A Man and His Dream …

As we celebrate -- and contemplate -- the first 20 years of this magazine, it seems incredible to look at how far we've come, how much we've changed. Despite the thousands of readers and considerable international reputation and influence it now enjoys, Sojourners magazine had far more humble roots. It seems appropriate, as we begin our third decade, to reflect on those roots, those fragile beginnings, that eventually led to a movement.

In the beginning there was only a man and a dream ... and a small inheritance from a rich relative. The man with that dream was me, Ed Spivey Jr. The inheritance was gambled away in Las Vegas ... BUT, getting back to that dream ... it was a dream of publishing a magazine. And at the heart of this magazine would be a humor column, a place where a reader could take a break from life's humdrum and maybe shed a tear of laughter to make it all better.

And alongside this humor column (the dream went on) would be ... oh, a bunch of other stuff about politics, or maybe religion or culture or something else, but the main thing would be this humor column.

I knew I couldn't do it alone. To achieve this ambitious plan would require the finest minds of the day, so I contacted the giants of publishing: award-winning journalists, top-flight publication managers, experienced marketing and circulation experts.

Their response was enthusiastic and unanimous. "Hey! Do you know what time it is? It's the middle of the night! Who gave you my home number?" And so on.

So then I called Jim Wallis.

Well, Jim was driving a school bus at the time, not doing anything in particular, so he said, "Sure," and the rest is history. A lot of other people joined in my dream, but we've forgotten their names because they really weren't all that important ... I mean, whose dream was this in the first place?!

So, anyway, in 1971 Sojourners magazine was born. Actually it was first called The Post-American, on account of our being sort of against some policies of this country, like war and other stuff. But people said they didn't quite understand the name so we decided to change it a few years later. We wanted to come up with a name that is immediately recognizable, a name that conveys the essence of who we are and what we believe. We couldn't come up with one, of course, so we chose Sojourners instead.

As the years went by, more and more people started believing in the things we wrote about. Sojourners, it turned out, was developing a massive following. They followed us wherever we went. When we went out for lunch, they followed us. When we went to the bus stop, they followed us. We tried backtracking and sharp turns, but they were always there, about a half-block behind, following us.

As this community of supporters grew, we had to decide what to do with them. What do you do with a growing movement of Christians committed to justice and peace?

"Why don't we sell them things?" That was Joe Roos's idea. He's our publisher, but before that, he was driving a bus, too. (Joe Roos also has a master's degree in atmospheric science, but we were more impressed by the bus gig.) So we started Sojourners Department of Buttons and T-Shirts. A little later we began the Sojourners Peace Ministry (also known as the Department of Big Banners and Bothersome Leaflets). Not to mention the Sojourners Draft House 'n' Diet Center.

With this powerful new constituency we took to the streets, promising to march until there was peace in the world, or until we got thirsty. Judges even sentenced some of us to time in jail for what we believed. Other judges let us go, saying that our time served in affinity groups was punishment enough.

And all this started from one man's dream and his courage to share it with others. And today Sojourners magazine is one of the most respected Christian publications in Northeast Washington, DC.

Its staff members are invited to appear on locally syndicated talk shows. It wins major journalism awards (like the Evangelical Press Association's coveted third place award for best cover design). Its staff members sometimes eat at restaurants close to Capitol Hill, the seat of this nation's government. And do you think it is just a coincidence that the Berlin Wall came down the same year that Sojourners had an article on communism being a bad idea?

It's an impressive legacy, no? And it was all my idea. No matter what they say elsewhere in this issue, just remember that it was my idea.

Ed Spivey Jr. is art director of Sojourners.