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,…
Sarah Frances Anders, CBF leader and advocate for women in ministry, dies after battle with Alzheimer’s
Word has been received of the recent death of Sarah Frances Anders, a trailblazer for Southern Baptist women in ministry and past moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Anders, a longtime sociology professor at Louisiana College, died June 8 at…
Grady Cothen, one of last pre-1979 SBC agency heads, dies
Grady Cothen, one of the last surviving Southern Baptist Convention agency heads prior to schism in the 1980s, has died. Cothen, 96, died peacefully May 19 at the Orchard Home in Ridgeland, Miss., after a series of illnesses. Cothen served…
Moderate Baptist ethicist Robert Parham dies
Robert Parham, founding executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, died March 5 following an illness. He was 63. “More than anyone I have known, Robert was well-suited for and passionate about his specific job in life,” Kevin Heifner,…
For one seminary librarian, stating the facts cost him his job
Twenty years ago, a single act of speaking truth to power cost one quiet seminary librarian his job. Paul Debusman worked at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., for 35 years until his “involuntary retirement” 10 months ahead of schedule…
2016 saw the deaths of a number of notable Baptists in the U.S.
Here is a wrap up of deaths of notable Baptists reported this year by Baptist News Global.