Stetson
Stetson lAniversity
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STETSON/$50,000,000
Campaign Update page 3
Vol. 10 No. 1 (USPS 990-560)
June 1981
Lykes, Mathis Named
Ministers of the Year
The Rev. Philip Earl Lykes of
Lakeland and the Rev. Charles H.
Mathis of Salt Springs were named
"Ministers of the Year" during a
luncheon at Stetson in April.
President Duncan made the award
presentations following introductions
of the recipients by Dr. 0. Lafayette
Walker, chairman of Stetson's
religion department. The Rev.
William L. Allen, assistant director of
church relations and the Baptist
Campus Ministry at the school,
presided at the luncheon attended by
135 guests, including Baptist laymen,
pastors and their wives, Florida
Baptist Convention personnel and
Stetson faculty.
The Rev. Lykes, named "Urban
Minister of the Year,'' is pastor of the
Southside Baptist Church in Lakeland
where he has served since 1974. He
has led his congregation in increasing
its membership by 33 percent and
increasing its gifts to missions by
more than 70 percent. The first
Sunday in May the church moved into
a $1 million learning center to which
the congregation has given more than
$750,000 in the last three years.
A native of Texas and graduate of
Baylor University in Waco, Texas,
Lykes received a bachelor's degree
from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He was ordained to the ministry by
the North Warrenton Baptist Church
in Warrenton, N.C, and served as a
student pastor in churches in Texas
and North Carolina. He was an
associate pastor of the First Baptist
churches of Vero Beach and
Tallahassee and pastor of the First
Baptist Church of Lake City before
assuming the post at Lakeland's
Southside.
the Rev. Mathis, named "Rural
Minister of the Year,'' is pastor of the
First Baptist Church of Salt Springs
where he has served since 1974. The
congregation, under his leadership,
has increased their contributions to
missions by nearly 75 percent and
church membership is up by more
than 18 percent.
A native of Georgia, Mathis was
ordained as a deacon at the Brushy
Creek Baptist Church in Sparks, Ga.,
in 1961 while he was a farmer. In
1971 he was ordained to the
preaching ministry at the same
church and enrolled in the Baptist
Bible Institute from which he
graduated in 1974.
Mathis is moderator of the Marion
Baptist Association and has served
on numerous committees of the
association. He • preached at the
Simultaneous Revival at Trinity
Chapel in Mount Joy, Pa., the first
week of May.
The ministers of the year were
selected on the basis of nominations
by Baptist associations and local
churches. The awards have been
presented annually since 1970.
The Rev. Charles H. Mathis
The Rev. Philip E. Lykes
Hague Honored with McEniry Award
400+Candidates
Receive Degrees
Stetson University's 98th
Commencement May 17th included
honors for forty-five students,
diplomas for 429 graduates, honorary
degrees for three outstanding leaders,
recognition of 50-year graduates,
commissions into the U.S. Army for
two students and the anticipated
annual announcement of the
McEniry Award recipient.
Dr. John A. Hague, Kenan
professor of American studies,
received that award, which represents
Stetson's most prestigious faculty
honor. A faculty member since 1955,
Hague has been the chairman of the
Charles E. Merrill American Studies
Program since its inception in 1956.
He was named to the Kenan
professorship in 1979.
The "Excellence in Teaching
Award" was established in 1974 in
honor of the late William Hugh
McEniry, former dean of the
university. Hague is the seventh
recipient of the honor.
Four summa cum laude graduates
were among 45 honor graduates who
received their degrees this year.
Sandra Lynn Anderson of Titusville,
Susan Glen George of Cleveland, Ga.,
Matthew C. Griffin of Orlando and
Lewis Maurice Oliver, III of Shalimar
graduated with highest honors.
Educator and author Gwendolen M.
Carter delivered the Commencement
address, telling graduating seniors:
"This is a complex world and you have
inherited it.'' The professor of political
science and African studies at Indiana
University admitted that, "to some
people, the problems may seem
overwhelming, but I find them an ever
present challenge that is exhiliarating;
I hope you will, too."
Dr. Carter received an honorary
doctor of letters degree during the
Commencement ceremonies.
Dr. Robert M. McMillan, pastor of
the First Baptist Church of
Dr. John A. Hague
Tallahassee, received an honorary
doctor of divinity degree. The
Scotland native has been a Stetson
trustee since 1977 and has been active
in mission work in the United States
and abroad. He delivered the
baccalaureate sermon.
Thomas B. Gillespie, gem collector
and founder of T.B. Gillespie Paving
Co., Inc., was honored with a doctor
of law degree. He and his late wife,
Nellie, built a collection of minerals
that has been termed by experts as
"the second largest private general
collection in the world." They
established the Gillespie Museum of
Minerals at Stetson in1958.
Two seniors, Ester E. Edelberg of
Lake Park and Scott D. Soper of
Daytona Beach, received commissions
into the United States Army.
Edelberg was named the
Distinguished Military Graduate by
the Department of the Army and was
selected for a Regular Army
Commission. She received both the
George C. Marshall Award and the
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