What Bailey McBride means to me
Bailey McBride was the first person I saw when I…
‘Bailey McBride means the world to us’
A new endowment, launched on the former editor’s 90th birthday, will aid the Chronicle’s international coverage.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
OKLAHOMA CITY — Bailey McBride has blessed thousands of lives over the past nine decades — as an educator, administrator, mentor, spiritual shepherd and friend.
He has blessed thousands more through his reporting, editing and monthly columns in the pages of The Christian Chronicle.
Family, friends and Christian Chronicle staffers gather in the library of Oklahoma Christian University to celebrate the 90th birthday of the newspaper’s longtime editor and friend Bailey McBride.
So, on McBride’s 90th birthday, family, friends and Chronicle staffers gathered in the library of Oklahoma Christian University to celebrate as the Chronicle announced an endowment initiative in honor of McBride to support coverage of international news.
It was an appropriate setting for McBride, who mentored countless students during his tenure at the university.
The Bailey McBride Endowment is a portion of the Chronicle’s permanent endowment that will help the publication live up to its tagline — “an international newspaper for Churches of Christ.” The income will provide funds for reporters to learn firsthand how congregations, missionaries and ministries serve God around the world. The endowment also will help the newspaper connect with and equip foreign correspondents in places where Churches of Christ are growing rapidly — from Latin America to Africa to Southeast Asia.
McBride has harbored a passion for international missions since he read about Otis Gatewood’s work in Germany after the devastation of World War II, published in the Chronicle in 1947.
Baptized at age 12 in California, McBride’s journey of faith led him to Oklahoma Christian University, where he served for a half-century in roles including provost, academic vice president, dean, professor, master teacher and honors program director. In 2004, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. He and his first wife, Joyce, led numerous student campaigns to Europe and the Pacific Rim.
When Oklahoma Christian took oversight of the Chronicle in 1980, McBride and editor Howard Norton worked tirelessly to rebuild the publication and continue its dedication to international news coverage.
Bailey McBride is surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren during his 90th birthday celebration, held in the lobby of the Beam Library on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University, which owns The Christian Chronicle. (Photos by Audrey Jackson)
In the past year, McBride’s family and close friends have contributed $251,100 to the endowment. Their generosity is astounding, said Chronicle president and CEO Erik Tryggestad.
“Bailey McBride means the world to us,” said Tryggestad, who began working for the Chronicle 22 years ago as a reporter. “He’s been a second father to me, and he instilled in me a love for the global church.”
Related: What Bailey McBride means to me
McBride offered his personal funds to help Tryggestad attend the Pan European Lectures in Russia and Estonia in 2002. Since then, Tryggestad has, at times, used his own funds to help finance international reporting.
“It’s always a worthwhile investment,” Tryggestad said, “and the income from this endowment will allow us to keep investing in international news after Bailey and I are gone.
Bailey McBride talks with Phil Brookman, minister for the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma.
“If we can give our readers just a glimpse of a bigger world — and God’s involvement in it — then we’ve done our job. If we can reveal just the hem of the garment, we know Jesus will do the rest.”
SEND BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to Bailey McBride c/o The Christian Chronicle, PO Box 11000, Oklahoma City, OK 73136-1100 or email [email protected].
To contribute to the McBride endowment, see christianchronicle.org/mcbride, send checks with the note “McBride” to our PO Box (see above) or call (405) 425-5070.
