The RPCNA Education & Publication Board proposed a unique staff arrangement for the next phase of leadership for the Covenanter Witness and Crown & Covenant Publications.

Missionary-pastor James C. Pennington was elected Director of Publications, serving one-quarter time from his office in West Lafayette, Ind. Serving under his oversight would be Drew and Lynne Gordon, who offered to serve in one full-time, job-sharing position as managing editors. At the same time, Synod granted $40,000 to Crown & Covenant Publications to help expand that publication ministry through several specific projects. Thus there was plenty of work for the three people serving in the 1-1/4 time capacity.

The greater emphasis on the publications ministry saw results, as sales for Crown & Covenant nearly doubled in the first year and would double again in the next four years. The director and editors chose not to tinker much with the time-tested format of the Covenanter Witness, though, and the basic structure and types of content saw few changes in the first several years. The size of the magazine did expand to 24 pages every month, rather than the alternating 16- and 24-page issues.

Pennington would move to Pittsburgh in 1987 and serve full-time as Director of Publications and Youth Ministries. He initiated the Youth Beat column that was edited and written by RP youth. A short-term missions program, which would become RP Missions, was born on his watch, and he facilitated the return of youth “ownership” and involvement at the denominational level.

A volatile printing industry—In the late 1980s and 1990s, printing costs were rising at a rate similar to the rate of health care in the past decade. Many publications were forced to cut back. At the same time, a new industry was beginning a quiet revolution. The E&P Office purchased a desktop publishing system in 1987, claiming it would pay for itself in production costs within three years. It paid for itself in less than two years, and allowed the Witness and Crown & Covenant a hedge against production cost increases in the years that followed, as well as greater control over the publication process.

In 1988, the Lord provided a means of printing through Herald Press, a local Mennonite publisher, and the Witness and The Book of Psalms for Singing were printed at very cost-effective rates.

In God’s providence, a building next door to the seminary was vacated in 1990, and it was offered to the E&P and Board of Trustees of Synod offices at a price below the market value. Thus the two departments were able to set up shop with a bit more space, and the Seminary was able to redeem space needed for its growing student population. This marked the first time in many decades that the E&P Board owned property.

By 1992, further cost increases in the printing industry, as well as budget tightening in the RPCNA, forced the E&P Board and staff to make significant cuts and changes. To avoid drastic price increases and reduction of the size of the magazine, the entire production process was brought in-house. Digital printing equipment printed the Witness in the former kitchen of their office building, and a large folding machine in one office collated, folded, and stitched the magazines. While this kept costs down and assured that the ministries could continue, there was a regrettable loss of quality, especially in photographs.

In 1993, after 7 years of oversight of the Witness, Pennington took a call to serve in the pastorate once again. He served as pastor of the Allegheny (Pittsburgh, Pa.) RPC while continuing for a time to serve as RPCNA coordinator of youth ministries. He was elected moderator of Synod in 2006.

The name of the magazine was changed for only the second time in its long history in January 2002. The board changing the name from Covenanter Witness to Reformed Presbyterian Witness was a relatively small one, and both names are rich in publishing predecessors on both sides of the Atlantic. But the name change generated a fair degree of controversy, both in the RPCNA Synod and among readers. To the present, some readers like to point out whether they favor the new or the old name (and feedback is still about 50/50).

By 2002, with increased competition and specialization in the printing industry, costs were falling significantly. The Witness was able to return to its old printer, Mercury Press, and to print the magazine in full color (on 4 of the 24 pages in each issue). The October 2002 issue also featured the first installments of the well-known columns on the psalms and the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). The WCF column covered a chapter per month for about three years; the psalms column (Songs of the Covenant) is a devotional commentary on one psalm per month and has now reached Psalm 70.

In 2005, continued competition in the printing industry allowed the magazine to move to full color throughout without increasing costs. Though the work was still done primarily in Pittsburgh, the printing and mailing would now be done near Chicago.

That same printer prints the Witness today, and the process is entirely digital from start to finish. Only when the ink hits the paper on the printing press is any paper necessarily involved in the production process.

Other unique features of the magazine in recent years include the addition of a short theological column, Learn & Live, covering one topic at a time. The Congregation of the Month feature began in 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular parts of the magazine.

The most recent editors have devoted an entire issue every couple of years to showcasing the artistic talents of readers, in both the visual and written arts, with a Creative Arts Issue. Multi-issue themes over the years have included a year-long series on evangelism (1994-95) and a five-part series on the solas of Scripture (2005-06).

—Drew Gordon