In the early days of this effort, there were actually two fairly distinct efforts that are ongoing. One was actually sort of headed up by Barton W. Stone. We’ve talked about him; he, of course, was preaching and teaching in the area of northern Kentucky and southern Ohio. And then, the other was led by the Campbells. These efforts were referred to as The Stone Movement and The Campbell Movement.

Well, it’s not that they were different, but there was some distinctiveness about each one. Between the years of 1828 and 1832, they began to move closer and closer. (We had mentioned that by 1830 Alexander Campbell had completely disassociated himself from the Baptists.) These two movements were becoming closer and closer together to eventually be unified. And, unity would actually take place in 1832. Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone met for the first time in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1824. During that meeting, they agreed on six points. They agreed that 1) sectarianism was anti-Christian; they agreed that 2) all Christians should be united into one body; they believed and taught that 3) creeds and confessions were the props of sectarianism—in other words, those were the things that actually propped up sectarianism; they agreed that 4) the evidence of the Scripture was sufficient to produce faith; they agreed that 5) baptism was for the remission of sins; and they both agreed to 6) reject all names but “Christian.”

In 1831, Barton W. Stone would become friends with John T. Johnson. Johnson was a highly educated lawyer who lived in Georgetown, Kentucky, but he left his lucrative law practice and began to preach for the Disciples Church there in Georgetown. Stone preached for the Christian Church in Georgetown. They became friends, and they worked to unite both of those groups. But then, Christmas day, 1831, Stone and Johnson and Alexander Campbell, along with a few others, would meet there in Georgetown, Kentucky, and this was called “The Meeting of the Minds.” They met on Sunday, and they arranged to meet every day of that week until New Year’s Day. They met in a cotton factory. Today, there stands the Civic Center in Georgetown, Kentucky (for what that’s worth).

Some initial preachers who were there were John Rogers and “Raccoon” John Smith, in addition to John Johnson. Speeches were spontaneous; there was no agenda. “Raccoon” John Smith was the first to speak, and this is what he said: “Let us, then, my brethren, be no longer Cambellites or Stoneites, New Lights or Old Lights, or any other kind of ‘lights.’ But let us come to the Bible and to the Bible alone, as the only book in the world that can give us all of the LIGHT that we need.” Say! For an uneducated fellow, that was a profound statement, don’t you think? And so on New Year’s Day, 1832, they would agree, and they would extend the right hand of fellowship to one another, and these two separate movements, then, became one.

The news of this merger would be spread by the written word, but also John Rogers and “Raccoon” John Smith were sort of “commissioned,” I guess, to go throughout the country and to pass this word, as they went from congregation to congregation, of the unity of the movement. Congregations contributed—as I read this, I was thinking of Paul and Barnabas going off on their missionary journey, later Paul and Silas—but churches made financial contributions to these two men as they were traveling about, spreading this information. John Johnson, the one we mentioned who became the friend of Barton W. Stone and who was the well-educated lawyer, was selected to hold the purse and to distribute the funds. The footnote says that “success was experienced.”

Just a few little highlights, I guess, during this time. In 1835, there was a hymn book that was published. It was titled The Disciples Hymn Book. It bore the names of E. W. Stone, A. Campbell, Walter Scott and J. T. Johnson.

In 1836, Walter Scott would begin a college called Bacon College. That would be founded in Georgetown, Kentucky. J. T. Johnson was the Vice-President. It would, however, not really sustain itself very well; it would actually go out of business in just a matter of a few years. But then, in 1841, as we’ve already mentioned, Alexander Campbell would begin Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia, which is now Bethany, West Virginia.

So, there is unity; there is good success that is being realized. However, it would not take long before there would be some stormy times, difficult times. Leading the pack with the troubled times would be the establishing, the beginning, of the American Christian Missionary Society in 1849. It seems that church leaders would come together periodically for meetings to discuss evangelistic efforts. They were, of course, quite evangelistic minded in those days. But, church leaders would come together, and they would plan works of outreach, and so on. There was, indeed, a great deal of emphasis and enthusiasm for reaching out and doing evangelism.

Out of that, though, would come this Society, and on October 23^rd, 1849, it would be established in Cincinnati, Ohio. Alexander Campbell was not there at this meeting because he was ill. Rather, he sent W. K. Pendleton, Alexander’s son-in-law who took over the publication of the Millennial Harbinger after Alexander died. There were 156 delegates in attendance, and Alexander Campbell was elected the first president of the American Christian Missionary Society. (See what happens when you don’t go to the meeting? You get stuck. It happens all the time.) Well, there were 23 vice-presidents, of which included D.S. Burnett, Walter Scott, T.M. Allen, W.K. Pendleton, John T. Johnson, Tolbert Fanning, and two secretaries and a treasurer [Jesse B. Ferguson].

Well, Campbell’s involvement in this Society was mixed. He was not in favor of it and spoke vigorously against it some years before it had come to pass. But, he would be appointed as the president in his absence. But, regarding his circumstance, David Lipscomb later surmised this regarding Alexander Campbell. He said, “In Alexander Campbell’s old age, he allowed younger men to sway his judgment.” And then Lipscomb also reminisces about that trip to Scotland in 1847. You remember we talked about that, where Alexander had made the trip to Scotland, and during that time he was falsely accused of slander, was arrested and spent some time in jail, where he would contract an illness. As a matter of fact, there’s a quote I have here from Lipscomb concerning comments made by Tolbert Fanning after visiting Alexander: Lipscomb states, “ . . . he [Tolbert Fanning] stated that he was shocked to find his (Campbell's) mind was so shaken that he could, with difficulty, keep it on one subject; that he could converse in general terms on things he had studied in the past, but that all power of close, connected reasoning was gone; that he had to be continually prompted to keep up an ordinary conversation.” And, of course, there many who observed that following that 1847 trip to Scotland, the illness, the death of his son, he was never really the same man.