Biographies of Great Men: Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.

The following appeared in The Hufhand Report, which is sent via email weekly by Dr. Lawrence Hufhand. See The Friday Report, June 28, 2019 for the complete report.

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.

Apart from my brother Lee [Hufhand], who led me to Christ and was my constant mentor, the most influential person in my life was Dr. Bob Jones Sr. While a student at BJU, I was called into his office and he quizzed me about a letter he had gotten concerning my relationship with a particular girl back home.  He asked me if I loved her.  (He really did.)  I said, “I love her very much.”  He looked at the letter and then at me and said, “then marry her”, so I did.  I am indebted to him for that, along with my being called into the ministry.  That being said, let me tell you about him.  I apologize for its length, but no man in my recollection, has done more for Christianity than this man, other than the Apostle Paul.  Much of this comes from the biography by R.K. Johnson.   Robert Reynolds Jones:  Born: October 30, 1883 in Skipperville, in Southeast Alabama, and died on January 16, 1968 in Greenville, South Carolina.                

One cannot think about Dr. Bob, apart from having founded Bob Jones University in 1927. (While I was there in 1953 thru 1957, without equivocation, it was the greatest “preachers school” on the planet.  There were 1100 Ministerial Student enrolled at that time.) What produces such a school? Many things, but the indefatigable work of its founder, Bob Jones, Sr., must surely be considered as the key ingredient. One of the greatest evangelists of all times--a man who preached in 30 different countries, and by age 40 he had preached 12,000 sermons to some 15,000,000 people, with 300,000 converts.

Dr. Jones was the son of William Alexander and Georgia (Cree) Jones. The parents were farmers of Calvinistic convictions. He was the eleventh of twelve children, having eight sisters and three brothers. The family moved to the Dothan, Alabama, area shortly after his birth. Christian convictions were instilled in him by his parents and hard work on the farm gave him a challenge early in life to work. He was converted at age eleven in a country Methodist church outside Dothan. From the time of his conversion he began preaching publicly and was known as "the Alabama boy preacher." He preached to anyone who would listen. He became a good debater. He developed strong convictions and undaunted courage. Like Billy Sunday, his preaching was to be received because it would be on the level of the people.

When he reached 13 years of age, he built a brush arbor where he preached on Sundays, which later became a church of 54 members. By age 15 he was licensed and ordained by the Alabama Methodist Conference. Bob was now preaching all over southeast Alabama. He finished his formal education 1904.  He was fully ordained to the Gospel ministry by the Methodist Church in 1903.  Shortly after he began to have some serious throat problems which was healed by the age of 21.  In October 24, 1905, he married Bernice Sheffield, only to have her die ten months later in August, 1906, of tuberculosis. Some time January, 1907, in Uniontown, Alabama, he met Mary Gaston Stollenwerck, who was converted in one of his meetings. On June 17, 1908, they were married. Their only child, Bob Jones, Jr., was born October 19, 1911. Marriage and family did not change his life style, as Mrs. Jones traveled with him, taking a maid along to care for the child until he was six years old, when he entered a school in Montgomery,                                                                                                                        

I wish I had the space to tell you all about Dr. Bob as an evangelist and all the great crusades he held across this country of ours.  One of his great crusades was held right here in Noblesville, IN and another one was held in Peru, just 50 miles north of Noblesville.  Literally thousands, upon thousands of souls were saved and brought into the Kingdom through his evangelistic endeavors.  He was a world class evangelist, after the manner of his friends, Sam Jones and Billy Sunday.

In 1927 he founded Bob Jones college, which later became Bob Jones University.  It was by far his greatest and most enduring contribution to old time fundamental Christianity.  His reason for starting a Christian college came about because of the encroachment of European liberalism in the colleges and seminaries across America.  He was sitting in a drug store in Kissimmee, Florida in 1926, and he said to his wife, "I'm going to start a school!" A site was picked out and on December 1, 1926, ground was broken, and on September 12, in 1927, the school opened with 88 students. The financial crash of 1929 nearly closed them down, but the vision was re-energized at an old college that had been closed for years, in Cleveland, TN.   And so on Sept. 1, 1933 Bob Jones College formally opened in Cleveland and a new school year began.

By 1946 the school had expanded as much as it could in Cleveland, and so it was agreed upon to move the college campus to Greenville, South Carolina, where, on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1947, it was dedicated, with approximately 2,900 students attending. Through the years, the school continued to grow, with Bob Jones, Sr., playing an active role until his resignation as chairman of the board of trustees in April, 1964.

The last two years of his life was spent mostly in the campus hospital. His last words, on January 16, 1968, were, "Mary Gaston, get my shoes; I must go to preach." He was buried on campus in a beautiful little island in a fountain of cascading pools, just across the street from the Rodeheaver Auditorium.  Dr. Bob: The greatest man of accomplishments that I have ever personally known.

For Related Reading See:
Bob Jones, Sr. Chapel Sayings

 

Site Publisher Addendum:

It is with regret and sadness that many BJU alumni, ministerial graduates in particular, see the University now as having drifted far from the doctrinal foundations it once staunchly held to for many decades. A departure from the moorings that accelerated significantly in 2014.