Bruce Ellard began reading The Alabama Baptist 30 years ago as a Navy medic stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He spent many evenings and much of his free time reading the newspapers sent to him by his church family at Walter Baptist Church, Hanceville, in East Cullman Baptist Association.
Through the years, The Alabama Baptist remained a meaningful resource in Ellard’s life, providing him with religious information he could not get from any secular newspaper. Although Ellard never imagined one day using the state’s Baptist newspaper as a major resource in a discipleship class, that is exactly what happened.
About three years ago when he began leading a Sunday night adult class focused on religion in the news, the group’s discussions increasingly began to include topics from the week’s newspaper. Eventually, between prayer time and Bible study, class members began opening their copies of The Alabama Baptist to discuss current religious news across the state and around the world.
"Personally I feel that our church members need to have a biblical or Christian worldview and be able to see the things happening in the world in relation to the Bible," Ellard said. "I think it is important that Baptists know what’s going on with the Southern Baptist Convention, what’s happening in other churches and what’s happening around the world from the perspective of religion. I think [The Alabama Baptist] fills a void in a Christian’s life."
His Walter Baptist family also sees the importance of the newspaper and his class. For many decades, the church has provided its members with copies of The Alabama Baptist, and now Ellard’s class attracts between 18 and 25 people of varying ages each week.
Having attended or taught the discipleship class for more than 50 years, 92-year-old J.D. Glasscock has enjoyed using the state Baptist paper to learn new things.
"We refer to The Alabama Baptist almost every Sunday," he said. "It has so many different articles about things that’s going on in the world. It’s always helpful."
Even Pastor Sherman Bailey becomes a student on Sunday nights.
"[The class is] wonderful," he said. "It has affected our church (and) has brought out attention to some of the facts that we need to be studying and (taking) heed to."
Bailey believes that many other churches should be exposed to this kind of training, which often explains differences between Southern Baptist and other religious beliefs.
"One thing [Ellard] brought up … is that we as Baptists don’t know what we believe or Baptist doctrine," Bailey said. "[The class] has made a great impact on our church. People are learning and they are intrigued that there were resources available that we had never tapped into."
Ellard plans to continue teaching the class indefinitely.
"I think it is important that we as Christians realize that our belief needs to be a part of our lives every day," he said. "If we are truly Christians, we have to live for Christ every day, and I think we’ve got to realize that everything that’s happening in the world has to be looked at through that Christian perspective. I think this class helps the group of us think about and look at things in the light of God’s Word."
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