The first meeting of the Baptist World Alliance was July 11-18, 1905, in Exeter Hall, London. Numerous calls had been made for a worldwide Baptist organization that would project the Lordship of Christ, the fellowship of Baptists, and an emphasis on the local church. This London meeting was a celebration of Baptist unity and diversity.

The first Southern Baptist Home Mission Board was begun in 1845. It started in the May 8-12, 1845, organizational meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention at First Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga. There were 236 delegates from eight states and the District of Columbia. They represented 165 churches and it is of note that the delegates included representatives of nine associations, a state convention, a ministerial conference, the board of a state convention, Mercer University, Furman Institute, the Pennfield Young Men’s Missionary Society and Isaac McCoy. It is the presence of McCoy, the lone delegate from Kentucky that unravels the thread that goes to the heart of the origin of the Home Mission Board.

The Woman’s Mission Society began in Richmond, Virginia in 1888. The name was changed to the Woman’s Missionary Union in 1890. Baltimore was selected as the home of the executive committee and in 1921 the WMU headquarters was moved to Birmingham, Alabama.

Louise Cecilia “Lulu” Fleming, M. D. (1862-1899) was the first Baptist female missionary from Florida. She was appointed in May, 1886, to serve in the Congo. She was one of the most remarkable women to ever represent Baptists and the state of Florida.

Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814-1875) was the first Florida Baptist to serve as an international missionary. Bowen was appointed to Central Africa in 1849. This fact needs to be explained in light of the lives of two other people.

The first Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in Greenville, S.C., in 1859. The school moved to Louisville, Ky., in 1877 and is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year. The heart of the school was the calling and commitment of James Petigru Boyce (1827-1888) and John Albert Broadus (1827-1895).

The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board was begun May 10, 1845, at the organizational meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Augusta, Ga. Prior to this board, most of the Baptist mission work of the South was conducted under the auspices of the Triennial Convention. In 1844, the Acting Board of that convention declared that it would not appoint a slave holder as a foreign missionary. That vote caused some in the South to immediately plan for their own mission sending agencies.

The Southern Baptist Convention was born on May 9, 1845, at the meeting house of the Baptist church in Augusta, Ga. There were 236 delegates from 165 churches who registered at the May 8-12 organizational meeting. It was on Friday morning that a resolution was unanimously passed “to proceed to organize a society for the propagation of the Gospel.” The states represented in the meeting were Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky and the District of Columbia. The Florida Baptist Convention was not begun until nine years later in 1854.

The first Baptist Confession of Faith in America was the Philadelphia Confession of 1742. From the beginning Baptists have been quick to articulate their beliefs in writing but there was always a sense of foreboding in that creeds and demands were not welcome in their theological structure.

First Baptist Church Campbellton is the oldest Baptist church in Florida. The church was organized as Bethlehem Baptist Church on March 12, 1825. A name change came about in 1859. Now the beautiful white frame building in the Florida panhandle houses our oldest Baptist church in the state.

The first national organization of Baptists was the Triennial Convention which was formed at Philadelphia in 1814. This entity came together when 33 delegates from 11 states and the District of Columbia formed “The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions.” It consisted of no more than two delegates from each Baptist missionary society who contributed at least $100 a year to the work of the convention. It was called by the shorter name “Triennial Convention” simply because it met every three years. Luther Rice was the primary promoter, Richard Furman (1755-1825) of South Carolina was the first president and Thomas Baldwin (1753-1826) of Massachusetts was the first secretary.

There were three missionaries who must be considered the first Baptist foreign missionaries from the United States. Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826) and Luther Rice (1783-1836) set sail for India in 1812 as Congregationalists. All three were personally called, sincerely sent and remarkably obedient. The Judsons went out as Congregationalists to India and ended up as Baptists in Burma. Luther Rice went out as a Congregationalist to India and soon became a Baptist missions promoter and fundraiser in the United States.

William Carey (1761-1834) is the “Father of Modern Missions.” Born in England, Carey gave 41 years of his 73 year life to mission service in India. Baptist children and teenagers can thrill today at the highly trained, devoted and disciplined life of a man that became world renowned in scholarship, organization and service.

The first Baptist college in America was Rhode Island College founded in 1764, now known as Brown University. The school was begun at Warren, Rhode Island, but moved to Providence in 1770. It became Brown University in 1804 and was named for Nicholas Brown, an alumnus.

The Philadelphia Baptist Association was the first Baptist association formed in America. The association was organized on July 27, 1707, and was composed of five small Baptist churches. In 2007, there were 28 million Baptists in the United States numbering 95,000 congregations. In 2007, there were 3,141 counties in the United States and 3,036 of those counties had at least one Baptist church. Baptist churches need each other. Regardless of size, organization or goals, most Baptist churches soon realized that they could do what they are called to do better in cooperation with others.

The oldest Baptist Church in the South was organized in Maine. It is not unusual for Baptists to define a local church as a body of baptized believers, and that describes this congregation very well. The church was organized September 25, 1682, and eventually became the First Baptist Church of Charleston, S.C. William Screven was the primary person who led this church start at Kittery and due to persecution, personal appeal and probably shipping interests, Screven and his congregation moved to Charleston.

The oldest Baptist congregation in the United States is The First Baptist Church in America at Providence, Rhode Island. First Baptist claims 1638 as its organizational date when believers met in the home of Roger Williams for prayer, worship, and fellowship.

Editor’s note: This article series will briefly introduce important developments in Baptist history, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Baptists throughout 2009. The series, authored by Jerry Windsor of the Florida Baptist Historical Society, will run in every issue of the Witness in 2009.

The earliest Baptists in America stemmed from a group of like-minded individuals who surrounded Roger Williams. It was on Feb. 5, 1631, that Roger Williams (1603-1683) and his wife sailed from Bristol on the ship Lyon and landed at Nantasket, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.