K. Allan Blume on the importance of the Biblical Recorder for church unity and mission of God

By Michael McEwen

Blume graduated from Wingate College, Carson-Newman College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Allan grew up in Charlotte, where New Hope Baptist Church reached out to his family and led each of them to faith in Christ. Blume said, “My entire family came to Christ in a radical way through the ministry of New Hope Baptist Church. We were like the account of the Philippian jailor and his family.”

Blume has served three churches in North Carolina: pastor of Statesville Avenue Baptist Church, Charlotte; executive pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte; and senior pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Boone. Mount Vernon Baptist Church has directed much of their congregation to Southeastern for theological studies, numbering around 80.

Blume began serving as the editor and president of the Biblical Recorder (BR) in May of 2011.

“In one sense or another, I’ve been involved with the editorial process for some time. In the 1980s, a group of conservatives, including myself, met together and formed the Conservative Carolina Baptist. Of the many papers that sprang up during the Conservative Resurgence, the Conservative Carolina Baptist became the longest running and existing paper throughout the Conservative Resurgence.”

Concerning his position at the BR, Blume said “I’ve come in to BR and talked about two sets of threes; the public threes are to remain biblical, to fulfill the Great Commission and to glorify God. The second set of three, pertaining to the staff is that we fulfill the essence of communications: content, presentation and delivery.

“At the BR, we try to report about institutions, agencies, ministries, state leadership, but ultimately, we’re trying to highlight the message of North Carolina churches and the activity of God through these churches.”

Ever since the presidential era of Paige Patterson, Blume has remained a strong representative in the Board of Visitors at Southeastern.

In response to the question of BR’s service for the average layman, Blume said, “It is my conviction that our whole state can understand the Great Commission if we understand the big picture. One of the things that sabotages the Great Commission work is the myopic and individuality of autonomous churches. This myopic perspective hurts the Great Commission, because iron sharpens iron. One of the purposes of the BR is healthy partnership between churches for the furthering of God’s kingdom work, which will destroy such myopia.”

“Fundamentally,” concluded Blume, “Subscriptions to the BR are not statistics-driven, but for the ultimate purpose of a great cohesiveness in the body of Christ in North Carolina to fulfill the Great Commission and glorify God.”