This month marks an important milestone for me, because I’m now starting my 27th year of full-time ministry in publishing Wisconsin Christian News. It’s been a long, challenging and narrow road. When I began this work, I was a young man. Now I’m old, and feeling my age, and so, I can’t help but reflect on all these years doing the “toughest job I’ve ever loved.” So, I’d like to share the story with you today, and I hope you’ll find some inspiration from it and praise the Lord along with me for all He’s done.
In the mid-1980s, I wanted to be a photographer. For years, I’d enjoyed doing nature photography, just as a hobby. Then, I began photographing weddings and other special events. I knew I wanted to pursue this as a full-time career. I was intrigued by the creativity and skills required to be good at this work. So, I sought out jobs at the two local photography studios that had been in operation in my hometown for decades. But neither studio would hire me, since I had very little professional experience. My friends and family indulged my little “hobby,” but never thought it would be anything more than that.
But I persisted. The quality of my work continued to improve as I honed my skills. Soon, word-of-mouth referrals earned more weekend jobs photographing weddings, but I also wanted to do other things…baby portraits, children’s portraits, high school senior portraits, family portraits. I wanted to capture treasured memories for my clients through the images I created, which quickly went from being “advanced amateur” level to much more professional. Still, the big studios in town wouldn’t hire me.
But I wasn’t deterred. Instead, I decided to open my own studio. Everyone told me that was impossible. Even my own parents thought it was an exercise in futility trying to compete with the well-established studios in town that had been there for since long before I was born. I had previously worked for a local radio station and at the time, I was employed as a Designer for a County newspaper that was published weekly. When I quit my job to go full-time with my own photography studio, my friends and family thought I’d lost my mind.
Just a little advice here: you should never tell me something’s impossible or that I could never be successful at it. That only encourages me to prove you wrong. And so, it began. I was able to rent a large vacant space in a commercial building downtown. The price was affordable, but it needed extensive remodeling. So, I learned to be a wood-worker, a builder, a dry-waller, flooring installer and more. The landlord was impressed at how I quickly turned an unusable space into something quite appealing.
My photography skills also continued to improve, as I experimented and learned to use proper studio lighting, backgrounds and various props to build “sets” for the portraits I was creating. It wasn’t easy. It took several years before the studio was actually profitable, but when that happened, things really took off. I was continually learning and always improving my photographic skills, and ours soon became the studio of choice for many. When my wife and I had our first child, I noticed the maternity ward at the local hospital had blank walls. So, I asked — and received — permission to decorate their walls with large portraits of babies I’d created. As far as I know, ours was the only studio that was ever allowed to do that — and we did that for years. Beautiful decor for the hospital; great advertising for us!
One day, I had a consultation with an engaged couple about their wedding photography. I was surprised to find they’d driven five hours to come see me. When I inquired why they didn’t choose a photographer more local to them, they told me they had been at a relative’s wedding, saw how I did things, saw the images I had created and only wanted me as their photographer, and were willing to pay whatever it cost for me to make the trip five hours each way to do their wedding. That was quite an ego-boost.
During this time, I was also spending a lot of time on the road, as I took my studio “mobile” a couple weeks each month to create portraits of nursing home residents. We developed an entire program, coordinated with nursing home staff, hair stylists and families, so the residents, who couldn’t easily go out to a studio to have a nice portrait done, could still get a nice portrait done, with their loved ones included, because I went to them. For most of those folks, these were the last formal portraits they ever had made, and they wouldn’t have been able to have them any other way. Needless to say, those portraits were treasured.
While on the road, I’d listen to whatever Christian radio stations I could find on my car radio. I also visited Christian bookstores in every town, and a lot of them had a Christian newspaper. My favorite station to listen to was VCY America, and especially their news and information talk show, “Crosstalk.” This program is still on the air today, and they discuss the most vital issues of the day from a biblical perspective. “Crosstalk” covers topics never spoken of in church and never covered by the mainstream media.
One day, I said to myself, “This is great. I wish there was a print version of this information so it could be shared with others.” And at the same time, I’d been seeing Christian newspapers in various midwest cities and states I visited, and found it disappointing that they were all missing the mark that VCY and Crosstalk were hitting the bullseye on every time. These papers were only publishing “feel good” stories, covering Sunday School picnics, concerts, Christian festivals, comics, poetry and recipes. There was no real substance — these papers were really just publishing “fluff,” and avoiding the serious topics that VCY was exposing the truth about every day.
It was probably about 1997 that God spoke to me. “You should start a Christian newspaper for Wisconsin, Rob.” And my response was, “That’s a great idea, Lord, but someone else will need to do it…and I hope someone does.” I was just too busy. There was no way I could run a photography studio and publish a Christian newspaper, although our studio did maintain a Christian lending library with books and videos for engaged couples, newlyweds, parents and children — and every order we delivered included a Bible tract. But I couldn’t see myself ever starting up a newspaper.
Just as an “aside” here — this was also about the time I was delving deeply into my family history, and connecting with very extended family members from all around the world. I had learned that the Pue family had the first printing press — and the first newspaper — ever published in Ireland. I also learned that in every generation, traced back from the early 1600s on, there had always been at least one person involved in newspaper publishing and at least one person in full-time Christian ministry. Interesting.
God continued to call me. I kept hearing, “When are you going to start that Christian newspaper, Rob? I’m waiting.” Bottom line, I fought Him for two years. I rationalized that there was just no way I could start a newspaper from scratch, even if I wanted to. I had a family to provide for and a business to run and clients who depended on me. And one day, He said, “I thought you always said, ‘don’t ever tell me I can’t do something or that something is impossible. It only encourages me to prove you wrong.’ But now you — Rob — are telling Me this is impossible!”
I tried my best to let that go in one ear and out the other, but it stuck with me. So did Matthew 19:26, “…with God all things are possible.” Time went on and my photography studio continued to be very successful. New clients sought me out after seeing my work. I was at the height of my creativity. My appointment book was full, and I was earning the best income of my life. I had no reason not to be happy and content.
But every day I got up to go to work at the studio, I was more and more unhappy. And God kept pestering me: “When are you going to start that Christian newspaper, Rob? I’m still waiting!” “OK!” I finally said. “I’ll do it — but first, Lord, You will have to help me sell the studio. If I can sell the studio, I’ll start a Christian newspaper for Wisconsin.”
I thought that was a pretty safe “deal” to make with God. Surely, no one is going to want to buy a photography studio in a small town in the middle of Wisconsin. Yes, the studio was profitable, but it’s a very specialized type of business and the work takes a specific set of skills that not a lot of people have. I thought I’d present this challenge to God, I’d get no response from the ads I placed, and then I could continue on with my work in peace.
It only took two weeks; my studio was sold. To my shock, awe and amazement, the first person to come see the operation offered to buy it at my asking price. Papers were signed, earnest money was deposited, and for the next year, I trained the new owner to take over operations. I’d invested my entire adult life in the photography studio, building it from scratch — literally — and had worked many years through a lot of hard times to get where I was. Now, I had everything I could have wanted. But still, every day, I was unhappy because God kept calling and I’d kept running from Him. And now He had taken me at my word, sent a buyer almost immediately and set everything in place for me to lay down the business I’d worked so hard to build and follow His call.
The sale of the studio went through on December 31st, 1999. I woke up on New Year’s Day, 2000, unemployed for the first time in my life. No studio to go to. No clients to consult with. No portraits to make. No weddings to be at on the weekend. Only an idea for a Christian newspaper that seemed so important to God that He wouldn’t let the idea go until I gave in. I learned you can run, but you can never hide, from God. It took me a while, but I learned that when He tells you to do something, you are going to do it, one way or the other, so you may as well just do as He says the first time. Because you are going to do it. You can do it right away, or you can fight Him for a few years and then do it. Either way, when God picks you to do something, it’s not a mistake. There is no one else coming to do it. So, it’s best to just listen and follow where He leads.
Now, I’ve shared the “back story” of my journey leading up to the Wisconsin Christian News ministry. Please join me next time and I’ll tell you what happened next. Spoiler alert: Just because God calls you — and you finally obey His call — does not mean that anything going forward will ever be easy, maybe not ever again. I have learned — firsthand and deeply — the true meaning of Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Tune in next week to hear about my walk in the wilderness.
