Art Toalston

NASHVILLE (BP) -- When Joe Greene opens his Bible, wisdom rises from years of underlining with a pen and highlighting with yellow and green markers. Through its well-worn pages, God's Spirit shaped not only Greene's faith but also his calling and acumen as a corporate executive.

SPRINGFIELD, Vt. (BP) -- A soldier stuck his head into the tent where Alfred Rawson was quartered during the Korean War with several other soldiers at an Air Force base in Japan. It was in November 1952. The soldier asked if anybody wanted to go hear Billy Graham at another Air Force base about 30 miles away. A bus would take them there; Rawson and another soldier in the tent agreed to go.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP) -- B. Gray Allison, who gave theological strength to the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention as the founder of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, died Feb. 12 in Memphis, Tenn. He was 94. Through the seminary, Allison also buttressed Southern Baptists' evangelistic commitment.

A Houston newspaper, in reporting on instances of sexual abuse by pastors and others at Southern Baptist churches, has left SBC President J.D. Greear "broken over what was revealed today."

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) -- Jim Henry is "in the valley, but I'm not afraid in the valley" after the homegoing of his wife and his mother over the course of five days. A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and longtime pastor, Henry said the "double-barrel grief ... hit our family pretty hard." His wife Jeanette, 79, died of Alzheimer's on Monday, Feb. 4, following the passing of his 100-year-old mother Kathryn on Thursday, Jan. 31. "But it didn't surprise God," Henry said, "and so we're leaning on the grace that we've talked and preached about.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) -- In five days, Jim Henry has witnessed the homegoing of his wife Jeanette and mother Kathryn. Jeanette, 79, died today (Feb. 4) in the early morning hours in Orlando, Fla.; Kathryn, 100, died Thursday, Jan. 31, in Nashville. Jim Henry was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1994-1996; pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando from 1977 until his retirement in 2006, or what he called his "redeployment"; and pastor of Downtown Baptist Church in Orlando from 2015 until recently.

MORROW, Ga. (BP) -- Jack Harwell, editor of The Christian Index for 21 years during his 30 years with Georgia Baptists' newsjournal, died Jan. 18 at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. A family obituary described Harwell, 86, as "a respected editor, but a controversial one, serving during a time of division in Baptist life over both theological and social issues. Harwell was part of the moderate branch of Southern Baptists that would later break away and form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship." The family obituary also stated, "Perhaps his greatest editorial was written after the [1968] assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Harwell called him 'a noble Baptist leader' who 'did more to help his race and to combat the evil oppression of racism and inequality than any other person in modern times.' He called on Georgia Baptists to be in the forefront in seeking 'human equality for all our citizens.'

EUREKA, S.C. (BP) -- Rick Stanley, a stepbrother to Elvis Presley who turned to Christ two months after Presley's death in 1977 and, as an evangelist, spoke at Billy Graham-sponsored events and in a multitude of other settings, died Monday morning, Jan. 7, in Aiken, S.C. Stanley returned to First Baptist Church in Eureka, S.C., five years ago -- where he first gave his testimony in early 1978 and was serving as associate pastor and minister of music at the time of his death at age 65. John Arthur, pastor of First Baptist since 1963, said Stanley died of liver and kidney failure in Aiken Regional Medical Center's ICU.

CAROL STREAM, Ill. (BP) -- Russell Moore's "The Storm-Tossed Family" has been named by Christianity Today as its 2019 Book of the Year, the second time in four years Moore has authored the publication's top honor. Moore's book -- its full title is "The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home" -- was published in September by the B&H trade books and Bible publishing division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore, 47, is president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He and his wife Maria have five sons ranging in age from 7 to 16. His book "Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel," also published by B&H, was CT's 2016 Book of the Year.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (BP) -- Jess Moody, a visionary evangelistic pastor who influenced the fields of education and the film and TV industry, died Friday, Dec. 7, in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 93. Moody was the founder of Palm Beach Atlanta College (now University) in West Palm Beach in 1968 and later, in the Los Angeles area, a witness to Hollywood. He also was one of three nominees for Southern Baptist Convention president in 1992. He served as the 1965 president of the SBC Pastors' Conference and addressed its sessions ...