The Dreamer Cometh

Book excerpt: Luther Rice was born on a small farm in Northborough, MA. He underwent a powerful religious conversion as a teenager in a time when spiritual revival was sweeping across New England. Sensing a call to missions, he and Adoniram Judson traveled to India with the Congregational mission agency. While on the ship during the long voyage, his study of Scripture led him to embrace a Baptist view of baptism. He was baptized by immersion upon reaching India and felt compelled to resign as a Congregationalist missionary since he could no longer represent their theology in good faith. He returned to America where he rallied Baptist churches to support missionaries. Though his intention was to return to the mission field, that never happened. Instead, he traveled the country extensively, preaching on evangelism and missions and encouraging Baptists to organize themselves more formally so that missions could be supported more effectively. Many listened to his pleas, and Baptist mission societies sprang up around the nation. He also felt the need to train future pastors and missionaries, so he helped establish Baptist colleges across the nation. Not everyone agreed with his aggressive fundraising efforts or his constant promoting of missionary and educational efforts. Many accused him of only caring about money. But he gave 100 percent of himself to the Lord's work, having never married. He died while on a preaching tour of South Carolina. His legacy lives on today in the colleges he helped found, in numerous Baptist mission boards that trace their roots to his ministry, and in the Luther Rice Lodge, a training facility in Northborough, MA that occupies what was once the Rice family home, barn, and blacksmith shop. All proceeds from the sale of this book support the ministry of the Luther Rice Lodge.