April 28

Thomas T. Martin was born on this day  in 1862. The place was Smith County, Mississippi. His father was a Baptist preacher and college professor, but T.T. wanted to become a lawyer. That was not the Lord’s will. God had given him several special gifts, and He intended...

April 21

This little note ties in with one of the articles in this week’s church bulletin ([email protected]). On this day in 1867 a note in the church minutes of the Kiokee Baptist reads, “The Baptist Church of Christ at Kiokee met and proceeded to the...

April 14

  Dorothy Kelly was an English Puritan, living in Bristol. She desired to see the Church of England reformed – cleansed from the wickedness and laxity found in its members and clergy. On Sundays, after attending the services of her church, she would join others in...

April 7

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is best known as the site of C.H. Spurgeon’s ministry, but he did not start that church.  Several important men pastored there before him.  Benjamin Keach was ordained and began his pastorate there in 1668.  John Gill was an elder in that...

March 31

Abraham Marshall followed his father in becoming the pastor of the Kiokee Baptist church in north east Georgia. After more than forty years of bachelorhood, Abraham determined that the Lord wanted him to marry, providing him with someone “to divide the sorrows...

March 24

  On this day (March 24) 1809 Grover Comstock was born in Rochester, New York. Although he was the son of a Baptist preacher, he was not converted until after he had become a successful lawyer. In 1831 a blessed rival swept through Rochester and Comstock along with...

March 17

Jacob Dirks and his two adult sons, Andrew and Jan, became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ through the work of Anabaptist ministers. Mrs. Dirks and the other children remained Roman Catholics. When Jacob heard that an arrest warrant had been written against him, he...

March 10

Balthazar Hubmaer was born in Bavaria in 1480. He studied the doctrines of the Protestants, embracing the views of Luther, pastoring a Lutheran church and becoming a good friend and associate of Ulrich Zwingli. However he expected the Reformation to return to Biblical...

March 3

On this day (March 3) in 1876, Florida became the 27th State in the Union. Three months prior to that date, H.Z. Ardis became one of the first Baptist pastors in the state, taking the reigns of God’s assembly in Madison, a community in the Panhandle. Ardis was born on...

February 24

On this day (February 24) in 1876, George Grenfell and his wife sailed from England to begin missionary work in the Cameroons, Africa. George was raised in the Church of England, but he became attracted to the Sunday School of the Heneage Street Baptist Church in...

January 17

This little note may not be as serious as most, but it is interesting. On this day in 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States by the House of Representatives. Elder John Leland who had been a neighbor of both Congressman James...

February 10

John Meglamare was born in 1730. His parents were Presbyterians, and through them John grew up very concerned about his soul. But concern is not enough. Prior to his conversion he moved to North Carolina where he began to hear the gospel preaching of several Baptists....

February 3

Henry Toler, was born into a humble but respectable family in King and Queen County, Virginia. You’d think that after the War of Independence the people of that place would have changed the name, but these were not English monarchs. And you might also think that once...

January 27

On this day in 1682, under William Penn, a decree of religious freedom was granted to the people of Pennsylvania. Penn, as you may know, was a Quaker. The first Baptist pastor to take advantage of the liberty in that colony was Thomas Dungan. To escape the persecution...

January 20

Henry Sharp was a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia. He was also a slave owner – as were most of his neighbors. When he recognized that the Lord had saved one of his slaves, George Leile, and that the Holy Spirit had given him gifts fit for the...