[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–After three and a half years as editor in chief of HomeLife, Jon Walker has decided to leave the family magazine and pursue other interests.
“I’m not sure yet what God has in mind, but I know He’s gifted me in writing and teaching, and those are the things I want to do,” Walker wrote in an e-mail after resigning from the helm of the magazine produced by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Walker and his wife, Sherry, lost a son last year to a rare genetic disease, Trisomy 18. The Walkers learned about the disorder before the baby was born and decided to carry him to full term, knowing he would die.
“Ever since Jeremy’s death, there’s been a restlessness within me that is hard to explain. In the last few weeks, I’ve come to see that restlessness as the hand of God prompting me to take a faith-step into a new kind of ministry,” Walker wrote.
The Walkers, who have lost three other babies, are again pregnant, he said. They have one four-year-old son, Christopher.
“In part, Sherry and I want to simplify and slow down our pace in order to hear the will of our God and do whatever it is. Yesterday, I sat on the kitchen floor, teaching Christopher to read and talking to him about God, and I thought how easy it is to get caught up in a such a sense of urgency that you miss what is truly important.”
[2]Walker was the fifth editor of HomeLife, which was founded in 1947. With a circulation of 460,000, it is one of the largest circulation publications in Southern Baptist life. While his resignation is effective immediately, his columns will continue appearing in HomeLife through August because of the magazine’s publication schedule.
Selma Wilson, director of the discipleship and family magazine department that produces HomeLife, said, “We affirm Jon in his pursuit of God’s calling in his life. As HomeLife’s editor in chief, Jon has served Southern Baptists well for three and a half years, and I wish him the very best as he seeks God’s will for his life.”
Wilson said she is “actively pursuing” a search for a new editor in chief who “has a passion and calling to impact families, who has a journalistic background, and who is a Southern Baptist.”