Vultee Student Missions Endowment: Building on Our History | Part 1

April 5, 2023

This year, the Vultee Charitable Foundation created an endowment fund as a resource for Lipscomb students who want to explore their faith and vocation on a Lipscomb Missions team. The Vultee Student Missions Endowment Fund was established to honor the ongoing legacy of the relationship between the Vultee congregation and Lipscomb University. This relationship developed over decades, deepening with each individual who called both institutions home. 

 

Joe Sanders, for example, served as Vultee’s preaching minister in the 1950s while he taught Bible at Lipscomb. Ed Binkly (‘58) remembers Sanders fondly as the professor who had the most influence on him when he was a student. 

When Sanders had to leave Nashville to earn his PhD, he made sure Vultee would be in good hands when he left. “He was one of my mentors,” recalled Carl McKelvey, “and he asked me to preach at Vultee while he was away, then we would work together when he got back. I met with him on a Monday, and he told me he had already made an appointment for me to speak with the elders on Tuesday. I said yes that night. I was the pulpit minister for a year and a half, then when he returned with his PhD, he took over preaching and I became the education minister and the song leader.”

Similarly, Lipscomb Bible professor Leo Snow also preached at Vultee in the 1960s during their move from the original building to the one on Murfreesboro Road. “He taught me to see that everyone is equal in God’s eyes,” said former student, Trey Hartman (‘86). Alan Banks (‘82) agreed. “He mixed godliness, education and fun.” Once, after falling asleep during Snow’s 8am class, Banks awoke to find the room empty and Snow and his classmates standing outside the window smiling at him. “He did that to me twice,” said Banks.

Mack Wayne Craig followed Snow as Vultee’s preacher. During his ten-year tenure, the congregation grew to nearly 1,000 members. Many people still remember the powerful sermon he preached every Easter entitled “There They Crucified Him.”

Craig began his career at Lipscomb as a student in 1943. After earning his associate degree, he taught senior Bible and Latin at David Lipscomb High School where, four years later, he became the principal. In 1957, he came back to the university as the academic dean. Before his retirement in 1985, he served as the vice president for institutional planning, participated on the executive council, and was appointed the director of the National Development Board. Yet even with so many impressive titles, students mostly remember him as the man who began the tradition of Tuesday night outdoor devotionals on the steps of Collins Alumni Auditorium. 

“[He was a] preacher, educator, storyteller, historian [who] served Lipscomb for nearly 70 years. [He] encouraged thousands toward a closer relationship with God and lives of faith and service,” said Randy Lowry, who served as Lipscomb president from 2005-2021. 

Harris Smith poured his heart into Vultee Church of Christ as an elder from the late 1960s until the time of his death in the mid 1980s. As a member of the Lipscomb Board of Directors, Smith exerted a humble power. McKelvey said, “Harris was my dear friend. He was a spiritual man who was very influential and truly helped guide Lipscomb to where it is now. People listened to him when he spoke. His presence was the influence.”

Joe Sanders, Leo Snow, Mack Wayne Criag and Harris Smith are just a few of those who helped shape generations of Nashville citizens and Lipscomb students toward gospel-centered lives. The Vultee Charitable Foundation’s gift to Lipscomb Missions will continue that formation.

You can be a part of the legacy by adding your contribution to the Vultee Student Missions Endowment Fund in recognition of the passion and dedication these men had for equipping young people for ministry and service.

Make a gift in honor of Vultee Church of Christ 

Vultee Student Missions Endowment

Read Announcing the Vultee Student Missions Endowment Fund 

Read Building on Our History Part 2

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Not a Trip
Category: Student Life

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