A desk, a typewriter, and a dream.
That’s how the work of Frank Leavell started for the SBC in 1922. He had been asked by the “Inter-Board Commission” to lead a new work, namely that of the formation movement of college students and young people across the South. The leaders of that commission looked to “Dr Frank” to carry out this monumental work.
Frank Leavell was one of 9(!) sons, many who were extremely influential in Baptist life. Among them was Landrum, a pioneer leader in religious education through the Sunday School Board. George was a missionary in China, Roland was President of New Orleans Seminary, and Ullin also served as a missionary. All of the sons served the church vocationally or as laymen. The ministry of Frank Leavell was found through the Baptist Young Peoples Union, which led to his founding of the Baptist Student Union.
Born in 1884, he was Baptist born and Baptist bred, serving with his parents and whole family in the local church of Oxford, MS. His father worked as Deacon, church clerk, treasurer, Sunday School Superintendent, SS teacher, and more. Frank and his brothers picked up this work ethic and love for the church.
In 1902, Leavell attended several colleges while battling health issues before graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1909. He entered Harvard Law School in 1910 and left for health reasons again, before eventually studying law on his own and passed the bar examination in Georgia. He served in several positions before accepting the position of Georgia secretary of the Baptist Young People’s Union in 1913. After marrying Martha Maria Boone in 1917 the couple had three children, Eddie Belle, Mary Martha, and Frank, Jr.
Leavell left the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1922 to accept a position as executive secretary of the Inter-Board Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, which became the Department of Student Work for the Baptist Sunday School Board.The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives has this to say about his work.
His leadership skills flourished and his influence spread wide as the Baptist Student Union became a driving force on college campuses. As secretary, he edited the Baptist Student magazine and other publications of the Sunday School Board and organized many large student conferences at Ridgecrest, North Carolina. He attended several Baptist World Alliance meetings in the 1930s, including the inaugural meeting of the World Youth Congress, which met in conjunction with the BWA meeting in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1931), and the BWA meeting in Berlin, Germany (1934). In the midst of travel, Leavell struggled with calls to other positions. Eight colleges, including Howard College (now Samford University) and Judson College, recruited him to serve their institutions as president. Leavell’s love for students, however, led him to turn down those positions and continue his work with the Sunday School Board. He traveled to Europe and Asia from 1936 to 1937, and attended the Second World Youth Congress in conjunction with the BWA meeting in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1937, he traveled to the same meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark, and, in 1939, to various countries in South America. Leavell attended his final meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1949, where he served on the executive committee.
It’s hard to summarize the life of an accomplished leader in just a few paragraphs, but Dr Frank’s love for students drove him literally all over the world to see them succeed. The principles of service that he learned at home as a child stayed with him as he led students in Baptist work across the South and eventually across the world. He said that “The best I can be is the least I can afford to be for my Master.” He was not driven by a desire to succeed but a love for Christ and a love for others.
Our churches need more leaders today like Dr Frank, who left his legacy not in marble or monuments but in the lives of the students he touched. His tireless dedication to see students in God’s service. He wrote one time that as he started his little office in Memphis with a typewriter and a desk, he prayed for “a place and a calling.” God answered those prayers beyond all that he could have asked.
Dr Frank suffered a heart attack in 1943 and passed away at his home in Nashville December 7, 1949.
One of my favorite things to read is biographies of church leaders long forgotten by history. For someone who was exceedingly influential in his day, there is little written about him today. But all of the mission work that Southern Baptists do through college work today finds it’s founding in the work of this Baptist leader. In 1997 Baptist Press wrote about the Diamond Anniversary of Baptist Student Ministry, and said that “SBC student work in 1996 resulted in 5,500 professions of faith. In addition, students gave $3.2 million to support missions, sent out 27,000 student missionaries and helped start 362 new churches or missions.” How much more have Southern Baptist students done since this article was written almost 30 years ago?
Praise God for faithful leaders long forgotten. We plant and water, but God brings the increase.