Church-Community Development
Hendricks Director Of
New G. W. Department
The director of the new Department of Church-Commun
ity Development, Rev. Garland A. Hendricks, will arrive here
around the first of November. Hendricks comes to us from
Apex, North Carolina, where he was pastor of the Olive Cha
pel Baptist Church, which has just been chosen by 100,000
■ protestant ministers as one of the twelve outstanding rural
churches of America. Olive Chapel was chosen as the out
standing rural church from the states of Kentucky, West
Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, made a special study which showed
Georgia, South Carolina, and Flori- that the rural Baptists were vastly
(ja under-represented in the North
Carolina convention. His report
Rev. Hendricks was born on a brought this fact to the attention
North Carolina farm 37 years ago. of Baptists all over North Caro-
He was converted at the age of lina, and from that time the rural
twelve and decided to become a churches have been receiving a
minister a year later. Because he much better consideration from the
came from a rather poor family, he convention,
had to work his way through Wake Hendricks has written a book.
Forest College. He preached at his Biography of a Country Church,
home church and other rural which gives the history of Olive
churches part of the time while Chapel since its birth 100 years
he was in college. He taught school ago.
for $65 a month and preached for Rev. Hendricks’ job and the De-
a year after finishing Wake Forest partment of Church-Community
in 1933. Development’s job, as stated by
president Elliott, will be to make
Then he worked his way through the church the center of the rural
Southern Baptist Theological Semi- community. To fully understand this
nary at Louisville. He graduated in statement let’s look at Olive Cha-
1937, and two weeks later was mar- pel briefly. Olive Chapel is the cen-
ried to Estelle Dabbs, a seminary ter of a community of some 70
student from South Carolina. Rev. square miles in which there is not
Hendricks and his wife decided to another church. About go^r of the
work in rural churches which the people in this area come to church
denominational leaders had often at Olive Chapel. Most of the cn-
neglected. At first, he took four gregation are small farmers, and
such churches in North Carolina, none of the members are rich, but
receiving a total salary of $1,360. the yearly contribution to the
To keep up with all the happenings church by all the members is $13 -
in the world, he and his wife de- 400 on the average. Over half of
cided to attend meetings, subscribe this goes to missions and to help
to good papers, and read at least (Continued on Page Six)
two good books a week.
Rev. Hendricks is quite a writer, SophomOrG CIqSS
and by the time h'e had moved to
• the Knightsdale church as a full tleCtS LJlIlCerS
time pastor, he was writing for de- As successful candidates of the
nommational and farm papers. Sophomore Class election, we find
Shortly afterwards, he was stricken A1 Homesley taking up the office
by rheumatic fever, and he found as president. Al’s demonstration of
that his members would not let him his leadership ability is well-re-
suffer for the want of spiritual or membered by his fellow classmates
mental needs which were in their from last year. Living up to his
power to give him, and after this high school record (Stanley High
time many of his former concerns , School), we find him taking a po
of humanity sition on the football squad, base-
THeP/t-oT
left him for g
ball t
very . ____
le basketball team. He
Stanley, North Carolina,
nearby Gaston County. This year,
’■ he is a member of the Monogram
In 1943 Hendricks accepted a
call to become pastor of the Oli”"
Chapel Church, In 1944, he intr
^lub a“nd“hou'se '^pre^dem
most completed. i , Jice-presldent is
Progrei
held by Beth White, from Ruther-
sive Farmer named fordton. North Carolina. During her
Iiira as - rural pastor of the year” senior year at Central High School,
in 1949. In March of this year he she was president of the Music
gave a series of lectures on the rural Club and Glee Club. She was an
church at the Central Baptist Semi- outstanding member of the varsity
nary of Kansas City. Rev. Hen- | basketball team. Last year she was
dricks serves on the social service I a member of the choir, Y.W.A., and
commission of the Southern Bap- I Christian Volunteer Band. She was
tist Convention and on the execu- | also elected First Vice President of
tive committee of the Baptist State j the B.S.U. Council. Besides adding
Convention. He also taught a I a great deal to Sparkle’s social life,
course in rural church adminis- | she has contributed immeasurably
ration at Wake Forest for two years i to the spiritual atmosphere of the
until a full time teacher could be i campus.
acquired. Alice Lee Swann, from Statesville,
As the Olive church is an intergal North Carolina, very ably takes
part of the community, so was Hen- the office of secretary and treasurer,
dricks. He has many books on farm- | Her high school record was marked
ing and rural life in his personal with dependability as well as elec-
library. He was chairman of the tion as the one most likely to suc-
Apex school board and chaplain of ceed. She was a marshal, valedic-
the North Carolina Grange. He has torian of her senior class, vice
served on the board of directors of president of the 4-H Club, and a
the North Carolina Rural Institute ' member of the F.H.A. Last year, we
and was successful in his attempts to ] remember her not only as secretary
get improvements made on the roads I of the Y.W.A., but as Mrs. Soames
in his own community. In 1948, he ! in the production of “Our Town.”
sJIfe
GARLAND HENDRICKS
Homecoming
Big Success
By NELL GRANTHAM
In an overwhelmingly triumphant
game for the Gardner-Webb “Bull
dogs,” they faced the Presbyterian
“Scotties” on Saturday, October 21,
in the homecoming game of the
season. Bands were playing, colors
were flying, and excitement filled
the air. The throngs of spectators
gave out with a hearty welcome
l;o the visiting team. The cheerlea
ders who led the yells were: Mary
Frances Howard, chief; Anna
Stephens, Mary Rose Womble, Bet
ty Sue Weathers, Shirley Dedmon,
Prances Rhyne, Allyn Gibson, and
Lewis Jackson,
The sponsors made a spectacular
entry in an Oldsmobile convertible
driven by Ben Wall. Immediately
after their arrival, the Cherryville
and Kings Mountain High School-
Bands played the national anthem.
Immediately following this, the
sponsors of the various campus or
ganizations with their escorts en
tered the field from the Gardner-
Webb goal post.
The following sponsors were in
troduced by Jim McDaniel: Rachel
Smith of Mt. Holly escorted by Bob
Mullinax, B. S. U.; Joanne Kin
caid of Gastonia, escorted by James
Stamey, the Student Government:
Julia Hancock of Franklinville, es
corted by Marion Benfield, Decker
Hall; Nancy Lincoln of Lynchburg,
Va., escorted by O. G. Morehead,
Huggins-Curtis Dorm; Sara Reece
of Jonesville, escorted by Robert '
Wright, the Marshal Club; and Iris |
Atkinson of Hempstead escorted by
Roger Wright, the Monogram Club.
The sponsors were very attractive
ly dressed in suits and carried beau-
tifol white chrysanthemums tied
/>
Dramatics Club
Presents Pageant
! The Gardner - Webb Dramatics
Department presented its first pro
duction of the season in the E. B.
Jriamrick auditorium Oct. 19th at
7:30 P.M. It was “A Dramatic Nar-
I rative of Baptist Progress,” a pag-
: eant representing 100 years of
growth in the Kings Mountain Bap-
. tist Association.
Directed by J. Y. Hamrick, the
major part of the pageant was pan-
I tomimed with occasional speaking
parts. The pageant was written by
Santford Martin, Jr., and narrat-
I ed by Jimmy Hobbs of Radio Sta
tion W O R D in Spartanburg, S. C.
The highlights of the pageant
came in the seventh and eighth
scenes. The seventh dramatized the
eginning of Gardner-Webb and told
of its struggle through the depres
sion years when it was almost aban
doned and year after year came to
the brink of disaster, and how at
the beginning of the last decade
O. Max Gardner decided to help
what was then Boiling Springs
Junior College and of its phenome
nal growth since then.
The eighth scene praised Rev.
John Suttle who for 60 years has
been a minister in Cleveland Coun
ty.
This scene closed with a prayer
by the narrator and the benedic
tion by the Choir. Directed by
Stephen Morrisett, and Mrs. Mary
Dyer, with Miss Dorothy Jones at
the organ, provided the music for
the production. The technicians
were: lighting, Carl McKinney, Don
Roberts, Albert Cobb, and Martin
Nichols; and make-up, Cora Ray
Those taking part in the pageant
were: James Stamey, James m'c-
Alister, Mary Dean Minges, Rachel
Morgan, Jean Devlin, James Mc
Daniel, Zeb Wright, Prances Quinn,
Eugene Lowery, Allyn Gibson, Bar
bara Huggins, Bill Elliott, Evelyn
Leigh, Alberta Hamrick, Wilma
Wilkie, Iris Love Champion, Bill
Abernathy, Rachel Ann Lemons,
Rebecca Browning, Marion Ben
field, Jr., Bobby Blackburn, M. A.
Conrad, Richard B. Parham, and
Neal E. Eller.
(Con
Page Six)
Porthole Editor
Chosen
In a recent meeting of the stu
dent council, the editor of the Port
hole for 1951-52 was elected. For
this important position, the stu
dent chosen must be outstanding
in leadership, character, and
achievement on the college cam
pus. With this office comes a great
responsibility and task. The stu
dent chosen to do this next year
is Rudy Wardell, our student gov
ernment president. During this
school year, Rudy will select other
students to help him.
Gardner-Webb College, Boiling Springs, North Carolina
Volume IV OCTOBER, 1950 Number 2