Thinking Critically . . . Acting Faithfully
Bill Jones muses about Baptists, faith, ethics, justice, politics . . . and more
This week, SUZII PAYNTER announced she is retiring after 5 years as executive coordinator of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). I first met Suzii in the late 1990s during my visits to First Baptist Church, Austin, with my dad, JASE JONES, who was a member there. However, where I truly got to knowing Suzii was in Read more . . .
For me, CBF began – as it does almost every year – with the T. B. Maston Foundation’s CBF Maston Scholars Retreat. I’ve been privileged to serve on the Maston Foundation Board of Trustees for the past 10 years, and the annual student retreats at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary in March and CBF in June Read more . . .
Though I missed the spirited debate over the invitation to Mike Pence, which occurred about an hour before I arrived at the SBC gathering Tuesday morning, I did hear a motion proposed to limit any such speaking invitations in future years to local political leaders. The most interesting motion I heard discussed was to defund Read more . . .
Last week, Downtown Dallas hosted both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) General Assembly AND the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting. No, there was no bloodbath in the streets, though I did hear of a few awkward encounters, in hotels & restaurants, between those wearing CBF badges and those adorned with SBC badges. In one Read more . . .
Thank you for your many gracious responses to the 1st issue of the “new” Weekly Baptist Roundup. I appreciate knowing that you missed it during its 10-month “hiatus.” ALL articles in the Roundup are, I believe, worthy of your attention, but I want to begin using this space to review the main happenings of the Read more . . .
(Last year, I signed – as executive director of Texas Baptists Committed – a letter opposing repeal of the “Johnson Amendment.” A few weeks ago, I received a most condescending and demeaning letter from the president of an outfit that calls itself “Alliance for Religious Freedom,” addressed to “Dear Religious Leaders -” attacking my “continued Read more . . .
(Originally published on the Texas Baptists Committed blog at texasbaptistscommitted.blogspot.com.) My remarks to the 2018 Currie-Strickland Distinguished Lectures in Christian Ethics (Suzii Paynter was the keynote lecturer for the 2018 Currie-Strickland Distinguished Lectures in Christian Ethics, held at Howard Payne University [HPU] in Brownwood, TX, on Feb. 15-16. Derek Hatch, HPU associate professor of Christian Read more . . .