From an idea to a reality.

One of the most exciting aspects of my job as editor of this journal is having the opportunity to choose the theme for each issue. Ideas for themes come from a variety of sources, including from our editorial board.

At our annual editorial board meeting, I open the floor to suggestions for future themes, and I walk away from those meetings with twenty or thirty wonderful ideas! Unfortunately, we only publish the journal three times a year, so many of those suggestions go in my files for future consideration. In addition to editorial board suggestions, I occasionally receive a theme suggestion from one of our members, and I am grateful to receive each suggestion.

The idea for the theme of this issue, however, did not come from an editorial member or a member. The idea to focus an issue of the journal on Baptist origins around the world actually came to me when Teodor B. Oprenov walked into our office in March 2005. Oprenov, the general secretary of the Baptist Union of Bulgaria and pastor of First Baptist Church of Sofia, was in Nashville visiting Albert W. Wardin, Jr., and they stopped by the society office one morning for a chat. During our conversation, Oprenov told us about a paper he had written about Baptist origins in Bulgaria, and suddenly it dawned on me that the journal should have an issue devoted to tracing the beginning of Baptist work in countries around the world.

Oprenov kindly sent me his paper, and after reading it, I was most grateful for his painstaking research and his passion for preserving the history of Baptist work in his country. I then began scouting for other historians who had written about Baptist origins in other countries, which was not nearly as hard a task as I had imagined it would be. I contacted Heather J. Coleman, whose Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, 1905-1929 was published in 2005, and she agreed to provide an article on Baptist beginnings in Russia and Ukraine. I also contacted Albert Wardin, who has written extensively on Baptists in Poland, Eddie Stepp, whose dissertation focused on Baptist work in Liberia, and T Thomas, who served as a missionary to France for twenty-three years. So now, two years after Oprenov's visit, the idea for this issue is a reality.

Another reality, however, is that this issue of the journal could have included hundreds of other articles, including ones written about Baptist beginnings in countries in South America, Europe, and Asia. Baptists in America surely need to learn more the history of Baptist brothers and sisters who are scattered throughout the world, and it is my hope that this issue of the journal will be only one of many that will provide information and insight into Baptist origins in countries around the world.

Throughout its forty-two-year history, this journal has published numerous articles by and about Baptists throughout the world, and I am proud of those contributions and am eager for the journal to stay closely connected with the global Baptist community.