Lift High the Flame - Visions of Lee University

The Church of God began the school that would become Lee University as a practical way of training ministers, opening Bible Training School in 1917 for the express purpose of "training young men and young women for efficient service on the field."The first classes were held in the upstairs of the publishing house in Cleveland on January 1, 1918. Mrs. Nora I. Chambers, a lady evangelist and publishing house proofreader, was the only teacher for the group of twelve students from four states.Growth soon demanded larger facilities, a need eased temporarily by the purchase of the old Murphy Collegiate Institute in the picturesque town of Sevierville, Tennessee, in 1938, and enrollment grew steadily past two hundred. There was impressive physical expansion, but the greater growth was in academic mood and purpose. Dreams of accreditation were born, and the high school was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges in 1941. And then, in 1946, a golden opportunity came to the Church of God: purchase of the Bob Jones College campus back in Cleveland. The move was made in time for the 1947-48 school term, with the name of the school changed to Lee College in honor of its second president, Flavius J. Lee.By 1993, at its 75th birthday, Lee was poised for significant change. Paul Conn was in the eighth year of his presidency, and it was evident that his energy and vision were taking Lee to a place never before envisioned. On May 10, 1997, Lee College became Lee University.In the final twenty-five years of its first century, Lee expanded from a 2,000-student undergraduate college to a 5,300-student university with flourishing programs and an enviable campus.