August 13, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – LifeSite fans will have noticed the site went quiet for Thursday, Friday, and Monday. As we explained, we were on retreat. Once a year LifeSite brings all our staff together from around the world for a face-to-face retreat with the whole crew which has ballooned to more than 30 of us – not counting members of the board who also attend.
We spent the long weekend listening to updates from various departments within LifeSite, collaborating and setting goals for the year to come. The journalists experienced some hands-on learning that will only enrich our reporting. Of course, we also spent a great deal of time laughing, deepening our faith, and connecting as a team.
LifeSiteNews has experienced greater growth in traffic and users this past year than in almost our whole history combined! We had a record 10.6 million page views in July alone!
We have been blessed with an awesome team. Honestly, I believe they are some of the most talented people on earth. Secular society would also love to have their talents. But they’ve chosen to lay them out in the service of the Lord of Life.
These are faithful, hard-working, sacrificial young and older soldiers for the culture of life, family, faith, and freedom. They are my heroes. I’m blessed to call them colleagues, friends, and truly brothers and sisters.
Two of our newest additions at LifeSiteNews, Jim Hale and Jason Taylor, took some amazing photos and video of our time together and we’re so pleased to bring you their compilations.
At LifeSite we don’t trust in our talents, we lay them out in the service of the Lord and trust in Him alone. He has and will continue to see to the success of His Work. We need not worry about it. We can rejoice in His victories knowing honestly that they come from His hand and give Him the glory.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and all the rest shall be given to you, the Scriptures tell us.
You, our supporters, are, like the LifeSite team, called by God to this work and have responded with great generosity, sacrifice, and love. The Lord has seen your sacrifice and your love and made your efforts shine to reach the world with the truth about the most difficult issues facing the globe today.
This is not a job. It’s a mission – a mission for Christ, with Christ, in Christ.
I am humbled to serve with such great soldiers for Christ in this mission of His of LifeSiteNews.
Get to know the LifeSite team:
Steve Jalsevac – Co-Founder and President
John-Henry Westen – Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Patrick Craine – Vice President of Editorial
Jon F – Vice President of Advancement
Clare Maagad – Operations Manager
John Jalsevac – Consultant
Peter Baklinski – Senior Editor
Claire Chretien – Associate Editor
Drew Belsky – Assistant Editor
Martin Barillas – Catholic Breaking News Journalist
Lisa Bourne – Journalist
Dorothy Cummings McLean – Journalist
Calvin Freiburger – Journalist
Lianne Laurence – Journalist
Douglas Mainwaring – Journalist
Diane Montagna – Rome Correspondent
Maike Hickson – Journalist
Matthew Hoffman (not pictured) – Journalist
Jeanne Smits – Journalist
Jonathon Van Maren – Journalist/Podcaster
Lisa Stover – Major Gifts Officer
Danielle Zuccaro – Donor Giving Coordinator
Karolyn Heffernan – Donor Giving Coordinator
Rebecca Fidero – Business Manager
Rebekah Roberts – Director of Marketing
Stephen Kokx – Assistant Director of Marketing
Madeleine Jacob – Marketing Assistant
Paul Smeaton – Community Coordinator
Brian Limas – Assistant Multimedia Editor and Youth Formation Coordinator
Jim Hale – Video Editor
Jason Taylor – Video Editor
Scott Schittl – Campaigns Manager
Bruce Sabalasky – Web Developer
Matthew McDevitt – Assistant Web Developer