Stearns, Shubal (1706-1771)
In 1755, Shubal Stearns settled in the Piedmont of North Carolina, between present-day Liberty and Asheboro in Randolph County, and established Sandy Creek Baptist Church. Stearns’s authoritative preaching helped convert many in the Piedmont to his Separate Baptist beliefs. After a split among churches within the Sandy Creek Association of Separate Baptists and the defeat of the Regulation movement, Separate Baptists left for Appalachia. Stearns, however, remained and died in Randolph County. But his influence was and is more widespread than many know.