Change Around the Corner for Metro Voice

Traditionally, when churches, ministries, or businesses begin a succession plan, they don’t announce it to the public. It’s all hush-hush until the momentous unveiling when it is announced from a stage or something.

But those of you who read our weekly newsletter are a special group. You are our most loyal supporters. You invest your time in our work, and you support us with your advertising and donations. Most importantly, you keep our work in your prayers. So it is only right that we include you in our discussions. And we need your prayers!

We are nearing the milestone of completing four decades of service. Hard to believe, right? It is for us, too! We feel it in our bones. Not joking, here.

When we started this endeavor, we pasted strips of paper, coated with a wax backing, onto large boards and drove them to the printer. Then came the ability to save large files on floppies, CDs and finally emailing them to the printer. I remember all-night sessions at our various office locations in downtown Lee’s Summit. Our kids would be nestled in sleeping bags while we “put the paper” to bed late into the night.

In 2018, we transitioned to a fully digital publication. We had operated a website since about 1998–that’s the “Garden of Eden” of online news, right up there with the Juno and AOL email and CompuServe that used dial-up phone lines. But print paid the bills.

We changed as the times changed. And we must change again.

Fast forward to today. We likely have more readers than ever. And more work than ever as well. Keeping up with changing technology, social media needs, and the rapidly evolving news cycle is almost more than we can handle. Almost. But the day is coming.

With much prayer and honest self-examination, we realize that we are not where we need to be to reach the younger generations going forward. And we are probably not the people to do it. It remains Anita and me with the help of a few loyal writers like Alan and others like Joe and Stephanie–who have been with us for decades. Then there are our many personal friends. I won’t name any names (Paul, Theresa) and family who are there at the drop of a hat.

Anita and I still work 12-hour days, which covers more than just Metro Voice. We run an educational non-profit, organize multiple biblical tours each year, produce the yearly Midwest Christian College Expo (27 years this year) and I am president of the Evangelical Press Association. We are personally involved in pro-Israel work in Washington DC, host Holocaust education events, and serve as welcome allies to the local and national Jewish community. And, in the midst of this, perhaps the most important thing we do is watch one or both of our grandkids one day a week. Taken as a whole, we believe all of these activities serve the community (and our family) in unique and important ways, and hopefully will continue to serve long after we have departed this earth.

So in 2026, we will already be praying and planning for 2027 and 2028. Most likely, another local or regional Christian organization will slowly take over our operations in the future. Perhaps it will be an established Christian college with an active journalism school. Maybe another media outlet with a biblical worldview. We don’t know who yet. We are still praying. But we do know it needs to happen for Metro Voice to remain relevant and effective in the current media environment.

As Anita celebrated her 71st birthday this week, I realized that time creates changes and challenges, but also new opportunities.

Ours is around the corner.

I sincerely ask that you pray that the Lord would reveal His perfect will for us and Metro Voice. And, as always, thank you for another year of support. May you and yours be blessed in 2026.

–Dwight Widaman