(COOPERATIVE) BAPTIST IDENTITY

All Sessions in Dunwoody

With a complicated history and emphasis on freedom, “Baptists” can be difficult to define. Participants of this track will explore what it means to be a Cooperative Baptist by looking at the past, thinking about the present and together imagining the future. On this track, you will learn how to stand on the shoulders of CBF’s history of radical inclusion, hear how Baptists can counteract negative narratives and discover the road to ministering in purple churches.

Baptist: A Radical Way of Being Christian

Thursday, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

As Cooperative Baptists, we are often defined by what we are NOT rather than what we are. Looking over the span of Baptist history, participants will see how Baptists have been at the forefront of radical inclusion, religious tolerance, gender equality and social justice, exploring how today’s CBF churches can carry on the mantle of radicals.

Bill Leonard is founding dean and professor of divinity emeritus, Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

Taboo: Expunging the Negativity of Being Baptist

Amanda Tyler is BJC’s executive director, co-host of the Respecting Religion podcast and lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign.

Thursday, 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Baptists have gotten a bad rap in the last few decades, often associated with social bigotry, political tribalism and toxic masculinity. So how do we create a counternarrative and lead a new way of being Baptist? Join a panel conversation with a diversity of Baptist expressions throughout CBF. Sponsored by the CBF Conversations Podcast.

Joshua James is lead pastor of The Restoration Project and an Old Testament scholar.

Veronica Martinez-Gallegos is an ACPE certified educator with Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center.

Carol McEntyre is the senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Columbia, Mo., and is former CBF moderator.

DeVontae Powell is a pastor in Flint, Michigan, and part of the millennial generation dedicated to enhancing inclusion, diversity and safety in churches and communities of faith.

Kristian A. Smith is lead pastor of The Faith Community, where he deconstructs harmful theology and builds (digital) beloved community.

Isa Torres is a minister and writer who does content development for Buckner International.

Damon P. Williams is senior pastor of the historic Providence Missionary Baptist Church in southwest Atlanta and co-director of the Baptist Studies Program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.