18 Responses to “A RELEVANT Update”

1. Brian Alexander on July 16th, 2008 9:34 pm

   Busy is good sometimes. Sounds like great future podcasts. Can’t wait to listen to them. Hope they are on time..lol

2. Andrew Nicely on July 16th, 2008 10:03 pm

   I think that if you do a politically themed issue for September, you should include all the big potential candidates, most notably, Libertarian candidate Bob Barr. You should also stick something in about Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty, (campaignforliberty.com) and possibly something about Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin

3. Frank Hampton on July 16th, 2008 10:12 pm

   My email is down right now so if i could ask a quick question here, it’d be great!

   I’d been interested to know what you think of all the discussions on the board, smoking weed, homosexuality, and every other so-called discussion. How do you feel being represented by rebellious people who claim to adhere to your ‘Relevant’ worldview. I don’t mean to sound enraged, but I’m very worried by what your magazine is doing to twentysomethings. They question everything; which is ok, but to question things out of anger, and not out of sincerity is wrong. I’ve been on and off the boards for a few years and most of what I’ve seen is a bunch of judgemental people who think the Bible is very ‘misinterpreted’ and is need of ‘modern’ translation.

   Honestly I thought your company was becoming more godly; Lou Engle for example was a great addition. But now i see that sadly, i was wrong.

   You can make fun of this letter on the podcast, but it doesn’t matter. Whenever a letter of this kind has been read on the podcast, you’ve masked conviction with humor. Your unwilling to deal with spiritual immaturity and instead wallow in ‘deprivating humor’ and ‘we’re just humans we make mistakes’ montif.

   While I’ve seen glimpses of what you could be, I know see that much of what you preach is taught walked out. Maybw it is by you, but not by many of your readers.

   Corruption has come into the Body and its becuase people are so concerned with being ‘relevant’ and ‘unoffensive’ that they’ve forgotten who Jesus was. They’ve twisted the Bible to allow them to smoke weed, come out of the closet, and judge people; while professing they believe in God. It is an awful rep for Christianity. I see no difference between your readers and the world.

4. Cameron Strang on July 16th, 2008 10:29 pm

   Frank, I’m sorry you feel that way about what we’re doing, but we respect your opinion and you’re entitled to it.

   To answer your question, what people discuss on the message boards is no more a reflection of our company, our staff or the spiritual purpose of what we’re doing than any personal conversation made by anyone who has read our magazine. The message boards is a place for people to interact. It’s not RELEVANT-endorsed content; it’s a living and breathing community of real people. If you’re bothered by some of the conversations on the message boards, I would suggest engaging those people, being a Christlike influence, sharing your perspective in love, and helping spark positive change. Maybe God has opened your eyes to this and grieved your heart about it because He wants to use you to make a difference.

   I think it’s interesting you thought our company was becoming “more godly” and now you think we aren’t. If you read the magazine each month, you’ll see that we’re on a continual spiritual journey, talking about what God is doing and saying in our generation, asking real questions and just talking about the issues and things that matter to our generation. In that context, we’re trying to figure out how to live like Christ in the world (being in it, but not of it), be outwardly focused and have a faith that’s substantial enough it’s worth dying for. That commitment has never changed. Sure, we talk about different things and have different people write for each issue, but the heartbeat of what we’re doing hasn’t changed.

   Again, I appreciate you speaking your concerns. And rest assured, I like Lou Engle a lot.

5. Steve K. on July 16th, 2008 10:30 pm

   Ouch! Well … I was going to comment on the cover design question, but whatever I say will be an anti-climax after Frank Hampton’s rant there …

   My response to Frank: I’m not sure RELEVANT should be “held accountable” for what some people in an Internet forum are posting about what they do (or do not) believe or practice. Just my two cents …

   OK now my response to the cover design question: ANYTHING WITH OBAMA ON IT!

   Seriously, I think the political cover is going to give you the biggest splash, no question. Maybe do an Obama cover and a McCain and see which one sells more copies?

   And forget Bob Barr, if you do a third cover, it’s gotta be Crazy Uncle Ron Paul!!!

6. dylan on July 17th, 2008 5:30 am

   don’t do Conor. He’s really getting too played out for a cover. would’ve been great 3 or 4 years ago, but not in 2008.
   do Obama for sure.

7. Lance M on July 17th, 2008 9:07 am

   Hmmm….Connor or Obama?

   Excuse the pun, but Obama is soooo much more Relevant in every way. And if you read his interview in the last Rolling Stone, he’s down w/ Dylan, The Stones and JAY-Z….so he hits the music angle, as well.

   Bright Eyes is OK, but Obama wins this one…in a LANDSLIDE.

   Keep up the great work, y’all!

8. Melody on July 17th, 2008 9:47 am

   Political, but I think it would be cool to see you guys take it from another angle rather than just slapping a photo of Obama and McCain on there.

   I couldn’t care less about Connor Oberst.

9. Jen Benson on July 17th, 2008 10:24 am

   I agree with Melody. I think that anything political, especially so close to election time will help get your magazine off the stand. I don’t know anything about Oberst at all but Melody is right, it would be cool to see you guys do something political, but make it stand out by doing something other than putting a photo of Obama and McCain on there. I am super excited about that issue as well as the upcoming podcasts! Mark Steele is one of my favorite authors and Brandon Heath is awesome! (I actually met him, Aaron Shust, and Bebo Norman at a signing at the bookstore where I worked!)

   Keep up the fantastic work!

10. Will on July 17th, 2008 10:35 am

    You should put Ralph Nader on it watching an NBA game.

11. Christine on July 17th, 2008 10:50 am

    this Canadian wants to see Obamaaaaaaaaaa
    ObamaObamaObamaObamaObamaObamaObamaObama!!!

12. Aaron on July 17th, 2008 11:51 am

    I would rather see original artwork than anyone’s picture on the cover. Besides, how are you going to top the New Yorker?

13. Ash White on July 17th, 2008 12:33 pm

    Cameron,

    Your response to Frank’s post was gracious, Christlike, but also firm. I appreciate how you handled that– and as a seasoned podcast listener and magazine subscriber, I appreciate how you’ve stayed true to the magazine’s original intent. The diversity of faith perspectives you maintain is great– and giving the readers a voice for their thoughts/grievances, no matter how enraged or ill-informed, is great.

    Keep up the good work– and yeah, I’d say a political cover is probably the most called-for right now, as much as I love Bright Eyes (and anyway, there’s an article to read about them, so yay).

    Looking forward to your article on Rwanda! I loved hearing about it on the podcast.

14. Wesley K. on July 17th, 2008 2:10 pm

    i think maybe the cover should be a 2 sided cover, one side with Obama and the other with McCain,

    just IMHO

15. Kirk Vilhauer on July 18th, 2008 8:54 am

    I like the idea of a morphed image of Obama and McCain into one face. Boy will that grab your attention while looking at the newsstand.

    Thanks for adding Seabird to The Drop and now Joel Ruge. The interface for The Drop is very cool and I thank whoever designed it. Also the sound and content is great as well. One glitch that I did notice was that the first Seabird song entitled “Black & Blue” will not play. Every other song works nicely, but for some reason this one doesn’t load up and start. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

    Thanks for your magazine and podcast. God bless!

16. jessieevansakkievandervyver on July 19th, 2008 12:24 pm

    why not a double/flip cover?

17. Philip Wiebe on July 19th, 2008 3:48 pm

    In response to Andrew Nicely’s comment, I personally think it would make for a hilarious cover if you had a cover that featured all the third party candidates, all under the banner of “Relevant”. Wishful thinking at best, Andrew.

    Seriously (and without getting too hung up on the magazine’s title) the Obama/McCain cover is as “relevant” as you can get today; with all due respect to the Bright Eyes, in many past elections, we the disaffected would probably have yearned for relief from the political machine; this year, we are more engaged than ever.

18. Jeremiah Goley on July 20th, 2008 12:52 pm

    Hey Cameron. Great to spend some time with you over lunch recently.

    Hey, regarding the cover feedback…why not do it on Rwanda…I mean what could me more important?

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