The organization was founded by J. Frank Norris (1877–1952) of Texas, a southern fundamentalist leader in the first half of the 20th century.
Norris, C. P. Staley and others formed the Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship in 1933 at Fort Worth, Texas.
The WBF was again divided in 1984, when a group led by Raymond W. Barber established the Independent Baptist Fellowship International and the Norris Bible Baptist Institute.
[2] The World Baptist Fellowship had 945 churches in 1995, with its primary strength in Texas, Florida and Ohio.
More than half of these churches also participate in other independent fundamental Baptist fellowships.