The Baptist Directory

"There has been a willful, planned, and total destruction of a cemetery. Apparently, a part of our Baptist heritage has been destroyed, a portion of our early Kentucky history has been erased, and the graves of one of our former Governor's family have been desecrated." This is how Dr. Jerry Martin described what happened to the Pioneer Baptist Cemetery in Russellville, Kentucky.

In this episode, we will explore and explain what led to that reflection, with close attention to the chronology of the events through studies of never-before-seen documents and artifacts.

What happened to the graves? Where are they now? And who is responsible? This and more, in the latest edition of the Baptist Directory.

William Douglas Meriwether was one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky during the Civil War Era, but he fell in love with a poor working-class woman he could never marry. Their love affair led to an excommunication from Antioch Baptist Church in 1868, just a couple of weeks before the couple was held-up by a young gunman named Jesse James. In this episode, along with a lot of information about the Meriwether and King families, you will hear how the information they provided him ultimately led Jesse James to rob his first bank.

Throughout the late 1800's and early-to-mid 1900's, Baptists in America operated on a system which banned Southern Baptists from doing mission work in the American North, and which banned Northern Baptists from doing mission work in the American South.

How was that necessitated? How did it work? Why did it fall apart? This episode answers these and other questions.

In 1934, the Baptist World Alliance had their Congress in Berlin at the exact time that Adolf Hitler was elevated from Chancellor to Fuhrer. As the Nazis had official positions on religious practice, the Baptists took the opportunity to have meetings with Hitler and Reichsbishop Ludwig Müller. Representatives of the Southern Baptist Convention, Northern Baptist Convention, and Baptist Union of Great Britain sought to discuss religion with Hitler, and influence antisemitism and nationalism with German Baptists.

In 1928, Clinton Samuel (C.S.) Carnes was the treasurer of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board (now NAMB). Carnes stole around $1,000,000 and disappeared. This is his story, and the story of how he did it.

Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910) was a Scottish Baptist preacher and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon. He was known as the "Prince of Expositors" and is considered the second-most-widely-read Baptist of all time, trailing only Spurgeon himself. His 17-volume Expositions of the Holy Scripture is still in widespread use on both sides of the Atlantic, and his impact continues to be felt generations later.

J.D. Grey is most famous for being the pastor of the First Baptist Church in New Orleans, LA., but was also a monumental figure in Baptist politics throughout the mid-1900s, serving as President of the SBC and Executive Committee member of the BWA.

Roger Williams University was a Baptist institution for the education of black men and women immediately following the Civil War. While occupying prime real estate in downtown Nashville, TN., Roger Williams University faced adversity as Jim Crow laws pushed them out. Ultimately, theirs is a story of rags-to-riches perseverance in the face of fierce and constant opposition, and though the University itself no longer exists, many of the schools and organizations which sprang from it are still making a major impact in the world today.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) is famously known as the author of Pilgrim's Progress, the second best-selling book of all-time in the English language. While little-known for his theological works and distinctives, Bunyan is an interesting character with many unique identifiers that distinguish him from Baptists of his day. Having spent over a decade in prison for preaching outside the Anglican tradition, Bunyan is a name all Baptists should know.

John Collett Ryland is famous (or infamous) for reprimanding William Carey when he asked to begin doing missionary work. However, in this episode we look at the life of Ryland and spend time examining that encounter with Carey, discussing if it went how the common story is told - or if it ever happened at all.