the wind listen to it it plays across field in prairies
it takes the warm red earth in its hands and puts it down only after it has
run out of breath the wind is gentle causing dry stalks to nod softly to
the sky the wind is playful and persistent pushing one wave to the
shore and informing another to replace the one dissolved on the rocks it never
tires of sweeping dry leaves first one way then another they curl and roll and
bunched together only to be pushed and scattered again in the dance of nature
it's a great mystery that the wind brings rain gathering moisture where it can
and yet it dries clothes by taking moisture from them and its many
circuits the wind runs its fingers through the green green leaves of a
million trees and it tosses and tangles every strand of hair nothing escapes the
wind listen to it the winds of West Texas have been as much a part of
Adeline Christian University as any other event remembered by its exes these
ever-present winds whether hot in the summer or sharp and cold in the winter
are truly a powerful force yet the wind cannot be seen only its effects are
evident many things in life are similar to the wind unseen yet real
intangible but powerful take knowledge for example knowledge cannot be seen yet
it exists information is recorded in books but is this knowledge or is
knowledge the thing that takes place in a classroom where a professor speaking
from a storehouse of information and amplifying on a text portrays translates
and gives life to facts and figures dates and events the learning process the
system of acquiring knowledge is not limited to the classroom it is as elusive
as the wind yet its impact can be as gentle as a breeze or come in a rush
with the mighty force the learning process whether in life in general or on
the Adeline Christian University campus can take place as students meet
students in their English and Literature classes these students learn of the
poets who have observed life and have said I am a part of all that I have
met these meetings some as fleeting as the breeze some lasting and permanent
all weave together to mold and make us what we are and what we will be this
process of becoming the painstaking process of maturing into adulthood gets
underway as a student arrives on campus hopefully on our campus the process is a
happy day-to-day change a pleasant experience that comes gradually and
naturally it can be experienced in the warm greeting students have for one
another as a new semester begins in the fall there are hugs pats and squeals of
delight as some flash engagement rings obtained during the summer months this
too this matter of becoming engaged is like the wind an unseen feeling that
ties two people together for a lifetime so much of life is feeling a
sensitivity to people and things around us
in its simplest form this is the way education takes place a teacher and a
student with knowledge imparted from one to the other yet is the log adequate
to the learning situation what shall they do when it snows or rains or night
comes and the class is not finished or more than one student wants to join the
class whose responsibility is it to provide warm dry and well-lighted
buildings certainly not the professors because his work is to teach and quite
likely he can't afford it anyway and it's not the students responsibility
because he is young he's there to learn once upon a time the log and one-room
school houses brought together the professor and student in those days
learning was basically the three Rs today's world is more complex the
learning experience is wide and vast and time is important abalone Christian
University is attempting to meet today's educational challenges and at the same
time it brings together Christian teachers on one end of the log so to
speak and students on the other the facilities at abalone Christian
University today are a far cry from what they were just a few short years ago
thanks to the concentrated efforts and generous gifts of thousands of alumni
parents and friends their efforts have done much to not only change the shape
of the campus but the scope of its offerings and its outreaches one thing
that has not changed however is the solid relationships built and maintained
between many teachers and their students often it is these warm affectionate
friendships that mature into motivations for many acu alumni to support their
alma mater with thoughtful gifts both large and small whatever the motivation
and whatever the amount gifts to abalone Christian University often become an
important part of the annual fund indeed the annual fund is exactly what its
name suggests it occurs annually and it's a fund or money that makes the vital
difference in the operation of the university but what is the annual fund
what does it do remember the professor and student on the log
the Tuesday evening devotionals on the steps of the administration building
have been a rich experience in the lives of students for two generations
students gathered here weekly because they wanted to there was no pressure to
assemble and the devotionals were informally structured alumni of almost
any year recall these devotional times in various ways whether it was a quiet
spring evening or a Chris Cole winter night that it was good to be huddled in
the group this spirit and these young people of the past and the present affirm
the changeless looking back on these scenes of the past you'll spot faces
you recall and these young men and women that you recall so vividly are now
grown with families of their own some may even be grandparents they're now
teachers and preachers store owners and factory workers career women and house
wives these steps are empty now does this mean that students of today are
less spiritual than those in decades past have far from it when the student
body numbered about a thousand a couple of hundred kids or about one fifth of
the entire student body filled the steps to overflowing today if the same
ratio of students were to attend a devotional it would be upwards of a
thousand today's devotionals are just as real and just as meaningful as those of
the past only the location is new the fountain and the surrounding open space
in the heart of the campus mall is the focal point of today's students here
they gather motivated and drawn by the same spirit that brought their fathers
and mothers to the ad building steps and generation ago just because the
location has changed doesn't mean that the depth and the meaning of spiritual
devotion is less than in former days in fact it's times like these that provide
young people with time and place to meet for a social friendship is superimposed
on a religious dimension and this is the way it should be because after all
there are few more important decisions in life than the process of finding an
amiable Christian mate one who will fully and lovingly fill all facets of the
wedding vows one who is a loyal faithful Christian and one who shares in a firm
belief of establishing a strong Christian home with the divorce rate being
what it is today both in and out of the church the formation of a strong
Christian marriages of highest priority the selection of a mate then is one of
the most important decisions of a lifetime wherever they meet on our
campus whether it devotionals and class and chapel floor under a musket tree
there's always the overtones of a religious climate a ready reference
point in each person's life speaking of chapel this has been a spiritual focal
point for students throughout the history of our university even as it began
in 19 and six as Children's Classical Institute Chapel was a daily part of the
lives of students and so it remains here students are brought together into a
oneness with the primary purpose of recognizing God and the Creator and
their father at the same time students can observe to some degree the depth of
spirituality in the lives of their classmates these glimpses and insights
into the lives of their classmates do much to fulfill the purpose of the
school that is now abalone Christian University the university's first
catalog stated its purpose this way this school is destined to give boys and
girls such mental and moral training as will fit them for duties of life we
believe that the true need of education is the development of the character and
the intellect and not the memorizing of facts chapel then is just one brick in
an individual's bullwork of character and since it's for every student the
attendance is directly proportional to the size of the student body a decade
ago Moody Coliseum Auditorium was completed which united the student
body after many years of using a two-chapel system in the limited space
of Sewell Auditorium today the students faculty and in fact the employees of the
university are engaged in a movement that's been titled spiritual reaffirmation
this is a positive movement it's a sincere review of the things of the
past a sifting of our lifestyle to determine the quality and merit of the
way we live and from this introspection to reaffirm reestablish renew and
recommit ourselves to the best of the past adding of course the best of the
spiritual depth of today this then is the spiritual reaffirmation program an
ongoing process of reaffirming the best and deepest spiritual qualities in our
lives
tell the story of Don Heath Morris is to tell the story of Abilene Christian
College his life was not only in and of the college but their beginnings to were
almost equal in time Don Morris was born August 13th 19 to in DeSoto Texas the
original family home was barely a stone's throw up the hill to the left of
this house now considered the Morris home place young Don grew up in this
house which originally had a second story upper and lower porches and the
fancy grill work of its day he was of Hardy stock his grandparents moved to
the Virgin land south of Dallas where they homesteaded reared their children
and till their fields this old bell which now hangs behind the DeSoto home is
a delight in the hands of any youngster and young Don Morris was no exception
at mealtime he would tug the rope and send waves of rich bongs across the
fields telling the workers that it was dinnertime as he grew older and
school time approached young Morris was filled with as much apprehension about
the first grade as any student but each day he'd walk down a dusty road to the
small school in DeSoto as he rounded the corner he'd glance back toward home and
the arms of the old windmill his grandfather had built seemed to wave
at him the years passed quickly punctuated with work on the family farm in
summers and school in the winters school was a serious business for him and he
graduated when he was only 16 in 1918 the World War one virtually ended he said
farewell to all his friends and became a college man folk spring Christian
college was a two-year college near Grandbury some 60 miles west of DeSoto
as the crow flies it was a pioneering effort in Christian education built on
the foundations established earlier by Addison and Randolph Clark perhaps it
was his early experience on the farm that helped Don get the job as official
bell ringer for the college this bell in his hands sounded time for classes meals
and quiet hours parent hall once the college home of Don Morris has been
remodeled into the Thorpe Spring Church of Christ building while a student Don
was president of his dormitory vice president of his senior class a yell
leader a member of the Glee Club and editor of the yearbook the 1920 yearbook
says of Don Morris he is jovial in this position his heart is as big as his
smile be his duty great or small it is always cheerfully done in a shady valley
on the rolling campus a college literary group built this dais for orator in
debates performed before students seated on the grassy slopes
after teaching school for two years at Red Oak near his hometown young Don took
a leap westward arriving in Abilene in the fall of 1922 Abilene then became his
home for the rest of his life by 1924 he had not only earned a bachelor's degree
in education but he had served as president of his senior class headed to
the yearbook served as a yell leader was a member of the debate team and by the
way never lost a debate during his college years shortly after taking a
teaching position at Abilene High School in 1924 a college time romance
bloomed into marriage Don Morris and Alberta Allen were married November 1
1924 Mrs. Morris was not only a full-time mother to their three children but she
was a full-time comrade of and to her husband tens of thousands of persons
have heard Dr. Morris refer warmly and affectionately to his wife as good old
team team was at her husband's side at most of the thousands of blankets
dinners and speaking engagements involving her husband because to him
she was a vital part of the team today she busy herself with many projects
including carrying for their home across from the campus the administration
building has not always been ringed with the green of trees and grass yet it was
the base of operation for President Morris for almost four decades it was
from here that he began thousands of trips covering hundreds of thousands of
miles on behalf of the college many of these trips were made with B Sheridan
chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1947 to 1967 Mr. Sheridan how well did
you get to know President Morris I think outside of his staff there at the
college I was with him more than any any other one person over the 20 years that
we traveled together we of course discussed mostly Abilene Christian
College that was brother Morris's whole life and that was about the only thing
we discussed as the workings of the college and the prospects we were
calling on and then in the evening we had dinner together and we discussed the
students and their activities personal matters of students the teachers
sometime we discussed ambition and the desire to build a greater Abilene
Christian that was the main topic of conversation with him in regard to what
Abilene Christian College meant to him and the student body many of their
trips together were to the Edward Ranch southeast of Fort Stockton in far
west Texas from these contacts which began in 1947 Mr. William M. Edwards
chose to will his entire 66th section ranch to the college it is to the credit
of Don Morris and be sure that Abilene Christian College can today realize
some of the potential value of this vast holy the ranch headquarters is a
comfortable 14-room house built from thick
some people some people some people don't even
know some roads we've got some roads we've got some roads are bathed in
white some rat there is a time in every person's life
a good good time when the grass tickles your feet when every moment is golden
when you love your dog more than anything in the world except maybe your
grandfather and the thing that makes him so extra special of those wonderful
stories about when he was a little boy to him it was only yesterday but to a
small boy it's a time long long ago all of us know all too well how quickly the
today's become yesterday's and everything seems to melt into the past we
ask time old time where have you gone in his childish way the campus is a place
to explore to see to feel and to know now his mind is over to hundreds of
little details how all the bricks are the same color that all the trees seem
tall and that the buildings are so big in a few years when Chad grows up and
enters Abilene Christian University he'll still find the university to be a
place to explore to see to feel and to know but this time his perspective will
be on the things to stretch or challenge the mind and give his life a more
specific purpose today he finds the library to be a place of funny odors
caused by thousands upon time
Chad you've had quite a day on our campus haven't you how'd you like chapel I
liked it I like the same that's good Chad did you know that we have chapel
every school day here at Abilene Christian University it's been a part of
this school since its beginning in 19 and 6 the men and women who had a part in
starting this university wanted it to be always based on the Bible and the
teachings of Jesus this means Chad that when you enroll here you'll be required
to enroll in some Bible courses and you get to attend the daily chapel how many
years will it be until you're a student here I don't know a lot I guess he's five
now and it will be 12 or 13 years before he'll be a freshman here Chad by the
time you're a student here there'll be a lot of changes on our campus and in the
nation and world for that matter that building you saw under construction the
Don H. Morris Center will be an old building in 13 years it'll begin to
show some signs of wear and tear by then we will have had to paint and patch it
in several places it may be that we will have outgrown it in several areas you
know Chad I can't help wondering what it will be like in Moody Coliseum where
you were in chapel this morning when you're there as a freshman 13 years from
now well we have more students there than we can accommodate Mr. Wright this
problem of the declining birth rate has all of us buffalos will there really be
fewer and fewer students to fill the classrooms of tomorrow or will more and
more Christian families insist on a Christian education for their children
there are those who predict that most if not all private schools like Abilene
Christian will cease to exist in the years ahead I think they're too
pessimistic too gloomy with their predictions I'm confident that there
are hundreds of Randiz Marius Billy's and Betty's who are just like Chad here
whose parents are good faithful members of the church who believe in marriage
the home the church and Abilene Christian University it's these good
people Chad who will be our strength who will supply us with their sons and
daughters and their support in the years ahead my daddy said the cost of
everything is going up it's gonna take a lot of money to go to school here he's
right Chad about things costing more and our tuition and charges will
undoubtedly keep pace with the economy because that's what we've done in the
past I have some statistics here that your grandfather will be interested in
this chart shows Abilene Christians tuition since 1943 you can see how AC
use tuition has doubled every 10 years since 1943 if this trend continues then
that means that by the time Chad in rose here almost a decade and a half from
now he'll quite likely be paying two and a half times what the tuition is at
present or about forty five hundred dollars per year you're right Chad that
is a lot of money but we have a plan to help keep the cost of attending Abilene
Christian University down to within reach of you and all the other boys and
girls your age who will be here in the coming decades
you
you
you
you
you
you
you
you
you
the statement etched in this stone is fundamental and changeless all of us who
love this university must continue to work to see that the changeless philosophy
expressed in these words remains the undergirding force behind Abilene
Christian University when you look at the record beginning with the first major
gift it's clear that we'll forever be indebted to Dean Walling founding
chairman of the NDC Dean and Thelma Walling and other fellow workers set such
a marvelous pattern of dedication and generosity that there was no way that we
could fail if our future depends on foundation set by these predecessors
we'll not fail to accomplish the tasks that still remain before us our growth
has been remarkable we owe so much to so many let us not forget the major gifts
and matching gift challenges we receive from foundations like moody brown
welch colored and most recently another magnanimous commitment from the maybe
foundation for our library expansion at the same time we are especially grateful
for our grassroots support the smaller gifts received from alumni including
retired school teachers ministers and others living on fixed incomes credit
for this successful campaign belongs to people our friends had the daring the
courage to do what had never been done before the reason for this victory is
rooted in the mission of Abilene Christian University a mission that
inspires faith creative energy and sacrificial commitment because our
purpose is noble our response cannot be ordinary the ACU family has earned the
right for a day of celebration commemorating our shared triumph which
might be likened to reaching the top of a mountain reaching the summit can be an
exhilarating experience and it should be but looming ahead is yet another climb
we are strengthening the team with a new generation of volunteer leaders many of
them with their children and grandchildren will be here to commemorate ACU's
centennial just a few short years ahead the oncoming generation will want the
same benefits of Christian education that we received and that we were able
to pass to our children
from the earliest remembrance I wanted to be a preacher I remember when as a
little boy people would ask I want to preach my mother really encouraged me
to preach there were ten of us in the family and she wanted one of her boys
to be a preacher I grew up in the church my father was an elder and a deacon
prior to that and I've gone to church all my life and my grandfather great
grandfather several generations of elders and I've never known anything but
the church and the truth and it was just a natural thing for me well the thing
that inspired me most I believe were our older preachers like Horace W. Busby
who baptized me and for Wallace Jr. and B. Hardiman those men were such great
preachers they inspired and encouraged me to enter the ministry I started making
public talks long before I decided that I was going to give my life to preaching
but I was just up talking because we needed somebody up there saying
something well I like Timothy was destined to the ministry for my birth
almost my mother wanted to be a preacher my grandmother greatly influenced me and
I was reading a Christian home where my father was an elder in the church and we
went to church and all services and I as a boy sat on the front seat and as a
boy 10 or 12 after I obeyed the gospel I led to singing some and led in prayers
and always been active in the church and I don't remember a time since I've been
a Christian I hadn't planned to be a gospel preacher but through the years
though there have been some things that have really made me happy I've never
looked back and regretted that I made that decision started when I was 14 but
to see people whose lives are transformed and people who come from the
gutter people who've made such an about phase and then later to hear that that
person's an elder in the church growing or preaching the gospel this to me is
thrilling and it's so compensating well I think the wonderful kindness my
brethren have shown to me has been the most thrilling thing that happened in my
life it's a joy to go and sit with people in their home and home Bible study
and baptize people into Christ but I really felt proud of it that I had was
able to do that and it was not that I had any vanity in it I was just happy
that my life could be worth something I personally in my ministerial life I've
always had so many wonderful thing people been so good to me and treat me so
nice and I've enjoyed the ministry and I love preaching and nothing that thrills
me more than to preach the gospel every time I preach a funeral especially
where the deceased I had had a part in converting that soul to Christ and often
the wife or child will say if it had not been for your influence you could not
have said today what you said about the hope we have one experience of that
sort will fill your soul and make you truly happy that you're enjoying and
having the happiest life that anybody could possibly have because it's a matter
of sharing yourself and the Lord with other people I remember one time all
before I married I was conducting a gospel meeting up in a West Texas town
in the dry summer and we baptized a young woman she probably was 20 21 years
old and she was real big and fat and heavy she must weigh 300 pounds and we
had to walk about a hundred yards out into the deep mud to get deep enough to
baptize her and when we got out there she began to you know to show that she
was real scared I found out later that she was terrified of water and I
finally got a foothold down in the mud and and took her down and when she came
up she was scared and she turned loose and grabbed me around the neck and hugged
me real tight and she literally was terrified and I thought she was gonna
take us down the water and drown us and fortunately I was able to stand up in
that mud and finally calmed her down and since I was not married at the time a
lot of the young people tease me about this girl thought she was trying to
lair you know set her cap for me somebody pitched a dollar half dollar bill
on the table and the treasurer said well by the way Melendez is all we got this
morning so he brought it you gave it to me I remember a dear friend as dear
friend as I've ever had a deacon and then later an elder in the church where I
was preaching and he'd heard me preach that morning and then that night he
played the prayer and in the prayer he said Lord help brother Jackson to
preach a better sermon tonight I was preaching in the congregation here in
Dallas and we have one dear old brother leading the prayer and in the service he
said Lord forgive us of those sins that we've done and those we've left undone
everybody knew what he meant and I'm sure the Lord did I remember baptizing a
lady a black woman who was 82 or 3 little thin prayer and I had a baptizing
suit on and I wasn't aware that the heater wasn't working and the water was
chilly about the way it is today in the early spring and just as I got rid of
baptizing while she looked up peepingly and said hey hey hey hey child I'm freezing today a few
times I've been interrupted by a loud amen that no one expected not cause of
blood to life brother Baxter whether out there one Sunday brother Holt and
without one Sunday and brother Holt and preached one Sunday and then brother
Baxter so happened in the rotation preached the next Sunday and one of
the elders the oldest and most influential came to him one Sunday after
his sermon and said well brother Baxter that was a good sermon and you
handled it well but so this thing that I can tell you that brother Holt and
preached the same sermon last Sunday and you know he had a better one than you
did I had a bad buffet one time just as the groom
kissed her then she went and that became embarrassing somewhat but I understood
she fainted easily I was prepared for it we got a cat came in the building one
time and started walking around the the ledge a rock ledge with a little glass
in front and the people were just watching that cat and a bird got in the
building it was a rectangle building and I thought well I must be preaching to a
drunk audience they were just all weaving and those things are not really
funny at the time but later they are you have to learn to laugh at yourself to be
happy I think as best as a preacher you learn to preach for preaching you learn
to do by doing and I encourage young men if they want to preach the quicker they
jump in the water and get with it and start preaching why the better they're
gonna be if you sit on the front seat and listen to somebody for five years
you're still gonna have to get that experience I remember when I was a
student in Abilene Christian brother James O. Cox inspired us to read the
Bible through every year so in 1937 I read the Bible through for the first time
and each year I've been doing that next year it will be my 50th trip through the
scriptures so let me encourage all of our young men to spend some time with the
scriptures and it would be it will show in the preaching that you do if a man is
going to give us our preaching he must be a people person church work is work
with people it's not just delivering lectures teaching lessons but it's
dealing with people and changing their hearts and lives and if you don't love
people naturally you have to learn to love people or you'll never succeed too
well as a local preacher I've often said if I had one piece of advice to get
young preachers taken into consideration that others would no doubt give
other biases I think I would say learn to budget your time everybody has the
same amount of time but some can do so much within the 24 hours and I think
budgeting your time and instead of counting time make time count well I
would encourage young men we have a lot of good young men in a spine to preach
to study the Bible and learn the Bible study the Bible two or three hours a
day and learn the word and learn to preach it effectively and it's just a
matter of applying oneself first you must be truly converted to the Lord and
love the Lord and love the souls of men and you should want to communicate the
gospel to them you cannot preach what you do not know and you can't know
without learning and you can't learn without study and so study the Bible
this should be your main book of course you read other books commentaries and
many other books that help you to better understand the word but preach the word
as Paul said Timothy this is my advice to young men we have many fine young men
today I've heard some of them some of them are not very dynamic speakers they
just sort of talkers and while they do a lot of good I I think a preacher should
have a good bit of fire and enthusiasm in the pulpit and stir people up and
arouse them and so on no preacher can last for long especially local work if
he doesn't have an insatiable passion for knowledge he must study read and study
constantly and keep going otherwise in a few years time the bed and will so to
speak lay on the chair and you won't have any place to go you must study and
continue to study but it's necessary to do it because you want to do and not
because you have to I've often said to young preachers that you ought to love
the people to whom you preach more than the art of preaching because we just
like to speak they like to cut out and talk before night but be sure you love
the people to whom you speak as well as the actual art of speaking I first
not have a real passion for for souls brother GC Camel in Fort Worth way back
in the 20s who helped me get up my first call that I ever made he encouraged me
to memorize the scriptures that I would use in the sermon he said whether you
read them or whether you quote them you'll have a better grip on your audience
so I began to memorize the scripture I would use in the sermon and
eventually I would come to scriptures I already had memorized in sermons I was
getting together and I am grateful that I had that encouragement and that
suggestion made by brother Camel he was a great preacher don't disregard the
experience in the years of those who've gone before it can be a great great
help to us let me encourage you also to lay aside some of your income each month
to buy books and build up a fine library and when I began to preach they
weren't too many books written by our brethren and there are so many today that
our own brethren have written and these are available to you and let me
encourage you to build up your library because that will indicate what your
preaching will be your study in your own office
Pritz Chrysler played before great audience Pritz Chrysler was one of the
greatest violinists of all time and after his performance the lady came up
to him and said mr. Christ I would give anything to play the violin as you do
within beer in her eyes he said no you wouldn't she said yes I would he said
no you wouldn't she said I'm sure I would so no you'd like to play the violin
as I do but you wouldn't give what I've given to do it if those who are going
into the ministry not ready to to pay the price then they'll never really
accomplish great things for the Lord great learning comes from great study
many moments burning the midnight hall people can do other things for you they
can visit the hospital they can make call but nobody nobody can do that study
for you and in our day we've just got to make time to study and dig deep so that
we can really have something to give to the people when they come and you're
going to wonder sometimes if you made the right choice when you chose to
preach I'm telling you you made the right choice the pulpit needs you we've
got the greatest message in the world we're God's salesman and we ought to
feel honored that we're co-workers with God because he depends on us the gospel
have been given in our hands and we truly believe that and we ought to show
that by the enthusiastic manner in which we present the message of Christ it's
so important I would say that if I had it to go over I would be a preacher of
the gospel and I wouldn't play with it either I would make it the main thing of
my life and that's what I did but I would work harder at it if I had a thousand
lives to live I'd be a preacher the happiest most satisfying life I think in
the world
you
you
