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Ann Judson is a Baptist missionary to Burma (Myanmar) and the wife of Adoniram Judson. When her husband was arrested during the war with the British, Ann saved his life by bringing him food and worked tirelessly to set him free. Before her death, Ann translated the Gospel of Matthew, the Books of Jonah, and Daniel into Thai. Ann Judson’s most prominent influence on the Southern Baptist Churches is her book and her letters, which reveal her role in preserving American Baptist missions in Burma.
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Lott Cary’s appointment as a missionary makes him the first of many African-American Missionaries. Born as a slave, Lott Cary bought his freedom to be a missionary in Africa. Through his ministry and struggles for the Kingdom of God, Cary paved the way for Christians of all races to take the gospel into the ends of the earth.
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Charlotte (“Lottie”) Moon, who lived from 1840-1912, is a famous missionary for the Southern Baptist who labored in China. After surviving a national crisis in china, Moon wrote letters to the American churches, challenging them to send more missionaries as well as support. Her impact can be seen around Christmas time, during the Lottie Moon Christmas offering in the Southern Baptist
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James P. Boyce is the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Working tirelessly on many different platforms, Boyce served as president of the SBC for seven consecutive years. His impact on the SBC, aside from his presidency, is most clear in the fulfillment of his vision as the SBC established Southern Seminary.
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Crawford Howell Toy, a professor of Old Testament at Southern (1869-1879), was an intelligent scholar who once courted Lottie Moon. After joining the confederate army, Toy studied theology in Germany. Sadly, his studies at Germany had influenced him to adopt a liberal perspective, even denying Isiah’s suffering servant to be Jesus Christ. He resigned, never to return to SBC and taught at Harvard University.
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Toy’s dismissal from SBTS, though negative event in the SBC, strengthened and solidify the SBTS’s theological position on Biblical inerrancy. This historic event began as a brilliant professor of the Old Testament at SBTS adopted a liberal view of Scripture. This event would later spark the conservative resurgence in the SBC.
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The first Lottie Moon Christmas offering marked the beginning of the greatest giving event in the Southern Baptist Convention, inspired by Lottie Moon. After her death, in 1888, the first Christmas offering for missions raised 3,315, which enabled the FMB to send three new missionaries. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has collected a cumulative total of more than 5 billion since its inception. This event soon led SBC to send over 25 thousand missionaries.
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John A. Broadus is the second president of Southern Seminary. Though he was offered an office of presidency at many different seminaries, Broadus felt God’s calling at Southern. His mastery of homiletics has influenced the way Southern pastors would preach for year to come. The model of preaching that Broadus exemplified is still witness today in the SBC. He served 6 years as the second president of Southern and excelled on his field.
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Edger Mullins is a graduate of and the fourth president of Southern. At Southern, Mullins brought about a unique style of leadership, which often caused clashes with the faculty members. His influence on the SBC is most notably how he shaped the theology of the SBC and the relocation of the Seminary to Kentucky.
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W.A. Criswell is an influence pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas in 1944 and leader of the SBC. He reigned as president over the SBC during the early stages of the Conservative resurgence. He is often credited as the one who exemplifies expository preaching, seeing the big picture of Scripture.
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Billy Graham, who recently passed in February 2018, is an evangelist whose ministry extends even into the White House. Preaching at least 400 sermons in 185 countries, to 215 million people in person, Billy Graham’s impact on Christians around the world cannot be overstated. Perhaps his influence to the SBC can be seen most clearly in how he allowed Southern to use his name because he had faith in the leaders of the Seminary.
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Albert Mohler Jr. currently serves as the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Coming into office during a turbulent time, Mohler’s election and leadership sparked a sharp turn away from the left into its theological foundations. Many people left or were fired as he came into office. Though the trial may be long and treacherous, he reaped the rewards as he succeeded in bring SBTS back to its roots by setting doctrinal parameters.
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Ralph Elliot was the chair of the Old Testament department at Midwestern in 1961. He became famous for publishing his book The Message of Genesis which acted as a Catalyst for the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC. In this book, he stated that narratives of Genesis 1-11 are historically inaccurate. He was fired for his heretical belief in October of 1962.
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Albert Mohler’s appointment as the ninth president of SBTS marked a dramatic change of not only SBTS, but also SBC. When president Honeycutt stepped down from office, Mohler became the new president to repave a way for the resurgence of orthodox Baptist commitment at SBTS. Mohler’s leadership have led SBTS to grow to roughly four thousand students and Boyce college to 700 students. Without a doubt, Albert Mohler’s appointment as president has been a blessing on SBC.
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The 1995 Racial Reconciliation Statement in SBC is a historic event in the SBC, where the SBC formally apologized for condoning racism in its 150th anniversary. Racial tensions ran high in the early 1900s, prompting the SBC to acknowledge their racist past and to repent of it. Frost gives credit to Albert Mohler as the resolution’s primary author. Its impact can be seen today in the ever-increasing diversity within the SBC, most evident in the election of the first SBC black president Luter.
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