Conferences & Events
2026 Annual Conference
📚 Registration Now Open!
Join Us for the 2026 Annual Conference!
The Baptist History & Heritage Society invites you to its 2026 Annual Conference, May 18–20, at Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Tucker, Georgia.
Held in collaboration with the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion and the Association of Ministry Guidance Professionals, this year’s gathering centers on the plenary theme of Church and Global Migration—exploring how global movements of people have shaped Baptist history, identity, and witness.
The conference begins Monday (May 18) in the late afternoon and concludes Wednesday (May 20) at midday. The full conference schedule will be posted soon.
Registration includes:
- Monday evening banquet dinner
- Tuesday luncheon
- Coffee, snacks, and refreshments throughout the conference
Graduate students are especially encouraged to attend. Student registration is available for a $5 administrative fee.
👉 Register for the 2026 Annual Conference
👉 Reserve your room at Tru by Hilton Northlake
Conference rate: $115 per night (April 15 deadline)
For questions, please contact BHHS Executive Director Aaron Weaver at aweaver@thebhhs.org.
Conference Schedule Outline
*More details to come soon with additional opportunities
Monday, May 18
1:00-3:00 pm — Baptist History & Heritage Editorial and BHHS Board of Directors Meeting
2:30-4:30 pm — Registration (Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Welcome Center)
4:30-6:00 pm — Baptist Studies I & II (Paper and Panel Presentations)
6:00-7:00 pm — Banquet (Fellowship Hall)
7:00-8:00 pm — Opening Plenary Session (Fellowship Hall)
Tuesday, May 19
8:30-10:15 am — Baptist Studies III, IV & V (Paper and Panel Presentations)
10:30-Noon — Plenary Session II (Sanctuary)
Noon-1:30 pm — BHHS Business Session and Awards Presentations
1:30-3:15 pm — Baptist Studies VI, VII & VIII (Paper and Panel Presentations)
Wednesday, May 20
8:30-10:15am — Baptist Studies IX & X (Paper and Panel Presentations)
10:30-Noon — Closing Plenary Session — “The Bible in the Baptist Tradition” (Panel Discussion)
Baptist Studies I (BHHS) – Monday, May 18 (4:30 – 6:00 p.m.)
Congregational History and Baptist Identity: A Review of First Baptist Church Waco: A Legacy of Education, Missions, and Service
In celebration of First Baptist Church Waco’s 175th anniversary, this panel will review Dr. William L. Pitts’s newly published congregational history, First Baptist Church Waco: A Legacy of Education, Missions, and Service (Mercer University Press). The volume traces the church’s development from its 1851 founding through slavery, war, denominational conflict, and secularization, highlighting its enduring commitments to education, missions, and religious liberty. Panelists will assess the book’s interpretation of FBC Waco’s influence within Texas and Southern Baptist life, followed by Dr. Pitts’s response. The session emphasizes the significance of local congregational history for understanding broader Baptist identity and institutional change.
Glenn Jonas, Professor of Religion and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Campbell University
Doug Weaver, Chair, Department of Religion; Barbara Jo Beard Driskell Professor in Historical Studies, Baylor University
William L. Pitts, Professor of Religion Emeritus, Baylor University
A President in Church: Getting Jimmy Carter Out of the Archives
When recordings surfaced of President Jimmy Carter teaching Sunday school at First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., between 1977 and 1981, this presenter recognized their historical significance. This presentation recounts the discovery, transcription, and publication of those lessons, reflecting on archival stewardship, journalistic practice, and the challenges of interpreting church records involving a sitting president.
Christi Harlan, Principal and Author, Christi Harlan Media LLC
Baptist Studies II (BHHS) – Monday, May 18 (4:30 – 6:00 p.m.)
Finding a Home Among Baptists: 50 Years of the Welcoming and Affirming Movement
This paper traces the emergence and development of the welcoming and affirming movement among Baptists, beginning with American Baptists Concerned in 1973 and the later formation of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Churches. Drawing on newsletters, interviews, and organizational correspondence, it examines how LGBTQ+ Baptists pursued full inclusion within congregational life amid shifting denominational and social landscapes.
C. Delane Tew, Retired Professor of History, Samford University
Harvey Springer: Baptist Fascist?
Harvey Springer, pastor of First Baptist Church and Tabernacle in Englewood, Colorado (1936–1966), attracted national attention for his anti-Catholic campaign against John F. Kennedy. Drawing on FBI surveillance records and reactions from the Anti-Defamation League, this paper examines Springer’s antisemitic views and associations with Gerald B. Winrod and Gerald L. K. Smith, assessing whether he functioned as a fellow-traveler of American fascism.
Christopher Price, Associate Professor of History, New River Community and Technical College
Rhetorical Fictions and the Witch Hunt of Women in Ministry: A Narrative Criticism of Southern Baptist Convention Discourse (1984–2023)
Drawing on Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm and Lisa Gring-Pemble’s work on rhetorical depiction, this paper analyzes four pivotal moments in SBC discourse from 1984 to 2023. It argues that a rhetorical fiction of the “witch hunt” sustains exclusion of women in ministry, producing narratives that justify surveillance, erasure, and material harm within Southern Baptist spaces.
Meg Rooney, Ph.D. Student and Spiritual Well-Being Graduate Assistant, University of Georgia
Baptist Studies III (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (8:30 – 10:15 a.m.)
“Stubborn, Tenacious and Sensitive”: Annie Armstrong and Controversies
Many Baptists revere Annie Armstrong for her leadership in women’s missions, yet her conflicts are less well known. Drawing on correspondence and WMU archival notes describing her as “stubborn, tenacious, and emotional,” this paper examines Armstrong’s sharp exchanges—particularly with T. P. Bell and Fannie E. S. Heck—revealing a strong personality often overlooked in denominational biographies.
Melody Maxwell, Hannah Maria Norris Professor of World Christian History and Women in Ministry, Acadia Divinity College
The Scandal, Strength and Spirituality of a Female Missionary
Controversy surrounded Charlotte White Rowe’s 1815 appointment as America’s first appointed woman missionary, provoking opposition in both the United States and England. Drawing on newly recovered archival materials and her recently published journal, this presentation explores how Rowe navigated scandal, gender bias, and trauma while sustaining a resilient spirituality rooted in reflection, vocation, and dialogue with God.
Reid S. Trulson, Executive Director/CEO Emeritus, American Baptist International Ministries
The Liturgical Agency of Female Believers: Expanding Women’s Access to Religious Authority
This paper explores “female liturgical agency,” defined as women’s self-fulfillment and initiative within worship through prayer, ritual, sacred texts, hymnody, spatial leadership, and clerical roles. Engaging Baptist theology, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship contexts, ethnographic insights, and interviews with young adult women, it argues that Baptist theology’s “four fragile freedoms” not only permit but require expanded female participation in congregational life.
Meg Rooney, Ph.D. Student and Spiritual Well-Being Graduate Assistant, Department of Religion, University of Georgia
Baptist Studies IV (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (8:30 – 10:15 a.m.)
Willie Dawson: The Power of Speech
This paper examines the life and ministry of Willie Dawson, whose persuasive public speaking shaped Baptist women’s and student ministries in the early twentieth century. From W.M.U. conventions to the Baptist World Alliance and First Baptist Church of Waco, her leadership inspired fundraising initiatives and educational efforts, leaving a legacy of influence often overshadowed in Baptist historiography.
Bill Pitts, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Baylor University
Crossing Boundaries of Race and Geography: The Rev. J. C. Herrin in the Southern Baptist and American Baptist Denominations
This paper traces how Julius Caesar Herrin navigated Southern Baptist and American Baptist contexts amid mid-twentieth-century struggles over race and theology. From his 1954 dismissal as UNC chaplain to his later work advancing integration, Herrin moved between northern and southern conventions, maintaining relationships across denominational lines while pursuing racial justice in turbulent ecclesial and regional settings.
Deborah Bingham Van Broekhoven, Executive Director Emerita, American Baptist Historical Society
Reinterpreting the Baptist Mission: Garland A. Hendricks and Rural Church Reform, 1940–1953
This paper examines how Garland A. Hendricks sought to reinterpret North Carolina Baptists’ understanding of mission to include social Christianity and community development. Drawing on his writings in the Biblical Recorder and work with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, it highlights his vision of rural churches leading social and economic uplift through practical theological education.
Joshua S. Pruitt, Assistant Archivist, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Baptist Studies V (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (8:30 – 10:15 a.m.)
Fidelity to God’s Word: Christian Nationalism and Inerrancy in the Southern Baptist Convention
This presentation explores how biblical inerrancy functioned within the Southern Baptist Convention from roughly 1980 to 2016 as a theological foundation for Christian nationalist politics. It argues that commitments to inerrancy fueled culture war engagement on issues such as abortion and school prayer, culminating in the alignment of denominational identity with broader nationalist narratives.
Benjamin Potter, Adjunct, Wingate University and Ph.D. Student, International Baptist Theological Seminary/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Messing with Texas: The Baptist Joint Committee’s Legislative Advocacy in the Lone Star State
This paper examines the Baptist Joint Committee’s responses to recent Texas legislation concerning school chaplains, Ten Commandments displays, voucher funding, and mandated prayer periods. Surveying public advocacy and policy engagement, it assesses the BJC’s effectiveness in resisting these initiatives and considers how Baptist commitments to religious liberty shape contemporary legislative strategy.
Jerry Faught, Campus Dean, Wayland Baptist University (Wichita Falls, Texas)
Diaspora, Distance and Discipleship: How Black Baptists Navigate Christian Nationalism’s Moral Geography
This paper examines how Black Baptist communities interpret and resist the moral geography of Christian nationalism. Drawing on sermons, denominational writings, archival sources, and interviews, it traces narratives of migration and exile that cultivate a theology of movement and “holy distance,” challenging nationalist assumptions that faith, citizenship, and homeland converge in a single racialized identity.
Michaela Calahan, Student and Chaplain, Southern Methodist University
Baptist Studies VI (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (2:00 – 3:30 p.m.)
A Mere Kentuckian: Celebrating the Life and Published Works of Dr. Keith Harper
This presentation reflects on the life and scholarship of Dr. Keith Harper, surveying themes across four decades of work on Southern Baptists. Emphasizing questions of authority, denominational conflict, social concern, and Baptist identity, it considers Harper’s resistance to consensus history and his interpretation of Baptists’ transition from cultural outsiders to insiders in American life.
Andrew Smith, Professor of History of Christianity, Carson-Newman University
Baptists and World War II: Telling the Stories
With few veterans of the Second World War remaining, preserving the stories of those shaped by the conflict is especially timely. World War II profoundly affected Baptist life—missionaries serving under dangerous conditions, church members engaged in combat and homefront roles, pastors guiding congregations through uncertainty, and Baptists assisting displaced populations.
This session features two case studies: the escape and refugee ministry of John and Pauline Moore in Yugoslavia and the experiences of Japanese-American Baptists Reiji and Asano Hoshizaki. Presenters also introduce key archival resources and research opportunities, inviting deeper exploration of how the war reshaped Baptist identity, mission, and memory.
Presentation: To the Ends of the Earth: Southern Baptist Missions in the Balkans, 1938–1945, and Other WWII Research Opportunities at the Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives
Taffey Hall, Director, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
Presentation: The Effect of WWII in Shaping God’s Call and Missions Service: Japanese-Americans Reiji and Asano Hoshizaki, and Other WWII Research Opportunities at Baylor University
Kathy Hillman, Associate Professor, Baylor Libraries; Director of Baptist Collections; Director of the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
Baptist Studies VII (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (2:00 – 3:30 p.m.)
Scattered Yet Gathered: Baptist Identity and the Theology of Diaspora
Baptists have long regarded themselves as a people “in the world but not of it,” echoing the New Testament’s portrayal of a dispersed and exiled church. This paper traces how biblical imagery of scattering and sojourning—especially in 1 Peter 1:1 and James 1:1—has shaped Baptist identity from seventeenth-century English congregations to modern reflections on faithful presence in a post-Christendom age.
R. Connor Evans, Pastor, Hico Baptist Church; Ph.D. Candidate, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Manichean Fire: Gilbert Tennent, James Davenport and the Roots of Separate Baptist Dualism
This paper argues that the First Great Awakening fostered a “Manichean social imaginary” that reframed revivalism as ideological conflict. Examining Gilbert Tennent’s 1740 sermon The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry and James Davenport’s 1743 New London Bonfire, it traces how dualistic categories of light and darkness became institutionalized within the Separate Baptist movement through Shubal Stearns and the Sandy Creek Association.
Daniel Alan Long, Graduate Student (M.A. History), Indiana University
The Bible, Humor and Being a Baptist
This informal presentation reflects on reading Scripture “with a light heart,” inviting Baptists to recognize humor within the biblical text. Setting aside strict literalism, the speaker offers a personal testimony on how attentiveness to irony, exaggeration, and wit can enrich faith and interpretation while challenging overly solemn approaches to Scripture.
William E. Ellis, Professor Emeritus of History, Eastern Kentucky University
Baptist Studies VIII (BHHS) – Tuesday, May 19 (2:00 – 3:30 p.m.)
J. B. Hartwell and the Global Missionary Movement
This paper examines the missionary career of Jesse Boardman Hartwell, who served fifty-four years among the Chinese, including four decades in Shantung Province. Highlighting his role in baptizing the first convert and organizing the first Protestant church north of Shanghai, it traces the process by which Hartwell established this congregation and situates his work within the broader global missionary movement.
John E. Shaffett, Director of Library Services, Brewton-Parker Christian University
“Here We Have No Lasting City”: Soviet Evangelical-Baptist Immigration to the United States in the Late 1980s
This paper examines the mass emigration of Soviet Evangelical-Baptists between 1988 and 1990, situating their migration within Cold War diplomacy, refugee policy, and religious advocacy. Drawing on newspapers like Christianity Today and Voices of the Martyrs, U.S. government records, and evangelical institutional sources, it highlights how American diplomats, Christian organizations, and Soviet believers jointly shaped religious freedom through immigration.
Sarah MacKenzie, Graduate Student and Graduate Research Assistant, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Towards Filipinization of the Southern Baptists in the Philippines: Surveyed and Considered
This paper urges Southern Baptists in the Philippines to consider Filipinization as advocated by Henry Silbor (1938–2010). Through a historical-theological approach, it surveys Baptist development and historiography, then presents Silbor’s fourfold vision: becoming a mission-sending force, formulating a Filipino Baptist confession, rediscovering Baptist identity, and manifesting theological maturity.
John Paul Arceno, Ph.D. Student, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Lead Pastor, Union Community Bible Church
Baptist Studies IX (BHHS) – Wednesday, May 19 (8:30 – 10:15 a.m.)
The Baptist World Alliance – Reading History through Biography
This panel, anchored by co-editors Doug Weaver and Melody Maxwell of the newly published The Global Baptist Network: Biographies of Leaders in the Baptist World Alliance, explores the Baptist World Alliance through biography. Contributors examine influential leaders from the BWA’s early and recent history, highlighting male and female figures from the United States and beyond. Together, the panel considers how individual lives illuminate the BWA’s global witness across more than a century.
Melody Maxwell, Hannah Maria Norris Professor of World Christian History and Women in Ministry, Acadia Divinity College
Doug Weaver, Chair, Department of Religion; Barbara Jo Beard Driskell Professor in Historical Studies, Baylor University
Merrill Hawkins, Professor of Christian Studies & Director of Blevins Institute, Carson-Newman University
Glenn Jonas, Professor of Religion and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Campbell University
C. Delane Tew, Retired Professor of History, Samford University
Baptist Studies X (BHHS) – Wednesday, May 19 (8:30 – 10:15 a.m.)
Making a Baptist College a Safe Space from Which to Wage Culture War: Louisiana College/Christian University, 2007–2023
This paper evaluates the significance of transitions at Louisiana Christian University (formerly Louisiana College) amid a conservative realignment within the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Using Robert Benne’s typology of church-related colleges, it argues that while faculty and administrative personnel changed, academic life largely experienced continuity. Under two successive presidents, the school prioritized institutional rhetoric and political alignment to become a stronghold within broader culture war debates.
Christopher Schelin, Dean of Students, Starr King School for the Ministry
Transformed by Fellowship: Japanese Americans and Antiracism in Northern Baptist Home Missions
This presentation examines how long-standing relationships between Japanese American congregations and the American Baptist Home Missions Society fostered pro-immigrant and antiracist advocacy during World War II incarceration. Drawing on missionary correspondence, institutional records, and congregational accounts, it highlights how personal relationships and Japanese American leadership reshaped Northern Baptist home missions policy and practice before, during, and after the war.
Jenny Manasco, Digital Archivist, American Baptist Historical Society
Brice Bongiovanni, Project Archivist, American Baptist Historical Society
James Ralph Noonkester: A Promoter of World Missions, Pioneer Educator and Champion of Racial Justice
This paper examines the life of James Ralph Noonkester (1924–2012), longtime president of William Carey College. It explores his commitment to World Missions, and racial justice. Especially noteworthy are his courageous decisions to integrate the college in 1965 and to serve as a trusted racial justice community intermediary in Hattiesburg, after the Ku Klux Klan murdered Black activist Vernon Dahmer. His perseverance in championing racial justice despite denominational and regional resistance set him apart from many of his contemporaries.
Charles Dollar, History Author and Researcher
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Purpose and History of Annual Conferences
Previous Annual BHHS Conferences
2025 Addressing Abuse in Baptist Communities (Waco, TX)
2024 Baptist History and Identity (Raleigh, NC)
2023 Baptists in the Great Southwest (San Antonio, TX)
2022 Baptists and Science (Virtual)
2021 Baptists and Public Advocacy (Virtual)
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019 Baptist Engagement with Social Justice and Those on the Margins (Raleigh, NC)
2018 Baptist Women in the Twentieth Century (Atlanta, GA)
2017 Biographies and Narratives: Baptist Experiences and Convictions (Augusta, GA)
2016 Perspectives in Baptist History and Identity (Waco, TX)
2015 Seeking Justice: Baptists, Nashville and Civil Rights (Nashville, TN)
2014 Exploring the ‘Other’ Baptists (Sioux Falls, SD)
2013 Faith, Freedom, Forgiveness: Religion and the Civil War, Emancipation and Reconciliation in Our Time (Richmond, VA)
2012 Baptists and Theology (Raleigh, NC)
2011 Baptists and Education (Dallas, TX)
2010 Baptists and Revivalism (Georgetown, KY)
2009 Baptist Contributions, 1609-2009 (Huntsville, AL)
2008 Baptists and the First Amendment (Atlanta, GA)
2007 African Americans in Baptist History (Campbellsville, KY)
2006 The Contributions of Baptist Public Figures in America (Washington, DC)
2005 Women in Baptist History (Birmingham, AL)
2004 Baptist Footprints in the Northwest (Vancouver, WA)
2003 Baptists on the Frontier (Belton, TX)
2002 Baptists and Diversity (Jefferson City, TN)
2001 Baptists and World War II (Pensacola, FL)
2000 Reflections on Baptist Life in the Twentieth Century (Savannah, GA)
1999 Baptist Theological Education (Liberty, MO)
1998 Texas Baptists and the Southern Baptist Convention (Dallas, TX)
1997 Baptists and the Civil War (Richmond, VA)
1996 Two Ways To Be Baptist: J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett (Nashville, TN)
1995 The Spirit of Southern Baptists, 1845-1995 (Augusta, GA)
1994 Ministries of Baptist Laypeople (Memphis, TN)
1993 Baptists and the News Media (Nashville, TN)
1992 World Missions: Two Centuries of Baptist Achievement (Birmingham, AL)
1991 Religious Education in Southern Baptist Churches (Nashville, TN)
1990 Southern Baptists and Relationships with Other Denominations (Nashville, TN)
1989 Baptists in America: 175 Years of National Organization (Nashville, TN)
1988 Ordination in Baptist Heritage (Nashville, TN)
1987 Women in Southern Baptist History (Birmingham, AL)
1986 Baptist Church Music Heritage (Nashville, TN)
1985 Baptists and the History of Church-State Relationships (Nashville, TN)
1984 The Role of the Bible in Baptist History (Nashville, TN)
1983 Ethnic Southern Baptist Heritage (Nashville, TN)
1982 Southern Baptists Nationwide (Charleston, SC)
1981 Black Southern Baptist Heritage (Nashville, TN)
1980 Southern Baptist Theologians (Louisville, KY)
1979 Baptist Polity: A Look at Church Order (Nashville, TN)
1978 The Heritage of Baptist Thought (Fort Worth, TX)
1977 Communicating Baptist History Through Contemporary Media and Art Forms (Nashville, TN)
1976 Baptists and the Struggle for Religious Liberty in Early America (Richmond, VA)
1975 Our Denominational Heritage and the Present: The Role of Baptist Oral History (Nashville, TN)
1974 Baptists and the Bicentennial (Nashville, TN)
1973 Our Denominational Heritage and the Present: The Role of the State Baptist Historical Society (Birmingham, AL)
1972 Baptists and Social Revolution (Nashville, TN)
1971 Libraries: Archives and Indexing (Nashville, TN)
1970 125 Years of Southern Baptist Convention History (Nashville, TN)
1969 Writing Baptist History (Nashville, TN)