Randall House Publications - History

History

In 1935, the National Association of Free Will Baptists (NAFWB) selected Rev. Winford Davis of Missouri to become the first Sunday School Secretary. Only three years later, the NAFWB elected the first Sunday School Board, which developed the National Sunday School Convention (NSSC) in 1940. For the next seven years (1940-1947), the NSSC functioned as the Sunday School Board, promoting its principles and acting upon directives. In fact, they worked so closely together the chairman of the Sunday School Board, W. E. Coville was also elected president of the NSSC. The Sunday School Board served as the Nominating Committee for NSSC officers, which assured that elected officers were qualified and competent individuals.

During the first year the NSSC elected 10 officers, two of which became notable men in Free Will Baptist ranks. L.C. Johnson, the Chairman of Denominational Enterprise, later became the first president of the Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville, Tennessee. The Chairman of Literature was L. R. Ennis who became the second president of FWBBC.

Since 1940, the work of the Sunday School Board has been promoted via the NSSC. In order to increase participation, the Sunday School Board brought back that work under the direct supervision of the Board in 1947. The NSSC continued its conventions but voted in 1950 to dissolve as a separate entity. The conventions continued to meet, however, under the direction of the Sunday School Board. There is mention of a 10th annual NSSC in the 1952 Minutes. The 1953 NAFWB Minutes says that future conventions will meet biennially (every two years). Thus, in reality the 1938 Sunday School Board had started a separate organization (under the auspices of the NAFWB) to promote Sunday School.

The year 1955 held another turning point in the organization of the Sunday School movement within the Free Will Baptist denomination. Rev. William J. Mishler, the first full-time Sunday School Promotional Secretary (elected in 1954), began promoting regional conventions, sponsored by the Sunday School Board, to replace the NSSC, which met biennially. The purpose was to obtain more participation than was possible in national rallies. During 1955 as well, the Sunday School Department moved into its first offices at 3801 Richland Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee.

Because of the increased promotion of Sunday School benefits to churches’ spiritual growth, attendance, and effectiveness, the NAFWB approved launching their own Free Will Baptist-produced Sunday School literature program, which was initiated in early 1958. However, in 1959 the worked ceased and the office doors closed due to financial difficulties. Thus, the Sunday School Board contracted Sunday School materials from the Free Will Baptist Press (now Ayden Press, which was never under the auspices of the NAFWB) in Ayden, North Carolina as it did in the 1940s. Yet, at the same time in 1960, the Oklahoma State Association of Free Will Baptists seeing the need to publish the adult study materials began to do so when the National Nashville offices closed. They maintained the production of these materials until 1962.

Thanks to the determination of several leaders within the Free Will Baptist ranks, especially Rev. Roger Reeds who was the Sunday School Board Secretary, the Nashville office reopened and literature publishing resumed in 1962. Roger Reeds became the first full-time General Director of the Sunday School Department (SS Department). Finally, Free Will Baptist churches now had an established curriculum by Free Will Baptists for Free Will Baptists.

The next few years boasted several milestones for the SS Department. In 1965, the SS Department took up residence in the new NAFWB offices on Murfreesboro Road in Nashville, Tennessee. The SS Department occupied 859 square feet (79.8 m2) of floor space, sharing shipping and warehouse space with the other departments. Its first non-curriculum publication—Pauline Epistles by Dr. Robert E. Picirilli—released in 1967. One year later, the SS Department moved into its new 10,000 square feet (930 m2) building behind the Murfreesboro Road office complex. The following year in 1969 the first Sunday School curriculum for adults was created, marking the first time every age level had Free Will Baptist curriculum.

In 1971 the company expanded to a 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) building on 9 acres (36,000 m2) of land on Bush Road, still the location for Randall House Publications. In 1972 the SS Department adopted Randall House Publications as their trade name in honor of Benjamin Randall, the founder of the Northern line of Free Will Baptists. The next year brought a record sales of $1 million.

The Church Training Service (CTS) and the SS Department (Randall House) merged in 1978. CTS created materials and curriculum for use during Sunday night and Wednesday evening church services. These products were also used as preparatory materials for students competing in various Bible competitions at the NAFWB Convention held every July. The joining of these two departments meant all curriculum publishing was now governed under one board. At that time, Dr. Malcolm Fry served as the General Director for CTS.

Alongside its curriculum publishing, Randall House intermittently published trade books, mostly concerning Free Will Baptist distinctives and Arminian theology. The year 1987 marked the first installation of the Randall House Commentary—Romans by Leroy Forlines—with all remaining New Testament volumes to be completed in the following years.

After 31 years of service, Dr. Roger Reeds retired, making way for the newly elected General Director, Dr. Alton Loveless. Dr. Loveless began his tenure at Randall House in 1994. Under Dr. Loveless’ direction, Randall House upgraded much of the Department’s prepress technology and developed an extensive backlist of print-on-demand titles. He also developed a solid editorial team. His business acumen set Randall House in the direction for a sound financial future.

In 2002, Dr. Alton Loveless retired, and Ron Hunter Jr. became the third Executive Director and CEO of Randall House Publications. Under his creative and visionary leadership, Randall House made great strides in producing more relevant and reputable publisher. (You may want to follow his blog WriteIdeaOnLeadership . In 2004, the launch of CLEAR Curriculum marked a huge feat in the redevelopment of curriculum targeted not only at Free Will Baptist churches, but all evangelical denominations. In 2005, the new Book Division released its first children’s book to the CBA marketplace—The Case of Stewart’s Ship by Stan Toler and Debra White Smith. What followed was a concerted effort to provide not only quality Sunday School curriculum for all age levels, but also trade books, Bible studies, and other church resources to the whole Church community. In 2007, the NAFWB voted to file “Randall House Publications of the National Association of Free Will Baptists” as the official name. Randall House is their DBA name.

Thanks to Randall House's belief in building believers through Christian education, they launched the longterm D6 campaign in 2007. Over the next decade, this movement will encourage church members to adopt the D6 lifestyle where parents reconnect to their kids and transfer their spiritual heritage and values by regular interaction every day. D6 is where the parents are to be the spiritual leaders of the home teaching morals, character, and biblical insights as prescribed in Deuteronomy 6:7. Randall House believes that most parents want to connect with their kids in order to pass along their faith and values, but discovered so many simply do not know how. By using D6family.com as a resource, Randall House allows parents to subscribe to free resources that can help them launch forward in leading their family. The principles and products of D6 help parents reconnect to their kids.