Bill Jones muses about Baptists, faith, ethics, justice, politics . . . and more
On September 4, 1976, Joanna Wong became Joanna Jones, and I became the happiest man on the planet – for over 44 years until her passing on February 14, 2021. Ten days ago – Friday, September 4 – was our 50th anniversary. Alison and Travis asked me where their mom would want to go on Read more . . .
My sister, Patsy McCown, turned 85 on August 28. Why has it taken me this long to pay tribute to her in a blog post? That’s what I’ve been asking myself, and here’s what I’ve concluded. First, Patsy and I haven’t lived in the same house in almost 68 years! Hard to fathom, but it’s Read more . . .
I haven’t given a cent to my alma mater, Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), in close to 40 years, maybe more. That’s about to change . . . more on that later. In October 1973, just a few months after I graduated from OBU, a movie, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, hit the theaters, titled Read more . . .
As I watched Katie Murray preach Sunday morning, I thought of the many blessings Joanna and I have experienced, since joining Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas 22 years ago, from hearing women command the pulpit in numerous worship services. Joanna and I joined Wilshire in August 2004, leaving a church where we had spent the Read more . . .
NOTE: In April 2014, I was asked to speak to the annual meeting of the Board of Consultants of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission (CLC), meeting at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. I was the first of a series of speakers who discussed, in turn, specific eras of the CLC’s history. My charge was to Read more . . .
Bernie Kaye passed away a little over a year ago, on June 17, 2025, at the age of 97. Bernie was one of my dearest friends, as I told him many times. We met in 2003 when I went to work for a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Frisco, TX. During the year that we Read more . . .
This weekend, the family of Sonny Ebert will gather to pay tribute to him and to the love that they shared with him through the years, then honor his wish for his cremains to join those of his daughter, Mickie. Sonny passed away on March 12. I’m diminished when I lose someone who has meant Read more . . .
Vivian Louise Otting was born 120 years ago today, March 16, 1906, to Gus and Lola Otting in Miami, Indian Territory, the year before it became the state of Oklahoma. On January 30, 1938, she married A. Jase Jones in Austin, Texas, becoming Vivian Jones. Their first child, my sister Patsy (Patricia Jean), was born Read more . . .
As I sat in Sunday School and worship at Wilshire last Sunday, March 8, I found myself thinking about all of the ways in which my 75-year journey has intersected, either directly or indirectly, with Wilshire’s. I was born on March 14, 1951, in Harris Hospital in Fort Worth. Wilshire was born 3 months to Read more . . .
It’s been 5 long years since the love of my life went to be with Jesus in the wee hours (1:16 a.m., according to the doctor attending Joanna in the hospital) of February 14, 2021. In those 5 years, I’ve written thousands upon thousands of words about Joanna and what she meant to me, which Read more . . .