“For some reason, in our immaturity, the assumption always is that our Christianity is the standard and our Baptist Christianity is the standard. And, of course, it’s not.” (Kathe Traynham) “No one outside the tribe is going to celebrate these…
2013: The year in Baptist news
By Bob Allen The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship introduced Suzii Paynter as executive coordinator Jan. 17. The third person to hold the job and the first woman, the former director of both the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission was officially elected…
Obama lauds Baptist civil-rights icon
By Bob Allen President Obama noted the passing of T.J. Jemison, a civil-rights icon who organized a 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, La., that became the non-violent protest model adopted by Martin Luther King two years later in Montgomery,…
Between heaven and hell
By Leroy Seat Americans remember Nov. 22, 1963, as the date of the assassination of President Kennedy. And the public media has widely publicized today’s 50th anniversary of that tragic event. Some Christians will remember that Nov. 22, 1963, was…
Prison songs
By Bill Leonard In God’s Long Summer, Charles Marsh describes the summer of 1963 when Fannie Lou Hamer and other representatives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were arrested in Winona, Miss., for attempting to be served at a “whites…
Baylor social work school fetes trailblazers
By Daniel Wallace Baylor University’s School of Social Work recently recognized two daughters of the segregated South who served as forerunners for change and equality when they broke the color barrier at the Carver School of Missions and Social Work…
Panel recalls Elliott controversy
Correction: This story was updated after posting to correct an error in the sixth paragraph. By Bob Allen Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary convened a panel Sept. 11 for a 50-year retrospective on a controversy that many believe planted seeds for…
Conference marks 200 years of missions
By Bob Allen A three-day conference in November will celebrate 200 years of Baptist missions and explore the lasting impact of Ann and Adoniram Judson, the first U.S. Baptist missionaries to serve on foreign soil. “The Judsons: Celebrating 200 Years…
New strides toward freedom
By Bill Leonard With the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case and the storm of Internet racism it unleashed, I can’t get Sojourner Truth out of my head. Freed in 1827, the ex-slave woman spent her life demanding an end…