The Challenge of Being Baptist

...A 'warts and all' approach, unafraid of confronting the divisiveness of much Baptist history over matters both of grave importance and of apparent trivial nature... Leonard's deployment of language is well-focused and rich in meaning.

~John Briggs, President of the Baptist Hictorical Society, Baptist Quarterly

This is the kind of conversation that Baptists need to have in the remaining part of the twenty-first century. With his unique style of writing, Bill Leonard conveys his thoughts as if in personal conversation, talking about Baptist life while sitting on the deck at his home in Winston-Salem.

~David W. Key Sr., Director of Baptist Studies, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

Engaging and accessible, a must-read for everyone who thinks the church still needs Baptists and others who wonder if it might be better off without this contentious lot.

~Steven R. Harmon, Associate Professor of Divinity, Samford University

Deftly written with the delightful prose and the keenly insightful narrative that we have come to expect from Bill Leonard. In the context of contemporary pluralism, Baptists can still identify with a focus on believers’ church, covenant communities, individual conscience, individual and communal dissent, global mission, and commitment to Scripture.

~Doug Weaver, Associate Professor of Religion, Baylor University