Mar 12, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
On this day in 1773, Theodore S. Harding was born in Barrington, Nova Scotia. After his father died, he was raised by his godly mother. At the age of thirteen Harding was born a second time, and shortly thereafter he felt the call of God to go into the ministry. His...
Mar 5, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
On this day in 1869, Oliver Willis Van Osdel was immersed and joined the Baptist church in Yorkville, Illinois. He had been raised as a Methodist, but he survived, and the Lord saved him when he was a child. He served in the army during the War between the States and...
Feb 25, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Joseph Reese was born in Wales. When he was 13 years old his family moved to the area of South Carolina called “The Congarees,” becoming one of the first families to settle there. He was raised in the Anglican church, but when the pioneer Baptist preacher, Philip...
Feb 18, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Most of the first immigrants to this continent brought with them the politics and religions of their homelands. As a result, with only a few exceptions, most of the first thirteen colonies authorized a single denomination and practiced something called “a clergy tax,”...
Feb 12, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
It is believed by some that the Apostle Paul personally carried the gospel to the isle of Britain. Whether true or not, Bible Christianity was firmly established among the peoples of those islands long before the arrival of Catholicism. One area where the Baptists...
Feb 4, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Jonathan Goble is not a well-known name, but it should be. Goble and his wife were the first Baptist missionaries in Japan. Jonathan was born in 1827. He rejected his religious upbringing and ended up in prison for two years for threatening the life of another man....
Jan 28, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Isaac Dermout was not born a Baptist, and he never became a Baptist. He was a Protestant, born on this day in 1777, and eventually becoming chaplain to the King of the Netherlands. He and Dr. Anne Ypeij, professor of Theology in Gronigen, were commissioned by the king...
Jan 21, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
American Baptists were introduced to their missionary responsibilities in West Africa through the thousands of slaves who had been kidnaped and brought to this country from that region. Many of the people carried here brought with them the pagan witchcraft of their...
Jan 15, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
George Blaurock was an Anabaptist who became known for two things – his opposition of infant baptism and his love of music. The first historical reference to this man occurred on this day (Jan. 17) in 1525 during a public discussion of baptism. It was said by...
Jan 7, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Daniel Defoe was born into a English Christian home in 1661. As a young man he fell in love with the word of God, and during a period when there were few copies of the Bible, he was one of many to copy it in short hand for future use. Being a good writer, he began to...
Jan 2, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
On this day (January 3) in 1644 the British Parliament, which was then controlled by the Presbyterians, passed a bill making sprinkling the official act of “baptism” in England. The bill read, “The minister is to demand the name of the child, which being told him, is...
Dec 24, 2020 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Benajah Harvey Carroll was born on this day (Dec. 27) in 1843. His father was a Baptist preacher and the rest of his family were devoted Christians. His brother, J.M. Carroll, authored the often-published booklet “Trail of Blood.” Despite being surrounded by the...
Dec 17, 2020 | This Sunday in Baptist History
John William Jones was married on this day (Dec. 20) in 1860. That fact has nothing to do with today’s vignette, it just gives us a reference to the calendar. John Jones was born in 1835, and he was born again while a teenager. He was preparing himself for missionary...
Dec 10, 2020 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Edward Pierce was born in Gates County, North Carolina, on this day (Dec. 13) in 1870. The Lord saved his soul when Edward was sixteen, and shortly after that he was called to preach the gospel. He graduated from Wake Forest College and then from Southern Baptist...
Dec 3, 2020 | This Sunday in Baptist History
According to David Benedict’s Baptist history, a church was formed in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1780. On this day (December 6), a year later, Samuel Fletcher was ordained as their pastor. He was 33 years old, had been saved about thirteen years, and had been...