Interim replacement publication will be available to more readers via the internet.

By Review Staff

After 11 years, four months of publication, and a total of more than 296 issues, the California-Nevada Annual Conference edition of the United Methodist Review ends with this issue, as the Conference transitions into improved forms of communication.

Beginning sometime in October, an interim "Newscope" style publication will become available as a temporary form of distributing Conference news and information to interested people.

Called Cal-Nevada UM Circuit, it will be published twice a month, according to Bruce Hilton, who chairs the Conference Communication's Committee's print sub-committee. It oversees the Review, and development of the interim publication.

Regarding the "Newscope" style-publication, Hilton emphasized that "it will be interim." "Newscope" is a national United Methodist Publishing House publication, much like a digest-style newsletter: Short stories contained on four pages.

It is laid out in a simple fashion, then printed on one folded 11" by 17" piece of paper. "Newscope"is also available online at http://www.umph.com/resources/publications/newscope/.

Decisions about the design of the Conference publication, and general content makeup were decided at a Conference Communications Committee meeting, Saturday, September 23, as the final print edition of the Review was on the press in Dallas.

Among other elements, the transitional publication will include news of what affects churches, Conference-wide, and will have‹in story form‹items, which used to be flyers in the Coordinated Mail.

National and world news of interest to United Methodists will also be reported, with references to where longer versions of stories may be found.

The interim publication will be mailed at no cost to current Review subscribers who do not have access to e-mail, according to the Communications Committee. Contact Jennifer McGrath at the Conference Office to arrange a print subscription. She may be reached at (916) 374-1515 or by e-mail to jenniferm@calnevumc.org

Those who do have computer connectivity can get on the electronic mailing list by sending a message to signmeup@calnevumc.org with the subject, "Here's my e-mail address."

"This is an interim phase," Hilton reiterated, "because we want to make sure that whatever replaces the UMR (Review) and the Coordinated Mail is the best possible thing for the job."

The first California-Nevada Annual Conference Review was published on May 26, 1989 as the Conference transitioned from a weekly edition of the regular newspaper-sized United Methodist Reporter, which began on June 23, 1972, following a sample which carried the pastoral appointments for that year.

The biweekly Conference Review edition consists of four tabloid pages wrapped around usually a dozen national and world news pages edited by UMR Communications, Inc. UMR Communications is the Dallas-based non-profit corporation, which publishes the Review and Reporter for United Methodist Conferences and congregations, and papers for several other denominations. It was originally started and owned by the Texas Annual Conference to publish the Texas Methodist newspaper.

Hilton co-chairs the Communications Audit Task Force, and is Communications Committee liaison with UMR Communications. "For years, it's been increasingly obvious that the UMR (Review) was not meeting the needs of the Cal-Nevada Conference," Hilton said. "Cal-Nevada editors handle only the four pages wrapped around the national edition. The majority of the pages are edited in Dallas, Texas, and­despite strenuous efforts by the communications committee­have continued to exhibit a conservative stance," he said.

Until last year, all seven Districts within the Conference edited and published two monthly tabloid pages of news from within their regions, but dropping circulation and rising costs caused three to abandon the publication. They now send "camera-ready" newsletters to churches, which copy and mail with their local newsletters, or insert in Sunday worship bulletins.

As of September 29, the Golden Gate District began publishing an e-mail newsletter, which we have converted to an HTML page for your convenience. Click here for GoldenGateSpan.html.

Three districts have web sites: Delta at http://gbgmchurches.gbgm-umc.org/deltadistrict/default.htm; Fresno, via http://www.gbgm-umc.org/fresno/; and San Jose at http://www.gbgm-umc.org/sjd/. Unfortunately, the San Jose site was not operating properly on September 29-30 when we checked links for correctness.

The shift from the Review to completely-Conference edited and distributed forms of communication was sparked in part by a lengthy communications audit, the results of which were laid out for Conference Staff at the end of May. (See sidebar: "Communications Audit to be made available" ComAudit.html) Participants in the audit said most often that they wanted information about successes at California-Nevada Conference churches, which could be used by other congregations in the Conference.

Declining subscriptions were another reason for making the shift. In the early 1990's, more than 7,500 papers were mailed to readers in congregations and homes across the Conference. That has dropped to under 2,500 with this issue.

The Review annual subscription cycle expires with this issue, Hilton noted. "We were forced to act quickly because of that," and the delayed Communications Audit. The Communications Committee and Conference financial managers wanted to avoid the confusion of accepting subscriptions for one kind of publication, now, then the complexity of issuing refunds if the publication changed in mid-year.

"The process of replacing the UMR will take six to nine months, during which comments and suggestions from people across the Conference will be most welcome," Hilton said.

Comments can be e-mailed to communicationscomments@calnevumc.org, or sent by US Postal Service to "Communications Comments", California-Nevada Annual Conference, PO Box 980250, West Sacramento, CA, 9595798-0250.

To comment on this story for publication, send e-mail to news@calnevumc.org. Include your name, church, and city of residence.

Readers who wish to continue subscribing to the National edition of the Review may contact UMR Communications, toll free at (800) 947-0207, extension 120 during normal business hours for the Central time zone.

News published in the national print edition of the Review can often be read online at http://www.umr.org