Five years ago, about right now, we were submitting 28 pages of content formulated into the first edition of The Baptist Paper.
How we are already celebrating a milestone anniversary, I can’t quite get my head around, but here we are.
You’ll read more about the anniversary in the article by Art Toalston (written independently). Art was gracious to recognize the historic and unusual decision to launch a new print publication following the COVID-19 era.
As I read through his article, my mind wandered back to May 2021 and decided to flip back through the pages of that first edition.
Looking back
The cover featured a miracle story about a baby once called “incompatible with life” by Grace Thornton.
The Your Voice spread shared “Five principles for rescuing the sick church” by Joe McKeever and “Knocked down, but not out” by Karen Moore.
Griffin Gulledge wrote, “We can’t fix the world but we can help” and the Scripture verse highlighted was Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt.”
The Persecuted Church section mentioned situations in Russia and Uzbekistan, and Dianna Cagle reported on the increase of persecution in Iran taking place in 2021. Retired medical missionary Rebekah Naylor also shared how to pray for and help India, which at that time still had more than 3 million active cases of COVID-19.
Baptist news from the states focused on Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.
Feature articles included “Georgia veteran ‘walking in freedom’ after unrelenting sadness” by Karen Willoughby and “Reaching ‘the least of these’ with audio Bibles” by Shawn Hendricks.
Irma Moss, president of Florida’s Woman’s Missionary Union, garnered a two-page spread from the storytelling ability of Trennis Henderson and the visual presentation by Pam Henderson.
A section highlighting news from the SBC reported how a memorial fund established for Hudson Baggett, former editor of The Alabama Baptist, was making The Baptist Paper possible.
Also noted in that section was how the leaders of the Association of State Baptist Publications had appointed a committee to review the organization’s purpose and future plans.
Interesting timing in that we can now report ASBP worked through four years of research, discussions and decision-making to land as a division of Baptist Communicators Association and gathered for their first joint meeting in April in Mobile.
And a funny note for me is that I was the outgoing president of ASBP in both the 2021 and 2026 meetings.
Taking a peek at Rashional Thoughts from that first edition of The Baptist Paper, I see where I claim engaging with the publication “will give you a boost of energy, a shot of grace and truth with compassion.”
I hope you would agree as you’ve journeyed with us. We certainly don’t take for granted the time, energy, effort and financial resources you invest to walk alongside us.
Grateful for you
We can only do what we do because you believe in us. We thank you and are grateful for you.
And as I wrote in that first editorial in May 2021, “In a day when life seems more disconnected than connected, The Baptist Paper serves as that needed lifeline to keep us all tethered together.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jennifer Davis Rash, president and editor-in-chief of TAB Media Group. This editorial appeared in the May 7 edition of The Baptist Paper. Click here to subscribe.
