In 1849, he organized Pisgah Baptist Church in Excelsior Springs. (The college would have Baptist ties until the relationship between the school and the Missouri Baptist Convention was severed in 2003). In 1882, a friend of the James family, Frank Triplett, wrote in one of the first Jesse James biographies that Robert was known as “a sincere Christian” and a “cultivated scholar.” Perhaps that is what led him to be one of the founding trustees of what became William Jewell College in Liberty in 1848. The church was noted at the time for “resisting the encroachments of the anti-mission element,” the isolationist and inwardly focused tendency that caused many Baptist churches in the young state to close their doors. Duncan in A History of Baptists in Missouri. “… is labors were much blessed, so that in the year following the church numbered 94 members,” writes R.S. There, he became pastor of New Hope Baptist Church (now known as New Direction Church), in Holt in 1843. A Kentucky boy, Robert followed his new bride to Clay County, Mo., in the early 1840s, ready to start his life, family and ministry. He was the second son born to Zerelda and Robert Sallee James. The stereotype might have begun with young Jesse. There’s an old trope that PKs – preacher’s kids – are wild and ill-behaved children.
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But regardless of how history regards his deeds, the word after James’s name in First Baptist’s membership roll – added years later in different penmanship – hints at the notorious future to come: “excluded.” Son of a Preacher Man The reader can find any number of dime novels or movies to get the dramatic details of his exploits, but the short summary is at least 20 banks, stagecoaches and trains robbed 17 men murdered – and that’s just what he admitted to. The name Jesse James stirs up a blur of fact and fiction: exciting snapshots of shootouts on horseback. See related story: ‘Baptists did not weep at his funeral’ “Others recognize it’s a part of history our history, good and bad.”
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He said he occasionally gets introduced as “Jesse James’s pastor,” a memorable (if inaccurate) title. “Some don’t want to admit he was ever a part of the church,” said Ken Parker, pastor of present-day First Baptist. At the top of the page, in the left-hand column in tight, careful script, lies probably the most famous – or, more rightly, infamous – name in Missouri Baptist history: Jesse James.Īs one might imagine, the role that an outlaw plays in First Baptist Church’s past is met with mixed emotions. KEARNEY – Poring over microfiche of Kearney’s First Baptist Church business meeting minutes, one finds the November, 1867 membership list.