March 17

Elisha Andrews was born in Connecticut, on September 29, 1768. After his family moved to Vermont, he ended up in New York, where the Lord saved him. He was baptized by Elder Joseph Cornell, after which he united with the Baptist church in Galway. Then soon after that,...

The best known, early American Baptist historian is Isaac Backus.  In the early 19th century he wrote “Church History of New England from 1620-1804” and some other notable books. Prior to Backus, another man, planned to become a Baptist historian, but, while gathering...

March 3

When Elisha Abbott, returned to this country from his ministry among the Karen tribe in Burma, his wife had just died and he was in very poor health. He knew that if he was going to be able to continue his mission work, he would need someone to help him, so he visited...

February 25

On this day in 1775, Thomas Scrivner was born. When in Madison County, Kentucky, the Lord redeemed him, he followed the Lord in baptism and joined the Tates Creek Baptist Church. He and his family moved around somewhat after that, before settling near Glasgow,...

Jeremiah Bell Jeter died on this day in 1880. During his life he was a Baptist pastor, a Baptist leader, the editor of a Christian magazine and the author of several books. My source stated that J. B. Jeter was not an outstanding pulpit orator, but his ministry was...

My library includes the seventeen volume set of Alexander McLaren’s “Expositions of Holy Scriptures.” That set contains messages from Genesis to Revelation. Many of them have been a great blessing to me. Most of Brother McLaren’s ministry was spent at the Union...

February 4

In February 1755, George Whitefield, preached in New Bern, North Carolina. He later wrote that his hearers were totally indifferent. His time there appeared to be wasted, but it did give him fuel to pray that God would miraculously intercede on the city’s behalf. It...

January 28

You have heard me speak of Shubal Stearns several times. That man was born on this day in 1745. He was raised in the Congregational religion, but he was saved through the influence of the one-eyed, Anglican Methodist, George Whitefield. Eventually he came to...

January 21

On this day in 1788, four ministers met together at the Baptist church in Northamptonshire, England, for a day of prayer and fasting.  They shared a longing for God’s glory in themselves, in their ministries and throughout the world.  John Ryland, recorded the events...

January 14

John Picket was born on this day in 1744. As a young man he became addicted to pleasure, sports and gaming of every kind. Becoming a dancing instructor, and in pursuit of that vocation, he moved from Virginia to Pee Dee, North Carolina. In his new home he came under...

January 7 in Baptist History

William Carey took his wife and family with him to India, where he and his team became pioneer missionaries. Carey had four sons. Three of them were saved by God’s grace and had begun to serve their Saviour – two of which were missionaries themselves. However their...

December 31

Oliver Hart was born in 1723. As a young man he was born again and joined the Baptist church in Southampton, Pennsylvania. When he was twenty-five, he surrendered to the will of the Lord and was ordained to the gospel ministry. Shortly after that he traveled to...

December 24

Josiah Goddard was the son of a missionary couple. He was born in Singapore in 1840. When he was thirteen, he was sent to America for training at Worcester College in New York, but before he arrived it had closed its doors, and this young teenager was left on his own,...

One of the large, early earthquakes in American history occurred on this day in 1811. Its epicenter was under the Mississippi River, but it was felt as far away as Boston. Jacob Bower, living in Kentucky at the time, was so startled by the quake that he cried out,...

December 10

Dutton Lane sounds like it could be the title to a 1967 Beatles’ song, but it is actually a man’s name. After settling in North Carolina and establishing the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, Shubal Stearns and Daniel Marshall began to minister and preach the gospel in...