📰 How A Career Choice By My Wife Led Me To The Godbeat 25 Years Ago 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Twenty-five years ago this week, I watched as two-time killer Wanda Jean Allen was strapped to a gurney and injected with lethal drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about 130 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.
Then a state news reporter for The Oklahoman, I served as a media witness for Oklahoma’s first execution of a woman since it became the nation’s 46th state in 1907.
Earlier, I had covered Allen’s unsuccessful clemency hearing and an anti-death penalty march on Allen’s behalf led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Prisons were a major part of my reporting work at that time. That same month, I reported on the state Corrections Board’s debate on high inmate phone rates and did front-page stories on the escape — and later capture — of two violent inmates from the penitentiary.
A screenshot of The Oklahoman’s front page after the Jan. 11, 2001, execution of Wanda Jean Allen.
But about that same time, I learned that a more appealing job — at least to me — was about to become open in The Oklahoman’s newsroom.
The Oklahoma City newspaper’s religion editor had decided to step down.
I knew this because I was married to her. That’s right: My move to full-time Godbeat reporting — which has lasted 25 fulfilling years as of 2026 — was made possible by my wife, Tamie.
In a farewell column headlined “Some jobs are more important,” Tamie explained her decision to devote more time and attention to our three children. Brady was 7, Keaton 3 and Kendall 1 at the time.
“So many stories remain to be told, though,” Tamie wrote. “And if I know my successor as well as I think I do, he’ll make a real effort to find every one of them when he officially comes on board in a few days.
“Bobby Ross Jr. will become the next religion editor, putting me in the unique position of introducing my husband to you,” she added.
In the preceding years, I had dipped my toes occasionally into the proverbial holy waters of religion reporting, most notably when The Oklahoman assigned me to cover Pope John Paul II’s 1999 visit to St. Louis. And in 1997, I tagged along on a mission group’s 1,100-mile journey to a remote Mexican village.
READ: How Covering Pope John Paul II’s 1999 Visit To St. Louis Changed My Journalism Career
Perhaps not surprisingly, in a Bible Belt state such as Oklahoma, religion came up even in prison reporting — from Catholic bishops making appeals at clemency hearings to Allen, the inmate whose death I witnessed, declaring in her final statement, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
But becoming a full-time Godbeat pro opened a whole new adventure for me — one I still love.
Among the stories I did my first year on the religion beat: I reported on 14,000 Promise Keepers filling the Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City. I wrote about the ordination of a new Episcopal priest — three months shy of his 80th birthday. I traveled to New Orleans to cover the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Like every religion writer in 2001, I became familiar — suddenly — with an obscure biblical character who became a bestseller thanks to preacher and writer Bruce Wilkinson.
It's scrolling across the computer screens at the First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City.
It's piled high in boxes at the First Baptist Church of Edmond.
It's on the breath of seemingly every minister in town, as one after another preaches a four-, five- or even six-part series on the subject.
It is "The Prayer of Jabez."
That first year, I even got a glimpse of Satan (inside a church’s Halloween Judgement House).
“It’s hot in hell,” I wrote in that feature. (My wit was absolutely scorching even back then.)
For the purpose of my weekly Soul Searching column, I spent $29.95 to get ordained by the Universal Life Church in Billings, Mont., which sent me a license and a note that said, “Thank you for your purchase and God bless.”
In a 2001 column, Bobby Ross Jr. described the ease of obtaining mail-order ordination from the Universal Life Church. (Newspaper screenshot)
Of course, the biggest news of 2001 — earth-shattering news, in fact — came on Sept. 11 with the terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a remote field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
I wrote four spot-news stories that day, including detailing local Muslims’ fear of a backlash and reporting on special prayer services.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 will be a big deal later this year.
When I first became religion editor, I had no timeline for how long I’d cover faith news. Except that I committed to devote at least a year to the new gig.
Up until that point, I had changed beats every few years — from suburban government to inner-city schools — with occasional special coverage such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The day-to-day life of young Mormon missionaries was one feature that Bobby Ross jr. produced in his first year on the religion beat. (Newspaper screenshot)
But I found that the Godbeat suited me. After a year and a half as religion editor, I left The Oklahoman in 2002 to join The Associated Press in Nashville, Tennessee, and then Dallas, Texas. However, I stuck with religion writing.
A quarter-century and thousands of stories later, I’m still focused on faith news. I count myself blessed that I get to do this for a living, and I never take it for granted.
Thank you so much, dear reader, for joining me on this journey.
Inside The Godbeat
Liam Adams, the stellar Godbeat pro for The Tennessean, recently delved into how religion reporting in Nashville has shifted over the past 60 years.
Among those Adams quotes: former Tennessean religion writers Bob Smietana, now with Religion News Service, and Holly Meyer, the global religion news editor for The Associated Press.
The story may be behind a paywall, but a related photo gallery and video are not.
The Final Plug
The Houston Texans’ head coach, DeMeco Ryans, is a devoted church deacon who told me earlier this year, “I stand on my faith.”
This week’s Monday Night Football game between Houston and Pittsburgh drew 29.1 million viewers as the Texans defeated the Steelers, 30-6, to advance in the NFL playoffs. Houston faces New England on Sunday afternoon in Sunday’s divisional matchup.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 20 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.