Dios es Amor It seems your publication isn't ready to go worldw | Page 69

Innovative Administrator
while happy to see the stove and desks in place, were apprehensive about the debt. Anna
assured them that the Lord, who had opened the door for securing the needed equipment to operate the school, would impress the patrons to pay their tuition; and that,
indeed, happened.
However, the newcomer from Mississippi now had no funds for a winter coat to
protect her from Atlanta’s frosty winter.
Several weeks later while answering letters, Anna came upon one she had received
from her friend Edith Embree Runnels. (Edith Embree was the young woman who
wrote to Anna and sent her literature in response to her notice in the little magazine
Comfort.) Over the years Anna had maintained contact with this kind friend who had
been influential in her conversion. Now Anna wrote Edith a long letter describing the
work in Atlanta. She mentioned buying the school supplies on credit, using her coat
money for down payment on the heating stove and school desks. She told how happy
she was that she had saved the money at just the right time to advance God’s work.
Edith Runnels read the letter to the Missionary Volunteer Society at her church. The
society members decided they would like to collect money to replace the coat. Then
someone else who had known Anna at Battle Creek College said she had a coat to give
away. Thus it was that Miss Knight received both the coat and the money. The handsome black broadcloth coat, well constructed and almost new, was better than anything
Anna would have bought for herself. She wore it with a keen sense of satisfaction.
The money sent by the Missionary Volunteer Society was enough to pay off the
indebtedness on the classroom stove. “But my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” Anna remembered. From that time on
Philippians 4:19 was one of her favorite Bible verses.
Another area of concern for Miss Knight was the fact that, although for black people
there was a Young Men’s Christian Association in Atlanta, there was no corresponding
institution for women; she decided to do something about it. She asked representative
women to meet with her, and they proceeded to set up a local Young Women’s
Christian Association for blacks. Women of several denominations worked together to
accomplish this significant achievement.
The new YWCA held mass meetings to present truths concerning health, temperance, social purity, and personal hygiene. First aid and nursing classes were taught. The
national YWCA parent organization commended the work being done but did not affiliate the Atlanta group just then because of its strong ties with the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. Miss Knight offered to resign as secretary, but the group preferred to
continue operating as an independent local unit under her leadership.
In addition to all her other work, Miss Knight conducted an average of 500 Bible
readings a year. During the last year she worked in Atlanta, as many new members were
added through her ministry as there had been in the church when it was organized.
Included among these converts whom Anna Knight won to the Lor d were several
prominent citizens of Atlanta. (From a telephone conversation of the writer with Elder H. D.
Singleton, Wheaton, Maryland, December 6, 1988. )
69