36 – Feb. 05 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

A Diligent Soul-Winner
From the day he came to know Christ as Savior, Bernard H. Frey, Bernie, as he was affectionately called, felt compelled to share the Gospel with an intense love of witnessing.
Following his conversion, Bernie and two other men organized the Calvary Baptist Church in his hometown of Rushmore, Minnesota.   He taught the men’s Sunday school class, ministered as Sunday school superintendent, served as a deacon, and led the way as a soul-Winner.   More than twenty men went into the ministry from the church, primarily from Bernie’s influence.  Bernard was not a young man when he answered the call to preach, but he entered Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota along with his oldest daughter.  Both transferred to Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota, upon its opening in 1957.  Bernard was among Pillsbury’s first students, and the first grandfather to graduate from the institution.  He was greatly influenced by Dr. Monroe Parker who became President of Pillsbury on February 5, 1958.  While still in College, Bernard pastored a Baptist church in Canon City, Minnesota.
In the spring of 1972, Bernie was chosen coordinator of the New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches.  April 17, 1974 is a date indelibly stamped on the minds of his children as a day they said good bye to their father.  Three of Bernards’ children are serving the Lord in full-time service as a direct result of their father’s example of godliness.
Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 73-75.