BJC celebrates 70th anniversary

March 2006

In celebration of the Baptist Joint Committee's 70th Anniversary and its campaign to establish a Center for Religious Liberty on Capitol Hill, Dr. Walter B. Shurden will be the keynote speaker at the annual Religious Liberty Council luncheon, Friday, June 23 in Atlanta.

The Religious Liberty Council is the individual membership organization of the Baptist Joint Committee.

Shurden once called the BJC "one of the most important religious organizations in this republic." A nationally noted church historian, Shurden is also the executive director of The Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University. The author or editor of 15 books, he served for 15 years as chair of The Roberts Department of Christianity at Mercer.

In 2005, Buddy Shurden and his wife, Kay, who represents the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship on the BJC board, made a gift to the BJC to establish an annual lectureship on the issues of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. The 2006 lectures will be held at Mercer University, April 4-5.

The RLC Luncheon, which will be held in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's General Assembly, is from noon to 1:45 p.m. at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. Please check the April and May issues of Report from the Capital and the Web site (www.BJConline.org) for more information and to make a reservation.

To help celebrate its 70th anniversary, the BJC is raising $5 million to purchase and renovate property for the Center for Religious Liberty, which will be a state-of-the-art education and training center in Washington, D.C.

Programs of the Center and the BJC will help to broaden the constituency among Baptists and others who share a commitment to our mission, provide an opportunity to develop new creative partnerships and appeals to youth, promote scholarly research, conduct on-site as well as teleconferencing discussions and seminars, and reach out to diverse groups across the country.