Dr. R. G. Lee

Robert Green Lee was born in a three room log cabin in South Carolina on November 11th, 1886. He was the fifth child of David and Sarah Lee and a distant relative of General Robert E. Lee. While having such a famous forefather these Lees were a poor family, barely making it as sharecroppers. When Robert was born the black midwife (a former slave) who attended Lee's birth cried out, "Praise God! Glory be! The good Lord has done sent a preacher to this here house."

After a couple of brief pastorates, Lee went to pastor at First Baptist Church of New Orleans. During his four years there, over 1000 new members came into the church, the majority of them by baptism. In 1927, two years before the Great Depression, Lee was called to pastor Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, TN. Because his tenures had been relatively short at his other pastorates, many did not expect Lee to stay long in Memphis. Lee would stay 33 years at Bellevue, not retiring until 1960. During those years Lee was offered many other positions. George Truett encouraged him to join him in Texas while others pressed Lee to accept the prestigious Calvary Baptist Church in New York City. He was also offered the presidencies of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Union University in Tennessee. During his pastorate at Bellevue, its membership grew from 1,430 members to 10,000 members.

His ministry was one of love for his people and determined defense of the Word of God. In his resignation address, Lee voiced his profound dedication to the Bible: "You can count on me until my tongue is silent in the grave and until my hand can no longer wield a pen to keep my unalterable stand for the Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God - giving rebuke to and standing in opposition to all enemies of the Bible, even as I have done for 50 years."