Baptist Studies To Hold Inaugural Symposium Nov. 8-9

Pastors and scholars from Baptist universities and seminaries throughout Texas will meet Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, to discuss "Ordination in the Baptist Tradition" during Baylor University's Baptist Studies program inaugural symposium. The event, which will take place at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
"We chose the topic because of the urgency across the Texas Baptist family just now about ministerial qualifications and credentials," said Dr. William Brackney, professor of religion. "With so much activity in the Baptist family, there is a need to ensure a high standard for ministry. In the larger sense, Baptists have a very old and well-worn idea of ordination that has been useful for three centuries. But it needs to be critiqued in light of new ideas about the church and ministry, new insights from Scripture, theology and history."
Some of the topics to be discussed during the symposium include Pastoral/Lay Ministry Concerns in Ordination, Texas Baptists and Ordination, The Ordination of Women Among Texas Baptists and the Absence of an Ordained Ministry in the Churches of Paul, among others. Some of the participants include Dr. Vernon Davis, dean and professor of theology at Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin Simmons University; Dr. H. Leon McBeth, Distinguished Professor of Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Dr. William Pinson, executive director emeritus of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and director of Texas Baptist Heritage Center; Dr. Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston; and Dr. Ann Miller, chaplain at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, to name a few.
The Baptist Studies program is administered under the department of religion. For more information, contact Brackney at (254) 710-3723.