Faith and Family: Serving God and Southwest Kansas
for 20 years
by
Stan Wilson
This
issue marks the 20th Anniversary of Faith and Family and I
have been rewarded beyond my wildest imagination. A friend suggested that I
read “The Prayer of Jabez” when I started the newspaper and God has rewarded me
equally. 1 Chronicles 4;10. “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh,
that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would
be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain! So God granted him what he requested.”
Ironically, another friend just
shared with me the scripture which he holds dear. Proverbs 3: 5-6. “If you want
favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgement and common
sense, then trust the lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself. In everything
you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with
success.”
I produced Faith and Family
on my own for the first 7 years, and then my lovely wife, Linda, joined me with
the newspaper. I have no doubt that God used her to “expand my territory” until
her death in 2012.
A little over two years ago, I shared with a few
friends how I longed for another lady in my life and one of them told me, “If
God has a lady for you, then He will make her available in His own perfect
timing and you will know when He has acted.”
God
fulfilled His part when I first met Janice on April 25, 2019. From the first
time that I met Janice, I couldn’t believe how perfectly matched we were. With
His blessings, we were married July 15, 2019 in her home-town church in Ulysses
and we’ve been attending the First Christian Church in Dodge City since we
started dating.
She
immediately joined me in producing Faith and Family and this has brought
unbelievable joy to my heart to have her at my side as we serve the LORD every
day as we produce Faith and Family.
When
I was visiting with other publishers prior to starting Faith and Family, they ALL said that Southwest Kansas just didn’t
have enough businesses to support a monthly Christian newspaper. I have joked
that either they didn’t know God or they didn’t know the people in Southwest
Kansas.
I
also thank God for preparing me for this ministry for my entire life. First, he
gave me the most wonderful Christian parents that any person has ever had. I take no credit for my abilities because He
has given me the skills and abilities needed to produce the newspaper. Faith and Family is His newspaper and Janice
and I are just the caretakers!
I
have made it a practice to publish my Christian Testimony in every anniversary
issue. This year is no different. God prepared me for His service from the
beginning of time. (He just didn’t show me until 2001.) With 20/20 hindsight, I
see how each event in my life served to prepare me. Many times, these changes
were painful.
I
grew up in a Christian home in Odessa, Texas and my parents taught me a great
respect for all denominations. I do not
remember a time that we did not attend church and Sunday School as a family.
Thank you, God, for giving me such wonderful parents.
After
graduating from college in 1970 with a B.A. in journalism, I have worked in the
newspaper business ever since.
I achieved my
professional dream when I became Publisher of the Atchison Daily Globe.
This changed in 1999 when the newspaper was sold. I lost my “dream job” when the new owners
replaced me the day that they purchased the newspaper.
I
accepted the position of Advertising Manager with the Dodge City Daily Globe,
but I soon became very unhappy. I then
accepted the position of advertising manager with the Derby Reporter, a
major step back in my career. I didn’t
want to go, but “a little birdie” told me to accept the offer.
While
in Derby, I “stumbled” across the Wichita Chronicle, a Christian
newspaper serving Wichita. I didn’t even know that Christian newspapers existed
in 2001. After browsing the newspaper,
“a little light came on.” Why couldn’t I start such a newspaper for Southwest
Kansas…..and Southwest Kansas Faith and Family
was conceived. (Do you think the “little birdie” that told me to take the job
in Derby was God?..I know it
was.)
As
though the gift of Faith and Family
wasn’t enough, God gave me another blessing in 2007 when God fulfilled a dream
that I always had, but never imagined that I would get. He sent me on a
one-week tour of Israel, as a guest of the state of Israel. There is no
question that God sent me on this trip.
I
ask for your prayers that Faith and Family may continue to grow and be
blessed
Janice
was raised in Ulysses, Kansas and she married her high
school boyfriend. Their marriage was blessed with three children who have given
her 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Throughout
her marriage, both Janice and her husband were active in their church and
Janice even played the piano and organ regularly.
The
marriage ended when Tom ‘s heart conditioned worsened and he passed away
shortly after heart surgery.
Janice
and I both started feeling a need for another life-mate late and since neither
of us had been in the “dating scene” for quite some time, we both enlisted the
aid of “E-Harmony” which is where we met.
Our
communication started off a little “rocky”…or funny,
if you will. In her E-Harmony biography, Janice stated that she already had
children, but was open to having more children. I responded that I was not
“Abraham” and did not wish to start a new family at my age. She responded that
what she meant was that she was open to accepting my children as her own; not
to having more children. We’ve both laughed many times at this rocky start.
Janice
had also helped her first husband in his business and she was excited at the
thought of helping me with Faith and Family. Can you believe that God
not only provided me with a new wife, but with a new “Angel” to help with the
newspaper. I CAN…after all YES, WE HAVE AN AWESOME GOD