11 Oct 2026
Fundamentalists in Fellowship
I’m basking in the “afterglow” of our Annual National Meeting held last week at Faith Baptist Church in Taylors, SC. The FBFI got its start in 1920 as a pre-convention meeting as a subset of the old National Baptist Convention. ((See here (https://proclaimanddefend.org/2016/12/07/baptists-and-world-wide-missions/) to find the last message of that meeting along with an index to the rest.)) Over the years the Fellowship changed in response to the changing ecclesiastical landscape of North America. We had several name changes along the way reflecting those changes.
In the early days, the reasons for gathering centered on concern over rising liberalism in the NBC. Many years of controversy called men to gather in response or to provide encouragement and direction to fellow pastors beset by changing times.
These days, with most of us pretty well settled in our positions, little controversy drives attendance at our meetings. Rather, our emphasis now is on shared ministry philosophy and fellowship. When I was a “tent-making” pastor, I was in the business world. For a time, one of the buzz-words of business was “networking.” Whether that’s a current term or not, networking makes up a lot of what we do.
Various ministries are represented by exhibitors, among our speakers, and in the attendees at our meeting. From mission boards to ancillary church services to Christian colleges and universities to many local churches — all kinds of leaders from various organizations gather together. It really is an amazing time to connect and re-connect with old friends and fellow workers in the ministry.
The preaching and workshops were good, but that’s not the most important thing about the meeting. The most important thing (in my opinion) is that opportunity to meet new and old friends, catch up on their ministries, and learn about things to pray for among our many like-minded friends.
You should plan to attend the annual fellowship meeting next October 12-14 at Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, WI. Mark your calendars and make your plans. You will come away refreshed.
In the meantime, through the year we have regional fellowships meeting, including two coming up later this month: October 24 the New England brethren will meet in Dover, NH; October 26-27, the Central Region brothers will meet in Yukon, OK. Check here: Fellowships - Foundations Baptist Fellowship International (https://fbfi.org/regions-and-fellowships/) for other regional fellowships through the year. These meetings provide the fellowship we find at the National meeting but on a smaller scale. They are well worth attending.
One of the great verses on the strength of fellowship is Ecclesiastes 4:12:
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We need the encouragement we can provide one another.
We could go on, but we will give you a little flavor of this years meeting with links to the main sessions below:
* The Church Recovered in the Word - Dr. Craig Hartman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WecuADP1BiY)
* The Church Recovered in Its Shepherds - Dr. Bruce McAlister (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1UFkqfT6U)
* The Church Recoverd in Its Courage - Lt. Col. Nathan Mestler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3PMJcexEdo)
* The Church Recovered in Its Loyalty to Christ Alone - Pastor Caleb Phelps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J12TAvN6IVY)
* The Recovered in Its Mission - Dr. Patrick Odle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mPzx7Gibk8)
* The Church Recovered in Its Order - Dr. Kevin Bauder (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-oQp7u5TNE)
* FBFI 2026 Annual Fellowship - Panel Discussion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm8h80HY2b0)
* The Church Recovered in the Home - Dr. Mark Herbster (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z1hi19wlXs)
Stay tuned for the audio from the workshops, we will make links available in a future post. We are hoping to post the audio of all sessions as a series of podcasts on the P&D podcast platform as well.
May the Lord bless you in your place of ministry. We hope to see you next year.
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