The Rev. John Alderson, Jr., founder of the Old Greenbrier Baptist Church, Alderson, was born in New Jersey on March 5, 1738.  His father, the Rev. John Alderson, Sr., who came New Jersey in 1719, and his grandfather, the Rev. John Alderson of Yorkshire, England, were distinguished ministers of the gospel, the latter of the Established church.  the former, born in England in 1699, came to America in 1719, settled in New Jersey, married Jane Curtis, became a Baptist minister, served Bethlehem Church, New Jersey, and later located in Germantown, PA.

In 1755, he moved to Rockingham County, Virginia, where he had the pastoral care of Lynville's Creek Church.  While there, the call came to his son, John Jr., to enter the ministry.  In 1775 John took charge of the Lynville Creek Baptist Church upon the removal of his father to Botetourt County.

However, in 1774 and again in 1776 Rev. John Alderson, Jr. made two missionary tours across the Alleghenies into the Valley of Greenbrier.

For as far back as you can study through history, you will find that there has always been a disconnect between Baptists and mainstream Christianity.  Now when I use the term mainstream Christianity, I’m not using it to refer to that brand of Christianity that is the most theologically sound, but rather, to refer to that movement within Christianity that has been able to rally either the strongest supporters or the largest number of followers.

Mainstream Christianity vs. Historical Baptists - Recall, for example, that it was Augustine that used his authority to persecute the Donatists.  It was Pope Innocent III that used the power of the Catholic Church in an effort to exterminate the Waldenses in the Albigenses.  It was John Calvin that burned the heretic Servetus.  It was Zwingli that drowned the Anabaptists of Switzerland.  It was the English reformers who burned Baptists. It was the standing order of the Puritans here on American soil that banished Roger Williams and whipped Obadiah Holmes. 

Immediately after our fledgling nation won our Independence in the war with Britain, our nation was governed by a document known as the Articles of Confederation.  It was not long, however, before the Articles of Confederation were considered weak and it was deemed that a new Constitution was necessary.  After much debate a new Constitution was drawn up, and in 1787 it was sent out to the separate states for ratification.

In order for the new Constitution to take effect it needed the approval of nine states. Rhode Island and Virginia both refused to sign the ratification, because while it created a republic without the establishment of religion that was married to the state it did not guarantee liberty of conscience in religious freedom.

There were many doubts as to whether or not they would get nine states to grant their approval for this new Constitution and make it the law of the land. Madison, Jefferson, Washington, and Henry knew why Virginia hesitated in giving their approval.

For Virginia the memory of some of their men being thrown in prison in the years previous for preaching without the state's approval weighed heavily on their minds. In his 1777 and 1784 volumes of American Baptist history,  Isaac Backus had published the accounts of Obadiah Holmes, Mary Dyer, John Hazel, John Bolles and others which could not be ignored or underestimated. To these Virginians the thought that this oppression was happening to the New England brothers currently was heavy on their minds.

We know that after Christ conquered death and rose from the grave he ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God. Scripture is clear that he is not standing, but that his is sitting.  Consider the following passages: "…where Christ SITTETH on the right hand of God." ~ Colossians 3:1 and "…when he had by himself purged our sins, SAT down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." ~ Hebrews 1:3.

However, there is one reference to Christ standing up at God’s right hand:  "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus STANDING on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man STANDING on the right hand of God." ~ Acts 7:55-56

As Stephen was being martyred, he looks up toward heaven and sees Christ, not sitting, but standing at the right hand of God. In one passage we see Christ sitting, and in another passage we see Christ standing. These scriptures are not in contradiction to one another. I believe that as Christ is sitting at God’s right hand he is looking down at us and watching us as a father would watch his children. When Christ sees one of his children doing something out of the ordinary (like willingly laying down his life for the sake of Christ) he stands up and begins to both cheer for him and to give him more grace.

Obadiah Holmes was born in Reddish, England in the year 1606. The king at this time was King James I, the man responsible for the translation of the King James Version of the Bible. Obadiah grew up working on his father’s farm in an England that mostly practiced Puritanism under the reign of King James I.

In his teen years, Obadiah watched England return to rigid Anglicanism as Charles I took the crown. Charles I made many changes to the political and religious landscape of England, and it was at this time that major religious persecution began to take place. In 1633, the Church of England began burning all Baptists, Puritans, and dissenters. They began beating and imprisoning people by the dozens. It is amazing that Puritans were burned alongside their Baptist persecuted brethren, and then they came to America and began to persecute them as well! These activities resulted in many people sailing to America in search of religious freedom. These were mostly puritans and a small group of Baptists.