Roger Alford, editor of The Christian Index for the past three years, announced his departure Friday (March 22) from the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s newsjournal, effective at the end of the month.
He noted the opportunity has been “a great privilege and a labor of love.” He added, “Giving that up isn’t easy.” Alford, who was named editor in April of 2021, brought the Index nearly four decades of journalism experience, which included covering news for The Associated Press.
“I took the job three years ago with hopes of pumping new life into the nation’s oldest religious newspaper, now 202 years old,” said Alford, noting increases in readership and that advertising revenue now covers the newspaper’s operational expenses. “With that mission accomplished, it’s time for a new challenge.”
He thanked The Christian Index team he as worked with and added, “In everything we have done, we kept the newspaper’s original purpose in mind, beefing up coverage of missions and ministries in Georgia and beyond.”
“We also began providing our readers with the most important news of the day from around the world, just as Luther Rice did in his day and as other editors did in their days, including during the Civil War when the newspaper carried the latest dispatches from the frontlines,” he said. “Readers responded well to that, and our little team has rejoiced to see clicks on the website, which used to be measured in thousands, rise into the millions.”
He noted, “One of the coolest things that happened during my tenure was the creation of the Index News Service, which allows us to provide our content free of charge to community newspapers across the state. We give those newspapers full access to all the religion news and features that appear in The Christian Index.”
Where it all began
Alford began his journalism career working for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group as a reporter in the southeastern Kentucky town of Middlesboro. He worked at newspapers in Ashland, Kentucky and Portsmouth and Columbus, Ohio, before joining The Associated Press, first as a correspondent covering the impoverished central Appalachian region, and later covering government and politics.
Late in his career with The Associated Press, Alford surrendered to the Lord and became a bi-vocational pastor at Long Ridge Baptist Church in Owenton, Kentucky. It was during that time that International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood, then executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, invited Alford to become the KBC communications director. Alford remained in that role for five years before moving to the IMB for a brief stint as vice president for communications. Prior to becoming editor of The Christian Index, Alford served as pastor of South Fork Baptist Church in Kentucky for two years.
Alford and his wife, Susan, have three grown children, Emily, Josh and Mary, who writes for the Arkansas Baptist News.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was compiled by The Baptist Paper. With reporting from The Christian Index.
