A fellow state Baptist paper editor died Sept. 22, less than a month after he announced his upcoming transition to editor emeritus in January.
Don Hinkle founded The Pathway newspaper 20 years ago following conflict within the Missouri Baptist Convention — conflict that included the state’s original Baptist newspaper, Word & Way.
While he took a different approach as editor from many of his counterparts across the nation, past and present, one thing about Don is that he loved being in the mix of discussing and reporting on what was happening denominationally and culturally.
In fact, he had two roles: editor of the state convention-owned Pathway publication and public policy adviser for the convention.
His plans were to dedicate his full attention to the public policy position beginning in January. His longtime associate editor Ben Hawkins would become editor at that time.
Investing in others
However, Ben woke up Sept. 23 as editor and what would have been a three-month handoff happened immediately. He’s prepared and will step into the position gracefully and confidently, even as he mourns the death of his dear friend and mentor. Much of that preparation is because of Don’s investment in Ben.
While I only saw them from afar most days, I could tell the mentoring relationship existed.
I’m so glad I had the opportunity to catch up with Ben while we were both in Nashville covering the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee meeting last week. We chatted about Don and his coming transition, having no idea the type of transition was much bigger than we anticipated.
I’m also grateful I reached out to Don in recent weeks to congratulate him on his retirement from the editor role and receive back his typical “Thanks, Jen, best wishes!” response.
We didn’t chat often, but when we did, he always encouraged me in my journey as an editor and seemed to enjoy our brainstorming about how best to stay fresh in our work.
Extensive experience
Don had lots of training in the newspaper and media world. He was a former reporter for The Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; The Tennessean in Nashville; and The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. He also served a stint as editor of The Daily Herald in Columbia, Tennessee.
He was a graduate of the WORLD Journalism Institute and was a fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.
Don earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, and master’s degrees in Christian education and theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Don loved investing in young journalists and held an annual journalism retreat for communication students in the Missouri Baptist universities, the correspondent team for The Pathway and others in the area.
Shawn Hendricks on our TAB Media Group team had been a presenter in years past, and I had my first experience with it in 2021. In fact, my first action as a guest presenter last year took place exactly one year to the date I learned of Don’s death last week, Sept. 23.
Don took pride in the workshop and always wanted the topics to focus on practical tips and lessons learned.
The retreat was certainly a highlight for him each year. He got to lead the 2022 journalism retreat a week before his death and shared a final word as editor. What a blessing for the staff and retreat participants to have that moment with Don.
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