I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church,  was part of a dynamic,  close-knit youth group at the First Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY,  was deeply involved with the Baptist Student Union at Murray State University in the mid 70’s (1974-78),  and got an M.Div. at Southern Baptist Theolgical Seminary (SBTS) in 1981.   I often refer to my Seminary education as coming “just in time” before the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention,  and the subsequent “theological cleansing” of the leadership roles in the denomination from SBC President to missionaries and Seminary Presidents and professors.   The professors I had from 1978-81 at SBTS are now scattered to the four winds,  teaching elsewhere (the younger of them,  since the older ones would be retired now,  but probably retired from somewhere other than SBTS,  having left the focus of the “witch-hunt” and found teaching positions where real education was still valued).  read more in “The Southern Baptist Convention”