December 1924
T H E
K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
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M I Our Bible Institute mnpM
in Hunan Province, China Dr. Frank A. Keller Superintendent
The Hunan Bible Institute (the China Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles) is organized along similar lines to the home Institute,— training native Chinese young men and women for Christian work, and at the same time carrying on an active evangelistic w ork among the unsaved. The work (which is recognized by the different evan gelical missions as one o f the best in China) has three departments. (1) A Bible Institute at Changsha (thè capital city of Hunan Province.) (3) Twelve Colportage Bands with 13 men in each Band, devoting the mornings to Bible Study, and the afternoons to giving the Gospel in the native homes. (3) The Antuinn Bible School and Conference at Nanyoh (one of China’s three sacred mountains). Hundreds o f conversions have., resulted from the; work done among the thousands of pilgrims. COMMENCEMENT WEEK AT CHANGSHA growth of the students during their two years’ course, and of their enthu siasm and efficiency in service.
house; now forty-five graduates and the exercises held in our own beauti ful auditorium, the gift of God’s de voted servant the late Mr. Milton Stewart. Forty-five- Graduates Forty-one men and four women who have come from various missions, and now after two years of earnest Bible study and careful training are going forth into Hunan and other provinces of China to tell the “ Good News” of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all who truly believe in Him.
Commencement Week of 24 has been one of the ightest and happiest weeks the history of this work.
Many new students have registered, and the class entering the Bible school this fall will be the largest we have yet received. Oh that each student may come to know Him in all His ful ness, may come to know the power of His might and may come to really know His Word! A Commencement Week Wedding Two days after the graduating exer cises there took place in our auditor ium one of the prettiest weddings I have ever seen, when the Rev. Charles A. Roberts and Miss Grace Madeline Pike, both members of the Bible Insti tute staff, the bride being a graduate of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, were united in marriage. Several ladies of the Presbyterian Mission came over, bringing an additional supply of flowers with them. They took entire charge of the decorations and by combining flowers with bam boo branches they made the auditor ium and mission home look like a fairy land. The bridal procession was led by the eldest daughter of Dean and Mrs. Hail of Yale, and the “ Hail Twins” were most charming flower girls. Miss Griwing played the wed ding march until the bridal couple reached the beautiful bamboo and floral arch on the platform, when the ceremony was performed by the Super intendent. A reception followed in the mission home and the happy couple left that evening by steamer for a visit to some of the interesting cities and .’summer resorts of China. Vacation Evangelistic Bands ' Another joyous event of commence ment week was the organizing and sending out of our student bands for the summer’s evangelistic work. This year we were able to send out five bands of men and four bands of (Continued on page 814)
In 1919 two students graduated and the exercises were held in one of the classrooms in the rented building where the Bible school had its birth. In 1920 and 1921 the classes were much larger and there was a corres- ponding increase in the number of graduates. The exercises were held in the United Evangelical Church which was kindly loaned to us for these occasions. In 1922 and 1923 the graduating exercises were held in the pleasant dining hall of one of the new dormi tories, How thankful we were to be able to hold these exercises in one of our own buildings, even though the dining ball was uncomfortably full in 1923. But this year, 1924, we had the great joy of opening to the public the splendid auditorium of our new ad ministration and classroom building, the “ MILTON STEWART HALL.” How our Christian contractor, Mr. Dziang, and the building superinten dent, Mr. Dorrance, did work to get the auditorium ready for this day. Mr. Rutledge and his assistants secured a lot of fine flowers and arranged them so attractively around the platform that they added greatly to the beauty of the whole scene. At the appointed hour a large number of guests were seated in the auditorium, and I am sure that every heart felt a thrill of joy as the procession marched in. first the teachers, then the forty-five graduates, and after them the general body of students. With what glad hearts and voices we united in singing “ PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW.” What a contrast to five years ago! Then two graduates, and the exercises held in a little room in a Chinese
REV. AND MRS. CHAS. A. .ROBERTS About half of these graduates re ceived financial aid from scholarships during their school course. They have now returned to their homes for a short vacation, and on October first will begin their two years of service in our Biola Evangelistic Bands. The other half of the graduates have returned to their respective mis sions, and many of them are already at work in their appointed fields. Most hearty and full of appreciation are the letters that come to us from the mis sionaries telling of the manifest
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