DOWN HOME with CARL

 

I am deeply grateful for the generosity shown by Leroy and Ouida in allotting me this space. I shall try to use it to benefit the Cause we love more than life itself. I regard Mission Messenger. which I edited, as a kind of “country and western” journal. I would not know how to be sophisticated if I wanted to be, so this column will follow my established pattern. I will use it primarily to inform you of what is happening in my life and work.

Nell and I will send a free copy of my book The Parable of Telstar and Other Talks to any college student in the world who writes for it. The request must include the name of the college where enrolled . . . You can secure a copy of my book Heaven Help Us by sending your order accompanied by a check for $2.95 to Restoration Review. This little volume contains my thoughts about what the Spirit can do in your life today. . . If you’d like to have free copies of my booklets on “Equipping the Saints” and “The Clergy System” write to me at the address below. There is no obligation.

March 3-5 I will be at Belmont Avenue Church of Christ, 16th and Grand A venues, Nashville, Tennessee 37212. Write to Don Finto at that address for information . . . March 17-19 will find me at Northside Church of Christ, 733 Country Club Drive, Xenia, Ohio 45385. The contact is Isaac J. Flora. . . March 24-26 I will be at New Hope Christian Church at Roanoke, Virginia 24014. Address correspondence to Russell N. Hall. The mailing address of the congregation is P.O. Box 8426.

April 9, 10 I will be speaking at the convention of Ohio Teens for Christ at Columbus, Ohio. It will be a great occasion. April 28-30 will find me at the Church of Christ, 3911 Main Street, Mineral Ridge, Ohio 44440. You may write to Charles H. Breeze, 51 Locust Street at Mineral Ridge. We hope to see you if you are in reach of any of these areas.

Have you read the Inter-Varsity publication The Problem of Wineskins by Howard A. Snyder? The sub-title is “Church Structure in a Technical Age.” If you are caught up in defense of a traditional posture perhaps you had better not expose yourself to this keen analysis. It will get the salt out of the shaker.

A few weeks ago I read Roots by the River, by Marcus Miller. It deals with “the history, doctrine, and practice of the Old German Baptist Brethren in Miami County, Ohio.” This was a restoration movement related to the Anabaptists, and these good people went through the same problems as did the pioneers of our own segment. They divided over many of the same things and about the same time as we did. Perhaps culture played a far greater role in our hang-ups than we are willing to admit.

Our great need is for congregations with the courage to demonstrate fearlessly the fellowship to which we are called (1 Cor. 1:9). It is not enough for a few men to talk about it, crusade for it and write about it. Just as on picture is worth a thousand words, so one congregation which openly avows it will make nothing a test of fellowship which God has not made a condition of salvation is worth a thousand articles on the theme. Fortunately we are seeing the rise of more congregations of free men and women all of the time. — W. Carl Ketcherside, 139 Signal Hill Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63121.

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. - Thomas Paine