This is a brief summary and adaptation of "The Baptist Student Union in Retrospect" written by Lynn E. May and originally printed in the BAPTIST STUDENT in 1961 published by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (Now Lifeway Christian Resources).
At the turn of the century Southern Baptists were promoting no program to meet the needs of their students. YMCA, YWCA and the Student Volunteer Movement were conducting religious activities among college students. Three students from Baylor University attended a YMCA sponsored student conference in 1903 in Ruston, Louisiana and returned to their campus with a vision of a denominational organization for enlisting and guiding Baptist students during their college years. The Baptist Student Missionary Movement was launched November 16, 1914 in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1919 the executive board of the Texas Baptist Convention employed O. P. Campbell to direct student religious activities and teach Bible to Baptist students enrolled in Texas University. In April of 1920, Joseph P. Boone, one of the six students who attended the YMCA event in 1903, to be State Student Secretary for Texas. The following July, Boone presented a suggested plan that the organization should be "distinctly student in constituency, purpose, and plan." After days of prayer and discussion, a small group of faculty and students from six schools chose one word at at a time: "Student," then "Baptist," and finally, "Union."
On campuses throughout the country students were hungry for an organizational ministry of the their own. In 1920 the Convention appointed the Secretaries of the Foreign Mission Board, Home Mission Board, Sunday School Board and Education Board to create a plan for the religious training of Baptist students. They formulated plans for an organization to be known as The Baptist Student Association in 1921. In their search for a man to direct the Convention student work, the committee turned to Frank H. Leavell. He had been BYPU secretary of Georgia since 1913. He began his work January 1, 1922. Thus Southern Baptists inaugurated the Convention-wide student movement in a small room overlooking the Mississippi River in Memphis in a small room with two desks, a stenographer, a typewriter, and an executive secretary. An intensive study of the current campus situation revealed more than 250 college and universities in the south with 93,000 students with less than one third attending a Baptist school. Among the organizations Mr. Leavell found a "Baptist Students Union" in twelve Texas schools, which was peculiar to Texas.
The Convention ordered that they were to work in close cooperation with the states in developing this program. It was to give special attention to the students of state institutions since these schools could make no contribution to the religious life of the students. They recognized that the student movement must have a regular medium of communication. The first issue of the BAPTIST STUDENT magazine appeared in September, 1922 edited by Leavell and published by the Sunday School Board. The magazine grew rapidly in popularity.
Mr. Leavell and his co-workers determined to conduct student conferences in the western, central and eastern regions of the south. They chose Shreveport, Chattanooga and Greensboro. The first was to be held in Shreveport and Leavell feared no one would come. Before it was over, 250 students had attended from six states. Twelve hundred (1200) Students from 106 schools attended all of the regional meetings. They emphasized personal evangelism and suggested methods for student enlistment. The student movement in Texas had already used the "BSU council" on many campuses. The council was to coordinate all the religious activities of the various Baptist organizations and local churches.
Although generally accepted, the new movement encountered strong opposition in some areas. Some Baptist college presidents and other denominational leaders opposed the work in state schools. They feared that the student program would lift the moral tone of the state campuses to the extent that Baptist parents would send their young people to state institutions rather than to their own denominational schools.
It was determined the state conventions were to be the basic unit for the promotion of the student movement. They called on state executive boards to establish student departments and employ a state director and campus secretaries to minister to the needs of students. Texas in 1919 and North Carolina in 1922 had already organized state student departments. Others gradually followed this pattern. By 1924 the number of local Baptist Student Unions had grown to the extent that the students requested state rather than regional conferences. All followed the theme, "Make Christ Campus Commander." These conferences reached 2,453 students.
PART 2 to follow.
Arliss Dickerson's college ministry materials are available at Amazon Books. Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9
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