Southern Baptist publications across the nation will have their day, July 28.
Southern Baptist Media Day will recognize print and electronic publications—state papers, SBC entity magazines, websites, and more—around the nation that are dedicated to covering Southern Baptist news, missions, and ministry.
The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention added the new day to the SBC Calendar during their February meeting in Nashville. For many editors, this is a welcomed addition.
Allan Blume, who retired as editor of the Biblical Recorder on May 31, has often expressed his concern for state Baptist publications and how they are desperately needed in today’s culture.
“When I began serving as your editor,” Blume wrote in a column for the official newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, “a senior leader at IMB said to me, ‘We need the state papers to survive. The papers are a major part of promoting the Lottie Moon offering and keeping Baptists informed all year long on the work of our missionaries.’ He said it is not possible for IMB to get mission information to people in the pews without the Biblical Recorder and the state newspapers.”
Blume continued, “I genuinely believe one of the factors in the decline in [Cooperative Program] giving and other missions giving is due to the lack of information reaching the people in our pews.”
Shawn Hendricks, editor of Baptist Press, agrees with Blume’s assessment and the need for Southern Baptist journalists.
“They are more needed than ever,” said Hendricks, former managing editor of the Biblical Recorder. “Without them, social media personalities, banter, and debate will more and more become the news providers. And facts and solid reporting will be replaced with rumor and speculation. That would be bad news for all of us.”
