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 crisp cold winter night that it was good to be huddled in a 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
housewives.
These steps are empty now.
Does this mean that students of today are less spiritual than those in decades past?
And 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 a 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 where
a social friendship is superimposed on a religious dimension.
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 marriage is 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 or under
a mesquite 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 1906 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 Abilene 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 work 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.
This is as it should be because the past has been our schoolmaster, bringing us to the
place we are today.
Surely no one wants to return to the days of the celluloid collar or high-buttoned shoes,
but return to the spiritual assets, he has seen indeed.
Today's students are pretty much the same as their parents.
Clothing and hairstyles might differ slightly from age to age, but basically human nature
is the same in every generation.
And if you're not an alumnus or a student of Abilene Christian, you can recall your
own classmates at this age, and you'll recall that there were some good, some bad, some
just so-so in your group or class.
That's the way it is today.
However, the emphasis on the campus of Abilene Christian University is always on the good,
the right, the ennobling.
Let's hear from the students themselves.
See you later.
Hi, I'm Louise Moyers, and I'm a junior home economics major from Ferris, Texas.
For me, there's no place like Abilene Christian University.
In my three years here, I've noticed many changes taking place on the campus.
For one, there has been a very definite deepening of the spiritual climate here, and there has
been some physical growth, too, such as the new Don H. Morris Center, which is located
behind me.
The Department of Home Economics and Family Studies will be located here, along with the
Art and Communications Department.
I'm glad that I'll be among the first students to use the new facilities, which is a far
cry from what the girls of the 30s use.
Two burner hot plates.
If you wanted hot water, you heated it in the kettle.
Low electrical conveniences like mixers, and note the hair styles.
Speaking of styles, how about whipping up a chic little number on a one-foot power
trattle sewing machine, or wearing a hat to class, and don't forget to sell clothes?
Today, home economics is more than just cooking and sewing.
Nutrition classes translate principles of physiology and biochemistry into the practical
science of what foods are needed for health throughout the life cycle.
It's not learning so much how to cook, but what to cook to have a nourished family.
The same type of situation exists in today's clothing classes.
Most girls have had some experience with sewing, but the important things are fabrics, the warmth
and coolness factors, their care and cleaning, and other qualities.
These studies all point toward the formation of a home, the foundation of Christian beliefs.
At the ACU Adams Home Management House, advanced students spend time getting a deeper insight
into the operation of a home, especially the care of children.
Working with children and being a part of their growth and learning process can be a
most meaningful and beneficial experience, for collegiate to themselves will be married
and have families in the near future.
When this happens, the cycle begins again, for a new life means new and long-term responsibilities.
The church must have strong homes if it is to survive and grow.
Divorce and broken homes is a growing problem in and out of the church today.
Recognizing this, Adelaide Christian University is putting an extra emphasis on the development
of Christian homes by encouraging on every front the development of responsible character.
This is really a very important part of the spiritual reaffirmation program.
Hi, I'm Randall Moore and I spent two years on this floor playing basketball with the
ACU Wildcats.
Did you notice I said playing with the Wildcats, because that's what it's all about, teamwork.
In fact, that's what life and Christianity is all about, teamwork of helping one another
to a better, more perfect way of life.
This kind of teamwork has been a part of Abilene Christian, I suppose, since the very beginning
of the school, in 1906.
During my high school years in Tucson, Arizona, I was in drama for four years and I know very
well the spirit of unity, of oneness that must exist to put on a play like ACU's Homecoming
Musical.
I play a lot of football too and it's real thrill to watch the Wildcats from the stands
as they put together a winning season like they did last year and went all the way to
the national title.
But being involved in an athletic program, I get to see and know the players in the off
hours.
At a school like Abilene Christians, this is where the real drawing together of Christ
like spirit takes place.
Like so many others, like myself, came under the influence of good Christian lives of my
teammates and friends.
A lot of us today are involved in this program of spiritual reaffirmation.
It's reaching all across campus and into everything we do, because actually it's an attitude,
a spirit, a way of life that says these are the principles and concepts worth holding
on to.
Sure, I enjoy playing basketball, but life is much more important than this game or any
other sport.
I think I now share with so many other students here at ACU Share that it's a loving, caring
relationship for every human being and, most importantly, a deep relationship with our
Lord.
These steps here in the front of the administration building and even Abilene Christian University
means something extra special to me.
My mom and my dad, Murt Kelly and Bob Davidson, participated in the Tuesday evening devotionals
you saw at the beginning of this film.
Maybe you even picked them out of the crowd.
These steps are extra special to me because of them, because they were here when they
were dating and before they were married and later had me.
I'm Kelly Davidson and I want to share a few moments with you about Abilene Christian University,
what it means to me because of my parents and what I hope it can mean for my kids and
all the other kids yet unborn who will have the privilege of coming to ACU in the years
ahead.
As you know, these steps are one of the many symbols of the past here at Abilene Christian
University.
The names of people can generate as many good memories for some alumni as any other thing.
Abilene Christian, even at the time it was Childers Classical Institute and then Abilene
Christian College, it's more than brick and mortar, in a sense it's even more than people.
It is a basic underlying spirit of and towards the right.
It is the essence of Christ-like quality of goodness that is called out of every person.
It is the best of the past, grasped in the here and now and projected into the future.
This spirit, this quality is indeed the changeless.
It is timeless and it has always been with us.
I'm especially thankful that today's students are not just sponges of the good things happening
here but rather they take it in and are ready to give out, to share with others.
For example, many students are involved in the currently popular puppet ministries which
are usually related to teaching programs for the very young.
There are other groups of college students who are invited by congregations surrounding
Abilene to come and speak to or work with their teenage youth.
These outreaches are designed to strengthen and deepen the faith of junior high and high
school students but they have a very profound effect on the faith and lives of those participating
in them.
The Mark program focuses on the need for a mission outreach and more importantly the
need for adequate training before a person goes into the mission field.
In the Mark program, emphasis is placed on the students preparing up to a point and then
spending at least a year as an apprentice, actually working and serving under the guidance
of an experienced missionary already located in the country.
The value of this program is self-evident.
During the spring holidays when many young people from other universities are flocking
to the sandy beaches of Texas and Florida, many Abilene Christian students give their
holidays in an intensive, evangelistic effort.
This past spring, nearly 100 ACU students spent eight days in the St. Louis, Missouri
area.
They knocked doors, set up Bible studies and helped with the work of the church there.
None of these programs are great but in and of themselves they are not the spiritual reaffirmation
program.
Rather, they are a part of it.
Each program helps to draw out of each student a full realization of what the whole duty
of man is.
These activities are motivated by the same spirit that caused young people of 30 and
40 years ago to hitchhike or ride the best way that they could to nearby towns to sing
at funerals, weddings or youth gatherings.
Today with modern transportation and communication methods, we have an opportunity to do more.
Yet, the physical focal point for all of these things is the church.
Here we worship the Lord our God in union with our brethren.
Here our spirits are renewed for more and greater works for him every day that we live.
At Abilene Christian University, the spiritual dimension is sought out and if possible, deep
wound in every student, every faculty member and in every person working for or connected
with the university.
We will look at the past, taking from it the best we can find, apply it to the present
and thereby reaffirm our spiritual dimensions.
This we feel is truly affirming the changeless.
Abilene Christian University has deep roots into the changeless, always affirming its position
in relation to the church and to Christianity.
If you agree with this approach to Christian education, a perpetual concern for the spiritual
welfare of your sons and daughters, we appeal for your support now and in the days ahead.
Our annual fund needs your dollars now to help with operational expenses this year.
Please make a gift to the ACU annual fund today and join with us in affirming the changeless.
