Thinking Critically . . . Acting Faithfully

Thirty-three years ago tonight (funny, it was a Thursday that year, too), I received word that Ron Russey had been killed the night before – Halloween night, 1979 – while on his way from Colorado to lead a family life conference in a church in Texas. Earlier this year, I wrote a post entitled Thank Read more . . .

What is at the heart of our faith in Jesus Christ? That’s really the heart of the matter when it comes to divisions among Baptists. Notice I said “divisions,” not “differences.” Differences are inevitable, Baptist or not. To be human is to be different. Each of us is made in God’s image, yet each of Read more . . .

(Adapted from the TBC Baptist Briefs video series, Texas Baptists Who Made a Difference) Freeman Smalley, according to the Texas State Historical Association, was born in 1790 in Pennsylvania and grew up in Ohio. He was already a Baptist by the time he enlisted in the army and fought in the War of 1812. After the Read more . . .

(Presented by Mike Williams, professor of history, Dallas Baptist University, June 8, during the annual meeting of the Baptist History & Heritage Society in Raleigh, North Carolina. I’ve published it here with his permission.) 17So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” 18It came about when the priests who carried the ark Read more . . .

Fifty years ago this week, Daddy took me to my first major league baseball game. It seems a little strange, I must admit, to write the words “fifty years ago.” A half-century! It doesn’t seem so long ago that the phrase “fifty years ago” would bring to my mind an image akin to the phrase “back Read more . . .

(Adapted from the TBC Baptist Briefs video series, First Baptists in America: 17th Century; and Baptists Fight for Religious Liberty in the New United States) In his classic history The Baptist Heritage, Leon McBeth writes that it was in 1639 that Roger Williams founded the first organized Baptist church in America in Providence, Rhode Island. However, Read more . . .

This Friday evening, June 22, at the closing session of this year’s General Assembly in Fort Worth, Daniel Vestal will preach his final sermon as executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. This month, Daniel brings to a close his service as CBF’s longest-tenured executive coordinator. Patrick Anderson, editor of Christian Ethics Today and a Read more . . .

When the Baptist church in Raleigh was organized in 1812 on the second floor of the original state Capitol building, there were 23 charter members—9 white and 14 black. In 1868,  there was a peaceful separation of the two groups when the newly emancipated members established their own congregation. Thus begins the History page of Read more . . .

I read this morning that Dr. Wayne Allen, retired senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Carrollton, had passed away at the age of 82. I never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Allen, but his passing nevertheless moved me. His obituary gives a broader picture of his life, but the opening passage of an article Read more . . .

This month has seen the death of two faithful Baptist leaders. On May 17, Lee Porter, a retired editor at LifeWay Christian Resources who served as recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention for 25 years, died at 83. On May 23, Wayne Ward, theology professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville for over Read more . . .