THE BAPTIST STUDIES BULLETIN
"A Monthly Emagazine, Bridging Baptists Yesterday and
Today"
May
2004
Vol. 3 No. 5 |
Produced by The Center for
Baptist Studies, Mercer University
Walter B. Shurden, Executive Director and Editor, The
Baptist Studies Bulletin
Bruce T. Gourley,
Associate Director, The Center for Baptist Studies
Wil Platt, Associate Editor, The Baptist Studies
Bulletin
Robert Richardson, Coordinator, Mercer Certificate Program
in Baptist Studies |
Table of Contents |
Table of Contents:
I Believe . .
. : Walter B. Shurden
"Tacky, Tacky,
Tacky"
The Baptist
Soapbox:
Bruce T. Gourley
"BWA Withdrawal Part of SBC Leaders' Anti-Baptist
Agenda"
Emails from
Baptists around the World: Franciso "Paco" Rhodes
"Baptists in Cuba"
Baptists, the
Bible, and the Poor: Charles E.
Poole
"The
Most Difficult Word for Baptists To Say"
The Baptist
Spirit: Strengths and Challenges: Charles
Deweese
"Freedom
Themes in Baptist Origins"
Church and State
Issues: Hollyn Hollman
"History Doesn't Justify State-Sponsored Prayer at Public
Schools"
Helpful Baptist
Websites:
Greg Thompson
"Baptist History and Heritage"
A
Note to Our Readers: Walter B.
Shurden
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I
Believe |
"Tacky, Tacky, Tacky"
By Walter B. Shurden
I believe . . .
that God's people have a long, long history
of compassion, Christ-likeness and fairness. But, on the other hand, God's
people can be tacky, can't we?
Will Campbell, the inimitable and eccentric Baptist from my home state of
Mississippi, has ended up on the right side of most moral issues
throughout his ministry. As I've heard the story (all "Will" stories, like
much of the Bible, are true even if they never happened!), Will once
debated another Christian minister at Florida State University on the
issue of capital punishment. Will took his usual minority position. He was
opposed. The other guy got up first. He harangued and hollered about evil
people and the need for killing them. When it came Will's turn to speak,
he waited for a few minutes in his chair, finally got up, hobbled to the
microphone and, after a long pause, said, "Tacky, tacky, tacky." He turned
and went back to his chair. At times, "tacky, tacky, tacky" is enough of a
Christian
speech! A
debate is brewing in Floyd County Baptist Association in Rome, Georgia,
over whether an autonomous Baptist church can have a female as a
co-pastor. North Broad Baptist Church, exercising their Baptist privilege,
called Katrina and Tony Brooks as co-pastors some time back. And now the
Floyd County Baptist Association wants to hang the 2000 noose of the
Baptist Faith and Message around the churches of the association in
order to have a reason to exclude North Broad from the association. You
will recall that the fundamentalist leadership of the SBC led the SBC to
revise the Statement of the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000 so as
to creedalize it and, therefore, to be able to exclude churches who have
female pastors. "Tacky, tacky, tacky."
When the Floyd County Baptist Association flexes its confused orthodox and
biblical muscles to save God's kingdom from the onslaught of a female
pastor, it is altogether within its legal rights. Like North Broad Baptist
Church, the association is autonomous and self-governing. Baptist
associations have the legal right to exclude churches on the basis of ANY
criteria they wish. But legal authority is neither as powerful nor as
Christian as moral
authority.
Beyond North Broad Baptist Church's legal authority, an authority rooted
in Baptist history and polity to call whom they please to be pastor, that
church additionally has the moral authority on its side of acting
Christ-like. Apartheid in South Africa and slavery and segregation in
America were all legal; they were also all immoral. Baptist associations
can act both legally and immorally at the same time. They quite often have
done so in Baptist history. By the way, who can name the last time a
Baptist association acted prophetically in Baptist life?
When the Floyd County Baptist Association takes its pathetic little stand
for so-called biblical righteousness, what can we say but "tacky, tacky,
tacky." And I have a prediction: within less than a hundred years, this
association, others like it, and the SBC will act toward women in ministry
the way the SBC fortunately acted toward African Americans a few years
back - they will repent! They will repent of acting legally but
immorally.
But the leadership of the Floyd County Baptist Association does not have a
monopoly on Baptist life in Georgia, even today. The same week I read
about the action of the Floyd County Baptist Association, I worshipped at
my home church, The First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon, Georgia (I
love the name!), on Sunday morning, May 2. Sandra Adams read the
scripture. Of the twenty deacons who walked up and down the aisles of our
church and choir, serving bread and cup to remind us whose we are and why,
ten of them were named Susan Broome, Mary Jane Johnson, Connie Jones (our
church's chair of deacons), Maxine Keoughan, Caroline Kicklighter, Carolyn
Martin, Suzy McCullough, Beverly Penley, Elaine Vasquez, and Doris
Williams. The ten male deacons graciously served alongside them. "Classy!
Classy! Classy!"
Table Of
Contents |
Baptist Soapbox |
The Baptist Soapbox:
Invited guests speak up and out on things Baptist (therefore, the views
expressed in this space are not necessarily those of The Baptist
Studies Bulletin, though sometimes they are). Climbing upon the
Soapbox this month is the new Associate Director of the Center for Baptist
Studies, Bruce T. Gourley. I will say more about Bruce in a
paragraph below.
"BWA Withdrawal Part of SBC Leaders'
Anti-Baptist Agenda"
By Bruce T. Gourley
In October, the fundamentalist leadership of the
Southern Baptist Convention quietly decided to pull the SBC out of the
Baptist World Alliance. In December, they made their decision public,
citing liberalism within the BWA. The BWA promptly refuted the charge of
liberalism, exposing the lies of Southern Baptist leaders. Baptist leaders
from Russia, Poland, Romania, Great
Britain, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Germany,
France, Bulgaria, South Africa, Ukraine, Italy, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,
India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and other Latin
American nations, not to mention the United States, have publicly
criticized the Southern Baptist
Convention.
To longtime
observers of the twenty-five year fundamentalist makeover of the Southern
Baptist Convention, the departure from the BWA comes as no surprise.
Southern Baptists' fundamentalist leaders have long been marching the SBC
out the door of Baptist life and onto the threshold of their own little
kingdom. Core Baptist principles are systematically being discarded in
place of policies designed to shore up the new fundamentalist order. The
Priesthood of all Believers has been dismantled and replaced with strict
pastoral authority. Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State
have been jettisoned in favor of the myth of America as a Christian
nation. The Authority of Scripture has been buried under layers of
creedalism, of which the frosting on the cake is the Baptist Faith and
Message 2000. Faith in Christ alone now plays second fiddle to homage
to the BF&M 2000. Local Church Autonomy has been rejected in
favor of Roman Catholic-like, hierarchical
conformity.
In short,
Southern Baptists' fundamentalist leaders have been intentionally
dismantling the "Baptist" in Southern Baptist Convention for more than two
decades. In its place they have been crafting a southern coalition of
inerrantist-spouting, right-wing Republican Party-loyal evangelicals which
now reaches throughout the nation. This far-reaching coalition which the
SBC is morphing into has one central goal: to save the world by regulating
family life and purifying doctrine, an agenda outlined last summer in the
Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative (http://www.sbc.net/ekg). Read the EKG materials
closely on the website, and you will notice that it is a global,
non-denominational initiative designed to lead theologically and
politically conservative evangelicals in creating a male-dominated,
fundamentalist Christian world order. In light of EKG, there simply is no
place at the table for the diverse, spiritually-minded, servant-oriented
Baptist World
Alliance. Guilty
of ongoing, blatant violations of the Ten Commandments and Jesus' own
commands, SBC leaders' claims of purity ring hollow. Furthermore, SBC
leaders have no interest in being "Baptist." Their commitment is to their
own agenda, their loyalty to their own kingdom. And although the BWA will
be better off without dictatorial SBC leadership, millions of Southern
Baptists in the pews, deceived by the lies of their leaders, are blindly
being led away from the Baptist faith into religious-political legalism.
It is only right that Baptists throughout the world stand up in protest of
the lies and deception. But in the end, it is only biblical that the
Baptist World Alliance refuse to betray the legacy of Baptists by
embracing the false gospel of legalism.
Table Of
Contents
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Baptist Emails |
Emails From Baptists Around the World: An Email on Baptists in Cuba Today. Francisco "Paco" Rhodes, who wrote this article, directs Baptist Studies
and teaches Latin American Church History at the ecumenical Evangelical
Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba. With a D. Min. from Columbia Theological
Seminary in Decatur, GA, he is responsible for theological education in
the Fraternity of Cuban Baptist Churches.
"The
Baptists in Cuba"
By
Francisco "Paco" Rhodes
The beginnings:
The presence of the Baptists in Cuba can be traced
back to the year of 1886. The first believers were baptized during the
night on the Havana shore. Under the energetic leadership of Alberto J.
Dmaz, they organized the Gethsemane Baptist Church. In those times the
country was under the colonial Spaniard domination, and the majority of
the Baptists, included Alberto J. Diaz, were sympathizers or collaborators
with the patriot party.
In fact, when the liberation war erupted, Dmaz was imprisoned, and
sentenced to be shot. The intervention of the US authorities prevented his
execution and he was exiled to Florida. After the end of the war in 1898,
he returned and found that the Church had survived the troubles of the
war. The Americans governed the country for four years, and this provided
opportunity for the American missionary agencies to enter Cuba. But much
of the authority and power became concentrated in the hands of the
missionaries. The patriotism of Dmaz caused tensions with the
missionaries, and eventually he quit the Baptist ranks.
Development:
The Baptists missionaries from America brought to Cuba
the existing divisions among Baptists in the Unites States. The Southern
Baptist Convention occupied the western part of the island through the
Home Mission Board. The Northern Baptist Convention took the eastern area.
While the Baptist churches of Cuba did not increase rapidly in the
twentieth century, the churches stabilized and reached most of the towns
and cities. The Eastern Convention put special emphasis on educational
ministry and rural work, planting many peasant churches, including the
constituency of rural immigrant workers such as the Haitians and
Jamaicans. When the ecumenical movement emerged in the forties, the
eastern Baptists were among the most enthusiastic.
The Western
Baptist Convention established an aggressive evangelistic program,
conducted to gain the most industrial cities and the middle classes. Both
conventions organized their own seminaries, summer camps, and
publications, developing strong institutional
identities. In
the decade of the forties the Free Will Baptists started their work in
Cuba, mainly in the extreme provinces of the west. Their growth has been
gradual, but they have established some rural churches and a seminary.
The Revolution of 1959:
The Revolution in 1959 created a crisis for Cuban Baptists. When the
socialistic ideology of the Cuban revolutionary leaders became public and
the conflict with the US government followed, more than the seventy
percent of the Baptist pastors of the Western Convention opted for exile
in Florida. Many Church members of the western churches left as well.
However, the majority of the Baptists in the east remained in
Cuba. The evangelical
churches in Cuba were unprepared for the challenge of such radical social
change. Tensions with the new government increased. The introduction of
dogmatic Marxist manuals from the Soviet Union, containing an
antireligious outlook, made dialogue between Baptists and the new
political forces much more difficult. The tendency among the evangelicals,
including the Baptists, was to insulate themselves within the walls of the
Church. Defending themselves against the accusation of being an
institution allied with the American government, evangelicals sought with
difficulty to survive.
The decade of the
seventies brought a more relaxed trend in Church-State relations. It was
clear that the churches were not to be closed, in spite of the
discrimination. The facilities of the churches were respected. The 1974
constitution of Cuba endorsed religious freedom under some limitations.
Emerging new answers:
A new
generation of Baptist believers faced the challenges of the time with new
vision. The impact of the sixties, with the Martin Luther King
assassination, the awakening of a social conscience among many Christians
around the world, and the appearance of the liberation movement in Latin
American, could not be ignored by Baptist youth in Cuba. So in 1974 a
movement emerged created by students and young pastors from both
Conventions. Called the Coordination of Baptist Workers and Students, it
focused on the social responsibility of the Christians.
The new generation needed
to be nurtured with a theology that could equip them for a positive
presence in the society and the world. This movement had its highlight in
the Summer Camp for the Social Responsibility of the Christian, a
gathering that brought together hundreds of young people to reflect on and
discuss the Christian's role in social changes. The combination of
biblical reflection on the one hand and dialogue with the Marxist on the
other resulted in a change of mind among the
communists. This new
attitude laid the foundation for the emergence of the Fraternity of Cuban
Baptist Churches (1989). The fraternity brought a renewed style to the
churches. This renewed style sought to incarnate in the middle of the
Cuban culture an autonomous church, open both to the ecumenical movement,
the affirmation of women's rights to ordination, and to liturgical
renewal.
Another Challenge:
The last decade of the twentieth century brought to the world unexpected
events. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialistic system in
Eastern Europe pulled the small island of Cuba into a dramatic crisis. The
unparalleled economic situation had the effect of a devastating
earthquake, imposing daring challenges. The country was alone in a world
of competition, with an increasing hostility from the US
administration. A depressed feeling of hopelessness dominated many of the Cubans,
and they did not envision any future. Many talented young people opted for
emigration. The churches assumed the diakonic spirit of service, offering
humanitarian assistance and calling for solidarity in world. Especially
important was the collaboration of the churches in ministry in the fields
of medicine and food.
The changes
in the Constitution of 1991 eliminated all kind of religious
discrimination, and opened unimaginable opportunities for the spreading of
the gospel. The people of the nation were thirsty for inspiration and
hope, and they began returning to the several religions in the
country. Places of worship became packed with new believers. The
Baptists and Pentecostals grew the most among the Christian churches.
Thousands of new places of worship were opened, including houses, garages
and yards. During the nineties the membership among evangelicals
increased two hundred
percent. This huge wave of new people
into the churches brought great enthusiasm, but they were without any
Christian background. As one would expect, this situation offered
challenges and opportunities but also risks. The opportunity today is to
build a new Church without the hostility of the past. The danger, however,
is that the new religious enthusiasm may be void of a deep biblical
and theological foundation, thus becoming the spawning ground for
all kinds of religious
deviations. We pray for the
best.
The
following information describes the size of the four Baptists groups in
Cuba:
Western Baptist Convention
Churches
.........................
205 Membership.....................
17000 Missions................................ 300 Seminary
students................. 40 (Baptist Seminary in
Havana)
Eastern Baptist Convention
Churches............................
295 Membership....................
23000 Missions............................ 1000 Seminary
students............... 60 (Baptist
Seminary in Santiago de Cuba)
Free Will Baptists
Churches................................
36 Membership........................ 2000 Seminary
Students................. 12 (FreeWill Baptist Seminary in
La Palma)
Fraternity of Cuban
Baptist Churches
Churches..............................
31 Membership.........................4000 Missions..............................
66 Seminary Students................. 15 (In Evangelical
Seminary of Matanzas and the Biblical University of Costa
Rica)
Bibliography
Marco
Antonio Ramos, Panorama del Protestantismo en Cuba, Miami,
Editorial Caribe, 1986.
Table Of
Contents |
Baptists Bible and Poor |
Baptists, The Bible, and the
Poor: Charles E. Poole is a Baptist
minister with Lifeshare Community Ministries out of Jackson, Mississippi
where he delights in ministering alongside the poor. "Chuck" Poole, a
provocative preacher and servant pastor, served Baptist churches for
twenty-five years. Among the churches he has served are First Baptist
Church, Macon, GA, First Baptist Church, Washington, DC, and Northminster
Baptist Church, Jackson, MS.
"The
Most Difficult Word for Baptists to Say"
By
Charles E. Poole
"Enough is so vast a sweetness, I suppose it never
occurs." Rarely has the pervasive problem of discontentment been captured
more clearly than it is in that sentence from Emily Dickinson. "Enough"
can be a hard word to say. "I have enough." "Our life is comfortable
enough." "Our things are nice enough." Syllables such as those can be hard
to pronounce. The Belle of Amherst was right: "Enough is so vast a
sweetness, I suppose it never
occurs." Of course, it might
help if the church would lead the way. Individual believers might stand a
better chance of growing into Christian contentment if the church would
lead the way by saying something shocking, such as, "The buildings we have
are big enough." "The facilities we own are nice enough." "The parking we
use is convenient enough." Then, at least, people would have an example of
contentment from which to
learn. And what does all
that have to do with "Baptists, The Bible and The Poor?" Baptist
churches keep spending millions upon millions of dollars on church
facilities because we think that what we have isn't nice enough or big
enough to draw a crowd and keep a crowd. (Isn't it odd that we
actually think we need convenient and comfortable facilities to attract
people to a gospel that calls them to deny themselves and take up a
cross?) And while churches keep building bigger buildings, school kids try
to do homework in houses where the lights keep getting turned off and
adults keep losing jobs because they can't get transportation, and
families in other nations keep burying babies who have starved to
death. I know the standard
Baptist answer to all the above: "But if we build bigger, nicer buildings
we'll get more folks in and that will enable us to give more to what
really matters." But the truth is, not really. What really happens
is that bigger, nicer buildings bring bigger, nicer utility bills,
insurance bills, debt payments, cleaning costs and maintenance
expenses. What we
need is for Baptist churches to learn how to pronounce that most difficult
of all words to say: "Enough! We are comfortable enough at this
church, and we have more important things to do with our money than to
make ourselves a little more comfortable a few hours a week. And
anyway, we are Baptists. And Baptists are big on the Bible. And the
Bible says, 'Those who have much should not have too much, so that those
who have little will not have too little' (II Corinthians
8:13-15).'" Needless to say,
this is not as simple on the street as it is on the page. I have spent
twenty-five years as a Baptist pastor resisting bricks and mortar for
theological reasons before buying bricks and mortar for practical reasons.
It's tough work. On the one hand, you resist the expenditure of church
dollars on land and buildings because the church's Lord said, "Sell your
possessions and give the proceeds to the poor," which is the opposite of
acquiring, obtaining and expanding the church's holdings. On the other
hand, incredibly important things happen in church buildings that don't
happen anywhere else, making space and place not only significant but
sacred. So, none of this is simple. Here is a small answer, a modest
proposal for Baptist churches in a hurting world: Start with the
assumption that when it comes to building church buildings, we will do as
much as necessary and as little as possible. We will do only what we must,
not all that we can, so that when it comes to the poor, we'll have enough
money to do all that we can, not just what we must.
Table Of
Contents |
The Baptist Spirit |
The Baptist Spirit: Strengths and
Challenges Charles W. Deweese, Executive Director-Treasurer
of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, writes this section of
BSB. An articulate and passionate Baptist, He identifies the
historic Baptist Spirit in America.
"Freedom Themes in Baptist Origins"
By Charles
W. Deweese
King James I released his Bible in 1611. Baptists
also released an important writing that year. Titled "A Declaration of
Faith of English People Remaining at Amsterdam in Holland," written by
Thomas Helwys, this document can be "rightly judged the first English
Baptist Confession of Faith," according to church historian William L.
Lumpkin - Baptist Confessions of Faith (rev. ed.; Valley Forge:
Judson Press, 1969), 115. Lumpkin included this 27-article confession on
pages 116-23 of his book. What these first Baptists said about freedom in
their first statement of faith can instruct the Baptist experience
today.
The confession's title suggests freedom. A small group of English
Separatists had gone to Amsterdam to find and exercise religious liberty.
Driven by soul competency and liberty of conscience, this body of
Christians chose to become Baptists in 1608-09 by adopting believer's
baptism.
Articles 10, 13, and 14 exhibit the power of voluntarism in believer's
baptism and church constitution and membership. The church consists of
"faithful people separated from the world by the word & Spirit of GOD
being knit unto the LORD, & one unto another, by Baptism. Upon their
own confession of the faith and sins." Such baptism "in no wise
appertaineth to infants."
Articles 11, 19, 20, and 21 express the freedom of the local church
to worship, to choose its own officers (including women), and to perform
all essential church functions if officers are not present. "Officers are
to be chosen . . . by Election and approbation of that Church or
congregation whereof they are members." In addition to elders (pastors),
the officers also include "Deacons Men, and Women." If a church does not
yet have officers or if the church's "Officers should be in Prison, sick,
or by any other means hindered from the Church," church members "may and
ought, when they are come together, to Pray, Prophesy, break bread, and
administer in all the holy ordinances." Calling for the exercise of the
priesthood of all believers, this confession shows that ordination is not
a requirement for any of these church functions.
While urging the church to continue on in freedom even if its "Officers
should be in Prison," little did Helwys, later the first Baptist pastor in
England, know that King James would later put him in prison because of
Helwys's powerful defense of religious liberty for all in his masterful
work A Short Declaration of the Mistery of Iniquity (1612). The
freedom impulse among early Baptists often resulted in persecution;
ironically, this persecution then fed the freedom
impulse.
Articles 12 and 22 highlight the freedom inherent in local church
autonomy. Articles 17-18 affirm the freedom of a church to exercise
discipline over its members, including excommunication. Article 23 lays
out the freedom (and duty) to search the Scriptures, "for they testify of
CHRIST" and contain "the Holie Word of GOD, which only is our direction in
all things whatsoever."
NOTE:
I have updated the English and eliminated Scripture passages in the
quotations. |
Church And State |
Baptists in America and
Church State Issues:
a column
on hot button issues related to religion and government written by K.
Hollyn Hollman, General Counsel, The Baptist Joint Committee on Public
Affairs, Washington, D.C.
"History Doesn't Justify
State-Sponsored Prayer at Public Schools"
By K. Hollyn Hollman
The U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to review
a court decision holding the Virginia Military Institute's supper prayers
unconstitutional. Virginia's attorney general decried the decision, citing
the long tradition of the practice and claiming that such prayers are part
of "the fabric of society." The case reminds us that history alone does
not determine constitutionality.
Two
cadets had challenged the school's policy of requiring students to stand
quietly during an invocation led by a senior student before meals. The
practice, at a state-run institution, they argued, violated the
Constitution's ban on laws respecting an establishment of religion. Two
lower courts agreed, finding that students could not be compelled to
participate in state-sponsored religious
exercise.
While the long history of the VMI practice did not save it, the historical
argument has some validity in the Court's jurisprudence, at least in a
limited context. In the 1983 decision of Marsh v. Chambers, the
Supreme Court upheld prayers by a legislative chaplain at the opening
session of the Nebraska legislature. The Court noted that Congress has
opened its sessions with prayer without interruption for almost 200
years and that a similar practice has been followed for more than a
century in Nebraska and many other states. It stated that in light of the
history, such practice "has become part of the fabric of our society" and
that the First Amendment should not be interpreted to bar the practice.
The decision, however, made plain that "historical patterns, standing
alone, cannot justify contemporary violations of constitutional
guarantees."
Marsh thus does not hold that official prayers in other
contexts, such as schools, even those with a longstanding tradition are
constitutional. The case has typically been limited to the facts of
prayers before legislatures or other governmental forums despite various
attempts to characterize challenged religious expressions as being a part
of "the fabric of
society."
In general, voluntary prayer is constitutional,
state-sponsored prayer is not. Still, I know that some will fail to see
this important distinction and ask: "Why can't they pray?" or
"What's wrong with students praying together?" The answers to these
questions are easy. The students can pray - they just can't be compelled
to do so by school policy. That distinction is crucial to protect the
religious liberty of all students. There is nothing wrong with students
praying together before meals, but there is something wrong with the state
telling them how to do so. Those who bemoan the end of VMI's supper prayer
tradition should be heartened by the possibility of a new tradition that
may emerge - student prayer that is voluntary, unscripted, and consistent
with the religious freedom that is truly the fabric of society.
Table Of
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Mini-Sabbatical!!! |
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Table Of
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Baptist
Websites |
Helpful Web Sites for Baptist
Studies
by Greg Thompson
Site of the
Month: Baptist History and Heritage Society
In the course of planning special events and
services for Baptist churches, such as homecomings, anniversary
celebrations, Founders Days or other designated days to remember, we are
always looking for good resources, aren't we? Such days are not only
popular with church members, they are also exciting times to remember and
to educate concerning our Baptist heritage. The Baptist History and
Heritage Society's web site provides excellent resources available in
printed form for such occasions. The site highlights a section called,
"Who are Baptists?" that contains seven links to essays by prominent
Baptist historians on key elements of Baptist distinctives. Information
about the annual meeting of the Society as well as about the Fellowship of
Baptist Historians appears on the site. Also, the site has important
information about the Society's quarterly publication, Baptist History
and Heritage, one of the premier Baptist historical journals in the
world. All of the above and much more makes this site a welcome witness to
what is good about Baptists in a cyber world. Before your next church
celebration, why not stock up your church's pamphlet rack with several of
these superb documents?
Table Of
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Note to Readers |
A Note to Our Readers from Walter
B. Shurden
Many of you have followed the BSB ever
since we began producing it in January of 2002. If you have followed us,
you know that Greg Thompson has been the computer whiz who has put this
ezine together on the web for us each month. He not only designed the
BSB, he suggested to me and nudged me to begin producing it
when we first began The Center for Baptist Studies three years ago.
Greg Thompson
left his work with us here at The Center for Baptist Studies at the end of
April. Before he left, however, he had left his fingerprints all over the
work of the Center, not simply with the BSB. As executive
director, I am deeply indebted to Greg for his many efforts in helping
launch the work of the Center. He coordinated our conferences. He helped
with our A. H. Newman Scholars Program and our Mercer Baptist Heritage
Student Essay Award. He was our office manager and budget manager and much
more. I shall miss him as a working colleague and as a crazy friend with
whom to enjoy life. All the time that Greg has been working with us at the
Center, he has also served as pastor of Central Baptist Church in Gray,
GA. Blessings, Greg, as you move back to your church work and to other new
things. Bruce T.
Gourley is stepping into Greg Thompson's shoes, and we are extremely glad
that we could persuade him to join the work of the Center. Bruce, like
Greg, is both a graduate of Mercer and of Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. Both love Mercer University and the ministry of the Christian
church in its ecumenical and Baptist
expression. Bruce
served for ten years on the mission field in Montana as the Billings-area
Director of Baptist Campus Ministries, Instructor of Church History at
Yellowstone Baptist College, and frequent preacher in churches. Currently
a doctoral student in History at Auburn University, Bruce is also Online
Editor for Baptists Today, webmaster for Baptist History and
Heritage Society, and owner of the BaptistLife.Com website. He
is the author of one book, The GodMakers: A Legacy of the SBC?
(Providence House, 1996). His doctoral dissertation will be on the subject
of Baptists in Georgia during the Civil War era. At Tarver Library at
Mercer University in Macon, GA, he is in the right place to research and
write that dissertation. He is also in the right place to enhance the work
of Mercer's Center for Baptist Studies. Welcome,
Bruce!
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Dates to Note
May 27-29, 2004 Baptist History and Heritage Society Annual
Meeting, Vancouver, Washington. For details go to http://www.baptisthistory.org/
June 6-11, 2004 "The E. Glenn
Hinson Spiritual Formation Institute," Mars Hill College, Mars Hill,
NC. Sponsored by Advent Spirituality Center, Mars Hill College. For
details contact Paula Dempsey (email: advent@main.nc.us) or call
828.206.0383.
June 24-26, 2004
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, Birmingham, AL. For
details, go to http://webmail.mercer.edu/redirect?http://www.thefellowship.info/.
July 21-24, 2004,
"Creating Space: An Experiential Prayer
Retreat" at Sterchi Lodge, Hot Springs, NC. For details contact Paula
Dempsey (email: advent@main.nc.us) or call
828.206.0383.
September 9, 2004,
"Church State Issues in the 2004 Election: A Morning Dialogue With Brent
Walker," Religious Life Building, Mercer University, Macon, GA. Contact Shurden_WB@Mercer.edu
September 26-28,
2004, The Mercer Preaching Consultation, The King and Prince Hotel,
St. Simons Island, GA. For details go to www.mercer.edu/baptiststudies
and click "conferences."
July 27-31, 2005,
Centennial Congress of the Baptist World Alliance, Birmingham, England. To
register email Congress@bwanet.org , phone
703.790.8980, or fax 1703.893.5160. |
|
Baptist
Myths: A New Pamphlet Series
A series of eleven pamphlets that address negative perceptions
held towards Baptists in popular American culture. These pamphlets are
suitable for individual study, church classes, and academic courses. They
are jointly published by the Baptist History and Heritage Society, The
Center for Baptist Studies of Mercer University, and the Whitsitt Baptist
Heritage Society. Editor: Doug Weaver; Associate Editors: Charles W.
Deweese & Walter B. Shurden.
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