Reaching the highest heights

Many of you already know that Sorted editor Steve Legg is about to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. 

If all is going to plan, he should be on the plane right now, no doubt thinking about the mammoth task ahead of him (or sleeping with his mouth open like the rest of us). 

One thing I’ve learned from working about Steve is that he is very determined and that he doesn’t shout about his achievements, so I’m going to take this opportunity to do just that.

Not only is Steve a great husband to Bekah and a devoted father to six kids, he is a long-term Compassion supporter and ambassador. I know that he and Bekah sponsor four children and that Steve has visited at least one of them, demonstrating that he isn’t just putting his name to a charity or throwing money at it; he really cares.

Sorted and Liberti are now sponsoring a leadership development student, enabling young Kenyan woman Sylvia to attend university. “It's not just about enabling her to reach her full potential, although that would be reason enough, but she is committed to using her education to help others in her community and beyond,” explains Liberti editor Bekah. Steve will be spending some time in Kenya while he is in Africa and will meet Sylvia while he is there.

And it is children and young people like these that have inspired the Kilimanjaro climb. I know Steve plays badminton regularly, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t doing it for the exercise. Nevertheless, he has trained tirelessly so that he is in the best shape possible to get to the top. Despite the wet weather, he’s been out there exercising with the dog every day.

In his own words, Steve is climbing the Tanzanian mountain to “raise the profile of Compassion and see more children released from poverty”. He is dedicated to protecting his own and other children from the many dangers, difficulties and temptations out there.

In fact, this was one of the reasons why he set up Sorted magazine. He wanted his teenage son to be able to buy a lads’ mag that wasn’t just full of boobs, bums and ‘babes’. He wanted his son and other young men to recognise that women are human beings and that their value is not in the way they look. (Check out this great blog from Nate Pyle for more on this.) And he wanted his daughters to know that not all men objectify women and that they are precious regardless of the way they look (they’re all stunning anyway, so that’s never been an issue!).

Sorted is a great magazine, if I do say so myself, and with a print run of 40,000, its circulation has overtaken that of competitors such as Loaded. And it seems the public is responding positively to this shift. Supermarkets like The Co-operative have taken steps to stop saucy lads’ mags covers being on show on its shelves, while campaigns like Child Eyes and No More Page 3 are gathering momentum and have had a great impact over the last year or so.

So why am I telling you all this? Well firstly Steve is out of the country so he can’t stop me giving credit where it’s due! But I also want you to support him in a tangible way. Perhaps you can do one or more of the following:

1. Pray. If you’re the praying type, pray for Steve while he’s away that he will be safe and that altitude sickness won’t stop him from getting to the top. And if you’re not the praying type, now’s a great time to start!
2. Encourage him. I’m not sure how much internet access he’ll get while he’s there, but Steve loves his gadgets so I’m sure he’ll find a way of reading your posts and messages if you send them. It would be great for him to know that we’re thinking of him and supporting him (even if it’s from the comfort of our sofas!).
3. Sponsor him. At the time of writing, Steve has raised £2616.25, which is tremendous. But this is still a little shy of his £3,500 target. It’s not just a case of him reaching the target though, it’s about supporting Compassion and the fantastic work the charity does.
4. Sponsor a child. If you don’t already sponsor a child, this is a great thing to do. You could change a child’s current situation and entire future by doing so, as well as becoming involved in that child’s life and being able to help and encourage him or her. Compassion helps children in 26 countries and needs all the support you can give. To sponsor a child with Compassion, visit www.compassionuk.org or call 01932 836490.
5. Subscribe to Sorted. Steve has established an excellent magazine and doesn’t even take a salary from it, despite the time and effort that goes into it. He sends free copies to people in the armed forces, prisons and plenty of other places. And this magazine provides a valuable alternative to the typical lads’ mags out there. Slowly but surely people are moving away from the seedier magazines and Sorted has a part to play here. If you’re already a subscriber, spread the word! Visit your local WH Smith and make sure it’s on display. If not, ask if they will consider stocking it. The more people that ask the better.

Thanks for all your support!

Search for the leader within

Guest blog from Luke Havard










How’s life? For many men, the token reply might be: “I can’t complain”, “Alright”, “OK” or “Not bad”. But how often are these standard answers simply an empty response designed to save from us from acknowledging and sharing the truth?

I don’t know about your experience, but I speak to a lot of different people from all walks of life and there’s a common theme I find with almost everyone when they’re being dangerously honest: life regularly feels like an uphill struggle.

But what if, in the midst of our darkest hour, we could reinterpret our biggest challenges and most painful struggles and use them as the catalyst for our greatest breakthroughs?

Eight years ago I hit rock bottom. In truth, I’d been struggling for years, but this was my lowest ebb. I was unemployed and addicted to drugs and alcohol, going from one relationship to the next and my life was a complete mess. After wasting years of my life in and out of trouble, I had exhausted all my options and I was fed up.

One day I decided I’d had enough. I felt powerless to control my life and was fed up of waiting for someone to rescue me. I stood on the edge of pavement feeling empty and heartbroken, riddled with anger and self-loathing. I decided my life was no longer worth living.

 

In that moment I decided to jump in front of one of the big tour buses that toured the red light district where I lived. But just as I had decided that I was ready to go through with it, something happened.

Now I don’t know what you believe, but in that moment I had an undeniable encounter with God. From one moment to the next, I felt such a deep need to live; as though a voice inside me was telling me to reconsider. The only way I can describe it is that there was a fight going on for my life; like I was being pulled from one side to another, from death to life.

I’m happy to say that the pull to live was so intense that I immediately stepped away from the curb through shock. An overwhelming sense of hope flooded my body and I knew without fully understanding how that there was more for me. That day I gave my life to Christ and was instantly free from my addictions.

Now, I’m a completely different person. I know that I am 100% forgiven of the mistakes that I made in the past. However, forgiveness was only the beginning of my journey. Over the last eight years I have dedicated my life to studying human psychology and to helping others make the changes that we as individuals have to make for ourselves.

I’ve realised that most people aren’t living the lives they’re designed to live. Regardless of their faith, the majority of people believe they have very little control over their destiny. Most have stopped growing and taking risks and have simply settled for the status quo. 

The reality is, no one ever aimed for mediocrity, but in order to avoid feeling out of control, most people have chosen to play safe and use humility as an excuse. Secretly, many live in regret.

The greatest myth perpetuated by society is that leadership begins and ends in the corporate boardroom. The truth is, real leadership starts in your own living room.

Regardless of what you believe, if you’re feeling unhappy, uninspired and unfulfilled, it’s because you are not the leader of your own destiny.

I’m excited to invite you to attend a two-day event called I’m hosting on January 31 and February 1 called ‘Become the Leader’. At this event you will learn exactly what you need to do in order to transform the way that see and live your life forever. 

This event will take you way out of your comfort zone, demanding more of you than you ever imagined possible. You’ll discover how to re-engineer your psychology so that you can feel more in control and happier than you have in a long time.

As a special incentive for Sorted readers, register before the end of December and I'll include £1,000 of bonuses when you email coaching@lukehavard.com with your ticket receipt and enter SORTED in the body of the email.

To register for the event, visit www.ExtraordinaryHumanPotential.com.

Read more from Luke in Sorted January-February, out in December. If you can’t wait for your Sorted fix until then, our November-December issue is just landing on subscribers’ doorsteps and hitting the shelves of WH Smith stores. Click here to buy your copy today.

Let’s get it out there!

The Olympics haven’t kicked off yet, but the Games have already made headlines for all the wrong reasons. There was the G4S ‘scandal’, the omission of Becks from the team GB football squad, the ticketing debacle, the allegations against major sponsor adidas of paying “poverty wages” in Asia (which it firmly denies), the decision to allow former ‘drug cheats’ to compete, and so on and so forth.

Now I should probably explain that I am a massive fan of the Olympics. I was lucky enough to be working from home during the Beijing Games, so I managed to catch almost every event (as work-related research, of course). Even sports like hockey, which I detested at school, were fascinating to watch.

There is something incredibly special about having the world’s top athletes all in one place. About the fans travelling from around the world to cheer on their country’s best sportspeople; the face paints, the waving flags and the excitement that exudes from every pore of those watching live.

I’ve heard people complaining about the added security risks in London this summer, the disruption to travel services, and of the cost to the taxpayer. But I wonder whether people would make the same complaints if we were hosting the World Cup… I think the moaners and the groaners have simply failed to capture the thrill of the Games and the absolute privilege it is to have them on our doorsteps.

So here comes the shameless plug… The Olympics version of Sorted magazine is out now, and a number of people (including the mighty Bear Grylls) have said it’s our best issue to date. It covers everything from security to doping and features in-depth, exclusive interviews with Victoria Pendleton, Steve Redgrave, Tom Daley, Philips Idowu, Jessica Ennis and a host of others. It also tells you what’s on (and when) to ensure you don’t miss any key events.

And with all the other content – film reviews, gadgets, nutrition advice and great insights from our regular columnists – you’ll love it even if you’re not a sports buff. In fact, the front cover alone is worth the money!

But even more importantly, we’re giving away 10,000 free copies of Sorted across London in the next week. It will be available in bars, restaurants and tube stations as well as through the usual channels (online, in local newsagents and at WH Smith). Not only does this magazine offer a much more positive build-up to London 2012, it offers an opportunity to share the Christian message with people who might never hear it elsewhere.

The magazine presents relevant, engaging issues from a godly perspective without being in your face or cringey. There are no tambourines or sock-and-sandal combos. It’s a mag you could be read in public without any embarrassment and pass around your friends. And there has never been a better time to get it out there, with 11 million people expected to hit London in the next month.

If you share our vision of reaching people with a positive, God-focused message, then there are various ways you can help. Number one – buy the magazine and tell people about it. Preferably buy a bumper pack of 50 (for just £75) and give them to people in your church/local area/workplace.

Finally, if you’d like to sponsor some copies, we can get the magazine into the hands of even more people this summer. It’s not cheap printing huge quantities of magazines, and as this is our longest ever edition (108 stonking pages), the cost will be significant. But at Sorted we believe that you reap what you sow, and what you sow into this project financially could have eternal consequences.

Contact Steve Legg on steve@sorted-magazine.com to find out how you can get involved. And let’s make this Olympics one to remember for all the right reasons.  

Lads' mags: out of sight, out of mind

Sorted at WH Smith in Liverpool

There has been a lot of controversy over the way lads’ mags are displayed in newsagents and supermarkets. While some see no problem with the likes of Nuts, Zoo, FHM and Loaded being displayed at eye level, it seems more and more people feel they should be tucked well out of sight.

A survey from parental support resource Mumsnet showed that 90% of us think these mags should be well out of sight of our kids. It’s clear that the nation objects to the prominence of lads’ mags in our stores and the explicitness of the front covers.

Mumsnet decided to use this information to influence the people who decide what goes where on the shop shelves. It wrote to all the major news retailers telling them what their survey had revealed and asking them to change the way they display publications containing adult sexual imagery.

“We are absolutely delighted that Sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose, BP, Asda, The Co-operative Group and Tesco have all pledged to support our campaign to keep lads' mags out of children's view, in all their stores,” said a Mumsnet spokesperson.

There is also good news from the government’s Bailey Review, which is looking into the sexualisation and commercialisation of children. It has also called for lad's mags to be hidden from children's sight. 

There is still plenty of work to be done. WH Smith says that a shelf height of 1.2m is high enough for men’s mags and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents says it “cannot ensure” that its members take action. And independent newsagents and petrol stations are often the major culprits when it comes to exposing kids to what basically boils down to pornography.

So what can we do to stop the public display of magazines that exploit and demean women?

1. Stop buying them!
2. Buy Sorted magazine instead. It’s manly without being misogynistic; entertaining without being exploitative. And the more popular it becomes, the more seriously it will be taken by retailers. WH Smith is now stocking it, get down there today!
3. In the meantime, get behind the ‘modesty wrap’ campaign, which will force the lads’ mags to cover up. Click here to sign the petition
4. Contact your local newsagent and any other offenders – they do listen (see WH Smith comment below). Here’s a handy template from Mumsnet to get you started
5. Write to commend the retailers who are already taking action. Campaigning doesn’t have to be negative; it’s good to honour those who are socially responsible

Quotes from the retailers in response to the Mumsnet campaign:

Sainsbury's: “We know that this is an important issue for many of our shoppers and this is why we were one of the first retailers to introduce modesty covers back in 2006.”

Morrisons: said it “had a pre-existing policy of using modesty covers for lads' mags, will continue to do so.”

Waitrose: “On the occasion that the publications feature covers that could be considered controversial, we would ask that the publisher polybag or wrap them.

Asda: “We are doing everything we can to keep men's weeklies out of the sight of children by removing them from prominent displays and concealing covers with 'modesty boards'.”

Tesco: “Last year, we introduced a trial in more than 100 stores which put these titles at the back of the top shelf, obscuring their front covers with other magazines. We are pleased with the success of this trial and are now rolling this out across all Tesco stores. We are already reviewing the use of bagging and 'modesty units' where these niche magazines are concerned.”

The Co-operative Group: “Lads' mags will always be merchandised on the top tier of all fixtures and be overlapped to avoid overt display of sexual images. The Daily Sport will be merchandised with the back page on display.”

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents: “We do recommend to our members that they adopt a family-friendly policy for the display of adult and lads' mags titles, which includes keeping them away from children's titles and above children's eye level.”

WH Smith: “Where we receive customer complaints about an issue in a certain publication, WH Smith commits to raise these concerns directly with the publisher.”

Stop making excuses!

The mighty Sorted magazine hits WH Smith

I’m not going to write a long rant, but I do want to make a strong case in favour of an amazing venture and opportunity.

Sorted magazine launched in 316 WH Smith stores this month. Established back in 1792, ‘Smiths’ has 550 high street stores and 440 travel outlets. It’s the first place most people think of when they want to buy a magazine. So the fact this industry-leading newsagent is stocking our magazine is the result of the team’s incredible hard work and God’s intervention.

Why am I telling you all this, you ask? Well, I just want to remind you how amazing it is that this awesome magazine (yes, I know I’m biased) is available to buy on the high street alongside Loaded, Nuts and FHM. But we want to do more and we need your help.

You can make Sorted a real contender in its field and, more importantly, a godly witness on the high street.

Here are my top five reasons to get off your blessed assurance and buy your copy today:

It’s a good witness to the retailer. I’m all for complaining about bad lads’ mags and signing petitions to bring in modesty covers, but how about doing something positive too? Find out whether your nearest WH Smith sells it/has any copies left, and if not, ask them about it, then go and buy one. We want them to know there is a genuine demand for something more wholesome. This will send a powerful message to the high street.

It’s an easy way to share the gospel with your friends/colleagues in a cringe-free way. You could buy a copy (or five) for your staffroom, a neighbour, or your friend/family member who doesn’t want to hear the gospel but likes to read interesting articles and features. Then just leave it sitting there. It’s evangelism the easy way.

It’s a chance to get some exercise. My nearest Smiths store that stocks it is a good 30 minute walk there and back. Use your lunch hour to get some fresh air, get your heart pumping and pick up a great treat for later in the day (if you can bear to wait that long).

It’s great value. For just £3.50 you get 92 pages that are full to the brim with good stuff. That’s just £1.75 a month (less than the price of one posh coffee) for the bi-monthly mag. It will keep you entertained for hours with exclusive celebrity interviews, sports features, blogs from Bear Grylls, Dan Walker and Andy Kind, words of wisdom from the like of J. John and Carl Beech, gadget and film reviews, fitness and lifestyle tips, and lots more.

It’s an easy way to support a Christian company and ministry that donates thousands of free copies a year to members of the armed forces, commuters, school children, police stations and many others. This magazine has the potential to reach the world, so play your part!

Okay, so maybe that was a bit of a rant, but it’s something I’m really passionate about. It’s primarily aimed at men, but I know lots of women who read it too. The perfect gift for Father’s Day, birthdays and all the occasions in between, it’s time to get behind this enterprise and help it to reach its God-given potential.

Let’s make sure we tell our churches, our families and our friends about it; that we create a buzz that gets people talking about it (and buying it). The more copies sold, the more we can achieve through it in the future.

We need to put our money where our mouths are and start spreading the word. Feel free to take pictures of your Sorted-buying escapades and send them to the wonderful Steve Legg (steve@sorted-magazine.com)!