mentally—and would love to enjoy that improved health with my wife, kids and grandkids. The constant push to make each deadline, while ignoring personal pain (and sometimes family needs), has taken its toll. As I wrote to the Council, “The current and upcoming changes in our structure and the proper need to make adjustments will take new perspective and new energy, things I don’t believe I have ‘in’ me at this stage.”
Plus, maybe it’s a culmination of a prophecy uttered nearly 20 years ago.
Have you seen those new hands-free cell phone watches? When we celebrated the Recorder’s 150th anniversary back in 1994, I made some bold predictions about the publishing industry. By today’s standards, we were fairly “primitive” back then. From the June 1994 special SR:
“One day, instead of delivering a large box of pasted-up sheets to the printer, we will hand our sales rep a thin computer disk with all he needs for printing the Recorder. That will be replaced by simply phoning it in to the printer via a high-speed modem.”
We’ve done that, and more. I dared to go on.
“Next? How about us downloading all the magazine info into your home computer, or you accessing just certain portions at your convenience from your voice-activated wristwatch satellite transponder.”
While the terminology of the devices might not match up exactly, the technology is certainly with us today.
It’s time for a new dream and a new dreamer. As Rod Henry challenged us at Conference last August, let’s pray that the Lord “show us a more preferable future,” and then walk in it—together.