For many decades a listing of Wheaton graduates in missionary service has been posted in Blanchard Hall to serve as a reminder to students to pray–pray for the missionaries and what part they might play in the Lord’s work. For years that listing was in a center hall on the first floor and after the full renovation of Blanchard, completed in 1990, the listing has been posted on the second floor. This listing, by decades, shows generation after generation of students who have sought to go out into the world serving others. Jonathan Blanchard viewed Wheaton as a central starting point in a global vision. When asked why Wheaton he said, “Because Wheaton is near Chicago, the gate city between the Atlantic and the Pacific, between Western Europe and Eastern Asia….But the chief reason was, I believed the Lord had need of Wheaton College, to aid the way for His coming.”

As noted in his A Perfect State of Society, Jonathan Blanchard believed the the function of the Gospel was to reclaim and restore. One of the ways that students have expressed their desire put Jonathan’s ideas into action has been in the area of foreign missions. Wheaton’s first missionary graduates were Anastasios Zaraphonithes and Henry Martyn Bissell. For many years missionary activity was an individual interest but near the turn of the twentieth-century groups of students gathered to advance mission work. Just as the Student Volunteer Movement was emerging Wheaton’s Mission Band began in October 1890 as a group of students who wanted to consider ways to “best promote the interest in missions among their fellow students and at the same time be preparing themselves for their future work.” A constitution was signed on December 7, 1890 by nine students pledging, “God willing, to become Foreign Missionaries….” This group met Sunday mornings to study missions, various fields of service, peoples and their customs, needs and religions. Those that attended pledged 5 cents a week to support missionaries and some who were “expecting to work for our Master in the dark corners of His vineyard….” Professor Elsie Dow led the group through George Smith’s History of Christian Missions from Abraham and Paul to Carey, Livingstone and Duff (1884). In 1894 six Wheaton students served as delegates at the International Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement that was held in Detroit, Michigan. Though the Mission Band did not officially join the Student Volunteer Movement until 1904, in 1897 the group changed their name to Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions.

The Omaha Gospel Tabernacle was founded in 1921 by Dr. R.R. Brown of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Two years later Brown started Radio Chapel Service, broadcasting the first nondenominational services, and during the early 1930s it attracted a weekly national audience of more than 500,000. The broadcast continued for the next 53 years, achieving the distinction as the longest continuous radio program. In 1938 Brown was a keynote speaker for the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which had previously convened for 13 consecutive years on the campus of Wheaton College. On Sunday he typically preached at the Tabernacle, the Bible Church and College Church. His sermon, “Living the Creative Life,” is taken from Not By Bread Alone (1940), a collection of Wheaton College chapel addresses (all delivered in Pierce Memorial Chapel, seen above) edited by Carl F. H. Henry:

In considering matter of creative living, let us turn to the Second Book of Kings, the second chapter. There we have the words of Elijah to Elisha, What shall I give to you? And the response is, “I Would that a double portion of Thy Spirit be upon me.” There is in these words a gripping concern over the course of living that Elisha should pursue. Every man lives either creatively or corruptly. The highest, the most noble ambition in the world today is to live creatively; not to inspire a man to be the best ball player in the world, the best student, the best musician or the finest artist, but to install a personal and vital relationship to the one great Redeemer and the gospel purpose. The world knows no higher and no more noble ambition than that motivating an individual who lives so that he will persuade men and women to come to know God as He is in Jesus Christ, the foundation of all character and all security in a mans life. I saw a young man get up the other night before a church audience. He had a fine message, but he gave the audience the idea that he thought he was a fine preacher. The young people commented, “Wonderful oratory!” You are not going out to preach, but you are going out to tell someone something. If you are dedicating your life to missionary service for Christ, the highest ambition is to make men and women come to know God as He is revealed in Christ, to know Him not only as a Savior, but also in all the fulness and revelation of His power. The Bible is the unfolding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and as I increase in the knowledge of the Book, I increase in the knowledge of Jesus. The youth of this generation need to be told how to be more than a success. Before we can effectively present Christ, the foundation of character and security, we need to learn how to make men and women know God. It is not sufficient merely to give information about Christ; we need also that creative impulse that make us not only articulate Him but also lead others creatively to the knowledge of Him. There are many in our day who have a superficial method of expressing their spirituality. People get the idea that when one becomes spiritual, he must assume a superficial attitude. There was none of this in Elisha. Elisha followed Elijah, who said, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.” And Elisha said, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” Elijah’s mantle fell; Elisha picked it up, remembering the words, If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. When the mantle fell and Elijah disappeared, Elisha turned right around to express his faith. He struck the waters of the Jordan and crossed over. He had to go to the other side of Jordan. The place of creativeness is the other side of Jordan, the other side of Calvary. Surrender your life to His fullness. Jesus is our Elijah. He went through to the other side of Calvary. He told them to tarry, to wait, for He would drop His mantle. The Holy Spirit came. You can walk, live, think, and act in the power of that Spirit.

Dr. Charles Blanchard’s ostensible obituary for the late R.J. Bennett, trustee and reliable benefactor, appears on the front page of the March 5, 1924, Record. Ever vigilant for additional funding, President Blanchard moves quickly from pious memorializing to a frank review of Bennett’s previous financial contributions to Wheaton College, and a rather anxious expectation for one more posthumous gift. It is not known whether the school received it.

Mr. R.J. Bennett, LLD of Pasadena, California, for many years a leading wholesale merchant in Chicago, recently passed away. Mr. Bennett was a member of Ravenswood Congregational Church and cooperated with most of the missionary churches of Chicago for many years. He was one of the most influential and useful members of the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College. He and Mr. Charles H. Case, also of Chicago, both on this board, were both men of large wealth and generous activities, and were among the most conservative and helpful of our trustees. Mr. Case gave to the college by will one-half the residuum of his estate. This has not yet been received, but is still in the courts. It is supposed that this provision will ultimately furnish Wheaton College one-hundred-ten or fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Bennett died suddenly, painlessly, and restfully, after his long, honored, and useful life. It would be a long story to tell of the different college activities with which he has been associated. Improvements on the campus, the erection of the academy building, the increase of endowment funds, together with constant contributions, were a part of his work. We have heard a number of statements respecting his will which at the present time we are not able to confirm. Some two or three years ago Mr. Bennett said to us that at that time he was supposed to be worth about two-hundred-fifty thousand. A year ago or less when he was in Chicago he said to us that in his will he had provided for his family and personal friends and had directed that all the residuum of his estate should be paid to Wheaton College. We have not seen his will. It was offered for probate in California, February 27th. We have been told not on authority that the specified bequests amounted to something like one-hundred-twenty thousand dollars. If this should prove to be true, and if the amount of his estate has not changed materially from his statement to us several years since, the amount coming to the college would be very considerable, but we are not able to give more surmises and reports at this time. The facts will appear in due time.