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Norman Jameson, Biblical Recorder editor since Aug. 1, 2007, has been a professional Baptist communicator almost continuously since 1977.
A Wisconsin native, Jameson was drafted into the Army in 1972 and led to Jesus through the outreach of Baptist Temple in San Antonio, Texas while posted at Fort Sam Houston. He is a 1977 graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and a 1987 MDiv graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Starting in journalism as a reporter with the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, Jameson began his Baptist career as feature editor of Baptist Press in Nashville, Tenn. in 1977, followed by roles as associate news director for Southwestern Seminary 1982-83 and associate editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger in 1984-1987.
He came to North Carolina in 1987 as director of communications for Baptist Children's Homes, where he served 12 years before a stint as consultant in public relations and fund raising. In March 2004 he was elected executive leader for public relations and resource development for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, where he served before joining the Biblical Recorder staff.
He is an active member of the Baptist Communicators Association, which he served as president in 2007. He is a member of Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh.
He has been married since 1975 to the former Sue Ellen Carver of Colorado Springs, and they have three adult children: Nathan, Erin and Austin, living in Philadelphia, Pa., High Point, N.C. and Columbia, S.C.
He likes to ride mountain bike on trails in and around Umstead State Park near his Raleigh home, and road bike wherever he can find a place where bikes and cars can co-exist peacefully.
You can reach Norman at jameson@biblicalrecorder.org.
Dianna Cagle, assistant managing editor
Dianna Cagle started working at the Recorder in May 2006 after finishing a two-year term as a North American Mission Board US/C-2 missionary in Lexington, S.C.
Cagle is a native of Birmingham, Ala., and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and history from the University of Alabama. Since college, she has worked at The Union-Recorder in Milledgeville, Ga., The Decatur Daily in Decatur, Ala., and the Birmingham Post-Herald in Birmingham. She has also worked at The Alabama Baptist as a copy editor, reporter, photographer and page designer.
As a US/C-2 missionary, Cagle also wrote articles for The Baptist Courier, South Carolina’s Baptist newspaper. She served with the Lexington Baptist Association and its churches while directing the Christian Ministry Center, a non-profit ministry that aids in food, clothing and financial assistance for 11 zip codes surrounding Batesburg-Leesville, S.C., where the ministry is based.
Cagle is attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest pursuing a master's of divinity degree in biblical counseling. She lives in Raleigh and is a member of Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church, where she plays the saxophone in the orchestra and is a care group and prayer leader for her Sunday school class.
You can reach Dianna at dianna@biblicalrecorder.org
Amie Smith Moore joined the Recorder in April 2004. She is a 2002 graduate of Campbell University, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in religion and Christian ministries.
While in college, Moore served several summers in Baptist life as counselor and program director at Camp Mundo Vista and as a summer youth minister in a North Carolina church.
She is responsible for managing the newspaper's mailing list and notifying churches and individuals of their renewals. She also is the primary contact for the Biblical Recorder promotional day in churches and will provide promotional material upon request.
Moore lives in Raleigh with her husband, Christopher, who is minister of education, children and senior adults at Durham Memorial Baptist Church. The two have a daughter, Clara Rose.
You can reach Amie at amie@biblicalrecorder.org
Alison M. Zogby, Office Manager
Zogby began her career with the Biblical Recorder in October 1998. As office manager and administrative assistant to the editor, Zogby is often the first voice you’ll hear when calling the Recorder. She helps maintain the editor’s calendar and correspondence, compiles staff changes/obituaries for the Around the State column, assists with general inquiries about the paper and manages the Recorder’s facilities.
Prior to joining the Recorder staff, Zogby worked for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s Bible Teaching Reaching Team.
Zogby, originally from Sanford, grew up attending Jonesboro Heights Baptist Church. She currently lives in Apex with her husband Sam, son Nathan and their large yellow lab. Zogby has an adult daughter and grandson. She is a member of Woodhaven Baptist Church in Apex where she is currently on the pulpit supply committee while her church is between pastors.
She has an associate's degree from Randolph Community College.
Zogby welcomes the opportunity to talk with North Carolina Baptists and assist them with their requests. You can reach her at alison@biblicalrecorder.org.
History
Since 1833 the Biblical Recorder has served North Carolina Baptists as the Baptist State Convention’s official news journal — with the emphasis on news.
The paper was founded by Thomas Meredith, an early pastor, writer and denominational statesman in North Carolina. Meredith was instrumental in the formation of the Baptist State Convention in 1830, and in 1832, other denominational leaders endorsed his decision to begin a newspaper for North Carolina Baptists.
In calling for such a publication, General Agent Samuel Wait said “It will easily be seen that we have long labored under great and very serious disadvantages in this state, from the want of a well conducted religious journal. Such a paper we might hope, being adapted to the existing state of our churches, would be productive of the best consequences. Much information on important subjects could be imparted to the churches and our congregations at large, many prejudices could be removed, and the way soon prepared for securing to the convention a larger amount of aid.”
With the young convention’s endorsement, Meredith started printing the paper under the name Baptist Interpreter, changing it to the Biblical Recorder and Journal of Passing Events in January 1834. A year later, the name was shortened to the Biblical Recorder. Meredith edited the paper from New Bern, where he was pastor of First Baptist Church.
In 1838, he and the paper moved to Raleigh, where its offices are still located. Since that time, the paper has been edited in homes, church offices, rented quarters, printing plants and the Baptist Building.
The Recorder was owned by a series of individuals, other companies, and a group of people who formed a stock company until 1938, when the Baptist State Convention purchased it and all of its assets, including a handsome building on Hargett Street in Raleigh. The Recorder was then chartered as an affiliated agency and turned over to a board of directors who were charged with communicating the North Carolina Baptist story “while maintaining the rights and privileges of a free press.”
The paper has had 17 editors, including the colorful Josiah Bailey, who later served as a U.S. Senator. During the Recorder’s 70th anniversary celebration in 1904, Bailey wrote of his desire that the Recorder should serve to be a source of religious refreshment and a “bond of unity binding an ever-larger number of informed Baptists in faith and in interest in missions.”
The Recorder should treat all people justly, he wrote, “making record of events without prejudice and without fear and without favor; a paper to rely upon; a paper to trust; a paper to take to one’s home, to one’s heart; a paper to love and to cherish.”
Other notable editors during the first half of the 20th century included Hight C. Moore (1908-1917), Livingston Johnson (1917-31) and James S. Farmer (1931-38). The last half of the 20th century saw several editors serve long tenures, including L. L. Carpenter (1942-60), Marse Grant (1960-1982), and R.G. Puckett (1982-1998). The current editor has served since Aug. 1, 2007, succeeding Tony Cartledge, who retired as editor to begin teaching at Campbell University.
Carpenter and Grant enjoyed working during what W.C. Fields, editor of Baptist Press for 28 years, calls the “Golden Age of Southern Baptists,” a time of great expansion and little controversy. The paper reached its highest print circulation of about 120,000 in 1979.
As times have changed, so has the format and delivery system that makes the Recorder available to Baptists. Indeed, through efficient and effective use of technology, the Biblical Recorder now has a wider sphere of influence and a broader readership than ever before. While circulation of the bi-weekly print version hovers around 25,000 copies that go to all 100 counties in North Carolina, 48 states and 39 foreign countries, thousands more read the Recorder online.
Through its web site at www.biblicalrecorder.org, the Recorder has evolved to include a near-daily news service and interactive information center. Today’s Biblical Recorder publishes and archives more material than ever.
The Biblical Recorder directors and staff work diligently to fulfill the paper’s mission statement: “Our mission is to further Christ’s kingdom among North Carolina (BSCNC) Baptists by providing relevant news, insightful opinions, and supportive resources in a timely and accessible fashion.”
The editor and staff of the Recorder write the first draft of Baptist history, and they are committed personally, convictionally and professionally to make that record as accurate, balanced, and comprehensive as possible. Along with the news, we include elements of encouragement, inspiration, and promotion of our common mission, all in keeping with our Baptist heritage of faith and freedom.
North Carolina Baptists need no less and deserve no less.