Denton Lotz, who led the Baptist World Alliance through some of its most challenging years, died April 23 at age 80
James E. Wood, Baylor scholar and BJC leader, dead at 96
James E. Wood Jr., a Baptist statesman and scholar recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of church-state relations and religious liberty, died peacefully March 4 at age 96. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Wood began his…
Paul Simmons, outspoken Baptist ethicist, dead at 82
Paul D. Simmons, a Christian ethics professor who a quarter century ago became a lightning rod at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for advocating a woman’s right to abortion, died March 17 following an illness. He was 82. Walter Shurden, a…
Jack Harwell, champion for an uncensored Baptist press, dies at 86
Jack Harwell, a 40-year Baptist journalist who stood against censorship of the denominational press, died Friday, Jan. 18, at age 86. A memorial service is scheduled Saturday, Jan. 26 at First Baptist Church of Morrow, Georgia, where he served the…
SBC president who said God hears only Christian prayers dead at 79
Bailey Smith, the former Southern Baptist Convention president best known for saying God does not hear the prayers of a Jew, died Jan. 14 after a 21-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Smith, 79, was the youngest man ever elected SBC…
Jimmy Allen, visionary denominational leader, dies
Jimmy R. Allen, the last moderate president of the Southern Baptist Convention and executive director emeritus of the New Baptist Covenant, died early Jan. 8 at Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick, Georgia.
Newsmakers lost in 2018
Evangelist Billy Graham, Sen. John McCain and “Pass It On” composer Kurt Kaiser are among Baptist newsmakers who left us in 2018.
Former Wake Forest Divinity School dean, Gail O’Day, dies at age 63 (updated)
Gail O’Day, former dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, died Sept. 22, nearly four years after the onset of symptoms later diagnosed as a glioblastoma brain tumor.
Peace Committee chair Charles Fuller dead at 86
Charles Fuller, the Virginia pastor chosen to lead the failed Peace Committee established to reconcile clashing factions in the Southern Baptist Convention in the mid-1980s, died July 28 at age 86. Fuller, pastor of First Baptist Church in Roanoke, Virginia,…