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Bill Walden

FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PRIMITIVE OR OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST MINISTERS BY DAVID MONTGOMERY AND MARK GREEN

ELDER BILLY J. WALDEN


I was born in Campbell County in the eastern part of Tennessee, near LaFollette, on May 10, 1935, where I remained until I enlisted into the Air Force in 1953. In 1957 I joined another denomination, and in the course of time was ordained to the work of the ministry with that group. I am currently Pastor of the Pilgrim's Rest Church located in the community of Stratton in DeWitt County, Texas. I have been Pastorsince 1969 at Stratton Church, and from 1964 to 1982 was also Pastor of the Corpus Christi Primitive Baptist Church, and was interim Pastor for the year 1998 while they prayed and waited for a Pastor who could live nearby. Elder Chris Blevins now fills that position.



I am married to the former Frances Morrow and we have three children: Ronald, Karen Murdock, and Lucy Murphy, who are all members of the Church at Stratton.My first endeavor is to exalt the sovereign God of Heaven and earth,and then to comfort and edify His people.


Never having applied myself to the study of the Scriptures during my youth, I began to search to verify and find descriptions of the various programs that the denomination with which I first joined were engaged in, since I felt very strongly that the Church should use the Bible as her guide. While I was the pastor of an independent body of that denomination, I began to see the beautiful doctrine of the sovereignty of God and began to try to teach it as I would have the revelation. Ourgroup had the usual auxiliaries and programs that we took for granted were instituted by Christ and the Apostles. I searched for the descriptions and the guidelines for these auxiliaries and could find none. I found descriptions of the offices of minister and deacon, but none for a Sunday School superintendent, youth program director, or for segregated classes, so we discontinued these unscriptural functions. Although our standing was measured by our contemporaries to a great extent by the amount we contributed regularly to the foreign mission board, I felt that surely we needed scripture to guide us in this endeavor, and finding none, wediscontinued our contributions to the Board. Thus, we had a group of people meeting without Sunday Schools, without participation in the mission program, and finally without instrumental music, only congregational singing. I then thought we at last had a New Testament Baptist Church; I learned by sad experience that when people come to worship service they expect the doctrine to be compatible with thedenomination with which they are identified.


Finally, I realized that if the doctrine, as I saw it, was the truth, the doctrine of our denomination was in complete opposition. If that was the case, then where did I get my authority to baptize, and where did they get the authority to baptize me? I was so convinced that I did not have the authority I told the people I could no longer administer baptism. I again began to search for answers and came to the conclusion that I was completely mistaken in all my views.



After some time I began to read from a Handbook of Denominations and study every tenet of the Baptist churches again. I read the description of the Primitive Baptists, and it appeared to me that they taught the same things I was beginning to receive some light on. I had never met a Primitive Baptist, and didn't know where to start looking, but feel through Divine Providence I found East Side Primitive BaptistChurch listed in a small local newspaper in San Antonio. I visited for the first time the group I had always heard referred to as "Hardshells," and a lifetime of expressions could not reveal the joy of hearing the gospel for the first time.



I was baptized shortly thereafter, and on April 22, 1962, was ordained to the work of the ministry in that same Church (now Bethany Primitive Baptist Church). I feel in all earnestness that if we are looking for the truth it will lead us to the Church that Christ set up almost two thousand years ago. I believed then and I believe now that the Church is identified by the name "Primitive Baptist."

The following is from Ronnie Mallow Newletter:

Funeral Services for Elder Bill Walden

Visitation (Friday) and Funeral Service (Saturday)



Dear friends, the Walden family wanted to express their gratitude for all the love and prayers on their behalf during Elder Walden's sickness and his passing. They have truly seen and felt the Lord's grace and mercy throughout this trial and are humbled by the peaceful moment given at Bro. Bill's passing. Family and the Hospice nurses were there this morning, when he gently took his last breath. After months of struggling, the struggle was over and he was given peace. We often pray for dying grace, but still are humbled by the mercy of our Lord when the moment comes. His grace is sufficient to live by, as well as to die by.


larry heldman  

Elder James Compton (1905 - 2007)
Elder James Compton was the original founder of the 'Gospel of Grace Tape Supply.' His collection of tapes began as he traveled to Church meetings and Associations recording sermons on Reel to Reel. He has maintained this library of sermons faithfully over the years and are now the foundation of PB Sermons. org. This web site is dedicated to Elder James Compton (1905 - 2007)