That virus is of the enemy!
God, Meanwhile, Is On The Move, And We're Excited!
The West Brazos Herald is a non-profit, Bible-centered newspaper that, God willing, will begin publishing weekly serving Brazoria, Sweeny, West Columbia, and other nearby parts of southwestern Brazoria County, Texas in 2020 (Exact date dependent upon the results of our fund raising efforts. For more on that, please see our donate/get involved link above.)
While we wait for printed editions to begin, we are preparing to return to daily updates to this site. Those will resume as soon as our team of volunteer writers is assembled, trained, and otherwise ready to go. (To join the team, please see the donate/get involved link above. We are currently setting up an online meeting/training system, and we'd love to have you on board: a great opportunity for anyone, of any age, sitting restless at home these days.)
And, while we wait for the team of volunteers to come together, Herald Publisher/Founder Don Cudd is blogging through the virus at his writer website www.DonCudd.com
Our Evolving Start-Up Plans ...
In December 2019, our initial team of four volunteers produced an e-Edition as an example of what The Herald will look like when it finally hits West Brazos streets (and driveways) each week. While the publication was well received, it proved to be a more labor intensive project than we'd anticipated, so, since then, we've been in search of even more volunteers. To provide the sort of reliable news coverage local readers expect, we need a crew of at 10-15 writers, each willing to go though some introductory training in how to be an effective Christ-centered reporter. Once trained, those volunteers will each be assigned to cover at least one "beat" and contribute several posts per month. (We anticipate this would be a volunteer job that would require about 10-15 hours per week on average, and, while we are biased, we do believe this would be an excellent project for restless, teenagers looking for a way to put their Godly energy and creativity to use while schools are closed.)
Once the crew is in place, readers can expect regular (almost daily) updates to resume on this site, and then we'll return to plans to produce bi-monthly eEditions, with goal of printing and distributing weekly editions before the end of 2020. Lord willing!
Of course, previous versions of this page said we hoped to resume regular updates to this site by mid-March and then bi-monthly e-Editions by "early spring." But those plans have been slowed by COVID-19. To comply with social distancing recommendations, we canceled the introductory volunteer training sessions we'd scheduled scheduled for mid-March and, as noted above, we are now putting together an online meeting and training system for those meetings.
The Herald Back Story ...
The Herald is inspired by the famous Herald of His Coming, and will be the first of many to come, God willing, from Herald Media, a Texas non-profit organization officially formed in November 2019 by a group led by Sweeny resident Don Cudd, a veteran editor, reporter, news director, and even publisher of several small town newspapers and radio stations across Texas. (Not to mention, a servant leader and faithful member of Father's House Church in Jones Creek.) Cudd is also a certified and experienced English and journalism teacher who has taught at both the high school and college levels. He has been a substitute teacher in Sweeny ISD since October 2019, and -- absent a blessed surge in support that allows him to turn to the Herald for his full-time livelihood by the fall of 2020 -- hopes to join the faculty of Sweeny ISD or another local school district for the 2020-21 school year.
The newspaper's chief focus will be on the work God is doing in the people and churches of the area, and, as the resulting Holy Revival takes root, we pray His power will ignite similar publications in other parts of Brazoria County. Plans currently call for the establishment of the Brazosport Herald, the Mid-County Herald, and the North County Herald soon after the West Brazos Herald is a going concern.
And, from there, God will have Brazoria County's believers well equipped to implement this model in other counties... and in other states... and in other COUNTRIES.
Praise be to Him, through whom all things are possible!
Did we mention we are looking for volunteers?
Please explore our site, and, if you hear a calling, please get involved! Though we are initially devoted primarily to celebrating God on the Move in the West Brazos region, we welcome participation, support and prayers from believers everywhere! All that's required to become a part of our start-up group is a belief in Our Savior Jesus Christ and a God-inspired commitment to our cause. If you are called to this project, please do not hesitate to let us know! We'll be excited to have you on board!