Forward Movement announces leadership restructuring
Episcopal News Service. March 3, 2011 [030311-02]
ENS staff
Forward Movement Publications has announced that it will split its editor and director job into two positions next year and is searching for two people to fill those roles.
The two people would succeed the Rev. Dr. Richard H. Schmidt, who announced in December that he would retire in 2011. Schmidt, 66, has led the Cincinnati-based Forward Movement since 2005.
The organization is now searching for an executive director to oversee all aspects of its ministry with special attention to marketing, and a managing editor to select topics and authors for its publications, edit manuscripts and supervise production of all publications, print and electronic. Detailed job descriptions are here.
"These two jobs represent a great opportunity to do creative work in the church," the Rev. Jay Sidebotham, chair of the search committee and rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. "We're excited about the ways that Forward Movement is moving forward, building on its strong tradition to reach out in new ways, as we invite people into a deeper relationship with God and others through a deeper spiritual life.
"It's a great opportunity for someone with creativity and energy, someone with a heart for the Episcopal Church and an understanding of the varied ways we communicate these days," Sidebotham continued. "We believe there is a great future ahead for Forward Movement."
Forward Movement marked its 75th anniversary last year. What is now Forward Movement Publications grew out of a decision made by the General Convention that convened in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in October 1934. That meeting of convention created a Forward Movement Commission and gave it the charge to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work."
The group vowed to hold meetings and conferences on discipleship throughout the church, "use every possible means to restore confidence and loyalty to the church's national leadership" and appoint men, women and young people to serve as associate members of the commission to spread its work, according to a history posted on the Forward Movement website. The commission also decided to print a devotional manual on discipleship for Lent of 1935 meant to unite the church in Bible reading and prayer, the history says.
Today, Forward Movement publishes 200 titles, including its flagship quarterly devotional, Forward Day by Day, and the Spanish version, Dia a Dia. Approximately 250,000 bulk-order copies are sold of each Forward Day by Day edition, both in regular and large print, Schmidt said. Another 20,000 individuals subscribe, including at least one person in every one of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. Schmidt has estimated that about 10,000 copies go to non-Episcopalians.
A strategic business plan adopted by the organization's board of directors in 2010 focuses on producing compelling Christian content from a diverse pool of authors and disseminating it in traditional and new ways.