Legacy

Legacy.

One word. Just six letters. But it carries such a powerful meaning. It permeates the depth of years, even generations. 

In fact, that is its meaning. Something given, passed on, from an ancestor or previous generation. It could be many things. A tradition, a culture, a recipe, a way of life, finances for that way of life.

In a college setting, children of alumni often are referred to as legacy students. 

Founders of companies hand down a legacy of management style and philosophy to future leaders. Parents leave a legacy to their children, often much deeper than just in a name.

Multiple times in Scripture we are given instruction on leaving a legacy, paying it forward so to speak – especially as it pertains to declaring God’s sovereignty.

Very clearly in chapter six of Deuteronomy it states: 5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 8 You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. 9 You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Later in the Old Testament, specifically Psalm 78, we are told to hear, grasp and then tell: 1 Listen, my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will tell riddles of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. 4 We will not conceal them from their children, But we will tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His power and His wondrous works that He has done.

In 2 Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy. Paul leads him, providing advice and insight and then challenges Timothy to take what Paul has left and carry it on – a legacy.

Through more than 170 years, many legacies have shaped what started as Mossy Creek Baptist Seminary and now stands as Carson-Newman University. Some of those legacies not only have shaped the institution as it has molded tens of thousands of graduates from more than 60 countries but has literally helped it survive.

Faculty, staff, leaders, administration, presidents. All have played a role in the history of our beloved institution. We have had members of the faculty lead students for three, four, even into five decades. We still award scholarships today that were started 50 or even 60 years ago, giving students a chance to attend a school they otherwise may not have been able.

Those of us today blessed to serve at Carson-Newman are able to do what we do because of those who came before us. Our president, Dr. Charles A. Fowler, has said many times we stand on the shoulders of those folks.

It can be true, as years pass, that some moments in time stand to become simply dates on a calendar relegated to a footnote in history’s memory. But some, a few indeed, have been the difference between Carson-Newman moving forward or being forced to stop moving at all.

We strive to follow the path God lays before us. It is easy to imagine, when thinking of these circumstances, those faculty, staff, leaders, administrators and presidents standing at a virtual crossroads with a choice of which way to go and, fortunately for those of us today, choosing the one that allowed us to continue on that path.

Not one, but two smallpox epidemics. Not once, but two times the administration building burned to the ground. Losing much of our male enrollment to World War II and speculating how we would stay open.

Or losing the property altogether to another war, a domestic war that was far from civil, and wondering how we would reopen.

All of those are circumstances our University has faced in its history.

One of those individuals on whose shoulders we stand is Jesse Baker. A pastor at heart and in practice more than a college president, Baker is a bellwether in what is the Carson-Newman story. It is not an exaggeration to say had it not been for Baker and the horse on whose back he rode, we, more than 150 years ago, would have lost shoulders on which to stand.

Following the Civil War, a battle of which was fought at Mossy Creek, the school was in debt and in its buildings in shambles. In 1869, Dr. Baker, an alum of the school, was chosen by the Board of Trustees as president of the institution. The school had reopened the previous year but was around $6,000 in debt. Put in perspective, $6,000 of held wealth in 1869 is estimated to be equivalent to more than $2.3 million today. 

But 6000 or 2.3 million is irrelevant, the school had neither.

With the help of his friend William T. Russell, then a faculty member and later president of Newman College, Baker set out on horseback. His goal? To promote the mission, vision and values of the school and the need, just as when it opened in 1851, for an institution of higher learning grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the need for funds to get it back on the proper path.

History records that Russell “operated the college” while Baker rode more than 3,000 miles around East Tennessee. Creditors had insisted on payment within a year. Otherwise the property would be up for auction.

Well, one does not have to flip to the end of the book and read the last chapter. We are here today so the funds were raised and chapters in our history continue to be written, Jesse Baker’s included.

Once the school was out of debt the next year, Baker, president for barely two years, resigned and went back to the pulpit and ministry full-time (something he had not stopped doing while serving as president). He stayed involved; continuing to teach classes and even serving as a member of the Board of Trustees, the same group who entrusted him to help save the school. More could be written here, but it is preferrable to let Baker’s friend and colleague, W.T. Russell take over. 

Jesse Baker passed away May 29, 1902. A memorial service was held by the school’s Board of Trustees and alumni and Russell was tasked with honoring his late friend. Following is a transcript of some of his words.

“The college had just come out of the war a wreck, with a debt of $6,000 – the only assets being an unfenced campus and three dilapidated brick buildings, destitute of floors, windows and doors. Dr. Baker had been elected President. I had been elected, a mere boy, to a place in the faculty. We went to look over the grounds and talk over the work, August 7, 1869, the day of the total eclipse of the sun.   As we looked over the wrecked buildings and grounds, it seemed fitting to have the light of the sun shut out.   Dr. Baker was distressed because the property was in ruins and the people discouraged, the college about to be sold under debt, and its history about to end in dishonor.   As we turned to leave the cheerless spot he said, “let us undertake it.”  That was heroic faith.”

The legacy of Jesse Baker not only affects Carson-Newman to this day, but the lives of many who sat under his preaching.

“Dr. Baker then took up his work in this college. He was also pastor of the church, which held its meetings in one of the college buildings. It was during these years that some memorable revivals were held by him in the college. He taught during the day and preached at night.  In one of those great meetings 100 souls were saved, and this occasion became an epoch in the history of the church and the college.”

In the ensuing 16 years as pastor of a local church, Baker baptized an estimated 500 individuals. 

A few years ago, as Jefferson City’s growth moved south on Highway 92 a couple of miles from campus, the developer of a new neighborhood found a structure on his property. It was a house, covered in aluminum siding with sections and pieces that had been added through the years. 

But looking deeper, under the siding and even under the house itself, it was discovered the original core structure was a log cabin. That log cabin dated back more than 150 years. It was, we found out, Jesse Baker’s cabin. His home. It was a gift to him for his service to the school and the Kingdom. A place that would remain his, a document read, as long as he continued to preach the Word.

As things often do in life, coming full circle, the cabin was gifted back to the school. It has been rebuilt on campus, directly behind the Fite Administration Building, between it and Henderson, two other buildings named for past presidents on whose shoulders we stand.

It is up to us to honor those who have served well. To be good stewards of the legacy we have been left and leave it in even better shape for coming generations. 

Our own archive department here at Carson-Newman pulls its mission from Scripture, Psalm 22 to be precise, and the legacy we are to leave.

30 A posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.

And so another chapter in the story is being written. We will dedicate the cabin and honor the man who called it home in August. A man whose work, whose legacy, plays a huge role in the fact students every year still get to call Carson-Newman home. Students who arrive to receive a rigorous education rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A legacy of which we are humbled to be a small part, and has us asking, what legacy will we leave for others.