
Board replaces Bruce McLarty as president of Harding University
Amid declining enrollment and budgetary concerns that prompted recent cutbacks,…
Former Harding University President Bruce McLarty will serve as minister-in-residence at Freed-Hardeman University during the upcoming school year, the Henderson, Tenn., university has announced. Both Freed-Hardeman and Harding are associated with Churches of Christ.
Bruce McLarty
In this role, McLarty will teach graduate Bible courses, mentor faculty and students, speak to various classes and clubs, serve on the chapel and lectureship committees and consult with elderships, ministers and churches. He will also be an ambassador for the College of Biblical Studies.
“I am thrilled that Bruce is willing to use his many talents, rich experience and heart for ministry to help FHU students develop their gifts for God’s glory,” Freed-Hardeman President David R. Shannon said in a press release. “His journey as a minister, dean and university president has been filled with excellence, joy and humility, and he is beloved as a man of God.”
Related: Board replaces Bruce McLarty as president of Harding University
McLarty served as Harding president from 2013 until the university’s board replaced him in 2020. He had previously taken other administrative roles at the Searcy, Ark., university, including dean of the Bible college. Previously, he had served as a minister for Churches of Christ in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. McLarty has also done mission work in Kenya and authored a book, “A Journey of Faith,” about the Gospel of John.
He and his wife, Ann, live on a family farm in Cookeville, Tenn., and are members of the Collegeside Church of Christ.
“Ann and I are thrilled to join President Shannon and the FHU family in helping students prepare for careers and lives of service for God,” McLarty said in the release. “I am a preacher at heart with a desire to teach, preach, encourage and write, and this role will provide wonderful opportunities to serve the Kingdom in these ways.”
Freed-Hardeman University President David Shannon, left, with Bruce McLarty, right.
For more information, visit Freed-Hardeman’s website.
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