Todd Deaton, managing editor of The Baptist Courier, has been named editor of the Western Recorder, the state Baptist newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Deaton was elected overwhelmingly Dec. 9 by the Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board.

“We rejoice with Todd because this is the realization of a dream of his to become editor of a Baptist newspaper, and certainly the Recorder is one of our most prestigious journals,” said Don Kirkland, editor of The Baptist Courier. “We also are pleased because this is deserved recognition of the accomplishments of a talented young man who has spent the past 20 years devoted to his calling as a Christian journalist.”

Kirkland said that Butch Blume, a 10-year employee of the Courier, will assume the role of managing editor in addition to his previous responsibilities of overseeing the publication’s online edition, BaptistCourier.com.

“I am grateful and delighted that the Courier did not have to go outside its ranks to find the right successor to Todd,” Kirkland said. “Butch is ideally equipped for the task. In the same way that I believe Todd’s years at the Courier prepared him for the Kentucky editorship, I believe it was providential that I brought Butch to our staff a decade ago.”

Deaton, 45, has served as managing editor of the Courier since 1996. Prior to that, he was associate editor for the Biblical Recorder in North Carolina. He will begin his duties in Kentucky around Jan. 20. He replaces Trennis Henderson, who resigned last March to become vice president of communications at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Deaton holds a bachelor’s degree from Furman University, a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, and he expects to complete a doctor of education degree in May from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. While attending Southern Seminary, he worked as an intern for the Western Recorder for three years. He also was an intern at The Baptist Courier while a student at Furman.

At 184 years old, the Western Recorder is the second-oldest Baptist newspaper in the country. In addition to the weekly newspaper, it provides publishing services for six frontier-area Baptist convention newspapers.

Prior to joining the Courier staff in 1998, Blume served for 14 years as director of publications and community relations at Anderson College (now Anderson University). Prior to that, he was editor of the Williamston Journal, a weekly community newspaper, for two years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Furman University in English and religion.