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.
Grocery chain scion-turned-evangelist Howard Butt Jr. dead at 89
Howard E. Butt Jr., one-time heir apparent to run the 380-store H‑E‑B grocery chain before turning lay evangelist during the “youth revival movement” that spread from Baylor University to campuses across the country in the 1940s and 1950s, has died….
American Baptist minister remembered as agent of reconciliation
An American Baptist pastor and denominational leader who early in his ministry advocated for justice and reconciliation in his native South Africa in the waning years of apartheid died Aug. 20. Desmond Hoffmeister, 56, senior pastor at Granada Hills Baptist…
CBF leader Joe Crumpler dead at 89
Joe Crumpler, widower of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship founder Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, died June 10 at age 89. The retired 30-year pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Cincinnati was a leader in both the CBF and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Iconic Texas pastor Buckner Fanning dies
The longtime moderate leader and pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, suffered a major stroke in August. Buckner Fanning, who retired in 2002 after 42 years as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, has died…
Former CBF moderator dies
By Bob Allen Donna Forrester, the first ordained woman to serve as moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died Dec. 31, more than 14 years after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Forrester, 66, served as minister of pastoral care…