96 thoughts on “Name that Preacher”

  5. God, the dead are coming back to life to teach in a Bible college. Among the dead are Jack Hyles, John R. Rice, Monroe Parker, Lester Roloff, James Mercer, Bob Jones Sr., Dr. Richard Weeks (#14?). I recognize some of the other faces, but I cannot quite place names, but they were regulars in the Sword of the Lord back in the 1970s when I was part of the movement. Interestingly enough, Richard V. Clearwaters and B. Myron Cedarholm are missing. Were they not fundy enough? This guy has more dead faculty than live ones at the moment. I wonder if this guy realizes that the “sermons/lessons” are most likely under copyright.

  6. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at an old episode of “America’s Most Wanted” or “Night Gallery”… aren’t there enough good living preachers they can model themselves after (we won’t answer that).

  7. 1. Jack Hyles
    2. Lee Roberson
    3. John R. Rice
    4. Tom Malone
    5. Curtis Hutson
    6. Harold Sightler
    7. Lester Roloff
    8. Harold Clayton *photo taken from the pulpit of Temple Baptist Church Powell, TN
    9. ?
    10. J Frank Norris
    11.G B Vick
    12. R. G. Lee
    13. Russell Anderson
    14. ?
    15.?
    16. B. R. Lakin
    17.Bob Jones Sr.
    18.Oliver B. Greene

    Not to bad…… I’m really stumped on the last 9, 14, 15

  8. Fun!
    1 – Jack Hyles (corrupted secretary). I’ve heard him
    2 – Lee Roberson (decent man, as far as I know). Heard him.
    3 – John R Rice (beloved of the Hyles crowd, even though he didn’t stand for most of what they teach – very odd, I often thought). Never heard him
    4 – Tom Malone (decent man, as far as I know). Never heard him
    5 – Curtis Hudson (re-defined repentance; otherwise, enjoyed his preaching)
    6 – Harold Sightler (not sure)
    7 – Lester Roloff
    8 – ?
    9 – Monroe (“Monk”) Parker. Heard him once. Very memorable parts of messages
    10 – ?
    11 – Billy Sunday (?) I’m sure one of them is he
    12-17. No idea, but I probably know the names
    18. Looks like Bob Gray, FL – the shame of many, especially T. Messinger and the leadership at Trinity who knowingly covered his gross sin.

    1. Are you saying that he corrupted his secretary, or that his secretary was innately corrupted?

    2. Don’t know who no. 18 is but I know it’s not Bob Gray of Jax. I knew him personally (but I didn’t know he was a pedophile).

      1. You do a search of Bob Gray, JAX you’ll see he had a very interesting history. If memory serves, he was arrested and died shortly after.

  9. If the point of this is to lift up independent Baptists who were influential in the movement, why are Bob Jones, Sr. (a Methodist) and R.G. Lee (a Southern Baptist) in the gallery?

    I’ve never quite understood the IFBs’ affinity for Lee, who was not only actively connected with the SBC but served as its president — THRICE, no less. As Ricky Ricardo would say, “‘Splain!”

      1. I heard Lee give it once, at a large ABC church in New England whose then-pastor was a former Southern Baptist who was deeply impressed by — and made a point of getting to know —– other Baptist ministers who served huge churches (people like Lee, W.A. Criswell, and Harold Fickett, Jr.). That kind of sycophantic fawning left me cold many years ago. I gather some IFBs love it.

  10. I sure there are others… I know their names but have forgotten the faces
    …

    1. Jack Hyles
    2. Lee Robertson
    3. John R. Rice

    1. Park it there for a minute…

      This IFB college allows A WOMAN to teach men about the Scriptures?

      That is not kosher in Fundystan. What makes fake doctor Riplinger so special to them that they happily throw out this standard? I was told the Prophetess Deborah was brought by God to judge Israel because the male leadership failed. So is Riplinger’s teaching an indictment about all the male leaders? Have they failed so much that God had to raise up a woman to teach them Scriptures?
      😉

      https://underthemullberrytree.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/deborahandbarak2.jpg

  12. Are any of these old white men even still alive? Any that I recognize are long since gone. ..

    If they were to preach a sermon, it’d be a Bring-Your-Own-Gasmask affair. For lo, they stinketh.

    1. I was going to say the same thing! Are any of these old farts still alive? It would be an interesting class to see them resurrected from the dead.

    1. You missed some punctuation:

      This “institution” of “higher” “learning” was founded by Bob Gray Sr and Russell Anderson.

      John Hamblin is one of the “esteemed” faculty.

    2. Dear Bald Jones grad:

      If it isn’t in a trailer, are we sure it’s an IFB school?

      Christian Socialist

  14. BJU had an odd practice of playing old sermons from both Sr. And Jr. It was very weird sitting there and trying to pay attention to an empty pulpit and a disembodied voice emanating from the sound system. They usually had a single portrait up of the speaker. I’m a big fan of radio and don’t need pictures to entertain me, but, aside from being creepy, it was deadly boring.

    I’m wondering if this “college” is in a similar format. What a ripoff.

    1. Dear CaffeinatedSquirrel:

      Should we expect otherwise from the world’s oddest unive … er … most unusual university?

      Christian Socialist

    2. They didn’t do it often when I was there, but when they did, it WAS odd.

      I always thought it was weird observing “Founder’s Day” too. I hadn’t even really heard of BJU until my senior year of high school. We were in the GARBC so Cedarville, Baptist Bible College, and others (small schools generally) were touted. We also knew of Pensacola because of ABeka Books. I still don’t remember how I heard of BJU; I ended up there because I loved their emphasis on the fine arts (Shakespeare plays, an art museum!) and I noticed that a lot of other schools had a lot of BJU faculty so why not go to the original school? I also liked that I could get certified to teach in public schools through them (I had no idea of course of the issues that would crop up from time to time later from not having an accredited degree).

      1. I’ll never forget when I first heard of BJU; I met a young lady at the church I was attending during my first duty assignment who just so happened to be a student there. She was between her Sophomore and Junior years and was one of the most genuine Christians I’d ever met.

        I visited the school between assignments and knew that I would somehow end up there. And so I did. Though I look back and wonder, I still can’t bring myself to say it was the wrong decision.

        As far at the gaggle of dead white guys, I only have this to say: There is not a single thing any of them can do now to bring further controversy to the cause of fundyland, unless of course, we choose to judge them by today’s standards.

        B.R.1

        1. There doesn’t always have to be regrets that you went to a fundy school, especially one like BJU that is somewhat academically relevant.

          I detest pretty much everything about my FU of a few semesters, but I’m glad I went because it opened my eyes to the crazy and I never bought into the church. Whew, dodged a bullet there.

        2. I wouldn’t send my children there, but I do believe that BJU was right for me at the time. I was so Fundy, that I really needed something less Fundy than I was to let me down easy. And I met my wife there — that’s a bonus!

  15. 1. Hyles
    3. Rice
    5. Curtis Hutson
    17. Sr.
    4/18, that doesn’t rank me very high on the fundy list, praise the Lord!

  16. “Training a New Generation of Old Time Preachers”
    My first thought was this was the pictures were the “after” photos. All these men came in at the age of 18-20 years of age and we aged them to be old time preachers. This is what 4 years of this college will do to you.

  17. Bro. Somethingsomething
    Dr. Soandso
    Dr. Whatshisname, Phd.
    Dr. Bro. Thatoneguy
    etc.. etc..

    1. I’m guessing the reason some photos are in color and others are in black and white is because that was the only way they could portray any diversity at all.

  19. Dear SFL Reader:

    This could run in many variations – the saddest face [JR Rice, # 3], the flakiest smile [# 1], the silliest smirk [# 15], the most sour face [# 8], the most constipated looking [# 7], etc., etc. The possibilities are endless …

    Christian Socialist

  22. Odd that Jack Hyles, Adulterer and protector of pedophiles, is on here but Bob Gray of Jacksonville, FL, pedophile, is not. They were best buds back in the day. Now we all know why: They both looked the other way. I still remember how Dr. Gray came storming self-righteously into chapel to defend Hyles when the Biblical Evangelist story broke.

  23. I don’t recognise any of the preachers but I do know that the column’s Ionic!
    (Although I have no idea why it’s there)

    1. Assuming you’re not joking, in his publication, “The Biblical Evangelist,” R.L. Sumner published an expose’ of Jack Hyles. That being the case, it would be almost unimaginable that a “school” founded by Bob Gray Sr. and Hyles-Anderson “College” co-founder, Russell Anderson, would feature Mr. Sumner in its Fundamentalist Valhalla.

  25. I noticed “Dr. Gail Riplinger” (with no photo) listed among the teachers. Does this mean that they are okay with a WOMAN TEACHING MEN? What blasphemy! I thought perhaps it was a course only offered to us simple-minded ladies, but notice that the only degrees offered by this school are pastor degrees. So which is it? Wimmin pastors? Or a woman having authority over a man? Someone please explain xP

  26. The School of the Dead.

    Also check out the Science Department.
    Faculty includes Isaac Newton, Nicola Tesla, Louis Pasteur, and Ivan Pavlov.

  27. Well, well…Don Green used to preach against horn-rimmed glasses, and it looks like about seven of those chaps are wearing those sinful sightlies!

    (“Sightlies” is what a friend of mine called glasses after he had a stroke and couldn’t remember the right word. I thought it was an apt substitution.)

      1. Dangit, I’m an idiot. It was wire-rimmed glasses he always preached against.

        It’s been so long, I’m starting to forget some of the details, saints be praised!

  28. Wow, I didn’t know that about horn-rimmed glasses! Maybe it’s only really bad if today’s young hipsters wear them?

    As to the virtual ministers, I only know the names of #s1, 3, 6, 7, & 17 – definitely #17 (proud member of the Class of 1979 from ‘The Bob’).

  29. I see dead people

    Seriously, how do these students learn? Listening to fire and brimstone sermons doesn’t teach a thing, other than how to emulate the speaking style.

    Oh, I guess you could just steal their sermons and preach them at your little church? My fundy pastor growing up certainly ripped off Jack Hyles, verbatim, out of a book for several weeks.

  30. At first I thought #3, John Rice, was wearing a rather strange cap.

    Then, when I magnified the picture, I realized that it’s a really, really bad comb-over.

    Wonder if Donald Trump learned from him?

  32. Google thinks #14 is someone named Fred Barlow. I don’t know who that is. I would’ve guessed Ira Sankey for #14. I knew Hyles, Lee Roberson & Lester Roloff. I should have recognized J Frank Norris.

  34. What do the attendees do at these “conferences?” Sit around listening to old audio tapes?

    Some of these guys probably are from the days of silent movies!

  37. 1. Jack Hyles
    2. Lee Roberson
    3. John R. Rice
    4. Tom Malone
    5. Curtis Hutson
    6. Harold Sightler
    7. Lester Roloff
    8. Harold Clayton *photo taken from the pulpit of Temple Baptist Church Powell, TN
    9. A younger Jim Vineyard?
    10. J Frank Norris
    11.G B Vick
    12. R. G. Lee
    13. Russell Anderson
    14. Fred M. Barlow
    15. Paul Levine
    16. B. R. Lakin
    17.Bob Jones Sr.
    18.Oliver B. Greene

    1. Is it just me, or does Lester Roloff look a little like Walter from Jeff Dunham’s comedy routines? LOL

    2. 9 is Monroe parker, I think is funny you and I identified the upholstery at Temple Baptist Church. 🙂 *higher up the feed

  39. Sigh. Fundamentalism is so full of people totally consumed with the gospel of their self-importance. They see themselves as Saviors All! Bob Jones named the University after himself (or allowed it to be so named!). Jack Hyles believed his moral decay was fine so long as he preached morality for others. And so on and so forth.

    Let their works decay. It is deserved.

    The one who takes the coursework will likely come out knowing less about Scripture than he did entering it.

  40. It’s the most distinguished Pantheon of Fundrovia who dwelleth in the immortality of eternal books, tapes and conference flyers.

  41. I only recognized people in the top row. In fact, I attended schools that were founded by two of them. As far as I knew, they were nice man (I’m referring to Malone and Roberson). That being said, I couldn’t get out of those schools fast enough.

  42. So why aren’t there any women listed in this group?

    Oh, sorry . . . I meant to say “ladies.” (You have to say “ladies” because “wimmen” are by definition of questionable moral character).

  43. Unfortunately, there are those within IFB churches that will continue to exalt their heroes, even after horrible character flaws are revealed because after all they are ‘old-timey’. I think its a horrible injustice to young Christians to point them towards the ‘old men of God’ when you could be pointing them to the Author and Finisher of their faith. It’s dangerous to lift a man up and it’s dangerous for a man to allow himself to be lifted up.

  44. 1. White male senior with glasses, dark-haired, rictus-grin
    2. White male senior without glasses, white-haired, staring
    3. White male senior without glasses, graying, near-somnolent
    4. White male senior with glasses, graying, owlish
    5. White middle-aged male without glasses, dark-haired, receding, bemused
    6. White male senior with glasses, graying, balding, smug
    7. White male senior without glasses, dark-to-gray, balding, trying and failing to smile
    8. White male senior with glasses, white-haired, balding, constipated
    9. White male senior without glasses, white-haired, receding, smirking
    10. White male senior without glasses, graying, receding, apathetic
    11. White male senior without glasses, white-haired, receding, not sure if he’s allowed to smile
    12. White male senior with glasses, gray-haired, balding, grimacing
    13. White male senior with glasses, gray-haired, balding, squinting
    14. White male senior with glasses, dark-haired, receding, can’t wait to smite somebody
    15. White male senior with glasses, gray/white-haired, receding, smirking
    16. White male senior with glasses, graying, balding, bored
    17. White male senior with glasses, graying, balding, not sure where he is
    18. White male senior with glasses, wisps of darkish hair, awaiting the verdict.

    1. “Enjoyed putting 3 lectures on revival, on video tonight, for @BobGraySr ‘s new internet college! #NextGeneration”

  46. #16 – BR Lakin was like a grandfather to me. He used to call me “the cat man” because when I was about 10, I found a batch of wild cats on one of the abandoned buses in the far back end of my dads’ church property. He was a great preacher and a super kind man. I am not aware in 50+ years of him ever being accused of anything even remotely questionable, though as an adult and far-from-a-fundy, I am sure he and I would have our disagreements now, but I loved him. Flew with my dad to his funeral. I just found a birthday letter from #5 – Curtis Hutson – written to me on my 13th birthday. My dad had a bunch of friends and family all write me letters on “turning 13” that he put in a binder. I hadnt read them in years but came across it just last week and read the letter from CH. Met a few of the others as a kid but really, really miss BR Lakin. Loved that man.

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