The year was 1843. Alabama Baptists were gathered in an annual session at Siloam Springs Baptist Church, Marion, for the 20th anniversary of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Earlier that year a new resource had appeared on the Baptist scene — a state Baptist newspaper called The Alabama Baptist.
In its report the convention resolutions committee celebrated the new publication calling it “an instrument of great power in promotion of the best interest of the denomination and in advancing the cause of Christ at large.”
The new publication was called “a welcomed visitor to our families,” and the resolution urged “strenuous effort to place the paper in every Baptist family in the state.”
The final paragraph of the resolution committee’s report established a link unbroken in 172 years of ministry. The Alabama Baptist was to “be employed by the officers of the convention as the organ through which they shall confer with the churches connected with this body.”
‘A welcomed visitor’
In 1919 the state convention purchased the state Baptist paper from private ownership and turned over its operation to a “committee of the brothers” that later became a commission and today is a board of directors. During all that time the state Baptist paper remained “a welcomed visitor” in Alabama Baptist homes and a trusted voice.
Today The Alabama Baptist continues to:
- inform for understanding and perspective
- inspire for Christian discipleship
- connect for missions and ministry
No other publication focuses on what God is doing in Alabama and around the world like The Alabama Baptist. No other publication provides biblically based insights into issues ranging from family life to national issues to global problems. The Alabama Baptist continues to inspire individual Christians, strengthen Baptist churches, encourage denominational causes and advance concerns of the global Baptist family.
The printed page remains the primary tool for keeping the Christian family known as Alabama Baptists informed, inspired and connected. Weekly readership of The Alabama Baptist is about 175,000 individuals, mostly members of about 2,000 churches across the state. However, at last count subscribers came from every state in the nation and more than 30 foreign countries.
Fifty times a year the state Baptist paper is mailed into the homes of subscribers. Readership studies indicate readers spend about twice as much time reading The Alabama Baptist as they do a regular newspaper. Perhaps that is because subscribers benefit from the many resources available in each week’s issue. Resources range from important news stories to Bible studies to faith and family helps to information about persecuted believers across the globe.
As more and more people have gone to digital devices for their news and information, The Alabama Baptist responded with electronic platform options. A digital edition of the paper is available for those who read primarily from computers, tablets or mobile phones. The digital edition provides an enhanced version of the printed paper featuring related videos, slide shows, audio clips and links.
Both the print and digital edition of The Alabama Baptist are subscription-based publications. Churches that provide the paper to active resident families get a significant discount from the individual annual rate of $22.25. But even the individual rate is less than 45 cents a week, which is less than the cost of a single postage stamp.
The Alabama Baptist also offers several free resources. Every weekday a Top Story of the Day is distributed via email to all who request the blog news service. The Alabama Baptist staff scours news services and selects that day’s most important faith-related story. The story is edited and updated before being posted and emailed. Generally the release provides a link where readers can find information beyond what the story contains.
Breaking news is reserved for major stories with immediate impact. These stories are quickly posted on the newspaper’s website. Twitter feeds and Facebook postings alert readers to the breaking news story. The Alabama Baptist relies on social media to interact with readers and to provide updates about news and resources. Currently The Alabama Baptist has more than 5,000 followers on Facebook and just under 3,500 Twitter followers.
The Alabama Baptist’s website is a resource center for Baptists. It is not a place where one can read the information printed in the state Baptist paper each week. In fact, only the lead story from each week’s publication is immediately posted on the website’s home page. The other stories are posted a week later under a variety of categories.
The website provides an invaluable archives for Baptists. There one will find all the stories published in the paper beginning in 2000. That is 15 years of stories. Using the search engine one can find all the stories about a country where Southern Baptists do missions work or all the stories about a social/ethical issue or all the stories about a denominational decision. Information about people, churches and entities are all available in the archives.
In June more than 12,000 unique visitors came to the The Alabama Baptist website and viewed more than 39,000 pages. Visitors came from all 50 states — with the majority of readers coming from the southeast — and 131 nations. Blog readers came from as far away as Indonesia.
More than a printed newspaper
Today The Alabama Baptist is more than a printed newspaper. It is social media. It is regular news feeds. It is a digital edition and more services are on the drawing board. But the purpose of the paper has not changed since the first issue came off the press Feb. 4, 1843. We are still about inspiring believers, strengthening churches, encouraging Baptist denominational causes and “advancing the cause of Christ at large.”
The Alabama Baptist is still about serving you as a welcomed visitor and a trusted voice.
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