~[J(\:1]~@ Mclarty brings spiritual life to campus 14 2 leadership "W t· e are coun lnQ onyoutocarryonthisunparalleled effort in Christian service.You will find many problems along the way, but your greatest difficulty will be keeping our schools and colleges Christian .This effort will be forever drawing on all your resources. Mrs. Armstrong and I will be praying here, and even in heaven, that your faith fail not and that your strength hold out." -J.N. Armstrong, Harding president, 1939 In 1978, Bruce Mclarty graduated from Harding University looking forward to leading others to God through the church. He married his college sweetheart, finished his Master's degree and set off for Neru, Kenya, for 18 months. Upon his return to the US., Mclarty took a JOb preaching atTennesseeTech University Church in Cookeville, Tenn., right across the street from the fratern1ty houses. "We were so settled and happy and had such a purposeful ministry there," Mclarty said. "We always said 1-t~lf-jokingly, 'We're not going anywhere, but if the College Church in Searcy calls [we~ l _change our m1nds].'" The phone call he received in 1991 was exactly that: an invitation to be the pulpit minister of College Church of Christ, a position he held for 14 years. The position of vice preS:tde'nt for spiritual life opened in the spring of 2005, and according to Mclarty, it seelhed like an opportunity to have a voice in the future of Harding. Mclarty resigned from College Church, and after a semester in Athens, Greece teaching for the Harding University in Greece (HUG) program, he and his family arrived back in Searcy.The next day, Mclarty began working. "I like to describe it as moving across the street and into a whole new world,'' he said. With his appointment to the position of vice president, Mclarty undertook many different programs and responsibilities, including the directorship of the annual Bible
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