Rice The Organizer

Rice The Organizer. . , Luther Rice has been described as a denominational statesman. His critics--and they were many--would probably have labeled him a "Baptist politician"! Rice had the traits both of the polished diplomat and the grass-roots office seeker. He was equally at ease with the cultured city pastor and the illiterate backwoodsman. However, his persuasive efforts were always directed toward a single end: to win men and women to the support of missions., Rice realized at the beginning of his effort to secure financial backing for the Burman Mission that interested individuals must be brought together in missionary societies. Shared information, concerted prayer, co-operative giving made these groups flourish and often caused the seed of mission concern to be planned and to germinate in what had formally been barren soil., The peculiar genius of Luther Rice as an organizer is revealed in his plan of bringing together representatives of societies and other interested bodies in a single national organization to foster missions. The immediate result of this plan was the formation of the General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions (The Triennial Convention)., Rice felt that the Triennial Convention should promote Christian education and religious publications, as well as foreign and home missions. In this he anticipated the type of organization later adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention with its various boards entrusted with different phases of denominational work.