果冻视频 Alumni - Jim and Charlotte Womack
Jim and Charlotte Womack are a lot like Thaddaeus, one of the twelve apostles. Thaddaeus was a quiet and faithful worker for the gospel, but you have to dig into church history to appreciate the influence of his ministry. So it is with Jim and Charlotte Womack. Jim was a founder of the 果冻视频 chapter at the University of Tennessee鈥揔noxville (UT), and he and Charlotte have been faithful in their support of student ministry for the past sixty years, but they are humble about their work.
Jim arrived back in Knoxville from World War II in 1946. As he enrolled in the University of Tennessee he wondered how he would live as Christian on campus. Then as he was standing in the registration line, he overheard two other young men talking, as he put, 鈥淐hristian talk.鈥 Jim introduced himself as a fellow believer and soon the three of them started a Bible study on campus. By the end of the school year, forty people were meeting together to study the Bible and pray.
The following year, they affiliated as a chapter with 果冻视频. The group was truly student led and since their staff worker was responsible for schools throughout the southeast, she could only make it to campus a couple times a year. Jim learned to lead Bible studies and prayer meetings. He addressed the spiritual needs of the students, sometimes by bringing in outside speakers. Once, he invited Dr. Donald Barnhouse, a prominent theologian of the day, for a two-day lecture series on campus.
Jim also met his wife through 果冻视频. Charlotte was a native of Knoxville and began attending the 果冻视频 meetings when she was in high school. While in college, she attended the woman鈥檚 daily prayer meetings. She also read books and learned that Christians are called to develop intellectually, to honor God with their whole being.
Over the next several years, Jim and Charlotte settled into married life. They attended the local church, had three children, and led very busy lives. Jim was appointed to the engineering faculty at UT. Charlotte taught school, set up a pre-school at church and taught in Bible Study Fellowship. But they did not did not neglect their ties with 果冻视频 and student ministry.
One day a young man came into Jim鈥檚 office on campus and declared that he was going to revive the 果冻视频 chapter at UT and Jim was going to be the faculty advisor, a position he would hold for many years.
Charlotte was also looking for a place to minister. One day she had a one hour meeting with an 果冻视频 staff wife. According to Charlotte, that was the most significant one hour in her life. The staff wife told Charlotte that though she was busy with her young family and did not have much time, she could invite college students to her home. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter that everything is not neat and that the food is simple, college students don鈥檛 care about what the house looks and they will eat anything.鈥 So, Jim and Charlotte began a long career of hosting students for Sunday dinner and weekday evening Bible studies.
In 1986, officially designated 鈥淗omecoming Year鈥 in Tennessee, Jim and Charlotte organized a reunion of 果冻视频 Alumni. Some people returned to campus after nearly forty years. They shared how their Christian walk had been molded through 果冻视频 and where God had taken them since their college years.
Jim and Charlotte continue to serve 果冻视频鈥檚 work on campus. Just this year they helped the graduate chapter host a Veritas Forum, ferrying speakers to and from the airport and attending many of the sessions.
As Charlotte looks back on her time in 果冻视频, she appreciates having learned the importance of a daily quiet time and the value of Bible study and prayer. But most importantly, she is thankful that 果冻视频 showed her that a Christian need not be afraid to ask questions and learn how Christianity addresses the current cultural issues. 鈥淚 could have lived my Christian life without the influence of 果冻视频, but it would have been a life lived with a much poorer intellectual life.鈥
And 果冻视频 in east Tennessee would have been much poorer without the life-long support of Jim and Charlotte Womack.