Henry - A History of Biola University Since 1908

182 All the classes of the Hunan Bible Institute were held in the build- ings, most of which were erected between 1920 and 1927, on the nearly ten acre-s e nclosea"" By -·a -hfgh brick wall. Mil ton Stewart Hall, the largest build- ing had an auditorium with a seating capacity of seven hundred and fifty, twenty classrooms, and numerous offices. There were four dormitories with room for one hundred and sixty students. The dining hall was a modern fac- ility with a seating capacity of three hundred and fifty. The adr.linistr- ative personnel lived in six separate residences. The estimated value of the Institute's property was one million dollars in U. S. currency. The Hunan Bible Institute was by no means the sole method of outreach of the work in China, although it was perhaps the most important. For ex- ample, a two-year course for high school graduates and a three-year course for non-high school graduates were established. Also, the Evangelistic Bands, from which the Institute was developed, continued to send teams of dedicated Christian men into unevangelized areas to visit homes within a five-mile radius to present the Gospel. In its later years, after the end of World War II, the School expanded its ministry to include an orphanage, to'~ which the Ministry of Social Af- fairs of the Nationalist Government assigned one hundred neglected children in January, 1948. The operational expense of this orphanage created ever- present financial problems for the Hunan Bible Institute, especially be- cause it was dependent on funds from the United States. In 1932, however, when Dr. Keller wrote the Business Manager of Biola, "We have now reached a crisis • . • our funds in China for the Evangelistic Band work are abso- lutely exhausted; in fact, I fear that they have been considerably overdrawn. He received $3,000.00 immediately from Biola. The situation became more intense, perhaps for two main reasons. Dr. Keller, a dedicated medical doctor and missionary, was not a go~d business manager, often not accounting for money sent for his work. He acknowledged

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