Sharply dressed in a suit and tie with his signature “God Loves You” pin snapped neatly on his left lapel, Bobby S. Terry reviews his schedule for the day. Terry — known to most as Dr. Terry, Bob or Dr. Bob — likes a tight agenda. He plans with precision to get the most out of every minute. And every minute he maximizes, a typical routine for the nearly 40-year veteran of Christian journalism.
In August, Terry celebrated his 30th year as a state Baptist paper editor and his 10th anniversary as editor of The Alabama Baptist.
Holding one of the longest tenures as a state Baptist paper editor, Terry began his career with state Baptist newspapers as an assistant editor in 1968 with Kentucky’s Western Recorder.
He was elected editor of Missouri’s Word & Way in 1975 and stayed there until he was elected editor of The Alabama Baptist in 1995.
Steve Stewart, current chairman of the board of directors for The Alabama Baptist, served on the editor search committee in 1995. “We were looking for a good journalist with the heart and skills of a pastor,” said Stewart, weekend editor for The Decatur Daily. “The Lord led us to the right person.”
Mike McLemore, pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham, and member of The Alabama Baptist board, agreed with Stewart.
“Dr. Terry is well respected among Southern Baptists as an outstanding journalist, preacher, leader, colleague and friend,” said McLemore, who served as chair of the editor search committee when Terry was elected.
“When the search committee … called Dr. Terry to be the fourth editor of our state paper, it was a unanimous decision,” he said. “Dr. Terry fits the profile we had developed for that position like a glove.”
The May 26, 1995, minutes from the meeting to call Terry stated that 30 resumés were submitted and each was “prayerfully considered” before five individuals were selected to be interviewed. “Committee members were asked to rank these five people before our meeting to assess the interviews,” McLemore stated in the minutes. “When we came to that meeting, every member of the committee had chosen the same man as their first choice. We felt right then the Lord had led us to that individual.”
McLemore said in a recent interview, “Dr. Terry has remained focused, faithful and fair in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
“I have watched him and walked with him and have found him to be a faithful, dedicated solider of the cross,” he said. “His career has spanned some challenging years in Southern Baptist life, and he has been a strong voice … on the issues that confront us.
“While some may not always agree with his positions on the issues before us, none can deny that as a journalist he has sought to make all of us think more deeply about those issues,” he said.
As president and editor of The Alabama Baptist Inc., Terry’s work carries him across the globe representing Baptist life in a variety of roles. He also travels statewide preaching and speaking in numerous venues as well as representing the state Baptist paper.
Stewart noted the enormity of the editor’s role. “The editor must manage the business, plan its future and fight a trend in the newspaper industry of declining circulation,” he said. “He or she must work effectively with pastors, churches, associations and denominational leaders. He must set an example of godly living and sometimes represent Baptists to other groups.
“Bob does all of this well,” he said.
Currently Terry serves as executive secretary of the Association of State Baptist Papers. He formerly served as president and secretary-treasurer.
He also serves as chairman of the communications committee for Baptist World Alliance (BWA), as well as on the BWA executive committee, program planning committee and the resolutions committee.
Terry holds professional memberships in Associated Church Press (ACP), Evangelical Press Association, Coalition of Religious Press Associations and Baptist Communicators Association, all of which he has served in leadership roles. He also represents the religious press of the United States in conversations with the U.S. Postal Service.
A highlight of his time in Missouri was when he coordinated Bold Mission Taiwan, a three-year partnership missions effort between Missouri Baptists and the Chinese Baptist Convention (Taiwan). In this role, he organized local church and media evangelism, worked with church planting and helped train church leadership.
Terry, who served as a pastor while earning a master of divinity and doctor of ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., has served as interim pastor for churches in Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri. A native Alabamian, Terry was born in Decatur but spent his formative years in Ypsilanti, Mich., where he began his journey in the ministry at age 14. As a teenager, Terry publicly surrendered to God’s call and right away helped organize two Southern Baptist mission congregations.
Christian journalism first became a ministry option for Terry while he was a student at Mississippi College. He served as sports editor of the student newspaper and later, as general news writer for the college’s public relations office.
His double major of history and communications provided him with experience in radio and television work. He even served as a radio deejay while in college and hosted religious-based television programs in Missouri and Alabama in later years.
While in seminary, Terry served as news director for Southern Seminary and as managing editor for the seminary’s alumni publication.
Through the years, he has won awards such as being named among “Outstanding Young Men of America” and selected in several “Who’s Who” listings.
Terry also is active in the Birmingham area, where The Alabama Baptist has its headquarters, through civic organizations and his church, Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Homewood.
He works with United Way and is a member of the Birmingham Rotary Club. A member of the Leadership Birmingham Class of 2000–2001, Terry was recently named to the Leadership Alabama Class for 2005.
Terry also serves as a board member for the state Baptist Minister’s Benefit Society, for Community Grief Support Services of Birmingham (where he serves as chairman of the board) and on the Norton Board of Advisors for Birmingham-Southern College.
Terry’s pastor Gary Fenton, who is also a member of the board for The Alabama Baptist, said, “Dr. Terry has served Southern Baptists during an era of unprecedented change. His commitment to both journalistic excellence and to the advancement of the Lord’s work has helped Alabama Baptists experience transition in a very positive way.”
“Without exception, Dr. Terry personally and professionally takes the high road speaking the truth in love,” Fenton said. “Under Dr. Terry’s leadership, the board of directors for The Alabama Baptist has worked together in unity seeking to continue the tradition of having one of the premier state religious publications in the nation.
“As an editor, churchman, friend, family man and community leader, Dr. Terry has made this last 10 years a decade of excellence.”
Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, also noted Terry’s “faithful” service to the paper.
“His example of Christian leadership during these past 10 years has been an inspiration to me personally,” Lance said. “I have been impressed with how Bob has handled the many changes which have marked his life and ministry.
“Bob (has) never failed to be a Christian gentleman and Christian professional as our leader at The Alabama Baptist,” he added. “I want to join the chorus of untold numbers of Alabama Baptists who take this opportunity to celebrate the decade of excellence which has been ours to enjoy.”
The “decade of excellence” can be attested to with one peek at the paper’s Hall of Honor. In that hall hang the 87 national awards Terry has led The Alabama Baptist staff to win. These are in addition to the 57 awards he led the Word & Way staff to win during his 20 years as editor in Missouri.
The Alabama awards include six tributes from four national religious communications organizations that named the state paper the best among all Christian newspapers in the nation.
When Terry first addressed the Alabama Baptist State Convention as editor of the paper (November 1995 in Montgomery), he pledged to serve through reporting great things of Alabama Baptist life, through continuing to help them in their Christian lives and through working to increase circulation.
“We are here because we were called by God, but that call must be confirmed by our service,” Terry told the messengers to the 1995 annual meeting of Alabama Baptists. “We hope to confirm our call through our service to you.”
The members of the board for The Alabama Baptist believe Terry has no doubt confirmed that call.
John Loudat, president of the Association of State Baptist Papers (ASBP), agreed.
“God has blessed Alabama Baptists with a true giant among those who have been entrusted with the huge responsibility of keeping the Baptists of their state informed,” Loudat said. “He is one of the nation’s choicest Christian communicators.”
He said Terry not only “stands tall as a role model” among state paper editors but also his role as executive secretary of ASBP has provided invaluable guidance to many editors who are elected president of the group.
“I am sure that many of my colleagues have joined me in seeking his godly counsel, advice and expertise concerning any number of editorial matters on any number of occasions,” Loudat said. “Each of our publications have benefited enormously from Dr. Terry’s knowledge of postal issues and his advocacy on behalf of all state Baptist papers, as well as other publications.”
But even as Terry is providing guidance for fellow editors, he also is loving on and nurturing Alabama Baptists in the pews.
Jane Bellew, a member of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Hueytown, first met Terry when he came as the church’s interim pastor in 2000.
“Dr. Terry gave members of Pleasant Ridge a new desire to come to all church services,” said Bellew, a member of the board for The Alabama Baptist. “His Wednesday and Sunday night sermons were as good if not better than Sunday morning.”
She said members of the church knew immediately that Terry is “a leader, pastor, preacher and friend.”
And, in Bellew’s words, this “Southern gentleman and renaissance man” has amazed many as he has served in the role of pastor, taught Sunday School, led the state paper, served his community and been an active father and grandfather.
Even with the long list of accolades, the continuous signs of support from around the world and the years of faithful service, it was the personal tragedy Terry endured in 1998 that truly connected him to Alabama Baptists at a level neither dreamed possible.
Eleanor Foster Terry, his wife of almost 34 years, died from injuries sustained in a traffic accident while the Terrys were participating in a BWA meeting in Durbin, South Africa.
“None of us who served with Dr. Terry shall ever forget the authenticity of his character during grief or the wonderful way he modeled working through grief to hope,” Fenton noted. “He set an example of grace during personal crisis.”
Stewart said, “His handling of tragedy in his personal life has been an inspiration to those who know him personally and to the readers of the paper.”
Loudat explained that Terry’s willingness to share his reflections with readers of The Alabama Baptist “about his painful personal pilgrimage … found a grateful audience well beyond the borders of Alabama.”
“Dr. Terry’s editor friends have been among the multitudes who have been deeply impacted by his example as one who has trusted God completely through some of life’s darkest valleys,” he said. “And we have rejoiced to see God’s abiding faithfulness, incredible goodness and sufficient provision in and through his life and ministry.”
And while Alabama Baptists walked with Terry through the dark days, they also got to rejoice with him as he found new life through a new love, Pat Creel Hart, whom he married in March 2002.
“He modeled the joys of new beginnings with his marriage to Pat,” Lance noted.
Pat Terry is an associate professor in and chair of the department of nutrition and dietetics at Samford University.
A former Southern Baptist missionary to Venezuela, Pat Terry holds a doctorate degree from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama.
McLemore noted the compatibility of Bob and Pat Terry. “[They] are a great ministry team in Alabama Baptist life.”
Pat Terry expressed gratitude for the ministry opportunity she has with her husband.
“I am so blessed to be in a marriage where we can be partners in serving Christ,” she said. “That’s part of the miracle that Bob is to me.”
She also provided a glimpse into the private life of Bob Terry.
“Bob never neglects to pray for [the many missionaries and national Baptists from around the world] daily,” she said. “In fact, Bob prays a lot — for his family, his work, his church, everything that touches his life.”
Pat Terry said she never realized just how important the role of editor was until she married Bob Terry.
Many times, he is a pastor to pastors, she said. “He is always willing to listen and give an encouraging word.”
Together Bob and Pat Terry have four children — Brent Terry, Jean Cullen, Jennifer Hart and Taylor Hart — and four grandchildren — Drayton Cullen, Kassidi Cullen, Jessica Terry and Jamey Terry.
In 1995, when Bob Terry was interviewed about his new role, he said, “I take [the election] as confirmation of the dream the Lord planted in my heart some years ago to serve as editor of The Alabama Baptist.”
In the decade since that decision, board members say Terry has proven true to that dream. (Trennis Henderson contributed)
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