CASPER CARL WARREN PAPERS

AR 690

Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives

Nashville, Tennessee

Howard Gallimore

September, 2002

Updated October, 2012

Casper Carl Warren Papers

AR 690

Summary

Main Entry: Casper Carl Warren Papers

Date Span: 1920 – 1988

Abstract: Southern Baptist minister and denominational leader. Warren served as

president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1956 and 1957 meetings. The

collection includes articles for publication, correspondence, newspaper clippings,

sermons, addresses, and an autobiographical sketch of Warren’s life as a student, lawyer,

minister of three successful churches, and denominational leader.

Size: .5 linear ft. (one box)

Collection #: AR 690

Biographical Sketch

C. C. Warren was born May 28, 1896 in Sampson County, North Carolina, one of eight

children, to Richard Moore Warren, a retail grocer and Baptist deacon, and Rosella

Strickland Warren.

Warren graduated from Dunn, North Carolina, High School in 1914 and attended Wake

Forest College, where he graduated in 1917 with the L.L.B. degree and the B.A. degree

in 1920. For a brief period after college, he practiced law in Dunn. During this time, and

by his own admonition, responsibilities as local Sunday school superintendent and

president of the North Carolina B.Y.P.U. (Baptist Young Peoples’ Union) interested him

more than the practice of law. He began writing articles for denominational publications,

including the Sunday School Builder, and eventually surrendered to the call of full time

Christian service. He attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,

Kentucky where he graduated with the degrees of Th.M. in 1925 and Th. D. in 1928.

Later, Ouachita Baptist College, 1944, and Wake Forest College, 1948, conferred upon

him the doctor of divinity degree.

Warren married Mary Lashbrook Strickland in 1925, and the couple had three children:

Casper Carl Warren, Jr., A. Eugene Warren, and Mary Virginia Warren Poe. After the

death of his first wife in 1959, he married Sibyl Brame Townsend in 1962.

Dr. Warren’s first pastorate was the Lexington Avenue Baptist Church, Danville,

Kentucky. He was the first pastor of the church and served from 1928 to 1938. He

served two other churches – Immanuel Baptist Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1938 –

1943, and First Baptist Church of Charlotte, North Carolina, 1943 – 1958. He led in the

establishment of 33 churches or chapels and was offered employment with the Baptist

Sunday School Board, a position he declined.

In 1956, Dr. Warren was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention and served

two terms. As president, he challenged the convention to establish 30,000 preaching

points by 1964, the jubilee year of Baptists in America. In 1958, he resigned his pastorate

at Charlotte and became director of the “30,000 Movement” which eventually saw the

organization of 24,917 churches and chapels, primarily in the north and west of the

United States.

In addition to serving as convention president, Dr. Warren served the denomination on

boards and committees in Kentucky, Arkansas, and North Carolina. He was the first

president of the board of trustees of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In retirement, Dr. Warren served as interim pastor of several churches in the Charlotte

area. He was pastor of the newly organized Sharon Baptist church at the time of his

death, May 20, 1973, eight days before his 77th birthday. He is buried in Evergreen

Cemetery in Charlotte.

Scope and Content Note

The Casper Carl Warren Papers consists of forty-nine folders, including an

autobiographical sketch of his life, articles for publication, correspondence, newspaper

clippings, sermons, and addresses. The material, though limited, sketches the life of

Dr.Warren as student, lawyer, minister of three very successful churches, and as

denominational leader. It was in the latter capacity that Dr. Warren gained prominence as

president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of the “30,000 Movement,” the

most extensive home missionary enterprise of the Southern Baptist Convention. The

period covered is from 1920 to 1988.

Limited correspondence involves J. N. Barnette, Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, Arthur

Flake, Albert McClellan, Perry Morgan, Arthur Rutledge, and George W. Truett.

Materials in the C. C. Warren Papers comprise only one-half linear foot of space and

represent a small segment of the personal papers generated during his illustrious career.

The materials were given by Sybil Brame Townsend Warren. Additions to the collection

are not anticipated.

Arrangement

Arranged in alphabetical order by folder title

Provenance

Donated to the SBHLA by Mrs. Sybil Brame Townsend Warren, 1990.

Preferred Citation

Casper Carl Warren Papers, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville,

Tennessee

Access Restrictions

None

Subject Terms

Immanuel Baptist Church (Little Rock, Arkansas)

Lexington Avenue Baptist Church (Danville, KY)

First Baptist Church (Charlotte, NC)

Baptists – Sermons

Southern Baptist Convention – Presidents

Southern Baptist Convention – History – 20

century

Related Material

Graves, Allen W. Glimpses of Glory: Teacher’s Guide, Atlanta, GA: Home Mission

Board, Southern Baptist Conventinon, 1961.

Hartsell, Robert L. A Critical Analysis of Selected Southern Baptist Convention

Presidential Addresses, 1950 – 1970. [Baton Rouge, LA] Unpublished dissertation

submitted in partial fulfillment of doctor’s degree at Louisiana State University, 1974.

Warren, Casper Carl (1896 – 1973). Glimpses of Glory, Atlanta, GA: Home Mission

Board, Southern Baptist Convention, 1961.

Hobbs, Herschel H. Memoirs of Herschel H. Hobbs. Nashville, TN: Transcript of oral

history interview, 1974.

Container List

Box 1

1.1 Address – “God’s Standard Requirements”

1.2 Appreciation

1.3 Arkansas – Little Rock – Immanuel Baptist Church

1.4 Articles For Publication

1.5 BYPU

1.6 Baptist Argus

1.7 Baptist Jubilee Advance

1.8 Baptist Jubilee Advance – Joint Committee – Minutes

1.9 Baptist Jubilee Year

1.10 Barnette, J. N.

1.11 Biography

1.12 Clippings

1.13 Crumpler, Carolyn Weatherford (Mrs. Joe)

1.14 Death Notice/Obituary

1.15 Flake, Arthur

1.16 Home Missions

1.17 Kentucky – Danville – Lexington Avenue Baptist Church, 1973

1.18 McClellan, Albert

1.19 McClellan, Albert – The Baptist Jubilee Advance

1.20 McClellan, Albert – For Liberty and Life

1.21 Messages – Radio

1.22 Morgan, Perry

1.23 North Carolina – Charlotte – First Baptist Church

1.24 Operation Brotherhood

1.25 Phillips, Sarah (Mrs.)

1.26 Photographs

1.27 President – Southern Baptist Convention

1.28 Resignation

1.29 Retirement

1.30 Sermons

1.31 Sermons – Baptist Hour

1.32 Sermons – Columbia Church of the Air

1.33 Sermons – Favorite Sermon Series

1.34 Sermons – First Baptist Church – Charlotte, NC

1.35 Sermons – Immanuel Baptist Church – Little Rock, AK

1.36 Sermons – Lexington Avenue Baptist Church – Danville, KY

1.37 Sermons – The Ten Commandments

1.38 Smith, Blake – The Southern Baptist Invasion: Rich or Wrong

1.39 Southern Baptist Convention – President – Clippings – Sermon

1.40 Southern Baptist Convention – Restructuring

1.41 Successful Leadership Factors

1.42 Thirty Thousand Movement (30,000)

1.43 Thirty Thousand Movement – Addresses/Sermons/Speeches

1.44 Thirty Thousand Movement – Tracts

1.45 Truett, George W.

1.46 Warren, C. C. – Glimpses Of Glory

1.47 Warren, C. C. – Sunday School Superintendent’s Opportunity at this Hour

1.48 Warren, Sybil (Mrs. C. C.)

1.49 Worship