Protestantism in the New World did not have its origins in the Virginia Colony in 1607, or in Massachusetts Bay in 1620, but, contrary to many historians, it had its origin in California. More than anything else, James Whitcomb Brougher was a peacemaker and unifier in a time when both were rare virtues. Born on January 7, 1870, in Vernon, Indiana, he received his education at the University of California and Rochester Seminary. Clearly the First Baptist Church of San Jose agreed with Morris assessment. As a result of the McPherson meetings, it showed impressive gains in membership and became one of the strongest churches within the Northern California Baptist Convention. The chief interpreter and defender of Baptist orthodoxy for Northern California was the Revered C. W. Brinstad, executive secretary of the Northern California Baptist Convention. Not all of the Protestant mainline churches in northern California responded to Aimee Semple McPherson and to Pentecostalism in similar fashion as did the Baptists.