SAVE THE DATE – GADDY LECTURES

First Baptist Church is very fortunate to have a fund that enables us to host significant speakers and musical artists who enrich the life of our congregation and offer a service to our community. It is the Gaddy Lectures and Concert Series Fund established in the year 1999 in honor of the late beloved church member Mary Lily Gaddy. In the past, this fund has enabled us to hear novelist Clyde Edgerton and singer/songwriter Ken Medema. It has helped us to experience “The High Lonesome Mass” with the Chuck Nation Band and the play “Defamation.” And it has played a role in funding other lectures and presentations as well.

We are delighted to announce that the next Gaddy Series event will take place March 28-29, 2025, when we will hear from historian/writer/speaker Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Dr. Du Mez is Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of the New York Times best seller Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. She has spoken at a CBFNC General Assembly and more recently at Campbell Divinity School, informing and inspiring as much in these lectures as she does through her writing. Look for more details on this event in upcoming issues of the Rose Window Weekly.

Moving forward, we want to be more intentional in planning for future Gaddy events. We would like to alternate between the Gaddy Series and the churchwide retreat in the spring. Therefore, our next retreat would be in the spring of 2026. We would also like to alternative Gaddy events between lectures and concerts. Thus, we anticipate a concert in the spring of 2027. Alternating years will allow time for the fund to earn the necessary income, and balancing the focus will honor the full intent of the fund. We look forward to being challenged and inspired in different ways, and we give thanks to the Gaddy family for envisioning and making possible this fund.