“If a tree falls and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” by Connie McNeill

Baptists have an interesting and sometimes remarkable history. A people of deep conviction, early Baptists gave their lives for their beliefs and to uphold principles they held as core values. To be sure, branches of our broad and somewhat rambunctious family, though never with alcohol in hand--wink wink--have chosen various different paths to follow and stake out homesteads. In the broadest definition of Baptists, we exist worldwide.

In the United States, in 1990, a part of this Baptist body left their life in the Southern Baptist Convention to choose a different path and build new homesteads. Those early leaders were wonderfully skillful and brave. As a young woman who believed I was called to ministry without any limitations of that calling, I was eager to lean into this new expression of Baptist life. We were not perfect, of course. We had been part of Baptist life that had been largely southern in heritage and had supported slavery. When we formed our new Baptist life we made no mention of wanting to leave behind a system that had supported racism and worse. We were not perfect.

Even in our imperfection, we were a fresh expression of freedoms related to the soul, Bible, church, and religious freedoms. Much of the leadership that helped form our Baptist expression had been leaders in the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention). They were seasoned and experienced. They had already had to defend their values and beliefs. They were wounded but courageous. They stood as tall, strong oaks on our landscape. I was fortunate to work with many of them and call them friends. Babs Baugh and her father, John Baugh. Hardy Clemons. Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler. Cecil Sherman. James Dunn. Jimmy Nickell. Daniel Vestal. Buddy Shurdon. Pat Ayres. Helen Moore Montgomery. Bill Leonard. Jack Glascow. Clarissa Strickland. Molly T. Marshall. There are so many more images that come to mind, but I hope you get the point. We had many, mighty oaks that allowed those of us who were saplings to come to grow up in their protection and shade. Some of these mighty oaks have recently fallen. Fortunately, many remain with us still speaking and writing into this world.

Generations of leadership will continue to come after the mighty oaks. My generation, who has some of its own mighty oaks, were blessed to learn from our predecessors, the next generation who followed mine and continued to improve work we started and of course the next generation we see on the horizon. Emmitt and our second pastoral resident are at the front of that line. Shae is coming into that same group. How our kind of Baptist life will be better for them. I embrace the coming generations who help us be a better people.

I admit, however, that I’m missing sitting under the shelter and shade of those mighty oaks. And, yes, they do make noise when they fall whether we are present or not. I hear each one that falls. All of us, in our kind of Baptist life does, whether you recognize the sound or not.