Arizona republican., 1917-06-29
FIRST ZAP T|S7 PASTOR GOING
 TO LEAVE C|TY
Rev. George R. Varney to- Accept Important Chair in McMinnyille College,
 Leaving About August b

Rev. pr. George R. Varney, pastor of the First Baptist church, will be lost to Phoenix. Some weeks ago it was announced that Dr. Varney had received an invitation from the board of trustees of McMinnville college, with which he had been formerly associated. asking him again to be- come a member of the faculty of that institution. Dr. Narney laid the matter before the church board and at their unanimous request decided to decline the invitation
 The invitation was recently re- newed and was made more insistent "nd gain Dr Varney went before the board requesting his release. The following is the report of the action of the committee:
 To the Officers and Members of the
 First Baptist Church of Phoenix,
 Greeting:
 At a regular meeting of the ad- visory committee of this church held on the 18th inst. we, the undersigned, were appointed a committee to re port the action and recommendation of that committee to the church, upon the request of our pastor to he re leased from the pastorate of this church, that he may accept a place q ulty of McMinnville college at Me Minnville, Ore. On May 23 last Dr. Varney was offered the chairs of philosophy and French in that col lege, but after submitting the mat ter to the board of deacons of this church, which declined to release him, he declined the offer and de- cided to remain in his work with this church. Again on June IA last, the board of trustees of that college, in a night letter, offered to Dr. Var ney the chairs of philosophy and public speaking, and a few days later a letter was received by him from the president of the college urging him in such strong terms to accept that he again submitted the matter to the entire advisory committee of the church for it's action and recOm- mendation.
 You should know some of the con- ditions and reasons that caused the advisory committee to take the ac- tion that it did.
 Two of the ablest professors of the college had resigned, and the board of trustees of the college had unan- imously called Dr. Varney to fill the vacancies. President Riley saving in his letter to Dr. Varney: Now is the tune for you to come to cMlnn- vile, with the expectation of invest ing the remainder of your life in our future leaders. The work for which you are best fitted is now open public speaking, with psychology, logic, philosophy and ethics. I want you here There is no man I know who can handle those subjects as efficiently as you can. You under stand how necessary it is that the work be done a little better than it has been done. You can do it. You are doubtless doing an excellent work there, as you have always done else where, but as compared with the op- portunity here I am sure you be- lieve with me that there is no com parison between them. I trust you will not say no to this call. The past year has been in every respect the best year we have ever had The endowment funds are steadily grow ing. At the trustees meeting Tues day every salary was increased from $100 to $250, depending upon length of service, extra work done and size of family. Another raise ought to be due in year or two. Please do not
 h's institution is the big gest thing we have in the north west, and there is nothing greater into which you could possibly build your life. We have a pleasant fel- lowship to which you and your good wife will make a most agreeable and valuable addition. l shall pray that