Children’s resource celebrates Baptists’ 400th. Children in Baptist churches will enjoy participating in Baptists’ 400th anniversary celebration through the new issue of Heritage Seekers, a full-color magazine containing stories, games and activities. The issue tells the stories of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, who founded a Baptist church in 1609, as well as the stories of English Baptists. The comic pages feature Helwys in Amsterdam. The issue was written by Christopher Catherwood and Paulette Moore Catherwood, a Baptist couple of British and American heritage. Heritage Seekers is intended for children, ages 8-12, and their parents, grandparents and Sunday school teachers. The Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies has published 12 issues of the magazine. A single copy of the 400th anniversary issue can be ordered for $5, plus $2 shipping and handling. Contact the Heritage Center for cost reductions on multiple orders. The entire collection of 12 issues along with a doll of the magazine’s mascot can be ordered at the reduced cost of $49, plus $6 shipping and handling. The collection arrives boxed and ready for a children’s resource library or church library. Send orders to Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies, P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173. For further information contact the Heritage Center at (804) 289-8434.
Oldest Bluefield alum dies. Christine Reynolds Stone of Altavista, who at 100 had been the oldest living graduate of Bluefield College, died last December. Stone entered Bluefield from Renan, Va., in 1926 when Oscar Sams was president, professors taught aviation, girls couldn’t live on campus, and the Fighting Deacons were the school’s football team. After graduating from Bluefield, she attended the University of Virginia and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which prepared her for a 28-year career in public schools in central Virginia. “I loved to encourage young people,” she said last summer when speaking at Bluefield. “I was led to teach.” She also was active in the churches that her late husband of 69 years, Samuel R. Stone Jr., pastored. Stone, who outlived all 12 of her siblings, is survived by a son, a daughter, six grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
Democrats stake claim on Robertson’s campus. A Democratic student group has formed at Regent University, the school founded by conservative televangelist Pat Robertson, who sought the Republican nomination for a White House bid in 1988. “Here, it is definitely a startling idea,” said Kalila Hines, a government major and one of the founding members of Regent Democrats. Regent, where Robertson is president and chancellor, has long had a student Republican group. The university approved Regent Democrats as an official student organization in late January, and the group now counts about 30 members.