Kevin T. Bauder The New Testament Association of Baptist Churches voted itself into existence and adopted a constitution in 1965 at Beth Eden Baptist Church in Denver. The occasion was a gathering of the Conservative Baptist Fellowship, which set aside time during its meeting to initiate the new association. That summer, B. Myron Cedarholm resigned… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder By the early 1960s three issues divided the Conservative Baptist Movement. First was the question of separation, especially in view of neoevangelicalism and Billy Graham’s tactic of “cooperative evangelism.” Second was eschatology—many Conservative Baptists had moved away from pretribulationism, and some had abandoned premillennialism. Third was the relationship between the agencies (such… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder The Conservative Baptist Movement formally began when the Fundamentalist Fellowship organized the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1943. The CBFMS was originally meant to function within the convention, but it was rapidly rejected by convention officials who effectively disenfranchised its supporters. In response, the Fundamentalist Fellowship renamed itself the Conservative Baptist… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder In a recent edition of “In the Nick of Time,” I wrote about the founding of the New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches and the renaming of the Conservative Baptist Fellowship to the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship. The CBF was the parent organization of both the NTAIBC and the FBF(I). Unfortunately, I… Continue Reading
Roy Beacham Central Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in 1956. Upon the closing of Northwestern Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, students, faculty, and other sponsors urged Dr. Richard V. Clearwaters to open a new seminary in order to fill the vacancy of such a training institution in the upper-Midwest. This past school year, 2016-2017, Central Seminary began… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder Of the various conferences that I attend, one that I look forward to is the annual meeting of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, International. It’s also one that I don’t have the privilege of attending very often. It is usually far from my home, and it typically falls in the middle of the… Continue Reading
The most recent issue of Frontline Magazine is apparently getting a bit of buzz. I don’t subscribe, but through friends I’m getting caught up. It appears that the Fall 2016 issue, “Convergence,” caused a stir with how it treated the younger generation who grew up in fundamental Baptist churches. As a sort of response, Mark Ward… Continue Reading
When I was in Bible college, seminary training was considered a luxury—perhaps useful, but not at all necessary for pastoral ministry. Consequently, the idea of going to seminary didn’t enter my mind until the end of my junior year. At that point, two events led me to seminary. First, a professor liked a paper I… Continue Reading
Yesterday at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, I presented a paper evaluating Isaac Watts’s Trinitarian views. I hope to get the paper published soon, but in the meantime, here are several of the very relevant implications I drew related to the boundary of Christian fellowship, the importance of church tradition and creeds,… Continue Reading
Last week I suggested that biblical cooperation is not an “all-or-nothing” sort of thing, but is rather dependent upon the particular matter under consideration and the circumstance, whether it be simple fellowship, joining a church, or proclaiming the gospel. This was the genius of the idea of fundamentalism. Beyond refusing to recognize as Christian those who… Continue Reading
There are several adjectives that I happily use to describe myself and my beliefs. The first is obviously, “Christian,” but there are a lot of people and groups that call themselves “Christian” with whom I have significant disagreement, so I need other adjectives to modify “Christian.” I happily call myself a Baptist Christian, which says… Continue Reading
Baptist churches in America organized their first local association (the Philadelphia Association) in 1707. That group soon grew to include congregations all the way from Connecticut to Virginia. As it grew it birthed a number of daughter associations. Subsequently, Baptists have founded yet others. Eventually the local associations within particular states or other large regions… Continue Reading
A bishop has to meet stringent personal qualifications, the broadest of which is that he must be “blameless” (1 Tim. 3:2). Of course, blameless does not mean sinless, but it does require at minimum that no credible charge of scandal can be lodged against him. In other words, a minister’s reputation is one of his… Continue Reading
Jeff Straub Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us that there is a “time to weep.” If ever there was a time for weeping in our independent Baptist world, it is now. Last week, a 280-page report was published on the serial sins of a trusted Baptist missionary doctor and the apparent malfeasance of his mission which, despite… Continue Reading
The Evangelical Theological Society was founded in 1949. Fundamentalists have been involved from the beginning. Indeed, several ETS presidents were identified with fundamentalism: Charles Woodbridge, Alan MacRae, and R. Laird Harris are examples. Another fundamentalist, John R. Dunkin (who was president of both San Francisco Baptist Seminary and Los Angeles Baptist Seminary), once led the… Continue Reading
On Christmas Eve, Donald M. Brong slipped into the presence of his Lord. He had served in vocational ministry for more than fifty of his ninety-six years. Over the decades he pastored First Baptist Church in Russell, Iowa, and First Baptist Church in Monroe, Iowa, then served as director of the Iowa Regular Baptist Camp… Continue Reading
The Bible Faculty Summit is an annual gathering of professors in the biblical and theological disciplines. These individuals represent the colleges and seminaries of mainstream or normal fundamentalism. This year’s meeting hosted faculty from ten institutions, plus several independent scholars who hold research degrees. The Bible Faculty Summit has been held every year since 1995,… Continue Reading
Very few of the current organizations within Baptist fundamentalism existed before the 1920s. Of those, I know of only one that was actually founded before the Northern Baptist Convention (now the American Baptist Churches in the USA). This grandfather fellowship among fundamental Baptists is the Minnesota Baptist Association. For decades, the legal name of the… Continue Reading
This summer I was able to attend the annual meetings of three Baptist fellowships. One of those was the annual conference of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. The conference was held Monday through Friday, June 29-July 3, in Omaha, Nebraska. Of the three groups whose meetings I visited, this was the one with… Continue Reading
Among the benefits of my summer schedule is the opportunity to visit several Baptist associations and fellowships. This June and July I have attended three in particular: the Minnesota Baptist Association, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, and the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association. Over the next three weeks I will offer a report on… Continue Reading