T.T. Shields was a Baptist all his life. Not because he was born within the denomination and bound to denominational institutions, for safeties sake, for peer recognition, or pension. He was a Baptist by conviction maintaining that position over against other denominations, para-church organizations, and interdenominational missions. But the name meant very little to him. It was the principle that concerned him. This did not prevent him from recognizing and publically acknowledging the worth of godly men whom he differed with in many respects.

His strong convictions and pastoral responsibility laid upon him the burden of defending the faith to guard those who were being led astray by false teaching. This led into what has come to be known as the modernist-fundamentalist controversy of the twenties.