Most of you may know that the New Testament lists only people as “Christian”? By that I mean that you do not read about buildings or other things being called Christian. There were no Christian churches (that’s probably because they had no competition back then and therefore no need to differentiate) and there were no Christian lectureships, Christian polls, Christian missionary societies, Christian newspapers etc. etc.

That leads me to comment upon the name of this effort: Christian Monthly Standard. As Christians ourselves, the four continuing principals on this effort recognize that the name we chose is bogus. There can be no Christian monthly standard. The only standard we have as Christians is the word of God. We all know that.

We chose the name at my suggestion because it was available as a domain name, and to publish on the internet you have to own license to a registered recognizable name. That is how it was chosen. We had tried several others without success before we located this one. So, we are rather like Naaman getting ready to enter the temple of Dagon. We know, and we hope that you know, that the only reason the name exists and was chosen was so any readers might have a place to navigate to and to continue to recognize.

There is no motive beyond that, and so, it is what it is out of necessity.

With that said, after a full year of entering articles and offering lessons and opinions on everything from French toast and dead popes to marriage laws, we hope that you have found some of this interesting or thought provoking. We are baffled that with a respectable amount of hits to the site, that no one has ever sent in an e-mail to complain about our musings, our thoughts or to offer up a dissent. I know that the four of us cannot account for the number of times the site has been accessed. And I doubt that all of what we have covered was so easily assimilated, though it may certainly be easily ignored. But, no mail yet, as we forlornly once again check the box for signs of the e-mail carrier’s passing.

But perhaps that will change now that we have entered our second year. It is certain that some other changes will occur. Webmaster Joe Botha has redesigned the site to make it more accessible and easier to read and that will be premiering soon. Also we are entertaining listing some of the questions and answers that have been solicited through the Haverhill Road Church of Christ website. Finally, we are in the process of seeking two other writers (with sound views) to publish here, and if they agree you may be seeing some new bylines soon.

Thank you for your support and interest. We hope to be able to broaden and sculpt the site this year and to continue to offer Godly comment and insights into the word of God. In all we thank God for the opportunity and any success.

Oh, and you can write to us if you want to share something. It’s okay to express opinions.

Richard Vandagriff for Brent Kercheville, Mark Zaveson and Joe Botha