So last weekend, I had this crazy idea to start a magazine that could be an outlet for writers and artists in the church. And that's where Fragment started.

After giving myself a couple of days to think about it, I mentioned it to my pastor, Jon. He thought it was a good idea and gave me the go-ahead to start working on it. So I went to the library and got a few design books and started brainstorming name ideas, even asking from friends on my personal blog and on an Internet message board I frequent. I came up with a list of about 20-25 names before finally narrowing it down to THE ONE: Fragment.

Here is the reasoning behind the name:

Fragment: A literary and arts magazine

1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 12

4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

God has gifted different people in different ways, and all these people are the fragments that make up the body of Christ. The purpose of this publication is to give a glimpse into a fragment that can sometimes be overlooked in the church – writers and artists.


I ran this by a few people, then by Jon, and he said he liked it, so that's what I'm going with!

My immediate plan for working on the mag includes creating a fairly solid timeline for a first edition.

In the short term, I need to find one or two other people who can help me come up with some design ideas, especially for some promotional stuff Jon will want to assist in getting people at Vineyard involved. For right now, submissions will only be open to people who attend Vineyard. I also need to recruit a few people to serve on an editorial board. I made a list of editors I would like to have, but I think I may even just narrow it down to a handful of overall editors rather than having one over each section. Maybe three editors (editor, writing editor, art editor?) and an art director. I'll have to give that some more thought. Another thing I need to do is work out how much printing the publication will cost and finding a printer. I have a couple of ideas on that, too, but I don't want to share those yet!

I hope to actually start accepting submissions by around the beginning of December. Once that time hits, a whole new slew of responsibilities will hit, so I'm trying to take it one step at a time.

I'm extremely excited about this. I think it's something that people who may not get involved in a lot of other stuff will be able to get involved with. I will be updating on the joys and frustrations of this whole process here, so please check back often. For those who attend Vineyard, I also will have information for submitting items once we are ready to start that. I also hope to eventually open this up to other submitters, but it'll definitely be an in-house thing the first time around.