BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Alabama Baptist historian Wayne Flynt will receive Baptists Today's annual Judson-Rice Award for leadership with integrity April 20.
Flynt, professor emeritus at Auburn University, will receive the national news journal's award during a banquet at a Birmingham, Ala., hotel.
Flynt — who taught at his alma mater, Samford University in Birmingham, before joining the Auburn faculty in1977 — is regarded as a strong advocate for the poor and as a bridge builder across racial divides. A tutoring program he organized at Rosedale High School in Homewood, Ala., produced the first African-American students to attend Samford.
More recently, Flynt helped found Sowing Seeds of Hope, a long-term ministry effort in rural Perry County, Ala., and the Alabama Poverty Project.
He has written and lectured extensively on race and poverty. An active member of First Baptist Church in Auburn, Flynt is also author of a 1998 history of Baptists in Alabama.
The award banquet will feature an address by Flynt and will include tributes from Baptist singer-songwriter Kate Campbell and historian Walter Shurden of Mercer University. The event is open to the public.
The Judson-Rice Award was created in 2001 to commemorate the contributions of early Baptist leaders Adoniram Judson, Ann Hasseltine Judson and Luther Rice. It honors a current Baptist leader who has demonstrated important leadership skills while maintaining the highest integrity.
Previous recipients include Shurden, former Woman's Missionary Union head Alma Hunt, sociologist Tony Campolo and former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Russell Dilday.
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