[PAR35]

There are a number of baptist groups, the largest of which is the Southern Baptist Convention. There are also American Baptists (the old northern group) and a couple of large predominately Black baptist groups. There are also Missionary Baptists, Primitive Baptists, etc. There are also independent Baptist churches. All of the groups, despite geographic names, operate nationwide or worldwide.

It's sort of like Anglicans in the US, who can be ECUSA, REC, AMiA, or part of a South American or African group.

A fair sized city in the south is going to have several Southern Baptists, an American Baptist if there are a lot of yankees, perhaps an independent baptist church, and an assortment of Black baptist churches.

[penelopesire]

Thanks for the explanations. I grew up in the deep south and always saw the different signs on the churches, but never really thought of them as distinct or that different.