Guidelines
Guidelines for Writers
Our Purpose
Victory In Grace exists to clearly share the message of God’s grace to those who do not believe and to draw believers into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ by encouraging a daily walk and involvement in their local church. Victory In Grace is a ministry of the radio and television broadcasts of Dr. James A. Scudder.
Content
The articles published fall into three basic categories:
Daily Reflections which combine relevant illustrations, current news items, and/or Biblical stories with a specific Scriptural teaching, applying them to the everyday life of the believer. Most Daily Reflections come directly from Dr. Scudder’s sermons and messages but occasionally we will do a small series on a relevant topic from a freelance writer.
How-to articles on all areas of the Christian life, including marriage, child-raising, workplace issues, relationships, evangelism or church life. We generally accept only short articles with numbered lists and the articles must avoid a preachy tone.
Profiles of individuals who have experienced the power of God in their life in overcoming loss, hardships, or illness or Christian warriors who, through the Holy Spirit, have overcome tremendous odds to fulfill their God-given calling. Articles can be personal testimonies, as-told-to's or human-interest feature stories. This is the type of article that is most likely to be published in VIG.
Teaching on a Scriptural topic or passage of relevance to the Christian believer. Articles may address questions of doctrine or may point believers to a better understanding of difficult Scriptural passages. Such articles must reflect the beliefs and mission of Victory In Grace. Most of the time, these articles are written by Dr. James A. Scudder or assigned to an in-house writer.
News Articles on the work and outreach of Victory In Grace in the lives of Christians both in overseas missions and as a result of television, radio, or print ministries. We welcome these types of personal testimonies or stories.
Informative pieces on issues facing the Christian believer and families, reflection the breakdown of traditional values in American society or threats to religious freedom by local or federal government. These are almost always assigned in-house, usually to our featured culture columnist, Rev. Robert Vanden Bosch. It is rare that we publish an issue-oriented piece.
Topics
Articles in Victory In Grace usually, but not always, follow a general monthly theme. However, we encourage writers to write nontheme articles which can touch on any aspect of Christian living.
Currently, we’d like to see more personal narratives. Recently we published a story on a husband and wife's difficulty in coping with the loss of a child. Another article shared a couple's year-long struggle to adopt a child from Mexico.
Our Readers
Victory In Grace is primarily to viewers and listeners of Victory In Grace the international teaching ministry of Dr. James A. Scudder. Readers are primarily looking to the magazine as a supplement for their devotional time. Our readers could also be divided as follows:
The bulk of our audience is viewers and listeners of Dr. Scudder’s broadcasts.
We ship many magazines to churches who offer Victory In Grace to their members as a devotional supplement.
Many readers tell us that what they read in the Daily Reflections devotional that particular day really spoke to their heart.
We have a large percentage of pastors and Christian leaders who glean sermon ideas or illustrations from a particular article.
We ship many magazines to inmates in correctional facilities around the
Many of our readers are elderly and/or physically limited. They use Victory In Grace television, radio, and magazine as their church.
How to Submit a Query
We prefer a query letter, but will accept unsolicited manuscripts. Your query letter should include: 1) the working title, 2) a clear statement of purpose, 3) a tentative outline, 4) some indication of the style and approach you plan to use and 5) the prospective length (500 to 2,000 words) 6) a short description of your background and biographical information
Before you submit a query, study several issues of Victory In Grace. Look at the style and format of the types of articles we publish. You can contact us at 1-800-78-GRACE and request back issues.
We prefer to be queried by email (ddarling@victoryingrace.org), but we also accept mail queries. Please send them to the address below:
Daniel Darling
Victory In Grace Magazine
Response time is typically between 3 and 6 weeks. Feel free to drop a note or email reminder if you haven’t heard from us within that time frame. If you receive a positive response to your article, you will be invited to send your article on speculation.
Victory In Grace's Reprint Policy
We can grant permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be photocopied for ministerial or educational purposes. This permission is granted with the understanding that no more than 1000 copies will be made, the material is distributed free of charge, and that the following credit line appears on each manufactured copy:
"This article first appeared in (insert date) issue of Victory In Grace. Used by permission of Victory In Grace Ministries, Lake Zurich, IL 60047”
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