A 25-year journey: From Baptist spectator to public advocate and leader, part 11 of 11 
by Bill Jones

Posted onAuthorbilljones20Leave a comment

Click for AUDIO; Click for PART 1: Introduction

Links in this post: 1, 6/25/2016: photo of Joanna & me with Nancy & Ken Sehested; 2, 8/6/2018: Bill Jones article in Baptist Standard; 3, 8/1/2018: Ross Shelton article in Baptist Standard; 4, 7/27/2018: Jackie Baugh Moore article in Ethics Daily; 5, 2/15/2020: Bill Jones, Closing Logsdon Seminary: A ‘financial’ decision, or not?; 6, 2/17/2020: Bill Jones, Saving Logsdon Seminary . . . A “lost cause”? . . . they’re the only causes worth fighting for; 7, 2/18/2020: Don Williford, Response to President Eric Bruntmyer’s Letter to HSU Alumni and Members of the News Media ; 8, 2/22/2020: Bill Jones, 1990: Fundamentalist Takeover of the SBC; 2020: Fundamentalist Takeover of the BGCT

Other memories not fitting neatly into just one of the categories of the previous 10 posts
1. Early encouragers

I’ve mentioned several people who sympathized with me and encouraged me in those early days of this journey, while Joanna and I were still at our church in Plano:

  • Jim and Janet Denison
  • David Currie
  • Dan Williams
  • Suzii Paynter
  • Phil Strickland

But there were a couple of others I should mention as well (and I know I’m probably leaving somebody out; I can go only so far as my memory will take me):

  • Charles Wade, who spoke to a TBC gathering at First Baptist, Arlington, on a Saturday morning, probably around 2000-2001
    • Following the meeting, I introduced myself to him and told him about my frustrations with our church in Plano. Charles was understanding and gracious, sympathizing with me and encouraging me. In time, Charles became a close and trusted friend, and is to this day my dear friend.
  • Bill Bruster, who spoke at a regional CBF meeting I attended around 2001-2002
    • Bill had been pastor of First Baptist, Abilene for many years before working for CBF. My sister, Patsy, had been secretary-receptionist there, and still refers to Bill Bruster as “my favorite pastor.”
    • As I had with Charles, I shared what was going on at my church in Plano, and Bill was understanding, sympathetic, and an encourager to me. Bill remains a close friend to this day.
2. 2008: New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta

In January 2008, Joanna and I flew to Atlanta to attend the first New Baptist Covenant Celebration. This was the brainchild of former President Jimmy Carter; his good friend Jimmy Allen, who – during Carter’s term as president – had been the last moderate president of the SBC; and Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University. It was scheduled to coincide with the meeting of the four major African-American Baptist conventions in Atlanta that same week.

For the first time at a major gathering, there were roughly equal numbers of Black and white Baptists, as well as those of other ethnicities, worshiping and praising God in the same room together. We were led by a mixture of Black and white preachers and musicians. It was truly a remarkable gathering. Jimmy Allen spent much of the time on the podium, along with President Carter. After one of the sessions, Joanna and I went to greet our friend Jimmy Allen. When Jimmy saw me, he said, “Wouldn’t your Daddy love this?” Daddy had passed away the previous year, and Jimmy had preached his memorial service. “Yes,” I replied, “he would be delighted!”

As Joanna and I waited in DFW Airport to board our plane to Atlanta, we chatted with our friends Joe and Audra Trull. As we talked, I noticed the presence of noted Baptist sociologist and preacher Tony Campolo, who was a member of Joe’s Christian Ethics Today board. I had long been an admirer of Tony Campolo, so I asked Joe to introduce us. I so enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with Tony, but I think our wives had a better time. Joanna and Peggy bonded over sharing pictures of their grandchildren. Our first, Avery, had been born the previous October.

3. Meeting two Baptist “heroes,” Nancy & Ken Sehested

As Christmas 2011 approached, I received an email from Ken Sehested. He had written an Advent litany and asked if I would be willing to link to it in the next issue of Weekly Baptist Roundup. I was only too glad to do so. I had never met Ken and his wife, Nancy Hastings Sehested; however, both had long been heroes of mine.

  • Ken, for his tireless work on peace and justice issues through the decades, including establishing the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
  • Nancy, for her courage and conviction in staying the course – also through the decades – as a Baptist pastor in the face of attacks by SBC fundamentalists
    • Though I don’t think we ever met as children, I remembered her father, Brownlow Hastings, from my childhood in Dallas (1957-1962). He was on the staff of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, and Daddy was on the staff of the Dallas Baptist Association. They became close friends during those years in Dallas and remained so until they both passed away, within months of each other, in 2007. Years after their Dallas association, they became colleagues in interfaith witness work at the Home Mission Board. Both were leaders in interfaith dialogue initiatives, Dr. Hastings with Catholics and Daddy with Jews.

By 2011, Nancy and Ken were co-pastors, along with Joyce Holladay, of a small welcoming and affirming congregation in Asheville, NC, known as Circle of Mercy. I had read about Circle of Mercy and was intrigued.

In early 2012, I registered for the annual Baptist History & Heritage Society (BHHS) Conference, to be held in Raleigh, NC. That gave me an idea. I was eager both to meet Nancy and Ken AND to worship at Circle of Mercy. So, in a move that was not typical of me at all – hey, I’m an introvert at heart, not prone to acting brashly or boldly – I called Ken, told him that I would be in NC in May for the BHHS conference, and that I’d like to extend my stay a couple of days following the conference in order to come worship at Circle of Mercy and observe this unique congregation.

I also told him about my longtime admiration for both him and Nancy, as well as my family connection to his father-in-law. Then I popped the big question – would he and Nancy be willing to let me stay with them for a night? There was a method behind my madness – I wanted the opportunity to spend time visiting with them. Well, Ken didn’t blink, didn’t hesitate . . . he said, sure, they’d be glad to put me up for the night. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, “Nancy’s going to kill him! Inviting an overnight guest without checking with her first? If I did that to Joanna, I might have to find another place – along with my guest – to sleep that night!”

As it turned out, that evening became one of the most memorable of my life. My conference ended at noon on Saturday, and Circle of Mercy’s worship was at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Following the conference, I drove to Elkin, where my dear friends Joe and Martha Rust lived. Joe was music minister at Bethany Baptist Church in KC, MO, when I was growing up in the 1960s, and was my inspiration for deciding to study for the music ministry AND to go to OBU (he was an OBU alum). I had a wonderful time visiting with Joe and Martha, staying at their house Saturday night, worshipping with them at FBC Elkin – where Joe had retired as music minister several years earlier – Sunday morning, and enjoying an old-fashioned pot luck lunch on the grounds after church. Then I headed for Asheville.

I arrived in Asheville just before the service began that evening. It was a relatively small group, very intimate, with chairs arranged in a circle, more like a Sunday School class setting than a church worship setting. In fact, just as in a Sunday School class, there was prayer request time. That may have been the most amazing and memorable part of the experience for me. One person stood and said that he would be protesting at such-and-such facility on Tuesday, and that the last time he had done this, he was arrested. The group applauded and cheered him! I had never seen anything like this.

Then a woman stood and said she would be protesting at a different facility, for a different but similar cause, on Thursday, and that the last time she had done that, she had been arrested. Again, the group cheered and applauded enthusiastically. Wow! I’ve never seen anything like it before or since, and – if for nothing else – this made it worth the trip! The icing on the cake was that Nancy was that night’s preacher, and she preached a powerful sermon. I picked a perfect night to be there – thank you, Lord.

After worship, the congregation gathered at tables for a big pot luck dinner – my second pot luck that day, and both were delicious and filling. Afterwards, I followed Nancy and Ken to their home. Every Sunday evening, they would meet with Joyce to plan the following week’s worship, so I had the privilege of “eavesdropping” on that discussion. I also enjoyed getting to know Joyce. After she left, Nancy and I started talking about our fathers, their great longtime friendship, and the remarkable ministries they had. Besides that, the three of us shared about our own work and ministry activities over the years.

A postscript: In June 2016, I was back in North Carolina; CBF met in Greensboro that year. But I wasn’t alone this time – Joanna made the trip with me, and we had a wonderful time together. Joanna and I had dinner with the Rusts one evening. Then, after the CBF assembly ended on Saturday morning, we drove to Asheville, where Nancy and Ken Sehested had invited us for lunch at their home. I was so glad for Joanna to meet them, and for them to meet the love of my life. We had a wonderful time visiting with them, and took a picture of the four of us in their living room.

4. Finding common ground with fundamentalists

Back to that 2012 BHHS conference in Raleigh for a moment. Before my wonderful weekend with the Rusts and Sehesteds, I had a special experience at that conference. It was hosted by two First Baptist Churches – one predominantly Black and the other predominantly white. We learned the history of both of these churches, and the connection they had had over the previous 200 years.

Following the Friday night session, held at the Black FBC, we all went to the fellowship hall in the basement for an ice cream social. After I got my ice cream, I noticed a young man sitting by himself and recognized him as a Liberty University (you know, Jerry Falwell’s school) professor who had presented a paper that morning. I went over and sat down at his table. I introduced myself, told him that I led an organization (TBC) that fought fundamentalism, then asked him, “So tell me, how do they teach Baptist history at Liberty University?” He replied, candidly, “Not very much.”

As we continued chatting, others joined us at the table. I looked at one man seated across from me and noticed that he had a badge identifying him as a professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the six SBC seminaries. So I introduced myself in the same way as I had to the young man from Liberty and asked him, “So, as a professor at New Orleans Seminary, you had to sign that you affirmed the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. How do you square that with Baptists’ historical commitment to freedom and noncreedalism?” He said he was completely comfortable with it, gave an explanation with which I certainly didn’t agree, but at least we had both laid our cards on the table.

The three of us wound up leaving together and walking back to our hotel, on a path that led us across the grounds of the old North Carolina Capitol (how cool is that?), talking Baptist history. I had found common ground – our love for Baptist history – with two fundamentalists.

I lost touch with the young Liberty University professor, but Lloyd Harsch – who directs the Institute for Faith and the Public Square at New Orleans Seminary – and I are good friends to this day. Oh yes, we’ve discussed Trump and disagree; I still don’t understand how Lloyd can support him, though he tried to explain it to me. Nevertheless, I consider Lloyd a dear friend, and have enormous respect for the work he does at the Institute for Faith and the Public Square – his annual symposiums, from what I’ve seen of them, are serious-minded and feature serious scholars across the spectrum of Baptist life. I was pleased to promote them in TBC Weekly Baptist Roundup.

In September 2015, Lloyd invited me to attend his symposium on “Religious Liberty – Left, Right, and Center,” which featured, among other speakers, Russell Moore, then president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Suzii Paynter, then executive coordinator of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF); and Brent Walker, then executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Lloyd graciously included me in the dinner with the speakers preceding the symposium.

When Brent and Suzii saw me, they both asked what in the world I was doing at New Orleans Seminary. I told them I figured they needed a cheering section! I enjoyed meeting Russell Moore. He had studied Christian Ethics under Joe Trull at New Orleans Seminary 25 years or so earlier; when Russell was elected to lead the ERLC, Joe asked me to send him a copy of the Maston Reader that we had published at the Maston Foundation. I did so, and I received a letter of gratitude from Russell, telling me that Joe Trull and T. B. Maston had been “formative” for him, which explained why he was so different in demeanor – and integrity – from his predecessor, Richard Land.

Russell’s address on religious liberty at the symposium surprised me – there wasn’t one word with which I could disagree. Afterwards, I told him that his speech had made me uncomfortable. “Why?” he asked. “Because,” I replied, “I’m not used to agreeing with a Southern Baptist that much!” Later, when I told Brent of our exchange, he said, “Yeah, I could have given Russell’s speech, and he could have given mine.”

5. Three “mentors”

By early 2012, I was leading two influential Baptist nonprofits – Texas Baptists Committed and the T. B. Maston Foundation for Christian Ethics. I had no training for this. I was not a preacher, had not gone to seminary, and had not come up through the ranks, learning the ropes in these organizations. In both cases, I was thrust into leadership with no real preparation or training. As I mentioned earlier, I found myself in tears one night in March 2011, feeling inadequate for the tasks God had given me, and chairing the Maston Foundation was still a year away!

Perhaps my greatest strength was being aware of my limitations and seeking help where I could find it. During those years of leadership, I found myself relying primarily on two friends who always made themselves available for a phone call. I could share any concerns I was dealing with in either of these two positions – TBC or Maston, ask questions, bounce ideas and possibilities off of them, and know I would receive honest, reliable feedback given most graciously. Those two people were Suzii Paynter, who during those years was leading first the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission and then CBF; and Rick McClatchy, who led CBF Texas.

One particular anecdote illustrates the lengths to which these friends would go to be of help to me. In May 2011, Rick and I both attended the annual Baptist History & Heritage Society Conference, which was being held that year at Dallas Baptist University. Friday afternoon, there were no activities scheduled, so Rick asked me to go with him to the DBU cafeteria to talk over coffee. We talked for 2 hours. I had become executive director of TBC in January. Rick told me that, for me to lead TBC effectively and to draw the support we needed, it was imperative that I had a basic understanding of postmodernism, because this was the environment in which the church of the 21st century found itself. So, for 2 hours, Rick gave me a very basic but detailed primer on postmodernism.

So I count Rick and Suzii as my two “mentors” during my foray into Baptist leadership; their help, advice, and availability were critical to my work during those years.

But I also need to mention another “mentor” on whom I counted for help in one very specific area – Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) politics. I would begin preparing early each year for the BGCT officer elections coming up at the annual meeting in November. I trusted Phil Lineberger, pastor of Sugar Land Baptist Church and longtime TBC board member, more than anyone else to advise me on strategy for that year’s officer elections and any other convention issues that were a cause of concern to TBC. Phil became a great friend and – like Suzii and Rick – always made himself available to me. I loved talking with Phil – he had a great sense of humor and could always make me laugh. I will always be indebted to Phil for helping me navigate the choppy waters of BGCT politics during those first years of my leadership of TBC.

6. Tragedy and sorrow

The two saddest times of my tenure as TBC executive director both involved Phil Lineberger. In February 2011, my friend John Petty, TBC board member and pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville, suffering from clinical depression, took his own life. I drove to Kerrville for the funeral. Charles Wade, David Currie, and Phil Lineberger all spoke eloquently that day. John’s brother-in-law, however, made the strongest impression on me when he used the illustration of the admonition that flight attendants give to parents traveling with small children – “In case of emergency, put your own oxygen mask on first, then your child’s.” Then he said that John helped everyone else but didn’t take care of himself first. I’ve told John’s widow, Kelly, many times that, for all these years since, whenever I’ve flown and listened to the flight attendant, my mind always goes back to John Petty. Phil spoke that day, as I recall, about the need to destigmatize clinical depression and to seek help for it. He was trying to save other lives from ending in tragedy like John’s.

So it came as a shock on a Sunday afternoon in May 2015, as Joanna and I were eating lunch at a restaurant on our way home from church, that I received a text message from David Currie telling me that Phil Lineberger had taken his own life – a victim of clinical depression like his friend John Petty. I drove to Sugar Land for that funeral, too. I still miss my friend Phil.

7. Geezers

Around 2009-2010, at the suggestion of our mutual friend Joe Trull, Bill Bruster invited me to join what was then a fledgling monthly lunch bunch in the north Dallas suburbs called Geezers. For over 15 years since then, Geezers has been one of the highlights of almost every month for me. I rarely miss, and Bill Bruster is still our convener. I am one of the few laypersons; the group consists mostly of retired/semi-retired moderate Baptist preachers, most of whom got burned in the fires of the SBC wars of the late 20th century. These guys know where all the proverbial Baptist bodies are buried, and I love soaking-in the stories they tell, particularly about the follies of the fundies back in those days.

We’ve lost a few Geezers along the way. Two who were regular attenders and became treasured friends and encouragers to me were Darold Morgan and Bill O’Brien, who passed away within a couple of months of each other, in December 2019 and February 2020, respectively. Darold passed away on Wednesday, December 11. Our monthly Geezers gathering was always the second Thursday, in this case December 12. Bill Bruster had asked me if I would be willing to pick up Darold that week and give him a ride to Geezers. I was delighted for the opportunity to spend a few extra minutes with my friend Darold on the ride to Geezers, one-on-one, hoping to maybe learn more about his life and ministry than I already knew. So I called Darold’s cell phone that Wednesday afternoon to ask if I could give him a ride to Geezers the following day. His daughter-in-law answered. When I identified myself and told her what I wanted to ask Darold, she gave me the sad news that he had passed away earlier that day. Darold – who always greeted me, when I walked in to Geezers, with a gentle, “Hello, friend” – was gone. Then she put Darold’s son, Tim, on the phone, and we chatted for a few minutes. I’ve always felt sad that I didn’t get that last opportunity to spend time with Darold. Now that conversation will have to wait until the Lord calls me home.

8. Retreat gathering of OBU alumni in May 2022

This was, to an extent, an outgrowth of Geezers, though not all participants were a part of our merry band.

In May 2022, Gaston Christian Center, a Wilshire partner led by my dear Geezers friend, Dr. Gary Cook, celebrated its 7th anniversary with a full weekend of activities, which included sermons and addresses by Dr. Dan Day. Dan is an OBU grad, as are Bill Bruster and Gary Cook. Dan suggested, seeing as how he and his wife, Mary Carol, were going to be in Texas, that we convene a group of OBU grads for a two-day retreat, centered around discussion of what we have lost as Baptists in the aftermath of the Baptist battles and the fundamentalist bent (hellbent?) of the SBC, as well as what we have gained. Broadway Baptist Church graciously provided the use of its Camp Broadway lodge in Fort Worth, and we had a wonderful retreat. Discussions were lively and enlightening. I never take such things for granted. I realize how very blessed I am to have such relationships and such opportunities.

9, TBC may be history, but the battle continues

On August 6, 2018, just over a year after TBC had ceased operations, the Baptist Standard published an article of mine, titled “BGCT ‘unified’ in conformity, returning to the SBC.” I wrote this article in response to a recent column written by Ross Shelton, pastor of First Baptist, Brenham, and published by the Standard. In it, I connected Shelton’s column – and his patronizing advice to “disconnected BGCT pastors” – to moves toward the SBC that I had observed, in the last years of TBC, by David Hardage and the BGCT executive board.

In my article, I quoted and affirmed my dear friend, Jackie Baugh Moore, who wrote an article on the Ethics Daily (now Good Faith Media) website, in which she stated that “many of us in Texas churches saw our Baptist General Convention of Texas taken over by political maneuverings and leadership that value dogma and exclusiveness over collaboration for a common purpose.”

I concluded my article by declaring, “Sadly, though, Jackie Baugh Moore is right. Dogma and exclusiveness, once the province of the SBC, have captured the BGCT, and the SBC is well on its way to doing so, too.”

BGCT actions over the next 2 years continued to confirm that the fears that Jackie and I had expressed were based in reality. Throughout 2019, I heard persistent rumors, from people in the know, that Hardin-Simmons University’s (HSU) Logsdon Seminary was in jeopardy. In fact, I heard specifically at one point that BGCT Executive Director David Hardage was conspiring with three tall-steeple West Texas pastors to shut down Logsdon Seminary because they considered it too “liberal.”

In February 2020, those rumors became fact, with the official announcement that Logsdon was being axed.

There’s no need for me to go into any further explanation here, except to say that I wrote multiple blog posts at that time, making my position crystal clear, as a Baptist who valued Logsdon and treasured its administration, faculty, and students. I also published, in my blog, a response by Don Williford, former Logsdon dean, to Hardin-Simmons President Eric Bruntmyer’s letter to HSU alumni and members of the news media. Following are links to a few pertinent articles, in my blog, regarding the Logsdon closing (there are others, too, which you can find by going to billjoneswritings.com and clicking on February 2020):

Thanks for reading this series of 11 blog posts. This has been my story of the last 25 years, of my move – through the grace of God – from the Baptist sidelines, as a concerned spectator, to being an active public advocate for Baptist principles . . . for a more serious expression of our Christian faith as Baptists, and into Baptist leadership.

But this is not just my story. It is the story of many, many people with whom I’ve been involved, who have inspired me . . . led me . . . taught me . . . and worked with me through the years. I’m so thankful for all of them and, most of all, for the grace of God in bringing me through all of this and giving me so many wonderful relationships and so many special opportunities for service.

Finally, I’m thankful to God for answering that wish that I had back in the ’90s and early 2000s in that church in Plano, that wish that moderate Baptist leaders knew that I had something to contribute so that I could get involved and be a part of what they were doing . . . so that I could do something instead of just sit on the sidelines. Thanks be to God for hearing that wish as a prayer and granting it in such remarkable, miraculous ways.

Thanks be to God.

Leave a Reply