May 28, 2019
By Kevin Butler
The Sabbath Recorder Editor, 1989-2014
“It takes a village to raise a child.”
That phrase goes back years before Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book, and likely before the first Sabbath Recorder was printed in 1844.
The adage is said to have originated in Africa. Louise Hudson, a contributor at quora.com—a website devoted to the origin of English phrases—suggests it means that “successful child raising requires the input and help of many people, ostensibly a whole village of people.”
Publishing the Sabbath Recorder “takes a village” as well.
It takes feature article writers, department editors, local news updaters, and other contributors (of both words and money) to raise a new Recorder each month. I had the privilege to guide this “birthing” process for a while.
The early days
I felt humbled following in the footsteps of great
writers and editors. Thankfully, Scott Smith had adopted the newly introduced desktop publishing equipment and agreed to edit six more issues (from a distance) after his departure. Bless you, Scott! That allowed me nearly three months to get a handle on the other daunting facets of guiding the Tract Council, as well as edit my debut issue in April 1989.
When I began, I brought a few new pages: “From the Heart” (reader testimonies), “Pastor’s Profile” (factoids and tidbits from our church leaders), “SR Almanac” (looking back in the SR archives 5, 10, 25 and 50 years), and “Kevin’s Korner” (my personal reflections on the monthly theme or life in general).
I also reintroduced a letter-to-the-editor section called “SR Reaction.” This ran during most of my tenure, but lost its luster as it started attacking people instead of addressing issues. Hmm…was that a precursor to Facebook reactions and Twitter tweets?
Contests and themes
We arranged for a couple of hymn contests, where readers submitted new words and tunes for Sabbath hymns or praise songs. We even held a couple of art contests for our youth, with the winning entries featured on a full-color cover.
Our various Sabbath Recorder Committees would gather in a retreat setting to review the recent issues, then brainstorm on pertinent themes for the next year. As best we could, we would contact knowledgeable SDBs to write on those topics. This pre-planning took a great load off of most last-minute worries. My hat is off to those dedicated committee members.
Listing the scores of themes and issues would quickly deplete my word-count limit. (You’re welcome, Madam Editor!) “Thank you” to the many authors who contributed to our collective growth!
Thanks to many
Part of the “village” that raised the Recorder during my time included a great number of fine people: a shifting cast of fellow executives keen on sharing their vision for the denomination and their respective councils or societies; a helpful and capable Center staff; the more than two dozen Conference Presidents I was able to serve; so many elected members of General Council and the Tract Council; and Janet Davis Butler, my oh-so-faithful wife and mother of our great children.
And who can forget my “girl Friday” and assistant editor Leanne Lippincott-Wuerthele? She stuck with me until 2008 when it was time for her retirement, but then continued writing her “Reflections” column. Thank you, Leanne, for your 26 years of faithful service!
Editing the Recorder was the largest, but not the only, part of my job description. The Tract Council was responsible for Sabbath promotion (including Sabbath Renewal Day and promotional items), tracts, and electronic media. Then at one fateful Conference, the responsibility of the denominational website was “bestowed” upon us as an unfunded mandate. The Memorial Board did help with funding then, and at other times. Phew! Thank you, trustees.
Miles and deadlines
The many facets of being Director of Communications and SR Editor meant loads of meetings, phone calls, and correspondence. I was also on the ground floor of the MORE 2000 initiative (Mission of Revival and Evangelism) for SDBs. Conference executives met with a number of our churches, offering resources and ideas to help them develop their vision.
I needed to juggle all those travels and life around the 20th of the month—our deadline to get the files to the printer.
Despite the many trips to local churches and Conferences, plus overseas travels to visit SDBs in Australia, Brazil, and England, we met each of the 279 Recorder deadlines, a few times with only minutes to spare.
A myriad of changes
All of this happened in the midst of a rapidly changing industry. Back in the day, Leanne would physically wax the back of camera-ready printouts to place onto larger “boards.” She added color by cutting shaded acetate film and positioning that on transparent overlays, painstakingly lining up the little adhesive targets on each layer. She would spend hours converting glossy photos to dot-filled halftone shots in the basement darkroom, then cut and size them to fit.
The computer software advanced to simply clicking the mouse to place digital pics on the page, all sized and filtered and composed for print. Instead of driving the large protective case of finished sheets to the print shop, we started handing the print rep a zip disk, then a flash drive; now it’s all e-mailed as a pdf. I will never forget the first all-digital issue that appeared on the website. Our labors were accessible to the world!
As we marked my 250th issue in 2012, historian Nick Kersten wrote: “It is safe to say that no one in the history of our publishing efforts has gone through a period of greater technological change than Kevin, and the ship has continued to sail, maintaining its course.”
I could have and should have delegated more of the responsibilities—it all took a toll on my physical and emotional health. But I am extremely grateful for the Lord calling me to that opportunity. I still “dream in SDB”—I am either at the Center or at Conference or a Pastors Conference interacting with some of my favorite people in the universe.
Words that I shared in the 150th anniversary issue still ring true today: “While numerous journals have ceased their circulation, the SR remains one of the oldest continuing religious publications in the country. We can take pride in our longevity, but not become complacent.”
May our “village” of Seventh Day Baptists continue to provide the necessary input to raise and sustain our communication efforts, and do it all for the glory of God.
Sidebar:
I was always intrigued by one former editor: The Rev. Theodore Gardiner served as pastor to several SDB churches and then as president of Salem (WV) College. After leaving Salem, he had just been installed as pastor of our North Loup, NE, church when the Tract Board chose him to succeed A.H. Lewis as SR editor in 1907.
According to Corliss F. Randolph’s biographical sketch, Gardiner’s new congregation was “extremely loath to lose him, but felt that the editorial chair of the Sabbath Recorder was the greater need, and gracefully yielded.” He began his work amidst the modernist theological controversy (which he addressed immediately in a quiet, fatherly way) and endured some 24 more years—beginning at the age of 63!
