The tables showcase unique and carefully crafted decorations that whisper Jane Bellew’s name. The wedding ceremony last week went off seamlessly as Bellew orchestrated the event from the point of proposal to the bubbles that chased the happy couple off to their new life together.
And many church committees stay on task and gain momentum as Bellew maintains an active role in them.
But Bellew, a member of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Hueytown, in Bessemer Baptist Association, doesn’t stop there. She is also active in Bessemer Association and as a board member of The Alabama Baptist.
In fact, Bellew recently became the first female elected as chairperson of the paper’s board of directors.
Bellew, a board member for the past eight years, said she’s excited about serving in a leadership position through which she can help the newspaper serve the state’s Baptist community.
“I want to see our paper grow and want to reach out to churches who don’t know anything about The Alabama Baptist because it is a wonderful newspaper,” Bellew said.
Mike McLemore, chairman of the board prior to Bellew and executive director of Birmingham Baptist Association, called her a “great member of our board,” noting that she has already served in several leadership roles as chairwoman of various committees and vice chair for two years.
“She is a proven leader and gifted with great leadership skills,” McLemore added. “The board of The Alabama Baptist is both fortunate and honored to have Jane Bellew as our first (elected) woman chairperson.”
Yet having a woman lead the newspaper’s board is not a foreign concept.
One other woman has served in the role of chairperson due to being vice chair and fulfilling a vacancy.
Polly Ireland, a member of Green Valley Baptist Church, Hoover, in Birmingham Association, filled in as chairperson for one year following the death of Richard Francis in the late 1980s. Ireland’s husband, Dan, is executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program.
Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist, said, “The board of directors of The Alabama Baptist has always been a diverse group by design.”
He noted it has a mixture of male and female and ordained and lay members and is geographically diverse, representing every area of Alabama. The board is also composed of a variety of viewpoints, Terry added.
“Jane Bellew is a gifted leader,” he said. “For more than 40 years, she has held a management position with one of the state’s largest automobile dealers, Long-Lewis Ford. She has held every leadership post in her church from Sunday School director to chairperson of the decoration committee. And she loves The Alabama Baptist.
“We need her perspective to help us understand the people we serve,” Terry said. “Without her input and the input of other women on the board, we would have only a partial understanding of those we serve. That would cripple our efforts to be a resource for Christian living for all our readers.”
Working with Terry is the board of directors’ main role in the paper’s operation, Bellew said.
“We set policies and procedures, and we are a sounding board for Dr. Terry,” she said.
While local and national news can easily be found on television, “true knowledge” as it relates to the state’s Baptists can only be found through reading The Alabama Baptist, she said. “It helps to keep Baptists up-to-date on what is going on, not just in their local area but in their state and internationally. People are interested in that.”
Terry added, “To know that one has a chairperson who loves the ministry, who cares about the staff, who is gifted in leadership and cooperative in spirit makes the relationship of the staff and the board that much more productive.” (Jennifer Davis Rash contributed)
Share with others: