Our Beginnings
The Missouri Baptist Foundation was started in 1946 with the prayers of state leaders. The following trustees adopted articles of agreement on June 28, 1946: Claude R. Blue; Virgil Dent; Forest A. Lowry; T.W. Medearis; J.A. Hemphil; L.G. Keley; V.W. Wilhite; Ray F. Moseley; and K.J. O’Banion. T. W. Medearis served as the first MBF President from 1946-1949.
The total assets of Missouri Baptists at the start of the Foundation were about $80,000, designated to three accounts. As we began to grow, Roy Johnson, one of our trustees, proudly predicted that, “One’ of these days this Foundation will be investing ten million dollars.” Today the Foundation’s assets exceed $200 million, representing more than 1,000 active accounts, and distributing over $25 million annually to Missouri Baptist causes in the state and around the world.
Although throughout the years many things have changed within the Foundation, Missouri Baptist life, and the world, our mission repeated in these 1950s testimonials is still true today as much as it was back then: “The Missouri Baptist Foundation is a means of giving ourselves, represented by our gift and money and our wills to carry on our Baptist work in Missouri until Jesus comes again.”
