“The Texas Tornado:” J. Frank Norris—Baptist Renegade (October 7, 2025)
by Scott Sosebee
Texas “leads” all the states in a number of categories. It is by far the largest producer of petroleum and natural gas; it has more farms and ranches than any other state and also the most acres in agricultural production. It also has been the top exporting state in the nation for the last twenty-five years and has the highest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters in the U.S. with more than fifty. Another classification that Texas leads in would not surprise anyone who has spent any time in the state: Texas has by far the largest number of Baptists than any other state. Georgia comes in second on that list, and North Carolina is third, but those two together just barely reaches the number of Baptist adherents as Texas. A list of notable Texas Baptists would include people such as W.A. Criswell, George W. Truett, Mary Hill Davis, and L.R. Millican. Another prominent figure would be the man whose tempestuous life earned him the nickname of “The Texas Tornado”—J. Frank Norris.
John Franklyn Norris was not born in Texas but in Dadeville, Alabama on September 18, 1977. He moved with his family to Hubbard, Texas in 1881where he was raised. Like many families of the day, Norris’ made a hard-scrabble living trying to produce a living on a small farm. His father was an alcoholic who regularly beat his son for even the slightest offenses, but his mother was a deeply religious women who followed the Holiness Movement of the time. J. Frank attended a Baptist Camp Meeting in Hubbard when he was fourteen and converted from his mother’s religious leanings to being a Baptist. That conversion led him to be called to the ministry, and he thus first attended Baylor University in nearby Waco and then the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Although his education was accomplished in Southern Baptist institutions, Norris emerged from Seminary as a fundamentalist separatist. Norris became a follower of the Fundamentalist Movement of the early twentieth century. Separatist Fundamentalism has, historically, in its purest form, was a deep commitment to and willingness to contend for the “clear teaching” of the Bible and an adherence to the earliest forms of Christianity. Fundamentalist congregations are independent and whole, which means that Norris’ observance of Fundamentalism meant that he helped to lead churches out of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Norris’ early years are characterized by this conflict and he loved to fight—in many ways his ego may have outweighed his theological devotion—and he sought out and relished fights with his contemporary SBC leaders such as George Truett, J.M. Dawson, and Louie Newton.
After seminary in 1905, Norris became the pastor at Dallas’ influential McKinney Avenue Baptist Church, but he left that position to take over as the editor of the “Baptist Standard.” When Norris took over the “Baptist Standard” was locked into an intense “war” with Samuel Augustus Hayden and his “Texas Baptist and Herald” over supremacy within Baptist circles and also theological concerns. Norris essentially made peace with Hayden and ended the feud. He then used the Standard as his platform of Fundamental Separatism, and in many ways became the most famous—or notorious—Baptist in the state. That reputation would only grow in the coming years.
He sold his interest in the “Baptist Standard” in 1909 and took over as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, a position that he would hold until he died in 1952. It would be from that position that Norris gained his greatest fame and, some would say, his greatest infamy. Some of his ministry was non-controversial, such as establishing an outreach to military men at Camp Bowie during World War I, and the beginning of the first real radio ministry in 1920. Others, not so much, such as the fact that he openly supported and the Ku Klux Klan, a pursuit that in many ways gave the racist organization legitimacy in Texas. Although he was acquitted by a jury of the charge, he was accused of arson for burning his church down in 1912. When he built the church back on 1920, it was one of the largest and most sensational—with a revolving electric sign and a spotlight on the top of the roof—church in the nation.
Perhaps the most notorious of his sensationalist incidents in the 1920s stemmed out of his attack on his alma mater, Baylor. Norris’ mentor at Baylor was B.H. Carroll. Carroll began to formulate a plan to move Baylor’s Bible department into a full seminary and place in somewhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. George Truett opposed that plan and formed a strong coalition to stop Carroll’s designs. More than likely, this was more than a plan to establish a new seminary; it was a power struggle between two dominant figures, and Norris would join and take a side. Truett maneuvered to gain the position of chair of the committee to find a site for the new endeavor, and he recommended two small lots in Dallas. Carroll went on the offensive in opposing the choice, and he was joined by Norris. He used his influence to oppose Truett and, in the end, the location for the new seminary was not Dallas but Fort Worth. Carroll made the announcement with Norris at his side. Norris continued his crusade—and grudge—against Baylor for the remainder of the 1920s, which led to the most dramatic episode in his career.
Norris’ fight with Baylor spilled over into Baptist politics when he and his church were denied seats at the Baptist General Convention in both 1922 and 1923. Instead of deterring him, that energized the fiery preacher and he further distanced himself and his church from the Baptist hierarchy. He then began a highly charged and vitriolic anti-Catholic campaign that led him, in 1926, to publicly criticize and castigate Fort Worth mayor H.C. Meacham, who was Catholic. Dexter E. Chipps, a friend of Meacham’s came to Norris’ office and confronted him about his criticism. The exchange between the two men became heated, and Chipps apparently challenged Norris to a fight. Instead of accommodating Chipps in a physical confrontation, Norris pulled a pistol and shot Chipps. His trial was in Austin and Norris was acquitted as the jury believed his claim of self-defense.
Norris continued his headline-grabbing and sensationalist tactics throughout the rest of his career. He actively opposed Democrat Al Smith—a Catholic—in his run for the presidency in 1928. Fort Worth’s First Baptist burned again in 1929 and once again he was accused of setting it on fire, but was never charged. During the 1930s he organized the World Missionary Baptist Fellowship to combat “socialist, liberal, or ‘modernist’ teachings in the Southern Baptist Convention.” He also became an active supporter of Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s. J. Frank Norris died in August 1952 of heart failure.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.