By Bill Leonard Will Campbell turns the gospel of Jesus on its head, at least where standardized, predictable concepts and actions, left-wing and right, are concerned. Preacher, writer, lecturer, farmer, raconteur and soulful iconoclast, Will Campbell is an equal-opportunity prophet….
Responding to ‘The Response’
By Bill Leonard On Aug. 6, thousands of Christians will join in a day of prayer and fasting at “The Response,” a “solemn assembly” at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Its purpose, leaders say, is “to pray for a historic breakthrough…
Continued reflection on a Baptist future
By Bill Leonard The quest for Baptist identity continues. The American Baptist Churches USA augmented their biennial gathering with a theological conference on the theme: “Memory, Identity and Hope: Intersections in American Baptist Ecclesiology.” In response to issues raised by…
The time is now for collaboration among Baptists
By Bill Leonard “Diversity” is surely one of the first words that spring to mind when delegates from American Baptist Churches in the USA meet in biennial convocation. This year’s gathering in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was a classic illustration…
Forgetting to remember
By Bill Leonard Last week we moved Lavelle, my mother, to the Alzheimer’s Care Unit (euphemistically called “Reminiscence Neighborhood”) at her assisted living facility. For the last nine years, two in Texas and seven in North Carolina, she has been…
Pluralism, not privilege, the debates continue
By Bill Leonard Winthrop Hudson, the American Baptist historian, writes: “The most obvious inference to be drawn from our present low spiritual estate would seem to be that the churches are no longer fully measuring up to the specific responsibility…
Being Baptist — An Interracial Journey
By Bill Leonard One Sunday in January 1994, our family — Candyce, Stephanie and I — walked across the parking lot of the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., after the morning service. An elderly African-American woman approached us…
Vocation: Claiming and being claimed
By Bill Leonard In 1836 a free black woman paid $38 to print 1,000 copies of her autobiography titled The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, A Coloured Lady. It is the first autobiography of an African-American woman to…
While Jesus tarries
By Bill Leonard “But one thing remains to be proved. When did the 2,300 years begin?… Let us begin it where the angel told us, from the going forth of the decree to build the walls of Jerusalem in troublous…