Like many other Alabama Baptists, Jeannie Mestres finds the state Baptist paper in her mailbox once a week.
The only difference is her mailbox is a little farther away.
Mestres, a missionary working in France, said the paper gives her “a real sense of belonging to the Christian family, the Alabama Baptist family. It is also a call for me to stand strong in my faith and walk with Christ.” So when Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) made it possible for her to keep receiving The Alabama Baptist, it was “a joy,” she said.
A recent effort by Alabama WMU will guarantee that the state’s 45 Baptist missionaries overseas will continue to receive the newspaper for at least the next two years.
“The Alabama Baptist has always provided the state Baptist paper to missionaries from the state for free as part of our ministry to them,” said Bob Terry, president and publisher of The Alabama Baptist. “But with the extreme postage increase for international mail, it was not going to be an option any longer.”
Ministry hit hard
When the U.S. Postal Service eliminated the option of surface delivery for international mail in 2007, the state Baptist paper and numerous other nonprofits had to cut back on overseas deliveries. With airmail the only option, postage for sending The Alabama Baptist to one home for one year would be about $150.
Terry shared the development with Candace McIntosh, Alabama WMU executive director, and the organization responded with a gift of $4,000 to be used over a two-year period.
“[Alabama WMU believes] that it is important to provide encouragement to the heart of our missions personnel, and providing The Alabama Baptist gives them a little touch of home and helps them to stay connected,” McIntosh said.
She said helping with distribution of the paper is in keeping with the tradition of Alabama WMU providing the state’s overseas missionaries with different literature — something it has done for more than 35 years.
“Gifts like these remind our personnel … that there are people at home who care,” McIntosh said. “That speaks volumes to someone who is several hundred — maybe thousands — of miles from family and friends.”
Terry said without Alabama WMU, keeping the newspaper’s overseas ministry going would not be possible. “We appreciate the opportunity of partnering with WMU to make the paper available to our overseas workers,” he said. “Many missionaries tell us The Alabama Baptist is like a letter from home. They sit down and read it from cover to cover, even when two or three issues arrive at the same time.”
For Jack and Lynn Kinnison, who have served as missionaries in Southeast Asia since 1973, the paper has been the primary source of information not only about Alabama Baptists but also the Southern Baptist Convention and missions in other parts of the world.
“Without this kind of information, we would tend to remain single-mindedly focused on just our work in Thailand,” Jack Kinnison said. “I believe our Lord wants us to engage in prayer for missions work in other places, too.
“We are very grateful that our sisters at the Alabama WMU have seen the value of keeping us in the communication loops of our national and state Baptist convention,” he added.
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