Compass Corner

In the summer of 2019, the previous editor of Compass Check, Steve Nutzman, posted in our ministerial forum that he was looking for volunteers to work on Compass Check. I thought it over a bit and sent him a note that I’d be interested in helping if I could; just let me know what I could do. I had no idea of where that journey would wind up taking me . . .

About a year later, I became Editor of Compass Check and was now “running the show.” I learned very quickly that there was much more to it than I had previously thought. Coming up with ideas for articles, answering questions from readers, developing writers, taking feedback from the review team, editing articles and of course, managing deadlines. 

Fortunately, I had a lot of help along the way. In addition to the guidance Mr. Nutzman had given me, our Managing Editor at the time, Kourtney Kovanis, was a tremendous help. She taught me the art of helping develop a writer so that their voice came through the article, rather than me just rewriting it to sound like I wanted it to. Since then, Kourtney has moved on to a new role working for the Church and Ariana Vazquez has taken on that position and continues to do a fabulous job of helping to develop both articles and the writers themselves. Our Content Editor, Mitch Moss, showed me the ropes of how the magazine actually comes together—the layout, the design, even nuances of the review process as it related to meeting press deadlines (which I eventually got better at, sorry Mitch . . .). Matt Hernandez, our Senior Graphic Designer, always comes up with covers and illustrations that manage to convey the ideas being expressed in a visual way.

I could go on and on thanking people who have helped in the process, but I don’t want this to sound like an awards show speech gone wrong. Certainly, my wife and kids deserve credit. If I wasn’t roping them into helping out directly with writing or reading, they were putting up with me disappearing into my office for hours on end. Our Camp Directors and many others are a key part of Compass Check as well, helping make sure the articles are not only doctrinally accurate, but have the sort of tone and message that resonates with you, our teen readers. Then of course there are all the volunteer writers who submit articles, including some of you! If not for the willingness of those authors to spend the time writing, accepting feedback and rewrites, and editing, we’d have very little to offer in each issue.

Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, all good things must end. This will be my last issue as Editor of Compass Check. Devin Schulz will be stepping in to take over and I am confident that he and the rest of the team will continue to produce this magazine that I love so dearly.

I won’t be going away completely though. I’ll still be helping out at camps, the Feast of Tabernacles and of course pastoring in the Carolinas. In addition, I’ve taken on a new role in the Church’s public proclamation efforts. To that end, I will be assuming the role of Editor for Beyond Today magazine, the Church’s magazine which is geared towards those just beginning to understand the biblical truths you have been raised with.

Throughout this journey, I’ve learned a lot. Not just about how to oversee the publication of a magazine, but about the people involved in it.  The staff who help produce it are very important of course, but if no one volunteered to write articles, we’d have nothing to produce. Then, of course, there’s you. If no one bothered to actually read it, what would it accomplish?

This reminded me of what the apostle Paul wrote regarding parts of the body working together. He goes through and discusses how if we were all eyeballs, then no one could hear. If we were all feet, then who would be the hands? He concludes: 

“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18-20).

We are a body. It’s easy to look at people who have a title of some kind and think of them as the head. Yet, scripture clearly states Jesus Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23). This brings me to a very important question and the one I choose to leave you with:

What part of the body are you?

To make this a little easier, let’s narrow the question. What part of Compass Check are you? Are you a reader? That’s great! I hope the content produced here is helpful as you embark on your personal journey to the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps you might become a part of the body that writes, or maybe you already have. Have you experienced something that you learned a lot from? Try writing it down in a way that you could share that lesson with others. Then send it to compasscheck@ucg.org
—we’d love to help you see what kind of writer you can be!

Perhaps one day you might be part of the team that produces Compass Check. All of those I mentioned before—Kourtney, Ariana, Mitch, Matt and even myself—were all teens in the Church at one time who went to camps, read magazines and decided very early in life that the pursuit of becoming a part of the family of God was a worthwhile endeavor.

Whatever part of the body you are now or might be in the future, know this one thing: You have been a part of this journey of mine and I am thankful for not only every step of it, but each of you.

Thank you.

Dan Preston

Editor of Compass Check magazine