The opening session of the New Baptist Covenant was like being in church — a very large Baptist church with a huge congregation. African-American Baptists were dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes with those fantastic church hats. The younger generation of…
Axioms of religion
Exactly a century ago this year, in 1908, Edgar Young Mullins, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, published his landmark interpretation of Baptist faith and principles which he entitled The Axioms of Religion. Baptists in the pews and Baptists…
Free to profess
Last week, on Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom turned 222 years young. It was enacted by the Virginia General Assembly on that date in 1786. Virginia had just passed through a paradigm shift, moving from a…
What remains
The souvenir booklet from the dedication of the building was fittingly lavish for a church edifice which rivaled any house of worship in America. Exactly a century ago, in 1908, the Second Baptist Church of St. Louis, Mo., then the…
Third letter to Zachary
Dear Zachary: Ten years ago your grandfather wrote you a letter soon after your birth. You probably have never read that letter, but I trust your parents put it with some keepsakes and someday you may want to read it….
Adventures of a church planter
Jeremiah Bell Jeter was in a dilemma. After several years of a highly successful pastorate at the prestigious First Baptist Church of Richmond, “the music demon” visited the church. In today's language, it was “the worship wars.” And it all…
Return to Mount Hermon
On a magnificent fall Sabbath earlier this year, William E. Hatcher enjoyed a return to Mount Hermon Baptist Church in his native Bedford County. The occasion was the church's 220th anniversary. The church was packed with members, former members and…
Generations
For nearly 180 years, across five generations, the Religious Herald has arrived uninterrupted in the homes of the Ryland family of Virginia. Samuel Peachey Ryland subscribed when the first issue of the Herald came off the press in January 1828….
Time out of joint
Last issue this column told about a man — Henry Keeling Ellyson, the long-time executive leader of Virginia Baptists in the 19th century — and his vision: the planting of new church starts wherever the railroads placed depots. No matter…
A man and his vision
Henry Keeling Ellyson became possessed with a vision. It is the mark of any effective leader that a vision is forthcoming and that it is articulated. Ellyson was the executive leader of Virginia Baptists. His actual title was corresponding secretary….
Welcoming the strangers
“The influx of large numbers of people from foreign parts has always been regarded as dangerous to American institutions, civil and religious,” said the speaker at the annual meeting of the General Association in 1885. The meeting was held at…
Victories in Victoria
The small Southside Virginia town of Victoria in Lunenburg County is “the place to be” on Sunday, Oct. 14, as the church celebrates its centennial. The events are the culmination of a year-long celebration. John V. Upton, executive director of…