Readers Digests's religious magazine venture fizzles

Purpose Driven Connection, a partnership between Readers Digest Association (RDA) and Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren -- which last year was being promoted as one of RDA's "most important and far-reaching ventures ever" -- is being discontinued as a print publication.  

Following its December issue, it will go online-only and be available free, according to a story in Folio:. Editor-in-chief Frank Lalli has already left the company, after closing the final issue. RDA is offering to refund unused print subscriptions and it is not clear what RDA's involvement will be in the online edition, if any.

“Our biggest discovery was learning that people prefer reading our content online rather than in print, because it is more convenient and accessible,” Warren said in a statement. “And, from our viewpoint, an online magazine allows us to minister to people internationally; provide more content and features than we could fit in a print magazine; create interaction and two-way dialogue; and offer it for free.”