MOBILE, Ala. – Fences decorated in colorful beads and sprawling branches from well-seasoned live oak trees welcomed more than 70 Baptist communicators to the historic streets of Mobile April 13-17 for the Baptist Communicators Association’s (BCA) 71st annual spring workshop.
Renewed collaboration
In keeping with this year’s workshop theme “Full Steam Ahead,” BCA members looked into the future of collaborative communications as they officially welcomed the Association of State Baptist Publications (ASBP) as a division under BCA, joining the two groups and their meetings for the first time.
with fellow ASBP members Chad
Austin, Cameron Crabtree and Doug Rogers. Photo by Jim Veneman
“Now that the editors’ group has become an official division of BCA, I believe we are stronger together,” said Margaret Colson, BCA executive director. “BCA is well-positioned to continue to move forward strategically and intentionally into a future of enhancing the mission and impact of denominational communicators.”
At the time of the meeting, BCA reported 286 members, with more than 50 new members joining during the 2025-2026 year. Members present at the workshop represented 21 different states.
New BCA officers approved to serve during the 2026-2027 year are:
- President: Kathleen Sparks, International Mission Board
- Membership vice president: Mitchell Bruce, Baptist Foundation of Alabama
- Communications vice president: Timothy Cockes, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
- Program Chair (Pittsburgh 2027): Shannon Baker, Baptist Resource Network of PA/SJ
- Awards Chair (Student, 2027): Myriah Snyder-Garrett, Lifeway Christian Resources
- Awards Co-Chairs (Professional, 2027): Sarah Graham, California Southern Baptist Convention, and Sonya Singh, California Baptist University
- Professional Development Coordinator: Scott Knuteson, North American Mission Board
- Historian: Cam Tracy, Union University
- Treasurer: Chrystelle Thames, Baptist Children’s Village and Family Ministries
- Immediate Past President: Brandon Elrod, North American Mission Board
- President-Elect: Chris Turner, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board
- Awards Chair-Elect (2028): Adam Covington, WatersEdge
- ASBP Representative: Lawrence Smith, Kentucky Baptist Convention
Covington. Photo by Jim Veneman
Lawerence Smith joins the officer slate as a representative for ASBP. Going forward, the role of ASBP representative will work alongside BCA officers to explore the best ways all members can benefit from this newfound partnership.
Before concluding the 2026 business meeting, BCA members honored Colson, who previously announced her departure as the group’s executive director, a position she’s held since April 2008. A search committee has been formed to find BCA’s next executive director.
Lessons learned and honor paid
Todd Greer with Innovation Portal, a nonprofit startup incubator, began the week by pulling on the strings of nostalgia.
During his keynote, he reminisced about the unmistakable blue and yellow glow that beckoned him and his family into Blockbuster stores most Friday nights when he was growing up. He fondly recalled the abundance of options hidden in the seemingly endless stash of movies.
“Blockbuster was the absolute statement of success. They were a cultural icon. They very clearly identified who they were, and they would never change,” Greer said.
But the video giant’s reluctance to adapt proved devastating when it declined an offer to acquire a small start-up company in 2000 — a company called Netflix.
This Blockbuster and Netflix anecdote paved the way for Greer’s main idea, which encouraged communicators to stay true to their fixed mission, sharing the Gospel, but remain flexible in their methods.
Later in the week, communicators considered the qualities of a leader through keynotes facilitated by well-known meteorologist (WBMA-LD, ABC 33/40) James Spann and Lonnie Burnett, vice president of Coastal Alabama Community College.
BCA members were also challenged in their partnerships with fellow Christian organizations by Nathan Harris, University of Mobile’s vice president for institutional relations.
Harris pointed out that we often “reduce partnership to transactions and missions to metrics.”
True partnership is holistic, going far beyond simply asking for finances or simply counting Gospel conversations or conversions as one more tick mark, he said.
To combat this idea, Harris shared three points to strengthen invitations to Gospel partnership: It is a shared mission, a shared stewardship and a shared impact.
Ministry is not a solo effort, rather it is someone saying, “I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the rope,” said Harris, quoting missionary William Carey.
In between keynotes, BCA members added to their skill toolboxes through breakout sessions touching on everything from AI and digital Gospel conversations to effective storytelling and crisis communications.
Among the most memorable moments of the workshop was the 62nd Annual Wilmer C. Fields Awards Ceremony, where 203 awards, including seven grand prize awards, were bestowed to BCA members for work completed in 2025.
Trennis Henderson and Elizabeth Young were honored as BCA Lifetime Members for their faithful participation in BCA and their long-lasting commitment to communicating the Gospel through their craft.
Henderson, a former BCA president, has served in Christian communications for more than four decades.
In 1988, Young, a well-known trailblazer in Baptist circles, became the first female editor of a state Southern Baptist newspaper that published weekly or biweekly. She been an active member of BCA since 1983 and plans to retire this year.
Parting panels and planning ahead
Reflecting a similar feeling of warmth as the host city, the 2026 BCA workshop concluded with a fun-filled panel featuring candid discussion about how to pivot well and thrive outside your comfort zone — a topic BCA has learned well during this pivotal year.
Following the dismissal of BCA, ASBP editors held their first “add-on” workshop Thursday through Friday morning.
In 2027, BCA will meet in Pittsburgh, for its annual spring workshop April 12-15. Members attending the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando are invited to the BCA dessert fellowship, sponsored by the Florida Baptist Convention, June 7 at 8:30 p.m. at the Orange County Convention Center, room 225A.
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