by Gary Long

BGAV’s 2025 budget includes a change in the “partners” category, removing Baptist News Global (BNG) from partner status and replacing that line with “BGAV News and Resources.” That move was approved by a vote at this year’s Annual Meeting in Alexandria, effectively redirecting funds to communicating news about BGAV and to the development of resources for local participating churches.  

At precisely one minute before the noon beginning of BGAV’s meeting, BNG’s editor and treasurer sent an email to their donors in Virginia. The letter, while cordial, made a financial appeal to replace the redirected funds if the budget was approved, and it expressed no request for Virginia Baptists to oppose the budget change. The email leaned into the principle of the “Baptist way” of autonomy.  

The timing of the email was not lost on me.  

I won’t recite the history of The Religious Herald’s financial demise nor the well-documented details of its merger with Associated Baptist Press to form Baptist News Global in 2013. For years this was a happy relationship. Over time, however, the relevance of coverage for Virginia Baptists thinned, and their “news” steered more toward advocacy on issues that compelled leaders across the state to ask: Why are we funding this through missions giving?

I frequently agree with the analysis of BNG writers, including the editor. I count Mark Wingfield as a friend and colleague. I have enjoyed our times we meet in person, and I really look forward to his “Friday Roundup” each week.  

But I wish he had included some additional facts in his email of financial appeal. I wish the email had noted that I have presented requests for more specific Virginia-based news coverage over my four years in this job as CMO. I also requested news coverage of BGAV’s Annual Meeting.  

Our marketing strategy took shape over the past two years with a plan to produce more original news and resources, because we understood no one else would do this on our behalf. We recognize that “news” is not the same as “marketing,” and we value journalists who do their job independently of our staff. So in our planning, we sought to pay for content production through BNG and other news agencies that would be tailored to our audience and eligible for BGAV to publish under our own banner. I received a tepid response to this idea from BNG.  

It is true that the Cooperative Missions budget “line” is no longer directly going directly to BNG, but an additional omitted fact in the donor email of November 11 is that BGAV offered to pay for content production relative to our audience. In addition, free access to BNG remains unhindered by those who wish to subscribe, and I encourage Virginia Baptists to access it because BNG provides coverage that BGAV staff cannot.  

Our marketing strategy works with paid content from Associated Press, Religious News Service, The Baptist Paper, and independent writers to deliver content relevant to the life and work of Virginia Baptist churches. And when it’s made available for purchase, we will do the same with BNG. That offer stands.

Gary Long is BGAV’s Chief Marketing Officer. He can be reached at gary.long@bgav.org.

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