Wade Burleson

Wade Burleson is a pastor, writer and avocational historian. He is the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Oklahoma. He served as President of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (2002–2004), trustee for the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board (2005–2008), and is the official parliamentarian for several Oklahoma Baptist conventions. He also served as the Tulsa Police chaplain (1988–1992) where he was award the Silver Star by the Tulsa Police Department. He is the author of several books, including Happiness Doesn't Just Happen: Learning to Be Content Regardless of Your Circumstancesand Hardball Religion.

Wade graduated valedictorian from his high school class in Fort Worth, Texas and attended Baylor University, before graduating with a B.S. in Business from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

Books

• Radically New: The New Covenant Will Change the Way You Think and Live
• Happiness Doesn't Just Happen: Learning to Be Content Regardless of Your Circumstances
• Hardball Religion
• A Transient Abode
• Enid's Night of Generals
• What's with Paul and Women

• Burleson, Wade (2013). A Transient Abode. Self-Published. pp. 1–50. 
• "'Enid's Night of the Generals'". Enidnews.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28. 
• Zens, Jon; Burleson, Wade (April 2, 2010). What's with Paul and Women?. Lincoln, Neb.: Ekklesia Press. ISBN 9780976522294. 

Wade Burleson was elected a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board (IMB) in 2005.

Wade Burleson posted on his Istoria Ministry blog criticisms of the Southern Baptist newly instituted IMB policies passed in 2005 forbidding missionaries from praying in tongues. Burleson argued the new IMB policies went beyond the conventions doctoral guidelines found in the Baptist Faith and Message.

After a long battle over his blog, Wade Burleson resigned from the International Mission Board (IMB), the overseas mission wing of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The Southern Baptist trustees had censured the Oklahoma pastor from involvement in four meetings after trustees were angered by Burleson's criticism of new policies passed by the IMB of the Southern Baptist Convention.

In May 2015, the International Mission Board reversed the policies they had instituted in 2005. The result did not forbid a missionary from missions because they chose to pray in tongues.

Burleson was honored with the CBE Priscilla and Aquila Award for 'speaking out' on behalf of biblical gender equality. Dr. Sheri Klouda had been criticized for sharing the doctrine within the Southern Baptist community. Burleson made the issue known through his Istoria Ministry blog and brought awareness to the mistreatment of Klouda and women in the Southern Baptist Convention. His efforts earned him the Priscilla and Acquila Award.

An Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Burleson by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters for his community service projects.

Burleson earned a Silver Star from the Tulsa police department for his work / workshop helping the investigation of crimes involving the occult in the late 1980s.

Burleson was recognized and honored by the United States Department of Justice in 1996 for his work with the families of victims after the bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Burleson was at ground zero with the victims helping them with the rehabilitation in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.