For Harding School of Theology, it’s the end of an era after 66 years in Memphis.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Before the preacher stepped to the pulpit, the crowd seated in wooden pews at Harding School of Theology stood to sing.
The hymn before the lesson — “Our God, He Is Alive” — rose in volume and intensity, a crescendo of emotion befitting the moment.
“What a way to go out!” professor emeritus Dave Bland quipped as he came forward to introduce the speaker, Matt Love.
Related: A new vision for urban ministry training in Memphis
“Amen!” responded the roughly 150 souls gathered in Pittman Chapel — once the living area for a wealthy Memphis family.
As the influential ministry training school prepares to relocate this fall to Harding University’s main campus in Searcy, Ark., students, alumni, faculty and staff came together to celebrate its past — and pray for its future.
“Personally, I feel like this is awesome,” Bob Turner, lead minister for the White Station Church of Christ in Memphis, said of the recent three-day reunion. “I think it’s been a great, joyful sense of closure.”
In his sermon, Love — a 2019 Harding School of Theology graduate who preaches for the Beebe Church of Christ in Arkansas — recalled his seminary days fondly.
“Those were exhausting days, as many of you know personally,” said Love, who will join Harding School of Theology’s faculty in Searcy. “But they were also holy days, set apart by God.
“Chapel was like the holy of holies,” he added. “It was the center of rigorous scholarship and heavy thought.”
This story appears in the June edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo provided by Harding School of Theology
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 