William Carey College - Crusader / Pine Burr Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

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An Ever-Present Development of

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Carey students have grown spiritually through the leadership of fine Christian friends and constant study of our greatest guide, the Bible. Christian con- certs, Bible study groups, and many other activities of the BSU, provide students with Christian interaction. OT

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Spiritual Growth ■ A ' ■ Even though South Mississippi College ( 1906-1910) was ( «fP not a Christian college in the modern sense of the word -• ' T ij(it was actually a private co-educational college owned by a New Orleans stock company). President W.I. Thames called upon his student body to strive for excellence in all ef- forts. Octogenarians still remember him traveling to nearby towns to judge athletic contests and carefully commending all who did their best. This quest for perfection could not help call- ing to mind the only One who was ever truly Perfect and thus laid a firm groundwork for emphasis in spiritual growth. When the Mississippi Baptist Convention accepted Woman ' s College in 191 1. the spiritual growth of the student body became a major focus of the college objectives. Early catalogs stress that the school was to train intelligent, consecrated Christian citi- zens who can build Christian homes. These goals became the driving force for first lady Mrs. Suebell Johnson, who in the hard times of 1914 wrote: We planned to work here for $2,000 and expenses. Circumstances are forcing us to do without a good part of the money. I can but feel that if we can place our time and talents at God ' s disposal for another year, asking only enough to keep us from actual want, that He will prosper our school and deal with us bountifully. We are convinced of the value of a school like this. Let us throw ourselves on the mercy of God and trust Him to run it. It is positively the only way we can survive to a worthy existence as I see it. Apparently this spiritual insight filtered down through the rank and file of Woman ' s College. Between 1914 and 1926 approxi- mately 85% of the student body were members of the Young Women ' s Auxiliary, an arm of the Women ' s Missionary Union. As such, daily vespers services were held, charitable visits were made to the black community, and intensive study was con- ducted on foreign and home missions. By 1925 college stantion- ery boldly proclaimed in its letterhead, Mississippi Woman ' s College: The School with a Mission . And what was that mis- sion? Nothing short of making Mississippi a State of God-serv- ing women, poised to send his Gospel to every creature . Stories from the twenties tell of students absorbed with the idea of missions: one girl who had picked cotton to make money to have her picture in the yearbook decided to leave it out and give the money to missions instead; another, receiving fifteen dollars from her aunt for Christmas, gave it all to missions. The theme continues so that by the late fifties a student body of 350 gave over $2500 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, an equiva- lent of $6000 today. By the seventies William Carey College, re- named appropriately for the father of modern missions, ranked second among the 53 Baptist college in number of grad- uates in the mission field and was in first place in number of alumni attending New Orleans Baptist Seminary. Spiritual em- phasis weeks and campus revivals of the last two years demon- strated that the spiritual growth continues. Last October Dr. Chester Swor. that dean of inspirational speak- ers for Southern Baptist youth, made his annual visit to the cam- pus. He noted that at seventy-five the college is only one year older than he is. But what that perceptive gentleman also ob- served was that in the hundreds of chapel programs he had at- tended on college campuses for more than half a century, he had never attended one more beautiful, more dignified, or more holy than the one that day in Thomas Hall. Those several hun- dred students and faculty in attendance would have to agree with this grand gentleman. And they would want to add that the words of the Chorale ' s stirring processional hvmn best depict the reality of Mrs. Suebell Johnson ' s dream of 1914. still true in 1980, There ' s a Sweet. Sweet Spirit in this Place.