November 13

Edward Mote was born in London during the year 1797. His parents ran a public house, and true to their character, Edward had no religious education whatsoever. “So ignorant was I that I did not know there was a God.” After he became apprenticed to a...

November 6

Elijah Baker was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia in 1742. He was converted to Christ under the ministry of Jeremiah Walker and was baptized by Samuel Harriss in 1769. Soon after that, Brother Baker became an itinerant evangelist with God greatly blessing his...

October 30

On this day in 1753, David Barrow was born. The place was Brunswick County, Virginia. He was saved by the grace of God in his seventeenth year, and when he was eighteen, he began preaching Christ. He was ordained in 1774 and soon became the pastor of three churches in...

October 23

In a letter to a friend, written on this day (October 23) in, 1801, a man named M’Gready described the revival which had gripped the Baptist churches in Logan County, Kentucky. When Pastor Lemuel Burkitt, of North Carolina heard of the pouring out of God’s...

October 16

On this day William Ward was commissioned to become the Lord’s printer in India, primarily helping William Carey. But this little vignette is not about William Ward. It is about a Baptist missionary on the Island of Java. I have read that there are more professing...

October 9

On this day in 1825, the area which became known as Chicago, heard its first sermon in the English language. It was delivered by a man whose ministry was spent primarily among non-English-speaking people. Despite criticisms of some of his social policies, Isaac McCoy...

October 2

On this day (October 2) 93 years ago, the Canadian Baptist contained an editorial entitled, “The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture.” It reads, “Some fifteen or twenty years ago the question of the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures...

September 25

Luther Rice died on this day in 1836. His Christian service began on board a ship bound for the mission field of India with Adoniram and Ann Judson. On the long voyage east, the three decided to read the New Testament in Greek, and in the process they discovered that...

September 18

Jeremiah Moore was one of those Virginia Baptists who was persecuted for his faith. He was assaulted by ungodly mobs, carried before magistrates, and on three occasions, jailed for preaching the Gospel without a license. Despite seeing the sufferings of his Father,...

September 11

If we knew more the life of the Philippian jailer, we may find that the life of Samuel Cartledge ran parallel to it. Samuel Cartledge was a young constable when he arrested Daniel Marshal. Samuel was born in 1750 nearly Rockingham, North Carolina, the son of a...

September 4

Jeremiah Dale was born in 1787 in Danvers, Massachusetts. At the age of 18 he was converted to Christ. He immediately began to think about the ministry, but his lack of education prompted him to remain in the wheel-wright trade, intent on being the best Christian and...

August 28

Anderson Moffett was born on this day in 1773, in Fauquier County, Virginia (pronouced “FAW-ker” or “FAW-key-er”) Anderson was converted to Christ at the age of 17 under the ministry of David Thomas who was ministering through a church in the...

August 21

On this day in 1773, Nathaniel Saunders, pastor of Mountain Run Baptist Church, and William McClannahan, assistant to John Picket at Carther’s Run Baptist Church were arrested after a warranted was issued. They were charged with “teaching and preaching contrary...

August 14

I have been privileged to shepherd one of Christ’s blessed flocks for more than twenty-five years. For years my family lived in the church basement, and I worked at a secular job as well as tending to my pastoral responsibilities. My “salary” may be close...

August 7

Matthew Hillsman was born on this day (August 7th) 1814. His Father had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. After the war he moved west and taught school in the village of Cumberland, Tennessee (later...