It is 2007 and with the help of the Lord we will publish 26 copies of The Christian Index this year. I have been told that The Christian Index has never missed a deadline – not in 184 years, not during the Civil War, not during the Great Depression, not ever.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night has stayed the couriers of the U.S. Postal Service from the swift completion of their appointed rounds of delivering The Christian Index. While the “swift” part of that statement may be held in question, The Index is published and delivered with undeniable regularity.

And The Index has a host of faithful readers for which I am enthusiastically and eternally grateful. However, it is a constant challenge to maintain a strong circulation base. In fact, only one in 31 Georgia Baptists subscribes to The Christian Index. We would surely like to do better than that. We believe that we publish critical information that every Georgia Baptist should know.

On Nov. 6 the Newspaper Association of America released data showing the most drastic decline in newspaper circulation in 15 years. The report stated, “All but three of the nation’s top 25 daily newspapers reported a decrease in average daily circulation in the past year. The average daily circulation of 770 U.S. newspapers fell 2.8 percent in the six months ending Sept. 30.”

Unfortunately, The Christian Index, with a subscription base of about 45,000-46,000 has not been able to resist that trend. Circulation has been experiencing a general decline for about 15 years. In fact, in 1990 The Index had approximately 90,000 subscribers.

We are doing our best to make your Baptist state paper worthy of your interest and a valuable source of information and inspiration for all who subscribe. Our commitment to being a Georgia-centric newspaper with a Biblical worldview means that you will read news in The Index that you will not be able to find anywhere else.

Let me be so bold as to tell you how you can help us get The Christian Index into the hands of Georgia Baptists.

First, if every Georgia Baptist church had five deacons (some have many more than that) and every church purchased The Index for those five deacons (at the church rate of $8.00 per subscription, that would be a cost of only $40), we could increase our circulation by 40 percent. Actually, every deacon needs to get The Christian Index. If the church were hesitant to pay for The Index to be placed in the hands of the deacons, perhaps some benevolent, faithful, and committed member of the church would agree to do that personally.

Secondly, we have a bulk rate of $6.00 per paper if they are shipped to the church in bundles of 25. So, your church could get 25 copies of the paper for only $150, or 50 copies for $300, or 100 copies for only $600. If every church would get a bundle of 25 copies of the paper we could double our circulation.

Thirdly, consider giving The Christian Index as a gift. By doing so the recipient of the paper would be reminded of your thoughtfulness 26 times each year.

Finally, the greatest thing would be for you to put The Christian Index in your church budget each year for every family in your church. Call us at (770) 936-5590 or email us at kgriffin@christianindex.org and we will joyfully and eagerly help you get the paper into the hands of your church, your family, and your friends.

Three months ago we were informed that a law that had exempted Bibles, religious books, and religious newspapers from state sales taxes for decades was overturned and that we would have to start paying sales taxes on all subscriptions of The Christian Index sold in Georgia. The American Civil Liberties Union, as you might expect, represented the plaintiffs in the case. We have to pay the sales taxes retroactive to February 6 of 2006.

That decision of the court was discouraging and certainly presented a challenge to us, but we will try to cut costs in other ways rather than pass that on to our subscribers. Therefore, we are going to try to maintain our present subscription prices at least for the immediate future, so we trust you will respond positively to our appeal to become a part of The Christian Index family.

Call us at (770) 936-5590 or email us at kgriffin@christianindex.org and we will help you find a way to get The Index into the hands of your people.