David Gushee gave his life to Jesus in a Southern Baptist church when he was a teen.
Providence Baptist Church in Vienna, Virginia, had offered him a clear evangelistic testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ and discipled him into the ways of Southern Baptist life, which included reading the Bible daily, sharing his faith and learning the strict codes of personal morality.
Gushee refers to the church as "the Billy Graham version" of the Southern Baptist Convention.
It emphasised a disciplined devotional life, ministry and mission but beyond that, Gushee learned love and grace from the Providence Baptist community and was never judged or condemned. Moreover, politics was never mentioned at the Vienna church.
"This church knew who they were and what they believed, but they weren't angry about it," he said in a commentary in Associated Baptist Press.
Within a year of his conversion, Gushee experienced a call to ministry and is now 30 years into his journey as a Baptist.
Yet these Billy Graham-style Baptist churches have fallen under the shadow of political, theological and racial divisions that have been splintering Baptist denominations for over a century.
This week, thousands of Baptists from across the North American continent feel they have a unique opportunity to bring back the unity Gushee had found at Providence Baptist.
Up to 20,000 Baptists from some of the country's largest Baptist groups – representing about 20 million believers – will meet in Atlanta beginning Wednesday to try to mend fractures and improve the Baptist image.
