Independent Baptist Fellowship International

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The Independent Baptist Fellowship International or IBFI is an organization of fundamentalist Independent Baptist pastors and missionaries. IBFI was formed in May 1984 at Fort Worth, Texas. The organization's founding resulted from a controversy concerning Arlington Baptist College, an educational arm of the World Baptist Fellowship. The controversy arose when Raymond W. Barber, then President of the WBF, made accusations concerning the college. The directors of the Bible Baptist Seminary had created a new Junior College in conjunction with the seminary. Barber charged that this decision subsequently allowed the seminary to die. Although he did not reveal the real issue, Rev. Barber publicly claimed that the school was straying from the original purpose of its founder J. Frank Norris, in seeking accreditation. He also believed that the school was beginning to endorse the Christian doctrines of Calvinism, and even went so far as to charge some of the faculty with promoting Hyper-Calvinism. He was not alone in his concerns, and over the course of about 5 years, was able to amass a strong following of Pastors and school faculty members who shared his opposition to the direction the school was taking (although he never once mentioned the issue of Calvinism to some of his supporters). Many unfortunate decisions were made during this time, including the filing of a lawsuit, by Barber and two of his fellow Pastors, against Earl Oldham, the recently retired President of the college. The lawsuit was an attempt to force the Arlington Baptist College to revert to its original name, Bible Baptist Seminary, and its original purpose. The controversy that took place only hurt the WBF as churches began dropping their monthly support of the fellowship mission agency and college, weary of the fighting that was stunting the fellowship's growth. Because Barber lost the lawsuit, by 1984, he claimed to have no other choice but to break his allegiance to the WBF and begin the IBFI fellowship.

The new fellowship founded a Bible institute, Norris Bible Baptist Institute, a monthly publication, The Searchlight, and the Independent Baptist Fellowship Mission Agency. Rev. Barber is famous for stating in his sermons, that "When we started...we had nothing, not even a paper clip." The early years were tumultuous. Interestingly enough, Calvinistic pastors Jack Green and Jack Warren were both founders of the IBFI and taught at Norris Bible Baptist Institute, but one of Barber's strongest complaints against rival Arlington Baptist College was its retention of Calvinist-friendly professors. Even though, it has been in existence for 23 years now, the IBFI has been unable to generate a strong interest in its unaccredited seminary or mission agency. Financial problems have plagued the fellowship in recent years, and enrollment in the Bible college consistently lags between 10 and 25 students.

The mission agency, considered the heart of the fellowship, services less than 30 missionaries. Critics blame the questionable funding of an expensive building on IBFI property, called the Raymond Barber Conference Center, for the fellowship's obvious failure. Additionally, the increasing isolation of Fundamental Baptists from the mainstream of theology, including conservative and historic Protestant theology, has narrowed the base of churches from which the IBFI can draw students and support. Since 1993, a slew of scandals in Fundamental Baptist churches, including those perceived to be leading churches in Fundamentalism, has damaged the credibility of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. Since the Jack Hyles-Jenny Nischik scandal, several notorious cases have been made public, the most recent of which was the Trinity Baptist (Jacksonville, FL) legal battles, in which 23 adults came forward alleging that they were molested by former pastor Bob Gray, with the knowledge and collusion of the deacon board. Cases like these, no longer able to be silenced, seem to be sounding the death knell for the smaller Fundamental Baptist schools

In its prime, Arlington Baptist College had a consistently expanding enrollment that was close to 1,000 students. Almost 25 years after the split, total enrollment for both schools runs under 200 students annually. Today, many Independent Baptist leaders, even former supporters of the fellowship, believe that the demise of the IBFI is imminent.

IBFI has a missions office, promotes regional and national fellowship, publishes The Searchlight, and is dedicated to establishing new churches around the world. Membership is open to pastors and churches that choose to attend the meetings and support the programs of IBFI. Headquarters are in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1995, the IBFI had 540 participating churches. Of this number, 392 also cooperate with other independent Baptist fellowships.