The apostle to the West
by Thomas Ray
John Mason Peck has been described as the Apostle to the West (the Mississippi Valley). Peck was converted when he was 18 and united with a Congregational Church. On May 8, 1809, he married Sally Paine. Both were Congregationalists, but upon the birth of their first child, they began to question infant baptism. After much prayer and study of the scriptures, they both were convinced that infant baptism had no scriptural foundation. Acting upon their belief, they adopted Baptist principles and united with the Baptist church at New Durham, New York.
Shortly after becoming a Baptist, Peck publicly declared he was ready to preach the gospel wherever the Lord sent him. In 1811, Peck became the pastor at Catskill, New York. From Catskill he moved to Amenia, New York. It was during these pastorates that Peck began his itinerant ministry. Initially he walked countless miles sharing the gospel, and later he obtained a horse, which greatly expanded his outreach.
While he was pastoring at Amenia, Peck began to dream of becoming a missionary to the West. That dream became a reality on May 18, 1817, when the Missionary Board appointed him as a missionary to the New Missouri Territory. The Pecks and their three children started west on July 18, 1817. Their journey of over 1,000 miles would take an unbelievable 129 days. Upon finally arriving in St. Louis, they found the city to be a spiritual wasteland inhabited by a people who were hostile to missionaries, especially Baptist missionaries. Undaunted, Peck rented the back of a store and began conducting services.
In April 1818, he baptized his first two converts in the Mississippi River. From this small beginning he would organize the First Baptist Church in St. Louis, but his primary and most extensive ministry was that of an itinerant. His itinerary included Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, as well as venturing into Kentucky and Tennessee.
Few men have experienced the hardship and difficulties that Peck faced, especially in the early days of his ministry. He endured inadequate finances, hunger, cold, and many times the hard ground was his bed. But his greatest difficulties and opposition came from bigoted anti-mission Baptists. These Baptists were opposed to missionaries, Sunday schools, tracts, Bible societies, and an educated ministry. In 1820, their vehement complaints to the American Baptists influenced the mission board to discontinue Peck’s support.
If his adversaries thought this would force him to give up his ministry, they were mistaken. Depending upon the Lord, he continued his work. Fortunately, the Massachusetts Missionary Society began supporting him at $5 a week, which was approximately half his previous salary.
These obstacles make Peck’s achievements even more remarkable. It is estimated that during his 40 years of ministry, he established or assisted in founding 900 Baptist churches, ordained 600 Baptist ministers, and saw 32,000 new additions to the churches. He was the founder of Shurtleff College, a co-founder of the American Home Baptist Mission Society, he authored several books, and founded and edited two Baptist newspapers.
The question naturally arises, “How could one man produce these astonishing results?” The answer lies in his burning desire to make Christ known to all men and his willingness to pay any price to accomplish that goal. One of his most effective strategies was the establishment of circuit riders. He carefully selected these men and then assigned them their territory. This method enabled Peck to multiply his ministry.
Finally, after years of indescribable toil, Peck’s body broke down. He was no longer able to travel and preach, but he continued to minister through his writings. His philosophy of ministry is summarized by these words he recorded in his journal, “My mind is often deeply impressed with the thought that I am laboring for future generations; and that the principle inculcated and habits introduced in the Baptist Society in this country will last for ages under what high and weighty responsibility should every professor, and particularly every preacher, act, who lays the foundation in a new country!”