November 2008

ARTICLE TOOLS

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I have a sneaking suspicion that one of our staff members lives in a parallel universe where days have more than 24 hours and weeks more than seven days. I have no other way of explaining the output of deputy managing editor Tim Morgan.

Tim has been with Christianity Today now for 16 years, and to say that he has grown into his job would not be accurate. He has outgrown his job, not in the sense that he is now fit for something else, but that he has put his current job on growth hormones or something like steroids.

I was reviewing annual staff output recently to ensure their workload is balanced. I discovered it isn't, mainly because Tim has edited or written a record number of pieces this year:

• January's cover story by Tony Carnes and Denise McGill on Turkey
• February's major photo essay on a Dallas-based journalist who adopted a special-needs child
• March's cover story by John W. Kennedy on sex addiction
• May's cover story by Rob Moll and Gary Gnidovic on China
• August's cover story by Deann Alford on nascar
• October's cover story by Tony Carnes and John W. Kennedy on the election, while writing a piece on major Anglican conferences in Jerusalem and Lambeth—both of which he attended.

And this issue he wrote, with Isaac Phiri, the cover story on the global food crisis.

That's six cover stories—half of our covers for the year. This number doesn't include several other print and online stories, blog posts, and regular contributions to the editorial page and this column. When young staffers ask me what an editor looks like when he or she grows up, I point to Tim's office.

What's interesting is the way Tim approaches his work. He is not the type to rush around at 100 miles an hour and snap at everyone because he has so much on his plate. He doesn't show up at the office until after 9 most mornings because his family remains a priority. He sometimes leaves in the middle of the afternoon to attend one of his three children's functions, and he accompanied his wife on a choir tour in England this summer. Yes, I catch him at the office sometimes until 6 or 7 p.m., but it isn't because he doesn't have a life outside of the office.

Given the variety of stories Tim has shepherded this year alone, you can see why, when a new staffer says they are stuck on a story and I'm in over my head on the topic, my knee-jerk response is, "Talk with Tim." Tim's wise editorial hand can be found behind many of the stories produced by our staff this year.

I have been thinking about giving Tim a new title, because "deputy managing editor" seems so prosaic given his output. He is more like a superhero of journalism, so I was thinking of adding "super" to the beginning of his title, or maybe "incredible" or "mighty." But when I think about it, there is but one word to describe Tim's dedication to the ministry of ct and the quality of journalism he produces. So how about this? "Tim Morgan, Extraordinary Deputy Managing Editor."

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This article was also published with Christianity Today's cover package on hunger: Hunter isn't History, Urban Orphans Learn to Farm, Raising Hunger Awareness, and Map: Where to Find World Hunger.

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