By the Grace of God: Memoirs and Recollections of an Alabama Baptist

Baptist History and Heritage, Wntr, 1999 by Michael E. Williams, Sr.

By A. Earl Potts. Franklin: Providence House Publishers, 1997. 256 pp.

Surveying the recent decades of Southern Baptist life is not always a pleasant task. To a certain extent, our view of the recent past in Southern Baptist history has been marred by denominational conflict. It is difficult for us to look back when the smoke from the fires of antagonism still obscure our vision. Gratefully, there are denominational servants whose ministries transcend the discord and who remind Southern Baptists of an earlier day when mission and ministry were priorities rather than viewpoint and alignment. Earl Potts is one such servant.

Earl Potts served as an Alabama Baptist pastor in three decades before joining the staff of the Alabama Baptist State Executive Board for twenty years, the final six years as executive secretary-treasurer. From these vantage points he is able to give the reader personal insight into the life of Alabama Baptists during these years.

As Potts's subtitle suggests, this work is a memoir and a collection of reminiscences. He follows essentially a chronological format beginning with earliest memories as a young boy growing up in rural Alabama. Potts recalls Baptist life in a time of transition affected by the Great Depression and relates what life was like as a student at Howard College [Samford] and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the 1940s. He shares both details and anecdotes from his twenty years as pastor of a growing Birmingham church.

As might be expected, Potts is at his best describing the various programs and ministries of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. His personal, conversational style will engage the readers.

One will sense justifiable pride in the many accomplishments of the state convention during his tenure. The reader will also ascertain that here is a man who literally poured himself into his calling. Any person desiring an overview of the multiple ministries of Alabama Baptists will find the book helpful. Many will delight in Potts's reflections and will remember people and events they have not recalled in years. Potts does many things well, but he is most effective in describing improvements in relations with National Baptists, in church-minister relations, innovations, restructuring, and new efforts made during his tenure as executive secretary-treasurer.

The book is virtually free of form and style errors. Potts, his proof readers, and Providence House Publishers are to be commended for this clean publication. This reviewer was slightly disappointed that Potts did not reflect on the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s and that little mention was made of the denominational controversy which has plagued Southern Baptists in the past two decades. This reviewer would have appreciated reflections on these events from an insider. Yet, perhaps the fact that Ports chooses not to discuss the conflict is one of several reasons that Earl Potts is a great Baptist statesman. Earl Potts, the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission, and Providence House Publishers have done Alabama Baptists a special favor with the publication of these memoirs and recollections.--Reviewed by Michael E. Williams Sr., Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Assistant Professor of History, Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, Texas.