1897-1915
Baptist witness began in Tennessee among the earliest permanent settlers and continued to grow in spite of the hardships of the frontier, competition by other groups of Christians, and internal differences regarding doctrines and practices. The first effort to organize a state convention in Tennessee was at Mill Creek Baptist Church, near Nashville, in October 1833. James Whitsitt, pastor of Mill Creek Church, presided over the meeting; a constitution was adopted and an Executive Committee of 30 members, 10 from each major division of the state, was appointed. This original state Baptist convention in Tennessee existed from 1833-1842. From 1842-1874, there was in reality no comprehensive state Baptist convention in Tennessee. Instead, there were three sectional conventions: the East Tennessee General Association of Baptists, the Middle Tennessee Association of Baptists, and the West Tennessee Convention of Baptists. This period was the darkest in Tennessee Baptist history, a period of theological debate which left the churches torn and divided into various contending factions. Missionary Baptists, Gospel Mission Baptists, Primitive Baptists, and Campbellite Baptists were arrayed against one another in constant debate. On April 10, 1874, the present state convention of Tennessee Baptists was organized in Murfreesboro, when Baptist leaders from East, Middle, and West Tennessee met to form a statewide organization. An Executive Committee was also appointed at this meeting and charged with attending to all the Convention’s business between sessions. In 1876, the name of the committee was changed to the Executive Board.
The Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board minutes from 1897-1915 include descriptions of institutional expansion and increased benevolent, educational, and missions endeavors. The handwritten minutes in this presentation were digitized from microfilm. The condition of some pages of the original handwritten manuscript was poor and the microfilm not of the best quality. These factors make the readability of some pages of the minutes difficult.
