After 169 years of providing news to Baptists across the state, more than 110,000 households from every walk of life turn to The Alabama Baptist each week for information, inspiration and encouragement.
For many, the paper’s news stories and announcements help them stay in touch with local, state, national and worldwide religious issues.
“It’s very easy to lose touch with what’s going on in Alabama and throughout the world,” said 32-year-old Carrie McWhorter. “That’s why I enjoy reading The Alabama Baptist.”
A former staff writer at the paper, McWhorter now lives near the state’s border and attends a church in Georgia, but depends on The Alabama Baptist to keep up with the contacts that she made throughout the state as a reporter. She also uses articles and commentaries in the paper as teaching tools in her Sunday School class.
“It adds that extra dimension to the material that we have,” McWhorter added. “It makes us realize that people in other places don’t have the freedoms that we have, and it’s easy to forget that. It reminds us to support missions and pray for Christians around the world.”
After reading the paper for about 25 years, Earl Hardy concurs.
“I think it’s the main source for information on Southern Baptists,” said Hardy, pastor of Beulah Baptist Church, Sterrett. “I feel like I am a more informed Southern Baptist and more involved in our missions enterprises.”
In many cases, The Alabama Baptist provides outlets for some readers to reach others. Having read the paper since the 1940s, 81-year-old Nettie Brown uses it to minister to family, friends and perfect strangers.
“I read the paper every week, and I do not throw mine away for a long time,” she said. “I keep them at least a month and carry them to the hospital waiting rooms and nursing home to share with others.”
A member of Crossroads Baptist Church, Gordo, Brown also sends articles across the country to family members who have moved to other states.
Deeply moved by the stories of personal growth and answered prayers, Brown realizes the importance of not only reading but personally reacting to the articles included in the paper.
“I pray for the missionaries and people mentioned in the paper,” she added. “I don’t watch TV very much and I can’t read a lot, so I put my priorities where they matter most.”
Eleven-year-old Savannah Pritchett has also turned to The Alabama Baptist for information on missionary work around the globe. She became a regular reader more than a year ago after hearing about the deaths of Southern Baptist missionaries in Yemen.
“My mom showed me that story, and I was really interested to find out how it happened,” said Pritchett, daughter of The Alabama Baptist correspondent, Leigh Pritchett. “I like the stories, (they are) really interesting. I like my mom’s stories,” she added.
A member of Cropwell Baptist Church, Cropwell, Pritchett believes that others should read the paper “because it informs them about what’s happening to Christians all over the world.”
Carl Benedict, associate pastor of Southcrest Baptist Church, Bessemer, began faithfully reading The Alabama Baptist about a year ago when the church started placing its newsletter on the back page of the paper through the local edition service.
Benedict, who has served at Southcrest for nine years, said the church found financial benefits with the local edition service of The Alabama Baptist.
“I think it makes our mail out more profitable because the congregation not only gets our news, but news from around the state. It keeps me up on what’s going on with Alabama Baptists and churches across the state,” he said. “I would encourage people to read it to know what the Lord is doing across the state.”
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