In the fall of 1947, a handful of editors met at the convention of the National Sunday School Association and began to talk about an association of evangelical editors. Dr. James DeForest Murch, editor of United Evangelical Action, took the lead and called together a pro tem committee in Chicago on May 6, 1948. Thirty-five editors met at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. They officially organized the Evangelical Press Association, adopted the doctrinal statement of the National Association of Evangelicals and wrote the statement of purpose printed above. On April 4–6, 1949, the first annual convention of the EPA met in Chicago with 103 publications represented.