Franklin Graham undergoes heart surgery
By BP Staff
ROCHESTER, Minn. (BP) – Franklin Graham underwent successful heart surgery on Monday, according to a post on his Twitter account. Doctors performed a pericardiectomy to repair the sac around his heart due to inflammation and hardening.
“The team here at Mayo Clinic does such an incredible job,” the 69-year-old evangelist said.
Graham is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and president of the international aid ministry Samaritan’s Purse.
According to the post, Graham plans on returning to his normal ministry schedule in 2022. The tweet stated doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
Ledbetter named senior editor of MBC’s High Street Press
By Missouri Pathway Staff
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) – High Street Press, the publishing imprint of the Missouri Baptist Convention, has named Gary Ledbetter its project manager and senior editor, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
Ledbetter is a seasoned Southern Baptist journalist and denominational leader with extensive writing and editing experience. He currently serves as editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN, the official publication of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
As editor of the TEXAN since 2001, Ledbetter has taken the publication from a magazine to a tabloid format. Circulation since 2001 has grown from 12,000 to 46,000. In addition, Ledbetter launched a news website, texanonline.net, which the TEXAN uses for breaking news as well as distribution of stories produced for the print edition.
In his new role with High Street Press, Ledbetter will serve as the chief point of contact for authors submitting manuscripts through the HSP web portal, highstreet.press. Working with authors and MBC Executive Director John Yeats, Ledbetter will shepherd selected book manuscripts through the entire editing and production process.
Yeats and Ledbetter plan for High Street Press to produce at least three books in 2022.
“Gary is a key player in the future of High Street Press,” Yeats said. “For the first time, beginning in 2022, High Street Press is actively inviting Missouri Baptist authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Gary helps ensure that we work with the right authors to develop biblically faithful resources that help Missouri Baptists transform lives and communities with the Gospel.”
High Street Press exists to partner with selected Missouri Baptist authors to create reasonably priced, theologically sound books and other resources that help carry out the MBC vision of transforming lives and communities with the Gospel.
High Street Press features a unique hybrid publishing model. Selected authors pay an up-front fee that covers all editing, design and production costs. Once the books are placed with Amazon and other major booksellers, the author retains all royalties – a model that ensures professional production while enabling the author to recoup his or her investment.
“Missouri Baptists have a great resource in High Street Press,” Ledbetter said. “I look forward to joining the team to help it develop in the coming days.”
From 2001-2020, Ledbetter performed public relations, media relations, public policy, institutional relations and editorial work for all convention publications, and supervised the design work for the Southern Baptists of Texas. He retired from those roles at the end of 2020 and is scheduled to retire as editor of the TEXAN at the end of this year.
