Baptists frequently make headlines. Some stories make us proud to be called Baptist. Others make us feel embarrassed, sorrowful or even angry. Some stories picture Baptists as a bunch of feuding, fussing and fighting, religious fanatics. With such diverse beliefs and practices among over 300 different American denominations and other faith organizations that include the word “Baptist” in their name, it is obvious that in some key ways, many such groups are far from what our historic founders meant when they called themselves “Baptist.” From their beginnings, Baptists emphasized freedom as the glue that held together all of their other beliefs. That emphasis did not promote human sufficiency, self centeredness or irresponsible pride. Actually, it was the opposite. It was the Bible-based teaching that God created all people with a free will – the God-given ability for each person to decide for himself or herself. They called that foundational belief soul competency. It was a firm stand for human dignity and personal responsibility. Being free (sometimes translated, set free or saved) was not about escaping responsibility or doing whatever one wanted, rather, being free was about God’s gift to all people of the right to become and do what they were created for. In Baptists’ formative years, religious and government groups that controlled decisions on such issues as how the Bible must be interpreted, who had access to heaven, and what was morally right and wrong, seriously fought the Baptist conviction of soul competency. Woodland is a CBF church (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) mainly because we share with other CBF affiliated churches’ a basic belief in soul freedom, Bible freedom, church freedom and religious freedom. Recently, I read a news story about a CBF Baptist friend, who had shared his faith in Jesus Christ with his Jewish friend. At the same time, the Baptist gentleman told the news reporter how he respected his Jewish friends’ faith and stood up for the rights of all Jews to decide for themselves how they wished to worship God. I was proud to be a Baptist. See you next week at this same place where we’ll look a little closer at our freedom, as a CBF church. Bill Nichols.