Bob Stewart is pastor of Union Baptist Church. His long-running column ranges in topic from matters of faith to observations about life in Saline County, politics and the sights to see in travels throughout America.

Back around . . . again

Posted Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 10:08 AM

Last week I wrote about coming "full circle" with my music and getting "back in the saddle" where performing publicly is concerned.

This week I've been blessed with the opportunity to come "back around" in another area of my life. I was asked to get back into the news business as a lead reporter/editor for an area newspaper. And I am glad to report I accepted the challenge.

When we first came to the Marshall area in the summer of 1996, I was traveling fulltime in the ministry. As things slowed down, I found myself looking for side jobs to help ends meet. I had already been writing this column in Arkansas for a few years, so I took a chance and presented it to the editor at the time at the Marshall Democrat News. She indicated she was not only interested in the column, but she liked my writing enough to offer me a job as a reporter for the paper.

And that's how my newspaper "career" got started. While working there I met some wonderful people and some are still friends to this day.

Since then I've spent a number of years on the marketing and public relations side of things, always striving to use the good things I learned as a news reporter to prepare better press releases, advertisements, presentations, and so on. But the news has always been a part of me.

So, here I am, "back in the saddle" once again as a lead reporter and editor in the newspaper business. I, for one, am glad there still are people out there who love the smell of newsprint and who can hardly wait for the paper to be delivered so they can open it up and get ink on their fingers.

Yep ... I'm excited about what the future holds.