11 Eric J . Jones - Bald Knob, AR Jennifer L. Jones - Walnut Ridge, AR Sandra Lynn Jones - Dearborn Heigh ts, MI S t ephanie L. Jones - Pocahontas, AR Jay Alan Jordan - Lavon, TX Kimberl y Jill Jordan - Carthage, MO Julie Ann Clawson, Ml Visiting missionary encourages involvement With each year's visiting missi~nary, many stories and experiences are told, each one unique and special. This year's missionary, Bill Searcy, held a story like no other. As a youth Searcy had a ~t ~ qu~tiom ~o~ ilie meaning of life. Not many people who he had come in contact with seemed to have many answers. As a teen in the sixties he started hearing about the message of love that seemed to be found in drugs. He began to search for this type of love and found, what he thought at that time was what he was looking for. "I began to get in trouble at school," Searcy added. Searcy traveled in a commune for a while as they traveled across the country. He protested against the Vietnam War and for Black's rights. He also looked into other religions: Hare Krishna, and Buddhism. "I began to get involved in the false religions. I was also an atheist for a while. I eventually began to believe that Michelle L. Just - Howell , MI Diane Elaine Kallis - Siloam Springs, AR Ke lly E. Kaufman - McPherson , KS Michelle L. Kay lor - Romance , AR Kevin Lange Kee - Jackson, TN Joy Kay e Keele - Jackson, MO Kari Lynn Keesling - Virginia Beach, VA 182 Sophomores God was in nature and that nature was God." Searcy later went out to California where he saw a man on a street corner who was preaching the message of Christ. "The man had hair to his knees. As he preached men came up and beat him until he fell to the ground. The man would not let that stop him; he kept on preaching," he said. This man had a lasting impression on him. Searcy thought to himself that he would have to read the Bible and find out about this God that the preaching man believed. Searcy continued his downhill trek for a while until he just reached the bottom. H At that point I was so messed up by drugs that my body was dying. I had no other place to look but up," Searcy said. Searcy began to look to God for the answers that he had been searching for. The police eventually caught up with him in North Carolina, and he was put in prison for selling drugs to an undercover police officer. While he was in prison he was involved in a prison ministry. "I really fel t as if prison was an answer to my prayers," he said. "While I was in prison I began to read the Bible from Matthew to Revelation once a week. I began to realize that the Bible was not written for people 2000 years ago, but it is something that speaks to us today." While he was in prison he met a man by the name of Kent Brand who was a Harding student and was leading a Bible class in the prison. Searcy studied with him and became baptized . While there he shared with others and continued to study the Bible. After he was released, he went back to preach and shared with people his conversion story. Later he decided to come to Harding, and he majored in Missions and Biblical Languages. While at Harding he started a group called the East European Russian evangelism group. Their mission was to share with atheists as well as university students in Europe, encourage Christians, and to "facilitate the distribution of Bibles and Christian literature in lands where the legal juris prudence contradicted such activity." The list of schools and accomplish - ments continue. When Searcy was asked what his goals were while he was here at Harding he said, "I really want to encourage people to become missionaries and want them to know that they don't have to be Bible majors to become involved," he said. "I also want people who don't go to mission fields to go back to their local churches and start programs in mission support." Searcy shared that he felt it was important for us as Christians to be missionaries wherever we go. We can be an effective tool for bringing God's message to people who desperately need to hear it. He was the first to admit that his life was a change from disaster to a positive and instrumental light to sharing God 's love. - Virgil Walker
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