Popular United Methodist Website Relaunches as Magazine

Wesley Report Targets 'Everyday Methodists

November 25, 2008 -- Wesley Report (www.wesleyreport.com), an online magazine for United Methodists, is up and running. Its publisher is Generation-X writer Shane Raynor, author of the popular Wesley Blog, one of the first weblogs with an exclusive focus on the United Methodist Church. Raynor was reaching over 1,000 unique readers a day when he pulled the plug on that site over two years ago.

"I was putting in a lot of hours doing research and writing articles," Raynor commented, "I was also volunteering as a youth worker at my church, and because my day job was also taking a lot of time, I had to make a choice. I don't regret it for a minute." Raynor has worked in urban youth ministry for over six years in his local congregation.

He left his job with the United Methodist Publishing House in late September to form a small media company. Wesley Report is his first project. "I wanted the new site to be more than a blog," Shane noted, "I wanted it to be more like a magazine." The site offers commentary, news headlines from other media sources, and even Bible studies. Raynor made it clear that he wants Wesley Report to complement other United Methodist media, not compete with it. "I'm not a news reporter, and quite frankly, I don't have the resources to compete with everything else out there. But I can fill a niche that's not being filled." That niche, Raynor says, is the "everyday Methodist."

"There are over 8 million United Methodists in the U.S.," he notes, "and at least 4 million more around the world. Most of the church media out there has a target audience of clergy and in-the-loop Methodists. I think there are plenty of pew Methodists who haven't been exposed to any church media."

One of Wesley Report's features, The K-Mart® Bible Scholar, is aimed at those everyday Methodists. Raynor takes a single topic, like prayer, faith, or sin, and uses the Bible to write practical messages. "I came up with the term K-Mart® Bible Scholar after hearing Youth Specialties founder Mike Yaconelli refer to himself as a K-Mart® pastor. Mike wasn't ordained, yet he still served as a pastor to a very small church until he passed away a few years ago. I have no formal seminary education, but I love teaching the Bible. And I love training regular people to study it for themselves." Raynor noted that a few pastors have even e-mailed asking to borrow some of his material for sermons.

"The United Methodist Church is an exciting place to be," noted Raynor, "We're evangelical and liturgical. We're right in the middle of the theological spectrum. I hope Wesley Report not only serves United Methodists but people outside of the church who want to know more about us. I think having a positive, independent media voice is a good thing."