After nearly eight years, the October 2011 issue of Living Stones News will be the last issue to be printed on paper. The November 2011 issue will be online only at www.livingstonesnews.com.

Dear readers:

I begin this letter to you with mixed emotions.

I have great sadness that this October issue of Living Stones News will be the last printed issue. And yet, I have great
expectations and joy knowing that the same great testimonies of people whose lives have been changed by the love of Jesus will continue on the Internet for all of the world to read.

The decision to discontinue printing a paper copy of Living Stones News was not easy for the editorial staff, and there are a number of reasons for that
decision.

No. 1 is that the staff believes God is leading us through the changing times of our culture — a time of incredible, fast-moving technology, social networking and mobile devices. The trend is for newspapers to go online to be available to those readers. If Living Stones News is to be
accessible to this generation, it must stay current with how people are going to read the news. The number of people accessing Living Stones News on the Web has been increasing every month. In September, there were approximately 200,000 hits with more than 34,000 unique visitors from many different countries reading Living Stones News.

A second reason for discontinuing printing is the cost of printing and distribution. With a sluggish economy, procuring advertising dollars to pay the printing bill and other expenses was becoming more difficult. Maintaining a website is far less expensive.

A third issue is that I will be 68 years old in November and my husband will be 71 on Oct. 17. Unloading the semi-truck each month was getting harder, and other staff members needed to help. Also, having Living Stones News online will be much easier for the staff to maintain in the event I can no longer be the publisher.

Without going back and counting articles in each issue from the paper’s nearly eight-year existence, I can guesstimate that Living Stones News has published about 550 personal testimonies of people whose lives have been changed by the love of Jesus.

In Psalm 9:1, David says, “I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done.” That is what Living Stones News has done and will continue to do online — to publish His good works.

Leaving the printed paper copy behind brings sadness to all of us at Living Stones News because some readers won’t be able to access it online. We regret that many of our friends who are incarcerated in prisons and jails will not have access. We have appreciated their letters telling us how much they can relate to the testimonies we have printed, that they are encouraged and strengthened by reading those testimonies and that they pass the newspaper around to other inmates.

We regret there will be many senior readers who do not have a computer and will not be able to read Living Stones News. For this we are very sorry and sad. But the staff feels God is calling Living Stones News to become more accessible to this generation of younger people who read online, even from their iPhones.

With the November issue, the Living Stones News website will be a new format that will have new material posted every few days. We will have a devotional by Kami Scott and a new column by Rick Lubbers talking about his recent trip to Israel. The Living Stones News photo gallery will remain with incredible photography snapped with a spiritual emphasis.

We hope you bookmark www.livingstonesnews.com and go there often to read the amazing stories of how God has redeemed His children. If you aren’t on our webletter distribution list, you can sign up on the website home page to receive notifications when new articles are posted.

All of the articles and columns that have been printed during the past eight years will remain in the archives and can be easily accessed by searching for a word or a name.

If you have questions about the Living Stones News transition to online only, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me at (218) 728-4945.

Thank you for your faithfulness in reading Living Stones News. Pass the word that Living Stones News is accessible online, 24 hours a day, 7 days week.

P.S. If you can help your parents or grandparents access www.livingstonesnews.com, please do so.

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Living Stones News - the beginning

Newspaper founders heeded God’s will to give Him their ‘lunches’ and create a Christian paper.

On the morning of Sept. 8, 2002, I had devotions in the attic that my husband, Kent, remodeled for me so I would have a place to write. (The attic has been the office of Living Stones News for eight years.)

I specifically asked God that morning, “What do You want me to write?”

I had a degree in journalism, and I was studying fiction and nonfiction writing, but I didn’t have anything I wanted to write. Later that same day, I went to lunch at the revolving Top of the Harbor restaurant at the Radisson in Duluth, Minn., with two friends from church — Susan and Muriel. As the restaurant revolved and we looked out on Duluth and Superior, Wis., Muriel said out of the clear blue, “My husband says what this place needs is a good Christian newspaper.”

I stopped eating. I know the fork stopped midway to my mouth, and holy goose bumps just flowed over me from head to foot. I’m sure I even heard the Lord say out loud, “Is that clear enough for you?”

I knew He was calling me to publish a newspaper. So, I told the Lord, “Yes, I’ll do a newspaper.”

Later on as I talked to God, I told Him, “I have two years to work before I retire from my job, and then I will do the Christian newspaper.” I should have known then the foolishness of telling God my plans. He had a plan for me, and it didn’t include waiting two years.

In May 2003 — just eight months from when God let me know I was to do a newspaper — I was driving to Ashland, Wis., for a work meeting. I heard someone on the radio talking about God wanting her lunch. A woman was talking about God calling her to go speak Biblical truths into the public school systems.

She referred to the story of the little boy in John 6 where Jesus wanted to feed the 5,000. The little boy had a poor boy’s lunch — only two fish and five barley loaves. It was nothing! But the little boy gave it willingly to Jesus. It was when Jesus touched it and blessed it that the miracle happened — more than enough food for everyone there and 12 baskets of food left over!

This woman on the radio said, “God, You want my lunch, don’t You?”

The same thought came to me, “God, You want my lunch. I have nothing on my own. What writing skills I have You gave me. You drew me into a journalism degree. You used Muriel to tell me to do a newspaper. You put me right where You wanted me to hear this talk today. You want me to do the Christian newspaper now rather than wait another year and a half.”

I had peace.

As I prayed and said, “Yes, I’ll do the newspaper now,” I told God that I was going to trust Him completely to provide everything that was needed to publish the newspaper — the money, the people, the stories, the equipment, the energy. I even remember using these words, “Lord, I’m still working. I can’t lay awake and worry about where anything is going to come from, so I’m going to trust You like I’ve never trusted You before.”

God’s faithfulness in sending people to make LSN possible has been the most exciting part of publishing. Each person has his or her own story of God calling them up and their obedience to this newspaper ministry.

In February 2004 we published the first issue of LSN — 5,000 copies of a 12-page newspaper with stories about what God is doing in people’s lives. Color on the front and back pages only. Our website — www.livingstonesnews.com — went up at the same time as our first print issue.

Our mission statement is “Living Stones News is a free, monthly, nondenominational Christian publication whose purpose is to glorify God, to reach out to the unsaved and to bring hope, encouragement, peace and the unconditional love of Jesus Christ to our readers.”

The testimonial articles are the hallmark of Living Stones News. These are the stories of people whose lives have been changed by the love of Jesus. We have been blessed to tell stories of people who are obedient because Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.”

In 2006 we started a separate Living Stones News for the Sioux Falls, S.D., area, but after 17 months we merged both newspapers to save money. The paper has been supported through advertising and donations from Friends of LSN.

In February 2011 we started our eighth year. Each month we printed about 14,000 copies of a 20-page newspaper with color on 12 pages, not just the front and back covers. We have distributed in the Greater Sioux Falls area, Grand Rapids, Minn., the Greater Twin Ports area, up the North Shore, over to Wisconsin and the Chequamegon Bay and Hayward regions.

The newspaper was distributed in agencies, churches, businesses, grocery stores, jails and prisons, and about 60 were sent out for subscriptions. Our website is approaching 200,000 hits each month with visitors from 60br> ddifferent foreign countries — the Netherlands, Russia and Canada being the top users. God had a plan for my life and the other 80 people who work on Living Stones News in some capacity. We laid our lunches at His feet. What we had, He touched, and only then did the miracle of Living Stones News happen.

And our faith and trust in God has grown with each challenge the newspaper has thrown at us. We bless the name of Jesus for all He has done and for allowing us to be a part of this great big Gospel tract.