I received word today that fellow Baptist journalist Jim Newton died on Jan. 16 after complications from leukemia.
Jim Newton was not only a friend and colleague, he was a mentor to me and countless others who came through the Baptist journalism ranks in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.
A former associate editor of Baptist Press, Jim worked for many years with the former Southern Baptist Convention Brotherhood Commission and later the Home Mission Board.
Jim Newton was an excellent journalist. He won countless awards for his writing. Jim also had a heart and passion for missions. Many of his feature articles shared stories of national and international missionaries.
We have all heard about “Timbuktu.” Jim actually wrote a book entitled “The Way to Timbukto” which was used as the basis for the 1981 foreign mission study on “French-speaking West Africa.”
In the mid-1980s, Jim interviewed me for a position at the Home Mission Board. It would have been an honor and privilege to work with him, but it was not in God’s timing. I hated to tell Jim “no” but he understood and wished me well.
Pray for Jim’s wife, Pat, and their children. Jim impacted many people during his ministry as a Baptist journalist. He will be missed.
