Calling all ‘penning’ pastors

I guess most of you have noticed that John Hatcher is no longer doing the religion column for our Wednesday religion section. John decided to resign a few weeks ago after writing for us for nearly 15 years ... actually since the paper began back in February of 1993.

We hate to see John go and sincerely wish him well. We appreciate all those faithful columns over the years.

But we have to move on and that is the purpose of my writing this column. Goodness knows I’m certainly not qualified to write about religion.

Sally Oakes, pastor of Bethany United Methodist in north Fayette, had approached me about writing for us and her timing couldn’t have been better. She has been gracious enough to fill in for the past few weeks.

Cal and I had tossed around some ideas about possibly doing a “rotating” columnist thing, have three or four (maybe more) columnists, and run a different one each week. This would take the pressure off just one person, give us a variety of styles and writers (and probably denominations), and add a little diversity to the religion page.

We really haven’t zeroed in on one solution yet but we do need to fill this space. That’s where you come in.

All you pastors out there who think you’d like to take a spin at writing a column are invited to give it a try here in The Wednesday Citizen. It’s not as hard as it sounds ... think about it ... you write the equivalent of a column every week when you write your sermon.

The topic will be your choice but we do have some rules:

First, the columnist must be the pastor of a church in Fayette County. The Wednesday paper is, and always has been, primarily a Fayette-oriented publication. We want to keep the emphasis on Fayette County and Fayette County churches.

He or she should have good spelling, grammar and punctuation skills. I’m not going to pitch a fit if you carelessly misuse “its” and “it’s” once or twice. But you should know the difference.

Third, all columns must be sent to us via email. There is absolutely no exception to this one. Also, columns must not be sent in an attachment. Any columns received in attachments will not be considered. Period. Type the column into the body of the e-mail just as if you were writing a letter. Contrary to what Bill Gates tried to tell you, you do not need Microsoft Word to send an email.

We need to correspond with you via email and need a valid email address from you. If you have a spam blocker, please make sure it will accept our emails ... mine and Cal’s. These include jkilgore@thecitizen.com., jodiek444@aol.com., and editor@thecitizen.com. I’m not going to knock on your door and be happy if I have to give the password. You know I’m coming. Leave the door unlocked and the light on. I won’t knock but once.

We will need a recent photo of you to run with your column. You can either send this in email or bring it by the office.

If you send it in email, this is the only time you do need to send an attachment. Your photo must be in jpeg format, saved at a resolution of no less than 100 dpi with 300 dpi preferred, and sent as a separate attachment. If you don’t know what that means, then you are better off bringing it by the office.

For the little “blurb” at the end of the colimn, we need the name, address, phone number, email and website addresses of your church.

Cal and I haven’t discussed deadlines or when we want the columns sent — or even how the rotation would work — but we need some columns to choose from as soon as possible. Look on this as sort of an “audition.” If we like what you send, we’ll contact you and discuss more details.

We do reserve the right to use any columns we receive at any time. Also, everything is subject to editing. We may “tweak” your column and correct awkward phrasing, but good editors can leave it in your unmistakable style.

Why should you do this? Sally told me she looked upon the column as a part of her ministry. That’s a good way to look at it. Who knows? Someone may read it and be moved ... find an answer to a problem ... find peace within your words. You definitely will gather a “following” and receive some interesting letters.

So, what are you waiting for? Sit down at that computer and start writing. I need something by this weekend.

Send your columns to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Come on. Dazzle me. I can’t wait to see what’s out there.