Editor’s note: The following is David S. Dockery’s prepared manuscript for the Nov. 11 keynote address to the 2024 annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The video of the address, provided by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff, is above.
Thank you, Randy Davis, for the kind invitation to return to Tennessee on this special occasion, to join with all of you in the celebration of God’s work across this state over the past 150 years. Happy Anniversary, Tennessee Baptists!
Please allow me this evening to invite you to join me in looking back, looking within, and looking forward. In doing so, we want to reflect on God’s providential guidance for and blessings to Tennessee Baptists over these 15 decades, using Philippians 1:3-6 as our guide. The Apostle Paul writes:
I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you. Always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Gratitude for Those Who Have Gone Before Us (v.3)
Paul expressed gratitude to God for the evidence of God’s work among the Christ followers in Philippi. The apostle offered gratitude for the work of salvation in the lives of the Philippians, for their ongoing growth in the Christian life, and for their ministry to Paul and his team, as well as others across Asia Minor. As Paul makes this statement, we are reminded that the “you” in this passage is plural. Paul is thankful for all of them, and it is as though he can see the various ones who make up this body of believers: Lydia, the jailer, the formerly demon-possessed slave girl, Epaphroditus, Clement, Euodia, Syntyche, and others. God had brought a variety of different types together through their shared faith in Christ.
Tonight, let us use Paul as a guide to help us give thanks for those who have gone before us to form, shape, and advance the work of Tennessee Baptists, even with all of the twists, turns, and challenges along the way.
Baptists began settling in East Tennessee in the second half of the 18th century. Two Baptist churches are said to have been started by the 1770s. Many of the earliest Baptists came to Tennessee from Virginia and North Carolina, including those who came from the well-known Sandy Creek Association. Tennessee’s first Baptist association, the Holston Association, was officially founded in 1786, adopting the Philadelphia Confession as their confession of faith. Thus, early Baptists in Tennessee were shaped by the mixed influences coming from the Regular Baptists and their more Calvinistic Philadelphia tradition as well as the Separate Baptists from Sandy Creek, who were more rural and revivalistic, characterized by ardor more so than order.
The work of these early Baptists was daunting, for as Lorenzo Dow, a leader among Methodists during this same time period, observed, “Tennessee is a sink of iniquity, a black pit of irreligion.” Yet, in God’s good providence, by 1802, the Holston Association had added nearly 30 additional congregations.
In the 1780s, Baptists also came to Middle Tennessee in the Cumberland region. By 1806, about 40 churches had affiliated with the Cumberland Association. The work had become so extensive that there was a need to start additional associations, including the Red River Association and the Concord Association, which was formed in 1810. Both wrestled with the dizzying doctrinal divisions that were present in the state at the time. The first association in West Tennessee did not take place until the 1820s.
Tonight, we give thanks in every remembrance of these early Baptists in Tennessee. Thirty years later, there were only six Baptist churches with about 400 members. By 1812, there were 156 churches with more than 11,000 members in both East and Middle Tennessee. Baptists were aware that God was at work.
By the 1830s, Baptist efforts had matured and expanded to the point that discussion had started to take place regarding an organizational effort to foster cooperation across the state as well as the need to provide some kind of education for those called to ministry. The efforts to birth the first Tennessee Baptist Convention took place in 1833, 37 years after Tennessee had officially become a state. But, due to discord, dissension, and doctrinal confusion, compounded by an anti-missionary and anti-cooperative spirit present in all three regions of the state, the initial TBC was short-lived, coming to an end in 1842.
During this time, the extraordinary leadership, organizational, preaching, and writing gifts of R. B. C. Howell, the legendary pastor of the First Baptist Church of Nashville, were placed in visible and strategic roles at the local, regional, and national levels as Baptist life developed across the South. Howell launched the first state paper in 1835, called The Baptist, which was the forerunner to the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector. This regular publication served as an important communication arm for churches and church leaders; Howell served as both publisher and editor of this important venture until 1850.
Following the failed attempt related to the first state convention, Baptists in Middle Tennessee, led by Howell, formed the General Association of Baptists in Tennessee. Union University Murfreesboro, a thorough-going Baptist institution, was launched in 1841, largely through the organizational gifts of Howell, Joseph Eaton, and others. Education was viewed as an important means for helping to unify the diverse Baptists across the state; thus, the name Union. Distinctive conventions were formed on each side of the state, with the Baptist State Convention of West Tennessee being organized in 1835, while the General Association of Baptists of East Tennessee was started in 1844.
During this period, confusion reigned in the churches as the anti-missionary followers of Daniel Parker and the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit hyper-Calvinists pulled the churches in one direction, while the anti-confessional, anti-organizational, and Arminian followers of Alexander Campbell pulled people in another. This resurgence of Arminian teaching challenged those strictly committed to the Philadelphia Confession.
By the 1850s, J. R. Graves, J. M. Pendleton, and the Landmarkist movement had become more influential when Graves assumed leadership for the work of the Baptist Paper, while Pendleton’s impact was primarily felt through his publications and his professorial work at Union University Murfreesboro. By this time, to say the least, Tennessee Baptist life was being pulled in many and multiple directions, appearing to be a big ball of confusion – and all of this preceded social media by more than 150 years!
It needs to be noted that Carson-Newman traces its origins back to this time in the 1850s when similar contentious factions could be found in East Tennessee among and between the Missionary Baptists, Primitive Baptists, and Campbellite movement. The attempts to form a united state convention had struggled not only due to these issues, but were compounded by the complexities of the geographical divisions and the fledgling railroad transportation in the state. The best that could be achieved at this time, at least until 1874, was an attempt at three different conventions, one for each of the three grand divisions of the state.
In the midst of these things, in 1851, the dream of an educational institution for East Tennessee became a reality with the founding of Mossy Creek Missionary Baptist Seminary, which eventually became Carson and Newman College in 1889, following the merger of Carson College, a school for guys, and Newman College, an institution for young women.
The most important leader in Tennessee Baptist life, R. B. C. Howell, who served as president or vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention almost every year during the SBC’s initial dozen years or so, had actually wanted to begin the first southwide seminary, making his case at the annual Southern Baptist Convention in 1849, a dream that would materialize a decade later in 1859, through the tag team work of Basil Manly Sr. and James P. Boyce, coming about with the founding of Southern Seminary in South Carolina rather than in Tennessee.
While Howell’s vision for the first southwide seminary did not develop as he had dreamed, his influence and vision, nevertheless, formed the seedbed for a unified state convention in Tennessee that would prioritize the importance of Christian education. This vision paved the way for the development of a consensus that helped Baptists in Tennessee become missionary-supporting, cooperating, and confessional Baptists who were a Great Commission people, rejecting the anti-missionary and anti-organizational spirit that had lingered across the state.
By 1874, Tennessee Baptists were positive about cooperation as well as hopeful regarding genuine revival and expansion, as had been present even among those early Baptists in the Holston Association. By this time, the large majority of Tennessee Baptists rejected the anti-missionary spirit of Daniel Parker and the anti-organizational spirit of Alexander Campbell. Howell had also publicly pushed against the extreme Landmarkist tendencies associated with J. R. Graves, though we all know that both Graves and Pendleton cast a long shadow, especially over Union University and Baptists in West Tennessee. Borrowing from the example of the Apostle Paul, let us tonight give thanks for every remembrance of those faithful early Baptists in this state who have gone before us.
Gratitude for Shared Participation and Cooperation (v.5)
Turning back to our text from Philippians, the second thing that we see from verse five is Paul’s gratitude regarding the shared participation and partnership in the Gospel among those in Philippi, from the first day until now. Again, we want to follow Paul’s guidance, and offer gratitude for those who have helped Tennessee Baptists to participate together in their shared cooperation in the Gospel, doing so to advance the Good News of Jesus Christ, to build up the churches, and to extend the Kingdom of God.
Tennessee Baptists were officially formed 50 years prior to the launch of what we now know as the Cooperative Program, an initiative led by Union University alum M. E. Dodd, and adopted at the Southern Baptist Convention in Memphis in 1925. Tennessee Baptists had spent 50 years prior to the formal founding of the Cooperative Program trying to overcome the residual anti-cooperation and anti-missionary movements that we have noted. Each one in its own way created a serious hurdle for Baptists in Tennessee to work, serve, collaborate, participate, and cooperate together.
By God’s grace, the commitments expressed on April 10, 1874, at the Murfreesboro convention, have continued to undergird the work of Tennessee Baptists for the past 150 years. Efforts at cooperation served as the primary motivator for the initial Tennessee Convention in the 1830s. In 1874, it was Christian education that was at the center of the efforts to birth the Convention, whose 150-year anniversary we are celebrating this week.
At this convention, W. P. Bond was elected its first president. A constitution was approved, which included nine articles. Article 5 stated, “This Convention shall promote the educational interests of Baptists of Tennessee as a special object, but may prioritize other objects of benevolence, and may appoint commissioners to whom special charge such objects shall be submitted – and commissioners to report at its annual meetings.”
This commitment resulted in the recommendation that Tennessee Baptists establish Southwest Baptist University in Jackson, Tenn., as its way of implementing Article 5. In doing so, aspects of Union University Murfreesboro – which had ceased its work in 1873, having struggled following the Civil War – were merged with the Jackson institution, whose name was later changed to Union University in 1907, thus connecting the school not only with its earlier chapters in Jackson known as Jackson Male Academy and West Tennessee College, thus tracing the institution’s roots back to 1823, but also connecting with the important Baptist work in Murfreesboro known as Union University. The administration, faculty, and library resources for Southwest Baptist University largely came from the work in Murfreesboro.
Modifications were made in 1875 to ensure appropriate representation on the Executive Board from each region of the state. Over the next several years and decades, Tennessee Baptists would emphasize Sunday School and state missions, as well as other benevolence work, in addition to the affiliation with Carson-Newman after its official merger.
In 1877, William Allen Montgomery was named the first corresponding secretary and was given the charge to unify the Baptist work in the three sections of the state. In his first report to the Convention, he noted that “the task is difficult because the State is really three instead of one,” a sentiment that has been repeated by every leader in Tennessee Baptist life for the past 15 decades.
Tennessee Baptists recognized the WMU as an auxiliary in 1890. The Baptist Young People’s Union was added to the ministry priorities in 1896. Through the years, other important work was added such as music ministry, evangelism, discipleship, Bible Drills, family ministry, campus ministry, hospitals, camps, the Children’s Home, Adult Homes, pastoral and ministerial care, the work of the Tennessee Baptist Foundation, other educational entities such as Harrison-Chilhowee Academy, Belmont, Hall-Moody, and others.
Leaders of the convention through the years have all brought deep commitments and various gifts and emphases to bear upon the work of Tennessee Baptists, doing so through trying times that have included World Wars, depressions, pandemics, natural disasters, and multifaceted changes in culture and society. They have navigated denominational conflicts while prioritizing and promoting the importance of cooperation and collaboration for the sake of the gospel. Some of these key leaders have included:
J. H. Anderson (1887-1893); Adoniram Judson Holt (1893–1902), William Cornelius Golden (1902-1910); John W. Gillon (1910-1919); Lloyd T Wilson (1919-1924); Oscar Bryan (1924-1933); John D. Freeman (1933-1942); Charles Wesley Pope (1942-1956); Fred Kendall (1956-1972); Ralph Norton (1973-1978); Tom Madden (1979-1989); D. L. Lowrie (1989-1992); James Porch (1992-2010 ); and, of course, Randy Davis (2010 – present).
Tennessee Baptists today need to give thanks for each one of these and for hundreds of others who have modeled faithful cooperation. In addition to more well-known church leaders, entity leaders, and state paper editors, including not only Howell and Graves, but also more recently Fletcher Allen and Lonnie Wilkey, there have been hundreds and hundreds of other faithful pastors, associational leaders, state convention workers, and people in the pews who have served without fanfare, but who nevertheless have been key instruments in God’s providential work among the people called Baptists in this state.
In order for Tennessee Baptists to move forward toward a renewed spirit of shared participation and cooperation, there will need to be a renewed focus on serving churches in this region, in this nation, and across the globe, while exemplifying truth, love, humility, and unity. Much different from what was the case in 1874, Tennessee Baptists are now multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, intercultural, and intergenerational, with ministry partnerships far beyond this state, both in this country and around the world. But, in spite of this breadth and variety, Tennessee Baptists recognize that they belong to the same Lord and thus to each other. Yet, over the years, we sadly acknowledge that this shared commitment has been blurred by infighting, fragmentation, discord, and self-serving efforts.
Christ’s call on our lives demands that we seek to do better, for our Lord himself prayed that we would be one so that the world may believe that the Father has sent the Son (John 17:21). We belong to the same Father and are called to participate and cooperate in the Gospel, in a shared calling, and in a common service.
We trust the same Savior and have received the same gift of grace, thus sharing a common salvation. A renewed commitment to cooperation at this anniversary and celebratory moment must be undergirded by prayer for the sanctification of our lives, for the sanctification of the churches across the state, and for the shared work of Baptists in every region of Tennessee.
Tonight, is a time for all of us to offer heartfelt gratitude to those faithful Tennessee Baptists who have gone before us, many who are remembered and most who have been forgotten, at least from an earthly perspective. We offer thanks for many whose names are well known and others who have served anonymously, though with equal faithfulness and perhaps greater heavenly rewards. We give thanks for these 150 years and the decades of effort leading up to the beginning of this work, with all of its starts and stops, twists and turns, while recommitting ourselves to renewed Gospel efforts with a fresh zeal and faithfulness for a day quite different from 1874.
In calling for a renewed spirit of cooperation or what the Apostle Paul calls shared participation and partnership, we need not spend our time yearning nostalgically for the past when Tennessee Baptists seemingly enjoyed a more cultural and programmatic uniformity. It would be misguided for us to do so. What is needed today in light of the complex challenges of twenty-first century life and culture is a fresh understanding of the importance of working together in oneness and cooperation.
We want to see these things take place not merely for pragmatic purposes, but for the glory of God. When people look at Tennessee Baptists, let them see men and women joyfully cooperating and partnering within the state of Tennessee, but also with Southern Baptists and those carrying out the work of international missions, home missions, church planting, theological education, religious liberty, social and Christian life concerns, Christian publishing, ministerial care and support, and other key partnerships.
In noting the relationship with Southern Baptist entities, we are reminded that a number of significant Tennessee Baptists have served as presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, including R. B. C. Howell, Fred F. Brown, R. G. Lee, Ramsey Pollard, Wayne Dehoney Franklin Paschall, James L. Sullivan, Adrian Rogers, and Steve Gaines. So, on this day, let us celebrate this special heritage, including our variety as we seek to serve together in harmony, demonstrating genuine love for one another, and manifesting a spirit of cooperative participation in our service to and for one another, as well as in devoted service to the churches of Tennessee and beyond.
Grateful that God Will Continue What He Has Started (v. 6)
As we think about our third and final point, we return to our passage in Philippians to hear Paul say, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul’s gratitude and joy was based on his full and complete confidence in God and his gracious grace. Paul knew that the work that the Holy Spirit had started in the lives of Lydia, the Philippian jailer, and others who had come to faith would continue until the return of Christ Jesus. The Lord, in his faithfulness, will continue to complete and perfect the work that he has started.
We know that Timothy was closely associated with the work at Philippi. We also recall that Paul reminded Timothy that the things he had heard from him were to be passed on to faithful believers who could teach others also. And so, the chain of multiplication was set up from Paul and Timothy to the Philippians and to the next generation, and the next.
Likewise, the work that was started at the Holston Association, the work that was started in the Cumberland Association, the work that was started with R. B. C. Howell, Peter Gayle, Robert Snead, Robert Carson, and William P. Bond, and passed on to others and eventually to George C. Savage and E. E. Folk, to William C. Golden, as well as Ella Lofton, Mildred Golden, and Ethlene Cox, and on to James T. Warren, John Jeter Hurt, Charles Wesley Pope, as well as Mary Mills, Mary Northington, and Margaret Buchanan, and then on to Fred Kendall, to Paul Caudill, to David Q. Byrd, to Herbert Gabhart, to Tom Madden, to Allen West, to Fred Wood, to Leonard Markham, to Phil Jett, Paul Clark, Bryant Milsaps, Kenny Cooper, to Ken Weathersby, to Michael Ellis, to Candy Phillips and Vickie Anderson, and to Randy Davis, and so many others as well.
We often read Philippians 1:6 only in individual terms, but the use of the plural “you” (or “you all”) in this passage has implications for all of salvific history from the Apostle Paul to the consummation of God’s redemptive plan. Paul’s confidence that this work would stand the tests of time was based upon his belief in the power and faithfulness of God. Just as the work of the Apostle Paul and his apostolic legate Timothy have ongoing implications for our lives, so the work of Howell, Eaton, Bond, Golden, and others has long outlived them, bearing fruit for generations after their lifetime. In God’s good providence, the work of those who have gone before us have blessed many beyond their own time.
When the apostle wrote his letter to the Philippians, this work was threatened by opposition from without (1:28) and conflict within (4:2). Intense suffering in a world hostile to the Gospel and a bitter dispute between leaders in the church may have called into question the work of the Gospel. Paul, however, reminds us that the work of God takes place above and beyond mere human activity. Thus, what was true for the Philippians is true for Tennessee Baptists as well.
The work of God among early Tennessee Baptists continued even with the opposition and conflict from Daniel Parker and Alexander Campbell. The work of Tennessee Baptists continued beyond the failure of the first effort to form a Convention in Tennessee. And the work of God will continue beyond current challenges and detours, because the work that the Lord has started will ultimately be completed not at the conclusion of our lives on this earth, but when Christ Himself returns.
Likewise, the work of Tennessee Baptists has not depended merely on human initiative, human effort, and human endurance, as commendable as so much of it has been. We all need to be reminded this evening that God is the founder of every good Gospel work, and God will complete the purpose of every divine work that He starts. While this work begins with internal and individual regeneration, it results in corporate transformation of the people of God. The Lord has not only started this work, but He will also bring it to completion. As one commentator has noted, Paul’s deep confidence, and the assurance that we can also have, is not “in the Christianity of Christians, but in the God-ness of God,” who is completely faithful, trustworthy, and able to finish the work He has begun.
Let us take heart this evening that the work which the Lord has done in, with, through, and among Tennessee Baptists since 1874 will continue until the day of Christ Jesus. This work extends beyond our years of service and beyond our own days on this earth, extending beyond one’s lifetime. Should the Lord tarry, the work that is currently taking place in churches, associations, entities, institutions, and ministries across this state, will extend far beyond the lifetime of everyone gathered in this room this evening. This is not some pollyannish wish, it is a confidence we can have because of the complete truthfulness of God’s Word and the faithfulness of the God of this Word.
As we think about our responsibility for those who will be a part of this work in the decades to come, it certainly requires a genuine commitment to shared participation, partnership, and cooperation, things which we have tried to emphasize this evening. But we also must recognize that both conviction and cooperation matter.
Following the outstanding leadership of Randy Davis, we rejoice that Tennessee Baptists have placed themselves in the tradition of faithful and orthodox Baptists over the past four centuries. We understand that a dedication to cooperation, education, evangelism, missions, and other ministries as well as a commitment to Baptist distinctives such as a regenerate church membership, the priesthood of all believers, congregational polity, believer’s baptism, and the Lord’s Supper rests on a foundational conviction that God’s Word is completely true, trustworthy, and fully authoritative.
Tonight, we offer genuine appreciation for those who have gone before us, offering deep thanks for those who have exemplified shared participation and cooperation, modeling the example of biblical faithfulness from which we can learn. We trust that God will grant us all a renewed sense of cooperation and deep conviction as we trust the Lord to bring renewal to all aspects of Tennessee Baptist life, including 3,200 churches, 66 associations, and nearly one million church members. We ask tonight for the Lord to join our hearts and hands together to serve the next generation, who will take the Good News of the Gospel to our neighbors and to the nations for the glory of our great and majestic God. And we leave this place tonight with a renewed sense of gratitude, confidence, and hopefulness, knowing that the good work that God has begun in Tennessee Baptists will continue beyond our days of service on this earth, bearing fruit in generations to come, until the day of Christ Jesus our Lord. Even so, come Lord Jesus! Amen.
Sources
Clifton J. Allen, et al., editors, Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists (4 vols., Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1958), various articles throughout.
James A. Baggett, So Great A Cloud of Witnesses: Union University, 1823-2000 (Jackson, TN: Union University, 2000).
Joe W. Burton, Road to Augusta: R. B. C. Howell and the Formation of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1976).
David S. Dockery, Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2008).
David S. Dockery and Timothy George, Building Bridges (Nashville, TN: Convention, 2007).
Timothy George, “Southern Baptist Ghosts,” First Things 93 (May 1999).
J. H. Grime, History of Middle Tennessee Baptists (Nashville, TN: Baptist and Reflector, 1902).
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Matthew Harmon, Philippians (A Mentor Commentary; Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor, 2015.
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W. Fred Kendall, A History of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Brentwood, TN: Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, 1974).
H. Leon McBeth, A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1990).
Richard R. Melick Jr., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (New American Commentary; Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1991).
T. Robertson, “Philippians,” in Word Pictures in the New
Testament (6 vols., Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1934), IV: 435-63.
O. W. Taylor, Early Tennessee Baptists, 1769-1832 (Nashville, TN: Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, 1957).
Albert Wardin, Tennessee Baptists: A Comprehensive History, 1799-1999 (Brentwood, TN: Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, 1999).
Kevin Allen Witt, “The Pillar and Support of Truth: The Ecclesiology of Robert Boyte Crawford Howell” (Ph.D. dissertation, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2024).
