This year’s Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting is an historic event,” Bob Terry, president and publisher of The Alabama Baptist, told messengers Nov. 17.
It is historic because Mike McLemore, executive director for Birmingham Baptist Association, rotates off the newspaper’s board of directors after 21 years.
Telling messengers it has been his “joy and wonderful privilege” to serve, McLemore, a former president of the state convention, had nothing but praise for The Alabama Baptist as he spoke about his years on its board.
He praised the state Baptist paper’s successful presentation of social and political issues from a Christian perspective and specifically pointed to its recent package on gambling in Alabama. He said the paper has helped him make informed decisions on how to vote on several political matters.
McLemore said he has long believed “an informed Baptist is an asset to our churches and our collective work as a denomination; however, an uninformed or misinformed Baptist is a danger to both.”
He then quoted Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,” to underline the importance of the paper to Alabama Baptists.
“In our state paper, you have in one publication the news concerning the ministries of local churches, local associations, the work of our state convention, the work of the Southern Baptist Convention, news stories concerning Baptists and other faith groups from around the world and social and political issues that concern the Christian church,” McLemore said.
“It is truly a highly professional and balanced news resource that provides us up-to-date information on issues that we as Christians are concerned about.
“I have found both as a pastor and now as the executive director of the Birmingham Baptist Association that the paper is invaluable to me personally and to the churches I have served and now the organization which I lead,” he said.
And it is because of the paper’s invaluable quality that McLemore commended it to messengers.
“I commend the paper to you and pray that we will always have such an effective news resource and publication provided to us in order that we might be informed and inspired to do an even greater work together for the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he concluded.
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