Bruce T. Gourley, Executive-Director
Bruce T. Gourley is the Executive-Director of the Baptist History & Heritage Society. An historian (Ph.D., Auburn University) and Internet innovator (creator and author of the Baptists and the American Civil War digital project and BaptistLife.Com), Bruce is the online editor for Baptists Today, editor of the Baptist Studies Bulletin, and the former Associate and later Interim Director of Mercer University’s former Center for Baptist Studies. Bruce is also the author of five books:
Diverging Loyalties: Baptists in Middle Georgia During the Civil War (Mercer University Press, 2011)
Images of America: Manhattan, Belgrade, Amsterdam and Churchill and Amsterdam (Montana) (Arcadia Publishing, 2011)
A Capsule History of Baptists (Fields Publishing, 2010)
Leading the Way For 200 Years: The Story of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama, 1809-2009 (Fields Publishing, 2009)
The GodMakers: A Legacy of the SBC? (Providence House Publishers, 1996)
In addition, Bruce has authored numerous published articles and book reviews for Baptist and historical journals. Bruce is the recipient of the Baptist History & Heritage Society’s 2005 Carolyn Blevins Meritorious Service Award and the 2006 Norman W. Cox Award “For Best Article Published by the Baptist History and Heritage Society in 2005,” for his article entitled “John Leland: Evolving Views of Slavery, 1789-1839.”
Bruce lives near Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Debra, and daughter, Elizabeth. He is a national council representative of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship from the West Region. Prior to working for Mercer University’s Center for Baptist Studies, Bruce earned degrees from Mercer University (B.A., English and Christianity) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and served as a campus minister for the Yellowstone Baptist Association in Billings, Montana, while teaching church history and New Testament at Yellowstone Baptist College in Billings.
In addition, Bruce has created and maintains a variety of websites, including his personal website, and is a semi-professional photographer whose work is available for sale at Fine Art America. Bruce also enjoys being a father, hiking, backpacking, fly fishing, ultimate frisbee, and outdoor activities in general.
Bruce can be contacted by email or by phone (406-599-1754) or on Facebook.