Free Will Baptist History Book

[Rvaughn]

, Robert E. Picirilli, ISBN 9781614841081, Randall House Pubications (Nashville, TN), 11/01/2019 (Paperback).

According to Randall House, “This work provides a fresher and clearer picture of the rich history of Free Will Baptists. Stories are preserved in full detail from careful research to pass along to the next generation. Topics in the work include: the Free Will Baptist Covenant, the founding of the Free Will Baptist work in Texas, Free Will Baptist participation in the Unity Movements, the Free Will Baptist school in Unicio, the early history of the Christian Workers Institutes, along with several other valuable pieces of denominational history.” The author ably presents historical facts while maintaining the readers’ interest. Some individual Free Will Baptists mentioned in this work include D. J. Apperson, J. W. Lucas, and Redding Moore. I was privileged to contribute a chapter on Angus McAllister Stewart, the founder of the first continuing white Free Will Baptist work in Texas, which work began in Panola County (the county to the east of mine).

The author, Robert E. Picirilli, has previously written on Free Will Baptist history, including History of Free Will Baptist State Associations, History of Tennessee Free Will Baptists, and Little Known Chapters in Free Will Baptist History. He has degrees from Welch College (B.A.) and Bob Jones University (M.A., Ph.D.). He has taught and served in the administration at Welch College. He is a member of the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission.

[Sandy]

Is there a geographic "center" or area where Free Will Baptists are clustered in Texas? I can't recall ever running into any while living there. There are plenty of them around where my parents are from in West Virginia and there were a scattering of churches around us in Western Pennsylvania. I know they have a college in Nashville, and a cluster of churches there.

[Haruo]

The only FWBC I can find any sign of in Washington State is . I've put it on my list of places to worship in 2021. Unfortunately the listed is for an outfit in Philadelphia. Maybe I'll try calling them tomorrow to see if they exist and if they know about the website snafu.

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

[Haruo]

[Rvaughn]

Leland, I stumbled across their website, which confirms that New Hope is now Riverside. The site has an e-mail contact address, which might hopefully be one you haven't tried yet.

One interesting thing about FWB's North & South is that they arose independently of one another. Unlike Regular Baptists North & South who split over slavery/abolition/etc., the Freewill Baptists North & South were unable to unite (in pre-Civil War times) because of their differences on the issues. The "Free" in their name relates to their views on salvation and communion. I remember one old periodical had a motto something like "free will, free salvation, and free communion." Another interesting name for Baptists of this stripe was "Liberal Baptists." By this they had in mind that their views on pulpit affiliation, communion, and so on, were "liberal" in comparison to the Regular Baptists who practiced restricted communion, were stricter in baptisms they would receive from others, and usually closed their pulpits fairly narrowly too. This name is not much in favor today, though, because the National Association of Free Will Baptists, while liberal & charitable in those areas, is quite theologically conservative. Therefore "liberal" as often used applying to churches does not well apply to them.

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

Yeah, I left out the anti-Masonry part. But my impression was still that free seating was the first of the various freedoms advocated.

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

I think they vary a lot geographically, the ones here in Seattle being a lot less rigid than in some parts of the country. Seattle Pacific University is not a tremendously conservative school as far as I can tell, and the only FM church I've attended, Rainier Avenue Church, didn't seem strict or separate-minded.

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

Nazarenes are similarly different from region to region, those in the west being relatively liberal (e.g. allowing boys and girls to swim together)...

[Haruo]