Category: Reflections (2018-present)

Personal reflections and musings

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 . . .

Remembrance: 
Ten years ago this week – how God brings good things out of bad news 
by Bill Jones

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Ten years ago this week, my life – at least my career path – changed dramatically. A 20-year career as a technical writer/editor in the corporate world came to a sudden and surprising end. I had been “laid off” (corporate-speak for “fired”; I’ve never been “laid back on” after being “laid off”) several times in Read more . . .

Baptists: 
On watching ‘Heaven’s Rain’ (now ‘The Amendment’) 40 years after the murders of Richard & Marilyn Douglass 
by Bill Jones

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Richard and Marilyn Douglass were murdered on the evening of October 15, 1979 – 40 years ago yesterday – so last night I watched my DVD of Heaven’s Rain, the movie that their son Brooks produced as a tribute to his parents. It’s a powerfully inspiring – and disturbing – movie, and I highly recommend Read more . . .

Remembrance: 
Joyce Stuermer’s lasting influence in my life; introducing a Facebook page commemorating her life and legacy 
by Bill Jones

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(You can find additional photos posted to Joyce Stuermer Facebook page.) This is the first post to a Facebook page I’ve created in collaboration with Del Sutton – going live today, Sept. 9, 2019 – to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Joyce Stuermer. Joyce, who passed away in October 2012, shortly after Read more . . .

Remembrance: 
Growing up with the Space Race, then recording Apollo 11 live on my tape recorder (now on YouTube) 
by Bill Jones

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(Click here to go to my Apollo 11 YouTube channel.) I was 6-1/2 years old on that evening in October 1957, when my parents, my sister, and I went out into our side yard and looked up to view the USSR’s Sputnik I shooting across the night sky. The “Space Race” was on! Growing up Read more . . .

Baptists: 
A Word from Bill Jones, Weekly Baptist Roundup, 7/20/2019: Fresh out of high school, recording Apollo 11 with my graduation present 
by Bill Jones

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Fifty years ago, I was fresh out of high school in Missouri, having graduated in June from Oak Park High School in the North Kansas City school district. For my graduation, Mother and Daddy gave me a reel-to-reel tape recorder. In July, the Apollo 11 astronauts went to the Moon, and I put my brand-new Read more . . .

Baptists: 
Remembering our first visit to Wilshire Baptist Church on July 4th 15 years ago 
by Bill Jones

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Fifteen years ago today – Sunday, July 4, 2004 – Joanna and I visited Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas for the first time. I had met George Mason, Wilshire’s pastor, and heard him speak two months earlier in San Antonio at the annual conference of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission – then led by my dear friend Read more . . .

Baptists: 
A Word from Bill Jones, Weekly Baptist Roundup, 6/15/2019 
by Bill Jones

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COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP GENERAL ASSEMBLY meets this week in Birmingham, AL. I’ll be arriving Tuesday morning to attend our annual T. B. MASTON FOUNDATION CBF Student Scholars Retreat. Then I’m looking forward to attending Wednesday morning’s BAPTIST WOMEN IN MINISTRY Annual Gathering at the historic SIXTEENTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH.   Thursday evening, at a dinner Read more . . .