The Magazine business

so i had lunch with Alan Nelson last week as mentioned in a previous post. Alan is the executive editor in charge of REV! Magazine, a valuable resource for church leaders that is widely read across the country. Alan is a good friend and for many years has been involved with the Group Publishing world which puts out REV!. Alan has helped in making REV! work, not just from a business model but also from a content and editorial model. He continues to push in being innovative, finding new voices, understanding the context of ministry, and having a finger on the pulse of church leadership. He has a new workshop he is doing for church leaders called Me to We. I really appreciate the fact that he continues to challenge the process and work hard to create environments for leaders to grow and improve.

The magazine business is such a tough thing to make work. Believe me, I know too well. As I have heard many times, magazines and restaurants are quite possibly the two worst investments to make. But magazines are also a huge part of the media world and a very strategic part of how we gather information and how we determine what is NEXT. I was thinking about my favorite magazine, FAST COMPANY, and why I enjoy reading it so much, and truly look forward to receiving it in the mail. I think it is really two main reasons: one, the content is always fresh, practical and applicable, and the design and aesthetic of the magazine is fresh; and two, it gives me the sense that I am part of an elite group of knowledge experts. Not meant in a traditional elitist way, but more from the standpoint of being in the know and having a connection to a community of experts and content folks.

Magazines truly are a great way to get in front of an audience, but the downside can be considerable as well. So what is your favorite magazine? Runner up for me is Business 2.0, although I think it might have gone out of business.

Are you ready for the Madness

March is one of my favorite times of the year, mainly because of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, apply named March Madness. If I had to choose the final four as of today, I would have to take North Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, and Kansas. I would love to see Oklahoma just make the tournament this year, as my alma mater has had a tough time the last two years following Kelvin Sampson’s departure to Indiana, although Jason Capel is doing a pretty good job, and is recruiting very well. They should start to show some major improvement next year.

I also predict the following teams to win their conferences:

PAC 10: UCLA

Big 12: Kansas

Big East: Georgetown

SEC: Tennessee

ACC: Duke

Big Ten: Who Cares

What is your final four prediction?

Three great meetings

While spending time in Denver and Colorado Springs the last two days, had the chance to connect with three great leaders and visionaries.

• Alan Nelson, executive editor of REV! Magazine- had the chance to have lunch with Alan at the Group Publishing headquarters, and hear about some of the great things he is working on. He gets to live really close to the mountains and work in a really cool office environment. Every time I am there I feel like I just came in from an early morning run on the slopes- very cool vibe. Alan is doing some new teaching for church leaders and running the editorial side of REV!. More on this later.
• Greg Stier- Greg is the President of Dare 2 Share Ministries, based in Denver. He spends a ton of time on the road speaking to youth and challenging and equipping them to share their faith in a way that is relevant, practical and connects with their friends. Man, Greg is one passionate dude- and especially when it involves evangelism and the power of sharing your faith. A couple of hours around Greg and I was ready to walk out on the street and bring the heat for Jesus!
• Ken Petersen- Ken is the Publisher for Multnomah based in Colorado Springs, now a divison of Random House and part of the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group. Ken is a longtime veteran of the Christian publishing industry, and has tons of respect among his peers, authors, agents and vendors within the publishing circles. Ken is a forward thinker and has a very realistic and accurate understanding of where the publishing world is headed. Plus, he really engages in thinking how we as believers are engaging in culture and changing the perceptions of Christ followers among non-Christians.