An article from the September 28, 1932, Record testifies to the effective ministry of William Edward Biederwolf (1867-1939), Presbyterian evangelist and author, to Wheaton College students and faculty…and reciprocally, their affection for him:

With all aisles packed with new and renewed Christians, the Fall Evangelistic services were brought to a powerful close. Dr. W. E. Biederwolf’s calvinistic clarity produced a profound effect upon the packed chapel. Some were in tears, some were radiant and some were struggling visibly, manifesting the power of God at work. While Mr. Hammontree and the congregation were singing “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling,” a number took up the banner for Christ and walked down the aisle. Each one who moved to a decision made Dr. Biederwolf’s face to shine, especially those who gave their youth to the Savior as a love token, “a fresh bouquet” instead of a “wilted one.” In results the evangelistic meetings, which have just past, have never been equaled in College history. President Buswell proposed the names of Dr. Biederwolf, Mr. Hammontree and Mr. Paul Beck with full membership in the “Wheaton Family,” and without one dissenting vote they were accepted.

In October of that year Biederwolf donated a collection of his books, mostly sermons transcribed from his itinerant ministry, to the college library. These titles dealt with Christian Science, Mormonism, Spiritualism, prophetic and other doctrinal issues.

Sometime during his last year as a student at Moody Bible Institute, J. Lloyd Hunter preached at Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. Leading a ragged drunkard to Christ, Hunter reflected on the man’s lost decades, years that might have been dedicated to serving Christ rather than alcohol. At that moment Hunter decided to offer his own life in an effort to reach children. Traveling with his wife to various churches around the country, he gained valuable experience working with the American Sunday School Union. While living in Wheaton in 1937, Hunter, ablaze with a vision for evangelization, organized the Rural Bible Crusade, a ministry encouraging public school children to systematically memorize scripture. Its first advisory council consisted of J. Oliver Buswell, V. Raymond Edman, J.D. Hall, John R. Rice, Wendell Loveless, Bob Jones, Sr., William McCarrell, Oscar Lowry, Paul Rood, Harry Rimmer, George Strohm, Louis Talbot and Walter Wilson. Shortly before Christmas vacation of that year, Hunter stood before the students of Wheaton College to introduce his program. There Hunter’s idea was packaged as a contest, with letters sent to four thousand local school teachers. The envelopes contained a tract, Four Things That God Wants You to Know, with a request that pupils memorize Bible verses. Four hundred teachers responded positively, some requesting to join the contest, and to them were sent Gospels of John and a tract. Prizes were given for the verses learned. Ten verses entitled the pupil to a button. Thirty-two earned him a New Testament. Five hundred verses won him a fine leather Bible. Many families who never attended church received a Bible and heard the Gospel for the first time. Under the direction of Hunter, Phil Saint, Wheaton College student and brother of missionary martyr Nate Saint, taught “chalk talks” to classes, training young people in the essentials of presenting the Gospel to children. As the ministry blossomed Hunter’s health declined, and he entered the hospital in 1943, where he led three nurses to Christ shortly before his death. He was 55. Later that year, a committee met at Wheaton College and formed a constitution which delineated new internal organization. After the document’s ratification, the work of Rural Bible Crusade continued as it enrolled thousands of children in the Bible Memory Program. In 1966 the ministry moved from Wheaton to Salinas, Kansas; and in 1990 it changed its name to “Bible Impact Ministries.” In 1993 the ministry relocated to St. Louis, MO, expanding with permanent camps and facilities. Hunter’s passion for evangelizing and discipling young souls survives unabated.

[Some information for this entry is derived from Bible Impact Ministries.]

From the 1945 Armed Forces Tower:

The Memorial Student Center is planned to end Wheaton’s shortage of dining hall space. There will be four dining halls and a magnificent, modern kitchen. The building will also house all the student organizations, the Tower, the Record, Student Council, Christian Council as well as the Alumni Association. The basement level will feature a large grill and fountain and a recreation room. There will be several comfortable lounges on the first floor. Small meeting rooms, private dining rooms, at least two literary societies and a devotional chapel designed to seat from thirty to forty people are included in the plans.

Originally projected to stand at the northern end of the quad where the old science buildings, Breyer and Armerding Halls, are located, this spacious, magisterial structure was significantly altered, perhaps due to budgetary constraints, losing its wings, grand portico and other architectural flourishes. As built, the reduced Memorial Student Center is situated on the southern end with its front facing away from the quad; and for over fifty years it contained the STUPE, the Chaplain’s office and several other campus organizations, but no dining hall. A 2006 refurbishment introduced its current use as an academic building housing the Hastert Center, named after J. Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House, Politics and International Relations and Business and Economics departments, classrooms and an archive.