The Wilson times. [volume] (Wilson, N.C.) 1896-19??, 1919-01-14
BAPTIST STATE:
CONVENTION
Which Meets in Greensboro
Today and a Resume of
the Activities
OF THAT DENOMINATION


The Baptist State Convention OF
North Carolina begins its eighty:
eighth session in the city of Green's
boro tomorrow and will continue to
the 10th.
The Convention has met three
times in Greensboro. The first time
it met in the city was in 1888. At
that time there was but one Baptist
church in town, and that was partly
supported by the State Board Of
Missions. There were but 161 men,
bers in the little church and the
town had opulation of just lit
tie over 5000. Rev. w. X. Wwalt-
ney, D. D. was pastor Of the church.
Thesecond time the Convention
met in Greensboro was in 1895.
There was still only one church and
that had but recently come off the
Mission Board. Ihe church had an
enrolment og 217. while the town
had reached a population Of 5000.
Two of the most useful men in the
denomination had died, and it be-
came necessary for the Convention
to fill their places. One of these
was DR.. G. T. Bailey, editor of the
Biblical Recorder, and the other
was DR.. Columbus Durham, Cores
ponding Secretary Of the Conven~
tion, which position he had held
from 1879 until the time of his
death in November, 1895.
It was in 1906 that the third ses-
sion of the Convention was held in
Greensboro. The town had BY this
time grown into a city, with pop
ulation Of $4,000. The First
Church, with which the Convention
was held, entertained the body in
the magnificent new building which
had just been completed. Instead
of the one little church with which
the Convention met in 1865. there
were in 1906 four churches with a
total membership of sos, Of which
number AIT were members of the
First Church. The other three
churches were mission points.
Greensboro is the meeting place
again. What changes have taken
place since the Convention met in
the city thirty years ago! The lit
tie village of three thousand years
ago! The little village of three
thousand has, with its suburbs,
grown into city Of thirty thousand.
The little mission church with
which the Convention met then, has
gone from a membership of 161 to-
church of 770 members, and 1t
has sent out members to constitute
nine other churches whose aggre-
gate membership is 1900, making
the total membership of the ten
ten churches 1870. While the pop
ulation of Greensboro has been null
tiplied by ten, the number of Bap-
lists has been increased fourteen
fold.
There were in the state thirty
years ago 11S,250 white Baptists,
while the figures Of 1917, which are
the latest available, gave 2S4,s27 as
the total membership. Contribu-
tions for benevolent objects in 1888
wree $33,912.19; while for last
year the figures showed total OF
$254,685.67. A little calculation
will show that while the member
ship has grown $50 per cent, the
contributions have advanced $50
! per cent.
The Convention has several agen-
cies for carrying on its work. The
objects fostered by the Convention
have been grouped under four heads
according to the simpler plan"
which was adopted by the Conven-
tion three years ago. The heads un-
der which the objects are grouped
are (1) Missions ~ Education (3)
Social Service.
The State Board Of Missions Ia
located in Raleigh, with Rev. Wal.
ter N. Johnson was elected to the
position Of Secretary at the meeting
of the Convention which was held
In the City of Charlotte in 1915. He
is now rounding out his third year
and the work has made fine ad.
vancement under his leadership.
The total contributions for mis-.
sions has gone up from $131,7ss.6a
in 1915 to $144,l444.ss in 1917
(Cintinusd q IAss YSeo.)
uAHnA41sI!l1 lssusss1