May 28, 2019
Rev. Nicholas J. Kersten
Director of Education and History
In 1994, for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Sabbath Recorder, Editor Kevin Butler oversaw the production of a special issue which detailed the history of the publication. In it, the authors detailed the changes over the Recorder’s life to that point, as well as some of the key figures who made the publication vital for so long. At this year’s General Conference sessions, the Council on History’s table will have a few copies of the 1994 publication for those who may be interested. In addition, we will scan a copy of the publication and place it among the resources available at www.sdbhistory.org so that interested people can review that valuable issue.
A couple of key themes emerge from a careful reading of the history of the Sabbath Recorder (both in the special issue for the 150th and elsewhere) and its predecessor publications and they are instructive for us today.
The first of these is that Seventh Day Baptists have always felt the need to communicate and provide both connection and education in our publications. Surveying the pages of the Recorder over its entire history, it is easy to see our values and identity coming through in the sorts of material that are published. In the early years, some of those pieces came through published lectures or sermons on specific topics, or in national and world news distributed through the pages, as though the editors were very aware that their work was the only print material some of their audience would see. In addition, the publication has always networked SDBs together as a visual symbol of our connections to one another, person to person and church to church.
Another key theme in the life of the Sabbath Recorder is how changeable it has been in its format and style. The publication has changed in some significant way seemingly in every generation—whether it be in size (there have been 7 different sizes!), in medium (weekly newspaper, monthly magazine, weekly magazine, a website, and computer/phone apps), and in general tone. That is before you factor in the different editors and the vast numbers of columns that have graced the Recorder’s pages. Our periodicals and publications have been astonishingly flexible and have been regularly adapted to meet the needs of the time.
A final theme in the life of the Recorder has been the commitment of individuals to continue to see it published, even as it encountered various troubles. Most of the publications which preceded the Sabbath Recorder eventually ceased because of financial difficulties. Surveying the closing issues of The SDB Register, The Protestant Sentinel, and other publications, it is clear that the primary reason they ceased was not because there was no passion or interest, but rather there was a lack of resources. The Recorder has had similar bouts in its history, saved only by the efforts of people like George Utter to bring it back from the brink of financial ruin.
These three themes are still present in the life of the publication. We still need to communicate with one another, and education is part of our DNA as SDBs. Current changes in technology and culture will undoubtedly continue to influence how we communicate. Finally, if we wish this (or any other publication) to continue, we must support it with our passions, with our talents, and with our finances. Should the Recorder live to see it’s 200th birthday in 2044, it will do so because Seventh Day Baptists in this generation generously supported it, had the wisdom to make the necessary generational shifts, and because we still had something vital to communicate to one another!
You can donate via mail (ATTN: Sabbath Recorder, P.O. Box 1678 Janesville, WI 5347-1678) or online at SeventhDayBaptist.org
