OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

One day while I was in Dallas the Methodist Hospital in Houston called and told Ouida that at long last my pathological reports were all in and that they revealed that I was completely free of cancer and there would be no need for treatment beyond the surgery. PTL for that! There was a chance that radiation treatments might be necessary. While I will in a few weeks return to Houston for my first check-up since the surgery, I will eventually have that done in Dallas on a regular basis, twice a year for awhile and then once a year, for the rest of my life, they tell me, just to make sure. Ouida and I believe that the prayers of so many of you made the difference. We thank you as we do the Lord. Considering what might have been, an occasional check-up is nothing. While I am back to running my two miles each a.m., I have not forgotten the first time I tried to stand on my feet following surgery, with Ouida on one side of me and a nurse on the other. The Lord blesses us even in or especially in adversity, doesn’t he?

Ouida has a morning out once a week while I watch after Mother Pitts, who turns 94 in May. She meets for Bible study with several other women who are special friends, but I think they do more visiting than they do studying. Then she goes shopping and spends lots of money. Except for playing with the computer, which some would call work, her morning out is the most fun thing she does all week. Oh, yes, her flowers. You should see the long bed of amaryllises that grace our front yard. When they are in full bloom passing cars sometimes slow to take a look.

On May 10 I will give the honors day address at Dallas Christian College where I have been teaching part-time for several years, and on May 19 I will give the commencement address at Minnesota Bible College in Rochester. On May 21-23 I will teach at the preachers’ retreat at the Christian Harbor Youth Camp in Ladysmith, Wisconsin on principles of unity and fellowship. Sometime after that I will be at the research and production center of the Good New Productions in Joplin, Mo. to do some video tapes. The late Carl Ketcherside left unfinished a video presentation of the three pastoral epistles, and they have asked me to complete the series. It is an unexpected blessing to do something with Carl one more time.

Sometime before summer is over I must take my 15-year old grandson somewhere special as I do each summer. He wants to go to California, if you can fancy a Texan wanting to go to that distant country. If any of our California readers, and we have lots of them, have any suggestions on how to entertain a 15-year old boy in California and still survive, I will be pleased to hear from you.

Having been twice invited, I plan in May to attend the formal opening of the “Boston Church of Christ” in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. While they have been in the area for three years doing groundwork they are having their formal opening at a large hotel near the DFW airport. They expect to start with several hundred in attendance. I have encountered the Boston work in various places across the country for more than a decade, the most surprising being at Princeton when I returned there recently for an alumni gathering, but because I keep getting mixed signals about the nature of its work I have hesitated to write about it. Now that they are in Dallas I hope to provide some kind of a definitive report in our next issue. Whatever judgments might be made, and from the mainline Churches of Christ they are all bad, the Boston program will probably prove to be the most phenomenal development in the history of the Churches of Christ this century. Already they have attracted the attention of church growth experts because of their incredible success not only in many leading American cities but in numerous major cities of the world. While they have scores of churches and thousands of members they have yet to build their first edifice. They always rent, for if they should build a facility, they say, they would soon outgrow it, and besides buildings tie you down!

One of the most presentable and colorful papers published among us is The Christian Appeal (2310 Anna St., Amarillo, TX 79106), edited by Gene Shelburne and supported primarily by Churches of Christ of the non-Sunday School persuasion. It is totally free of the sectarian spirit and promotes the unity of all Christians. Each issue treats in depth some basic theme, the current issue being “The Ascension of Christ,” all well written and eminently biblical. The sub rate is only $5.00 per annum.

The most recent survey of Churches of Christ in Great Britain reveals 4,928 members in 140 congregations. This includes American-style churches as well as Disciples, except those that became a part of the United Reformed Church some years back. Some of the British churches are over 100 years old.

Insofar as I know the upbeat, innovative Richardson East Church of Christ in Dallas is the only congregation among us that has a “New Baby Dedication” service on an annual basis. The parents, usually eight or ten couples, will present their children before the congregation in celebration and thanksgiving. The purpose is to “lift these little ones and their parents up in prayer, and call our church to the serious commitment of watching over their spiritual future.” This is the church that also has annual Thanksgiving services with a Christian Church and a Disciples of Christ church.

In my book, The Stone-Campbell Movement, I describe Nashville as “the magisterial city of Churches of Christ.” It is appropriate therefore that our Jubilee should become an annual affair in that city. It will be held in Nashville’s Convention Center, July 4-7, and the theme is “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” based on the book of Luke. The blurbs for the affair point out that one may also see Opryland U.S.A., the Hermitage, and Music Row while in the historic city. For a brochure write the Antioch Church of Christ, 2142 Antioch Pike, Antioch, Tn. 37013.

Guardian of Truth, published by brethren of the “Conservative” or non-institutional Churches of Christ, announces a meeting with the “institutional brethren” to be held in Dallas, July 12-14, the second of its kind. This is more of an effort to resolve differences by discussing the issues than to accept each other in spite of the differences, and yet it is not the format of the old debates that probably did more harm than good. Among the issues to be discussed by representative men from both sides are hermeneutics, the church and institutions, and fellowship. Here is more evidence that the old myth that we have to resolve all our differences before we accept each other in fellowship will not die. For further information call Steve Wolfgang, 606-236-4204 or Roy Lanier, Jr., 214-271-0106.

Leaven is a new quarterly journal, the purpose of which is to enhance ministry in the Churches of Christ. The address is 522 Angelina Dr., Arlington, TX 76108. The subscription rate is $15.00 per annum. The first issue has articles by Paul Watson, Edward Fudge, Lynn Mitchell, and James Thompson, along with others. It is a 73-page publication dealing with interpretation and worship, along with book reviews and resources for teachers. Lynn Mitchell, who is the editor, expects the journal to explore the most basic concerns of the church’s ministry. We wish this new effort well.