Brian In His Own Words

Brian Rex Davis became president of World Bible School when John Reese retired at the end of 2021. We asked Brian to share here some background on his family and his earliest involvement in WBS. It so happens, in the way God weaves His tapestry, that the Lemmons family and the Davis family came from the same county in Arkansas where the Rickman family also lived. Sibyl Rickman Reese was the mother of this editor. She was born and raised near Pocahontas, Arkansas.

I continue to be amazed by the way God works providentially, fulfilling His purpose to save us and to entrust us with His mission. I serve today as God’s child and the fifth president of World Bible School. These and many other blessings come out of a background that illustrates how God weaves lives together into a beautiful tapestry, the full picture of which we may only discern later.

This portion of the backstory begins with the Lemmons family. John Lemmons, Jr. (1816 – 1898) was an early evangelist of New Testament Christianity. Born in Virginia, he lived in Tennessee, then settled in northeast Arkansas. His most famous descendant was Reuel Lemmons, born in Pocahontas on July 8, 1912. Reuel later became the second president of World Bible School, succeeding his long-time friend Jimmie Lovell. At the age of 28, Reuel was preaching Gospel meetings across Arkansas. His relative, Arch, carried people to these meetings on his flatbed truck equipped with benches. Among his passengers were members of the Davis family. Henry Davis had no interest in religion, but his wife Nola convinced him and their four sons—Doyle, Wayne, Rex and Glenn—to attend the Gospel meeting at the Noland church of Christ. Reuel preached the New Testament Gospel, the first time Henry and Nola had heard it. During the meeting, Henry, Nola, and Doyle were baptized in the Eleven Point River. The younger sons were baptized later.

In 1949, due to worsening economic conditions, Henry and Nola moved their family to Rockford, Illinois for Henry to work in the factories. At age 16, Rex Davis—my father—obeyed the Gospel at the West Rockford church of Christ. His brother Doyle Davis became a preacher at Rockford’s 20th Street church of Christ. There, Doyle helped to lead to Christ a factory worker, recently arrived from Africa—John Reese, who later became the fourth president of WBS.

My first introduction to World Bible School was when my father, Rex, and I attended a lectureship at Harding College in 1974. I was about eight years old. On a display table were stacks of letters applying to WBS for Bible courses. My father agreed to take students and for us to share the teaching load. In 1987, as a student at Lipscomb University, I helped to organize the World Mission Workshop and had the privilege of introducing Reuel Lemmons as a keynote speaker. Privately, I mentioned to Reuel that he had baptized my grandparents. Reuel asked their names and then commented, “Yes, the Eleven Point River was cold that day!”

Before he passed, Henry and his four sons all served as elders in the Lord’s church. Henry and Wayne served as missionaries in India (Wayne for 50 years). Doyle became the director of the Shults Lewis Childrens’ Home in Valparaiso, Indiana. Rex became the president of Boyd-Buchanan Christian School in Chattanooga, Tennessee (serving for 45 years). Glenn became the Dean of Applied Sciences at Abilene Christian University and served as an agricultural vocational missionary in Brazil. What a difference one Gospel presentation can make! God continues to weave His providential care to accomplish His gracious purposes!