Headline didn’t portray story’s main point

I was disappointed in a headline written for the Page 6 continuation of the story, “25 years of ministry,” found in Sept. 20’s paper. The front-page subhead said, “How Harvest Bible Chapel has grown across suburbs, the world.” Yeah! A positive article about religion. Well, almost. Melissa Silverberg’s article, continued on Page 6, delves into a discussion about some critics of the church/ministry. Two former members have started a website critical of the pastor and the church’s financial health and organization, according to the writer.

I’m not sure this information was necessary to appear in your story. Every church has its critics, and the point of this article was to show what this church/ministry has accomplished in 25 years. FYI: I do not attend of this church.

Be that as it may, what really troubled me was the inside six-column headline: “Website aimed at criticizing church.” I think that was unnecessarily blowing things out of proportion. I am an old newspaper guy and started my career as a small-town newspaper editor. If it was your copy editor who wrote this headline, he or she should be brought to task about this decision. Some people read a newspaper from the back; if they did that, they would think the main point of this story had something to do with a church in disarray, not one celebrating 25 years of ministry.

Brad Davis

Carol Stream