Weekend Mini-Meetings

In the last issue of this journal I offered myself to those who might be able to use me as a resource person in gatherings in their home over a week-end. If an interested party can gather 12 to 18, more or less, in some quiet place who would be willing to exchange ideas with me sitting in, then I’ll go, the Lord granting me the wherewith, anywhere in the nation and at my own expense, to be used in the way that my host thinks best.

I1 supposed there would be some response, but only mild response, for I had no way of knowing if this kind of ministry would have any appeal. I am pleased to report that I am already engaged for most of my available weekends for the rest of the year. Several phone calls came the day the journal was delivered. Then came the letters. I will be spending weekends from Connecticut to California, along with several states in between. Several in Texas will make it possible for me to get my breath in between the longer trips.

There are four or five weekends yet uncommitted, so you can still invite me if you desire. If there is an overflow, I may be able to do double-time during the summer months.

One thing about this that especially gratifies me: nearly all the invitations, if not all, are from my own Church of Christ folk. Some from preachers, some from elders, some from the rank and file, but they are all “my folks,” the very ones I am especially eager to serve. This does not mean, not in the least, that I am not also pleased to visit with and work with other brothers and sisters in discipledom. It is just a fact of life that one who does what I have been trying to do is often cut off by those who have nourished him, rejected by his own people. I could have run off and joined the Disciples long ago, and I don’t think that would have been tantamount to leaving Christ, but it is a matter of conviction on my part. I have a work to do among my own kind of Church of Christ folk. That is where I was when God found me. So when they write and suggest that we do something together, I am especially glad. It is one of the Lord’s special gifts to me.

But this paper goes to many in other backgrounds of our Movement. Such ones know that I move freely among all such groups, that I love them all, and that I consider all of them my brothers equally. And I do indeed desire to be with such ones more, not less. And I do urge you to give me the chance to serve you too.

I am not doing too well in explaining why I am especially pleased to go among my kind of Church of Christ people without sounding like a sectarian, so I’ll quit trying. It is sort of like talking about Mother’s cooking. It isn’t exactly logical, but it makes sense to me!