The following is from the very first issue of the Baptist Bible Tribune. It is rerun here in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the BBFI. This article was written by the new Tribune editor, Noel Smith.
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The following statement is self-explanatory—Editor:
It is commonly known among us that there has been for many months a widespread and deep-rooted restlessness among our people, both the ministers and the laity, because of the manner in which the affairs of the World Fundamental Baptist Missionary Fellowship and the Bible Baptist Seminary have been handled.
We have felt that our voice in the conduct of these affairs has not been commensurate with the responsibilities which we have been asked to assume, and for the amount of money which we have contributed to the work of these institutions. We have sensed, and deeply sensed, the absence of the constitutional principles and procedure which should be the basis representative government, especially the government of Christian institutions into whose treasuries so many people, many of them poor, are constantly asked to put their money.
This accumulated restlessness came to a head at the annual meeting of the World Fundamental Baptist Missionary Fellowship, which was held in the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth the week of May 21.
Tuesday morning, May 23, was Seminary day. Dr. J. Frank Norris was in charge of the Seminary program. Dr. Norris spoke on the history of the Seminary.
In the meantime, as was generally known, Dr. Norris had made revolutionary changes in the management and personnel of the Seminary. Those changes were made without any general notice to the Fellowship, and we believe they were made in violation of every constitutional principle.
Dr. Norris’ position was that he had made these changes—including the taking over of the Seminary finances — in accordance with the constitution and by-laws of the Seminary. There was considerable discussion regarding the legality of the by-laws.
Mr. G, Beauchamp ‘Vick, president of the Seminary, pointed out that the changes made by Dr. Norris had stripped him (Vick) of all authority. Mr. Vick also reminded the Fellowship that the ‘election’ of the new Seminary “trustees,” who in turn “elected” Rev. Jock Troup of Scotland as -“president,” had taken place early Monday morning before hardly any of the messengers to the Fellowship had reached Fort Worth
Mr. Vick asked how many in the large audience had attended the Monday “session” where the new trustees were “elected.” Fourteen hands were raised. Meantime Dr. Frank Godsoe had stated that it seemed to him that 150 had voted for the “election” of the new trustees.
During the discussion, Rev. Wendell Zimmerman, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Kansas City, called the Fellowship’s attention to the fact that the bylaws which Dr. Norris claimed had authorized his acts (copies of them had been distributed among the audience) were an altogether different set of bylaws from those published in the Seminary’s catalog for the year 1948-49.
Mr. Zimmerman raised the question as to which set of bylaws was the official document.
Mr. Zimmerman moved that a committee be appointed to make an investigation and report back to the Fellowship.
The presiding officer, Rev. W. E. Dowell of Springfield, Missouri, held that the motion was open for discussion.
There was little discussion, except by Dr. Norris, Dr. Norris’ conduct and defiant language convinced us that he was opposed to an investigation by such a committee. Of course we do not remember his words verbatim, but substantially they were these:
“We are going to follow these by-laws regardless of any investigation. You can appoint all the committees you want to. We are going to follow these by-laws. These are the by-laws on which this Seminary has been recognized. They cannot be changed. They are on record in Austin. And that is final.”
We consider the attitude of Dr. Norris and his defiant language on such a basic matter as this, a profound insult to every one of us, and to every man, woman and child whom God has given us the honor of representing. During the last twö years our churches have, in addition to raising the $1300 a week for the current expenses of the Seminary, paid approximately $125,000 on the Seminary’s indebtedness.
In view of this we believe that we and our people (and all Christian people, for that matter) have a moral (and legal) right to know whether the authority governing an institution involving such huge sums of money, is the authority of a constitution or the emotional whims of a single man. We believe that we have the moral (and legal) right to know whether the by-laws which Dr. Norris claims gave him the authority to make the revolutionary changes he made, are Baptist the official Seminary, by-laws of or the whether Bible they are not the official by-laws of the Bible Baptist Seminary.
Dr. Norris has spoken. “That is final.”
For us it is final. We cannot, and we will not, ask our hardworking, trusting and generous people to continue to pour their sacrificial gifts into an institution dominated by a man with an attitude like that of Dr. J. Frank Norris.
We and our people have worked for this Seminary. We have given our money into its treasury. We gave this money as an offering to our Lord.. We gave it honestly, generously and gladly. We did the best we could. We leave the case with Him.
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We make no boasts of what we shall accomplish through our new Fellowship, our new College and our new paper. Thus far God has been wonderfully generous to us. We have some $11,000 to begin with. There are many of us, and we have been drawn together in a bond of fellowship which is natural, deep and strong. We thank God that it has been so spontaneous and unanimous. We have seen and heard for ourselves—all of us together. We have taken our stand for what we know to be decent and right. Whether God be pleased to bless us in a great or small way, is a matter for Him to decide. We shall strive together to promote His affairs to the very best of our ability.
Whatever we do we shall do it in the open. All of our books will be regularly audited, and detailed reports will be mailed to our constituency. Our constitutions and by-laws, like our books, will always be open to any who care to see them. Whatever God leads us to do—and we can’t help but believe that He is going to lead us to do a great deal—will be done in accordance with those ancient constitutional principles which always govern the affairs of free, self-respecting men.
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Our faith and practice is the historic Baptist faith and practice. We believe in an infallible Bible; in the Virgin Birth, in the substitutionary death of the Saviour, in His physical resurrection, in His physical Ascension, in His literal, Premillennial return to the earth. We believe in the autonomy and dignity of the local church. We believe that the fundamental basis of the fellowship of the Apostolic churches was not educational but missionary. We believe in every kind and form of evangelism which is effective in bringing men and women to Christ. We don’t for a moment apologize for holding to the faith of our Baptist fathers, but we believe in promoting good will and unity among all the people of God, and especially among those many groups which constitute the great household of our Bible believing Baptist people.
We are in every practical way against the Modernism now rampant in the Northern and Southern Baptist Conventions. For that we have no apology. We are against every form of church union which involves a central ecclesiastical body legislating for all of us and committing us to every kind of socialistic planning. We are against the Federal Council of Churches, and almost everything that organization stands for. We are against Communism, and we are equally against the opposite form of totalitarianism— Roman Catholicism. We believe, and in every practical way, in the American Constitution, and especially in that part of it which demands the separation of Church and State. We have no sympathy for this peculiar kind of Fundamentalism, whether denominational or interdenominational, which is barren of all ethical content. We believe that true Christian faith will profoundly affect what we think, what we say, what we write and what we do. We believe that every American citizen, regardless of race or color, should enjoy all those rights and prerogatives guaranteed to him by the letter and spirit of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We believe in the ”Capitalistic System,” in free speech, and a free and unfettered press and radio.
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This is a brief document, and incomplete. In a few weeks we shall have our paper, THE BAPTIST BIBLE TRIBUNE, in the mails. It will tell you more about our organizations and their work.
Meantime, if you like the things we stand for, and if you like the way we propose to handle them, we invite you to make an investigation and learn more about us. We have an idea that thousands of Baptists have been, and are, thinking along these same lines.
SCOTTY ALEXANDER
Pastor, Bible Baptist Church
Enid, Okla.
WILLIAM BEALL
Pastor, SouthSide Baptist Church
Denison, Texas
J. C. BROWN
Pastor, Grace Baptist Church
Oklahoma City, Okla.
JAMES O. COMBS
Pastor, Park Drive Baptist Church
Hillsboro, Texas
W. E. DOWELL
Pastor, High Street Fundamental Baptist Church
Springfield, Missouri
WAYNE IMBODEN
Pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church
Altus, Okla.
CHARLES E. McDOWELL
Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Church
Borger, Texas
JOHN RAWLINGS
Pastor, Central Baptist Church
Tyler, Texas
LESTER J. SINGLETON
Pastor, Ramseur Baptist Church
Paris, Texas
NOEL SMITH
Former Editor and Publisher The Fundamentalist
GEO SULLIVAN
Pastor, Central Baptist Church
Sherman, Texas
LOYS VESS
Pastor, Central Baptist Church
Denton Texas
G. BEAUCHAMP VICK
Pastor, Temple Baptist Church
Detroit, Michigan
Click here for a PDF of Baptist Bible Tribune, Volume #1, Issue #1.
Other articles in the 70th Anniversary series …
- The Split … the Fight … the Break – by Billy Vick Bartlett
- Separation from WFBMF and the Organization of the Baptist Bible Fellowship – by G.B. Vick
- The BBFI: A History – by Keith Bassham
