WEST MONROE, La. (ABP) — While Louisiana Baptists offered words of praise for their retiring newspaper editor during their recent annual meeting, they also gave support to keeping the paper independent.
Meeting in West Monroe Nov. 14-15, Louisiana Baptists honored Lynn Clayton as he retires from nearly three decades at the helm of the convention-related news journal. At the same time, they voted down attempts to dissolve the paper's independent board of trustees and fold it into the convention's communications office, and to make the paper shoulder a disproportionately large share of convention-wide budget cuts.
Clayton has announced plans to conclude more than 27 years as editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message at the end of 2005.
A pair of former Baptist Message trustee chairs offered words of reflection on the occasion Nov. 14.
“It's my pleasure to tell you a little something about my friend, Lynn P. Clayton,” teased Mark Sutton, pastor at Brookwood Baptist Church in Shreveport. “I have a biographical sheet here in front of me, and until this moment, I never knew he had done anything. Before he came to Louisiana, he really worked!”
Sutton recited various accomplishments by Clayton, offering a humorous take at several points. But he closed with a serious note, emphasizing, “We are all richer for having known this man.”
Eddie Simmons then praised Clayton for how he has encouraged, challenged, stimulated, ministered to, entertained and touched Louisiana Baptists through the years. He told convention messengers that Clayton has made the Baptist Message a quality publication, has led others to think about issues and has stood up to be counted on any number of important matters.
“We who are Louisiana Baptists owe a great deal of respect and a great deal of honor to Lynn P. Clayton,” said Simmons, pastor at Sale Street Baptist Church in Lake Charles. “No place has been too far, no pulpit too small for you to go and promote the kingdom of God….
“You've been our editor; you've been our preacher; you've been our confidant,” he continued. “But most of all, you've been our friend.”
Messengers gave Clayton a standing ovation as he was called to the podium.
Offering a few remarks, Clayton thanked Louisiana Baptists and emphasized that the newspaper has sought to be fair and accurate, operating on the principle “that we are responsible first to Jesus Christ and, then, to grassroots Louisiana Baptists.”
Clayton thanked newspaper trustees for their support through the years, offering a closing statement that foreshadowed the issue to be decided the following day.
“They have stood with the Baptist Message staff as we reported directly to you the good and the not-so-good with as little bias as humanly possible,” he told messengers. “They have understood the importance of responsible freedom.
“My prayer for the Baptist Message is that it will be your source of inspiration and information with your right to know fully intact,” Clayton concluded.
Messengers responded the next day, voting down the convention leadership's proposal to dissolve the trustee board and place the paper under the governance of the convention's executive board. It also would have installed John Yeats, the convention's new director of communications, as the paper's editor.
Gil Arthur, a messenger from Leesville, spoke against the change in governance. Noting that the Message has a “rich, rich history of fair reporting,” he said, “I cannot imagine the Louisiana Baptist Convention without the Baptist Message as we now know it…. I sincerely believe passage of this motion will prove…to be a mistake.”
Arthur noted that prior to the convention, a publication produced by the communications office, LBC Live, ran only an article in support of the proposed governance change. In turn, the Message ran side-by-side articles on the proposal — one for and one against, he pointed out.
“That [objectivity] is the history and the tradition of the Baptist Message,” Arthur maintained.