Richard M. Miller is not a name you’ll find in William Cathcart’s 1881 book, “The Baptist Encyclopedia.” Most likely, it is because he didn’t do anything to draw attention to himself.

Brother Miller was born on this day in 1815 south of Knoxville, Tennessee, in Sevier (“Severe”) County, which now includes Pigeon Ford and Gatlinburg. When he was a teenager, the Lord graciously brought the young man to Himself in salvation. Soon thereafter his family moved to Missouri, where Richard joined the Union Baptist Church in Osage County. There the Lord called him into His ministry. After his ordination and marriage, he moved a few miles to the south and began to preach Christ in several rural counties, eventually settling in the tiny town of Pisgah, which today is not much more than an empty intersection. Brother Miller preached the gospel on Sundays and whenever else it was possible, farming the rest of the week during the Spring and Summer to keep food on the table. Three days before his death, while toiling in one of his fields, he had a stroke. When he didn’t come home, his wife went out looking for him and found him on the ground helpless and almost speechless.

Like ninety percent of all Baptist ministers, Richard Miller simply did what the Lord asked him to do without any thought of self-glory. His reward and notoriety are in Heaven, where it really matters.

– Source: This Day in Baptist History III, Cummins