This is a downloadable .pdf of my first missions news website, Called and Sent Magazine. A couple of stories in here, including “From Murderer to Missionary,” still rank among my favorite stories. I wrote most of the stories from the Philippines during our several months there in 2006. This file is 23MB, but if you download it, you can search it by keyword.

---

My first professional article — Sept. 18, 1993, Stevens Point Journal. I got to the game early and quickly discovered that I had to keep my own stats. Didn’t know that. I developed my own little system right then and there, and it made all the difference to my story. It was a great lesson in thinking on my feet.

Back in those days, the Journal’s press sat in the basement. The place smelled like old ink and bad language. That smell is forever bonded to my memory of writing this story late that night. It was worth it to see my byline in print the next day. The 20 bucks plus mileage that they paid sports stringers back then didn’t hurt, either.

---

First freelance article – about welfare reform in Wisconsin and nationwide (Christianity Today, Feb. 5, 1996)

First overseas article – about government of Belarus hassling non-Orthodox Christians (Christianity Today, Nov. 18, 2002)