born a Baptist

I was born a Baptist. When my parents took me home from the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital on August 26, 1964, four days after my birth, our destination was Ellis Hall - a men's dormitory on the campus of Union University. Founded in 1823, this four-year liberal arts-based university in Jackson, Tennessee, is the oldest institution affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Both of my parents are Union grads, and when I was born they were serving as dorm parents at Ellis Hall. 

During his years at Union, Dad taught in the classroom and worked in the administration, serving as dean of students and later vice president. After running an unsuccessful campaign for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District in 1974, Dad accepted the position of the Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, where he served for the next decade. Dad always said that Baptist politics were worse than state politics. As I have gotten older, I have sadly come to understand the wisdom of his words. 

When I was an infant, my parents began taking me to First Baptist Church in Jackson, which had been the site of their wedding on August 20, 1961. Their church home became my own. When I was nine years old, I walked down the aisle of that church during a revival and publicly professed my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and became an official member of that congregation. During subsequent years, I have been a member of four other Southern Baptist congregations - three in Tennessee and one in Maryland.

Through the years, I have become increasingly reluctant to identify myself as a Baptist. The public perception of Baptists is not positive, due in large part to the divisive rhetoric of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention. I am a member of a Southern Baptist congregation, but I do not wish to identify myself as a Southern Baptist. When I'm filling out a form that asks me to identify my religious affiliation, as I mark the "Baptist" box I always want to write a note out to the side that reads "But I'm not that kind of Baptist!" 

Thankfully, during the past year I believe I am reclaiming my Baptist heritage as I have connected with an ever-increasing circle of like-minded Baptists. The process began in earnest when I began working part-time as a Leadership Development Specialist for the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship last September. What a joy it has been to work with Baptists who want to cooperate with other believers to advance the kingdom of God! Another significant milestone in this heritage reclamation journey was the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, which was held January 30-February 1, 2008, in Atlanta. After spending three days with 15,000 other Baptists who represented 30 Baptist conventions and organizations, I departed Atlanta with a rekindled sense of hope for the future of Baptists. (Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention officially declined to participate in the Celebration, but there sure were a lot of Southern Baptists in the assembled crowd!) Attending the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Memphis in June provide me with yet another opportunity to fellowship with like-minded Baptists, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to participate in the 25th anniversary celebration of Baptist Women in Ministry.

I am a Baptist - a Baptist who believes in soul freedom, Bible freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom. I'm hopeful that one day I will be able to say "I am a Baptist" and not only will I not wince, but no one else will either.