Travel Letter . . .

THE WEST COAST: BACK TO BACK

When I leave home to “get out amongst them” I go east and midwest more often than not. I do not often go as far west as the coast, but this year I was in Oregon twice, back to back, and while I was at it I took in part of California, particularly Malibu, where I attended the Pepperdine Bible Lectureship for the first time ever. This was the 41 st annual lectureship and there was one brother on hand who has attended everyone of them, which means, if nothing else, that he is at least 41 years old. Somehow, even California doesn’t seem that old to me, one reason being that it is next to impossible to meet a native-born Californian who still lives there. But in San Francisco I did it in the home of Bob and Lonnie Guinn. The entire family is California born!

My first trip to Oregon in April was to be on the program of the Greater Douglas County Christian Rally in Sutherlin. The greatest value of such gatherings is that they help to assimilate people who would otherwise see little of each other, and they help to anchor some of the worthier traditions. Some annual conventions around the nation are a century or more old, which lend continuity to our Movement. At Sutherlin we studied both history and Scripture and the spirit was excellent.

It is always delightful to visit the older churches along the way, which I did following the rally when I addressed First Christian Church in Roseburg, where Lynnton Elwell ministers. It was a great fellowship. Their response to my presentation on “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” made me want to launch a week’s revival. One sister folded a love note in my hand as I departed, which told me how much she appreciated this journal.

After a Chinese dinner with Lynnton and his wife Lois, I hitched a ride to Grants Pass, Or. with Bill and Carrie Jessup, who had come to the rally from California. At Grant’s Pass I had a glorious visit with Harry Robert Fox, who was born of missionary parents in Japan and who has ministered in that country for much of his life, being completely versed in the language. Since I had visited among our Japanese brethren recently, Harry Robert and I had a good time comparing notes. In a very real sense he is Japanese and of course understands how they think. It says something for the quality of his ministry that his frequent sojourns to that nation are sponsored by the Japanese themselves rather than Americans. His love for the Japanese, yea, his love for us all, seemed to radiate the room. Harry Robert’s life has been taken captive by the grace of God. It is refreshing to be in the presence of one who has extravagantly received the free gift.

Since I was resolved not to miss seeing the famed redwoods this time around, I traveled surface all the way to San Francisco, along the California coast. Harry Robert drove me to Eureka where I checked into a motel and visited old acquaintances, including Herman Cannon, an old warrior Church of Christ preacher who in recent years has taken refuge in the Assemblies of God after being scored by his erstwhile brethren as truant from the truth. I notice that those among us who best understand the sectarian mind are those who were once sectarians themselves.

Herman’s son, Bob Cannon, also a preacher among us for a longtime, is now pastor to the fast-growing Bethel Church in Eureka, which is an Assembly of God. We lost one of the best when we lost Bob, but now I speak as a sectarian, for he is not lost to the church at all, but is simply laboring where he can be supported and appreciated for his efforts. Bob was the minister at the Inglewood Church of Christ just prior to Pat Boone’s excommunication, but was a missionary to Africa at the time. He was consulted about Pat and all the way from Africa he gave his blessings to the expulsion. He sees that differently now. We recalled the night when we stood together alongside Pat’s pool and watched as he immersed several Jews into the name of the Messiah. One of the shameful chapters in Church of Christ history was its incapacity to assimilate its “charismatics.” We lost fare more than a few hundred people. We lost part of our integrity as a unity people and we lost part of the witness of the Holy Spirit. That is far too much to lose in the name of “sound doctrine.” But I do not count the likes of Herman and Bob Cannon as in any sense lost, and they are my brothers as much as ever.

I found the redwoods reverential. I was awed by both their antiquity and their modernity. Some are as old as the pyramids and far more majestic. One has the feeling that if he tarried long enough they might speak to you, but it would probably be in an unknown tongue. Who can fancy an old redwood giant speaking English? But I like the younger and slimmer ones the best. They remind me of Ouida — always there, always growing, always beautiful. Too, the younger ones probably speak English!

If ever you get the chance you must do as I did and take the bus down highway 101 from Eureka to San Francisco, which begins with a run through the “Highway of the Giants” and ends with the crossing of the Golden Gate bridge. From the bridge San Francisco, perched on its uneven hills and dressed mostly in white, resembles some ancient mythical city. One might even think he was approaching heaven, even if they are hosting the Democratic convention there this year.

It was a bit of heaven staying with the Guinns, where we had “a dirty dozen” gathering. Hungry for good news, they were pleased to hear a lot of the good things going on, “free” things, that 1 happen to know about.

A visit to our coastland, whether Oregon or California, should convince anyone that our nation is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

From San Francisco I flew to Los Angeles where I was met by Reg Westmoreland, an old friend from Denton who is now on the Pepperdine faculty. Reg and Mary and their son David, who is a senior at Pepperdine, are cliff-dwellers, perched as they are in a condominium high over the college campus. From their residence one looks out on the deep-blue Pacific in all her majesty, except that he is looking south, not west toward Japan. Find Malibu on the map and you will see.

I went to Malibu to visit the Westmorelands, the Lectureship being icing on the cake, though it turned out to be part of the cake itself since the program was really super. It was strongly biblical, practical, and nonsectarian, such as John Willis’ study of Job and Carroll Osburn’s classes in preaching. At Pepperdine I saw the “new” Church of Christ, even more than at Abilene, and the difference in atmosphere from such places as Freed-Hardeman is striking. One would suppose it was a different denomination.

One reason for this is that Pepperdine always goes first class, whereas on the average our folk do well to make third class, if we rank at all. Movies are shot on its elegant campus, celebrities gather in its halls, and even the Olympics will use its facilities this summer. In preparation for the multi-billion TV audience the university is preparing a grassy knoll that will allow the cameras to pick up in the distance the name PEPPERDINE in living, grassy colors. At Malibu, if no where else, we have class!

Another reason is that Pepperdine is “Church of Christ” only in the sense that a becoming-great university can be. Bill Banowsky, one of the founding presidents, told me himself at Bethany that he could not build both a “Church of Christ university” and a great university. For this reason the school does not make denominational affiliation a faculty test! and so no more than one-fourth of the faculty is Church of Christ. This not only allows the university to gather the most qualified faculty possible, but in some cases the most spiritual. One professor at Pepperdine, an Assembly of God man if I remember correctly, is highly respected by the students for his deep spirituality and they are not surprised when he opens his classes with prayer even in teaching a “secular” subject. Abilene or Lipscomb would miss such a teacher since they make “a religious test” for the faculty. In fact these schools will and do fire even Church of Christ professors if they go to the wrong church! Alas for us when we have a religion that makes us sound while denying a dedicated teacher his civil rights! You can see what Banowsky meant.

A few weeks later I was off to Oregon again, this time to address the Rally for the upcoming Oregon Christian Convention, which soon celebrates a century of ministry. The 700 that gathered enjoyed a great fellowship, and they seemed to appreciate my telling them how to both spell and pronounce my wife’s name as they did my address on “The Way is the Way to Unity.” In this address I set forth for the first time a proposition that I hope will be seriously considered: We should make nothing a test of fellowship concerning which equally sincere, equally informed, equally spiritual believers generally disagree. Or, to put it another way, we can unite upon those general truths of the faith regarding which there is virtually unanimous agreement.

I also spoke at Northwest Christian College and Sweet Home Church of Christ, where I was with such old friends as Bill Hayes, Bud Grogan, Jess Johnson, and Ken Johnston.

Now I am preparing to visit my son’s Church of Christ in Chillicothe, Mo. (his first job!) and then Union Church, non-denominational, in San Salvador. Ouida says I can’t go to the latter place even though our U. S. Embassy friends assure us safety. I’ll let you know how that turns out. If she lets me go it will be for over two weeks, and I should have a lot of things to tell you about. —the Editor

 

One of the major signs of decadence in the Roman Empire was that its unwanted babies were exposed, that is, abandoned to die. Can we claim that Western society is any less decadent because it consigns its unwanted babies to the hospital incinerator instead of the local rubbish heap? —John R. W. Stott