Southern Baptist Convention Sermons

When the Baptists in the South split from those in the North to form their own convention in 1845, the issue was slave ownership, but the purpose was missions. From the beginning, according to records of the proceedings, the Annual or Convention Sermon was an important part of the meeting. It was preached on the first night by a preacher or an alternate appointed the previous year, and its emphasis was foreign missions. (A home, or domestic mission, sermon was preached the second night.) Since those early day, the Southern Baptist Convention has featured a “Convention Sermon.” On this site, the staff of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives has sought to find copies or at least description of these sermons from 1845 to 2019. Sermons were not available or found from many of the early years. Some of these sermons are available on audio or video recordings.