Home Christian News Don Hinkle, Longtime Conservative Missouri Baptist Editor, Has Died

Don Hinkle, Longtime Conservative Missouri Baptist Editor, Has Died

Don Hinkle
Don Hinkle edited The Pathway for two decades. Photo courtesy of The Pathway

(RNS) — Don Hinkle, a longtime Southern Baptist newspaper editor known for his conservative politics and colorful bowties, has died at age 68.

“With great sorrow we learned that Don Hinkle, founding editor of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Pathway newspaper, has gone to be home with the Lord Jesus,” the Missouri Baptist news journal announced on social media Thursday (Sept. 22). “He will be missed.”

Shannon Baker, president of the Association of State Baptist Papers, in an email, called Hinkle “such an asset to Southern Baptists,” and said, “I will certainly miss his expressive conversations and intellect as well as his genuine kindness to me.”

For two decades, Hinkle was editor of The Pathway, the official publication of the Missouri Baptist Convention, founded in 2002 amid a feud between conservatives and moderates in the state. Conservative leaders hired Hinkle, a former newspaper editor turned seminarian and Christian journalist, to lead the new publication—meant to rival Word&Way, a longtime Missouri Baptist publication.

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Hinkle had recently announced plans to step down at the end of the year to focus on public policy work for the state convention.

“Whenever we would visit we would talk about everything from Jesus, politics, sports, bowties and the state of journalism amongst other things,” said the Rev. Jon Nelson, president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, in an email.

But Nelson remembered Hinkle chiefly as someone who cared deeply about the convention’s churches. In announcing his own retirement, according to a Pathway report, Hinkle said, “It has been a privilege to serve as editor of your state newspaper. It doesn’t belong to me. It doesn’t belong to anyone here in this building. It belongs to you. It belongs to the churches of the Missouri Baptist Convention.”

Born September 14, 1954, Hinkle grew up in Springfield, Tennessee, outside Nashville. He went to work in 1975 at his hometown radio station, then as a reporter and editor in the Air Force for 10 years before working at several metropolitan newspapers, including the Tennessean in Nashville.

Before becoming editor of The Pathway, he was the editor of the Columbia Journal, south of Nashville, and a national correspondent for Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news outlet.

He earned master’s degrees in Christian education and theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to his online biography.

The early years as editor of The Pathway were difficult, as the state convention was involved in a long-running legal battle over control of a major conference center, Word&Way, a Baptist foundation, and other entities. Those lawsuits and controversy in the Missouri convention led to staff restructuring and leadership turnover, Hinkle recalled in reflecting on his 20 years as editor.

“There were many nights I went home, shedding tears in frustration. It felt like the MBC was on the brink,” Hinkle wrote.

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The Pathway eventually grew to about 30,000 in circulation, Hinkle added.

Hinkle was no stranger to controversy. In 1997, he wrote “Embattled Banner,” a defense of the Confederate battle flag as a Christian symbol. More recently, he warned of the dangers of critical race theory in the Southern Baptist Convention and criticized the SBC’s Nashville-based Executive Committee for hiring a law firm that was LGBT affirming and for waiving attorney-client privilege in an abuse investigation.