One look at the newsstand racks these days and you’re eyes risk glazing over right then and there.

Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of magazines exist for every conceivebale niche.  Amazon.com lists over 43,000 different magazine subscription offers in existence today!

There are over 400 religion & faith related magazines alone being published these days.  That’s a lot of religion!

There are so many magazines that it’s hard to know about them all or even remember a small selection of the titles being published.

But one faith-related magazine title will surely be in the headlines over the next few months as Saddleback launches the Purpose Driven Connection Magazine with Pastor Rick Warren as it’s Editor-in-Chief.  The 150+ page 1st issue and the included 50+ page Bible Study DVD doesn’t seem to be an afterthought of shallow brand extension, but a real effort to embrace mainstream media and offer a practical resource for daily living.

Before everyone launches into their diatribes against or in support of what Rick Warren is doing with his Purpose Driven Liven platform, I wanted to see for myself what the magazine is all about.  There has been a fair amount of press and buzz about this new magazine launch since the first announcement — even before people have seen the actual pages themselves.  I wonder just how fair their judgments can be if they are all based on pure assumptions without seeing the actual periodical first?

One way to see the real deal is to check out the free preview edition of the magazine. . . (more…)