By Marv Knox Bedilu Yirga, the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ second vice president, will be nominated for first vice president when the BGCT conducts its annual meeting in Frisco Nov. 8-10. Bob Dean, executive director of Dallas Baptist Association,…
Diana Garland, social work educator and bridge builder, dies
By Marv Knox Diana Richmond Garland, founding dean of Baylor University’s school of social work that now bears her name, died Sept. 21 after a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Garland, 65, trained generations of Christian social workers to express…
Diana Garland: Force of nature, role model, friend
When Diana Garland arrived at Baylor University in 1997, a Texas Baptist asked me to describe her. Three words jumped to mind. Force. Of. Nature. Across her lifetime, particularly during her tenure at two splendid schools of social work, Diana…
How do we balance religious liberty and rule of law?
If you could collect a dime every time U.S. media mention “religious liberty” between now and Election Day 2016, you could fund your own Super-PAC — or maybe even bankroll your own run for the White House. We’re going to…
‘Outsider’ history prepares U.S. Baptists for future, authors say
By Marv Knox For all their diversity and predisposition to dissent, Baptists are “well-positioned to thrive” as outsiders on the edge of America’s increasingly pluralistic, secular culture, a pair of Baylor University history professors contend in a new book. Baptists…
Same-sex marriage: Church divided, but liberty protected
Same-sex marriage is the law of the land. Outcries to the contrary, the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision did not herald the demise of religious liberty in America.
CBF participants want more than talk about racial reconciliation
By Marv Knox The time for merely praying about racial injustice is past, a roomful of participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly agreed last week. They called for action. The mixed-race group participated in “Let Justice Roll Down:…
A quarter-century after the SBC holy war
This past week marked the 25th anniversary of the final battle in the Southern Baptist holy war. The former combatants noted the occasion appropriately: They got on with current business. The Southern Baptist Convention conducted its annual meeting in Columbus,…
Book tells story of love in the time of Ebola
By Marv Knox When Ebola arrived in America in the autumn of 2014, fear spread faster and further than the deadly virus. But hope sustained the family at the epicenter of the hysteria. My Spirit Took You In: The Romance…