By Carrie Brown McWhorter
The Alabama Baptist
From all over the state, friends of The Alabama Baptist came to Judson College in Marion on Feb. 6 to celebrate the paper’s 175 years of ministry.
More than 200 in addition to the students present from Judson attended a morning worship celebration held in the chapel at Jewett Hall, named after Milo P. Jewett, one of the founders of both The Alabama Baptist and Judson College.
The founders of the paper were “prophetic people who had a vision for the state,” said editor Bobby S. Terry in his opening remarks, later noting the “critical role” Marion has played in Baptist life.
In honor of the occasion, Terry presented Judson College with a framed reproduction of the paper’s first front page, published Feb. 4, 1843.
Following music by the Judson Singers, editor-elect Jennifer Davis Rash spoke about faithfulness, recalling how The Alabama Baptist was “cutting edge for its time” at its beginning and has remained faithful to its original mission to share the story of Alabama Baptists.
“Faithfulness matters,” Rash said. “It moves others. It makes a difference.”
Rash, who will become the first woman to lead a major state Baptist paper when she takes the helm as The Alabama Baptist’s editor, humorously connected her own experience with that of Julia Barron, the only female among the paper’s four founders. But Rash also noted the legacy left by Barron, who despite losing all her wealth after the Civil War expressed that she wished she had given more to gospel causes — a challenge as The Alabama Baptist enters a new era of media ministry.
“Will we find a way to remember the goal? Will we serve with excellence?” Rash asked.
Following lunch, Elizabeth Wells and Grace Thornton, co-authors of the new book “The Alabama Baptist: 175 Years of Informing, Inspiring and Connecting Baptists” spoke about the history of the newspaper.
Wells, retired archivist at Samford University, emphasized the value of the state Baptist paper in the early years of Alabama’s statehood.
Baptists who subscribed to the paper may not have traveled outside their hometowns, but they knew what was going on around the world because they received The Alabama Baptist, Wells said.
Thornton shared highlights from the paper’s last 100 years as an entity of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
“Long before Facebook, (The Alabama Baptist) was the way everybody found out what was going on,” she said.
Both Wells and Thornton noted the financial pressures of operating a newspaper in constantly changing economic times, and in a question and answer time following the historical presentations, Terry noted the future will be filled with similar challenges related to financing the work.
Rash added that challenges already exist in how to “serve up” the information.
“We have stories that need to be told,” she said. “We are going to be dealing with what all that news media and print (publications) are facing today — to figure out how we tell our story in a way a new generation will consume that news.”
Other events during the celebration included tours of historic sites in Marion, including Judson College; Siloam Baptist Church; the original chapel of Howard College (now Samford University) on the campus of Marion Military Institute; and Reverie, a historic Greek revival mansion.
A birthday party complete with cake, singing and book signings ended the day.
“What a wonderful day this was. All of us at The Alabama Baptist will forever be grateful to Judson College, Siloam Baptist Church and the more than 200 people from across the state who came to affirm the value of our ministry of communications and to celebrate God’s blessing on this ministry for the past 175 years,” Terry said. “The story of The Alabama Baptist is a story of God’s faithfulness and we look forward to serving God and serving Alabama Baptists into the future.”
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