Bob Jones University

Brethren Alumni

• William F. Anderson - faculty 1961+ @ Emmaus Bible College
• Laura Dawn Blevins - 1975 senior Home Economics;
• Mark D. Foshager - B.S. Accounting 1981 @ BJU; 1982 @ Overbrook Gospel Chapel, SC
• Harry Ironside - served on the BJU board
• LeRoy E. Lohre - founded Glendale Bible Chapel, GA in 1968 with a handful of black teenagers, and commended from that assembly in 1973 to the Lord's work, then in 1978 from Believers Gospel Chapel, GA, both assemblies in Augusta, Georgia. BJU grad introduced to the Brethren via Alfred Perks Gibbs writings. Serving in 1978 as charter president of Augusta Center for Biblical Studies. Director of Augusta Christian Serviceman's Center 1962-1978+; Worked with Michael Flowers in the 1967 crusade which formed Berean Gospel Chapel, GA in Savannah. See LOI 1978-10.
• Sharon Noller - 1975 freshman in Home Economics.
• Malachy Pierre - elder @ Valley Bible Chapel, ME (formerly Madawaska Gospel Hall)
• John Rush - Librarian @ Emmaus Bible College; grad and served on staff at BJU.
• Alex H. Stewart - honorary doctorate, extension staff at Moody and BJU. Born 1883 Scotland, saved while working a coal mine in Nova Scotia. Founded assemblies in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario. Thirty years based in Racine, Wisconsin. Close associate of Ironside, and preached his memorial service. See LOI 1963-1 article by Sam Stewart.
• Paul Tatham - son of Ernie Tatham; Master's in Educational Administration @ BJU. Admin in 1983 @ King's Academy, an inter-denom Christian school enrolling 1350 students in West Palm Beach, Florida, while in fellowship at Palm Bible Chapel, FL alongside the school's president, several faculty members and 26 chapel families with students enrolled there. Paul wrote an article, Where to Turn When the Public Schools Fail for 1983-1 issue of LOI.
• Earl W. Weldon - 1982 @ Taylors, SC

Letters of Interest

1940's

• 1947-11: Ernest Gross, Box 412, Greer, South Carolina

"The prayers of the Lord's people are invited for the starting of a testimony in Greenville, S.C., where Bob Jones University is scheduled to open October 1st. Some 40-50 assembly young people from the assemblies are in attendance. If the present rules apply, the work will be confined to activities after 5 p.m. on the Lord's Day and a prayer meeting during the week. It is planned to have the Breaking of Bread and gospel on the Lord's Day with a buffet supper served between. There are two prospective pieces of property which can be bought for this purpose, both located within a short distance of the University or the city. For the young people to go off grounds to any religious service, it must be to an established work. For this reason we feel immediate action should be taken. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. has assured us that he would like to see an assembly started in connection with the school."

• 1948-4: Young People's Work: Ernest Gross, Greer, S.C.:

"The work in Greenville, S.C. goes along quite nicely. There were about 50 at the Lord's table last Sunday night, some from Greenville and Greer, the major portion students at Bob Jones University. Our problem is space, for our present meeting place in a home is proving inadequate. We are hoping to get a public school building for the Sunday night ministry meeting and Remembrance Feast. The saints at Columbia, S.C., very kindly loaned us some folding chairs. Our school work is expanding. Last week I gained permission to visit two more grammar and one more high school every two weeks. This brings to 26 the total number of schools visited every two weeks. What a glorious privilege it is!"

• 1948-4: Letters: Ernest Gross, Greer, S.C.:

"Last Lord's day, Feb. 15, we commenced services in the Leisure Lodge of the Parker High School in Greenville, S.C. Previously we had met in a home but found the number attending warranted larger quarters. We are meeting at 7:00 to remember the Lord and then invite the general public in at 8:00 for the ministry of the Word. Sunday night there were over 60 present. Of this number, 10 were girls from Bob Jones College, able to get out for the first time. A ruling of the school forbids any girls going to a private home for church meetings."

• 1948-4: Reports: Ernest Gross, Greer, S.C.

"Bro. Gross reports open doors in connection with work among children. He conducts meetings in 26 schools every other week. This means about 2700 pupils and 100 teachers getting the pure gospel. Many more schools could be entered if there were workers to help. Just recently he received permission to have a Friday night meeting in a High School Auditorium which seats 800. The Bob Jones University is only 7 miles from brother Gross' home. There are 50 or so young people from assemblies in various parts of the country attending the university. Our brother is exercised about a larger place where these young people may remember the Lord and listen to ministry. They had been meeting in a brother's home but on Feb. 15 met in a room of a high school. There were 60 present."

• 1949-6: Youth Work - Student Need Results in Assembly Construction by Ernest Gross

"In 1946, we learned that Bob Jones College planned to move to Greenville, S.C., and to open as Bob Jones University in Sept. 1947. This quickened the exercise we had had for some time about a testimony in Greenville, the textile center of the South. When the University opened we found some 45 students from various assemblies among the 2,400 enrolled. College rules allow male students to go out of town only to preach or take active part in a meeting and permit girl students to attend only meetings held in public buildings. So our place of meeting had to be inside Greenville city limits and at first we were able to find only a private home, to which the young ladies could not come. Therefore for a time only the boys attended.

After months of fruitless search for a place to rent, in Feb. 1948 we received permission to use Leisure Lodge of Parker High School temporarily. Now the girls could come. However we were still restricted to the remembrance feast and to public preaching Sunday night. We felt that we needed our own building where the work could grow. After much prayer we purchased a lot in the Overbrook section of Greenville, within a mile of the university and of the city center. It is on the city bus line in a section that has no church and is developing rapidly. In March, the building was started and we trust it will be finished by late summer. It is two-story frame and will accommodate better than 200 in the main auditorium. We feel keenly the responsibility of providing a meeting place for the 60 to 70 BJU students from the assemblies and for their friends who are interested. Greenville is a city of 114,000 and thus affords a wonderful evangelistic opportunity. There are in fellowship about 25 saints beside the students."

• 1949-12: "The new Overbrook Gospel Chapel in Greenville, S.C. was opened with a special service on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 9. A goodly number were present, not only from Greenville but also from Florence, Columbia, Augusta, Anderson and Greer. The Word was ministered by Douglas Ibbotson, Leslie Rainey and Virgil Hollingsworth. After a light supper was served we had the remembrance feast and a gospel meeting. A hearty invitation is extended the Lord's people who may be visiting or passing our way to be with us that we may enjoy the things of the Lord together. We also welcome the many students from the assemblies who attend Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C."

1950's

• 1950-9: Welcome Students: "The Christians at the Overbrook Gospel Chapel, 26 Overbrook Road, Greenville, South Carolina, extend a cordial invitation to the young people entering Bob Jones University. The schedule of meetings is as follows: Sunday, the Family Bible Hour at 11:00 a.m., the Lord's Supper at 5:00 p.m., and the Gospel Meeting at 8:00 p.m. The weekly prayer meeting and Bible study is at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday. Anytime the students could attend the meetings, they will find a gracious welcome and warm, Christian fellowship." Ernest Gross.

• 1952-1: F.C. Schwarze, Greer, South Carolina: "The Lord has been pleased to bless the testimony here in recent months. Early in the summer a mother and daughter professed salvation. Together with three others from the assembly these have since been baptized. More recently, a young G.I. student at Bob Jones University, with his wife, came into contact with the assembly through one of the local brethren and they are now in fellowship and eagerly studying the Word with a view to service for the Lord in this neighborhood. For the past few weeks our brother Charles Mount has been exercised to hold meetings in a private home here. It is in a neighborhood with few churches but which is, seemingly, attractive for public ministry. A great need in Greer is a place for meetings which is suitably located. The present chapel is not. Gospel efforts are being carried on in surroundings localities by some of the brethren. The testimony in this place needs the prayers of God's people."

1960's

• 1961-5: Four Tracts Available From Greenville Address

"Four tracts written by Mrs. Inez B. Hall, 408 Pine Knoll Dr., Greenville, S.C., a member of Overbrook Gospel Chapel are available from her upon request. Titles and quantity already printed and distributed are as follows: You Say, God Says, God Gave (30,000); Are You Going Out In The Night? (15,000); Why Be A Fanatic For Jesus? (5,000); and See Yourself (15,000). Users of the Hall tracts, says the author, have included Tom Olson of California, Tommie Steele and Woody Murphy of North Carolina, the John Bramhalls, and many Bob Jones University students."

• 1961-10: W.F. Anderson Joins Emmaus Resident Staff

"W.F. Anderson of Florence, S.C., who was scheduled for a six-week tour of duty on the Emmaus Bible School visiting teaching staff start Oct. 9, instead will be joining the resident staff at that time. A graduate of Bob Jones University with two years at University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Anderson for about a decade has devoted his main efforts to serving the Lord with the Bible Chapel assembly in Florence. The work there has flourished. A number of the young people have attended Emmaus Bible School. As on previous visits to Emmaus, Mr. Anderson will be handling general Bible subjects during the fall term. He will be moving to Chicago with his wife and their three children."

1970's

• 1974-9: reprinted A Christian Father by Ben Strohbehn, originally published Nov-Dec 1973 issue of FAITH for the Family, Bob Jones University.

• 1975-2: On Campus:
  • Laura Dawn Blevins, age 21, a Senior, Bob Jones University, Home Economics: "At the age of 6, I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. My wonderful mother led me to know God's love. Toward the end of high school, I woke up to the fact that the Lord brought me into the world for a purpose, to be His disciple and to be a disciplemaker."

• • Sharon Noller, age 20, a Freshman, Bob Jones University, Home Economics: "I'm just really thankful the Lord led me to Bob Jones to get an education centered around the Lord, and for the wonderful way He opened doors for me to go. Please pray for the Child Evangelism group at Overbrook Gospel Chapel that I have an opportunity to be involved in."

1980's

• 1982-9: Reaching America's Blacks: Radio and crusade evangelism lead to an effective church-planting ministry, as G.O.G.F. celebrates its 20th anniversary.

"The Grand Old Gospel Hour has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The program is the centerpiece of a group of broadcasts that constitute what is believed to be the largest black-produced Christian radio ministry in the United States. The organization that produces these broadcasts is the Grand Old Gospel Fellowship, Inc. Headquartered in Philadelphia, it is led by its founder, B. Sam Hart, a Harlem-born evangelist of Jamaican descent. Sam and his brother Charles are assembly-commended workers who have had an effective evangelistic and church-planting ministry, especially in the cities of the eastern seaboard. Their father, Arthur Hart, was born in Jamaica, came to Christ in New York City, and returned to Jamaica as a missionary. His oldest son Arthur continues as a full-time worker in Jamaica.

The first Grand Old Gospel Hour broadcast was heard on July 16, 1962 over station WBYO-FM in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. At that time, WBYO was the only full-time Christian station in the Greater Philadelphia area. An early step in expansion of the radio ministry occurred when the late Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., heard a broadcast while in the Philadelphia area. He subsequently arranged to have the weekly program included in the Bob Jones network. After several other stations accepted the 30-minute program, Dr. Hart was offered time on Trans World Radio, and then on HCJB, the world-girdling short wave station in Quito, Ecuador. Ultimately, the Grand Old Gospel Hour was aired on 136 stations.

Over the years the Fellowship has conducted Gospel crusades in a number of major U.S. cities and in the West Indies, South America, India and Africa, and helps to sponsor the Hart Boys' Home in Jamaica, West Indies. The organization's church planting program has developed twelve Christian assemblies along the Eastern Seaboard, from Boston to Washington. Newest is the Montco Bible Fellowship currently meeting in an American Legion Hall in Ambler, PA, pending acquisition of a building of their own. Dr. Hart ministers to this integrated congregation, and his sermons are adapted for the one-hour weekly "Message from the Bible" and the 45-minute "Dr. B. Sam Hart Speaks" radio programs in the area and elsewhere.

Dr. Hart and his wife, Joyce, have five grown children. Two sons are associated with the Fellowship organization. Tony Hart is general manager and Bradley Hart business manager of WYIS. This station, which went on the air in 1978, is an adjunct of the radio ministry."

• 1984-4/5: Notices: "Teachers Wanted for Victory Christian School, a ministry of the Bible Chapel. Beka and Bob Jones Curriculums are used. Contact: John Hollman, St. Louis, Missouri."

• 1986-6: Notices: Wanted Christian Teachers: "Living Waters Christian Fellowship and Academy must increase their staff in their Christian school and we need you. LWCF is a local assembly of believers who have a burden for people, and one aspect of our ministry is Christian education. Christian teachers who are interested in sharing their lives and testimony on a daily basis in a Christian atmosphere, please inquire. Address correspondence or call: Living Waters Christian Fellowship and Academy, Box 175, Tusket, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia".

Light and Liberty

• 1947-10: Augusta, Georgia (Bethany Chapel): "We are happy to tell of our Young People's Bible Conference which met here on August 9 and 10. About seventy persons came from assemblies in nearby towns, among whom were twelve students from the Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina. The theme for the conference was "Possessing the Land". Many were greatly blessed and we hope to have another get-together soon in Florence, South Carolina."