Restoration Review, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 1989

OUR CHANGING WORLD

Carl Ketcherside Dies

We are deeply saddened to chronicle the death of W. Carl Ketcherside, who passed from this life on May 24 or 25, 1989. He was 81. He died the way he would have wanted, with his hoots on so to speak, for he was actively engaged in his favorite ministry, the inner-city mission known as Cornerstone, up to the last hours of the last day of his life. He was due to leave the next day or so for California on a preaching mission. He returned to his apartment at 10 p.m. after a typical round of duties, including a Bible study that Wednesday evening. He put his pajamas on, got in bed, and embarked upon the greatest adventure of his life sometime within the next few hours. The coroner determined that he had been dead for several hours when his body was discovered at 9 a.m. the next day.

While Carl had had heart problems in recent years, his health had been reasonably good and he was able to continue his accustomed busy schedule. I was pleased that we could be together one more time in the home of Berdell and Dorothy McCann in Hartford, Illinois only three weeks before his passing. He drove over from St. Louis and I came from Jacksonville, Illinois where I had been in a series. We had a great time together. He gave me a few more installments of his series on "The Lordship of Jesus," which we will publish posthumously for some months to come. Since he ceased publishing his own journal, Mission Messenger, in 1975, Carl has appeared in almost every issue of this journal since that time.

His family requested that I conduct his service. I was joined by his longtime friend, Ted Renollet, who worked with him both at Oak Hill Chapel and at the Cornerstone. You will find an account of the eulogy that I gave in his honor in this issue. The Hoffmeister Funeral Home in St. Louis was filled to capacity and people were standing. The next day we interred his body in Farmington, Mo., where he was born, in a quiet little cemetery, alongside the remains of his wife Nell, who died last year. We had a short graveside service for his friends and loved ones in the area that could not attend the service in St. Louis. His brother, Paul Ketcherside, joined us for the graveside service.

When David S. Burnett received word that Alexander Campbell was dead, he wrote of it afterward, "I could not shake it!" I feel that and much more in losing Carl Ketcherside. He was a dear friend, a loving brother, and my closest fellow worker for almost 40 years. We have been through a great deal together, far more than most people will ever know. I lingered at his graveside after the others had gone, along with a new friend and young preacher who also loved him. I wanted to be with him to the very end. When his coffin was at last lowered into the ground and covered I felt that something of myself was buried with him. I gathered a few flowers from his grave to take to the young preacher's wife. I walked away sorrowful, but not as those who have no hope.

As Ouida and I pondered the passing of Carl Ketcherside, I asked her how she would summarize his life. "He stayed with his knitting," she said, "up to the very end." Ouida always seems to say it best. And one could add, "and not bad knitting."

We are pleased to report that as we mail this issue the film "Wrestling With God," the story of Alexander Campbell, is being shot in Bethany. I have read the script and am impressed with its high quality. It is being done by professional actors and will be first rate. It should be available for your VCR by fall. Watch for it.

The May-June issue of Integrity celebrates its 20th anniversary. There are back-to-back articles by Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett that deal with our past, present, and future as a people. These are followed by an article on how to deal with anger by Joseph F. Jones. I called Joe to tell him that once one has read the pieces by Carl and me they would be in need of his article! You should be reading this paper, and your name will be added to the mailing list just for the asking. You can in time make a donation as you please. Write and ask for this particular issue at 2919 Lafayette Ave., Lansing, Michigan 48906.

In May the Park Ave. Church of Christ in Memphis conducted a workshop on "Focus on Japan." This church has for a long time supported work in Japan and they are making this seminar an annual affair for those who are interested in doing Christian work in that country. A letter from our dear friend, Moto Nomuro, a native Japanese minister, indicated that he will be in this country to attend the seminar, and to visit with Don DeWelt and Carl Ketcherside, men he has long been eager to meet face to face.

In their much-discussed book, American Mainstream Religion, William McKinney and Wade Roof contend that the main-line churches have declined in membership, not so much by people leaving and going to conservative churches but because of a low birth rate and a high death rate in the aging mainline churches. It is the young that have dropped out, they say. Forty percent of the baby-boomers are not attending any church. What has "disestablished" the mainline churches, they say, is the nation's move to privatism, growing pluralism, greater mobility and less rootedness.

Billy Graham's office reports that Mrs. Graham, who was born in China of missionary parents, and her three daughters visited Beijing during the recent student demonstrations and was there during the Gorbachev visit. They spoke in churches near Tiananmen Square during that time. Mr. Graham himself has called for Christians around the world to pray for the situation in China, which he sees as unprecedented in its urgency.