c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Richard Block, co-founder of H&R Block, swears by it. So do actors Michael York, Doris Day and Robert Stack. Fannie Flagg, author of”Fried Green Tomatoes,”is such a fan that she had one of her characters reading it in her book.

It’s Daily Word, the magazine of inspiration that starts the day of celebrities, powerbrokers and 1.2 million other subscribers and 6.5 million pass-along readers. Now the best of Daily Word has been turned into a book,”Daily Word: Love, Inspiration and Guidance for Everyone.” Dr. Bernie Siegel, best-selling author of”Love, Medicine and Miracles,”says Daily Word”keeps me in touch with myself, my feelings and my life.” Ditto for TV talkshow host and newscaster Rolonda Watts.”One day someone from her office called and said she was going out of town and hadn’t received her Daily Word, and that she’s got to have it,”said Colleen Zuck, editor of the magazine since 1985 and co-editor of the book.

With so many loyal fans, it’s no wonder that Rodale Press chose”Daily Word”as the first book to launch this spring its new imprint, Daybreak Books.

Editors of Daily Word magazine culled its most popular messages and wove them into the book of 365 daily meditations with universal themes that transcend religious boundaries _ from money and miracles to healing and relaxation techniques.

Daily Word is unusual for a magazine. It has survived for nearly 75 years, mostly by word of mouth. It’s not sold at newsstands or grocery store checkouts. Most readers discover it only after a copy arrives in the mail as a gift from a friend or relative.

Typical of the magazine’s power to inspire, however, is the essay in a recent issue by Dorothy Bridges, the wife of actor Lloyd Bridges and mother of actors Jeff and Beau Bridges.”Lloyd was a struggling, often-unemployed actor with a meager, undependable income,”she writes.”Every morning we read Daily Word. To our amazement, the messages often seemed written just for us and lifted us out of despair.” It also helped in child-rearing, as each morning Lloyd or Dorothy read a message to their children.

Years later, as Beau suffered through Coast Guard boot camp, he made only one request of his parents.”There’s only one thing I need or want,”he said.”Send me Daily Word as soon as you can, because I don’t think I’m going to make it through this experience without it.” Celebrities were far from the thoughts of Daily Word founder Frank Whitney when he started the magazine in 1924 as an off-shoot of Silent Unity, a prayer ministry.”Letters came across his desk from people who’d sent in prayer requests saying, `How wonderful if everyday people had a reminder of the power of God,'”said Zuck.

So inspired, Whitney created Daily Word with the first 1,600 subscribers coming from the prayer-request list.”It spread by word of mouth,”said Zuck.”People said, `It helped me, I’ll order it for someone else who might be struggling with relationship or health challenges.’ It took off dramatically.” Readership quadrupled the first year. After the Great Depression hit a few years later, it seemed as if readers always found money for their Daily Word subscription.”Especially during those times, the need was tremendously great,”said Zuck.

Daily Word magazine is created at the 1,400-acre headquarters of the Unity Church for Christianity in Unity Village, Mo., where people pray for others 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The small Daily Word staff of four starts its day at 7 a.m. with a prayer service, with another prayer meeting at 11 a.m.

Walking down the halls of the Silent Unity building, Zuck passes the glass doors of the prayer ministry and looks at the bins overflowing with prayer requests. “As many times as I walk there, it takes my breath away,”she said.”… I’m always aware of our audience and the message we want to convey.” The most popular messages concern physical healing and peace of mind.”Talking with readers and other people over the years, I see that physical healing needs are usually calls to people to redirect the course of their lives,”said Christopher Jackson, co-editor of the Daily Word book and vice-president of Unity, the international movement of universal spiritual life principles.”They’re (healings) wake-up calls _ especially coming out of the `80s, the decade of materialism, people know in their gut there is more to life than a paycheck, a big house or an automobile,”he said.

Jackson believes much of Daily Word’s popularity comes from its religious inclusiveness.”When people write, they tell us they have this deep personal friendship with the magazine,”he said.”I think that’s because it says quite simply that you are lovable. God loves you. You are worthy and capable. There’s not a word of judgment in the magazine, from cover to cover.” Each year, Daily Word receives about a million letters and a million phone calls from grateful readers, most of whom, according to Zuck, say the nearly the same thing:”How did you know the message today was just what I needed to hear?””Maybe you’ll get a letter from a teen-ager who took a driver’s test that day, and the message spoke to his heart and encouraged him. The same day you can hear from an adult on their first day of sobriety, saying, `That really helped me.'” Zuck said she thinks she knows the secret.”We try to write the messages as if we’re a friend who is always looking for the best in you, reminding you of that, encouraging you to know yourself.”

MJP END OCONNOR