Frederick G. Ferris Oral History Interview

Collection

Identifier: CN 609

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with Frederick George Ferris (1911-1998) a Baptist pastor, officer with World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) and the National Association of Evangelicals, and missionary to Liberia, West Africa. Topics discussed include Ferris’s family background; conversion to Christianity; various church pastorates; church planting; foreign mission work in Liberia with the LeTourneau Foundation; medical and educational work in Liberia; description of traditional tribal religious culture; role of animism; the state of the Christian church in Liberia; description of Liberian President Tubman’s administration and support of Christian missions; and later work with World Evangelical Fellowship. The time period covered by the interviews is 1911 to 1988.

Frederick George Ferris was interviewed by his granddaughter, Rosalyn S. Ferris, on October 22, 1988, at the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College.

Dates

Created: 1988

Creator

Ferris, Fred G. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Full Name: Frederick George Ferris

Birth: September 13, 1911, Detroit, Michigan

Death: December 13, 1998

Family:

Parents: George Albert and Rose (Dara) Ferris

Siblings: Mercedes Irene (born 1910), Clarence (born 1913)

Marital Status: Married Inez Irene Weston, March 27, 1934

Children: Robert Weston (born 1940), Beverly Jane (born 1946), Marjorie Ann (born 1948)

Conversion: At the age of 16

Education:

1935-1936 - Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1936-1942 - Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

1942-1943 - Aurora University, Aurora, Illinois

Career:

1938-1944 - Pastor of First Baptist Church, Somonauk, Illinois

1944-1951 - Pastor of First Baptist Church, Lorraine, Kansas

1940s - Mission secretary, Southwest Regional Conference, Northern Baptist Association

1949 - Visited Cameroon, West Africa to survey the Northern Baptist Association's mission work

1951-1953 - Pastor of a church in Muscatine, Iowa

1953-1957 - Director of Evangelism for the Le Tourneau Foundation, Liberia, West Africa where 26 churches were planted (based in Baffu Bay, Liberia)

1957 - Executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals for World Evangelical Fellowship

1958-1962 - International executive secretary of World Evangelical Fellowship

1962-1979 - Pastor of Strathmoor Judson Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan

1977 - Resigned from Farmington Hills Baptist Church

Other Significant Information: ca. 1914-1918 Lived mostly in London, England, while his father served with the Canadian military during World War I. 1977 Retired to New Port Richey, Florida

Extent

1 Audio Tape

60 Minutes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by Frederick George Ferris and Rosalyn S. Ferris in January 1989.

Accession: 89-6

February 1, 2005

Wayne D. Weber