| Baptist Bible Fellowship International | |
| Classification | Baptist |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Fundamentalist Baptist |
| Polity | Congregationalist |
| Associations | International Baptist Network |
| Origin | 1950 |
| Separated from | World Baptist Fellowship |
| Congregations | 4500 |
| Members | 1,200,000 |
The Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI) is a separatist, fundamentalist Baptist organization formed in 1950 by members who separated from the World Baptist Fellowship. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. In North America there are 4,500 congregations totaling 1.2 million members associated with it; an additional 10,000 churches are associated worldwide.[1]
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Background
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J. Frank Norris was the recognized leader of the WBF and the Bible Baptist Seminary of Fort Worth, Texas. In 1948, George Beauchamp Vick (Norris' co-pastor in Detroit, Michigan) agreed to take the presidency of the school in Fort Worth. In May, 1950, Norris opposed Vick, ousted him from the presidency, and installed a new president. When the World Baptist Fellowship met, no solution could be found, and Vick officially resigned. Noel Smith, W. E. Dowell, Sr., Fred Donnelson, Dr. John Rawlings, Vick, and other pastors met in the Texas Hotel and laid groundwork for a new fellowship.
Approximately 100 pastors and missionaries were among the founders of the new Baptist group. They chose Springfield as their headquarters and started the Baptist Bible College, the Baptist Bible Tribune, a clearinghouse for missionary support. In the years that have passed since those early days, it has grown into the largest independent Baptist Missionary organization in the world.
There are three functions of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. Worldwide missions, training, and communication.
A Missions Office at the Springfield, Missouri headquarters serves as a support base for the over nine hundred missionaries of the BBFI. Their primary task is to serve as a clearinghouse for missions support sent by thousands of BBFI-affiliated churches and distributed to the missionaries' accounts. During this past decade (2000-2009), over $385 million was sent through the BBFI Missions Office. The Missions Office is supported separately by the churches on a voluntary basis so that all the donations are dispersed to the field. Through the efforts of BBFI missionaries, well over 6,000 churches have been established, along with numerous schools, camps, orphanages, and feeding centers. The current Missions Director is Jon Konnerup.
Training takes place through the Fellowship's two owned schools and other approved, but separately owned and operated schools. Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, has been the flagship school since its founding in 1950, growing to become the world's largest Bible college at its apex in the mid-70's. It is accredited by the North Central Association, and the current president is Jim Edge. A second school was founded in 1976 in Shrub Oak, New York, later moving to Boston to become Boston Baptist College. It is accredited by Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, and the current president is David Melton. Two other schools are approved by the BBFI as recognized training centers for its missionaries, Pacific Baptist College in Pomona, California; and Louisiana Baptist University in Shreveport, Louisiana. These schools are owned and operated by others, but are sanctioned to be eligible to receive funds through the BBFI Missions Office.
The Baptist Bible Tribune, published monthly, contains numerous opinion pieces, reports from the foreign mission field, reports from domestic churches, and light theological treatises. It is written by BBFI officers, pastors and missionaries and is the official voice of the BBFI.
The structure of BBFI consists of pastors rather than congregations. Affiliation is open to any Baptist pastor of a supporting Baptist church believing in and adhering to twenty articles of faith, outlined in a small booklet available from the Mission Office. Official recognition of that affiliation is contingent upon financial support of at least one of the three established functions described above.
The organizational structure includes President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, and Directors, one from each state and elected by State Fellowships. Within this organization, there are State Fellowships in each of the fifty states of the United States. Some BBFI churches and pastors also affiliate with and support other fellowships, such as the World Baptist Fellowship. The BBFI is also one of three Fellowships---along with the World Baptist Fellowship and the Southwide Baptist Fellowship which make up the International Baptist Network.
Although the current number of members is not public knowledge, most experts believe that membership in the BBFI has declined in the past 10 years. The Fellowship owns the original Baptist Bible College, as well as Boston Baptist College.
Jerry Falwell was affiliated with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International since his graduation from Baptist Bible College in Springfield Missouri in 1956, and later also affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Falwell retained his affiliation with the Baptist Bible Fellowship, and the church he founded in 1956, Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia, is listed in the current BBFI directory.
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