Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503170006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID CRUMM KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Examining the feverish youth and his swollen, blackened leg, a doctor declared that the boy would die. Around the turn of the century, few modern medicines were available.
But the boy's family refused to accept the verdict and began an all-night prayer vigil, pleading with God to save him.
As the sun rose the next morning, the fever broke. The leg's swelling suddenly subsided and the boy - Dwight D. Eisenhower - praised God that his life had been spared.
It's a classic true story from Guideposts, the nation's largest nondenominational religious magazine, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month by reprinting 17 of its most popular stories.
Guideposts may not be as well known as People, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek or the National Enquirer, but with a paid circulation of 4 million, it's bigger than any of them. It's the nation's 13th-largest magazine, just behind Time.
Its nationwide network of readers is much larger - estimated at about 17 million people by the Guideposts staff. That's because the stories have become such an emotional and spiritual mainstay in many people's lives that, after readers finish an issue, they pass it along to friends and relatives.
Besides the dramatic account of Ike's boyhood in the 50th anniversary issue, there are stories about a stubborn father asking for his daughter's forgiveness on his deathbed, a distraught son finding comfort in prayer after his mother's tragic death and a young African who walked 2,500 miles in 1958 to attend a Christian school.
``I got started with Guideposts because of my grandmother,'' recalls Janine Hermann, 39, a longtime subscriber who lives in Addison Township, Mich. ``She would read stories to us when we were at her house. And I remember, even as a child, some of those stories brought tears to my eyes. They always left me with a warm feeling.''
Now, as a homemaker and mother of children ages 5, 8 and 12, Hermann finds a different kind of comfort in the stories. ``As a parent, you realize that it's a hard world out there these days. It's really nice to find a magazine where every story ends with faith in God and a sense of hope.''
That's the key to the magazine's half century of success: a simple formula that Guideposts editors call the ``take-away.''
``Whether we're writing about celebrities or people you've never heard of before ... every one of these true stories has a take-away - something our readers can take and use in their own lives,'' says Van Varner, editorial director of the New York-based magazine.
The take-aways offer moral lessons or simple, down-home feelings of hope that brighten readers' days.
That has been Guideposts' mission since the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale launched it in March 1945. Preaching from the pulpit of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, Peale, who died in 1993, became the nation's chief cheerleader for what he called ``the power of positive thinking.''
Peale claimed that a regular prayer regimen helped people to develop a positive state of mind and strong willpower. And that led to success in life, he believed.
In his first issue, Peale featured World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker describing a plane crash he survived in the Pacific Ocean in 1942. For three weeks, Rickenbacker and six comrades floated on rubber life rafts, trusting God to send them enough rain water for survival.
The men prayed fervently each day - and enough rain fell.
Over the years, scores of celebrities have told personal stories in Guideposts about their faith, including Bob Hope, Walt Disney, Jimmy Stewart, Carol Burnett, James Earl Jones, Walter Cronkite and Diane Sawyer.
In one issue, Rosalind Russell, a Catholic, wrote that praying while holding a religious medal ``helps us focus our prayers, reminds us of our need for prayers.''
In another issue, ``B.C.'' cartoonist Johnny Hart described his realization, after many years, that God really ``was the source of my inspiration and creativity.''
But the most popular stories with longtime readers usually are the tales of people who aren't famous: husbands and wives surviving marital crises, parents reconciling with children, families struggling to overcome poverty.
In Guideposts stories, when trouble arises in a family, someone always finds a solution.
Guideposts editors spend a lot of time trying to understand the lives of subscribers. Market research tells them that 80 percent are women, most are middle aged or older and they come from almost every religious group in America, although the two biggest groups are Methodists and Baptists.
But the editors do more than look at research reports. They read thousands of readers' letters each year and meet every Monday morning in a conference room to pray for concerns in their readers' lives.
``I think that's one of the great strengths of our magazine - that we gather around that table for prayer. On our staff are Protestants, Catholics and Jews and we have this wonderful meeting ground in praying for our readers,'' Varner says.
The magazine carefully edits out most denominational distinctions and any hint of political controversy.
``In the past, we've always had well-known sports figures or authors or distinguished actors in the magazine, but very few political people,'' Varner says. ``And, now, we don't do political figures at all.''
Readers want comfort, not controversy, in Guideposts, he says.
It isn't hard to figure out why the magazine strikes such a chord with readers, Varner says.
``I believe there are spiritual truths in everybody. Often we have difficulty recognizing that. But if you dig deep enough in someone's life, you'll find those spiritual truths,'' he says.
by CNB