The aim then and today, Case emphasizes, was not to form a cadre of journalistic evangelists, but to promote the merits of being a Christian in the secular media and to impart essentials for professional excellence—using the English language with skill and creativity, and striving for the highest standards of writing.

Because of his background and his effectiveness in fund raising, Case was asked to coordinate the initial four-week World Journalism Institute in Asheville. Despite teaching on the West Coast full-time, Case agreed that he and his wife, Kathy, would plan the program, then live in Asheville for six weeks to direct the event. Kathy would serve as cook and on-site "mom."

Narrowing the focus to secular media

The initial purpose was to train young journalists to write for World, establish a "farm team" for Christian publications, and prepare students for the mainstream media.

"We promoted it through the magazine, but when Kathy and I left for Asheville, we didn't know who would show up. We had 24 students and more than 20 practicing journalists who volunteered to teach. It was the most remarkable thing I had ever done," said Case.

Belz was so impressed that he challenged the Cases to relocate to Asheville and direct the Institute full-time—even without assured funding for the enterprise. Leaving secure, established careers was not easy, but in January 2000, Bob informed his dean he would resign at the end of the spring semester, and Kathy told her school principal she would be leaving her first-grade teaching position.

The Cases are always refining and "always reforming" this unique training school. Case narrowed the focus to preparing believers for work in the secular media, since resources for Christian publications were already available. Enrollment was limited to college upperclassmen and graduates. After testing four-week and two-week sessions, WJI decided three-week sessions were ideal, offering one each in May, June, and July, followed by five weeks of practical reporting and writing assignments.

Meeting in major media markets

Another important development came in 2000 after The King's College asked Case to help create a journalism curriculum for them. The college had moved from Briarcliff, N.Y. to the Empire State Building in Manhattan. This ultimately led to holding all of the summer Institutes in major media centers and electing to relocate the WJI headquarters to New York City in 2006.

Three times a year, groups of approximately 15 young men and women, college graduates and upperclassmen, convene in New York City; the Washington, D.C. campus of Regent University; and Biola University in Los Angeles for intensive three-week WJI courses. They learn how a biblical worldview affects their work: covering the day's news. To learn how to practice their craft with excellence, they receive hands-on instruction from top journalists who are Christians, such as the esteemed John McCandlish Phillips, who reported many years for the New York Times. Every day they tackle reporting assignments to immediately apply what they learn. They even meet media notables who are not believers to better understand other points of view.

After completing the Institute's residency portion, students get assistance in obtaining internships or freelance assignments for five weeks to give them a jumpstart on professional experience. Upon completion of the entire two-month program, students earning an "A" are designated World Journalism Institute "fellows." Often, undergraduate students also receive college credit.

"If we enrolled more kids in each Institute, it would lower our cost per student—but it also would lower the quality of instruction. So we remain heavily supported by contributions, keeping the cost to each individual around $500, including housing, books, and most meals," Case explained. "We even underwrite internships for students."

WJI also offers conferences to appeal to aspiring African-American and Hispanic journalists. The weekend conferences, held at Morehouse College in Atlanta and Florida International University in Miami, have successfully attracted believers from ethnic minorities. Intended primarily to provide fellowship, encouragement, and networking for veteran journalists and aspiring reporters, the conferences motivate students to enroll in the more training-oriented Institutes.

The goal is not to “Christianize” the message

While WJI's mission is "to recruit, equip, place, and encourage journalists who are Christians in the mainstream newsrooms of America," Case noted what the Institute is not. "We are not a worldview institute, nor a seminary, and we don't train evangelists, missionaries, pastors, or columnists. We have no problem with that, but that's not what we do. Occasionally, we get applicants who want training in how to pontificate against issues like abortion, pornography, and gay marriage. That's not our goal either.

"Our intent is not to teach journalists how to 'Christianize' the message. We believe in approaching their jobs with a Christian worldview, they will be even more balanced, truthful, and kind in their reporting than someone not in fellowship with Jesus."

For instance, one assignment was reporting on a gay rights march. None of the students supported that lifestyle, but they were instructed not to focus on flamboyant aspects of the parade, unless that was truly the story, and not to prejudice readers by their own views.

"One of the theological understandings that informs our approach to journalism is that all people are created in the image of God—even if they don't care about that—and so they deserve respect," Case says.

That is one reason for including non-Christian journalists in the program, he points out. "This interchange with journalists outside the faith has been mutually beneficial. Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker magazine, President Jimmy Carter's speechwriter for four years, spoke at one of our lunches and admitted he considered evangelicals 'a very bizarre group,' but he was engaging, very nice. These great journalists, to a person, have been winsome, interesting—and interested in us. A result has been to dispel misconceptions and to understand one another better."

Case emphasizes, "We are not a school for proselytizers, or training journalists to share the Four Spiritual Laws. Our Reformed perspective gives us assurance that the Holy Spirit, who draws people to Himself, will give us words and expression at the appropriate time. So we can relax and focus on being good journalists."

Robert J. Tamasy is vice president of communications for Leaders Legacy, Inc., a ministry to business and professional leaders. He is the author of Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today's Workplace (River City Press) and co-author of The Heart of Mentoring with David A. Stoddard (NavPress). 

We Never Know Whose Life We’ve Touched

Thanks to the World Journalism Institute (WJI), Chris Stollar approaches each workday as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., with a concise sense of mission: “To write down for people to read what God did yesterday.”

Stollar is among many men and women who have found the Institute pivotal in launching their journalistic careers. After graduating from Gutenberg College in Eugene, Ore., he attended the three-week Institute in 2004 in New York City, before pursuing a master’s in journalism at the University of Maryland.

At a Bible study the first week of the Institute, a pastor gave students an overview of Old Testament prophets and exhorted them “to think of ourselves as modern-day scribes of God,” Stollar recalls. That metaphor remains vivid for him today in covering local politics, community events, investigative reporting, even “doing a story on a guy who just murdered his wife over the weekend. It has given me a sense of purpose—to be accurate, fair, and truly objective in how I report the news.”

Heather Skold, a morning news anchor and reporter for KIVI-Today’s Channel 6 News, an ABC affiliate in Boise, Idaho, shares Stollar’s perspective. “We are called to be salt and light in the world, and that crosses all occupational boundaries. I often feel like a missionary, empowered to do what not a lot of people want to do.”

Skold attended WJI in 2002 in Los Angeles, before her senior year at Wheaton College. “They really want to equip believers to get into the media—they don’t take it lightly. It’s not some kind of summer camp.”

Between intense teaching sessions, interactions with respected journalists, and on-the-spot reporting assignments, the two-week Institute experience “prepared me for understanding how to do the job well and what it’s like to be a Christian in this business,” she says.

WJI also assisted her in landing an internship with a Colorado Springs TV station, giving her an opportunity to immediately apply her newly-acquired reporting skills. “If it had not been for the Institute helping me to get such a strong foundation, it would have been much more of an uphill battle to get to where I am today.”

Kanette Worlds of Pontiac, Mich., received a double dose of WJI, attending a weekend conference for African-Americans early in 2004 in Atlanta before participating in a three-week Institute in Los Angeles later that year. The conference helped to establish friendships “with like-minded individuals—people who were not only writers, but also writers of faith.” The Institute introduced her to practitioners from newspapers like The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Oregonian, and forced her to venture into an unfamiliar city to gather information for assignments.

“We had to talk to complete strangers about serious, mainstream news topics. It wasn’t easy, but I don’t think I’d be where I am today without WJI.”

Worlds is the public information staff editor at Rochester College, handling multiple writing and marketing responsibilities. Many of the relationships she established two years ago remain valuable: “We help each other out with job opportunities, advice, and prayer.”

WJI urges its students to convey the gospel through conduct and commitment to excellence. Approaching journalism with a biblical worldview—“combining the good news with the daily news”—as Stollar defines it, “puts the fear of God into you. If I make an error, even a minor one, I’m not accurately reporting what God is doing in the world.”

Often, graduates discover how the subtle witness of a Christian journalist can raise curiosity. Skold, for instance, has led a Bible study with four of her coworkers. She admits it’s a challenge, but “you have to have reasons for the hope you possess. This is a good way to discuss them.”

And, as Worlds notes, “We can effectively represent Christ by doing our jobs with honesty and integrity, and presenting each issue with fairness. As writers we never know whose life we may have touched along the way. We’re storytellers, history recorders. What we choose to write—or not write—impacts thousands, sometimes millions of people.”

–R.J.T.