Dr. Weniger in 1958
A Separatist Baptist Bulldog

Dr. Weniger served as president of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship from 1964 to 1977. From the time that he relinquished the presidency until his death in 1982, he served as research secretary in the mold of Chester Tulga. Under Weniger’s influence and leadership the FBF became a separatist group, and his policies set the direction of the FBF for many years to come.

Guy Archer Weniger was born on April 2, 1915, the sixth of seven children born to Rev. and Mrs. Frederick W. Weniger. "Arch" (or "Archie") obeyed God’s call to the ministry when he was yet a young man, and he began a life of study and service. He was educated at Northwestern Bible School in Minneapolis (class of 1937), Northwestern Evangelical Seminary, and Bethel Seminary. He also graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota.

Weniger was ordained on March 1, 1942, at First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, where the great Fundamentalist W. B. Riley was pastor, and Riley himself preached the ordination sermon. That same year Weniger accepted a call to the 23rd Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland, California. The church later changed its name to Foothill Baptist Church and moved to Castro Valley, a suburb of Oakland. The church was described as "dead and modernistic" when he became pastor, but Weniger soon changed the church’s direction back to belief in the Bible. He would minister there for the next 40 years.

Weniger’s early years as pastor were marked by hundreds of conversions and baptisms, and he led in starting several new churches. In recognition of his labors, he was awarded an honorary doctor’s degree from Northwestern in 1951, conferred by none other than Billy Graham, who was then the school’s president.

While winning souls Weniger also engaged in defense of the faith and found common cause with the Conservative Baptist movement. He was a founding member of the board of the CBA of A and served three years as first vice president for the western region.

Somehow in his busy schedule Weniger found time to write. In the early ’50s he started a newsletter called The Blu-Print, which was printed back and front on a single 11 x 14 sheet of blue paper. It seems to be remembered most for its sometimes caustic style in exposing the hypocrisy of New Evangelicalism and the evil of liberalism. More than anything else, this paper seemed to give Weniger the image of being harsh. Less remembered, however, are its positive aspects; almost every issue of The Blu-Print contained a "note promoting some preacher, praising someone’s effort, or pushing someone’s paper or book. . . . It seemed to please Dr. Weniger to recognize and promote others. . . . His unselfish love for the brethren was an example to all Fundamentalists."1 Although his hide may have been tough, Weniger’s heart remained tender.

Weniger also served as editor of the CBF Information Bulletin from 1957 through 1962, and his column, "Weniger’s Words of Warning," appeared in the Sword of the Lord and many other publications.

Weniger was related by marriage to CBA of A general director B. Myron Cedarholm (his sister Helen married Myron’s only brother, Jason). Although they strongly disagreed at times, they remained close friends. For example, in a series of letters over two years Cedarholm implored Weniger to be more "positive" in his writings, saying "people can only be changed ‘positively’ and not ‘negatively.’ . . .The positive approach will always do more to correct things than the negative approach."2

Weniger, however, stood firm about what he believed his ministry to be: "I appreciate what you say concerning the Information Bulletin and its negativism. Myron, every pastor in this movement has a whole library full of positive material on our shelves, but we do not have anything which exposes the modernism and the apostasy of this hour."3 "I am sure you don’t want me to cover up a mess. . . . What you need is another Tulga in the office to keep you bucked up."4 Later when Cedarholm found himself embroiled in controversy, Weniger loyally defended him.

In 1958 Weniger was one of the founders of the San Francisco Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary (the word "Conservative" was later dropped from the name), where he served as chairman of the board of trustees and as a professor of practical theology. During his lifetime he would serve on the boards of five different colleges.

Weniger became president of the CBF in 1964, a critical time in its history. Apart from the issues of separation and ecumenical evangelism, the issue of premillennialism caused the final parting of the CBF from the Conservative Baptist movement. Conservative Baptist Fundamentalists wanted a mission board that would appoint only premillennial missionaries, so they started the World Conservative Baptist Mission. The New Evangelicals would have none of it. They fought against it, refused to recognize or support it in any way, and even refused to allow it exhibit space at Conservative Baptist meetings. (NBC liberals had used the same tactics against Conservatives 20 years earlier.) Over the next few years it became clear that there was no place for Fundamentalists in the Conservative Baptist movement.

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