October 21, 2024
Problems and responsibilities fitted to crush the heart of a man confronted him. But, with unswerving faith in ultimate victory, with contagious enthusiasm and passion for the work, and with marked executive ability, he gripped the task, sounded the slogan “Redeem Georgia," and rallied Georgia Baptists to their great work.” -- J.W. Graham, Baptist Biography 1917
Archibald Cunningham “Arch” Cree (1872-1944) was 43 years old when he became the 5th Corresponding Secretary of the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1915. Born in a small village in Scotland, his family immigrated to North Carolina when he was 16. He was blessed with a sharp mind and was the most well educated of the early Georgia Corresponding Secretaries. He had a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forrest, a master’s, and a Ph.D. from Southern Seminary where he served as a graduate assistant to Dr. E. Y. Mullins.
Cree’s first passion was evangelism which was reflected in the theme which became the early battle cry of Georgia Baptists during his administration. The “r” rolled off his tongue with a rich Scottish brogue as he proclaimed, “Redeem Georgia!”
Cree came from the Home Mission Board after serving as the first Director of Enlistment (promotion and training for church workers). Previously he served as pastor while a student in North Carolina and Kentucky. After seminary he pastored in Nashville, Tennessee whereas a young preacher he was in great demand as an evangelist. Overextending himself, he experienced ministry burn out, resigning his church to take a break from the pastorate he filled pulpits as an evangelist.
A year later he accepted the call to the First Baptist Church of Moultrie, Georgia in 1909. In Moultrie he served on the GBC Committee on Co-operation and as Vice-president of trustees of the Home Mission Board before taking the position with the HMB.
As a pastor Cree was noted for four things: The evangelistic growth of his churches. The number of those called to ministry. Leading his churches to be a role model in mission giving and support. Mentoring pastors in the surrounding communities.
When Cree began his work with the GBC in May 1915 it was amid the worst financial and organizational crisis experienced since the Civil War. Georgia Baptists had responded to the crisis in 1914 by surpassing any previous year’s mission giving. Yet it was not enough, massive debts loomed, and new ones were still being added. Issues of the accountability of boards, schools, and agencies creating unauthorized debts placed on the Convention were unresolved. When the GBC met in the fall of 1915, five months after Cree began his work, mission giving through the convention had dropped, the current equivalent of a million dollars, from the previous year. Layoffs of the staff from 162 to 138 were made to help reduce expenses. There was a general lack of confidence in the operations of the State Mission Board across the state.
Cree had two key leaders working beside him who understood the problems. The beloved 81-year-old H. R. Bernard who was continuing in his service as the Auditor of the Convention brought wisdom, experience, and credibility to the new administration. The last long-term President of the Georgia Baptist Convention (1912-1929), Dr. J. D. Mell, a bi-vocational pastor whose other professions were a lawyer and law professor at UGA brought an analytical legal mind. The Scotsman, Cree brought vision and enthusiasm. It would prove to be a winning combination.
One of the first actions by Cree was to establish an emergency appeal to generate income in the latter half of 1915. This was paired with an evangelistic emphasis called the “Redeem Georgia Campaign.” It was successful in several ways, first as an evangelism emphasis it touched thousands. Secondly it generated desperately needed income. Finally, it helped refocused Georgia Baptists from debt relief to reaching Georgia for Christ.
Simultaneously Cree led in the creation of, a task force with sweeping emergency powers to address Convention’s problems. The task force included several respected Georgia businessmen. It was called the Committee of Five of which Cree was an ex-officio member. They began taking decisive steps to reign in renegade Convention ministries which had been creating unauthorized debts and restore credibility to the financial operations of the GBC.
The Committee of Five proposed a multi-year (1916-1918) debt drive called “The Half Million Campaign.” It proved to be a resounding success! All outstanding debts were paid except a portion of the Mercer debt which it was agreed would be rolled into the upcoming “75 Million Campaign.” Virtually every working component of the “Half Million Campaign,” was incorporated into the SBC “75 Million Campaign.” Because of this some later referred to Cree as the “Master Mind” behind “The 75 Million Campaign.”
A second recommendation was made to establish a “Holding Committee.” They would hold all property and titles to Georgia Baptist institutions. This provided veto power over unauthorized loans which had not been present before. Furthermore, it insured property was not lost because of loans created without permission of the GBC.
In 1919, recognizing changes enacted by the Committee of Five should be made permanent, a new Constitution and By-laws was adopted by the Convention. These changes basically broke the back of the old competitive society system of fund raising. They ushered the GBC into the modern era of mission support and proved to be a model for the SBC to follow.
“The Redeem Georgia Campaign,” “The Half Million Dollar Campaign” and early days of “The 75 Million Campaign” were exciting days in the life of the Georgia Baptist Convention. With the overwhelming response to pledges by Georgia to the 75 Million Campaign in 1919 and the anticipation that the level of giving would continue to increase, great plans were pursued. Georgia had been asked to raise 7.5 million of the Campaign and actual pledges from Georgia amounted to over ten million.
After a record year of giving in 1919 virtually all the institutions went heavily into debt for capital improvements based on the anticipated income from the Campaign. Unfortunately, receipts continued to fall as the boil weevil invaded the cotton fields of Georgia. In the end only 5.3 million of the Georgia “75 Million Campaign” pledges were paid.
In 1923 two questions were being pondered by Cree, the GBC and SBC: “How to end “The 75 Million Campaign?” and “What will we do next?” Lessons from both the “Half-million,” and “75 Million Campaign” had taught Georgia Baptists that working together in a united effort had resulted in increased mission support. Furthermore even as the receipts continued to drop the offerings still were beyond anything experienced under the society method of giving before the first Campaign. Now, in no small part because of the heavy debts created by the early euphoria following the enormous 1919 offerings, returning to the societal method of competitive appeals did not make sense.
What emerged were recommendations from Georgia which were jointly adopted and recommended by the SBC Executive Committee in 1925. This recommendation was to continue the model of the 75 Million Campaign but to renew it on an annual basis and call it “The Kingdom Program.” A year later it was renamed “The Co-operative Program.”
Cree continued to effectively lead Georgia Baptist to experience numerical growth in church membership, baptisms, Sunday School and BYPU enrollment even though the general population growth of the state was static in the 1920’s. Impacted by the boil weevil and successive years of droughts the only area which experienced continual decline was mission giving. Several rounds of layoffs of personnel with the State Mission Board took place and certain ministries like church building grants and training opportunities were either curtailed or eliminated altogether.
Cree had served Georgia and Southern Baptists with distinction, but one of his greatest contributions was yet to come. In 1928 the Home Mission Board experienced an embezzlement scandal. Over $925,000.00 (approximately 14.6 million currently) was embezzled by the HMB Treasurer by taking loans in over 40 banks across seven southern states. Cree was asked to serve as the Acting Executive Director of the HMB to manage the crisis. For seven months the GBC allowed Cree to fill both positions jointly. The HMB was already carrying heavy debts from the “75 Million Campaign” and mounting operational debts as the giving declined through the 1920’s.
Cree spent his first 60 days with the HMB on trains traveling across the south including spending 42 nights on sleepers. He personally visited each bank to renegotiate the terms of the loans. It was described as nothing short of a “miracle” that the banks agreed to the terms. The percentage of the 1930 HMB budget that went to debt retirement was a staggering 60%. Yet the HMB did not default and remains a viable ministry today, in part because of the tireless efforts of Arch Cree.
In October 1929 just three weeks before the GBC was scheduled to meet the Wall Street Stock Market Crash occurred. Arch Cree who was then 58 years old was encouraged to “retire” on the advice of physicians. Carrying the double load of the GBC and the HMB for seven months seems to have taken its toll.
After several months of of rest Cree became the pastor of FBC Salisbury, NC near the family farm they had moved to when he was 16. He remained pastor of this church until his second retirement in 1942. He died two years later at age 72.
The legacy of Arch Cree to both the GBC and the SBC is rich and significant:
Arch Cree, the Scotsman, was a Baptist Statesman of the highest caliber. His name may not be remembered but his legacy lives on. His battle cry still rings true, “Redeem Georgia!”
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Charles Jones is a Southern Baptist historian, retired pastor, and newspaper columnist.
