The board of directors of the Biblical Recorder (BR), along with the board of directors for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC), will submit to the North Carolina Baptist state convention messengers a recommendation to change the bylaws of the Biblical Recorder and extend the current management agreement between the BR and BSCNC. 

On July 1, 2022, the Biblical Recorder entered a management agreement with the BSCNC. Since entering this management agreement, the BR has remained a trusted news source for North Carolina Baptists, while integrating operations and directional support with BSCNC Marketing and Communications staff. Chad Austin has served us well as the managing editor for the BR, which has collaborated with and seamlessly shared content and resources with the Marketing and Communications team of the BSCNC. 

The current management agreement expires on Dec. 31 of this year. In September, the BR board met to discuss possibilities moving forward. To ensure procedural accuracy and transparency, we met with the legal teams for both entities. The board also reviewed findings from a study conducted earlier this year, which included a review of other Baptist state newspapers. The study committee found that many of those newspapers share a close working relationship with their state convention, have integrated their work entirely with their convention’s communications operations, or shuttered completely. 

Financial, personnel, and the ever-changing nature of print and digital media present challenges that led the BR board to consider extending the management agreement with the BSCNC for five years, stipulating that the agreement can be changed or terminated at any time, with one year’s notice. The BR will retain a smaller, but separate board of directors for accountability, oversight, and to ensure journalistic integrity. This board will work in conjunction with the BSCNC board of directors for the duration of the management agreement.At the September BR board of directors meeting, the board prayerfully and unanimously voted to renew the management agreement for five years. We believe this is the best way forward to ensure both financial stability and the long-term success of the Biblical Recorder. This change will require changing the bylaws of the Biblical Recorder and an affirming vote of the messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. As the BR board of directors, we endorse this move to extend the management agreement with the BSCNC by five years to continue effectively bringing Baptist news to North Carolina Baptists.