Richard E. Groves Papers
Richard E. Groves served as pastor of the Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1985-2008 and was one of the constituent members of the organizations Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, and Religious Leaders for Reconciliation. This collection consists of biographical materials; correspondence with professor and liberal Baptist Stewart A. Newman and others; writings by Groves and others; materials concerning race relations in Winston-Salem; and general subject files regarding the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, and other topics.
Biographical and Historical Note
Richard E. Groves served as pastor of the Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1985 until his retirement in 2008, taking the reins from Warren T. Carr. During his time as pastor, Groves oversaw great controversy when, in 1999, two women requested a same-sex union in the church's home, WFU's Wait Chapel. The furor resulted in the resignation of top staff at NPR affiliate WFDD, a University department, but the union did take place in 2000. Groves was a member of Baptist organizations the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, and Religious Leaders for Reconciliation.
Collection Overview
This collection contains biographical materials, correspondence with prominent N.C. Baptist Stewart A. Newman and others, writings by Groves and others, materials concerning race relations in Winston-Salem, and general subject files on topics such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and the Alliance of Baptists.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 5 series: Series 1. Alliance of Baptists materials, Series 2. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship materials, Series 3. Sermons, Series 4. Southern Baptist Convention materials, and Series 5. Subject files.
All series are arranged alphabetically except Series 3. Sermons, which is organized chronologically.
Series 1. Alliance of Baptists materials contains 4 sub-series: Subseries A. Correspondence, Subseries B. Financial documents, Subseries C. Subject files, and Subseries D. Writings by Stan Hastey.
Controlled Access Headings
Subjects
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by: John Woodard; machine-readable finding aid created by Apex, 2004
- Revision Description
- Revised by Stephanie Bennett, Immanuel Eggers, Finley Turner, Katie Lawrence; Stephanie Bennett, 2019, 2022
- Access Restrictions
- This collection is open for use.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Richard E. Groves Papers (MS493), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.