When the New England Free Will Baptists (leaders pictured below left, and at the grave of Benjamin Randall, right) merged with the Northern Baptists in 1911, it seemed an era had ended and a heritage lost. Several schools, the only Free Will Baptist foreign missions program, a publishing house, and a number of able leaders were swallowed up in the new merger. But all was not lost. A remnant of this segment of the denomination in both the Midwest and far West remained true to their original convictions. Churches of the New England heritage could still be found in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas. The Oklahoma churches were probably founded through the ministry of missionaries from Arkansas, but they would relate to the New England remnant through their membership in the old Southwestern General Conference. The Southwestern General Conference had been admitted to the General Conference of New England in 1907 and remained true to its Free Will Baptist convictions even after the 1911 merger, the majority of the Southwestern churches joined with the new combined body. The remnant of the Conference formed the Cooperative General Association of Free Will Baptists. The new organization was … Continue reading New England’s Legacy for Today’s Free Will Baptists