Bill J. Leonard is dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest University Divinity School. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention, Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism, and Baptist Ways: A History. His work is often cited in the media, and he appears frequently on NPR and other radio and television stations. In 2007, he was awarded the W. O. Carver Distinguished Service Award from the Baptist History and Heritage Society.