Prepared and presented by L. D. Perdue at the 50th Session of the California Cooperative Association in April 2000. From 2000 to present, it has been prepared by Zachary Crouch annually to the California History & Archives Committee beginning in 2024.
In December of 1924 the American Baptist Association (ABA) was formed. Two of the twelve Interstate Missionaries were working in California. Van Dyke Todd, who had left the Northern Baptist Convention and had pastored the Ducor, California, church, was working in a very successful mission in Lynwood, California. The Ducor church had sent Brother J. Pruden as a missionary to the Bay area and he established a work that would represent in the ABA. In addition to these two, there were several other local missionaries working in the west. The most notable was R. Y. Blalock in Meridian, Idaho. Brother Blalock was endorsed by the Middle Oregon Association. Even though he had served and would continue to serve as an Associational missionary, he was a strong advocate of direct mission work.
During this period of time the Middle Oregon Association and the Eastern Baptist Association of California and Oregon were cooperating very closely with the ABA as is reflected in their minutes from 1924 through 1930. Ben Smith, L. L. Shoptaw, Ben M. Bogard and other leading men visited both messenger body meetings from the ABA. All were warmly received and each asked to preach several times in the meetings and churches. The ABA papers, literature, mission work and schools were all endorsed and supported.
In 1935, W. S. Goulding, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Silver Lake, Oregon, announced his call to the foreign field in Panama. Both Oregon Associations would endorse him for this field and support him for many years. In 1938 he would also be endorsed by the ABA as a Faith Missionary and be widely supported. He is presently still supported and working on the field as of 2000, being the oldest missionary in time of service and years of age.
California in the Thirties
The great influx of people from the states of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas is starting and many churches will be organized with these Landmarkers. The first great event in the thirties was the organization of the new California Association. The churches to enter the Baptist Missionary Association of California were the churches at Oroville, Roseville, Berkeley and Ducor.
The constitution adopted by the newly formed association was patterned after both the Middle Oregon and Eastern California-Oregon Associations. It included:
Article 6, Sec. 2 – The vote of the majority shall rule in all cases, except in the matter of fellowship, when a unanimous vote shall be required. (Note: This part of the constitution of the two Oregon Associations was made a part of their Constitutions in order to keep out all liberal Northern Baptist Churches. LDP)
Article I0 – The Missionary Committee shall consist of one man elected by each church of this Association, to which the pastors of the churches stand advisory. The business of this Committee shall be to solicit and collect funds, and employ as missionary or missionaries, such man or men as shall be recommended by the Association, to be endorsed by a majority of the churches of the Association. Said Committee shall meet quarterly or oftener, at the call of the chairman, and shall require such reports as may (be) deemed necessary. Three members shall constitute a quorum to do business.
A word of explanation: The Baptist Missionary Association is what we call today the “Old California Association.”
All of these churches were active in supporting ABA work. Jacksonville Colleges were recommended. The Sheridan and Jacksonville Colleges were recommended.
In 1935 R. Y. Blalock came to California. He had been working in Idaho as a Missionary for the Middle Oregon Association. He had held a revival meeting for the church in Roseville, California, and on Feb. 2, 1935, they endorsed him to do mission work.
Brother Blalock also received the endorsement of the California State Association, recommendations from the Middle Oregon Association and from the Eastern Baptist Association of California and Oregon. According to the records of the Caldwell Church, he did not have an endorsement from them. His membership would remain in Caldwell until the Salinas Church was organized August 9, 1935. Brother R. Y. Blalock was not happy with the constitution of the California Association, even though he had worked for 40 years in Oregon with the same constitution. He wanted to do away with the Missionary Committee and Secretary-Treasurer. On page 3 of the 1936 minutes, we read, “A motion was made by Brother R. Y. Blalock of Salinas, that a committee of three be selected to revise the constitution so that it would be more like cooperation.” This motion passed and a committee consisting of C. L. Hunt, L. W. Wright and R. Y. Blalock was selected but action was tabled until the 1937 session when the constitution was changed, doing away with the Mission Committee and Secretary-Treasurer of Missions. For the next 15 years the California Association would recommend the work of the ABA.
The work in California as it reached the end of the thirties was enjoying a greater growth than had ever been experienced by our people, There were twenty-two churches.
In 1947, there were 23 churches represented. The Oakdale Church had a petitionary letter. L. D. Perdue was the pastor.
In 1948, 43 churches represented. The schools mentioned were the Missionary Baptist Institute of Fresno and the Pacific Coast Bible Institute of Riverbank.
The following quotation from the 1951 minutes gives some very important history of our work:
“Motion and second to receive the Ridgecrest Church and seat the messengers. The rereading of this letter was called for and read again by the clerk. Brother Arvie Moore asked for a more clearer explanation of the phrase, ‘equality of Churches and Preachers’, as found in the Ridgecrest letter. Bro. Moore read from the principles of cooperation of the N.A. B.A. (North American Baptist Association) and voiced his opposition to receiving the Ridgecrest Church on the grounds that what they had adopted, stated that the church cooperating with the N.A.B.A. was only a, unit of that organization. A motion to amend was made and seconded: That the original motion be postponed until the Moderator appoint a committee to investigate whether or not the Ridgecrest Church is in harmony with the Statements of Cooperation of the California State Missionary Association. Motion and second to appoint a committee composed of five men; carried.
“The Moderator appointed the committee of investigation as follows: Bros. Travis Hubbard, Martin Canavan, Norval Ketchum, M. J. Duncan, Rex McClung.
“The moderator called for the committee’s report. Their unanimous recommendation was that the Ridgecrest Church be received and the messengers seated. Motion seconded and the vote was taken. Sixty for receiving the Ridgecrest Church and six opposed.”
Article 7 of the Statements of Cooperation was the troublemaker in this meeting: “Churches in harmony with the principles of this association may be admitted by UNANIMOUS vote of the messengers. They are to furnish satisfactory evidence of their faith in the messengers.”
The Cooperative Association
The parting of the way for California Baptists had come. On February 12-13, 1952, seventeen churches met to organize an association under a new Statement of Cooperation.
When the first annual session of the California Cooperative Association met ninety days later at Armona, on the 13th of May 1952, there were 24 churches represented. A resolution from the Sanger Church was read: “Be it therefore resolved that we the messengers of the churches in this association RECOMMEND that the churches declare themselves in sympathy and fellowship henceforth with the American Baptist Association, cooperating with the churches as much as possible in interstate and foreign mission work.”
No recommendation for a Bible School in California was made. The Little Rock, Arkansas, and Henderson, Texas, schools were recommended. The first Bible Conference was held at Hume Lake.
In the 1954 session the Western Baptist Institute at Ceres was recommended. The Bible Conference was held at Hume Lake.
The fifth session was held with the Oakdale Church, April 5-6, 1955. There were 35 churches represented. The Western Baptist Institute was recommended. One state missionary was recommended — L. D. Perdue. The Bible Conference was held at Huntington Lake this year.
The sixth session was held March 27-28, 1956.There were 42 churches represented. The Bible Institute of Long Beach was recommended. The America Baptist Association was invited to California for its 1957 session, The Baptist Sentinel, a paper published by Brother A. T. Adkins and the Armona Church, was recommended for each home. The office of Publicity Director was created. The graded Sunday School system was recommended.
In 1958 the California Missionary Baptist Institute was on its way. W. H. Banks and C E Farrar were present at this meeting.
There were 83 churches represented in 1960. A missionary committee was established. The “dollars-a-month club” was successful this year for raising funds to build new church buildings. The State Ladies Auxiliary had complete minutes with a directory of officers and district presidents, as well as a statement of principles.
The fifteenth session returned to the Veteran’s Memorial Building in Tulare on April 13-14, 1965. Bill Hoppert was the moderator. There were four missionaries: Marlin Gipson and Monroe Patterson were recommended for salary, L. D. Perdue and C William Havens were on designated funds. L. M. Branch was elected mission treasurer. D. S. Madden was chairman of the Missionary Committee and Henry Nance was its clerk. In 1965, there were 99 churches listed in the directory. These churches spent $1,002,231.54 that Christ might be honored. This amount is almost an average of $100.00 per member. There were 10,732 members and 1,232 baptisms. $80,194.32 was spent for missions and $39,782.36 for Christian Education.
In 1968, Mt. Samson campground had been purchased on contract by Brothers Burnes and Chastain. There was a lot of interest in this project. However, it would prove to be a bad move on their part and would cause a lot of problems for the work and hard feelings. Brother Canavan had a serious heart attack and would be greatly hindered for the rest of his life. The school in Bellflower was doing well. There was a total of 102 churches listed. The California Mission Development was doing very good with excellent cooperation.
The Southern Association in 1970 passed a resolution “as being diametrically opposed to any officer of the ABA representing the churches of said association with any Civil Rights Movement.” The Fresno Missionary Baptist Church started a school in 1978. This was done under the leadership of Burel G. Burnes. The Bellflower school was doing exceptionally well in the 70’s with Roy Reed, Martin Canavan and 1. K. Cross all leaders in it. The Baptist Sentinel was being published by the Bellflower school and was by far the leading paper. The Herald was being started by the Fresno school.
In the 80’s the work continued to make advances. The National meeting did meet in Anaheim in 1982. In the 1989 State minutes under the CMD report, the Antioch church made a request for some other church to become the sponsor of this work. In June of the same year the Armona church, under the leadership of Pastor Bill Fritz, accepted the sponsorship of the CMD program.
The highlight of the History and Archives Committee work in the 80’s was the planning of a comprehensive history of California Baptists. A format was set up and assignments given to the various committee members. Chairman G. A. Williams was in charge.
The yearly retreat at Hume Lake continued to be one of the highlights of the work throughout the 80’s. The retreat was started in 1953 under the leadership of Martin Canavan, pastor at Corcoran. It is continuing to this day as a time for our people to get together in the beautiful mountains for a great time of rest and relaxation.
By the end of the 80’s the Bellflower school was beginning to have some difficulty due to a lack of students and other problems. Due to these and other factors enrollment was down. The Sentinel was still going strong under the editorship of Lester McCalister. The Fresno school was gaining strength and support and would continue to do so. Several good men who had worked in Bellflower were now working in Fresno. These included Travis Hubbard and June Godbehere. The Old California Association had lost several men and churches to the ABA work and several of these were working with the Fresno school. The fellowship between the two schools was improving from what it had been when Fresno first started.
As the decade of the 90’s rolled around, the work in California as a whole was doing very well. There were a few problems, such as New Light Doctrine, but these were being nipped in the bud before they could create much of a problem. The general trend of mission support was more and more toward Direct Missions with almost all of the missionaries being placed on designated funds.
The Bellflower school closed in May of 1993. The Sentinel also stopped being published in 1994. Fresno continued to grow with a new building program being started in 1997. Fresno church endorsed Chapel Builders, a program with a builder, Brother Howard Frakes, in charge, which assisted churches in building programs. It worked very closely with the Macedonia Builders. A lot of churches and missions were given assistance, some in conjunction with CMD which also continued to do well. Brother Howard Frakes passed away July 12, 1996, and Chapel Builders was able to secure another great worker to become its leader in the person of Richard Wharton. He is presently working full time in this great ministry.
As of 1998 there are about 110 churches taking part in the Cooperative Association with most of these also being listed in the American Baptist Association minutes.
At the present time, California Baptists, in harmony with the ABA, have five local associations, one full service school with several churches also holding special classes, a very active California Mission Development work, Chapel Builders, an active History and Archives Committee, at least 15 missionaries working through their churches, an active Pastors’ Retirement Program, Hume Lake Retreat, a very active State Ladies Auxiliary and over 110 churches working together with the Lord.
There have been many outstanding leaders in our work with most of these serving in positions of importance throughout the years. A list of the officers, committee members. missionaries and others are found in the State Minutes. Yet there are others just as important to the work that are never recognized, but eternity will not miss a one,
No where in the world is there a group of churches that are sounder in the faith than this group of churches who love the Lord and His church and her doctrines
The Cooperative Association into the New Century
As the California Cooperative Association (CCA) moved forward into the new century, an unfortunate pace of new missions/church plants came almost to a halt. Rising costs in real estate, aging memberships, among other struggles led to a bit of an identity crisis for the CCA. The generation that built the CCA was passing. With it, new faces and ideas came on how to grow the Lord’s work into the 21st century. The early 2000s saw, once strong churches, shutter. An idea once never conceived was now a reality. Cities in California like Oakland and San Jose were now without New Testament Churches and no clear path to planting new works in the distant future. Young churches like Lighthouse in Pollock Pines began flourishing however giving hope that fresh leadership and new ideas were in fact a good thing.
By the late 2000’s however, a resolution came before the messengers of the 2008 meeting held at the Visalia Convention Center that would be debated and contested for the next three annual messenger meetings. It was believed that the Oakdale Church should not be seated because of her acceptance of Liberty LMBC in Modesto (an Old State Church) as a New Testament Church and therefore some were skeptic that she may be accepting New Lightism. This was hotly debated in the messenger meeting. Some arguing church autonomy, others claiming to be apologists. While others dismissed the claims altogether as a witch hunt.
The unfortunate debate did nothing but tarnish a once strong fellowship in the Northern Central Valley. The Oakdale Church was never unseated as the messengers felt the Association had no authority over any church and therefore could not punish a church by unseating her. Several churches that led out in the various resolutions and debates that followed would remove themselves from the American Baptist Association (ABA). Some at just the local or state level. Others removed themselves altogether. Over the decade that followed, most of the churches involved found themselves back in fellowship with the ABA. Some left the Sacramento Valley and later joined the Central Valley. Others still do not represent to this day. Many credited the wisdom of the moderators of those years in the handling of the meetings. One does not simply forget Pastor Dennis Wharton putting on a clown nose during his moderator’s address to break the tension and remind folks why we are associating. It was his positive attitude and zero tolerance of disorder that held the meetings together.
Into the 2010’s, there was a decline in attendance at the CCA Messenger Meetings. This led to the Visalia Church recommending and encouraging messengers to encourage their churches on hosting the annual meeting as the demands for a larger facility were no longer necessary. In 2018, the Beacon MBC hosted the CCA Messenger Meeting in Redding. This would be the first time the meeting that was not in Visalia since 1972 with the exception of 1980 and 1991’s meetings being hosted in Salinas and Fresno respectively. 2019’s meeting would be held by the First MBC of Bakersfield. The later part of the decade continued to see a decline in fellowship across the state that had begun decades prior. No longer were there state or local youth rallies, fewer revivals, and Bible conferences. Church camps, a once dominant outreach in the state, began to see rapid decline in attendance and participation leading to several camp ministries shuttering by the end of the 2010’s.
In March 2020, it felt like the world had stopped. A global pandemic caused by the mass spread of a coronavirus shuttered businesses, schools, and yes, even churches. With the information given at the time, just a couple weeks before the scheduled meeting, it was decided that the 2020 messenger meeting would be canceled. The Coastal Cooperative Association, an association of local churches along the northern coast, met for their local messenger meeting in November on Zoom, an online meeting platform.
With a change in leadership and vision, and a sign of the times of 2020, First MBC in Fresno reimagined the once thriving seminary (FMBI) into an online only campus. This broadened their vision to have students from all over the west or even the globe if needed, as well as a staff that did not have to live in the Fresno area to teach one of her courses. In this reimagining, Fresno Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary would change her name to the Western Missionary Baptist Institute (WMBI). WMBI is the only ABA seminary on the west coast. Going online rejuvenated the seminary that saw an increase in students and faculty which only helped in the growth and need of fellowship in the years that followed.
The 2021 and 2022 meetings were both hosted by what had planned to be the host church for the 2020 meeting, Landmark MBC in Arroyo Grande. These two meetings saw a revival in attendance compared to the later years of the previous decade. This led to several churches cooperating together to advance various fellowship opportunities outside of the messenger meetings. The demand for church camp would be back on the rise. Churches in the San Francisco Bay Area began hosting quarterly youth rallies which hadn’t been seen in the area for nearly two decades.
2024’s messenger meeting met at First MBC in Fresno in what many argued was the most harmonious and uplifting messenger meeting in decades. With 2025’s meeting coming to one of the oldest and most storied churches in the CCA, we cannot wait to see what God will do in Bellflower and in the state of California in 2024-25. Some of this history, one can take no joy in reading much less writing. But if we do not learn from our history, brethren, we are bound to repeat it. If His return is not soon near, let us pray He find us busy about His work and not our own.