Archive: Good News moves ministry to Houston area

After 38 years of being headquartered in Wilmore, Kentucky, the Board of Directors of Good News announced that it will be moving its advocacy ministry and publishing endeavor to the Houston area. The evangelical renewal ministry within the United Methodist Church has been the publisher of Good News magazine since 1967.

“In recent years, Good News has made a leadership transition. Both Rob Renfroe, our President and Publisher, and Norm Phillips, our Chief Operating Officer, reside in the Houston area,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairperson of the Good News Board of Directors. “For Good News to remain an effective force for reform and renewal in the United Methodist Church, we wanted to position our headquarters in close proximity to our senior staff. In addition, the relocation of our headquarters takes advantage of our significant relationship with a number of strong and vibrant evangelical churches, clergy, and lay persons in the Southeast and South Central Jurisdictions.

“We want to capitalize on those relationships as we continue to advocate for a more faithful and fruitful United Methodist Church,” says Boyette. “Our offices in the Houston area will facilitate much easier travel to resource our partners and to encourage their ongoing involvement in our efforts.”

Good News’ long tenure in Wilmore began in 1972 when founding editor Charles Keysor left the pastorate of Grace United Methodist Church in Elgin, Illinois, to join the faculty of Asbury College in order to develop a program of Christian journalism.

“It is difficult for me, frankly, to think about the Good News office being anywhere else than in Wilmore,” said the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, President and Publisher Emeritus. “That is all that I’ve experienced. However, this is a move I support. This is the right time for a transition like this. Some of United Methodism’s most vital congregations are located in the Houston area. The leadership roles for Rob and Norm will be made much easier with the relocation. Furthermore, I am confident that Good News’ commitment to United Methodist renewal will remain focused, strong, and vital in the new environment.”

The move of the ministry to the Houston area—the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States—was a unanimous decision on the part of the Good News Board of Directors. The administrative office will be relocated in November to Spring, Texas. The editorial office will remain in Wilmore, Kentucky, until next spring. Correspondence and donations will still be received at the Wilmore office until the editorial office is moved.

“Wilmore, Kentucky, is a home base for my soul; just returning there for a day or two refreshes me and reminds me of my happy years at Asbury,” said the Rev. Ken Werlein, a member of the Good News Board of Directors and pastor of Faithbridge United Methodist Church in Spring, Texas. “But Houston has given me countless opportunities to put real shoe leather on all the good theory I learned in Wilmore. Our frazzled denomination needs the real influence of Good News more than ever, and anchoring in a metropolis of our denomination’s largest and most influential churches should only expand that influence.”

—The Good News editorial team.