Eighty Years of Church Planting
In response to a growing concern for planting Free Will Baptist churches in North America, the Free Will Baptist Home Missions Board was formed at the second National Association meeting held in 1938. Delegates elected chairman M.L. Hollis, J.K. Warkentin, Mrs. J.E. Frazier, Lizzie McAdams, and George Dunbar to fill the board.
For the first decade, the work of the department was restricted by lack of funding and the ministry often limited to assisting the tent-making efforts of church planters. During this period, Hiram and Lizzie McAdams (both ordained ministers) set the standard for Home Missions, starting churches in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. M. L. Hollis proved to be another pacesetter, organizing 24 churches in Mississippi and Texas.
When the denomination elected Harry Staires as promotional secretary of the department in 1947, he made it his mission to raise funds to implement and underwrite the funding of a successful home missions program. His work paid off. Receipts increased by 900% during his six years in office. The increased funding led to the appointment of Damon C. Dodd as the first full-time employee of the board. In 1953, Dodd moved the office to the new National Offices Building in Nashville, Tennessee. Donations continued to roll in, and less than a year later, the first church planters were commissioned with pay.
Over the next decade, home missionaries planted—or assisted in planting—churches in Florida, Nebraska, California, Oregon, and Washington. Homer E. Willis succeeded Damon Dodd and served as general director of the department from 1956 to 1973. During his years in leadership, Home Missions turned attention to New England, Alaska (led by the Lee Whaley family, pictured above), Hawaii, Colorado, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
The ministry continued to expand under the leadership of four directors. Fiery Kentucky preacher Robert (Bob) Shockey served from 1973-1978. Roy Thomas followed, directing the department from 1978-1995, before long-time associate director Trymon Messer assumed the post. Messer remained until his retirement in May 2002, when Larry Powell became the sixth head of the department, continuing until 2014.
In May 1982, Home Missions established the Church Extension Loan Fund (CELF). The innovative financial program loaned money to new Free Will Baptist churches to help them construct facilities. Denominational participants liked the idea of investing in new churches, and the program grew—and continues to grow—exponentially. CELF has helped build Free Will Baptist churches across North America.
Today, Home Missions (or North American Ministries, as the department was renamed in 2015) has 89 active mission works in 26 states, Mexico, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. North American Ministries is also responsible for placing Free Will Baptist chaplains into the armed forces to minister to service men and women.
Under the direction of Dr. David Crowe, who became executive director in 2014 after serving the department for 18 years, North American Ministries has turned its attention westward and northward as it seeks to establish churches in the great metropolitan areas of the Northeast and rapidly growing cities throughout the West.