How a Failed College Became a Catalyst for Unity: John Welch and the Free Will Baptist University
by Eric K. Thomsen From their earliest days—long before the formation of the National Association—Free Will Baptists in both North and South demonstrated great concern for education. A number of historic schools were started and closed, or absorbed by other denominational groups, as was the case after Free Will Baptists merged with Northern Baptists in 1911.[1] Only three regional Free Will Baptists colleges remained in operation...
When General Baptists Became Particular Baptists
What happened in May 1755, significantly altered the early years of what would become southern Free Will Baptists, and nearly dealt their churches a lethal blow. Prior to the events that will be discussed below, Free Will Baptists were one of the most successful Protestant groups in the southern United States. That certainly changed in the following years. In May of 1755, Calvinist John Gano arrived at the General Baptist church near...
Free Will Baptist National Convention: Reflections from Grand Rapids
by the Helwys Society Forum This past week, over 3,000 Free Will Baptist (FWB) youth, parents, pastors, exhibitors, and church leaders converged on the beautiful northern city of Grand Rapids, Michigan for their 79th annual National Convention. While the overall attendance was down from the prior year, it was a noteworthy and significant event. Five of the six Forum contributors were among those attending, and we were blessed to...
Fighting on the Wrong Ground: Epistemological Missteps
I realized I was getting nowhere with this guy. It was my first year of youth ministry and one of my students, sly grin and all, had just asked how I knew the Bible was true. I tried to explain that prophecies have been fulfilled, lives have been changed, science has never proven the Bible wrong, and, like G.K. Chesterton I found that the Bible explained everything in my experience so well as to be inescapably true. However, my...
Recommended Books (Summer 2015)
You may have noticed that a sizable proportion of books carried by bookstores (Christian and non-Christian alike) are very poor in quality. The reason, of course, is that cheap easy books sell better than more demanding titles. As Donald Stauffer wrote in The Nature of Poetry, “A debased currency will always drive out the genuine article, and there are plenty of ways today to get others to do our thinking and our feeling for us.”[1]...
Being Filled with the Spirit: Mystical or Moral?
Quick quiz: who were the first people in Scripture to be filled with the Holy Spirit? If you guessed someone in the book of Acts, let alone the New Testament, you’re an entire testament too late. The answer: Bezalel and Oholiab, the tabernacle artisans. Exodus 31:3 states, “I have filled [them] with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” Not only do most of us get the answer to that...
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