Collinsville Baptist 200 Anniversary
This blog is work in Progress; but core question is how will Collinsville Baptist erase the legacy of Jon Appleton and John Jeffers in its 200 Anniversary. Will statements made have any integrity inlight of what Bill Leonard said last night in Charlotte?
Here is a note I submitted this morning to George Truett's Hometown Paper, the Clay County (NC) progress:
Please indulge another Baptist note as Hayesville with Truett's Birthplace does carry a lot of History that inflects the national character. Last night in Charlotte, at national gathering of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Wake Forest Div Dean Bill Leonard gave the remarks you'll see at the end of this note. When my Dad was in Hayesville in early 60's, his seminary teacher Stewart Newman came to visit him and after a good lunch prepared by my Mother, told his illustrious travelingfriends; yall go on to Nashville, I think I'll just stay here with Billy. Google up the Curtis Freeman essay on Stewart Newman and Truett's successor at FBC Dallas WA Criswell. History reported from Duke. So an Atticus Finch analogous character once came through Hayesville, the birthplace of Truett. It all sets up nicely Bill Leonard's prophetic remarks last night in Charlotte: Leonard said he thinks often of Ann Hasseltine Judson, a Congregationalist missionary who, along with her newlywed husband, Adoniram, converted to the Baptist faith while reading the Greek New Testament after setting sail for India in 1812. She wrote a friend apologetically describing the couple as “confirmed Baptists, not because we wished to be, but because truth compelled us to be.” Leonard said many non-fundamentalist Baptists today find themselves in a similar predicament. “If conscience dictates, I suppose we can rip the word 'Baptist' out of our literature, paint over it on our church signs or delete it from our Web page, Facebook, Twitter and podcast Internet connections,” Leonard said. “But before we do, let’s admit that there is no generic Christianity divorced from community or without an identity that centers us in the world or the Kingdom of God.” “Tonight, let’s stop worrying about our name and start reclaiming our witness,” Leonard advised. “Let’s quit fretting over the loss of cultural dominance and turn loose our consciences. Let’s go out as children of God, born again, and again, and again, and again in one of the church’s dysfunctional but gladly grace-filled families; children of God in the water and at the table, in the Word and in the world, children of God knit together by grace.”
Stephen Fox
Friday, Jun 25, 2010 (10:06:40 am CDT
Here is a note I submitted this morning to George Truett's Hometown Paper, the Clay County (NC) progress:
Please indulge another Baptist note as Hayesville with Truett's Birthplace does carry a lot of History that inflects the national character. Last night in Charlotte, at national gathering of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Wake Forest Div Dean Bill Leonard gave the remarks you'll see at the end of this note. When my Dad was in Hayesville in early 60's, his seminary teacher Stewart Newman came to visit him and after a good lunch prepared by my Mother, told his illustrious travelingfriends; yall go on to Nashville, I think I'll just stay here with Billy. Google up the Curtis Freeman essay on Stewart Newman and Truett's successor at FBC Dallas WA Criswell. History reported from Duke. So an Atticus Finch analogous character once came through Hayesville, the birthplace of Truett. It all sets up nicely Bill Leonard's prophetic remarks last night in Charlotte: Leonard said he thinks often of Ann Hasseltine Judson, a Congregationalist missionary who, along with her newlywed husband, Adoniram, converted to the Baptist faith while reading the Greek New Testament after setting sail for India in 1812. She wrote a friend apologetically describing the couple as “confirmed Baptists, not because we wished to be, but because truth compelled us to be.” Leonard said many non-fundamentalist Baptists today find themselves in a similar predicament. “If conscience dictates, I suppose we can rip the word 'Baptist' out of our literature, paint over it on our church signs or delete it from our Web page, Facebook, Twitter and podcast Internet connections,” Leonard said. “But before we do, let’s admit that there is no generic Christianity divorced from community or without an identity that centers us in the world or the Kingdom of God.” “Tonight, let’s stop worrying about our name and start reclaiming our witness,” Leonard advised. “Let’s quit fretting over the loss of cultural dominance and turn loose our consciences. Let’s go out as children of God, born again, and again, and again, and again in one of the church’s dysfunctional but gladly grace-filled families; children of God in the water and at the table, in the Word and in the world, children of God knit together by grace.”
Stephen Fox
Friday, Jun 25, 2010 (10:06:40 am CDT
posted by foxofbama | 8:39 AM
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