Publisher's Statement
Roy E. Cogdill A little more than two years ago when it seemed that Brother Foy E. Wallace, Jr., could carry the load of publishing the Bible Banner on his shoulders no longer, we formed a publishing company in Lufkin and went into the printing business in order to carry on a work that we felt must not fail. A magnificent job of withstanding error in the church had been done by Brother Wallace through more than ten years at a great personal sacrifice of money, physical strength, mental peace, and personal popularity. Through these two years we have experienced our "baptism of fire" and we have no regrets as to the effort it has cost us to do what we have done. Many all over the country have voiced their appreciation of the continuation of the work. The job has not been done like we would like to have done it. Brother Wallace has not been situated so as to have the active part in it that we would have had him take. With limited resources and ability we have done our best to carry on. We have struggled day and night to do enough commercial printing work to pay the deficit on the Bible Banner and carry it along. We have not scoured the country for contributions, in fact we haven't asked for any, and we have put on no high and mighty financial promotion, stock selling scheme or anything similar.
Now we are undertaking even a greater task and we know to start with that it can be done with your help. We will continue to work day and night in order to do our part at this end of the line. We must have the cooperation of every friend to this work, however, in order to do what we are trying to do. It is our conviction that one of the outstanding needs today for the cause of truth is a weekly paper, alive to the issues that disturb, constructive in purpose, militant in spirit. In other words, a paper that stands for everything that is right and against every thing that is wrong. A paper that is not afraid to speak out on any issue, one that is interested in principles rather than policy. Politics on every hand have rendered so many otherwise strong agencies for truth impotent and sterile.
We want to make the revived, "Gospel Guardian" such a paper. It means stepping under a veritable deluge of work as well as tremendous financial responsibility. I do not mean that we are on any uncertain basis. I do mean though that we have a tremendous job to do and we need your help.
We are asking for 10,000 new subscribers. With the list of paid subscribers we already have this will give us the greatest opportunity of reaching the whole church with the truth of any medium in existence. This will not only underwrite the good that we can do but it will guarantee the means with which to do it.
We will limit our list to only paid up subscribers. Those who have not paid up to the first of January, 1949, will not receive a copy of the new paper but will be dropped from our list. We simply cannot carry any dead weight in this effort. If your subscription is due during January, February, March, or April, 1949, and you can likely tell from the date appearing by your address on the paper, you will receive the paper through the month of May but will be dropped by June 1st, unless you renew by that time. Those who do not renew within a thirty-day period after their subscription expires will be dropped from the list. We will carry only those names who either pay themselves or are paid for by someone else. It will greatly help if every subscriber will send a year's renewal for the new paper now.
The subscription price will be $2.00 per year. That is too low to come out without a deficit but it seems to be standard. We will carry no paid advertising. Those already paid some in advance on the Bible Banner list will receive the paper one half as long as you would have received the Bible Banner. You will get a weekly paper for one half the time you have paid in advance on a monthly. The paper will start as an eight page weekly and just as soon as sound business judgment win permit we will advance to a twelve and then a sixteen page regular issue.