L. L. Clover
Encyclopedia
Leander Louis Clover, known as L. L. Clover (April 4, 1902–May 3, 1975), was an American Baptist Association
American Baptist Association
The American Baptist Association , formed in 1924, is an association of nearly 2,000 theologically conservative churches that are Landmark Baptist in their missions and teachings...
clergyman who in 1952 established Louisiana Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary in Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He founded and served as editor of the newsletter Missionary Baptist News for more than two decades.
Background
Clover, who was of ChoctawChoctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
descent, was born in rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
Curtis in Clark County
Clark County, Arkansas
Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 22,995. The county seat is Arkadelphia.The Arkadelphia Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Clark County.-Geography:...
near Arkadelphia
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...
in southern Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
to Josiah Manley Clover (ca. 1859-1916) and the former Agnes Walton (born ca. 1882; date of death unavailable). Josiah Clover died when Leander was still thirteen. Leander also lost a younger brother, Joe Cole Clover, who died in 1906 at the age of two. Reared in Clark County, Clover attended public schools and subsequently received a Bachelor of Theology
Bachelor of Theology
The Bachelor of Theology is a three to five year undergraduate degree in theological disciplines. Candidates for this degree typically must complete course work in Greek or Hebrew, as well as systematic theology, biblical theology, ethics, homiletics and Christian ministry...
degree from Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, the successor to an earlier institution in Sheridan
Sheridan, Arkansas
Sheridan is the largest city and county seat in Grant County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 3,872 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area. .-History:Robert W...
in Grant County, Arkansas. Clover was the pastor of five Missionary Baptist churches in Arkansas, including the New Prospect congregation in Colt
Colt, Arkansas
Colt is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 368 at the 2000 census. It was the birthplace of country singer Charlie Rich.-Geography:Colt is located at ....
in St. Francis County near the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
In the latter half of 1948, Clover moved to Minden to succeed Julian Pope as the pastor of the Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. In April 1950, Calvary opened a then new sanctuary on the Shreveport Road, and Clover preached the first services held there. The permastone structure, which then seated 450, cost $22,000.
On September 26, 1957, Clover was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
degree from the former Eastern Baptist Seminary in Somerset
Somerset, Kentucky
The major demographic differences between the city and the micropolitan area relate to income, housing composition and age. The micropolitan area, as compared to the incorporated city, is more suburban in flavor and has a significantly younger housing stock, a higher income, and contains most of...
in Pulaski County
Pulaski County, Kentucky
Pulaski County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 63,063 in the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Somerset6. The county is named for Count Kazimierz Pułaski. Most of the county is a prohibition or dry county...
in southeastern Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, which had been established by the evangelist I. K. Cross. On May 19, 1958, Clover obtained a Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....
degree from Texas Baptist Institute at Henderson
Henderson, Texas
Henderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Seminary president
In 1951, Clover instituted Bible classes for Christian workers. In 1952, he officially launched LMBIS with two students, then instructed from his own home. Among the first graduates was Jimmy G. TharpeJimmy G. Tharpe
Jimmy Gid Tharpe, Sr. , was an Independent Baptist clergyman in Shreveport, Louisiana, who founded the unaccredited theologically conservative Louisiana Baptist University and Theological Seminary, originally established in 1973 as Baptist Christian University...
, later the founder of Louisiana Baptist University and Theological Seminary
Louisiana Baptist University
Louisiana Baptist University is an accredited theologically conservative Christian university, founded in 1973, located at 6301 Westport Avenue in Shreveport, Louisiana....
, an Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist churches are Christian churches generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. They are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations or similar bodies. Members of such churches comprised three percent of the United States adult population according...
entity in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
.
Clover was LMBIS president for nineteen years and president-emeritus for the remainder of his life. As president, he established a print shop and the Missionary Baptist Bookstore. He launched and for more than a decade edited the Missionary Baptist News. He was succeeded as the Calvary pastor by Irvin Roshto, later of Lufkin
Lufkin, Texas
Lufkin is a city in Angelina County, Texas, United States. Founded in 1882, the population was 35,067 in 2010. It is the county seat of Angelina County, and is situated in Deep East Texas.-History:...
and Vidor
Vidor, Texas
Vidor is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm to Market Road 105, six miles east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby refining complexes in Beaumont and Port Arthur and...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who also subsequently followed Clover as the LMBIS president. The current long-time LMBIS president is another former Calvary Baptist pastor, Donald McCormick.
Clover's books included the scholarly study, The Church: Her Origin, Purpose, Doctrine, and History He also wrote Evil Spirits Intellectualism and Logic and Our King Is Coming. In the latter, Clover warns that the world is slowly becoming unconscious of sin and its detrimental effects: "Sin is a scavenger that preys on the souls of men. . . the sorrow-poisoned arrow that is producing heartache and tears ... the author and finisher of sickness and death . . . the barricade between God and man . . . the architect and builder of hell. The world will not be rid of sin and its disastrous results before the Lord comes to rule and reign."
From 1956-1961, Clover worked closely with LMBIS dean A. T. Powers
A. T. Powers
Austin Toliver Powers, known as A. T. Powers , was a leading figure from the 1930s to the 1970s in the theologically conservative American Baptist Association, based in Texarkana, Texas...
, a native Texan who like Clover had pastored several Arkansas congregations. In 1957, Powers became the second pastor of Eastside Missionary Baptist Church in Minden, originally a mission of Clover's Calvary congregation.
In addition to his administrative and fund-raising roles, Clover taught courses in the philosophy of religion, ancient history
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
, Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
analysis, and ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
. In 1966, the LMBIS yearbook The Key dedicated its first ever edition to Clover, citing the minister's "love for God, his sincere interest and concern for his fellow man, and his sacrificial giving of himself." After leaving Calvary church, Clover was the interim pastor of Forbing Woods Missionary Baptist Church in south Shreveport. In 1972-1973, The Key reported thirty-three regular and twenty-one part-time students at LMBIS.
Clover was an ectomorphic, bespectacled, red-haired, and ruddy-complexioned man. After his initial retirement, the Clovers relocated to Arkadelphia
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...
, Arkansas, which is listed in the Social Security Death Index
Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File Extract. Most persons who have died since 1962 who had a Social Security Number and whose death has been reported to the Social Security Administration...
as his final residence, but they had returned to Minden, where he had resumed teaching at LMBIS for the last two years of his life. He died at the age of seventy-three in the home of Wilton Wager, then pastor of the Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Camden
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...
, Arkansas, where Clover had been preaching weeklong revival services, a then customary practice in most Baptist churches.
Death and legacy
For fifty-two years until his death, Clover was married to the former Tommie Brooks (1905–2002), a native of Ellis CountyEllis County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 111,360 people, 37,020 households, and 29,653 families residing in the county. The population density was 118 people per square mile . There were 39,071 housing units at an average density of 42 per square mile...
, Texas, near Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. The couple had no children. Other than his wife, Clover's only survivor was a half-sister by his father's previous marriage, Mattie Lee Coleman (born 1891; date of death unknown). Mrs. Clover remained in Minden for the remaining twenty-seven years of her life. A devotee of exotic birds, she died at the age of ninety-seven in a Minden nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
. The couple is interred at Gardens of Memory Cemetery
Gardens of Memory Cemetery (Minden, Louisiana)
Other cemeteries named "Gardens of Memory" are located in Muncie, and Marion, Indiana, and Houston County, Alabama. There is an Erath Gardens of Memory in Stephenville in Erath County, Texas, an Oakhaven Gardens of Memory in Gibson County, Tennessee, a Resthaven Gardens of Memory in Baton Rouge,...
in Minden.
LMBIS operated under Clover at 903 Shreveport Road in a separate facility across from the Calvary Church at 1000 Shreveport Road in Minden. In 1996, Calvary Church voted to relocate its facilities to 1400 Homer Road in the far eastern side of Minden. Construction began late in 2002, and the new facilities, including a modern LMBIS, building on Seminary Road were dedicated on November 2, 2003. Numerous Missionary Baptist pastors in the Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas region are LMBIS graduates, including Richard Derek Methvin (born 1960), the pastor since 1998 of Eastside church in Minden. A degree from the institute is unaccredited but recognized by all Missionary Baptist congregations within the denomination.
The LMBIS yearbook The Key in its "In Memoriam" section in 1975 lauded the departed Clover’s "conservatism, determination, ability, and longsuffering that inspired and inaugurated a fortress of biblical truth in Minden." Clover wrote in the yearbook: "We are living in a world that is turning from doctrinal truths, rejecting the Bible, and forgetting about God. Therefore, I wish for each of you the power to think deeply and to respond nobly to the responsibilities that rest upon you."
Publications
- Evil Spirits Intellectualism and Logic (1974)
- Our King Is Coming