In 2016, Elder Alonzo Nunnery was nominated to the “Hall of Fame” of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. The Convention does not honor Nunnery, but rather believes his contributions in the main were undesirable, neverthless that those negative contributions helped the convention “cement its beliefs and firm stand in their convictions” against Nunnery and those who supported him.[i]
Alonzo Nunnery was born September 18, 1861 at Camden, Benton County, Tennessee. He was the second child of Nathaniel Nunnery and Francis Isabella Brewer.[ii] His younger brother, Astley Ulon Nunnery (1873- 1957), was also a Baptist preacher. Alonzo married Eliza Victoria Johnson on October 21, 1883, in Benton County, Tennessee. Nunnery was saved when he was sixteen years old (about 1877). The preaching of J. N. Hall influenced his union with the Baptists. “On October the first [1885], Brother Nunnery joined the Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, and there he was baptized into the fellowship of the Baptist Church.”[iii] He possibly began preaching about 1893, based on mentions of his name found in the Baptist and Reflector. Though he does not mention when he was ordained, Nunnery himself said that he was ordained at the Bible Hill Baptist Church near Parsons, Tennessee, in the Beech River Association.[iv]
“A. Nunnery” – as his name often appears – pastored churches in Tennessee and Missouri before going to Oklahoma. He was an active and popular preacher. The Central Association minutes for 1902 record him as pastor of six churches.[v] The Baptist and Reflector references him often. Reporting in 1894, Nunnery writes, “I have had quite an enjoyable time in my meetings. I have baptized 59 happy souls—39 into the fellowship of Mt. Gilead, 13 into New Hope and seven into Judson church. I have been preaching to Mt. Gilead church fourteen months and have had 60 additions.”[vi] In September 1895, he preached before the Beech River Association “from the text, ‘Son of man, can these dry bones live?’ He made the churches of the Beech River Association the dry bones. The sermon was an excellent one and full of the missionary spirit.” At this same meeting, Nunnery exhibited his interest in orphans. “The report of the Orphans’ Home was read by Rev. A. Nunnery, who made a feeling speech upon the subject and took up a collection for the Home.”[vii] Alonzo Nunnery’s parents both died when he was about 18, leaving the younger children as orphans in the older sibling’s care – likely the catalyst for Nunnery’s interest in work with orphans.
Nunnery attended Lexington Baptist Male and Female College in Lexington, Tennessee (and possibly Union University at Jackson, Tennessee).[viii] He was active in publications, establishing the Baptist Banner at Jackson, Tennessee in 1900. He was associated with this periodical until he moved to Oklahoma. After moving to Oklahoma, A. Nunnery established the Baptist Worker in 1909 and edited it until his death in 1939.[ix] He wrote The Kingdom or Churches of Jesus Christ, and A History of the Hawkins Matter, published by the Baptist Worker Publishing Company. The Baptist Worker Publishing Company printed Sunday School Literature, at least during some of its publishing lifetime. In 1912, Columbia Publishing and Printing published his debate on missions with H. M. Cagle.
After several years of successful ministry in Tennessee, Alonzo Nunnery moved to Granite, Oklahoma in 1907.[x] Tennessee Baptists received this as “sad news,” while commending him to Oklahoma Baptists.
“Brother Nunnery is one of the best preachers, and at the same time one of the strongest Baptists and truest men, not only in our State, but in the South. He stands four square against all evil, and for everything that is good and right.”[xi]
The
Maple Springs Church, where he had been pastor for five years, described him
thusly:
“…we can now, with a sincere desire of our hearts for good, recommend him, as a zealous and most ardent Christian, strong as a doctrinal preacher, never wavering from the truth from fear or favor of any man, or man-made creed of anyone, but always continuing steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine.”[xii]
Nunnery’s
ministry certainly had not withered in western Tennessee. A “revival at Maple
Springs Church, near Mercer, Tenn.,” shortly before the announcement of his
departure to Oklahoma, “resulted in 30 conversions and 21 baptisms and four
approved for baptism.” His ministry in Oklahoma seems popular there as well.
“Rev.
Alonzo Nunnery, who went some months ago to the pastorate at Granite, Okla., is
doing things there to build up the Kingdom just as he did while in Tennessee. There
are additions to the church at almost every service. The church has recently
contracted for new pews and pulpit. The house will be repainted on the outside
and papered and carpeted inside.”[xiii]
One
of his “four-square” stands was a staunch view of Nunnery had against football.[xiv] In its day, it may not have been unusual. It is certainly out of step with many enamored Baptists of our day.
Whereas, We believe that foot-ball is degrading to morals, and, whereas some of our institutions of learning tolerate and encourage the playing of football and other games; therefore,
Be it resolved, That we, the Maple Springs Baptist Church, do condemn said game and the action of said institutions.
Resolved second: That we will not lend our support in any way and wave all obligations to any institutions that tolerate and encourage said games.
Resolved third: That we send a copy of these resolutions to the Baptist and Reflecter, Baptist Banner and The Baptist Flag, for publication, and also a copy be spread in our minutes.
A. Nunnery, Mod.
G. D. Siler, Clerk.
We ask other churches who favor, to adopt same.
Done by order of Church in Conference this 3rd Lord’s day in December, 1906. [xv]
Once
in Oklahoma, Alonzo Nunnery soon was in conflict with the newly organized
Baptist General Convention.[xvi] In the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Roger
Hebard calls the Nunnery Movement
“the only distinct movement of its kind in Oklahoma Baptist history.”[xvii]
According to Hebard, the friction was caused by “personal and policy
disagreements between Nunnery and Franz Marshall McConnell, corresponding
secretary-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, 1916-22;
convention purchase, 1919, of the Baptist
Messenger, a rival publication of the Baptist
Worker; Nunnery’s opposition to convention policies in promotion of the 75
Million Campaign; Falls Creek Assembly; operational policies in the Oklahoma
Baptist Orphans’ Home; and the indisposition of convention leaders to deal with
the John L. Hardin Hawkins case.”[xviii]
In 1912 his Tennessee friends thought the Baptist
Worker “deserves the patronage of Oklahoma Baptists” and “deserves to be
the State paper.”[xix]
Oklahoma Baptists thought differently, the Convention purchasing the Baptist Messenger in 1919.
Writing generally about “Oklahoma affairs” in which he had “no disposition to mingle,” Edgar E. Folk, editor of the Baptist and Reflector, wrote in 1915:
“...we are surprised that any charges should have been made against Brother A. Nunnery...We have known him for twenty years or more. We have been in his home, in churches of which he was pastor, in Association, and other meetings with him. We have seen him tried in the fire. We have never know a better, truer man. He is of an intense nature. He has strong convictions. He believes and therefore he speaks earnestly. But his heart is in the right place. He would not do anything wrong for the world if he knew it...Knowing Brother Nunnery as we do we felt that we should say the above words in behalf of a thoroughly good man, who seems to have been misunderstood by some. We have written what we have unsolicited by Brother Nunnery, and without his knowledge, but as a matter of simple justice.
“We should add, though, that Brother Nunnery is like a mule—you can lead him, but you cannot force him. In this respect he only shows his intense Baptist nature.”[xx]
The
dissension led the Convention supporters to deny A. Nunnery a seat at the 1918
meeting, and then do so again in 1919. The 1919 report referred to the action
of 1918, stating:
“It
will be remembered that Rev. A. Nunnery was, by an overwhelming majority,
refused a seat in the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma last
year. The ground of such refusal was that said Rev. A. Nunnery, Editor of
the Baptist Worker, of Granite, Okla., was not in sympathy and co-operation
with the Convention. Many articles and editorials of his were cited, being an
infraction or the principle set forth in Art. II of the Constitution of the
Convention.”[xxi]
The
1919 action was supported by noting that Nunnery had made no retraction,
neither had retreated from his position. Afterward, A. Nunnery and others
washed their hands of this convention, and started another. The “Baptist
Convention of Oklahoma” was organized at Chickasha on Oct 5, 1920. There were
101 messengers present from 48 churches, as well as well-wishers and other
visitors.[xxii]
They established a permanent orphan’s home in Chickasha (supervised by A.
Nunnery and his wife), and organized a new church there – Ninth Street Baptist
Church – to be affiliated with the Baptist Convention.[xxiii] Tennessee friends
supported Nunnery in his struggle with Oklahoma Baptists, at least initially. In
1914 Fleetwood Ball wrote, “Tennessee Baptists know, love and believe in Alonzo
Nunnery.”[xxiv]
“Bro. Nunnery knows Baptist doctrine from A to Z. His Baptist proclivities suit his brethren in Tennessee.”[xxv]
“Our good friend, Rev. Alonzo Nunnery, of Granite, Okla., editor of the Baptist Worker, was recently denied a seat in the Oklahoma Baptist Convention at Enid. This seems funny to his Tennessee friends who know his real worth.”[xxvi]
“His hosts of Tennessee Baptist friends are grieved to know that the Oklahoma Convention at its recent session in Shawnee, refused for the second time to admit to a seat in the body Rev. Alonzo Nunnery, of Granite, Okla., editor of the Baptist Worker on the ground of disloyalty to the state work…Evidently Alonzo Nunnery is a badly misunderstood man by his Oklahoma brethren, or else the wrong spirit is swaying them. He stood four square for the Lord’s work in Tennessee.”[xxvii]
In
September of 1920, Fleetwood Ball, knowing Nunnery would start a new
organization, changed his tune somewhat. He wrote, “Bro. Nunnery’s friends in
Tennessee regret his deflection.”[xxviii]
During this period of upheaval, Mrs. Eliza V. Nunnery died May 21, 1921 of a heart attack. On January 1, 1922, A. Nunnery married Mrs. Minnie Corbitt, a widow of Camden, Tennessee.[xxix] In these times, Nunnery continued a successful evangelistic ministry, such as in 1920 when he assisted in a revival in Wewoka, Oklahoma that resulted in 40 additions, 31 by baptism.
Within a few years, there was a growing interest for unification of Baptist dissenters from the Southern Baptist Convention. Though all dissented from the work of the SBC, there was a wide range of beliefs among them on how to do mission work. Some were “gospel missioners” who decried mission boards, and some believed in boards if they thought they were carried on in a scriptural manner. This evidently was the position of A. Nunnery.
In his debate against S. K. Powers in August of 1907, Nunnery affirmed “The Use of Associations, Conventions and Boards in Carrying out the Commission as given in Matt. [28:]19-20 is Thoroughly Supported by the Scripture.”[xxx] Nunnery also debated H. M. Cagle on the subject in 1911, and carried on a written debate about missions circa 1917 with Ben M. Bogard in The Baptist Worker and Bogard’s Baptist and Commoner.[xxxi] In the summer of 1916, he debated (apparently about Conventionism) both C. A. Smith and G. W. Crawford, whom he identified as “Landmark Baptist”. In January 1917, The Baptist Worker announced a debate with Bogard at “the so-called Landmark Baptist church house at Alex, Oklahoma” commencing on January the 16th. The following propositions were to be discussed:
1st. “Resolved that those Baptists who oppose the organized Convention work, and call themselves Landmark Baptists are the regular Baptists.”
2nd. Resolved that the Baptists who do their mission work through what is called the organized work are the regular Baptists.”
Ben
M. Bogard affirmed the first proposition, which Nunnery denied. A. Nunnery
affirmed the second proposition, which Bogard denied.[xxxii]
Nevertheless,
Nunnery seems to have come around to the idea of working with the “dissenters”.
His “New” Baptist Convention grew. New churches joined. The Oklahoma Baptist describes January 3, 1924 as when A. Nunnery
agreed for the first time “to really unify in a general way with us” and that
on March 19, he wrote, “We are putting out what we feel that we can and will
defend as being based on the Bible.”[xxxiii] In 1925, the Baptist Convention
agreed to unite with the State Association of Oklahoma Baptist Churches (org. circa 1912) to form the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma. The first meeting of
the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma was held at Chickasha, Oklahoma,
October 26-27, 1926, at the city hall auditorium.[xxxiv] G. W. Crawford, whom
A. Nunnery had debated in 1916, was elected state missionary. In his paper,
Nunnery noted that the Oklahoma churches had “promised to assist [the BMA of]
Texas in the support of Portugal missions, and we must be true to our word.
Then, since the forming of the American Baptist Association other foreign
mission fields have been placed before us.” Nunnery “distinctly understood that
each church should be left free to do its foreign mission work as they wish…”
He claimed, “…the churches cooperating with the Baptist General Assembly of
Oklahoma have the best, the most thoroughly Baptistic and Scriptural principles
of agreement of any cooperative body of Baptists in the land.” Further, he
states, “It cannot be denied that the old conventions have become so mixed with
unsoundness that a sound Baptist cannot afford to mix with them.”[xxxv]
A. Nunnery’s satisfaction with the new organization was short lived. He split from the Baptist General Assembly in 1927 and re-organized the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma. He had no home among the unsound Baptists of the old convention, but he would not work with the new assembly either. According to Hebard, controversies with Ben M. Bogard and others led Nunnery to reorganize the Baptist Convention in Chickasha December 27, 1927, with messengers from 12 churches. The Baptist General Assembly sued for the possession of the orphans’ home. They legally won possession of it in 1930, after a three-year court battle, but also had to pay a settlement to A. Nunnery and his wife.[xxxvi]
Chickasha Daily Express, Wednesday April 13, 1932
The ministry of A. Nunnery from 1930 until his death in 1939 were doubtless the waning years of his life. Yet, he remained active. Apparently, he was part of organizing a debating society in Chickasha.[xxxvii] He engaged in debates put on by the society. In 1932, Nunnery and J. W. Diggs debated whether the story of the rich man and Lazarus was literal or a parable.[xxxviii] He opposed the “Henshaw Bill,” which was to repeal state prohibition.[xxxix] Newspaper accounts show Nunnery pastoring Ninth Street Baptist Church in Chickasha, at least from 1936-1939.[xl] He was pastor of Bridge Creek Baptist Church, seven miles northwest of Blanchard, for 18 years, from 1921 until his death in 1939.[xli] He continued as editor of The Baptist Worker until his death. Sometime after that, the publication of the paper ceased.[xlii]
Chickasha Daily Express, Friday, February 12, 1937
Alonzo Nunnery’s hand was “against every man” in several ways. He opposed many in the form of debate. According to William T. Swanson, Nunnery took part in over 100 debates, with Baptists, Campbellites, and even a Socialist.[xliii] As a Baptist preacher and leader in Oklahoma, he wound up in the middle – against the Southern Baptists on one side, and the Landmark Baptists on the other side. He was involved in at least three lawsuits[xliv] – one that he brought against J. W. Bailey, J. E. Kirk, et al.;[xlv] one brought by W. S. Miller against him for libel;[xlvi] and the struggle for ownership between Nunnery (representing the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma) and the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma.[xlvii]
Despite all this, A. Nunnery’s staunch stands won him many friends among those who appreciated them. Swanson wrote in The Baptist Worker:
“I loved Brother Nunnery, and had the highest respect for him. His integrity and character was unquestionable. He was a very spiritual and able Minister of the Gospel.”[xlviii]
Even
in death, one Southern Baptist paid high tribute to his life:
“Rev. [W. A.] Criswell[xlix] referred to Mr. Nunnery as a ‘defender of the faith,’ who had gone from ‘one end of the country to the other, proclaiming the message of Christ as he believed it and found it in the Bible.’ The minister spoke of Mr. Nunnery’s ‘staunch support of clean Baptist ministry,’ and the ‘ethical ideals he upheld.’”[l]
Swanson
also quotes Criswell saying, “There is no man who ever attracted me quite like
Brother Nunnery did. I have known ministers by the thousands, I have gone to
school with them. I have heard them speak from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
from Canada to Mexico. I have heard them from many foreign nations, but I never
quite saw a man like Brother Nunnery to whom I could look to give me things of
his faith and life...If there ever lived a defender of the faith, that man was
Brother Nunnery. Through the years, through sermons, through writings, he constantly
fought for the truth.”[li]
After being in poor health for several months, Alonzo Nunnery died on the Lord’s Day, September 24, 1939.[lii] He had been in the ministry about 52 years. His body was placed at the Rose Hill Cemetery at Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma, where it awaits the resurrection.
Beneath what seemed to be a hard hand-against-every-man exterior, at least in the theological realm, friends of “Rev. A. Nunnery” saw a kind, generous nature underneath it all.
Chickasha Daily Express, Wednesday, September 27, 1939
Look for pastorates, debates, publications, and bibliography HERE.
[ii] Nathaniel Nunnery had other children by previous marriages.
[iii] William T. Swanson in The Baptist Worker, September 1939, as cited in The Kingdom of God, Brawner, pp. 5-6
[iv] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, June 26, 1919, p. 5.
[v] Proceedings of the Sixty-Sixth Session of the Central Baptist Association, September 17-19, 1902. The church table lists A. Nunnery as pastor of six churches – Antioch, Chapel Hill, Jackson Royal Street, Maple Springs, Medina, and Mt. Pleasant.
[vi] “Good Work Done,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, November 15, 1894, p. 2.
[vii] “The Beech River Association,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, September 12, 1895, p. 9.
[viii] “Rev. Alonzo Nunnery was probably the second oldest [to enroll in the Lexington College] he being at least 50 years of age. His own sons were his classmates. It was my pleasure as a 17-year-old boy to recite with him and occupy a desk in front of his. Rev. Nunnery was a very noted minister, debater and moved to Oklahoma and edited a Baptist paper at Chickasha.” History of the Lexington Baptist Male and Female College, by J. A. Deere (written circa 1956). Deere must be incorrect about Nunnery’s age, though. When A. Nunnery was fifty (1911), he was already living in Oklahoma. Baptist and Reflector articles show Nunnery living in Lexington from at least 1894 to 1900. Probably during this time, he attended the college. In the fall of 1900, Nunnery “moved his family to Jackson, where he expects to attend school.” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, October 18, 1900, p. 12. In 1907, the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson changed its name to Union University.
[ix] “Rev. Nunnery Funeral Set for Tuesday,” Chickasha Daily Express, Monday, September 25, 1939, p. 1.
[x] The newspaper accounts I have found say that Alonzo Nunnery went to Granite in 1907. On the other hand, in his “Hall of Fame” article, Luke Holmes claims he went to Mangum in 1907 and to Granite in 1911. (The Mangum Star on October 10, 1907, p. 5, describes Nunnery as “pastor of the Baptist Church at Granite.”) After leaving Granite, he moved to Chickasha, Oklahoma around 1920.
[xi] “Recent Events,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, August 22, 1907, p. 9.
[xii] “Resolution of Respect,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, August 29, 1907, p. 12.
[xiii] Wow, carpet in 1907! “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, October 31, 1907, p. 12.
[xiv] J. B. Cranfill of Texas also opposed it, writing, “We favor safe, helpful athletics in our schools, but to say the least, our Christian colleges are going far astray when they lend their influence to the training of boys to kick and trample their fellow students to death. We are against the murderous game [football, rlv], root and branch...If some of our over-enthusiastic youths that attend Baylor are bound to test their kicking abilities, let them cross legs with a burro. It will be fully as civilized and much less dangerous.” J. B. Cranfill, The Baptist Standard, 1899, as quoted in Prophets With Pens, pp. 28-29. It goes on to say that in 1904 Cranfill “urged the Baptist General Convention of Texas to adopt a resolution requesting that football at Baylor be disbanded…” The J. R. Graves Society of Religious Inquiry as Southwestern Baptist University opposed football and Sunday sports as well. Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, May 24, 1906, p. 7.
[xv] “Maple Springs Resolutions,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, January 3, 1907, p. 7.
[xvi] A Convention uniting disparate Baptist elements was formed in Oklahoma in 1906. It was initially dually aligned with the Home Mission Society in the North and the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Northern influence may have been the source of some differences and problems. See, for example, History of the American Baptist Association, p. 168. An article in The Tribune-Progress (Mountain View, Oklahoma, December 11, 1914, p. 1) indicates some difference arising between Nunnery and the Granite Baptist Church, in which the Granite Church initially granted a letter of dismission to Nunnery and others of his family, and then later tried to withdraw fellowship from him.
[xvii] This assessment seems questionable to me, depending on what Hebard means by “its kind”.
[xviii] Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Vol. II, p. 1025. The Hawkins case involved Nunnery witnessing “another minister with a woman not his wife, and felt he was unfit for Baptist service.” At least from Nunnery’s standpoint, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma wanted to cover up the scandal. Nunnery wrote a booklet about the matter.
[xix] Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, February 8, 1912, p. 13.
[xx] Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, September 23, 1915, p. 8; In 1918, Fleetwood Ball mentions “a sharp controversy” between Nunnery and Oklahoma Secretary of State Missions F. M. McConnell, in which A. Nunnery objected to what he considered “un-Baptistic methods of appeal to the soldiers in the camps.” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, August 15, 1918, p. 13.
[xxi] Minutes of the 14th Annual Session of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, November 11-12, 1919, p. 89.
[xxii] The Baptist Convention of Oklahoma was often called the New Baptist Convention, probably to distinguish it from the “old” convention. L. W. Wright was the first moderator. History of the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma and Other Beginnings from 1903 to 1982, Baptist General Assembly Historical Committee, n.d., p. 4.
[xxiii] “Start Plans to Establish Third Baptist Church,” Chickasha Daily Express, Thursday, May 5, 1921, p. 3.
[xxiv] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, November 12, 1914, p. 15.
[xxv] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, August 7, 1913, p. 16.
[xxvi] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, December 19, 1918, p. 13.
[xxvii] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, December 4, 1919, p. 18.
[xxviii] “Among the Brethren,” Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, September 9, 1920, p. 20.
[xxix] Chickasha Daily Express, Monday, May 23, 1921, p. 1; Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, January 19, 1922, p. 15.
[xxx] “Religious Debate,” The Mangum Star, Mangum, Oklahoma, August 15, 1907, p. 6.
[xxxi] Nunnery-Cagle Debate, A. Nunnery; H. M. Cagle, [Magnolia, AR: Columbia Publishing and Printing, 1912]; The Baptist Worker, Granite, Oklahoma, Wednesday, June 13, 1917, p. 4; The Life and Works of Benjamin Marcus Bogard, Foreman and Payne, Little Rock, AR: Seminary Press, 1966, p. 341.
[xxxii] “Our Debate with Bogard,” The Baptist Worker, Wednesday, January 10, 1917, p. 2.
[xxxiii] “Notes from Lookeba,” The Oklahoma Baptist, Chickasha, Oklahoma, Thursday, May 15, 1924, p. 7.
[xxxiv] “Church Meet to Open Tomorrow,” Chickasha Daily Express, Chickasha, Oklahoma, October 25, 1926, p. 1. Nunnery estimated about 300 churches “Since the uniting of the two bodies, the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and the Baptist Association of Oklahoma, into one cooperative body…” The Baptist Worker, January 6, 1926, p. 4.
[xxxv] The Baptist Worker, Wednesday, February 17, 1926, p. 4.
[xxxvi] “Orphans Home Title Changed in Church Suit,” Chickasha Daily Express, Thursday, June 12, 1930, p. 1.
[xxxvii] “A debating society has been organized in Chickasha, with sessions held each Saturday afternoon at the city hall.” – “Biblical Subjects Debated,” Chickasha Daily Express, Friday, April 8, 1932, p. 4.
[xxxviii] “Announce Debate Subject,” Chickasha Daily Express, Wednesday, April 13, 1932, p. 5.
[xxxix] “Pastors Plan Drive Against Henshaw Bill,” Chickasha Daily Express, Friday, October 9, 1936, p. 1.
[xl] Chickasha Daily Express, October 9, 1936; December 13, 1936; January 12, 1937; February 7, 1937; August 28, 1938; April 20, 1939.
[xli] William T. Swanson in The Baptist Worker, September 1939, as cited in The Kingdom of God, Brawner, p. 6.
[xlii] “Alonzo Nunnery (1861-1939),” Holmes, The Oklahoma Baptist Chronicle, p. 21.
[xliii] William T. Swanson, as cited in The Kingdom of God, Brawner, p. 6.
[xliv] Apparently some Oklahoma Baptists were ignorant of the apostles’ doctrine of not going to law one with another before the world (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)
[xlv] “Rev. Nunnery Sues Several Prominent Granite Baptists,” The Greer County Democrat, Mangum, Oklahoma, Thursday, December 3, 1914, p. 1.
[xlvi] “No Baptists Wanted on This Jury,” The Chickasha Star, Friday, January 25, 1924, p. 1. Miller lost his suit.
[xlvii] “Contract in Orphan Home Settlement,” The Oklahoma Baptist Voice, Rocky, Oklahoma, June 25, 1930, p. 1.
[xlviii] William T. Swanson, as cited in The Kingdom of God, Brawner, p. 7.
[xlix] Wallie Amos Criswell, Jr., well-known long-time pastor of First Baptist, Dallas, but then pastor of First Baptist in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
[l] “Tribute Paid to Rev. Nunnery,” Chickasha Daily Express, Tuesday, September 26, 1939, p. 1.
[li] William T. Swanson, as cited in The Kingdom of God, Brawner, p. 7.
[lii] “Rev. A. Nunnery Is Critically Ill,” Chickasha Daily Express, Monday, August 14, 1939, p. 1; “Rev. Nunnery Funeral Set for Tuesday,” Chickasha Daily Express, Monday, September 25, 1939, p. 1.
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