G. Beauchamp Vick 1901 - 1975 "Have you ever stopped to think that the very word "good-bye" is erased from the vocabulary of Heaven?" George Beauchamp Vick was born in 1901 in Russellville, Kentucky, into a pastor's home. After his conversion at age nine, the family moved to Louisville. His interest in mathematics assisted him in obtaining a job with a railroad company after high school. His work took him to Fort Worth, Texas, in 1928, where he became a member of First Baptist Church whose pastor was J. Frank Norris. Vick became actively involved in the church and later served on its staff for eight years. Dr. Vick was in a 1936 winter meeting in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, when Dr. Norris stopped by to see him. In those days Norris was the regular preacher for churches in both Fort Worth and Detroit, but he needed a strong assistant in the Detroit church. Sunday school attendance had dipped to around 250. The last Sunday in April in 1936 saw Vick begin as Temple Baptist Church's general superintendent and song leader. "I came for a revival," said Dr. Vick, "and it lasted 35 years." In six months the attendance zoomed to 1,600, then 2,000 by the next spring. What happened? It seems the staff took lengthy vacations from their classes in the summertime. "Miss more than one Sunday and you can vacation forever," he counseled every teacher, reading the Acts 5:42 Riot Act to each worker, followed by a Visitation Vision. Well, the Sunday School attendance became 4,000 - 5,000. Vick became pastor in 1947. He remained there until his Home-going in 1975. He saw the membership increase to 15,000. In 1950 Vick was influential in organizing Baptist Bible Fellowship with 119 other pastors. They began Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, and chose him as its first president. Vick is remembered as one of the great Fundamentalist leaders and spokesmen of his day. He saw 350 people enter full-time Christian service under his ministry. He was primarily responsible for the world missions outreach of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, which has over 600 missionaries serving in 64 countries.