By Shawn McMullen

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

The Lookout has been educating, challenging, and discipling followers of Christ for nearly 130 years—since 1888. There have been changes along the way. For example, it was first published under the name Young People’s Standard to promote the work of young adults in the church during the time of the popular Christian Endeavor prayer movement. In 1894 the name of the publication was changed to The Lookout to correspond to a change in editorial direction as it became a journal of “Christian education for older young people and adults.” The name The Lookout was borrowed from Christian Endeavor’s Lookout Committee, a group responsible for attendance, promotion, and growth.

For many years following, The Lookout served as a Sunday school take-home paper and championed the growth of the Sunday school across the nation. In fact, Guy Leavitt, who edited The Lookout for 31 years (from 1925–1956) was known throughout the country as “Mr. Sunday School.” Leavitt led national Sunday school campaigns during his tenure and encouraged thousands of congregations to use the Sunday school venue to disciple men and women in the local church. For decades esteemed Bible teachers P.H. Welshimer of Canton, Ohio and Orrin Root of Cincinnati led faithful Bible students through Scripture in The Lookout’s weekly Sunday school lesson commentary. Mr. Root alone wrote the weekly commentary for more than 50 years.

Throughout its many years and many changes, The Lookout has consistently focused on helping believers grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. That commitment remains as solid as ever in the changes we’ll soon be introducing in the publication.

I’ll share more about these changes in the weeks to come. I hope for now, as our publisher Jerry Harris indicated in last week’s editorial, that you’ll find the new edition of The Lookout to be a most valuable tool for personal devotions, group study, and discipleship.