Irecently strolled by the photo gallery in the American Heritage Building — the one in the hallway behind the Heritage Inn front desk. I’ve looked at those pictures many times and have always marveled at how well a few dozen snapshots capture the Harding story. The black-and-white images chronicle key moments in the school’s past: the mortgage burning, the early days of chapel in old Godden Hall, the students of yesteryear singing around the Lily Pond.
I see those iconic leaders — Dean L.C. Sears unveiling the Harding sign, former President George Benson cutting a ribbon with his two successors, Dr. Joe Pryor mentoring students in a science lab and Jim Bill McInteer in front of the Bible building named in his honor.
But this hallway celebrates Harding’s present as much as her past. It shows today’s students overseas as they soak in global culture and walk hand-in-hand with the world’s children. The pictures from campus show us learning, playing and graduating. At separate ends of the hallway, I smile to see Dr. David B. Burks in a casual moment with a child and in formal regalia on the Benson stage. Images of worship, service projects and — I say it without shame — camaraderie line the walls. I even made the gallery, sort of. In a photo of coach Jeff Morgan and his basketball team singing the national anthem before a game, you can see me in my usual spot in the Rhodes Field House behind the water cooler. I’ll be there Saturday night.
The story these pictures tell is one of continuity — generations of teachers and students assembled for a common purpose: to learn from each other and to serve God side by side. They speak of an institution that preserves its core foundations but revitalizes them for each new generation. Harding cherishes its past because our founders had a vision for teaching the whole person — body, mind and soul. One more picture stands out to me in this regard.
I’ve written about the late Neale Pryor before — it’s a shame few current students would know him. But for 45 years he taught Bible here with grace and conviction. And in one striking photo in the gallery, this old gospel preacher chats with a younger colleague who smiles warmly with obvious affection for one of his mentors. Neither man could know that just a few years after this picture was taken, one of them, Dr. Bruce McLarty, would be announced as the fifth president in Harding’s nearly 90-year history.
When I came to Searcy in 2003, McLarty (he wasn’t Dr. McLarty then) was in his final two years as the pulpit minister for the College Church of Christ. His was consistently some of the best preaching I had ever heard — passionate, practical, deeply spiritual and insistently positive. Without even looking at the file of his sermon outlines that I saved, I can remember particular lessons. His series “Same Heart, Different Music” embraced multiple styles of Christian songs at a time when congregations were struggling over the issue. I recall (and have often cited) his sermon on “Arm’s Length Christianity,” where he taught that as contemporary culture moves farther away from God, we too often move along with it.
And a Sunday-night lesson titled “If I Were a Harding Student Again” told me as a new faculty member much about McLarty’s deep love for this university and his desire that today’s students would have as rich a spiritual experience as he had here.
Both McLarty and his wife, Ann, are such optimists that I’m seldom around them when I don’t get a shot in the arm. Literally — she’s a nurse in the Student Health Center. They seem to face life’s joys and challenges — whether it’s doing mission work in Kenya for 15 months or grandparenting a 15-month-old baby — with grateful trust and reassuring serenity. Beneath this sunny exterior, though, is a genuine conviction and willingness to accept bold callings.
I’m writing this on Monday, so I have no way of knowing the outcome of tomorrow’s presidential election. As you read this on Friday, you know by now who the voters have chosen. But in this quiet moment before Tuesday, I am insistently positive about the road ahead for Harding. That is mostly because for close to a century, God has raised up men and women to lead it. That includes our Board of Trustees, and that includes the other applicants who were willing to take on this monumental job. I am grateful for them all.
