Author: billjones20

Baptists:
CBF & SBC in Dallas – separated by more than just a 15-minute walk . . .
Part 2 of 3: SBC 2018 – “Mixed signals” says it all

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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 . . .

Baptists:
CBF & SBC in Dallas – separated by more than just a 15-minute walk . . .
Part 1 of 3: Returning to the SBC Annual Meeting after 50 years

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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 . . .

Church & State:
Destroy the Johnson Amendment? You’ve got to be kidding!

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(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 . . .

Texas Baptists Committed: Gone but Not Forgotten; and the Battle Continues 
by Bill Jones

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(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 . . .

Whither Texas Baptists . . . after Texas Baptists Committed? 
by Bill Jones

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(Originally published on the Texas Baptists Committed blog at texasbaptistscommitted.blogspot.com.) In the 1990s, David Currie and Texas Baptists Committed fought tooth-and-nail to keep Texas Baptists free to be faithful. As the Fundamentalists, in the late 1980s, neared their goal of achieving full control of the Southern Baptist Convention, they set their sights on the Baptist Read more . . .

A response to Lawrence Ware’s op-ed article in the NYTimes, July 17, 2017, Why I’m Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention, 
by Charles R. Wade, executive director, retired, Baptist General Convention of Texas

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(Originally published on the Texas Baptists Committed blog at texasbaptistscommitted.blogspot.com.) Lawrence Ware, Baptist pastor and co-director of the Center for Africana Studies at Oklahoma State University, was deeply offended by the hesitancy of the voting delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention to adopt a resolution condemning the Alt-Right political movement with its racist, white supremacist ideology. After some Read more . . .

Closing Texas Baptists Committed – inevitably but reluctantly 
by Bill Jones

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(Originally published on the Texas Baptists Committed blog at texasbaptistscommitted.blogspot.com.) With this blog post, I am announcing that – after almost three decades – Texas Baptists Committed will cease operations at the end of July 2017. Our Board of Directors voted yesterday, Friday, July 7. In January 2016, the TBC Board and I convened a Read more . . .