Author's preface / Harry Leon McBeth -- Foreword / William M. Pinson, Jr. -- Editorial introduction / Jerry F. Dawson -- List of abbreviations -- Changing flags over Texas -- Baptist beginnings in Texas, 1820-1840 -- Emerging Baptist structures, 1840-1848 -- Progress amidst problems, 1848-1868 -- Divided we stand, 1868-1886 -- Search for unity, 1886-1900 -- Into a new century, 1900-1914 -- Good times and bad, 1914-1929 -- Depression and deliverance, 1929-1945 -- Ready to go forward, 1945-1953 -- New directions, 1953-1960 -- Onward and (sometimes) upward, 1960-1973 -- Focus on Texas, 1974-1982 -- Continuity amidst change, 1982-1998 -- Change amidst continuity, 1982-1998 -- Endnotes -- Bibliographic essay -- A statistical epilogue: -- Historical tables of Texas General bodies -- Texas Baptist statistical summary by associations -- Trends in the Baptist General Convention of Texas, 1960 to 1997.