Reflections from Webmaster Gretchen Glaser
on the New Attitude Back Issues

My first issue of New Attitude was one of the last. In November 1996, I subscribed to the special 3-issue subscription. Like Josh promised, New Attitude "went out with a bang."

When my first issue arrived in the mailbox, I eagerly read the article on youth groups. It was a breath of fresh air. In New Attitude, I found a magazine that was not only written by a fellow Oregonian homeschooler, but was filled with ideas and answers for the questions that were filling my 13-year-old mind. I knew I didn't like peer pressure, I wasn't thrilled with youth group, and dating was a game I didn't want to play. But what was that supposed to look like in real life? New Attitude showed me in living color. From Interaction to Trevor Massely to "Dear Sis," I found something to think about, something to laugh about, and something to live by.

As the editor of a fledgling little newsletter for girls, I looked up to Josh as the epitome of a homeschool editor. New Attitude was a far cry from most so-called "Christian" teen magazines on the market then. And yet its pages held concepts that were far from legalistic, unlike conservative Christian magazines I was soon to encounter. As my own publication grew, I made New Attitude my model: my goal was to publish the New Attitude for girls. I didn't always succeed. But just like Josh, I printed the negative letters to the editor along with the positive.

I paid $4 to be in the final New Attitude Pen Pal Bulletin. Under the "Girls Only" section, of course. My ad read, "Interests: Reading good books, writing letters, and baking. Age 13. Gretchen Glaser." Little did I know the potpourri of friends this would bring into my life. I met three of my pen pals in person, and eight years later, I'm still in touch with several. But for each of the dozen or so girls who wrote me, I met dozens more through them. I fellowshipped with homeschoolers all across the country, thanks to New Attitude.

Then there was the "Josh Harris Message Board." I didn't frequent it much, but many of my new friends did. Despite it being run by the guy who "kissed dating goodbye," several of my friends are now married to guys they met on the message board.

As the world knows now, Josh wrote a book after he stopped publishing New Attitude. 'Twas called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. That book was eagerly awaited by myself and so many others. We weren't disappointed. Though some of us these days may be found asking, Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? (book by Carolyn McCulley) we're each looking forward to our own personal version of when Boy Meets Girl.

In 1998 the "Searching for True Love Tour" stopped in Portland, Oregon, and Josh announced that he had found his true love. In fact, he brought Shannon out on stage when he announced they were engaged. "I kissed dating goodbye, not marriage," he reminded us. Listening to Josh in person confirmed that he speaks as well as he writes. While it was hard to believe he was giving up his travelling to be at his local church, Josh explained it rather well in yet another book with dating in the title: Stop Dating the Church! Fall in Love with the Family of God.

"The magazine is gone, but the website lives on," read the back cover of the final issue of New Attitude. And so it did. Archives of a few magazine articles were available at newattitude.com for awhile, but soon they disappeared. And the back issues had sold out so quickly that fans of New Attitude magazine were still crying for more, years after the magazine was gone.

So I decided to do something about it. In 2001 I wrote Josh and asked for permission to put New Attitude online. The only problem was, I didn't own the first eight issues. But he graciously granted permission for me to post the back issues online, and loaned me all the copies I was missing. My family thought I was wired to the scanner for a few months, but I got those issues scanned. Then I began the process of formatting each article and uploading it to my website. And even though I didn't take the time to read each article as I posted it, the project took awhile.

Josh posted a link to www.ylcf.org on his website, adding, "These girls are incredible! It has a huge listing of information about Boy Meets Girl and IKDG. They know more about what's happening than we do!"

However, contrary to popular opinion, there's only one "young lady" behind the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. That would be me. So maybe it's because I'm only one person that it's taken three years for the New Attitude back issues to all finally make it to the web. Or maybe it's because of college and a job. Either way, I'm so grateful to Miss April Hala who was kind enough to help me out with the last six issues. If it hadn't been for April, you'd still be waiting to read what happened to Jiffy & Lou!

But I think you'll agree it was worth the wait, to be able to read all the back issues of the legendary magazine for homeschoolers. And as I look through the final issue once more, I realize that an era didn't end with New Attitude's final issue: an era began. Josh Harris once said, "This country cannot survive another generation of Christians that fit in." He gave us a new attitude for this generation. So let's go out there and, as Josh often wrote, "Do it 4 Jesus!"

Because He Lives,
Gretchen Louise Glaser
age 21
November 2004