About

The Baptist Messenger
In late 1909, Clarence P. Stealey, of West Virginia moved to Oklahoma to start a Baptist paper. It became one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the entire Oklahoma territory. When the Oklahoma Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in May of 1912, copies of the first edition of the Baptist Messenger were distributed.

The inaugural edition on May 15, 1912, contained stories about the work of the Foreign and Home Mission Boards, Christian education, teaching about Christian doctrine and theology, and the Oklahoma Baptist Orphans’ Home.

Within five years, the 16-page, weekly publication had a statewide circulation of approximately 5,000. By 1919, the convention’s board determined that the Baptist Messenger should become its official news journal and purchased the newspaper from Stealey for $5,000 under the condition that he would continue to serve as editor. Since Stealey’s era, nine others have served as editor of the newspaper. Douglas E. Baker currently serves as the Messenger’s tenth executive editor.

Today, the Baptist Messenger is mailed to nearly 73,000 households every week, making it the third-largest newspaper in the state of Oklahoma.

About Douglas E. Baker
Executive Editor

Douglas E. Baker serves as Executive Editor of the Baptist Messenger and Director of Communications for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Prior to his election as editor, he served as the Director of Public Relations and Executive Director of the Council on Christian Life and Public Affairs for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. He also served at the United States Naval Academy Foundation as Director of Corporate Relations. He was Special Assistant to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; Chief of Staff of NorthStar Leadership – a K-12 education think tank for education reform; Project Assistant/Press Secretary of the Louisiana State Education Commission; Executive Director of The Emmanuel Foundation in New York City, and he has also served on the pastoral staff of the historic First Baptist Church of Alexandria, VA.

Baker is a graduate of Louisiana State University (B.A.); New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.); The Johns Hopkins University (M.A.) where he majored in government/political theory and studied with professors Benjamin Ginsberg and Dorothea Wolfson. His thesis – Toward an Evangelical Public Theology: From St. Augustine to Carl F.H. Henry – was awarded highest academic honors by the university.

He is a two-time recipient of the Governor’s Award for outstanding leadership. He and his family reside in Oklahoma City, OK.

Baptist Messenger Staff