Do you know what this is a picture of? It’s one of the earliest copies of the predecessor of the Western Recorder that still remains. It’s dated June 24, 1826. Edited by George Waller and Spencer Clack, The Baptist Recorder would be renamed a quarter of a century later as The Western Recorder. So, your Kentucky Baptist newspaper has a long heritage of encouraging Baptists of the Commonwealth to “prove all things: hold fast that which is good.”

We’ve been telling the story of Kentucky Baptists for more than 190 years now. As one of the first denominational newspapers, it would be tragic for Kentucky Baptists to lose one of their oldest treasures. But that could happen … unless more Kentucky Baptists rise up, recommit themselves to supporting their newspaper, and “hold fast that which is good.”

For several years now, the Western Recorder’s Cooperative Program allocation—as that of other state convention-supported institutions and agencies—has fallen. Once in excess of $400,000, today it barely exceeds $259,000 as more is being sent to reach the nations with the gospel. That’s a worthy objective—one which we, as Baptists, fully support.

Yet, for some time, despite our continual efforts at improving the quality of the paper, circulation has been eroding, too. As our churches faced some tough economic days, that impact often was felt in reduced ministries. Unfortunately, one of the first ministry areas that church treasurers and budget committees nix is their subscriptions to the state Baptist newspaper. It’s a move that in the end has much bigger, unintended ramifications.

First, without a state Baptist newspaper to continually place before their people our Great Commission ministries in which they partner with other Baptists across Kentucky and the nation, they quickly may grow myopic—seeing mainly a few, favored local ministries and the upkeep of buildings as primary. It should come as no surprise to the church staff if Cooperative Program gifts and church receipts dwindle further, for without vision, people—and churches—eventually perish.

Second, our marvelous shared ministries such as Sunrise Children’s Services, Crossings Ministries, Oneida Baptist Institution, Clear Creek Baptist College, University of the Cumberlands, the Baptist Foundation, Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union and the Western Recorder all depend on Kentucky Baptist churches for support. Without you, all our ministries suffer. We all lose.

Publishing is a costly enterprise. Your financial support enables the Western Recorder not only to pay those who write news stories and features and the graphic artists who design its pages, but also to keep the presses rolling and the news being delivered right to your doorstep, computer screen, tablet or phone. It takes your subscriptions to do all this.

In the end—if you believe a well-informed Baptist makes a better Baptist—when a church fails to encourage its members to subscribe to their state Baptist newspaper, we may just be hurting ourselves.

The Western Recorder and Kentucky’s churches lose, for without your continued support, one day soon there may no longer be a state Baptist newspaper to tell your story. Without that vision, your church and others may lose sight of the bigger story of Southern Baptists cooperating together to take the gospel to the nations. If that happens, we all lose.

Help your people see clearly all that Kentucky Baptists are doing together to advance the Kingdom. Support the Western Recorder! We’re in this ministry together.