Warren Cole Smith (born July 11, 1958) is an American author and journalist. He is the president and editor-in-chief at MinistryWatch.[1][2] He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books and more than 3000 magazine and newspaper articles, many of them for WORLD Magazine.[1]
Upon graduation, Smith worked for the Georgia House of Representatives as an attaché and the editor of the House Journal, an archive of the proceedings of the 1981 session. He then moved to Alaska to work for Wien Air Alaska, where he managed a fishing lodge, Brooks Lodge, owned by Wien.[5] Some of his earliest published writings are about his Alaska experiences, including a short story for Sports Afield magazine and a non-fiction article for Alaska Magazine.[6][7]
After three years in Alaska, he returned to the University of Georgia, where he completed a Master of Arts in English in 1985.[1][7][4] He then taught high school English for a year at Athens Academy, a private college preparatory school in Athens, Georgia. He then served as the editor of North Fulton Magazine, a lifestyle magazine serving the affluent Atlanta suburbs of Roswell and Alpharetta. He also served for seven years as a marketing manager for the global accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.[6][1][7]
Smith left PwC in 2000 to serve as president of World Newspaper Publishing, a company that owned seven Christian newspapers, mostly in the Southeastern United States, as well as the Evangelical Press News Service,[8] which at the time was used by more than 100 Christian newspapers around the country.[1] He served as vice president and associate publisher for WORLD Magazine, an evangelical news magazine, from 2010 through 2015. He also served as the vice president of mission advancement for the Colson Center for Christian Worldview from 2015 until 2019.[1][9][2]
Smith has served as the president and editor-in-chief of MinistryWatch since 2019.[10]
Controversies
Mars Hill Church
While writing for WORLD Magazine, Smith was the first to report on significant aspects of the scandal at and ultimate demise of Mars Hill Church.[11][12][13]
Shepherds for Sale
Smith found himself at the center of a controversy regarding the book Shepherds for Sale, by Megan Basham. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list despite being criticized for inaccuracies. A number of people mentioned in the book have publicly contested its assertions. Smith, writing for The Dispatch, suggested that the book was not journalism but propaganda.[14]
Rick Pidcock of Baptist News Global cited Smith and said that Basham "resorts to lies and conspiracy theories to make her case."[15] According to Smith, the "fundamental flaw" of Basham's book is that "corrupting money is not on the evangelical left, as she claims, but on the populist right."[14] Smith went on to suggest that the book "has many villains, but it has only one true hero: Donald J. Trump. He is mentioned more than 30 times in the book, all positively or defensively." Smith argued that Shepherds for Sale "purports to fight for the Gospel against heretics, but Basham is waging a proxy war, defending Trump against his evangelical critics."[14]
Aslan International
MinistryWatch’s coverage of Aslan International Group became a national story, resulting in Smith being interviewed by NBC News.[16]
Personal life
Smith is married with four adult children.[7] He lives with his wife Missy in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1] He served for seven years on the staff of Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. He later served as president of the Philmont Staff Association, a 4,000-member alumni association. He is a past editor and is currently on the editorial advisory board of “High Country,” the magazine of the Philmont Staff Association.[17]
Selected bibliography
Books
Smith, Warren Cole (2009). A Lover's Quarrel With The Evangelical Church. Authentic Books. ISBN978-1606570289.
———; Tschetter, Marty (2011). I Wanna Go Back: Stories of the Philmont Rangers. Philmont Staff Association Press. ISBN978-0983049715.
———; Olasky, Marvin (2013). Prodigal Press: Confronting the Anti-Christian Bias of American News Media. P&R Publishing. ISBN978-1596385979.
———; Stonestreet, John (2015). Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan To Change The World Through Everyday People. Baker Books. ISBN978-0801000300.
——— (2017). Print The Legend: The Previously Unpublished Memoir of Alison Stanton Bradshaw. Eagle Trail Press. ISBN978-0997426731.
——— (2021). Faith Based Fraud: Learning from the Great Religious Scandals of our Time. WildBlue Press. ISBN978-1952225550.
^ abReedy, Jackie; Varner, Paige (June 2010). "Class Notes". The University of Georgia Magazine. Vol. 89, no. 3. pp. 38–39. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
^"World Newspaper Publishing Circa 2008". World Newspaper Publishing. April 11, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2024. Warren Smith is the publisher of the Evangelical Press News Service.
^Smith, Warren Cole (March 5, 2014). "Unreal sales for Driscoll's Real Marriage". World Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2014. Seattle's Mars Hill Church paid a California-based marketing company at least $210,000 in 2011 and 2012 to ensure that Real Marriage ... made the New York Times best-seller list.
^Smith, Warren Cole (October 3, 2020). "What A Ranger Is". Medium. Retrieved November 6, 2024. Warren Smith spent seven years on the staff of Philmont Scout Ranch, including three in the Ranger department. He also served as president of the Philmont Staff Association.
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