Snapshots from my Library-7 The Baptists of Virginia by Garnett Ryland – 12/18/2020 – Jim Curran

Jim Curran Baptist Church History

December 18, 2020  · Snapshots from my Library-7 The Baptists of Virginia by Garnett Ryland Since I made Virginia Home a little over four years ago I have tried to find books on Virginia Baptists as I have came across them- This was the first one I bought and it’s neat story will follow.I try to pick up state histories as they often give many insights into areas and local church histories than larger scope works do. The Baptists of Virginia are worthy of study no matter what state or country you live in. From Virginia preachers went out all over the nation often leading in the early rounds of western expansion in the US. Ryland’s history here is very comprehensive. He relies much upon Robert Semple’s book as well as other sources (I will get to Semple in another article) I found this a really neat book that gave me insight into where I now call home including Baptist work in my area. This work is not in the public domain (from 1955) and no kindle copies have been made so physical books are the only way to get this title. While the others I have done so far include an electronic copy I wanted to include this because of the story behind it. When I came to candidate to be the pastor at Brush Arbor Baptist here in Danville VA- we spent a good portion of three afternoons driving around the town praying and getting a feel for the city. One thing that I also wanted to do was to find the grave site of the remarkable evangelist Samuel Harriss. Unfortunately I got some bad information and wound up at the wrong Harris cemetery (plus got a little lost.) I felt like I had just wasted time- on the way back into town we stopped into a goodwill north of town on a whim. I walked in and spotted this book on an end cap almost immediately. I opened it up randomly and what does it pop open to- Samuel Harriss!! My mouth was probably wide open. Of course I bought the book on the spot. (never underestimate what God can do) God would bring us here shortly afterward and the rest is history (sorry could not resist

) It was not long after we moved here that I got correct directions to Harriss’ grave site and now that is one of the stops when I do Baptist History tours for visiting missionaries and evangelists. I am humbled whenever I visit that site for what God had done in the life of that man. God put me in the middle of a lot of Baptist History and I am thankful for it.