injury when the shard grazed his hair. Randall spent the summer of 1777 traveling farther and farther afield on preaching tours throughout the New England region. In March 1778 Randall and his family left New Castle for a new home in New Durham, New Hampshire, where they would settle for the rest of Randall's life. Randall became the only resident preacher in the town, his predecessor having recently resigned over a salary dispute. The people of the community built a meeting house for their new religious leader, who maintained himself through the voluntary contributions of his congregation and various odd jobs in tailoring, also tending a small household farm. He would continue to travel and preach to outlying communities, making New Durham his base of operations. Break with Calvinism Randall's theological orientation tended towards the idea of rapid salvation, freely available to all who repented of their sins and believed. This idea of free salvation proved to be in conflict with the fundamental doctrines of Calvinism, including predestination, which dominated the official Baptist church. Orthodox followers of the church's doctrine charged Randall with teaching anti-Calvinist doctrines, prompting his split from the church in 1780. On April 5, 1780, Randall was ordained in New Durham, which was at the time performed by two ordained ministers in good standing laying hands upon the candidate. Two such local ministers were found and Randall was thereby officially qualified for the ministry, given the honorific "Elder," a title commonly given to gospel ministers in the day. In June 1780, new Articles of Faith and Church Covenant were drawn up by Randall in New Durham and the first Free Baptist church was established — although for the first two decades after this date no prefix to the Baptist name was used. By the end of the year the church numbered seven men and thirteen women. Randall's doctrine was based upon the notion that human beings had minds which provided them the free will to act and that God was ready to fully forgive behavioral errors resulting from that free volition. Complete atonement for sin was available to all based upon genuine repentance, which was a requirement of God. The duty of religious exhortation to make known that free salvation was available for any to embrace were fundamental pillars of Randall's belief. Randall and his followers were dismissed by many contemporaries as adherents of a fanatical sect