In my last message, I began telling the story of how our ministry, Wisconsin Christian News came to be. How I initially fought God on the idea, how He continued to work to press me into service, until I finally accepted the mission He was calling me to.
But this is a three-part message, because there’s so much to share, and I was only able to give you the “back story” in part one — what I was doing when God called me to this work, and how I finally came to submit to His will. If you missed that message, you can find it on our website. I’m sharing this story because we’re now starting our 27th year of publication. “On paper,” there’s no way Wisconsin Christian News should ever have survived. But God made a way, and here we are, all these years later. So now, I’ll tell you about my walk in the wilderness.
January 1, 2000, was a strange day for me. After more than a decade of operating the photography studio I had built from scratch, I woke up that day unemployed for the first time in my life. I was doing my best to seek God’s direction for the Christian newspaper He’d called me to start. I had some ideas, and having worked for a weekly County newspaper about 14 years prior, and having seen multiple Christian newspapers from other states, I had some knowledge of how to do it.
I was intrigued by other Christian newspapers I’d seen, but thought they could all be done so much better. At that time, there were over 200 Christian newspapers throughout North America. There was also a vibrant Christian Newspaper Association, which was headquartered in Minneapolis/St. Paul. One of the first things I did was to pay a visit to the leadership there to hopefully get some guidance from others with more experience. I went to meet the Association president, who was also the publisher of the Minnesota Christian paper, (which is no longer in existence, by the way). He met me that day with his editor. As he introduced me, he said, “This is Rob Pue from Wisconsin. He’s planning to start a Christian newspaper there. Tell you what: you hold him down, and I’ll try to slap some sense into him before it’s too late!”
Of course, he was joking, but the point was, this was not going to be as easy as I thought. And, it was already too late! What I knew was, clearly, God had called me to do this work. In fact, the Holy Spirit literally hounded me day and night for two years before I gave in. I had no doubt this was the Lord’s will, and therefore, I assumed He would immediately bless all my efforts, the new paper would take off quickly and immediately be well received by all the Christians in the state. I couldn’t have been more naive.
But I didn’t go into this totally blind. Before making the decision to begin the newspaper, I sent out a survey and a letter explaining the concept to about 500 pastors in the state. Amazingly, I received about 100 responses. Some offered some advice as to what they’d like to see in a Christian newspaper. Some told me they wouldn’t be interested if it wasn’t strictly of their denomination. But many were encouraging.
I also needed equipment. First up was a computer that could run the publishing software required. And also, that software itself, which was extremely expensive. Unfortunately, in those days, there were no Apple stores. Personal computers were still a fairly new phenomenon and there were limited places to get the kind of computer I needed. I ended up being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous store owner, who charged me about four times what I should have paid, but I didn’t know any better.
Technology was changing rapidly at the time, but I was stuck in the “old fashioned” way of newspaper production, that I’d learned so many years prior. I thought that’s how it was still done. So, I bought equipment and supplies that were quickly becoming obsolete. The first few editions I published were done on “paste up” layout sheets, which were hand-delivered to the printing plant.
I also remodeled the basement of our home to accommodate my office space — complete with a darkroom, so I could print the photos I took for the paper, and then paste them up on the layout sheets. Digital photography was in its infancy. The internet was still “dial up” and working online wasn’t really practical yet, but that quickly changed. I soon realized I was still operating in the “stone age” and had to learn to produce the newspaper digitally. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
It took me three months to finish the basement and set up the office. Then, by April of 2000, I was able to produce the very first edition of Wisconsin Christian News. But first, I needed to establish a financial base to pay for everything, which meant many personal visits to pastors and other ministries, trying to find paying advertisers. By this time, this was absolutely essential, because the funds I received from the sale of my business were all gone, invested in the basement remodel and the purchase of newspaper equipment.
But…easier said than done. Try selling ads for a newspaper that doesn’t even exist yet! Even my own church, which I’d grown up in and which our family attended and tithed to faithfully for years, took three months to decide if they’d support us with an ad in the paper. And when they did, they chose the smallest ad possible — providing us with $50 a year. The last of my money went to pay the printers for our first edition. Now, I was flat broke. Only two or three out of literally hundreds of contacts I made were willing to place an ad with us. I was able to get that first issue printed, but there was little hope for a second one.
Still, I thought once we got that first issue out, people would rally behind it. That didn’t happen either. Although the paper was quite professionally done and had great content, all those pastors who had been encouraging when I’d sent out the survey suddenly had no interest. Back then, just about every town also had a Christian bookstore. I’d been encouraged by many of them previously, too. But now, most told me they had no place for the paper in their stores. One Christian bookstore owner actually told me they had no room in the store for something they wouldn’t make any money on. Christian radio stations refused to advertise with us, telling me they viewed the paper as “competing media.”
Finding “Christian” locations to distribute the paper was nearly impossible. And now, there was basically zero funding, and all those who’d encouraged me to start this newspaper suddenly disappeared. It wasn’t that the paper wasn’t “good.” In the beginning, I followed pretty closely what I’d seen in others like it, in other states. We had teaching articles from pastors, interviews with pastors and other ministry leaders, inspirational articles, sort of like “daily devotionals,” and feature stories on things happening in the Christian community. Many congratulated me on producing such a fine first edition, but there was still no support.
Thus began my “wilderness experience.” Many times, I cried out to God for answers and direction, to no avail. I remember countless evenings that my wife and I would sit at our dinner table with our three small children, eating what truly was our “last meal,” because there was absolutely no money to pay for another one. My wife, who had been a stay-at-home Mom for many years, was able to find work helping with the 2000 Census. If not for her small income, there would have been no income at all.
I felt like a total failure and didn’t understand at all what God was doing. I’d listened to His call. I’d obeyed that call. And now I realized in doing so, I’d gone from having the highest income in my life to plunging my family into poverty, virtually overnight. To say I was in despair is an understatement. I knew, with complete certainty, that this newspaper was God’s will for me. Yet, everywhere I turned, there was zero support for it, and it seemed that God had now turned His back on me completely. The more I prayed, the more silent He seemed to be.
I needed to follow the Lord’s call, but I also needed to provide for my family. Ironically, in the midst of all this, one of my competitors from when I owned the photography studio called me one day and asked to talk. I went to see him, hoping he’d take out an ad in the newspaper and provide some funding. But he had called for a completely different reason: he was retiring and wanted to give me his studio — for free. He’d admired my work and what I’d accomplished the previous decade at my own studio, and he presented an offer that only a fool would refuse.
But in my soul, I knew this was a test. It felt like the Israelites longing to return to Egypt. So, I turned him down. But then I saw a daily newspaper in a neighboring community was seeking an editor for their “Religion” section. I’ve never told anyone about this before, but I went to interview for that position the next day, thinking I could do that job to provide an income for my family, while still working to build Wisconsin Christian News. But that wasn’t God’s will for me either, and I wasn’t hired. They wanted someone who would be inclusive of all “religions.” I was too “Christian” for them.
However, when I returned home from that interview, I received a strange phone call. It was from a lady who had seen our newspaper and liked it. She told me she was a little hesitant to call me, but felt compelled to. Then, she told me she had a “word from the Lord” for me. Yikes! Now, when people say they have a “word from the Lord” for me, my “radar” immediately goes up. I’m very skeptical of anyone presuming to speak for God. But I listened. She went on to say she didn’t understand at all what it meant, but the message was, “You’re looking in the wrong place. Don’t look for your provision from the world. God Himself will provide for you — through His people.” And that was the message.
I’d just come home from an interview with a secular newspaper. The day before, I’d been offered a FREE photography studio with decades of history, mine for the taking, including all the equipment, all the clients and a return to everything I knew so well. Then this strange phone call.
I’m not sure if you can relate to anything I’m sharing with you here, but suffice to say, I knew God Himself had called me to this work. At the same time, I had virtually no support from anyone for the newspaper now, and my wife and children were depending on me. I didn’t “return to Egypt,” but chose to rely on “manna” from heaven, and God did provide. Not the way I’d hoped and not in the way I thought it would be. There was never enough to store up and save anything for “tomorrow,” but always just enough for “today.” At the time, it truly felt like the Lord had dropped me off in the wilderness and left me alone to find my way home. I sought Him constantly, but now, He was silent. In retrospect, I understand that I was never alone. Isaiah 41:13, “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
Join me next time as I conclude this three-part message on how Wisconsin Christian News came to be, as we praise the Lord for 27 years now, of His faithful provision for this mission.
