James McLemore

James McLemore (1782–1834) was a white Baptist minister in Montgomery, Alabama.

He was a leader of the Alabama Baptist Association and founder of a number of churches.

[5] At the time, slavery and, more specifically, the membership of enslaved people in Baptist churches, was becoming a serious matter of contention; the Ocmulgee Baptist Association had resolved, citing Ephesians 6:9 and Colossians 4:1, that enslaved people were to be treated "with humanity and justice", a decision which according to Gary Burton, pastor of Pintlala Baptist Church, Hope Hull, Alabama, was to have a great influence on McLemore's future with a black associate minister.

[3] McLemore, who built a reputation as a "famous white evangelist",[6] founded three of the four churches that made up the ABA—in addition to Antioch, he founded the Elim (also known as Old Elam, June 19, 1819) and Bethel churches (February 13, 1819).

[9] The McLemore bible, more than a hundred years old, was read from at a ceremony celebrating the continued unity of the four original Baptist churches in 1923.