Herschel H. Hobbs (1907-1995) was a Southern Baptist clergyman who served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1961 to 1963. He was born in Talladega Springs, Alabama. [1] David Dockery described him as "one of the most influential and shaping leaders in Southern Baptist life in the twentieth century". [2] Jerry Faught held him to be "perhaps the finest denominational statesman Southern Baptists have ever known." [3]
He chaired the committee that drafted the 1963 revision of the Baptist Faith and Message. [4] He graduated from Howard College (later named Samford University) and then attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned a doctorate in 1938. [1]
From 1949 to 1972 he served as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, OK.
Hobbs was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1963. [5] He is memorialized at two places on the campus of Samford University. [6]