Audiences flocked to hear well known religious personalities and Bible teachers speak on popular theological currents, missionary themes, end-times speculation, and renewal.
Bible conferences combined elements of earlier Christian revivalism, efforts for social reform, and recreation.
[2] Especially after the Scopes Trial in 1925, as fundamentalists lost control at the denominational level, Bible conferences served as an important link in a growing and successful fundamentalist network that included influential personalities, “parachurch” organizations such as Youth for Christ, and the growing Bible College Movement.
Significant twentieth century Bible Conferences were held in Sandy Cove in New Jersey, along Schroon Lake and in Ebenezer in New York as well as Montrose, Pennsylvania.
Midwest conferences were held in Northeast Indiana along the shore of Winona Lake, in cities such as Chicago, and in the rural areas of Iowa [Cedar Falls and Okoboji].