Say goodbye to this byline
OKLAHOMA CITY — For most of you, I’m just a…
Familiar face takes on new role
The Christian Chronicle’s managing editor reflects on his history with the fellowship and newspaper.
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TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — I’m not a new face here at The Christian Chronicle — especially for those of you who follow our TikTok or Instagram Reels.
But you might be seeing more of me.
I’m stepping into the role of managing editor — bringing my 30 years of aged wisdom to the position left behind by the younger but talented Audrey Jackson.
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A little about me:
I’m a lifelong member of Churches of Christ. For most of my childhood, I worshiped with the Munford Church of Christ in east Alabama, where my grandfather Donald Cockrell was a longtime elder. I was baptized at its meeting place as a 12-year-old — and exchanged vows with my wife, Katie, there in 2019.
My dad, Paul Cockrell, an alumnus of Faulkner University in Montgomery, has preached for years in Georgia and Alabama after a career in radio and print news. He now ministers for the Weaver Church of Christ near Jacksonville, Ala., hosts “The Book Divine” internet radio program on Ignite Radio and serves as a missionary to India and the Philippines.
Calvin and Katie Cockrell walk down the aisle in their wedding at the Munford Church of Christ in Alabama.
(Fun fact: My parents named me after Calvin Leonard Johnson, one of the founders of Faulkner — previously Montgomery Bible College and Alabama Christian College. Dad became a close friend of Johnson’s as a student and later as a staff member in admissions and financial aid.)
I now help minister to young adults and families at the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ.
Calvin, Katie and Violet spend some time on the Quad before a University of Alabama football game.
I came to Tuscaloosa in 2013 to study for my bachelor’s degree in journalism and economics at the University of Alabama, stayed for a master’s degree in journalism and never left.
The Chronicle’s president and CEO, Erik Tryggestad, and I have a friendly Bama-Georgia rivalry. (He earned his master’s from the Athens, Ga., university.) Roll Tide, Roll, always!
I’ll be the only full-time Chronicle staff member not based in Oklahoma City as I remain here with my wonderful wife — a fellow College Life in Christ alum — and 1-year-old daughter, Violet.
I’ve worked with the Chronicle as a regular freelancer since 2021.
Violet Cockrell enjoys one of her dad’s stories in The Christian Chronicle’s August issue.
It took some persistence to get Editor-in-Chief Bobby Ross Jr. to bring me on board.
I first answered his call for help with page design a year earlier. After a few trials, he decided it wouldn’t work out. I later expressed interest when the Chronicle was searching for an associate editor in 2021, but Bobby wasn’t looking to fill the job remotely at the time, nor was I looking to move to Oklahoma.
Bobby eventually gave me a chance when he needed some help with social media posts.
From there, my role expanded to helping format stories for the web, managing reviews, launching a TikTok (which had a viral video with more than 4 million views) and other short-form video reporting, and reporting stories from across the nation.
I was shocked — and delighted — when Bobby called out of the blue and offered me the managing editor position a few months ago, though saddened that it meant Audrey was leaving. You can read more about that in her farewell column from last month.
As I noted in a recent Christian Chronicle Podcast episode, despite my journalism degrees, I never intended to work at a newspaper.
Calvin Cockrell visits The Christian Chronicle office in Oklahoma City for the first time.
But the Chronicle is special in many different ways — most of all in its mission to inform, inspire and unite members of our fellowship around the world, to show the good work that Christians do to shine the light of Christ and demonstrate the power of the Gospel.
The Chronicle, its team of staff and contributors and its readers and supporters have blessed me — and, I believe, our fellowship.
I pray that the work I have done and continue to do here serves to honor God and build up his kingdom.
CALVIN COCKRELL is Managing Editor for The Christian Chronicle and serves as the young adult minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Reach him at [email protected].
