Category: Reflections (2018-present)

Personal reflections and musings

Joanna spoke out against demeaning racial slurs and the fears they caused her as an Asian-American 
by Bill Jones

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(Scroll to the end for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) The love of my life, Joanna, passed away on Feb. 14 of complications following her kidney transplant surgery on Jan. 31. We were married 44-1/2 years, raised two wonderful children together, and celebrated the lives of four beautiful grandchildren Read more . . .

Common threads: My worst moments as a Christian (3/16/2003) and as an American citizen (1/6/2021) 
by Bill Jones

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On a Sunday morning in March 2003, on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq, I experienced the worst moment in my (then) 42 years as a professing Christian and 52 years spent in Baptist churches, from cradle roll to adult. My wife and I had been members of that particular church for over Read more . . .

50 years ago today, Nov. 12, 1970, I leapt out of the fundamentalist foxhole 
by Bill Jones

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“The devil sure got ahold of you!” – November 1970 “Bill, do you ever stop and pray for the president of our country or just complain about him? As Christians that’s our responsibility according to the Bible, or do you read it anymore? I can’t believe we grew up in the same church. ☹” – Read more . . .

Joe Biden: Breaking a 44-year presidential mold 
by Bill Jones

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As I watched the continuing Presidential Election 2020 saga Wednesday evening, I heard one network anchor declare that former Vice-President Joe Biden, with 253 electoral votes (at that point) awarded by some networks and 264 by others, was “standing on the doorstep of the White House.” At that moment, something occurred to me that I Read more . . .

50 years ago today, October 5, 1970: the Shawnee tornado . . . and being Matthew 25 people 
by Bill Jones

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I was barely into my sophomore year at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was a Monday, the middle of the afternoon, as I recall. I really don’t remember much before or during the tornado, except that it was unusually dark for an October afternoon; there was no light streaming through the windows of Read more . . .

The Cross and the Flag (audio)

Sermon by George Mason, Senior Pastor, Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Sunday, July 4, 2004

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EDITOR’S NOTE: George Mason preached this sermon on July 4, 2004, which was the first time Joanna and I visited Wilshire Baptist Church (we became members soon after). I recently came across this sermon (I had copied it off the Wilshire Web site that summer of 2004 and put it on a CD), listened to Read more . . .

Babs Baugh: A friend, a mentor, an example

by Bill Jones, Editor & Publisher, Weekly Baptist Roundup; Exec. Dir., retired, Texas Baptists Committed

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In only three days since Babs Baugh’s passing, I’ve already read at least a half-dozen articles paying tribute to her life, and I know there will be many more to come. No one person can adequately tell the story of a life so very well-lived, a life that touched so many people. So we each tell Read more . . .