The evident blessing of God upon Southern Baptists.
I have been in the Baptist ministry for 32 years. I started out with Southern Baptists. I was ordained by them, and I attended two great Southern Baptist institutions: Georgetown college in Kentucky and Southern Seminary of Louisville, Ky.
32 years ago when I began my ministry there were only 2,500,000 Southern Baptists. Today there are 8,000,000. There are 6,000,000 people enrolled in Southern Baptist Sunday Schools. There are now 2,500,000 people enrolled in our Training Unions. There are two new Southern Baptist churches opened everyday of the year.
From 1929 to 1952 Roman Catholics increased 59 per cent. During this same period Southern Baptists increased 102 per cent.
In my early Christian life the 75 Million campaign was launched which has been criticized, condemned and branded as the @ 75 Million campaign. I believe the propaganda that was directed against this great advance until I found out otherwise. I have often said that you cannot blame a man for being ignorant, but he is to be balmed if he remains ignorant. I found out by investigations that the 75 Million campaign was a tremendous step of advancement for Southern Baptists all along the line. It was as a result of this great step of faith that Southern Baptist institutions got on their feet, and the world-wide missionary work and expansion program really got under way.
However, it took several years for Southern Baptists to raise $75,000,000. Today the income of our churches averages more than $1,000,000 per day, 365 days out of the year.
Last year more than $50,000,000 was given in mission gifts alone.
Between the years of 1941 and 1951 six other major denominations in the United States suffered a net loss in Sunday School enrollment of 649,474. During this same time Southern Baptists gained 1,700,228.
25 years ago Baptists were way down the list in giving. During this 25-year period other denominations averaged increasing their giving to the extent of 80 per cent. During this same period of time Southern Baptists increased their giving 317 per cent.
In the year 1950 Southern Baptists gave $19,000,000 through the Cooperative Program. In four short years they had increased this to $34,000,000.
The most glorious of all results, revealing the blessings of God upon Southern Baptists, is seen in the fact that last year more than 400,000 people were saved and baptized into the fellowship of Southern Baptists churches. This is considerably more than 1,000 souls a day being brought to Christ, and not only brought to Christ for salvation, but also baptized and brought into the fellowship of the churches.
There is no Christian group of any denomination anywhere on the face of the earth that has enjoyed such blessings as these from God during the past more than a quarter of a century. This average of more than 1,000 souls a day saved and baptized has continued for the past 10 years, and at the present rate of growth Southern Baptists within four years will become the largest non-Catholic denomination in the world. If the rate of increase continues and our Lord tarries until the year 2000 Southern Baptists will equal the Roman Catholic church in numbers throughout the world.
These figures speak for themselves. They reveal the evident blessings of God upon Southern Baptists.
Fundamentalism is down a dead end street.