Five years ago, The Baptist Paper launched as a national printed newspaper. It had been talked about “through the years,” said Jennifer Davis Rash, president and editor-in-chief of TAB Media Group, publisher of The Alabama Baptist, now in its 183rd year of publication.
“I always hesitated for fear of looking like we were competing with our peer publications,” Rash said, referring to state Baptist papers across the country. “As the years rolled along and more and more state conventions stopped printing and mailing papers, and some even stopped providing a news element, it became more of a possibility.
“Many Baptists were basically left out of the loop regarding news and information important to their world simply because they preferred reading a hard-copy print newspaper.”
The first issue of The Baptist Paper was published on May 13, 2021. The Baptist Paper is sometimes confused with Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention founded in 1946. They are different entities with different styles, but both are serving Baptists and partner on occasion.
The Baptist Paper and its website, thebaptistpaper.org, are more than a newspaper and website devoted to faith-based news and feature content.
Each print edition features a crossword puzzle and a word search, longstanding staples in the news industry. Two pages provide supplemental studies written by seminary and college professors, pastors and lay leaders paralleling Lifeway’s Bible Studies for Life and Explore the Bible curriculum materials. Last fall, a monthly eight-page Kids Edition debuted.
And there’s an editorial by Rash, which she described in email exchanges as “more of a column” for “an ongoing conversation with the readers,” often on “how I’m growing in my faith journey” but also “issues of the heart” and “issues facing Baptists or people of faith.”
The Baptist Paper staff also works on in-depth reporting projects such as the 2025 release of audio recordings of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. The group’s recommendations were adopted at the 2010 SBC Annual Meeting, causing most notably a key shift in missions from the state conventions to the North American Mission Board. The 90 hours of recordings had been sealed for 15 years by the task force.
Shining a light
Rash, followed by The Baptist Paper’s director of content, Shawn Hendricks, listened to compact discs from the 2009-2010 meetings. Nine articles were posted from the discussions – with direct quotes – among the task force’s 20-plus members, encompassing such leaders as R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and various state convention leaders and pastors.
Among the articles: a recap of an October 2009 meeting attended by 22 state convention executive directors expressing concern over the task force potentially undercutting their states’ working relationship with the SBC.
The Baptist Paper has won several best-in-class and awards of excellence from various press association competitions.
Denise George, a widely published author and noted writing coach in Birmingham, Alabama, voiced appreciation for the “wide span of topics they cover to encourage individual and congregational spiritual growth and give practical, biblically grounded advice and solutions. It gives readers a balance of both news and active ministry.”
An “Endangered youth” series aimed to help parents with such topics as online predators, eating disorders and dating violence, while other in-depth articles, for example, explored helping veterans and first-responders find hope amid PTSD struggles and sharing the gospel in online settings such as YouTube.
George credits Rash with “energy, excitement and creativity. … Her creative vision honors the biblically grounded and respected priorities of The Alabama Baptist in 1843 and, at the same time, keeps her finger on the pulse of today’s changing needs to minister effectively.”
Rash was named executive editor of The Alabama Baptist in 2011, having served as managing editor since 2002 after joining the staff in 1996. She previously was a short-term missionary with the International Mission Board at the Miami-area Caribbean Christian Publications. A journalism graduate from the University of Alabama, Rash also has earned a master’s degree from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School.
Lonnie Wilkey, who retired in December 2024 after 26 years as editor of the twice-monthly Baptist and Reflector of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, noted that launching The Baptist Paper “took tremendous courage and foresight” at a time when a number of state Baptist papers were closing or paring back their frequency of publication and page count.
Valuable partnerships
“We formed a partnership with The Baptist Paper,” Wilkey recounted. “We used each other’s articles and collaborated on articles that benefitted both publications.”
Such partnerships have become all the more important in states where longstanding Baptist newspaper print editions have ceased to exist, including Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Louisiana’s newspaper is slated to go online only in January of next year.
Gary Fenton, who was board chairman of the TAB Media Group when The Baptist Paper launched in 2021, said the new venture appeals “to church members, not just pastors” through “a wide variety of Baptist human interest stories” and a positive tone in reporting on denominational issues.
“This is a transition era,” said Fenton, who has served terms on the board for 30-plus years and is the former senior pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham. The Alabama Baptist, for example, “has seen a decline in the number of subscriptions which has not been totally offset by digital subscriptions” due to the aging demographic of print subscribers.
The Baptist Paper is available as an individual subscription for $34.95 or part of a bundle with The Alabama Baptist for additional $15. The Kids Edition comes packaged in The Baptist Paper but also is available in bulk when ordering 20 or more copies. When ordering in bulk, The Kids Edition is shipped alone, without The Baptist Paper included.
To receive a sample copy of The Baptist Paper, email subscribe@thebaptistpaper.org with name and mailing address. An online view of The Kids Edition is at https://thebaptistpaper.org/kids-edition/.
‘Miss Julie’ & more
Interaction with fellow Baptists is evident throughout The Baptist Paper. The crossword puzzle, word search and Bible studies remain in the paper due to readers’ supportive comments as Rash traveled throughout Alabama over the years.
The idea for The Kids Edition emerged from a suggestion for a children’s newspaper by one of the specialists with the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries during a discussion with TAB Media Group staffers in July 2025.
Brainstorming began the next day, tapping the experience of one TAB staff member with a background in children’s ministry and another in producing a newspaper for schoolkids. The first edition was published last October.
Anchoring each Kids Edition are “Ms. Julie’s Clubhouse” answering such questions as “If Jesus is real, why can’t I see
Him?” and “Who is a missionary?”; a “Creature Feature” on a unique animal; and “Heroes of the Faith” highlighting significant historical figures whose faith inspired their work.
Also in the mix: a “Brain Booster” crossword and word search and coloring pages featuring the lightheartedness of Joe McKeever, a beloved cartoonist among Baptists since the 1980s.
Suggested uses of The Kids Edition, in addition to families, include homeschool groups, as a Sunday School standby and gifts by grandparents.
On the road
Missions remains a focus of The Baptist Paper. For three years, readers followed the travels of Trennis and Pam Henderson in a 25-foot motorhome for The Baptist Paper, visiting churches in 35 states, counting three previous years as correspondents for Woman’s Missionary Union.
As recounted by Trennis, “Our accomodations varied from state parks and local campgrounds to church parking lots and other settings as we went wherever the stories, needs and opportunities took us.”
A former editor of Baptist papers in Kentucky and Arkansas, Trennis wrote the stories while Pam, a former weekday church preschool director, ventured into photography and videography, winning several awards from the Baptist Communicators Association.
“During our years as traveling correspondents, it was inspiring to see the passion and commitment of volunteers serving in a variety of ministries,” Henderson said. “It provided us a lasting reminder of the life-changing significance of seeking and pursuing God’s call in our lives.”
Last fall, TAB Media Group launched Ground Level Reports hosted by Marc Ira Hooks, providing on-the-ground reporting through video interviews for The Baptist Paper’s social media channels and articles for print. Last summer, Hooks helped spark the idea when he covered the deadly Texas flooding through video interviews for the paper.
Readers of The Baptist Paper have seen numerous columns about Baptist associations by George Bullard, retired executive director of the 90-church Columbia Metro Baptist Association in South Carolina and author of the book “Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations.”
The opportunity to write about Baptist associations, Bullard said, evidences how The Baptist Paper “highlights the incredible worth that comes with being part of the Baptist community — not boasting about what the denominational organization believes and is doing, but celebrating the people and congregations working together in fellowship and on mission from the base of their local communities.”
Rash, having worked with Baptist associations for 30 years, said “leaders who engage with and understand the congregations, ministers and pastors in their area can truly make a difference for Kingdom work.”
“It’s not about the association doing the work for churches and church leaders,” Rash said. “It’s about associations resourcing, equipping, training, listening, guiding when appropriate, showing up with support when needed, encouraging, connecting and continually learning.”
In a world where Baptists see tumult “play out in real time through social media,” Rash exhorted in a 2021 editorial to “start with your individual congregations, and that means first focusing on our own hearts. It means surrounding our pastors with prayer and support…. Healthy churches can then work together to sift issues” at the association, state convention and SBC levels.
“We already have the strength and power needed to navigate these rocky waters,” Rash wrote. “His name is Jesus.”
