SBC History

OTD in 1716, John Gill made a public profession of faith and was baptized. Gill was a gifted scholar who had studied Latin and Greek by the age of 11. He went on to become one of the most influential Baptist theologians of the 18th century, particularly known for his defense of Calvinistic Baptist theology and his extensive writings on Scripture. In 1719, Gill became pastor of a Baptist congregation in London, where he served for more than 50 years until his death in 1771. Among his best-known works were "An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments" and "A Body of Doctrinal Divinity." The church had previously been pastored by Benjamin Keach, and one of Gill's later successors was Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

OTD in 1812, Luther Rice was baptized in Calcutta, India. Rice had been ordained and sailed for India as a Congregationalist missionary, along with Adoniram Judson and other missionaries. During the voyage, both Rice and Judson independently became convinced that the New Testament taught believers' baptism rather than infant baptism. After arriving in India, both men were baptized by immersion and became Baptists. While Judson continued his missionary work overseas, Rice returned to the United States to raise financial support and awareness for foreign missions. Rice traveled extensively, encouraging Baptist churches to cooperate in supporting missionaries. His efforts helped lead to the formation of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States in 1814, commonly known as the Triennial Convention.

OTD in 1826, Asa Cruger Goldsbury, a free African American Baptist preacher, organized First African Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established on October 31, the congregation became the oldest continuously operating Black Baptist church in New Orleans. Goldsbury served as its first pastor, and the church eventually grew to 87 members under his leadership. The congregation faced considerable persecution. Laws restricted African Americans from preaching and gathering for worship, and Goldsbury himself was ordered to stop preaching for six months or face imprisonment. In later years, police frequently interrupted worship services and arrested members of the congregation. Despite these restrictions, the church continued its ministry and remains an important part of Baptist history in Louisiana nearly 200 years later. Pictured is the building of First African Baptist Church in New Orleans, founded in the early nineteenth century.

Baptist history deserves to be read—not left buried in old scans and out-of-print books. Through "The Baptist Bookshelf", I’m bringing public-domain Baptist books back into circulation in clean, readable editions. These works tell the stories of missionaries, pastors, churches, and ordinary believers whose lives helped shape Baptist history. The work includes correcting scanning errors, restoring readable formatting, and carefully checking the text while preserving the authors’ historical language. Recent additions include: 📚 **Fifty Years in China** — the story of Tarleton Perry Crawford and a half century of missionary work, hardship, and debate over how missions should be supported. 📚 **Flowers and Fruits in the Wilderness** — Z. N. Morrell’s firsthand account of pioneer Baptist life in Texas, from frontier preaching to the growth of churches and associations. 📚 **John Gano’s memoirs** — the recollections of a Baptist pastor whose ministry stretched from colonial America through service as a Revolutionary War chaplain and his later years in Kentucky. 📚 **Hair-breadth Escapes from Slavery to Freedom** — Baptist minister William Troy’s account of his own life and the journeys of people who escaped slavery. You can find Kindle and paperback options on Amazon through the Bookshelf page, or browse 35 digital titles on Gumroad, most with both a PDF and an EPUB for your preferred reading app. Want to sample the collection? The Baptist Bookshelf offers free PDF downloads of C. H. Spurgeon’s All of Grace*and J. B. Jeter’s A Memoir of Mrs. Henrietta Shuck. No purchase is needed for those two downloads. Whether you’re studying Baptist history, researching a church, preparing to teach, or simply looking for a worthwhile older book, I hope these editions help you hear the voices of earlier generations. Visit The Baptist Bookshelf for free downloads and Amazon links: buff.ly/4CKWOjj Browse the full digital collection on Gumroad: buff.ly/fFWlV6w

OTD in 1887, Charles Haddon Spurgeon resigned from the Baptist Union of Great Britain following months of controversy over theological liberalism among Baptist ministers. The dispute, known as the “Down Grade Controversy,” had played out in the pages of Spurgeon's magazine, "The Sword and the Trowel." Spurgeon argued that some ministers were abandoning historic Christian doctrines, including the inspiration of Scripture, Christ's substitutionary atonement, and salvation through faith. Spurgeon called for the Union to adopt a clear statement of doctrinal beliefs, but acknowledged that its constitution did not provide a way to enforce such a standard. Rather than remain in an association he believed was compromising essential doctrines, he withdrew. Spurgeon did not intend to establish a new denomination. His resignation, however, became one of the defining controversies of his later ministry and raised questions about doctrinal accountability and cooperation among Baptist churches.

OTD in 1836, seven Baptist churches—six in Maryland and one in Washington, D.C.—organized the Maryland Baptist Union Association to cooperate in missions and strengthen Baptist work in the region. The association brought together churches seeking to expand Baptist ministry through evangelism, church planting, and cooperation. Over the years, the organization grew and evolved, eventually becoming the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware in 1984. Today, @bcmd continues the cooperative work begun by those seven churches nearly two centuries ago. Pictured: Mettam Memorial Baptist Church in Pikesville, Maryland. Built in 1835, just one year before the formation of the Maryland Baptist Union Association, the church was among the seven founding congregations that organized the association in 1836. Read more at this link link.amazon/B06xo3605

Screaming Demon changed his handle to Lamplighter after he modulated with Friar Tuck. Friar Tuck is more orthodoxly known as Wayne Nelson, pastorI First Baptist Church, Englewood. The title adopted from the tales of Robin Hood, howeverI is the handle (or name) by which he is acknowledged on CB radio. Screaming Demon is one of seven persons Friar Tuck has led to a saving faith in Christ after meeting them on the air waves. Following his encounter with Christ, Screaming Demon felt the handle, Lamplighter, would be more appropriate. Six of the seven converts have been baptized in the Englewood Church. Another baker's dozen have joined the church as an indirect result of the CB ministry of Friar Tuck. Most of them were members of converts families. Baptist Press September 30, 1976

We know about so many heroes of the faith, but we have forgotten many too. Let me tell you about some of them. One of the frustrations of studying Baptist history is discovering books that have been out of print for decades, sometimes more than a century. Many are available as old scanned PDFs, but they can be difficult to read, poorly formatted, and nearly impossible to use on a Kindle or other device. So I've started bringing some of these books back to life. I've taken original public domain Baptist books, cleaned up the text, corrected scanning errors, and reformatted them into readable modern editions. My goal is to make important works of Baptist history, missions, biography, and theology more accessible to today's readers. The collection includes books about early Baptist missionaries such as Lott Cary, Henrietta Shuck, and Luther Rice; Baptist history in Louisiana and the American South; and classic works by Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyan, and others. I've called the project "The Baptist Book Shelf." There are currently 20 books in the collection, with more on the way. Two are available as free PDF downloads, and the others are available at a modest price. Several are also available in Kindle and paperback editions on Amazon. I can only add two books a week on Amazon, but have almost 30 ready to go live as soon as I can. No matter what format you need, you can find it. This has been a labor of love. I enjoy Baptist history, and I believe these books deserve to be read rather than forgotten. I'd invite you to take a look, download one of the free books, and browse the collection. And if you know someone who enjoys Baptist history, I'd appreciate you sharing it with them. buff.ly/4CKWOjj

OTD in 1962, trustees of @MBTS dismissed Old Testament professor Ralph Elliott following a controversy over his book The Message of Genesis. Published in 1961 by the SBC's Broadman Press, the book challenged traditional interpretations of Genesis, including the historicity of Adam and Eve and the worldwide flood. Elliott's refusal to prevent the book's republication ultimately led to his dismissal. The controversy became one of the most significant theological disputes in Southern Baptist life during the 1960s and helped prompt the revision of the Baptist Faith and Message in 1963. In 2013, three Southern Baptist historians revisited the controversy in a panel discussion at Midwestern Seminary, moderated by President Jason Allen. Read the Baptist Press account of that discussion: buff.ly/031jDpt

OTD in 1654, the overseers of Harvard College accepted the resignation of its first president, Henry Dunster, following his public rejection of infant baptism. Dunster had served as Harvard's president since 1640 and helped establish the young college as a leading institution of higher education in colonial America. However, his growing conviction that baptism should be reserved for professing believers brought him into conflict with Massachusetts' Puritan religious establishment. His refusal to remain silent about his beliefs ultimately cost him his position at Harvard. Although Dunster never formally joined a Baptist church, his convictions on baptism made him an important early figure in the history of Baptist beliefs in colonial America.

OTD in 1970, Baptist Press reported that eleven staff members of First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, had resigned following a controversy over racial discrimination. The dispute began when Winifred Bryant and her 11-year-old daughter, Twila, who had participated in the church's neighborhood tutoring ministry, sought membership in the all-white congregation. After two months of controversy, the church voted to deny their membership. Pastor Herbert Gilmore and youth director Betty Bock announced their resignations, declaring they would not serve a “racist church.” Nine additional staff members subsequently resigned in support. The controversy deeply divided the congregation. An earlier attempt to dismiss church ministers had failed by just four votes, 237–241. Following the membership decision, approximately 300 members walked out in protest, calling themselves the “Company of the Committed.” The protesting members pledged their financial support to the departing staff and began discussing the possibility of forming a new church. Associate pastor John Sims explained that the disagreement was not simply about church programs or differing opinions, but concerned the church's understanding of and commitment to “Christ, his church and his gospel.” The October 22, 1970, Baptist Press report provides a remarkable look at the struggle over racial discrimination within Southern Baptist churches. Read the original report below.

OTD in 1833 John Davis, a Creek Indian, was ordained by Isaac McCoy near Muskogee.  Davis was the first Baptist to be ordained in Indian Territory.   McCoy had worked with Luther Rice and was working in IT as an agent of the US Govt and used that position to do mission work in IT.

On this day in 1837 the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky was officially organized in the meeting house of the First Baptist Church of Louisville (now @walnutstreetbc). In 1960 they changed their name to Kentucky Baptists.

Jazz music in a Baptist chapel? Shorter sermons followed by questions? Replacing traditional church music with folk songs? In the 1960s, Oklahoma Baptist leader Floyd Craig challenged churches to rethink how they communicated with college students during a chapel address at Oklahoma Baptist University. Craig argued that outdated language, traditional music, and even familiar religious symbols were contributing to a growing communication gap between churches and young people. He suggested some rather unconventional solutions, including ten-minute sermons, dramatic presentations, and contemporary Christian music. To make his point, Oklahoma Baptist music leader Gene Bartlett performed an original jazz composition, accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble, while students joined in singing the chorus. The Baptist Press account is a fascinating glimpse into how Southern Baptists were wrestling with changing culture and church traditions in the 1960s. Read the original Baptist Press story below

OTD in 1555, Protestant bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake in Oxford, England, during the reign of Queen Mary I, often remembered as “Bloody Mary.” Both men had been prominent leaders of the English Reformation and refused to renounce their Protestant convictions and return to Roman Catholic teaching. They were among hundreds of Protestants executed for heresy during Mary's reign. As the flames were lit, Latimer reportedly encouraged his fellow martyr with words that became among the most famous of the English Reformation: “Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.” Their deaths on October 16, 1555, became an enduring symbol of the struggle for religious reform in England.

OTD in 1882, Southern Baptist missionaries Zachary Clay Taylor and William Buck Bagby established the first Baptist church in Brazil organized for Brazilian converts, in Salvador, Bahia. The church was organized with five charter members: Taylor and his wife, Bagby and his wife, and Antônio Teixeira de Albuquerque, a former Catholic priest who had embraced believers’ baptism after studying the New Testament. The missionaries had arrived in Brazil with the support of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, now known as @IMB_SBC. Their work helped establish the foundation for what would become one of the largest Baptist movements in the world. From those five charter members in Salvador, Baptist churches would eventually spread throughout Brazil, reaching millions with the gospel. Pictured is Mr and Mrs Bagby

OTD in 1752, Elizabeth Backus, a widow and mother of Baptist preacher Isaac Backus, was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks for refusing to pay a religious tax supporting the established Congregational church in Connecticut. Although a 1728 law had provided some tax exemptions for Baptists, those protections did not extend to all church-related taxes. Baptists and other dissenters continued to face fines, imprisonment, and the seizure of property for refusing to financially support churches whose beliefs they did not share. Her son, Isaac Backus, would become one of the most influential Baptist advocates for religious liberty in colonial America, spending decades fighting against religious taxation and government-established churches. Elizabeth Backus's imprisonment was one example of the persecution that helped shape the Baptist commitment to religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

OTD in 1832, 37 new converts were baptized at Muscogee Baptist Church in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. Among those baptized were 10 Creek (Muscogee) Indians and 27 enslaved African Americans. Muscogee Baptist Church was the first Baptist church established in what is now Oklahoma. It was organized in September 1832 by Isaac McCoy, a Baptist missionary who devoted much of his life to ministry among Native American tribes. McCoy was a strong advocate for Baptist missions among Native Americans and helped establish churches and mission schools throughout the frontier. His work helped lay the foundation for Baptist life in Oklahoma long before statehood.

"If I had a thousand lives to give, I would give them all for China." Lottie Moon was 32 when she left for China in 1873, and her ministry there lasted nearly 40 years. Janet and Geoff Benge tell her story in "Lottie Moon: Giving Her All for China" — written for readers 10 and up, so it's a good one to share with the grandkids. Kindle or audiobook (audiobook free with an Audible trial, new members). buff.ly/B5N38MF (paid link)

In 1980 a dissident Soviet Pastor declared that Russian Baptists who manage to stay out of prison do so "at the price of compromise." Another pastor accused the Baptist World Alliance of "harboring agents of the Soviet government."