J.H. Mohorter Elected General Secretary

J.H. Mohorter

“Snively was replaced as General Secretary by a man who shaped and symbolized NBA for the next 23 years.” James H. Mohorter, also known as “Uncle Jimmie,” thrilled the hearts of everyone at the 1905 San Francisco General Convention with his address on benevolence. He “was a man of indefatigable energy, with a compassionate commitment to match. A good organizer and a strong leader, his optimism was undaunted, though always tempered by a sure sense of the possible.”

“Officers of the Association had been overwhelmingly female during the formative years, but once NBA gained official recognition from the church, the place of men in the organization grew noticeably… In 1908, NBA came to the end of an era. Fannie Shedd Ayars stepped down after three years as President, and that executive position went to a man, the first of a long, uninterrupted line. Donie Hansbrough reports: ‘It was then that it came about that NBA passed into the control of the men and out of the hands of the women.’ ” (Inasmuch, p51.) 

“Mohorter often gave the call: ‘Beloved, inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ He gave it so regularly from pulpits, in conventions, and in publications that he was nicknamed “Beloved Inasmuch Commander-in-Chief.” He served as General Secretary until 1929. (Inasmuch, p68.)