Amzi Clarence Dixon was born on a farm near Shelby, North Carolina, on July 6, 1854, to Thomas Jeremiah Frederick Dixon, a Baptist preacher, and Amanda Elvira McAfee Dixon. His brother, Thomas Dixon, Jr., became a prominent novelist. While still young, Dixon believed he was called to preach the gospel; and in 1875, he graduated from Wake Forest College in Read more...

The Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology has its roots in a program of archaeological field work in the Near East that began in 1924 focusing on the Lands of the Bible: modern day Israel, West Bank, and Jordan. Its exhibits highlight daily life in ancient times including landscape and settlement patterns; domestic and communal architecture; agriculture and food preparation; Read more...

The lock and key from this jail is in the Virginia Baptist History Museum in Richmond, and can be viewed at https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/starexponent.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/16/716a0499-9518-5823-9b53-27f1b0b9db61/5c65aa14703d5.image.jpg?resize=670%2C500 Early congregations also gathered at their own risk, as when the well-bred men of Culpeper County galloped their horses through a crowd that had formed to hear the Reverend James Ireland preach from his cell while incarcerated for Read more...

From Encyclopedia Virginia:   In this 1772 document, the sheriff of Orange County is ordered to summon Nathaniel Saunders, minister of Mountain Run Baptist Church, to appear in Culpeper County Court to answer the charge of “unlawfull Preaching.” Virginia required ministers to obtain preaching licenses, but some Baptists refused to do so on the grounds that it was not a Read more...

The Jerry Falwell Museum is currently closed while it is relocating to the Jerry Falwell Library. Since opening on Falwell Sr.’s 70th birthday in 2003, the Jerry Falwell Museum has continued to grow its collection. It contains memorabilia about Liberty’s founder with donations from family, alumni, and friends from around the world. Those interested in the history of Liberty University, Thomas Read more...

From Wikipedia: Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr.[a] (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007)[3] was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist.[4] He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy (now Liberty Christian Academy) in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.   Authors photo of grave Read more...

Sacred to the memory of Edmund Botsford 11-1-1745 —- 12-25-1819 BAPTIST PREACHER – AUTHOR – CHURCH PLANTER First Pastor of the Baptist Church in this town A pious Christian and a faithful minister He exchanged worlds on the 25th of December 1819, in the 75th year of his age.   England gave him birth, Carolina a sepulchre. In the American Church, where Read more...

ISAAC McCOY FRIEND TO THE INDIAN – BAPTIST MISSIONARY – EDUCATOR Isaac McCoy was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania June 13, 1784, the son of William and Eliza Royce McCoy. His father moved the family to Kentucky where Isaac was converted during the revival of 1800. Several important events occurred during the next ten years that would set the stage for McCoy Read more...

ROBERT LOWRY MARCH 12, 1826 – NOVEMBER 25, 1899 BORN IN PHILADELPHIA, ROBERT LOWRY WAS CONVERTED AND RECEIVED INTO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF THAT CITY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. ACTIVE IN VARIOUS AREAS OF SERVICE, HE SOON ACKNOWLEDGED HIS CALL TO THE MINISTRY. LOWRY ENTERED SCHOOL AT LEWISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA-NOW BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY. HE GRADUATED IN 1854, Read more...

“Jeremiah Vardeman was a distinguished minister somewhat rare in the annals of the church. He possessed the peculiar talent of bringing the leading truths of the gospel home to the consciences of his hearers. His illustrations were singularly vivid, his language strong, simple and well suited to convey clear thoughts to every class, even the most illiterate; while the deep Read more...