"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
Horne Memorial Library
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50 Years of Missions Support
IN 1959, A NEW CONGREGATION in Texas helped send a young couple to Africa. In the half-century since, the relationship between the Memorial Church of Christ and Al and Donna Horne has only grown stronger.
BY BOBBY ROSS JR. | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
BENONI, South Africa
In the 1950s, a Texas girl named Donna Whitaker met Al Horne, a South African, at Abilene Christian University.
She had trouble understanding him because of his accent, but they dated and fell in love on the West Texas campus.
“Even when he proposed to me and asked, ‘Will you marry me?’ I thought he said, ‘Do you want to go play table tennis at the student recreation?’” Donna said. “And I said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘When?’ And I said, ‘Well, the sooner, the better.’ And I found myself getting married.”
Her punch line delivered with perfection, she grinned at her husband of 53 years — seated on the couch next to her in their home east of Johannesburg.
A half-century ago, the young couple drove up the face of a mountain and began full-time mission work in Tanganyika, now Tanzania, in East Africa.
Five years later - in 1964 — they moved to Benoni with a dream of starting a Bible college at Africa’s southern tip.
Al Horne and Eldred Echols, the late missionary who converted Horne as a teenager, formed Southern Africa Bible College to “train Africans to evangelize Africa.”
“Now,” Al Horne said, “more than 600 graduates and former students are proclaiming Christ across the continent of Africa.”
When the Hornes became missionaries 50 years ago, a new congregation on the west side of Houston — the Memorial Church of Christ — agreed to provide part of their support.
That support kept increasing until the Memorial church became the couple’s sponsoring congregation and the Bible’s college’s leading financial backer.
While growing to more than 750 members, the Memorial church has maintained its early commitment to missions, the Hornes said.
“I think it’s Al and Donna’s work ethic, the desire that they have to reach lost souls, the energy they continue to put into it despite a lot of difficulties,” longtime Memorial elder Cecil Rix said of why the relationship has flourished so long.
To provide for the college’s long-term future, the Hornes and the Memorial church have launched a $4.5 million endowment campaign called “Spreading the Flame.”
A few years ago, the Hornes — parents of four, grandparents of 14 and great-grandparents of four — returned to the U.S. to help care for Donna’s mother, who later died. Al Horne preaches for the Riverside church in Kerrville, Texas, but remains active as the Bible college’s president. The Hornes still spend two months a year in Benoni. Al wishes it were more.
“Our deal was — and he wasn’t aware of this until a few years ago — I would happily spend 48 years with him in his country,” Donna Horne joked, “and then he would come spend 48 years with me in my country.
“And after two years, he’s trying to renege. What kind of deal is that?”
Construction on the Horne-Memorial Library is now completed, and the contractor has moved offsite. Electronic security devices, paving and landscaping are next. Then, it will be moving day for bookcases, desks, office furniture and all those books still in the old library. Each step brings us closer to utilizing this most-needed facility on campus at the Southern Africa Bible College located in Benoni, South Africa. It has been a long process.
A number of years ago, the South African Department of Education granted conditional recognition for the Southern Africa Bible School, proclaiming it to be an institution of Higher Learning. This meant we had to change the name to the Southern Africa Bible College (SABC). The Higher Diploma of Theology now offered by the college is considered by the Department of Education as equivalent to a B.A. degree. This is a 3-year course of study, which includes biblical languages, in-depth studies of both Old and New Testaments, and other related subjects. The one condition that SABC had to meet was to provide an adequate library with up-to-date resource materials.
In about 2001, Al Horne, Larry York and Jerry Hogg began the process of securing sufficient funding to build this new facility on campus at SABC. Our deepest gratitude to the many churches and individuals in the States and many in South Africa who have sacrificially given to make this dream a reality. In 2005, following the annual SABC Lectureship, a project engineer was engaged and a contract signed with a suitable builder. Ground breaking occurred in November 2005. In June 2006, a steel shortage slowed progress on the building, but the contractor promised it would be completed by the 2006 SABC Lectureship (September 24-28).
The official opening of this much-needed learning facility took place during the lectureship in 2006. It has been named the Horne-Memorial Library, honoring both Al & Donna Horne, co-founders of the College, as well as the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. They have faithfully served as sponsors of the Bible College for over 40 years.
For more information on the Library please click SABC Brochure in PDF format.
Quoted From: Jerry and Ann Hogg - Preaching and Teaching the Gospel in Southern Africa
Jan - Mar 08
THANK YOU, JUNE DAVIES:
Thank you, June, for your magic touch to the SABC blossoming flower gardens. Adding to the expertise of Rona Menage and Kathy Wishart, you have given an extra dimension of beauty. SABC cannot thank you enough for all the hard work and expense you have gone to in your voluntary work on the SABC campus.
IN SWEET MEMORY
Gayle Baird, a recent visitor from America to the SABC campus, placed a commemorative plaque in the SABC rose garden to honour the late mother of Donna Horne. On behalf of herself and her husband, Tom, of Kerrville, Texas, Gayle had chosen these words for the plaque -- "In Sweet Memory of Winnie Whitaker - Our Yellow Rose of Texas, 2007". The plaque, flanked by a yellow rose bush (in honour of Donna's mom) and a red rose bush (in honour of Donna's deceased dad), the plaque is visible from the main walkway connecting the library and the main building. A little ceramic bird marks the spot! Many thanks to the Bairds who donated this loving and lasting memory to Donna's mother, who sacrificially gave her daughter over to mission work in Africa for half a century.