It's Not Easy Letting Go
Those of you who have children will relate to what I am writing. There comes a time in every parent's life when that parent has to let their child go.
It starts with walking - those first, wobbly steps taken on shaky legs that look far too weak to carry the weight. You do everything you can to help your child achieve this first goal. You hold their arms, then one arm, then finally, you let them go, usually watching them take a couple of stumbling steps and then fall to the ground.
There are many such moments in a parent's life. For example, learning to ride a bike. You'll run and run behind their bike, supporting and balancing them, until they begin to yell with glee after you take your hand off and they realize they are riding. Precious moments, so precious and yet they go by so fast.
I'm facing one of those moments now. No, none of my children are learning to walk or ride a bike; those milestones were reached and surpassed years ago, and yet I find myself having to let go of another of my babies - namely, the Southern Gospel Times.
You may have heard by now that the Southern Gospel Times has new owners; well, it's true. The fine folks at Patterson Promotions are taking the reins of this very popular online magazine, and they have a lot of ideas that I think you're going to like. Of course, these ideas are going to mean changes, and I find that difficult for me. When I took over the Southern Gospel Times, it had a different name - the Gospel Music Times - and it was already well-known for its weekly chart and Gator articles. At that time, I, too had some great ideas on how to expand the SGT's subscriber base and raise its relevance in the search engines. Some of my ideas worked; some didn't. I learned from all of them.
After the gospelmusictimes.com domain was stolen by someone in England, we were forced to do what no website wants to do - re-launch cold under a new domain name. But we had to if we were going to continue, so we became the Southern Gospel Times. With our new name came a new focus, that being those artists that I dubbed, "weekend warriors". These folks weren't getting the same opportunities that other artists were, and we moved from a great online magazine to a great online magazine with a ministry. And, I'd like to think we've made a difference in the Southern Gospel field.
As I get ready to hand my baby over to her new parents, I have many mixed emotions, but no doubt that this is part of God's plan - not only for me, but for Ken and Pauline Patterson. God is opening many doors of ministry for me, and I haven't been able to give the SGT the attention she deserves. Now, she'll have people who will be able to take the time to help her grow to the next level of her development. I'm sure that they will implement ideas that will work and ideas that won't, as I did; but that's what needs to happen to further this ministry. But in the end, they will offer a new and improved SGT, one that I know you will enjoy.
I will always remember my time with the SGT, her subscribers, her writing staff and her advertisers. And I will always treasure those first few steps I helped her take. Thank each of you for a great run as editor... please pray for me as I move into other areas of ministry.
Sincerely,
David East
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Past Articles:
Mercy
(4/25/2011)