By Randy C. Davis
President & Exec. Dir., TBMB
William Lunsford watched soldiers returning from World War I to a hero’s welcome and cared for by a grateful nation. Lunsford, pastor of Edgefield Baptist Church in Nashville, believed Southern Baptists should have the same heart for pastors who had given their lives to ministry but had reached old age and found themselves in a state of financial insecurity.
“We’ve made this promise to our ministers,” he said to those gathered in 1918 for the annual Southern Baptist Convention. “‘Give yourself wholeheartedly to the work. We will stand back of you; if you die, we will not permit your family to suffer. If you grow old in the ministry; we will comfort you in your declining years!’ ” [Read more…]


