page_title: William Bullein Johnson
section_title: Baptist leader
hierarchical_section_title: William Bullein Johnson / Baptist leader
caption_attribution_description: English: Caldwell-Johnson-Morris Cottage This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 71000740
context_page_description: William Bullein Johnson was one of the founders of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention in 1821, and later was the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1845 to 1851. Johnson is also the founder of Johnson Female Seminary, later renamed Johnson University, in 1848 the predecessor to Anderson University.
context_section_description: After preaching in several churches from 1804 to 1806, Johnson was appointed pastor of the Baptist church at Euhaw near Beaufort, South Carolina. In October 1809 he baptized five new converts in the Congaree River in Columbia, SC.  Later that day he organized First Baptist Church Columbia with these 5 new converts and 7 other local Baptists, under the leadership of Jonathan Maxcy, first president of the University of South Carolina and ordained Baptist preacher.  In 1810 he was invited to become chaplain of South Carolina College, Columbia.
  In 1811 he accepted an offer to become pastor of the Baptist church in Savannah, Georgia.
  It was here that Johnson met Luther Rice, who interested him in foreign missions, and whom he helped arrange the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions, or Triennial Convention, in 1814. He was one of the framers of the constitution of this convention. His theology was shaped by Fullerite Edwardsean thinking.
  Returning to South Carolina, after serving again as pastor of the Columbia church Johnson moved to Greenville, South Carolina where he was principal of Greenville Female Academy, and founded a Baptist church in the town.
  Johnson was one of nine men who formed the South Carolina State Baptist Convention in 1821.
  He succeeded Richard Furman as president of the convention and served from 1825 to 1852.
  In 1830 he moved to Edgefield to become principal of Edgefield Female Academy and pastor of Edgefield Baptist Church.
  Johnson became the last southern president of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions between 1841 and 1844.
  As tensions grew between the northern and southern Baptists over the issue of slavery, he attempted to avoid a split but in 1845 was asked become first president of the breakaway Southern Baptists Convention, serving until 1851.
  In this role he helped found the Furman University, which became Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1859, based in Greenville, South Carolina.
  Towards the end of his life he was chancellor of Johnson University, Anderson, South Carolina (1853–58).
caption: The Caldwell-Johnson-Morris Cottage home of William Johnson in Anderson, South Carolina.
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