The Baptist Bible Fellowship International has done great things throughout the many years of its existence. The reason for the group’s success has been through missions, evangelism, Bible Colleges, and church planting. In the 1950’s the World Baptist Fellowship ruled the Baptist scene. During the era of the WBF there was a conflict that arose as J. Frank Norris attempted to overthrow G.B. Vick’s presidency at his Bible College. Norris desired to be president of the college that Vick established. Norris attempted to push Vick out by spreading rumors and causing dissension regarding Vick’s character among the students that attended the college. Jeffery D. Lavoie writes in, Segregation and the Baptist Bible Fellowship, that G.B. Vick aided a “movement” for a new fellowship after being removed from his presidency by J. Frank Norris. When about one hundred pastors decided leave the WBF and start a new fellowship. With the leadership of Vick and the other pastors, a brand new fellowship called the Baptist Bible Fellowship was created in May 1950 (Lavoie 2). The WBF was the most prominent fellowship among Baptist pastors, and slowly after the BBF was formed, the WBF faded away. To this day is still existing and running as a missions agency.
As time passed, the BBF had the desire to communicate the need for missions and missionary help. In 1975, in order to raise the awareness of missions, the BBF changed the name from, Baptist Bible Fellowship, to Baptist Bible Fellowship International or BBFI. The reason for the name change was to emphasize missions among the group of pastors (Lavoie 3). This change of heart and emphasis helped in creating some of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen. The Baptist Bible Fellowship International produced an abundance of great missionaries, while all missionaries deserve their honor and dues: three of the most influential missionaries from the BBFI are John Birch, Fred Donnelson, and Bob Hughes.
One of the most influential missionaries within the BBFI is John Birch, whom God brought to the world on May 28th, 1918, in Landour, India. Mike Randall the writer of an article in Our Baptist Heritage about John Birch explains how John Birch’s parents, George Birch and Ethel Birch, taught at Ewing Christian College in Allahabad, India. George suffered from chronic health problems, but that problem did not stop them from completing at least three years of ministry in India.
The New Salem Association of the Old Regular Baptist was established in the year of 1825 in Eastern Kentucky. The New Salem Association is still going strong today. Most associations today are a branch from the New Salem Association. There are a few Old Regular Baptist churches that are private; basically they do not belong to any association. The New Salem Association is in correspondence with several other Associations which is as followed Union, Old Indian Bottom, Sardis, Philadelphia, Northern New Salem, and Friendship.
Roswell Street Baptist Church was once a slave plantation, but now seeks to reach intercultural, and intergenerational body of believers. Martin encourages not to be entrapped by nationalism, but to adopt the view Christ has which is His people, from all nationalities. Marin states, “Indeed, if all nations and all peoples would look to to God and acknowledge God as sovereign, there would be relative international order, harmony, and peace.” (Martin, 212, 2004) Roswell Street Baptist church has the history chains of being a “white supremacist” church that judged anyone: Latino, Muslims, and those with dark skin. Through the years their hearts have changed.
Born in Wright City, Missouri, June 21, 1892, he was educated at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois; Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, Missouri; and Yale Divinity School. In 1915 he was ordained in the ministry of the Evangelical Synod of North America and made pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Church of Detroit. He held that post until 1928, at which time he joined the faculty of the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he taught for 30 years. At the time of his retirement (1960) he held a chair of ethics and theology; he also served as dean (1950-55) and vice president (1955-60). After retiring he continued at Union as a lecturer.
...rch Against Fear. As important as they group was to civil rights, there is not many documented members still on file. People were often very quiet about their affiliation with the Deacons for Defense. Many people had fears that they would lose their jobs or would be harassed if anyone knew about their affiliation. Despite their little known history, it is exciting to know that someone was not afraid to fight back. This shows the bravery and pride of African American men to protect their families and friends, knowing death was a possibility. It is amazing to read up on something so relevant in history that, if not looked up, would never be known.
In Walter B. Shurden’s The Baptist Identity, he looks at four of the core elements, or freedoms, that shape and mold Baptist theology and their identity. The four core concepts he explores in his book are Bible freedom, soul freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom. While looking at these four values, he examines how they mold and shape the Baptist identity and how they came to be. The origin to each of these values in the Baptist tradition is addressed as well as their benefits and draw backs. He explains their purpose and necessity in the Baptist denomination and how it effects the denomination as a whole.
Started by the Presbyterians to train men for the ministry of being a pastor (Barton, (2004)). Students were expected to attend church, read the Bible and participate in religious activities (Barton, (2004)). The school was the first to train African American men in relation to the ministry. (Barton, (2004)).
LifeWay Research focuses on topics such as church leadership, theology, church practices, and ethnic issues. However, they do not limit themselves to the betterment of the Church. There is also a strong emphasis on the unchurched in their projects. They have and continue to focus on outreach, evangelism, and missions. With that being said, it is the opinion of this writer that because of the phenomenal work of LifeWay and their dependence on God, the future of the Southern Baptist Church is in good hands.
There is a lot that has been said about the missionary trips of this distinguished servant of Christ which started about fourteen years after his transformation. His travels have left many Bible scholars confused about his powerful impact and how he founded of the Western Christian Church.
While the world is full of Christians, few actually take this commissioning seriously. It is regarded as impractical or even impossible. For one servant of Christ, Billy Graham, impossible does not exist in the realm of the faithful. The Bible teaches that with God all things are possible, and looking at Graham's resume, one would almost be convinced that was true. Graham is quite possibly the greatest preacher of all time. He has preached in 185 countries to over three billion people. That number is more people than even the apostle Paul preached to. He has been personal friend and minister to ten United States presidents. For thirty seven years he has been on the Gallup organization's list of the ten most admired men in the world. His is a ministry that has been heard and felt around the world, beginning in the nineteen fifties. It is this beginning decade that perhaps gives the most insight into the ministry, how and why it started, and how people reacted. It is the strength of the ministry built in this decade that continues to carry Graham's ministry to this day, even while Graham is now slowed by Parkinson's disease. A look at the man in relation to the decade reveals some interesting facets of the national attitude in the fifties, and his reaction to the issues strongly shows what was on the minds of the people. As instrumental as he was in shaping the moral outlook of the era, a look at the issues of the fifties would not be complete without a look at this preacher to the nations, Billy Graham.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church also known as the AME Church, represents a long history of people going from struggles to success, from embarrassment to pride, from slaves to free. It is my intention to prove that the name African Methodist Episcopal represents equality and freedom to worship God, no matter what color skin a person was blessed to be born with. The thesis is this: While both Whites and Africans believed in the worship of God, whites believed in the oppression of the Africans’ freedom to serve God in their own way, blacks defended their own right to worship by the development of their own church. According to Andrew White, a well- known author for the AME denomination, “The word African means that our church was organized by people of African descent Heritage, The word “Methodist” means that our church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches, The word “Episcopal refers to the form of government under which our church operates.”
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church (NHMBC) began in 1987 in the living room of Reverend and Mrs. Leroy Mitchell. After pasturing a church in Sycamore for nine months, Rev. Mitchell and all members from Dekalb were excommunicated due to underlying friction between African-Americans from Sycamore and those from Dekalb. For the next year, the core members held services at numerous locations, finally settling at a local Seventh Day Adventist Church which became New Hope home for the next twelve years.
Church Of God I. ORIGIN Most of the Pentecostal churches which bear the name "Church of God" can be traced to a holiness revival in the mountains of northwest Georgia and eastern Tennessee. In 1884, R.G. Spurling, a Baptist minister in Monroe County, Tennessee, began to search the Scriptures for answers to the problems of modernism, formality, and spiritual dryness. An initial meeting of concerned people was held on August 19, 1886, at the Barney Creek Meeting House to organize a new movement that would preach primitive church holiness and provide for reform and revival of the churches. Christian Union was the name accepted by the first eight members enrolled that day. Spurling died within a few months and was succeeded in leadership by his son, R.G. Spurling, Jr.
"This is the Hour of Decision with Billy Graham, coming to you from Minneapolis Minnesota" Billy Graham, has preached to more than 210 million people through a live audience, more than anyone else in history. Not only that, but Mr. Graham has reached millions more through live televison, video and film. This has led Billy to be on the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" from the Gallup Poll since 1955 a total of thirty-nine times. This includes thirty-two consecutive more than any other individual in the world, placing him as the most popular American for about forty years. This essay is going to talk about Graham's personal life, and what kind of family he grew up in and im also going to talk in detail about how he became an evangelist, because I feel it is very important yet interesting. His accomplishments in the fifties are uncomparable, so I will be including a considerable amount of information concerning that topic. Finally I will be talking about his personal achievements, books written, and how he has been a companion to some of the American Presidents. William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943 he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958. At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. (Billy Graham Best Sellers, 1999) Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education.
Moving to the post World War II era, the evangelical coalition began to appeal to the older generations, to the Hollywood population, and to leaders in Washington D.C. Soon after the war, the religious conflicts that infected fundamentalism in the 1920’s were no longer relevant. Protestantism, in its mainline form, had become much more evangelical in its’ nature and its’ sects became much more interested in becoming recognized publicly. Many historians agree that, “what has not often been recognized, however, is that one of the most important driving forces behind the postwar resurgence of religion was a cadre o...
Southern Baptist Convention “How to Become a Christian” SBC.net 1999 Web access November 30, 2013