>> This is the August 2015 issue containing the September Bible Study Lessons ALAN CULPEPPER’S SHAPING INFLUENCE 4 baptiststoday.org Dig in! Dirty work, keen eye lead to a ‘smiting god’ 32 Remembering James Dunn 9 BIBLE STUDIES 17 FA TH™ PERSPECTIVES Words to live by 6 Gifts to Baptists Today John D. Pierce By John Pierce Executive Editor [email protected] Remembering James Dunn 9 IN HONOR OF Julie Steele By John Pierce Chief Operations Officer GLADYS TAYLOR GUNN Keys to a healthy approach to change [email protected] 28 From Shirley Ann Gunn By Michael S. Lea Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor IRCEL HARRISON [email protected] From Tammy Abee Blom Tony W. Cartledge IN THE NEWS Contributing Editor [email protected] National pride strong but tempered by JULIE PENNINGTON-RUSSELL concerns, poll shows 11 Bruce T. Gourley From David and Cathy Howle Online Editor/Contributing Writer Prime minister says British schools must [email protected] root out extremists 12 David Cassady IN MEMORY OF Church Resources Editor Okla. Supreme Court rules Ten Commandments HELEN L. CALLISON [email protected] monument must go 12 Vickie Frayne From Preston H. Callison Art Director Episcopal Church elects first black presiding bishop 12 Jannie Lister Pope Francis moves to hold bishops accountable ARDELLE CLEMONS Customer Service Manager From Hardy Clemons [email protected] in sex abuse crisis 13 Kimberly L. Hovis Jury finds gay-to-straight conversion group DR. AND MRS. E.P. GARROTT Marketing Associate committed consumer fraud 13 [email protected] From T. Maxfield Bahner Lex Horton Conservative Jews furious over scrapped Nurturing Faith Resources Manager bar mitzvah service 13 ROB PIERCE AND TIM PIERCE [email protected] From Scott and Glenda Folsom New web site offers books, resources Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus and experiences in one place 16 Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus B.V. AND JANETTE THOMASON Jeffrey Haggray to lead American Baptist From Ben Thomason DIRECTORS EMERITI home missions Thomas E. Boland 26 R. Kirby Godsey Nurturing Faith Experience to explore Mary Etta Sanders Mel Williams reality, legacy of Civil War 29 Winnie V. Williams Israeli couple’s home renovation leads to BOARD OF DIRECTORS significant discovery 36 Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. (chairman) Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. (vice chair) AG: Roof’s radicalization resembles Edwin Boland, Johns Creek, Ga. U.S. recruits to Islamic State 42 Ronnie Brewer, Bristol, Va. Janie Brown, Elon, N.C. Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. Bob Cates, Rome, Ga. FEATURES Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. 14 Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. Religion and the American Presidents: Thomas Jefferson Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. Doug Dortch, Birmingham, Ala. By Bruce Gourley 30 Learning to listen Jack Glasgow, Zebulon, N.C. Soul-searching following JFK assassination Frank Granger, Athens, Ga. 38 Cynthia Holmes, St. Louis, Mo. David Hull, Watkinsville, Ga. Becky Matheny, Athens, Ga. Tommy McDearis, Blacksburg, Va. Chaplain Leah Boling Andrew McGill, Chattanooga, Tenn. provides ministry Cynthia Wise Mitchell, Birmingham, Ala. William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. among service Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas members in Hawaii Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. Air National Guard Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. David Turner, Richmond, Va. Clem White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Vickie Willis, Murfreesboro, TN 34 Donna Wood, Macon, Ga. CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS COVER PHOTO by Bob Henry. Drayton and Mary Etta Sanders READERS SERVICES Mission Statement or Baptists Today serves churches by providing a reliable TEACH source of unrestricted news coverage, thoughtful analysis, helpful resources and inspiring features FACILITATE? focusing on issues of importance to Baptist Christians. Advertising GREAT BIBLE STUDY in combination is in YOUR HANDS right now! Individual and Gift Subscriptions Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318 Group or Bulk Subscriptions Nurturing Faith Bible Studies by Tony Cartledge pd. by single check or credit card are conveniently placed in the center of this news journal for each class participant — with free and Bulk sent to single address abundant teaching resources (including videos) Single Issues online at BaptistsToday.org Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA TONY’S VIDEO OVERVIEWS 31208-6318 for each lesson provide EITHER: Tax-deductible Gifts for TEACHERS Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA or 31208-6318 CALL FACILITATORS to show [email protected] in class and then lead TODAY! well-informed discussions. organization. Letters to the Editor Writing Submissions Contact Information For more information or to place a group order, Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318 visit BaptistsToday.org or call 1-877-752-5658. Baptists Today (ISSN 1072-7787) is published monthly by: Baptists Today Periodical postage paid at Macon, Ga. 31208 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: Baptists TodayAll rights reserved. !"#$% &'( )*#"# +% ,#*' )-.$/. A shaping influence Alan Culpepper has a hopeful perspective on theological education and the church TLANTA — Alan Culpepper, the first there was concern about whether the Baptist and only dean of Mercer University’s heritage those schools had represented was A McAfee School of Theology, has going to survive. A goal of the new theology stepped down after nearly 20 years of leading school was to “conserve, build on and extend the school from formation through expansion. that heritage.” The effort, however, was not to After sabbatical, he will return this fall to teach recreate these lost seminaries, he said. in his specialty of New Testament studies. “It’s a new day and a new context,” he A major summer project is to complete said. “But how do we take those vital ingre- a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew — dients of theological education and give them having written well-received commentaries on form and structure that makes them viable and John, Luke and Mark already. relevant into the next generation?” Culpepper is a graduate of Baylor “We don’t want to be educating students University, Southern Baptist Theological for the way the church was,” he added. “They Seminary and Duke University, where he earned need the tools, skills and spiritual resources to a Ph.D. He is widely regarded for his scholarship manage those changes and to lead the church.” pertaining in particular to the Gospel of John. He has been deeply shaped by seminary MAJOR SHIFTS life, and has been a shaping influence on theo- Culpepper identified five major shifts in theologi- logical education. cal education during his time as theology dean: SEMINARY SHADOWS Baptist context “I have lived literally in the shadow of a Baptist Transitions within the Southern Baptist “a single-fold brochure” and startup funds seminary all my life,” said Culpepper in an inter- Convention and state conventions and the from Emory Baptist Church in Atlanta selling view with Baptists Today. “We went to Santiago, early development of the Cooperative Baptist its property. Chile, when I was nine months old and my dad Fellowship provided the Baptist environment “So I had a million dollars, a brochure taught in the Baptist seminary there.” in which McAfee and other moderate Baptist and the 10 founding principles that Kirby had The only “hiatus,” he said, was serving on seminaries and theology schools were birthed. written.” the religion faculty at Baylor University prior McAfee faculty and students in the Culpepper found “a groundswell of sup- to coming to Atlanta in 1995. And during that early years were overwhelmingly white, said port” for the effort, especially from church time Baylor’s Truett Seminary began. Culpepper. In 2003, however, white student leaders asking, “Where now are we going to A missionary kid, Culpepper grew up enrollment plateaued while African-American get our ministers?” in Chile and Argentina. His father, Hugo student enrollment — from a variety of “We started from scratch … but we had Culpepper, provided theological training in Baptist groups and other denominations — tremendous resources to work with.” those settings and both studied, and later continued to grow, leading to a more diverse taught missions, at Southern Baptist Seminary. student body and faculty. Today, McAfee’s “It sort of all flows together,” said TAKING SHAPE student population is 50/50 in race and gender Culpepper of his long and varied experiences President Godsey assured the founding fac- makeup, he said. in and around theological education. ulty of the freedom to do their work. They Therefore, the “larger context,” said identified the “ingredients” that needed to be Culpepper, is much more diverse than he expe- GROUND UP blended into the mix, rooted in the Baptist rienced in other theological education settings. Culpepper said there was “tremendous free- tradition. dom, creativity and energy” in starting the new These included: the centrality of the Bible Churches no longer central theology school at Mercer. Then-president and freedom of inquiry, wrapped in a “keen Church attendance and the influence of the Kirby Godsey charged Culpepper and the first sense of the call of the church to mission — church on society have declined, he noted. And four other faculty members to “come and start the Great Commission — and the vitality of worship styles have changed. with a chalkboard and build a seminary.” the local church.” “All of that has changed dramatically He recalled Godsey coming to Texas to With the Southern Baptist seminaries and churches now are much less central,” said share his vision for a new theology school with under fundamentalist control, Culpepper said Culpepper, noting that church leadership 4 requires different perspectives and tools theological education. And the competition for need to preach the gospel of Jesus and to call than for past generations when the churches students is stiff from traditional programs and people into Christian discipleship within their were more homogenous and more culturally online degrees.