Living Water Set Free - The Church of Christ at Creekwood

That's what it was that day in 1904 when a young African American woman, Mary McCloud Bethune, saw it. Nevertheless, she and other willing hands built a shack on that desolate place, for she had a dream that, with God's help, she could help other African American women learn to read and write. The first desks were wooden packing crates; the ink was blackberry juice. With only $1.50 and her faith in God, Mary McLeod Bethune opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School in Daytona Beach , Florida , beginning with five little girls for students.

Through Dr. Bethune’s lifetime, the school underwent several stages of growth and development. In 1923, it became a co-ed high school as a result of a merger with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida . It grew to become a junior college by 1931 and became known as Bethune-Cookman College . In 1941, the Florida State Department of Education approved a 4-year baccalaureate program offering liberal arts and teacher education. Dr. Bethune retired in 1942, but later resumed the presidency for a year in 1946.

Among the tall buildings, classrooms and dormitories that have been erected at the same site of what is now Bethune-Cookman University , there is a plain stone that marks the place where Mrs. Bethune's body was laid to rest at the age of seventy-nine. It had taken more than half a century for her dream to become a reality. The words carved on that stone told her whole story:

"She has given her best
so that others might live a more abundant life."

The life of Mary McLoud Bethune points to Another who gave His Best so that others might have THE abundant life. For God so loved the world that He gave His Very Best, His Son, to die on the cross for our sins so that we might have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus said,

“I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.”
-- John 10:10

The abundant life is available to ALL those who will believe Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).

God gave His Best so that YOU might truly live…. both now AND in the world to come.

Won’t you in turn give YOUR BEST to Him so that YOU can have the abundant life?

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695

* Information gleaned from the Bethune-Cookman University website (http://www.bethune.cookman.edu/about_BCU/history/index.html), Wikipedia, and FindaGrave.com

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