Inaugural e-Edition set for Dec. 6

Honesty is always the best policy. So I’ll just say it. We know folks across West Brazos are really missing the County News (formerly known as the Brazoria County News). Since that blessed publication surprised everybody with its “Final Edition” on Sept. 19, I’ve heard plenty of people talking about how they may have taken that blessed publication too much for granted over the years.

“I never knew how much I depended on that paper — until it was gone,” is the kind of thing I’ve heard dozens of times these last few weeks.

And that’s a huge part of our West Brazos Herald team’s motivation for wanting to get this newspaper on the streets soon! Our area is in, dare I say, dire need of a new outlet for all those community announcements, garage sales notices, and, oh yeah, grocery store ads.

But, before I get to the news that you’ve already seen in the headline above, a little background is in order:

The crew behind the West Brazos Herald has been gradually coming together since about January, maybe even before. The Lord gave me a vision for a Christ-centered, “God’s Good News” publication in our area and the project, has been brewing for months in prayerful chats I’ve had with dozens of people in restaurants, living rooms, worship halls, dollar stores, and even parking lots across the area.

But, until, late September, the resulting business plan looked a lot different than it does now.

“We’re committed to building a newspaper that will boldly tell the myriad of stories of God at work in our area.”

Several friends and I initially figured we’d start with absolutely zero dollars: just a few photo-copied pages (off a borrowed copier) for a few dozen subscribers. And we’d focus exclusively on what was happening in the churches of a single town, Sweeny. Once the Sweeny Herald gained traction, we’d move on to start the Brazoria Herald, then the West Columbia Herald, then the Angleton Herald, the Lake Jackson Herald, the Clute Herald, and so on and so on.

But, did we mention the blessings of being honest?

Our plan started changing quickly on that sad day when the County News announced its closing. A lot of us who’d been doing all this chatting about the Herald had the same thought: it’s terrible to be losing such a blessed local institution, but could this be the Lord opening a door for us to start our paper in a bigger way?

As you see, we have come together in belief that the answer is yes.

Every person now listed on this site as being on the Herald‘s founding staff or board (and more are coming), is firmly — and prayerfully — committed to building a publication that will restore the blessing the County News bestowed upon our area for years: weekly free publication of local news and advertising to every household in Brazoria, Sweeny, West Columbia and all points in between.

And, combining that with our first idea, we’re committed to building a newspaper that will boldly tell the myriad of stories of God at work in our area.

(Just to be clear: we do intend for the Herald to keep track of local sports news, school news, and the various comings and goings at our three city halls. But the main focus of our pages will be on what God’s got going on in the lives, and the hearts — and not to mention the 72+ churches — of the people of the West Brazos area. )

Alas, replicating the County News’ free-to-everyone distribution model means printing and delivering nearly 11,000 copies every week and maintaining a writing, marketing, and clerical staff of 4-5 full time employees.

That means money. We estimate it means up to $55,000, in fact.

That’s the amount we need to fund printing, delivery, a staff and an office (which, we plan, will double as a small Christian gift and book store, and a friendly place to stop in for a cup of coffee and a little prayer) for a few months while we get fully up-to-speed.

So all this brings us, finally, back to the news in our headline:

We are currently working on the West Brazos Herald Inaugural Issue to be distributed in pdf form via this website (and via email to everyone who becomes a sustaining contributor) on December 6.

Yes, it’s going to be an internet-only publication (but you will be able to printing it out — in a small-but-legible type — on just about any typical printer). And, no it’s not going to be weekly. (We’re planning another e-Edition on January 3 and all First Friday’s after that until further notice).

So, no, were not quite up to bringing free, weekly publication back to the area. Not yet anyway.

But let God’s will be done!

Beginning with the Dec. 6 e-Edition (after we’ve submitted our application to become an IRS 501c(3) tax-exempt organization), we’ll be starting our crowd funding campaign to raise the money we need to go weekly in print

As the donations start rolling in via Go Fund Me appeals, silent auctions, bake sales, worship music festivals, and even golf tournaments (or corn hole tournament!!) we’ll be posting those traditional “fund raising thermometers” all over this site, and celebrating our rising “temperatures.”

As I say, we’ll have many more details on that in our Dec. 6 issue (and beyond), so be on the look-out. (And, if you feel called to start showing your support sooner, we have our “Sustaining Contributor” program already set up. We will e-mail a copy of our inaugural issue directly to each contributor, and we’re currently working on a list of other perks we’ll offer, too.)

As soon as our “fever” reaches $55,000, we can set up our office and hit full stride as a weekly, printed newspaper. Our written business plan, being fine tuned with the help of the Small Business Development Center at Brazosport College, says we’re expecting to go weekly no later than July.

Key words there are “no later than.”

Truth is, God can make it happen sooner — if it’s His will. So we’ll just go with His flow on this. See you, Dec. 6.