The Baptist Center for Ethics will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a June 22 luncheon honoring ethics pioneers Henlee Barnette and T.B. Maston, held in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta.
Keynote speaker for the event, being held at the Georgia World Congress Center, is Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and a former six-term member of Congress.
Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is scheduled to deliver a tribute to the tradition of T.B. Maston, who taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1922 to 1963 and died in 1988 at age 90.
Larry McSwain, professor of ethics and leadership at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, will honor the tradition left by Henlee Barnette, who taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1951 to 1977 and died in October 2004 at age 93.
Together the two men stood as twin towers championing a prophetic Baptist witness on social issues including race relations, politics, war and roles of women in the church that continues to today through generations of students they influenced.
Bill Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga., and a former chair of the BCE board of directors, will propose a roadmap for social involvement by centrist Baptists in the years ahead.
Formation of the Baptist Center for Ethics was announced July 30, 1991, at a press conference in Nashville, Tenn., to provide a “positive and proactive” ethics voice for thoughtful Christians.
Three hundred people from 17 states registered for an inaugural conference in February 1992, which addressed a wide array of topics including healthcare, hunger, teen sexuality, genetic engineering, the environment and sports ethics.
Today the agency focuses most resources in two areas: EthicsDaily.com, a Web site that produces news, commentary and book and movie reviews five days a week, and Acacia Resources, a publishing division for undated curriculum, study guides and bulletin inserts.
The anniversary luncheon is scheduled Thursday, June 22, just after the opening General Session of the June 21-24 CBF General Assembly at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Tickets to the luncheon cost $30. Churches or organizations can become a sponsor by purchasing a table for 10 tickets for $300. Reservation deadline is June 5.
Organizational sponsors of the luncheon include the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas, the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Missouri, Florida Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Christian Ethics Today.
Church sponsors include First Baptist in Dalton, Ga., Heritage Baptist Church in Cartersville, Ga., Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Ga., Trinity Baptist Church in Moultrie, Ga., First Baptist in Frankfort, Ky., and First Baptist in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Click here to order tickets online.
