God's Rascal, by Barry Hankins God's Rascal, by Barry Hankins, is the story of J. Frank Norris, the preacher who brought fundamentalism to the South. Through his fifty-five years of ministry, he battled anyone and everyone he saw as part of the leftist conspiracy to force liberalism and immorality on America. His list of enemies included evolution, Catholicism, liquor, and communism. Loved by most fundamentalists and hated by moderate Southern Baptist leaders, Norris nevertheless had a larger following than any other American preacher of his time.
J. Frank Norris was born on September 18, 1877, in Dadeville, Alabama. While his mother Mary was a devout Christian, his father James was a hopeless alcoholic, and often treated his family harshly. With few prospects…show more content… He became the pastor of Mount Antioch Baptist Church in 1897, and entered Baylor University in Waco, Texas the next year to begin formal training for the ministry. It was there that he met Lillian Gaddy, the daughter of a Baptist preacher. They were married in 1903, just prior to Norris's graduation. After he graduated from Baylor, he promptly enrolled at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he completed his master's degree in theology in two years and graduated at the top of his class. Formal training behind him, he was ready for his first full-time pastorate. He accepted a call by the McKinney Avenue Baptist Church in Dallas. Starting with thirteen people in June of 1905, the church grew to five hundred members after one year and a thousand in two years. He remained at that church until 1908, by which time he had accepted the editorship of the Baptist Standard, the leading Texas Baptist newspaper. In October of 1909, Norris took a brief rest from his work and stayed at the home of J.H. Wayland, who was organizing Waylad Baptist College. Wayland repeadadly offered Norris the presidency of the new school, but Norris declined. During this
