CELEBRATING 190 YEARS OF TELLING YOUR STORIES

In 1950, Charles Dady, a non-Baptist from Dixon, was so impressed by the Baptist and Reflector that he prepaid a 50-year subscription, trusting its value through March 15, 2000.

You read that correctly. Dady sent $100 to the Tennessee Baptist Foundation, with the yearly $3.71 earnings to cover the $2 annual subscription renewal and the other $1.71 designated for missions. There is no record that Dady renewed, but his commitment to the paper was rooted in the conviction the Baptist and Reflector was worth the investment.

It still is.

The Baptist and Reflector is 190 years old this year, making it one of the 25 oldest continuously published newspapers in America, secular or religious.

Since its founding in 1835, the Baptist and Reflector has been “telling the story of Tennessee Baptists,” as stated immediately under the paper’s flag on the front page of this and every issue.

Founder and first editor R.B.C. Howell stated in the first issue in 1835 that the vision of the paper was, “To unite, harmonise [sic], and invigorate the Church in this state, some medium of communication through which our brethren in various parts should have knowledge of each other, and reciprocally understand more extensively and distinctly their feelings, views, and designs.” It’s a mission the paper still fulfills.

The Baptist, the forerunner of the Baptist and Reflector, launched more than 40 years before the Tennessee Baptist Convention was established.

Howell wanted to inform, encourage, and unite Tennessee Baptists from Memphis to Mountain City, and for them to know what other Kingdom-minded churches were doing to advance the Great Commission. He knew a Baptist state paper was the single entity that could provide that information.

It is fascinating to scroll year after year through those early issues and see “letters” or “dispatches” from Bristol, Humboldt, Copperhill, Pulaski, and many other towns and cities across Tennessee. The paper connected Tennessee Baptists.

It connects us. The Baptist and Reflector remains vital to the health of our Tennessee Baptist Convention, in print and online (BaptistandReflector.org) versions, and through our social media channels.

My journalism career began at a community newspaper that was a key source of our city’s news. A large metropolitan newspaper also circulated, but it rarely covered our schools, city government, the teenager earning an Eagle Scout badge, a profile of the community bank teller celebrating 40 years of service, a church dedicating a new building, or other life events that made our community unique.

The Baptist and Reflector is the community newspaper for Tennessee Baptists, and readers see it that way. Every week, we receive photos of church anniversaries, pastoral milestones, baptisms, and other church celebrations for the TenneScene page which is a showcase of local church milestones. In our last three issues, we’ve also published news from Portland, Belvidere, Dayton, Clarksville, Roan Mountain, Nashville, Cordova, Kerrville, Lexington, Jefferson City, Jackson, Murfreesboro, Linden, and Lenoir City.

In every sense, the Baptist and Reflector fulfills Howell’s vision “to unite, harmonize, and invigorate the Church in this state,” making the paper an invaluable tool for keeping you informed, and your church connected. It is the best source for understanding how your Cooperative Program and Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions dollars are invested in ministry to advance God’s Kingdom.

But we need your help. We need subscribers. An individual subscription is only $20 per year, or 77 cents per issue for 26 issues.

Subscriptions are $15 per year for churches ordering bulk copies for their members.

Every person in a church leadership position — vocational minister or lay leader — should subscribe to the Baptist and Reflector.

If you or your church already subscribes, thank you. You are a valued reader. Please share your copy with someone else and encourage them to subscribe. If you don’t currently subscribe, please consider doing so.

For subscription or advertising questions, contact April Dawson at [email protected] or 615-371-7929. For other questions or comments about the paper, contact me at [email protected] or 615-371-2075.

It would be great to have dozens more like Charles Dady subscribing in 50-year increments, but it would be even better to have thousands more Tennessee Baptists investing annually in the Baptist and Reflector. B&R — Editor’s note: Every issue of the Baptist and Reflector from 1835 to 2008 is available online through the Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives at https://sbhla.org/digital-resources/baptist-reflector/.