MMBB's history is the story of people of vision who recognized that churches needed help in caring for their ministers. At the beginning of the 20th century ministers managed to make ends meet on an average annual salary of $683. A few scattered retirement homes existed, but there was no central organization devoted to the well-being of ministers, missionaries and their families.

Henry L. Morehouse, a frontier pastor who later became Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Churches Board of Home Missions (now the Board of National Ministries), was well aware of the hardships and self-sacrifices of ministers, particularly the elderly. As early as 1882 Dr. Morehouse began agitating for the improvement of those conditions, but it wasn't until the first meeting of the Northern Baptist Convention in 1908 that progress began. At that time a Commission was appointed "to make inquiry concerning the methods and extent of aid to aged and disabled Baptist ministers and the dependent widows and children of ministers."

Without funds, however, the work of the Commission progressed slowly until 1911 when the Northern Baptist Convention met in Philadelphia and a dedicated layman provided the incentive to complete the work of the Commission. That anonymous layman, known only as "a man from Pennsylvania," proposed the following:

"If the Northern Baptist Convention should appoint a permanent committee whose duty shall be the collecting and dispensing of funds for the relief of the superannuated and disabled ministers and missionaries, it would appeal to me and I would pledge $50,000 for that fund, on the condition that between now and next Christmas, at noon, they secure $200,000 more."

The identity of the "man from Pennsylvania" was kept secret, at his request, until 1920 when he reluctantly agreed to allow MMBB to publish his name, which was Milan C. Treat of Washington, Pennsylvania.

In 1911 MMBB was organized. With Dr. Morehouse's vision almost a reality, Everett T. Tomlinson was the first Executive Director and was charged with raising the conditional $200,000 by Christmas. Both a minister and a distinguished educator, Dr. Tomlinson was the guiding light in the early years of the Board. "If the ministry is worthwhile," he said, "its work and its workers ought to be safeguarded and cared for." With those words Dr. Tomlinson undertook the first fund-raising campaign.

Donations — small and large — were received, but with Christmas Day fast approaching and the outcome uncertain, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., was asked to help meet the goal. A sealed envelope, "not to be opened before noon on Christmas Day," was received from Mr. Rockefeller. It contained an offer to assume as much as $40,000 to complete the campaign. The goal was reached; the campaign was a success. MMBB's benefits and services had begun.