The Archive Opens Tomorrow!

On Tuesday we will officially open the “And from Bill...” column archive with a scanned image of the very first column I ever wrote as FCCEM pastor.

Over the course of the next year, on Tuesdays and Fridays I will post a new addition to the archive as a way of honoring and remembering the years of our relationship, and as a lead-up to our 30th anniversary next July 8. The final result will be a collection of 105 posts which I hope will adequately reflect the many functions “And from Bill...” columns have served in my ministry.

A few notes about the coming collection:

1) The columns will not come in chronological order. For example, all four decades of my years at FCCEM will be represented within the first five archive posts.

2) The selections will, however, reflect seasonal groupings such as the election/politics, thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Perhaps as many as half of the archive entries will not be devoted to a seasonal topic, but instead will cover a diverse variety of personal, social, political, and spiritual subjects.

3) In case you’re not familiar with my columns, know that “And from Bill...” has never followed pastor newsletter column conventions. As the archive over time will make clear, I have always written about whatever I wanted to write about, whenever I wanted to write about it. Many times that’s been about church and church life; but not always – definitely not always!

4) Because my columns don’t follow convention, don’t expect to agree with everything you read in archive posts. Traditionally, pastor newsletter columns are gentle, mild-mannered, and non-controversial.... For good cause. Who wants to offend people in print when you can offend them in person?!    :-)

Most of the archive entries will not stray into controversial territory, but some will. I will not expect you to agree with me in all things. I ask that you not expect me to agree with you in all things.

5) Tomorrow’s inaugural post will present a scanned image from the very first newsletter to which I contributed, back in July 1985. All other archive posts will present content reformatted for easier reading.

6) In the columns to be reprinted, I have corrected spelling and punctuation errors (which I should have caught the first time around!) and supplied an obviously-missing word in a couple of instances. Other than that, what you will read in each post – other than its introduction – will be exactly what people read when they received its newsletter in the mail.


I am eager to open the archive for your use and reflection. And I hope you will add your comments to the column(s) of your choice.