Happy 10th Birthday, The Stream!
This weekend marks the tenth anniversary of The Stream. Ten unbelievable years. To be honest, ten unimaginable years. Let’s take a look back.
Ten years ago, Donald Trump was still hosting The Apprentice, Roe v. Wade was never going to go away, and every Supreme Court justice knew what a woman was. It’s a different world now than it was in 2015 — but certainly still a fallen one.
Ten years ago, an evangelical preacher and a Catholic scholar, James Robison and Jay Richards, partnered to create a service that would analyze the issues and events of the world and culture through a Christian and conservative lens. They sought to create an ecumenical enterprise that would bring together brains and hearts from across the Body. Among the staffers: a Catholic man of letters, an eclectic, out-of-the-box Anglican, a tatted rock chick, and a soft-spoken Christian apologist. Also a former Hollywood comedy writer.
God casts.
I’ve been here for every single Stream story, whether as an editorial assistant (my first role) or acting editor-in-chief (for a time that was supposed to be short and then stretched further than anyone imagined it would). And I guarantee you, every single one of those days The Stream staff has given its all to do right by you, to lead you toward light and away from darkness, towards wisdom and the Word. To inform and inspire you.
By odd coincidence, at some point today, The Stream will publish its 39,000th story. That’s incredible, given the size of our staff.
Looking over our earliest stories from that first week of posts, some remain perennial. For example, “Is Religious Freedom a Second-Tier Right?” early Stream webmaster Alan Eason asked. Cofounder Jay Richards’s opening salvo was “People of Faith Must Work Together or Be Torn Apart.” Some posts were of their time, like the great Thomas Sowell’s look at “Early Presidential Prospects.” (In January 2015, even he could not predict the rise of Donald J. Trump.)
Well, some people did. When everyone else at The Stream was guessing that the next president would be Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush, the comedy writer told James Robison, “The GOP nominee is going to be the one who can sit next to you, James, and still be an alpha dog.”
Each day we’ve fed the beast that is a daily service. Each day we’ve faced the question of whether that content is nutritious and in keeping with Robison’s vision. How can you be detailed and insightful while remaining relatable and interesting? How do we remain inspirational when the facts on the ground are dire? How do we deal with the growing insanity of the Left in a Christian manner? (“Wait. We don’t want males in girls locker rooms or smashing them in the face in volleyball competitions, but we’re the crazy ones?” “Parents concerned about what their kids are being taught are domestic terrorists?” “You’re more likely to get jail time for praying at an abortion clinic than for burning public buildings to the ground?”)
Internally, we have faced the ever-present question, “What is The Stream?” And that is a question with which we are still grappling as technology continues to change the way people consume their information. This year, we are making a conscious turn toward offering more audio and video content, with an eye toward eventually becoming a full streaming service. It’s not an easy shift to make, nor one that is accomplished overnight. In some ways, we still have more questions, even internally, than we do answers, but that is the direction in which we are heading.
So yeah, we’ve gone through some stuff. (Few former staffers will forget the Great Oxford Comma War of 2015.) But so has America. So have you. And like the rest of America will when Donald Trump is inaugurated once again as president on Monday, we start a new season.
Thank you all for flowing with The Stream these 10 years. It’s all been for you, the advancement of the Kingdom in confusing times, and the Glory of God.
Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.