Theodore Adams, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond and president of the Baptist World Alliance, once referred to the Religious Herald as “an assistant pastor.”  “What pastor,” he asked, “could possibly hope to tell his people from week to week as much as the Herald conveys to them on news about the Christian world?”

After 179 years, the Herald continues its mission to “inform, interpret, and inspire in the context of the witness and work of the Baptist General Association of Virginia” by providing news and analysis—both in print and electronically—that affect BGAV churches. It also assists congregations with their own communications needs by printing church newsletters on the back page.

The first issues of the Religious Herald rolled off the press on January 11, 1828, in downtown Richmond, edited by Henry Keeling. Eli Ball became editor in 1831. Two years later, William Sands, who was then the publisher/proprietor, assumed the editorship and served the new paper for 37 years during times of turbulent religious controversies and doctrinal disputes.

During the American Civil War, the paper struggled but managed to maintain publishing, although it was reduced from four pages to two in 1864. On April 3, 1865, retreating Confederate troops set fire to Richmond’s business district, and the Herald’s offices were destroyed. What little was left of the paper was sold to Jeremiah B. Jeter and Alfred Dickinson in October 1865.

In the mid-twentieth century, the Religious Herald’s circulation grew from 2,500 to almost 35,000 as a result of the hard work and innovations of editor Reuben Alley, an experienced Virginia Baptist pastor.  Since Alley’s retirement in 1969, the Herald has been edited by three other Virginia pastors:  Julian Pentecost, Michael Clingenpeel, and James White.