he National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. traces a history of significant growth and achievements, attended sometimes by periods of turbulence, to Saturday, November 22, 1880 when 151 persons from 11 states met in Montgomery, Alabama and organized the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. A yearning to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached on the Mother Soil of Africa drove this organizing. The Rev. W. H. McAlpine of Alabama was elected as its first President.