by CBR Staff
June 13, 2023—At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans we announced, alongside Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), the renaming of our ministry to The David S. Dockery and Timothy F. George Center for Baptist Renewal (CBR). While CBR exists outside of and beyond OBU, we are grateful for their partnership as an institutional hub for fundraising and planning events, such as the 2022 Retrieval as Renewal Conference on OBU’s campus, which hosted over 100 pastors and was keynoted by Dr. David Bebbington.
Drs. Dockery and George were founding fellows of CBR and their careers were the primary inspirations for Matt Emerson, Luke Stamps, Brandon Smith, and Winston Hottman’s founding of CBR in 2017. In particular, Dockery’s Biblical Interpretation Then and Now and Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal have acted as clarion calls for Baptist renewal and Great Tradition retrieval for decades. George’s vision for catholicity at Beeson Divinity School and his books Theology of the Reformers and Evangelicals and the Nicene Faith have also contributed to this call. We are grateful for their willingness to continue their involvement in the ministry of CBR.
This renaming of CBR and partnership with OBU also represents a shift in our ministry, which will include more institutional partnerships, events, and publishing endeavors in the future. Pray with us as we continue to seek retrieval for the sake of renewal!
Heath Thomas, OBU President and CBR fellow, announcing the renaming of CBR at SBC 2023. Photo courtesy of CBR fellow Malcolm Yarnell.
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The David S. Dockery and Timothy F. George Center for Baptist Renewal is a group of orthodox, evangelical Baptists committed to a retrieval of the Great Tradition for the renewal of Baptist faith and practice.