January 1, 1997
Virtual Christian Magazine is unveiling its first "'zine."
That's Internet talk for an online magazine.
In the title of the magazine the word "virtual" modifies "magazine." The contributors and editors assembling VCM are all over this planet. The virtual aspect should not be limited to the word magazine. Hopefully, this product will also develop a body of virtual Christians.
Through the Internet we want to reach out and clearly communicate positive principles of faith that will help us reach our personal and spiritual potential. We want to share stories of how God dwells with and interacts with people. Accounts of faith’s power, love’s bond and hope’s anchor are what we will feature. Practical solutions to life's challenges will be welcomed.
We would like to hear about how God has intervened, encouraged or helped you overcome. Your first-person true-life story can encourage, inspire and motivate someone to overcome life’s difficulties and offer suggestions about how to live a life centered around Jesus Christ.
Also, we want to hear about how people help one another and help others help themselves. In the last verses of the first chapter of James we read about pure religion which is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. In Matthew 25, in the separation between the sheep and goats the criterion for entry into God’s Kingdom and eternal life is caring for others. In the resurrection the first question asked will be: "What have you personally done to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the naked?"
The tone of this magazine will be positive. We want readers to be spiritually uplifted. Teaching Christian principles by demonstrating Christ living in the lives of people will be how we will express this.
Internet technology is growing at an explosive rate. Sixty thousand users are added daily and soon Internet will not be limited to the computer. WEB TV is making its debut and Internet will come through your television set simply by pressing a button on your remote control to shift you from a cable station to the Internet. This is the continuing the blending of telephone, computer and television. No one knows exactly how it will end up being used. And, just like with the medium of radio, television or print, people will seek good and useful products.
The advantage of an electronic magazine is that there is no outlay for printing supplies and delivery. Each issue of the magazine is produced as an Internet user loads VCM to their computer. The startup costs are virtually nil.
There will be no particular edition of the magazine. VCM will grow to about twelve articles. Then as new articles appear, others will scroll off. New articles will be prominently featured for regular readers. For those seeing the magazine for the first time a complete magazine will be available for their perusal. Readers can choose to print individual articles...or they can print the entire magazine. All articles will go into an easily retrieved archive for reference.
Articles can be timely; they can immediately reflect quickly-developing events in the world. Or the articles can deal with timeless human issues. The articles will be added as fast as they can be written, edited and illustrated. If necessary, they can be updated after being online.
Other advantages are that some of the authors will be open to interaction with readers via email. With articles dealing with specific problems Internet links will guide readers to on-line resources for help and support. Suggestions from readers can be easily incorportated into articles already online.
What will we write about?
How about family, children, marriage, overcoming, anger, love, strength, weakness, spiritual gifts, miracles, values, relationships, friendship, health, sickness, depression, offence, death? That's just a random starter list. Certainly all of us have had some experience with these subjects. How did we cope? In our articles we should be ready to laugh and not afraid of tears.
Could this not be a tool in preaching the Gospel? I think so. Can we use today's technology to make a product that will be moving, interesting, eye-catching, something that informs, inspires, stirs, cares for others? I'm sure we can. We don’t even know all the possiblities of this exciting and expanding medium. With Internet we’re at a similar place in history as the time just as the telephone, radio or television were invented and were first used. Their inventors could not fully envision how their creation would be used in the next generation.
I envision this magazine being a tool that can bring many people in a virtual world together...in the same way that this magazine can be virtually produced by a staff of people scattered over the entire earth and read by anyone who can log on to Internet.
Hopefully, Virtual Christian Magazine can become a standalone web site, but for now it will come off my home page and be mirrored from other sites.
Any suggestions are certainly welcomed. If you are interested in helping, please click here and let us know.
Let’s see what we can do. 
