When my friend asked if we had made the move to digital content yet, I wasn’t quite sure how to respond.
We were catching up over lunch recently and asking about life, family, work, ministry, etc. While she isn’t Baptist, I somehow had assumed she knew a basic level of what we do through TAB Media Group.
However, a few days prior another friend, who is a long time Baptist and frequently engages with our work, seemed surprised to learn about the full scope of what our team produces now.
He had missed out on some of the types of coverage and resources available to help individuals, families, congregations and communities grow in their faith, build character and develop leaders.
Three printed newspapers
Earlier this year, another reader who follows us consistently online — taking advantage of our digital content — asked when we had stopped printing newspapers and mailing them to homes. “We haven’t stopped,” I responded. He was shocked.
In fact, we publish three print newspapers and mail them to homes as well as in bulk to churches — The Baptist Paper, The Alabama Baptist and The Kids Edition.
We also now produce a full set of devotional books, congregational vitality books and children’s faith-based activity workbooks through booksbytab.org.
Along with ordering hard copy books and workbooks, you can find companion leader/parent downloadable guides for the Bible studies and children’s activity books.
Through our print and digital content, followers also can keep up with news and information about what God is doing through His people around the world as well as stories about those who are being persecuted for their faith.
Consider the routine of one church in regard to the articles we publish on persecuted believers: The pastor brings the paper to Wednesday night prayer meeting and reads those articles out loud; the group stops to pray between each article.
Another reader shared how she uses the entire newspaper as a prayer guide, and others could easily do the same whether reading online or in print.
Calm reporting
One friend shared with me recently how he scrolls through our Facebook posts and reads the headlines of the features we post on our page. Sometimes he clicks on the link to read the full story, but most of the time he just scrolls and still feels informed by the style of our posts. They aren’t click bait nor are they intended to incite rage. They are truly being shared to inform.
A little more than 25 years ago, our team made the full turn toward embracing how technology and digital platforms would complement the work we were doing through the printed page. At that point, it was basically developing a website and determining how it would function.
We initially allowed the printed publication to lead and then posted articles to the website in more of an archival nature, but as more people shifted to digital preferences, we adapted as well.
Our content now goes online first and is shared soon after posting through various social media channels, email newsletters and notifications from the websites. Specific selections are compiled from the online content to produce the printed publications.
Several members of our team also work to share links with those featured as well as others who might be interested. I’m always encouraged to watch our team members do this on their own initiative, not because it has been assigned.
Sharing with others
And my heart was really full last week when I learned of a reader who was doing something similar. She subscribes to the print edition of the paper and reads through every publication not only for her own edification but also to look for articles to clip and share with someone she knows might need them or would appreciate them.
“We were talking about this topic at church Sunday and I saw this article and thought of you,” is something like the note she will write and attach to the clipping before passing it along in person or by mail. What an incredible extension of our ministry!
If you’d like to learn more about the full scope of what we produce through TAB Media Group, visit tabmedia.group and follow us on social media. We really do offer a little bit of ev erything on every platform you might want to use.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jennifer Davis Rash, president and editor-in-chief of TAB Media Group. This editorial appears in the October 22 edition of The Baptist Paper. Click here to subscribe.
