Mr. Steve Beard,
Editor in Chief of Good News
The special occasion in Memphis also marked the 25th anniversary of Mr. Steve Beard as columnist and editor in chief of Good News – at the helm for more than 150 issues of the independent United Methodist magazine.
In commenting on the anniversary, the Rev. Walter Fenton, a colleague at Good News, noted that Beard’s wide-ranging journalistic interests swung from John Wesley to Bono, Johnny Cash, and Mahalia Jackson – and passionately focused on the plight of martyrs and persecuted believers around the globe and the marginalized in our own society. “You’re always wondering about how we as a church can find ways to be more compassionate, gracious, and just simply kind and decent to the lost and lonely in this world that too many of us hardly even notice,” concluded Fenton.
“I remember a great picture on one of Steve’s office walls of him in a tuxedo, talking with the late William F. Buckley Jr. at a Washington D.C. reception,” recalled the Rev. Dr. James V. Heidinger II, president emeritus of Good News and long time professional colleague. “It always reminded me of the cultural adjustment Steve had to make in coming to our former offices in Wilmore, Kentucky.”
“But how fortunate for all of us that Steve did come! And that he stayed,” continued Heidinger. “He worked himself ragged giving Good News a first-rate publication, issue after issue. It has been your calling for quarter of a century, and you have done it splendidly!”
“You are gifted professional, a skilled craftsman, and a person of great integrity,” Heidinger concluded. “You have amazingly good instincts about how we can and should relate to a church struggling for its soul…. Congratulations on this very significant milestone.”
Steve (because your style doesn’t seem to fit being addressed as “Mr. Beard,” even though we’ve never met):
I just wanted to add my congratulations and commendations to the many you’ve received. As a former magazine editor, I’ve always appreciated the craftsmanship and readability of Good News Magazine. As a writer, I admire your pieces for their literary quality and perspectives. As a United Methodist, I value your body of work as reflected in issue after issue of GNM that has kept me informed, inspired, hopeful and within the fold.
When church historians look back on the United Methodist Church over the past 25 years, I believe they will conclude that one key reason why the UMC has resisted the path followed by most other Mainline denominations is because those denominations did not have Steve Beard and the clarion call of Good News Magazine.