He Still Stands Tall: The Life of Roland Q. Leavell

By Dottie L. Hudson

"Dr. Roland Q. Leavall was a great administrator, a dynamic preacher, a compassionate evangelist, and an effective teacher of evangelism. Among Southern Baptists, he stood tall as a great denominational statesman. All who knew him are in his debt. This book is a welcome addition to our memories." -Dr. Joe H. Cothen, former vice president of Academic Affairs for the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

This biography depicts the impressive career and personal struggles of a great influence in the Southern Baptist tradition. Roland Q. Leavell served as a minister, evangelist, author, and seminary president. Leavell's life started as one in search of acceptance and purpose. As the eighth of nine boys, his poverty-stricken parents were not overjoyed at his birth, but Leavell soon earned his place in the family.

He likewise felt a need to earn his place in God's service. As a young minister, Leavell ventured into the small country towns of Mississippi to establish churches and missions, later guiding their growth. This type of evangelistic work attracted the attention of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Leavell was asked to lead a department that would teach churches how to evangelize.

Leavell's leadership and organizational skills made him a perfect candidate for president of the Baptist Bible Institute in New Orleans. He was unanimously elected and made dramatic improvements. Seeing the need for a larger school, he sold the cramped campus in the Garden District. He raised funds and moved across town to the present spacious Gentilly campus. It became an accredited seminary which is now the second largest in the world. Although Leavell's life was full of spiritual and personal struggles, his focus on God's work remained his primary focus. His ultimate success can be attributed to his capacity to inspire and lead others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9781455605644

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

A Baby Born in Troubled Times

It was early morning, December 21, 1891, in the little town of Oxford, Mississippi. The large, wood frame house resounded with constant noise and activity that had little to do with the approaching holiday. In fact, there was little money, and there would be few gifts. The noise erupted from seven boys ranging in age from two to seventeen gathering around the rectangular wooden table, hungrily awaiting the usual morning oatmeal. The chairs were too close, tempting silent rib punching and an occasional kick skillfully hidden under the table edge. Tattling was not a wise action, for it would only bring discipline for all involved. The parents of these boys, Corra and George Leavell, were trying to teach the next generation thoughtfulness and responsibility, and there were consequences for bad behavior.

The wood was burning fiercely in the cast-iron stove, and Corra was stirring the bubbling oatmeal with an unusual determination. Stopping suddenly, she turned to her husband, stating quietly and forcefully, I don't think I will make it through breakfast. The breakfast scene took on a different mood and tempo as Corra disappeared and George hurried the seven boys through the food and clothes routine. He secured the wagon, hitched the horse to it, and whisked the older boys away to school while the younger boys were taken to neighboring relatives.

Returning home in less than an hour from Corra's declaration and disappearance, George found his forty-year-old wife, a neighbor lady, and a brand new, bright-eyed baby boy.

It would seem that the last thing this family needed for Christmas was another baby boy. However, the value of a new life can be put into perspective only in retrospect.

Parents often react differently to the birth of a first-born son than the arrival of an eighth-born son. This is especially true when these are older parents who are facing some of the most difficult days of their lives. After some consideration this baby boy's name was chosen. This was the eighth boy name this couple had struggled to finalize. In their belief, names gave meaning to a life. The final choice was Roland, for a family friend, and Quinche, for a university professor who was instrumental in preventing the Union Army from razing the University of Mississippi campus.

When Roland was barely old enough to understand the words, an aunt told him something that would color his life, all 71 years of his life: You were not wanted. This sensitive little boy absorbed all the rejection that comes with being told he was an intrusion into his family. He told this incident over and over throughout his life, and perhaps this childhood pain was the driver that made it necessary for him to prove his worth in his family and in this world.

He was always the teacher's pet, and as a young adult and a successful senior adult, he was admired and loved. Seldom did he have to relinquish the center of attention to others. He proved his rightful place over and over. However, he had indeed come at an inconvenient time for this family.

CHAPTER 2

A Stable Home amid Troubled Times

These were difficult days in this little southern town ravaged by the Union Army during the Civil War. General Lee's surrender at Appomattox had taken place only 26 years prior to this baby's birth. The South faced shame, economic ruin, and social changes bringing a whole new and difficult way of life. The Civil War seemed so uncivilized to the previously affluent South. General Grant of the Union Army knew he would have to demoralize the southerners if he were to defeat the South. The men who went to war with pride, so confident that their cause was just, came home in ragged clothes, many with wounds that could not be healed. They found their beautiful homes razed and their sources of income wiped out. George Leavell was one of these returning soldiers who had to reinvent his whole life. With determination and courage he set about this task. He was a good accountant, and he put this strength to use quickly. He worked for a cotton brokerage company in Memphis, Tennessee, for several years but returned home to the Cherry Creek community in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, to claim Corra Alice Berry as his bride. Corra had graduated from a girls' school, Chickasaw College, in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Upon her graduation, she was employed there as a music teacher and was loved and admired by the faculty and her students. Only her love for George would have drawn her away from her life there. George returned that love and struggled financially to give her a lovely gold watch on a long chain to tell her tangibly how he felt. Her dearest friend, Modena Lowry, defined this gift as the most beautiful piece of jewelry any of her peers had seen in these days so soon after the war. The couple moved to Memphis for a short while and then to Oxford, Mississippi, where George began a new business venture. He joined his father-in-law, Nathan Berry, and his brother, Fountain Leavell, in beginning a mercantile store that prospered for a number of years. The partnership was eventually dissolved, and George bought out the business. It seemed as though life would continue in this pattern so woven together with love, laughter, and a sense of purpose and responsibility. George and Corra took quite seriously this job of raising their rowdy, fun-loving boys. Somehow this family seemed to demonstrate that there was hope for the generations to come in this new South. It was into this era of hope that Roland Leavell was born.

The Leavell home was always opened to visiting missionaries, traveling preachers, and anyone who needed a place to stay. The boys thought it was a conspiracy to have them constantly exposed to great ideas and good morals, as well as the problems of the world. One homeless woman spent seven months with them, dictating to all what they should do. The boys and Aunt Ann, the black lady who worked for the family, genuinely despised her. Finally Corra called the woman's son and told him to come for his mother, freeing her room for the large Leavell family. College professors were also constant companions at the Leavell table. R. M. Leavell, a relative and a professor at the University of Mississippi, was one of these frequent visitors. He spoke with such wisdom and knowledge that the appetite of these children turned from the fried chicken to a desire for such brilliance. The parents of these boys thought that if you could expose children to good morals and great thinking, it would take. All of these influences were shaping the Leavell boys. Arising in the early morning before anyone else stirred, Corra would kneel beside a worn, brown trunk with a rounded top to pray for her boys. So often she bent them over this same trunk, switching them with a peach tree limb. They learned to call this experience peach tree tea. After Corra's prayer time, she would put her Bible in one hand and the paddle of the churn in the other and spend these next minutes making butter while she made peace with her soul. Two of the most salient characteristics these boys remembered about their mother were her infectious laughter and her deep, loving relationship with her God. These were good times planted in the struggle of Reconstruction and reinventing life.

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An intruder thrust its way into this healthy pattern of life. George's old war wound would not heal, and his pain and difficulty in breathing would not go away. Eventually it became necessary for George to get medical treatment, which necessitated his going to Kerrville, Texas. Landrum, the oldest of the now nine boys, was left to help in the mercantile store while a more experienced businessman was given full charge in the absence of the owner. By this time the older boys were able to assume responsibilities and help with the household as well as the business. This meant the family was learning to function as a team with all working as never before. There were longer hours at physically exhausting chores for everyone.

Eventually, George's misery over not being able to take care of his family became more unbearable than the bullet still lodged in his arm or his injured lung. He returned home. What he discovered when he walked into his business was that a wealthy young businessman had manipulated the books in a way Landrum, the oldest but inexperienced son, could not perceive. The young businessman stepped successfully into the financial world, and George was to struggle for the rest of his life to pay off debts incurred in his absence. These were the days that colored most of Roland's growing into young adulthood.

These vicissitudes did not stop the mission and benevolent activities of the family. On Sunday afternoon the boys had a choice of memorizing scripture or going with their father to the North Oxford mission where he served as preacher for people who would not come to the First Baptist Church in Oxford. George also served as deacon chairman, treasurer, Sunday school teacher, and confidant of the pastor at First Baptist Church. His lingering pain kept him from much of the physical labor to which he was accustomed. There was no mule now, and plowing had to be done for the garden that would supply the table for growing, hungry boys. George would hitch the boys to the plow, and as he guided them up and down the rows, he would talk to them about all the good eggs they would have for supper. On Saturdays he would give them a long list of chores and then tell them to finish early so that they would have time to play before supper. Memories from these days also included carrying food from the garden and wood stove to sick people, to the jail, and to anyone in need.

Corra did not grieve over their losses, but used whatever they did have to meet needs wherever she saw them. The pastor of the First Baptist Church went to a local merchant to seek to persuade him to come back to church and change his lifestyle. The merchant told the pastor, who relayed the words to Corra, There is only one person in this town who could witness to me, and that is Corra Leavell because she lives her faith. Such was her reputation and such was her example for her family.

At 61 years of age, George Leavell had carried the load of a man who had lived many more years. Some people do