Washington Training College by J. W. Lawhead

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 7, 1906

Washington Training College

By J. W. Lawhead

THE second year of this school has just closed, and a brief report of its work will doubtless be interesting to the readers of the REVIEW.

This college was founded not simply to educate our youth, but also to train them for service in the cause of God, and therefore the student body is made up of an older and more mature class of the young men and women who have labored heartily and earnestly to better fit themselves for life's duties and responsibilities. With such a company, possessed of such ambitions, it has been possible for the teachers to bend all their energies to the one purpose of the development of mind and character such as workers in this cause should possess. And the students have followed faithfully along the lines marked out, with the result that scholarship and spirituality have both been marked features of the year's work.

The principle of learning by doing is constantly recognized, and many opportunities for gaining experience from actual service have presented themselves and have been quite generally utilized, very greatly to the advantage of our young people. The experiences thus gained, coupled with a knowledge of the issues confronting the cause of truth, and the almost constant contact with the officers and leaders of the denomination have resulted in the growth of a strong missionary sentiment which has found expression in varied ways during the year, and has led a large proportion of the students to take up some line of denominational labor for the vacation.

The Lord has greatly blessed our young people, and has given them some experiences that have seemed remarkable to all who have known the circumstances. They have also grown in the esteem and good-will of the people of the community, so that many openings for labor have been found. Through it all a spirit of humility has been maintained, and the constant prayer has been for greater efficiency and for power to witness more perfectly for the Master.

These facts have gladdened the hearts of the teachers and managers, and have caused them to better understand and appreciate the providence of God in establishing the school and in counseling that all its work should be directed toward one particular object. The College is yet young, but the work already done has revealed something of the mighty power for good it may become with God for its leader; and while we all rejoice because of the great privileges here afforded, yet we do not forget the fact that the enemy of all righteousness is alert and ever watchful to destroy or injure God's work, and so our trust is and must ever be in the God of heaven, who alone can give success.

As the youth are now gone out to take up labor in new fields, away from friends and acquaintances and surrounded by all manner of circumstances, we hope those who love God and desire to see his work in the earth advance will remember them at the throne of grace, praying that God may greatly enlarge their hearts and direct and prosper them in all their ways.

J. W. LAWHEAD.