I work with people every day who are hired to herald the arrival of a new product, campaign, author or artist. They’re called publicists, and their sole
professional purpose is to stir up media hype surrounding whatever it is they’re pushing.
The good ones do this by establishing authentic relationship with media gatekeepers who, in turn, can trust the publicists to not pester them with projects outside of their audience’s interest. The bad ones aren’t just annoying, they’re often laughable with their misguided requests. Recently a publicist actually pitched me on writing an article—inCharisma, mind you—about how to help senior adults select “adult toys.” This clueless publicist figured that since our readers were within her target audience, her request was reasonable. (Sadly, she wasn’t joking.)
That’s low, but after watching some publicists at a recent political debate, I now know these hired guns can stoop lower. Amid the media frenzy succeeding this event were dozens of publicists who would follow the every move of “personalities” and hold name cards directly above the heads of these VIPs who apparently needed to be recognized. It didn’t matter if you were a politician, CEO or wannabe celebrity blogger, wherever you went these publicists were willing to look foolish for the sake of everyone knowing your name.
I laughed at the circus-like scene, but here’s the truth: As soon as anyone arrived with a placard-carrying publicist, he or she was swarmed by a group of reporters—many of whom probably had no idea who they were interviewing or why they should be conducting an interview until they saw the sign. However foolish the publicists’ efforts appeared, they worked.
I shouldn’t be snickering at these publicists; I’m called to do the same thing, albeit in a different arena. Charisma’s core vision is to empower believers for life in the Spirit, and a major way we do that is by highlighting how the Holy Spirit is moving around the globe. We want to follow the Spirit’s every move and herald His presence to anyone who comes across our path. The charismatic community has enough self-promoters, so our goal isn’t to elevate the name of the next celebrity preacher, but to lift up the name of Jesus, who is infinitely beyond VIP status. My sole purpose—indeed our magazine’s sole purpose—is to bring Him glory, and that includes following Him as closely as possible with a “sign” that declares who He is.
One of the newest signs we’re using to do this is Charisma Digital. If you haven’t seen it yet on a PC or tablet device, you’re missing out. Every issue is packed with all that’s on these pages, plus rich media (videos, podcasts, interactive articles, etc.) that we obviously can’t provide in print. Charisma Digital also allows us to give you live reports—updated as you read!—of what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world. We couldn’t have imagined having that kind of immediate connection with readers in years past, but now our stories can take on a life of their own. For more information or to subscribe, visit charismadigital.com, where you can view sample issues. Come join us as we publicize Jesus’ name in a brand new way!
