In 1896, after the death of his first wife, he remarried and entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he stayed for a year before returning to preaching.
This group forced an investigation of liberal Christianity in the Baptist schools, but the process led to Massee becoming alienated from its more aggressive members.
In 1923, radical fundamentalists formed the Baptist Bible Union, with Massee continuing to head the moderate faction.
In 1925, he resigned leadership of the Fundamentalist Fellowship, due to his wife's invalidism and the continued infighting, and instead worked towards seeking reconciliation.
[2] He was one of 68 Baptist leaders who met in Chicago on 13 March 1926 with the aim of forging a compromise between fundamentalists and liberal modernists in their common interest of supporting the NBC as a denomination.