Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 16, 1992 TAG: 9203160062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And even at that, there is far more news than he has room to publish in each biweekly edition of the National and International Religion Report.
Plowman sometimes gets to turn out longer, in-depth reports - such as a recent article on the state of religion in Eastern Europe. Most of the time, though, he's working to get "the best of what we've got" into the eight-page, letter-size publication.
The newsletter was started in 1987 by Christian advertising entrepreneur Stephen Wike. Though his offices are in Roanoke - where the Religion Report is published - the editorial staff is based in the Washington suburbs.
Plowman, a 60-year-old former Christianity Today senior editor, joined the staff as editor in the newsletter's second year. He and Associate Editor J. Lee Grady write their own articles and condense reports from other sources.
Plowman was an instigator of investigative reporting of religion issues and was a founding member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a secular organization that has members from broadcast and print media throughout the country.
Plowman left Christianity Today to start a religion newsletter in 1980; one that won awards but lost money. It eventually folded.
By that time Wike was ready to finance a newsletter.
An initial investment of $60,000 for the first year's publication in 1987 quickly grew to $170,000. "We've never made that up," Wike says.
Other parts of the company - particularly the direct-mail marketing packages - generated enough money to keep the newsletter going for the past six years.
This year, Wike said, "we're doing pretty good," and may make a profit.
The report seems to be finding a niche, with a 65 percent to 70 percent subscription renewal rate in a field where half that is more common. It also is being used as a news source by other media outlets.
There are 8,000 paid subscribers and about 2,000 more who receive free trial copies in a bid to start new subscriptions.
Wike and Plowman say they envision slow growth for the publication, most of it from word-of-mouth endorsements in the religious community.
A new venture - reducing the size of the report so that it can be inserted into a church bulletin - is getting off to a good start, they said.
After just a couple of weeks' promotion, the service has been bought by about 150 churches and other religious organizations, each ordering an average of 138 copies.
Plowman and Wike acknowledge that their conservative, evangelical background is the "filter" through which the newsletter shines. That is most evident in the selection of news items, which are weighted toward evangelical concerns.
Nevertheless, "We are not an advocacy publication," Wike said.
"We give the pastors information to use in their preaching and teaching. If that provides ammunition to bolster their position on a subject," then that's all right with Wike.
by CNB