Following the departure of long-serving editor Lee Dunstan, associate editor Kent Kingston is stepping up to head Signs of the Times magazine.
Mr Kingston has worked at Adventist Media since late 2009, notably producing the Record InFocus TV program and helping prepare Adventist Record each fortnight as an assistant editor.
“It’s an awesome responsibility, especially when you realise the place of Signs in Church history,” he said. Arriving in Sydney in 1885, Henry Scott—one of the first Adventist missionaries to the South Pacific region—was a printer who helped produce the first Australian edition of Bible Echo and Signs of the Times less than a year later. Literature ministry was part of the Adventist outreach strategy from the very beginning.
Mr Dunstan led Signs for 26 years and was a tireless promoter of the magazine and associated evangelistic products, appearing regularly at Big Camp events around Australia and New Zealand. Signs has been recognised with a number of awards from the Australasian Religious Press Association in that time. Mr Dunstan will continue his work as coordinator of Christian Services for the Blind and Hearing Impaired on a part-time basis.
Joining the Signs team late last year, Mr Kingston is keen to see the magazine be a genuinely evangelistic product.
“It’s easy to slide into ‘Adventese’,” he said, “Adventists writing in Adventist jargon for Adventist readers. That’s not what Signs should be. We need writers who are in touch with the culture, who are familiar with today’s issues and can bring the truths of the Bible to bear in language the everyday person will understand.”
A redesigned Signs will launch in September.
“I really want church members to catch a fresh vision of what Signs can be,” Mr Kingston said. “At its best, it’s part of a genuine friendship that you are growing with your unbelieving friend, neighbour or relative. It’s an evangelistic tool that can preach clearly and appropriately when you don’t have the words.”
