Mitchell's Influence Reaches a World Hundreds of Miles Away from Harding Academic Deans Harding students and faculty trave l over oceans and continents every summ r to spread the gospel. Dr. Carl Mit che ll. dean of the College of B ible and Re lig ion . and his wife. Frankie. have 11ad the unique experience of trave ling to the same country for severa l years. 'Tm talking now to the children whose parents I bapti zed back in the sos.·· Mitchell said. In 1 994, the Mit che lls w ere greeted for the 44th time by the sigl1t s. sounds and aromas of Florence, Italy, and the smiles of its people. Because Mitche ll has a doc torat in psychology and because of his deep interes t in the family , he has focused his m ee tings in Ita ly on st rengthening church famili es and counse ling them during d ifficult times. "Usually the family is more intact in Ita ly than it is in the U.S.," he said. "But , they're becoming more like us . unfortunate ly." He cited one cc:i use of this family breakdown as divorce. which was only rec ntly made possible. Mit che ll noted severa l differences between the Italian and Unit ed Sta tes· churches. Th first thing one may notice. he sa id , is the popularity of the "holy kiss." the traditional greeting of th is and o ther European cultures. Another di ff rence he mentioned was the conversat ion a fter a clH 1rch s rvi ce. After a service in It aly, members and guests discuss issues and ask ques tions. This may l1ave a direct influence on the fac t that most Christians th re are evange lized on a one-to-one basis. The people there a lso take the urgency of the gospel very seriously . Mit che ll said that baptisms may be at one in the morning or nine in the evening at "th same hour f the day or Herin: rl pl1ysicul science l<'uclwr. /Jr . .Joe t>ryor. uml Dr. Dean Pries t. deun of rlw Collq]C o/ t \rts uml Sciences. uis11 oursic/<' r/w l 'r~1or Scienc<' Buil<lino Priest wus ufuuoritc 11·uc/]('r in 1/1c· 111ur/11/q)(lntll< 't II . P/1010 l>!J Joson Hun. Dr. Ho/Jf>y Coker <lisci 1ssc·s sonw u<lminisrrutit •e wspo11si/Ji/i1iesot•c·r1/1ew/c·1J/101w. Cok<'fu •osk11c nc•n 11s o tcucher u •I 10 wou ln liswn ro srurlenrs. /'ho to /J!f )USO/I /lurr . night .'. in bathtubs or streams - whatever is c losest. Mitche ll' time in Italy l1as not a lways been ca lm and troubl e- free . Many things have 11appened s ince missionaries began teaching there. Mitcl1e ll said that Italy has 53 churches tha t began with the help of Americans in til e lat e I 940s . In 1953. Mitcl1e ll and L.V. Pfe ifer. also of the Harding Bible faculty , offered free Engl ish lessons to Ita lians as a way o f es tablishing contac ts for evange lizing. Seventy students were attracted to tl1e offer and. of that group. seven were baptized a t the end of six months. During that time, Mitche ll and Pf ifer were commanded by the police to stop teaching from the Bible until they had the authorization of the minister of education in Rome. They w ere denied this author ization because thei r teaching was labe led as propaganda for the Church of Chr ist. How ver. by this time. Mitchell and tl1e other missionaries had made more con tacts than tl1ey could keep up with. In addition. until I 958, many churches were c losed ands vera l preachers banned from the coun try. It wasn't until after much arguing in Washington D.C. and fina lly convincing Ita lian author ities that they w ere acting against trea ties sl1ared with th United Sta tes that Mit chell and campaign groups from Harding cou ld go back. After he first w nt to Italy in I 950, Mitche ll lived there . teaching about Jesus. for I 4 years . His work in Italy was a dedicated service to the Italian churches . and his perseverance in preaching the gospel provided an example for Harding students. - Georgia Choate Carl M itchell Dean B. Pri st College of B ible ancl Hcligion College of Ans amt Sciences A C U (f c 111 I c / ) e (I ll s 13 t \ c (I d (' Ill i c s
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