MINI-MEETING DIARY

It hardly seems possible that since beginning these mini-meetings early this year that I have already visited 21 different places, with at least 12 more scheduled before the year closes. This is possible only because I did not return to college teaching this fall, leaving me free to arrange visits on into the week rather than just an weekends. I am not yet sure whether I will return to teaching next fall or take an assignment with the government, if either; so I am continuing these meetings as if I had nothing else to do. I plan to get to them all, to everyone who invites me, sooner or later, regardless of other plans.

A forthcoming visit to the west coast, my third this year, calls for the following schedule. Anyone is invited to attend these meetings if the name and address of the host is given. Some are with congregations, some with colleges, some in homes. You should write or call the host for further information.

Eugene, Oregon (Nov. 10-11) Albert Weeks, 501 Division #58, Eugene, Oregon 97402.

Eureka, California (Nov. 12-14) Stanley McDaniel, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca. 95501.

Oakland, California (Nov. 15) Private meeting.

San Bruno, California (Nov. 16) Charles Russell, 1860 Willow Way, San Bruno, Ca. 94066.

Pomona, California (Nov. 17-18) Ruth Cassell, 536 Lincoln, Pomona, Ca. 91760. Phone 714-622-7303.

Casa Grande, Arizona (Nov. 19-21) Lester LeMay, 317 E. 4th St., Casa Grande, Arizona 85222.

One of my most interesting experiences in recent weeks was a visit to Amarillo with those we call “the non-Sunday School Church of Christ.” I had meetings both in homes and with congregations. For these people to invite me and to open at least one pulpit to me is in itself significant. More important than anything I might have said is the testimony that these dear brothers in the Lord are broadening their horizons and expanding their concerns for our larger brotherhood. To have me around was risky, but they took the risk. Amarillo is sort of headquarters to these brethren, for here they not only have five substantial congregations, but also their Bible Training School, conducted by the venerable patriarch of the non-class churches, G. B. Shelburne, Jr., and a great leader he is. It is also the home of two of their most respected editors, Gene Shelburne of Christian Appeal and Baxter Loe of Gospel Tidings. Visiting with these men was most edifying. They have a lot to offer to the united congregation of Jesus’ people, which will one day be a reality.

Far from being the obscurantists that they are accused of being, these people are progressive, intelligent and exciting. Baxter Loe had just returned from a trip around the world, visiting mission stations in Vietnam and India, and preaching in Israel and immersing in the Arabian Sea. He is involved in such nitty-gritty issues as burial rights for believers in Bombay. While I was in Amarillo, another brother Shelburne returned for a furlough from his mission to Malawi, Africa. While not long since their idea of mission work was to go to Abilene or Memphis and start a “loyal church,” these brethren now stand so tall that they can see all the way around the world. And it is quite an experience to walk through some of their more substantial buildings, comparable to anyone else’s, and see a large fellowship hall, a suite of offices for the ministerial staff (one Amarillo congregation has three ministers! ), but no classrooms. When one recalls that usually the classrooms are used but an hour a week anyhow, he is forced to conclude that it might not be such a bad idea after all — not to have them, that is! But these brethren find scriptural reasons not to have them, reasons altogether plausible and reasonable. The time is coming, we have reason to believe, when this position will not be so significant to them as to any longer make it a test of Christian fellowship. In the meantime I find myself deeply in love with them, and I accept them as my full blood brothers in the Lord, classes or no classes. And I greatly admire them for stretching their minds and standing tall in this age of mediocrity.

Perhaps I should tell also of impressive experiences in Nashville, Baltimore, Arab, Alabama, Boone Terre, Missouri, and Terre Haute, Indiana, but space forbids, except to say in all these places I met dedicated, devoted disciples who are really “turned on” for Jesus and who are eager to see His church truly become “the pillar and ground of the truth,” with a new appreciation of what the truth might mean. I can hardly wait for the spiritual explosion that surely awaits Nashville.

The visit to Illinois was especially significant because of its variety, illustrating just how lines are being crossed these days. I first spoke to a large gathering of college youth at Little Galilee Christian Encampment, near Normal, on What is Jesus really like? The students were from several colleges and many religious backgrounds, but it was sponsored by the Independent Christian Churches in the area. They cottoned real well to the Jesus I saw in the scriptures. Next was a luncheon in Decatur, attended by some 30 brethren from several of our Restoration groups. I shared with them what I believe to be our greatest tasks in restoring unity to our divided ranks, the first of which is to make our people more sensitive to the urgency for unity and to cause them to see the sin of division. They made plans to continue such meetings together.

The third session was in the home of John and Marion Pierce in Urbana, which is the parsonage of the Webber Street Church of Christ, John being minister to that Independent congregation. John and Marion are angelic and make engaging hosts. That night they gathered a select group of preachers and others from our three major wings, and we had a fairly successful meeting of minds in reference to the nature of unity, except that the Disciple minister thought that we were too insistent about immersion as the door to Christian fellowship.

On Sunday in Illinois I had three major assignments, all in pulpits. One in an Independent Christian Church, one in a non-instrument Church of Christ, and one in a Church of Christ that had recently merged with a Christian Church. In Charleston I addressed the Central Christian Church on The Mystery of Religion, drawn from 1 Tim. 3:16. In the same town that afternoon I participated in the dedication service for the new building of the Heritage Chapel Church of Christ, basing my remarks on early Restoration history, especially in reference to how our first meetinghouse, Brush Run, came to be, and how it should stand as a symbol of Christian unity throughout history.

That evening I addressed the Emerson Street Church of Christ in Bloomington on the nature of Christian fellowship. This had special meaning to me since that congregation recently merged with the Sunset Christian Church of the same city. For a Church of Christ and a Christian Church to unite their efforts in this way is surely one way to undo our ugly history of division. In their deliberations together, which extended over three months and some 18 hours of discussion and prayer, they decided that the main reason for uniting should be to fulfill the Lord’s prayer that his people be one. Both groups now use the building used by the Church of Christ, and that is the name retained. The presence of an organ in the newly formed congregation would mar the story with some of our folk, but this was decided on only because it was a matter upon which there was no serious objection. But this surely goes down in our history as one of the first instances, if not the first, of a Church of Christ and Christian Church merging, and undoubtedly the only instance in recent history of a Church of Christ assembling one Sunday without the instrument and the next Sunday with it. Interpret it as you will, we have to concede that these folks in Bloomington are pioneers, and I love pioneers. I predict that there will be a lot of such merging and uniting before this generation passes away.

Bob and Betty Duncan were my gracious hosts while in Bloomington. Bob is a professor at the state university there, and they are both dear friends of many years. But my general host for the Illinois trip was James R. Ross, another longtime friend of premillennial Church of Christ background, who now labors as a campus minister, sponsored by the Christian Church.

All this narrative about the Illinois experience indicates a lot of crossing of lines between our various parties. This may disturb some of our more staid brethren, but surely we can see that it is going to take more and more of this kind of thing if we overcome our divisive ways. God be praised! — the Editor