Baptist Bible Fellowship International history is a chronicle of persons, events, struggles, achievements, defeats, and victories. It is also the story of God at work in our modern world, touching lives, saving souls, planting churches, sending missionaries, and spreading the Gospel. The story of the BBFI cannot be presented in any great detail in the space available here. This brief history will sketch the basic elements of our past — the beginnings, development through the decades, structure, nature, changes, and current status.
THE FOUNDING
The back-story leading to the founding of the Fellowship is long, circuitous, and (fortunately) adequately documented. For the purposes of this article, I will start the story in the 1940s. For many years, J. Frank Norris, the dominant leader of the World Fundamental Baptist Missionary Fellowship, held a dual pastorate in Fort Worth, TX, and Detroit, MI. From 1936 onward, his associate, G. B. Vick, was the resident leader of the Michigan church, leading it successfully. In 1948, Vick reluctantly agreed to become president of the Bible Baptist Seminary of Fort Worth, TX, the Fellowship school. He recognized the potential for disagreement with Norris, whose outrageous and unpredictable behavior is legendary (one Baptist historian called Norris “God’s Rascal”), but Vick agreed to take on the task. The seminary made dramatic strides under Vick’s leadership.
In May 1950, Norris opposed Vick’s leadership of the school and arranged to install another president. When the Fellowship met, there was vigorous debate, Norris’s actions were challenged, and an impasse was reached. Vick resigned, and in a meeting with 120 pastors and sympathizers, the Baptist Bible Fellowship International was born. During the same meeting, Baptist Bible College (BBC), the Mission Office, and Baptist Bible Tribune were founded.
W. E. Dowell became the first president of the new Fellowship, Vick was named to lead the new school, Fred Donnelson became mission director, and Noel Smith was the founding editor of the Tribune.
THE FIRST DECADE
During the first decade, the priority was just getting things going while attracting and retaining participants. At BBC, enrollment grew from 107 to 565. Churches were established all over the country, many of them begun by graduates of BBC, numbering 716 by the end of the decade. State and area fellowships formed to advance the cause of church planting, missionary work, and the training of future pastors, missionaries, and workers. Other independent Baptists also joined the new Fellowship. Funds handled through the Mission Office in 1959 totaled $774,885. When 1960 began, 169 BBFI missionaries were serving on 17 fields.
1960: A YEAR OF DECISION
As the new decade began, it was obvious to all that the original bylaws and organization were obsolete. Many months were occupied with prayerful consideration and discussion regarding the nature of the Fellowship. In the September 1960 meeting in Oklahoma City, OK, pastors elected to reject the concept of a tightly controlled denomination and to remain a fellowship of pastors and churches. The new constitution and bylaws established a voluntary fellowship based on the Baptist principle of the autonomy of the local church.
THE 1960s AND DYNAMIC GROWTH
During the 1960s, continued growth characterized the BBFI (the I was added to designate International). College enrollment soared to 1,370 by 1969, and the campus had a 5,000-seat fieldhouse and a radio station. Graduates totaled 2,481, and church planting continued in earnest. A new school, Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, was begun in 1966 in southern California. Pastors and churches listed in the Fellowship Directory in 1969 totaled 1,594. In 1968, Jack Bridges succeeded Fred Donnelson as mission director. In 1969, the Mission Office handled $2,939,980 in funds. As a new decade began, 336 BBFI missionaries were on 32 fields. The Elmer Towns’s 1969 book America’s Ten Largest Sunday Schools showed that of the ten largest Sunday schools in America, five were part of the BBFI.
YEARS OF TRANSITION: THE DECADE OF THE ‘70S
Several events suggest the 1970s were years of transition for the BBFI. The BBFI named Carl Boonstra mission director in 1972. Some of the founding leaders passed from the scene during the 1970s. Founding Tribune editor Noel Smith left this life in January 1974. Wendell Zimmernan succeeded him at the Tribune. Founder Fred Donnelson died a month later. G. B. Vick, still president of BBC, passed away in 1975. W. E. Dowell, Sr. was elected to succeed him. In 1976, a new Fellowship-owned school was started on the East Coast. Baptist Bible College East began in New York and later moved to its current campus in Boston, MA. Its first president was A. V. Henderson.
Also in 1976, the Fellowship’s structure was changed. Hoping to achieve more grassroots participation, BBFI regional directors were replaced by directors appointed by the various state fellowships. The directors were (and still are) divided into three standing committees dealing with procedures, missions, and education (and later church planting). Among other refinements, a method to allow other independent Baptist colleges to provide missionary training for future BBFI missionaries was enacted while the Fellowship itself would operate three schools, Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College (now renamed and no longer associated with the Fellowship), Baptist Bible College, and Baptist Bible College East (now known as Boston Baptist College).
During the 1970s BBC’s enrollment hit its apex (2,481). Church planting continued, and the 1980 directory listed 2,997 who identified themselves as part of the BBFI. Giving through the Mission Office totaled $10,567,951 and 528 BBFI missionaries were on 67 fields of the world at the end of the decade.
THE 1980S – ORGANIZATIONAL ORDEAL
During the 1980s, a new generation of leaders grappled with significant trends and new problems. In 1983, both W. E. Dowell, Sr. and Wendell Zimmerman retired. A. V. Henderson and James O. Combs succeeded them at BBC and the Tribune, respectively. Founders and early leaders moved off the scene, and the newer leaders lacked the common experiences and purposes that welded their earlier counterparts into a unified movement. A variety of issues became reason for division.
Enrollment declines and financial struggles led to Leland Kennedy taking the lead at BBC and Harry Boyle doing the same at Baptist Bible College East. Also during 1986, Bob Baird was named to succeed Carl Boonstra as mission director.
Despite developing polarization within the Fellowship and its institutions, church planting continued in the United States and abroad. There was a reversal of the 12-year enrollment decline at BBC, and there were 2,939 pastors and churches who identified with the BBFI according to the Fellowship Directory. As the decade ended, 734 BBFI missionaries were serving on 80 fields of the world, and gifts handled by the Mission Office totaled $19,004,880.
THE BBFI HEADING TOWARD A NEW MILLENNIUM
Through the 1990s, the work of the BBFI continued much as it had. In 1992, Tribune editor James Combs began a sister magazine call The Baptist Preacher.
In 1995, James O. Combs retired and Mike Randall, who had been serving as BBC’s vice president, was named to replace him. In 1998, the BBFI held its September meeting in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, the first time a national meeting was held outside the United States. Also in 1998, Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College was relocated to Oklahoma City, OK, and renamed Heartland Baptist Bible College. The college subsequently cut its ties to the BBFI. In 1999, the pastors approved the Judea Samaria Project, a program for new church funding.
At the end of 1999 there were 3,326 pastors and churches listed in the Fellowship Directory. Eight hundred and eighty BBFI missionaries served on 111 fields of the world, 34 chaplains were serving in the United States military, and contributions processed by the Mission Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1999, totaled $31,814,400.
2000 AND BEYOND
The BBFI met in Fort Worth in 2000 to celebrate the Fellowship’s 50th anniversary. It was a Global Jubilee in every sense of the word with guests and speakers from around the world reflecting the reach of the Fellowship. The next few years, however, would prove challenging as the terms, purposes, and methodologies for cooperative work among Baptists became the cause for debate, and in many cases, division, and in some cases, significant decline.
In many ways, the BBFI is like a train that, once on its way, continues where the track takes it. Therefore, the Fellowship in the early 2000s, looked much as it did a decade or so before. In 2002, Keith Bassham was named editor of the Tribune to succeed Mike Randall who succeeded Leland Kennedy at BBC. Bassham would hold the post until the end of 2015. Meanwhile, Randall was succeeded by Jim Edge, and Mark Milioni followed him as president of the college. David Melton became head of Boston Baptist College, and
Jon Konnerup was named mission director. A new agency, the National Church Planting Office (later known as APEX), was also established to provide funding and training for church plants.
By 2016, two Global Fellowship Meetings, one in the Philippines and another in Korea, established the international credentials of the Fellowship, and they validated our historical emphasis on fulfilling the Great Commission. The year before saw the establishment of the BBFI Communication Office, and Randy Harp’s appointment as Communication Director, replacing the Tribune’s editor position and signaling an expanded reach into the digital world.
