When the Baptist History & Heritage Society (BH&HS) held its annual meeting at First Baptist Church, Huntsville, recently, its members had a lot to celebrate.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first Baptist church in 1609 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
And last year, total income from endowments, contributions and sales of publications broke all previous BH&HS records. The organization has also moved to new facilities and created a new Web site.
But not all of the news was positive — both of the organization’s full-time staff members are leaving their positions soon.
Jerry Faught, BH&HS president, announced the two departures at a business meeting. Executive Director Charles Deweese will retire July 31. Associate Executive Director-Treasurer Pam Durso will leave at the end of June to become executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry.
Originally formed in 1938 as the Southern Baptist Historical Society, the organization’s name was changed to the BH&HS in 2001, and its focus shifted to preserving the history of many Baptist groups, including Southern Baptists, American Baptists, National Baptists, Primitive Baptists and Seventh Day Baptists.
Besides the annual meeting, the organization conducts workshops, holds an annual preaching contest and provides information on Baptist history through its publishing program. The BH&HS publishes pamphlets, books and a quarterly journal.
The theme of this year’s three-day meeting, held June 4–6, was “Baptist Contributions, 1609–2009.” The meeting featured well-known Alabama Baptist and Baptist historian Wayne Flynt, as well as several breakout sessions in which presenters highlighted Baptist contributions in such areas as missions and evangelism, gender equality, social justice and education.
According to Durso, attendance was “about average,” at between 125 and 150.
She judged the meeting a success. “I was so pleased to have American Baptists, Cooperative Baptists, National Baptists and Southern Baptists all meeting together to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Baptist beginnings, and I was thrilled to have young students and young Baptists in attendance, some of whom presented papers and some of whom attended because of their interest in their Baptist heritage.”
First, Huntsville, hosted the meeting the week before its Homecoming Sunday, celebrating its 200th anniversary (see story, page 1). Pastor David Hull said the timing was not coincidental.
“We invited them to hold this year’s meeting here because we would be celebrating our 200th anniversary as a church and they would be celebrating 400 years of Baptist history,” he said.
The BH&HS was happy with the church’s invitation and participation in the meeting.
“The support of First Baptist, Huntsville’s, members in their attendance made the meeting,” Durso said. “Their warm hospitality and gracious spirit was … much appreciated.”
The meeting included presentations by Bruce Gourley, author of a recent book chronicling the history of First, Huntsville, and Hull, who spoke about his church’s contributions to its city, state and beyond.
For more information, visit www.baptisthistory.org.
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