LEE RUTLAND SCARBOROUGH
1870 - 1945
Pastor, evangelist, seminary
president, denominational leader, and writer.
His parents were George W. and Mary Elizabeth
(Rutland) Scarborough, who were reared in
Mississippi and Tennessee, respectively. His
father was a faithful Baptist minister, and
his mother a devout Christian. The family
altar was regular part of their home life.
To them were born nine children, of whom Lee
Rutland was the eighth.
In 1874 the family moved
to Texas on a farm near Waco; later they settled
in Jones County. In 1896 the family moved
to the pioneer section of West Texas where
Lee grew up on a farm ranch. In this area
his father held many revival meetings in dugouts,
brush arbors, log school houses, and under
trees. Lee's youth was spent in hard labor
and with limited material resources, which
was the accustomed lot of the cowboys of the
West.
His education included the
A.B. degree from Baylor University, Waco,
Tex., in 1892; and the A.B. degree in 1896
from Yale, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa student.
He received the honorary D.D. degree from
Baylor, 1908, and an LL.D. degree from Union
University, Jackson, Tenn., in 1927. He attended
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville,
Ky., 1899-1900.
He was married in 1900 to
Neppie Warren. To them were born six children:
Warren, Emma, Lee, Lawrence, Neppie, Ada Beth,
and Byron.
Ordained to the gospel ministry
in 1896, he served as pastor of the First
Baptist Church, Cameron, Tex., from 1896 to
1901. He served as pastor of First Baptist
Church, Abilene, Tex., from1901 to 1908. He
was in constant demand as a pastor-evangelist.
As a denominational leader
he served in the following positions: member
of Board of Missions and Education; director
of the 75 Million Campaign, 1919; president
of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1939-40;
leader in securing funds for buildings at
Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Tex.;
member of the executive board of the Baptist
General Convention of Texas; president of
the Baptist General Convention of Texas; teacher
in the first chair of evangelism at Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary, 1908; and president
of Southwestern Seminary, Fort Worth, Tex.,
1914-45. He led in a program of evangelism
for the Southern Baptist Convention and the
Baptist World Alliance, and made an evangelistic
tour of South America for the Foreign Mission
Board in 1936. He had an intense spirit of
co-operation in denominational work.
His published works include
books on evangelism, travels, and sermons
as follows: Recruits for World Conquest; With
Christ After the Lost (revised in 1952 by
E. D. Head); Endued to Win; How Jesus Won
Men; Tears of Jesus; Prepare to Meet God;
Marvels of Divine Leadership; Christ's Militant
Kingdom; Holy Places and Precious Promises;
A Search for Souls; Ten Spiritual Ships; Products
of Pentecost; My Conception of the Gospel
Ministry, A Blaze of Evangelism Across the
Equator; A Modern School of the Prophets.
He is buried at Fort Worth, Tex.
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