There Was Murder in the Students' Hearts
I. There Was Murder in the Students’ Hearts
A. Born in England and destined to be hailed as the "Spurgeon of Canada," Thomas Todhunter Shields (1873~1955)1 ministered to a solid, thriving church, Jarvis Street Baptist of Toronto, Canada. He came to the Jarvis Street pulpit in 1910 after serving several other churches since 1894.
B. When Shields began to detect modernism in both his own convention and in the Northern Baptist Convention (NBC), he inaugurated a periodical, The Gospel Witness in 1922.
1. During the 1920s and 1930s The Gospel Witness became one of the major organs of Fundamentalism constantly reporting modernism in the NBC and in McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, at that time the school of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec.
2. Finally, in 1926, Shields established his own Toronto Baptist Seminary at Jarvis Street Church. During the same year, he led in the organization of the Regular Baptist Missionary and Educational Society of Canada.
3.Consequently, the next year, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec ousted Jarvis Street Baptist from its membership. a)Five days later, on October 19, 1927, at a mass meeting at Jarvis Street, the Canadian Fundamentalists organized their own convention-the Union of Regular Baptist Churches of Ontario and Quebec, "regular" because they were orthodox and fundamental. b)The group selected Shields as its first president.
C. The Des Moines University Debacle
1. It was also in 1927 that Shields, president of the Baptist Bible Union, brought Des Moines University under the BBU’s control.
2. For years the school had been a liberal NBC institution, but the convention was about to abandon it because of staggering financial problems resulting in part from decreased support by Fundamentalists.
3. The university trustees offered the school to the BBU if it would assume the debt. In spite of much difference of opinion among BBU leaders, Shields enthusiastically negotiated with the trustees and consummated the purchase.
4. A major problem was that Shields attempted to change the scenario "from liberal school to Fundamentalist school" without changing the players. The financial situation prevented a quick and complete house cleaning. A few of the old faculty members had resigned, and some fifteen new appointments were made prior to the 1927 fall semester, but the total faculty numbered thirty-six.
5.The first year there were 377 students representing seventeen denominations and cults, including a)not only Baptists, b)but Christian Science, c)Quaker, Episcopal, d)Roman Catholic, e)Church of the Latter Day Saints, f)Pentecostal, and g)3 Jewish groups
6. The Board of Trustees, of which Shields was president, named Harry C. Wayman president of the university for the 1928-1929 school year
7.In an effort to transform Des Moines into a Fundamentalist university, Shields began to preach hard in chapel and to bring in strong guest speakers, such as a)William L. Pettingill, b)William B. Riley, c)Robert T. Ketcham, d)Oliver W. Van Osdel, e)James M. Gray, and f)J. Gresham Machen.
8. Internal relationships grew worse, however, until Shields and Rebman decided that Wayman and some of his deans must go.
9. Meanwhile, the anti-Shields faction set out to convince the student body that Shields and Rebman were the real troublemakers.
10. Shields and Rebman, both Canadians, had created an anti-Canadian sentiment on the campus by ridiculing American celebrations such as Washington’s birthday. Shields reportedly preferred that the students in chapel sing "God Save the King" rather than "The Star-Spangled Banner," and, when they did sing the latter, Rebman and several Canadian students allegedly refused to stand. On at least one occasion, Shields supposedly called for the local fire department to remove the American flag from the flagpole, which American students had greased to prevent such removal.
11. When the Board of Trustees met on Friday and Saturday, May 10-11, 1929, a student riot broke out. Calling for Shields, the mob hurled stones, rotten eggs, and gas bombs into the building where the board was meeting.
12.Local police refused to intervene, to make any arrests, or reportedly even to grant protection to the victims 13.Shields escaped the mob and returned to Canada.
14. The university completed the semester, but never reopened.
15. In 1948, Shields joined Fundamentalist Carl Mclntire’s International Council of Christian Churches.
16.When Shields died on April 4,1955, Carl Mclntire preached his funeral sermon. A Brief Survey Of Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches