Spiritual Heritage Timeline

Baptists in England

John Smyth breaks ties with the Church of England

1606

Smyth flees to Amsterdam, baptizes himself and others

1609

Thomas Helwys returns the Amsterdam church back to England

1611

Smyth tries to join the Mennonites

1612

John Myles born in Wales

1621

William Screven born in Somerton, England

1629

Particular Baptists (Calvinists) originate in England

1630

Edward Terrill born in Bristol

1634

John Spilsbury (Calvinist Separatist) founds Particular Baptist church in London

1638

After reading Rev. 14, Dorothy Hazzard is convicted, becomes a Non-Conformist

1640

Hazzard begins to meet clandestinely with other Non-Confirmists in her shop

6/1640

Thomas Ewins commissioned to preach the Gospel by All Hallows Baptist Church

1642

Particular Baptists of seven churches draft the First London Confession

1644

Myles moves to London and joins Glasshouse church (Particular Baptist)

1645

Myles returns to Wales and serves as minister

1649

Thomas Ewins becomes Pastor of the "Hazzard Group" in Bristol

1651

Terrill becomes convinced of believer's baptism and joins Thomas Ewins' church

1658

Universities closed to Nonconformists following the Great Ejection

1662

Edward Terrill leaves his estate for the training of Nonconformist ministers

1675

Baptists adopt the Second London Confession

1677

The "Terrill School" established on his estate

1679

Baptist Confession of Faith written, heavily influenced by Reformed Baptists

1689

The Terrill school reorganizes as Bristol Baptist College

1770

William Staughton born in Coventry, England

1770

Staughton graduates from Bristol Baptist College

1792

Charles G. Sommers born in London

1793

Staughton helps found the Baptist Missionary Society

1793

Congregationalists in England

Act of Supremacy names Henry VIII head of the Church of England

1534

Robert Browne establishes a Congregational church in Norwich

1581

Browne publishes his theory of Congregational independance

1582

Underground Non-Conformist churches grow in number

1582 - 1620

The Savoy Declaration, the standard of Congregationalism, is adopted

1658

Baptists in America

Roger Williams banished to Rhode Island for heresy

1638

Williams establishes the First Baptist Church in America

1638

Screven immigrates to New England

1640

Myles leaves for Plymouth after restoration of monarchy

1662

Myles founds Swansea, MA and FBC after clashes with Congregationalists

1663

Myles flees to Boston during King Philip's War and pastors FBC Boston

1675

Screven baptized at FBC Boston by John Myles

1676

Screven ordained to ministry and forms a church in Kittery, Maine

1/1682

Screven relocates church to Charleston, SC due to conflicts with NE Puritans

5/1682

Staughton earns Doctor of Divinity from College of New Jersey (Princeton)

1801

Sommers comes to the United States after attending school in Denmark

1808

William Milton Tryon born in New York City

1809

Baptists unify nationally as the Triennial Convention

1814

Staughton helps organize the Triennial Convention

1814 - 1826

Sommers converted and determines to pursue the ministry

1820

Sommers becomes pastor of South Baptist Church in New York

1825

Sommers studies for ministry in Philadelphia under William Staughton

1825

Tryon converted and baptized by Charles G. Sommers

1826

Tryon appointed missionary to Texas by American Baptist Home Mission Society

1841

Tryon, others petition Union Baptist Association for a university in Texas

10/1841

Congregationalists in America

Pilgrims, mostly Congregationalists, sail to America on the Mayflower.

1620

Harvard University founded for the training of Congregational clergy

1636

Colonial Congregationalists are united under the Cambridge Platform

1648

James Pierpont born in Roxbury, MA

1659

Pierpont becomes Congregationalist minister

1680

Pierpont marries third wife, Mary Hooker, granddaughter of Rev Thomas Hooker

1698

Yale College founded by James Pierpont and 10 Congregationalist ministers

1701

The Saybrook Platform, a new Congregational constitution, is adopted

1708

Sarah Pierpont born

1710

Sarah Pierpont marries Jonathan Edwards

1727

The First Great Awakening breaks out in New England

1739 - 1743

Unitarianism grows within the Congregational churches

1750

First openly Unitarian church founded in Boston, MA

1785

Henry Ware named President of Harvard

1805

Congregationalist Calvinist/Unitarian split

1806

Calvinist Congregationalists establish Andover Theological Seminary

1807

Tiburon Baptist Church (Southern Baptist)

Baylor University chartered

1845

Southern Baptists split from national organizations

1845

San Rafael Baptist Institute is founded and shuttered in Marin County, CA

1859 - 1862

Southern Baptist Convention withdraws support from California work

1865

Baylor theology department becomes Baylor Theological Seminary

1905

BTS chartered as Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

1908

Baptist Student Union founded by Frank Leavell

1922

Cooperative Program launched to channel offerings to missions

1925

Isam Hodges graduates from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

1926

William Hendricks born

1929

BSU functions transferred to the Baptist Sunday School Board

1930

Hodges moves to California to start a theological school in the West

1935

Hodges becomes pastor at Golden Gate Baptist Church in Oakland, CA

1937

Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary chartered

1944

Classes meet at Golden Gate Baptist Church

Memorial Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY founded

1945

Southern Baptist General Convention of California assumes ownership of GGBTS

1945

Southern Baptist Convention assumes ownership of GGBTS

1950

Dr. Harold Graves named President of GGBTS

1952

Barry Stricker born

1957

GGBTS relocates to Mill Valley, CA

1959

Tiburon Baptist Church founded by Dr. Graves and other GGBTS faculty

1960

Stricker converted at Memorial Baptist Church

1963

Hendricks becomes professor of theology at GGBTS

1978

Stricker graduates from Harvard

1979

Stricker receives PhD under the mentorship of Hendricks from GGBTS

1987

Dr. Barry Stricker becomes Pastor of TBC

6/1993

Christian Challenge UCLA (BSU) founded by Joe Rust

1998

University of California

Henry Durant attends Andover Theological Seminary

1817

Henry Durant graduates from Yale College

1827

Durant ordained as pastor of Congregational Church of Byfield, MA

1833

Durant moves to California and establishes Contra Costa Academy

1853

Trustees of Contra Costa Academy granted a charter for College of CA

1855

College of California merges to become the University of California

1867

The Medical Department of the UC is established, will become UCSF

1873

Southern Branch of the UC established, will become UCLA

1919

First Baptist Church of West Los Angeles (Conservative Baptist)

Marburg Colloquy: Luther/Zwingli disagree on Communion, splitting Protestants

1529

Wilhelm III establishes Evangelical Church of Prussia uniting Reformed/Lutheran

1817

Tens of thousands of German immigrants come to America

1830 - 1860

German Evangelical Synod of North America founded in Missouri

1840

Wheaton College founded by Jonathan Blanchard

1860

First Baptist Church of Sawtelle founded

1901

Northern Baptist Convention formed in Washington, D.C.

5/17/1907

Art Wilke born to German Evangelical parents

1920

FBC relocates to its current location

1926

Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy brews within the NBC

1935 - 1945

Jerry Wilke born in Colorado

1945

Wilke raised in Beth Eden Baptist Church under Dr. Sam Bradford

1945 - 1960

John Piper born

1946

Conservative Baptist Association of America organized in Atlantic City

1947

Fuller Theological Seminary founded by Charles Fuller and Harold Ockenga

1947

FBC Sawtelle becomes FBC West Los Angeles after Sawtelle is incorporated

1950

Wilke graduates from Baptist Bible College in Denver

1964

Piper graduates from Wheaton College

1968

Piper obtains B.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary

1971

Wilke graduates from Los Angeles Baptist Seminary

1974

Piper publishes Desiring God

1986

Piper founds Desiring God Ministries, making resources available for no cost

1994

Wilke becomes Pastor of FBCWLA

1998

FBCWLA merges with Shoreline West LA to become Cornerstone West LA

4/2011

Family Tree

Richard Bowes and Elizabeth Aske are married

1521

Anne Bowes born, will become John Knox' sister-in-law

1535

Stephen Hopkins hired to sail on the Mayflower to Plymouth, MA

1620

Worked as a hired hand on the ship carrying the Pilgrims (Puritans) to America

Edward Bompasse, a Huguenot, sails to Plymouth aboard the Fortune

1621

William Hopkins comes to America in the Great Migration

1630

John Nicks (Nix) arrives in Barbados from England

1634

Hans Nehs (Nease), German Protestant, immigrates to Pennsylvania

1731

Henry Hopkins born in Baptist Rhode Island

1743

John Gunkel immigrates to America from Hessen, Germany

1856

Jimmie Lou Nease born

1932

Doug N and Leda G born

1957

Doug & Leda marry

8/1978

Doug & Leda move to San Francisco for Leda to intern at UCSF

1980

Doug & Leda become members at Tiburon Baptist Church

1981

Zach N born

04/07/1984

Zach baptized by Pastor Stricker

9/1993

Zach moves to Los Angeles to attend UCLA

10/2002

Zach joins Christian Challenge discipleship group

2003

Zach marries Ginger Calmer, begins attending FBC West Los Angeles

2005

Zach introduced to the works of John Piper after reading Desiring God

2007

Zach enrolls at The Master's Seminary

6/2011

The Master's Seminary

John Calvin born in Picardy, France

1509

John Knox born

1514

Calvin is converted, breaks from the Roman Catholic Church

1533

Calvin publishes first edition of The Institutes of the Christian Religion

1536

Calvin becomes pastor of the church in Geneva

1537

Calvin relocates to Strasbourh

1538

Calvin returns to Geneva

1541

John Knox settles in Geneva with John Calvin

1554

Knox flees England during the reign of Mary Tudor

1554

Elizabeth Knox born to John Knox and Margery Bowes

1555

Knox returns to Scotland

1559

Knox helps write the Scots Confession, establishing Presybeterianism in Scotland

1560

John Welsh born in Scotland

1568

Welsh obtains MA from University of Edinburgh

1588

Anne Walker born to descendents of John Welsh of Ayr and Elizabeth Knox

1690

John Witherspoon born to James Witherspoon and Anne Walker

1723

Witherspoon obtains MA from University of Edinburgh, remains to study divinity

1739

Witherspoon becomes Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) minister

1745

Witherspoon comes to New Jersey to become President of Princeton

1768

Archibald Alexander born

1772

William Graham studies under Witherspoon at Princeton

1775

A. Alexander studies under William Graham, a Presbyterian

1782 - 1789

A. Alexander ordained by the presbytery of Hanover

1794

Edward Norris Kirk born

1802

Alexander named first professor of the Princeton Theological Seminary

1812

John MacArthur emigrates from Glasgow, Scotland to Canada

1815

Kirk studies at Princeton Theological Seminary under Dr. Archibald Alexander

1824

Dwight Lyman Moody born in Northfield, MA

1837

Edward Norris Kirk founds Congregational Church of Mount Vernon

1842

Moody moves to Boston to live with his uncle

1854

Moody converted while attending Congregational Church of Mount Vernon

1855

R. A. Torrey born

1856

Torrey becomes a Congregationalist minister in Ohio

1878

Torrey becomes Superintendant of Chicago Evangelization Society (Moody)

1889

Torrey joins D. L. Moody in evangelist work in Chicago

1889

Thomas Fullerton serves as minister of St. James Presbyterian in Charlottetown

1893 - 1921

Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola) founded

1908

R. A. Torrey named Dean of Biola

1912

Harry and Olivia MacArthur move to Los Angeles to enroll at Biola

1914

Eastern Baptist Seminary founded in Philadelphia by Northern Baptist Convention

1925

Los Angeles Baptist College and Seminary founded in downton Los Angeles

1927

After graduating from Eastern Baptist Seminary, Jack MacArthur returns to LA

1937

John MacArthur, Jr. born

1939

Talbot Theological Seminary formed by Dr. Louis Talbot

1952

MacArthur obtains M.Div from Talbot Theological Seminary

1963

MacArthur becomes Pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA

1969

MacArthur becomes President of The Master's College (LABC)

1985

MacArthur founds The Master's Seminary

1986