William Bell Riley (March 22, 1861 – December 5, 1947) was an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor. He was known as "The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism." In 1878, at the age of 17, Riley publicly professed faith in Christ. He had planned to study law, but shortly after his conversion he felt called to the ministry.

In a state far north of the Bible Belt and short on Baptists, Kentucky-born Riley built a 3,000-member downtown congregation based and emerged as the dominant figure in American fundamentalism. Riley’s distinctive brand of fundamentalism combined social activism, puritanical moralism, and a literalist premillennialist theology.

On March 1, 1897, he began his ministry as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota which he served for the next fifty years. A gifted orator and preacher, he championed the cause of fundamental, evangelical Christianity.

William Bell Riley was one of the most diligent evangelists of his day, and like the late George Truett, served in one pastorate for more than forty years - that of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His service to his public was twofold, for he was both a preacher of sermons and a writer of books.

W. B. Riley published about twenty books. Some of his writings include: The Menace of Modernism, 1917; Inspiration or Evolution, 1923; The Preacher and His Preaching, 1948. Pastor Riley remained an opponent of theological modernism until his …

The anti-evolution campaign of the 1920s might never have happened without the leadership of an austere, upright Baptist minister in Minneapolis, William B. Riley. In a state far north of the Bible Belt and short on Baptists, Kentucky-born Riley built a 3,000-member downtown congregation based and emerged as the dominant figure in American ...

William Bell Riley is known as “The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism,” and his accomplishments leave one breathless. Born thirty days before the outbreak of the Civil War, he was reared in a Boone County, Kentucky, log cabin, where the family had moved.

Feb 28, 2009 · As one of the 20th century’s leading architects of fundamentalism, Dr. William Bell Riley was a well known evangelist, author and theologian, not only in the Midwest, but throughout the country. As pastor of Minneapolis’ First Baptist Church and founder and president of the Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, Riley saw in ...

educator, Riley founded the three schools he entrusted to Graham's direction: the Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School (1902) to provide pastoral

In 1897, Riley accepted a call to the First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, where he remained until his retirement in 1942. He became influential in the city, advocating various civic reforms and building up his church from 585 members when he started to approximately 3500.