Essay 62 (2-28-05)

ACU LECTURES 2005: MIRROR OF CHANGE

On Sunday, Feb. 20, Ouida and I assembled with the early service at our congregation - the Singing Oaks Church of Christ- and then hurried over to the Denton Christian Church to conduct a class I have been doing for them on Restoration history. We did it this way so we could get an earlier start for the three hour drive to Abilene to attend the Abilene Christian University Lectureship.

All was going well for an early arrival in Abilene until we had a flat tire on busy Interstate 20 just west of Weatherford, some 30 miles west of Fort Worth. The trunk was filled with boxes of books that I donated to the ACU library for their book sale during the Lectureship.

There I was unloading boxes in order to get to the spare tire, with l6-wheelers barreling by within a few feet of me, endlessly. I at last had the spare in hand, but I couldn't find where the tools for changing the tire were hidden (The Nissan Infiniti we - Ouida - were driving is a recent purchase, and I am still learning its secrets).

There I was, half blind, trying to find the tools, and on the verge of deciding that there were no tools. I found myself thinking or praying that it would be a good time for a guardian angel to come calling. At that moment a pickup truck pulled up behind us. The middle-aged couple were returning home from a service at a nearby Baptist Church, saw our plight from the other side of the interstate, took the next exit, turned around and came back on our side to see if they could be of help.

The handsome gentleman, who had good eyesight, found the tools and soon had the tire changed. But the spare was only for temporary use, he warned, and would not get us to Abilene. He led us back to a Wal-Mart in Weatherford where we waited two hours for a tire replacement.

I told our benefactor that he was a ministering angel. Being a good Baptist, he believed in angels, but had not thought of himself in that light. I have his mailing address, and we'll find a way to further show our appreciation. Ouida was taken aback when the couple called out to us as they drove away, having turned us over to the tender loving care of Wal-Mart auto service, We love you!

This year's Lectureship was the 87th edition, dating back as it does to the year I was born, 1918. It has changed as much as the college itself has changed. The university celebrates its centennial in 2009. When I was a student there 65 years ago ACC was a struggling, small-town college barely accredited, if that. ACU is today a well-endowed, academically-respected university of international reputation. Its elegant campus - with some 60 facilities, some of which reach into the sky and can be seen from afar on the west Texas flatlands - dwarfs the campus I knew in the early 1940s.

The "inner" change is even more remarkable. Back then ACC was a mirror of where the Churches of Christ were then. Even though we were noble people with honest and good hearts, we were legalistic, sectarian, parochial, and less than well-educated. And we were racists! When I was a student a "Negro" was not allowed -- "You people have your own college." This year African Americans were on the program, and they are part of the faculty as well as the student body.

Back them we were ahistorical about our own heritage. We didn't care much for Stone or Campbell - only the first century mattered. At this Lectureship there were not only sessions on our history - including the story of our black churches - but the publication, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, was celebrated. This monumental work was jointly sponsored by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society - and Abilene Christian University! Moreover, one of its editors is an ACU professor, and several faculty contributed essays.

Back then our view of unity was "We unite by all others joining us" - except we called it "being added to the Lord's church," which meant us. The idea of "unity in diversity" was heresy. This year an attendee - a new acquaintance -- told me he had been to four classes, and in each one a plea was made for a more open and loving view of unity. When I asked how it was received, he said there was an enthusiastic response - except for one brother who stalked out of one session muttering, "I just take the Bible for what it says!

He is a leftover from the 1940s! But as I told my new friend, we are to love that brother too, and give him time. I've seen too many of them change when touched by grace to give up on anyone.

There were some 120 men and women on the program, international in scope, and a few from other churches. The keynote speakers focused on "Raised With Christ," the theme of the Lectureship. But most conducted classes - as many as 80 a day - and on such subjects as prison ministry, homosexuality and the challenge of the church, why at one church the members don't miss Sunday school, common sense Christianity, experiencing God, Churches of Christ at our best.

Some 1200 registered from far and wide, but many more than that were in attendance. I asked at the registration desk why so many did not register since there was no charge. It was a puzzle to them too. Emergency calls cannot be passed along if those who man the phones don't know where an attendee is domiciled. But with cell phones . . . Maybe that's why they don't register. And emergencies do occur. We in fact had to return sooner than we planned because of an emergency in our congregation. A distraught brother shot - but fortunately did not kill - his recently divorced wife. Our minister, who was to ride back with us and drive, felt a need to be on hand.

The most attractive feature of these gatherings is not the lectures as much as the fellowship. As one attendee put it, "I come to see and be seen." Much of this fellowship takes place in large "special events" facility where scores of booths display various outreaches of the church - missions, homes, colleges - and an abundance of books for sale. The Women of ACU bring in home baked pastries, along with other foods, and there are tables to accommodate the guests. It is at these tables and in these aisles that the problems of both church and society are discussed if not solved, along with lots of small talk.

I shared a booth with Cecil Hook, who must be second - even if a distant second -- to Max Lucado in Churches of Christ for the number of authored books in circulation. But we weren't there to sell books as much as to meet people. It was great fellowship seeing old friends and making new ones, some of whom had long read my writings but I had not met.

Some thanked me for helping to free them from the shackles of legalism and sectarianism. Others had stories of liberation to tell. Some ACU students seemed pleased to meet the author of the history text they used in class. One brother told me that after reading my autobiography, he passed it on to his wife to read. Then their children read it, and then the grandchildren. One copy and he bought it at discount!

Some fun things happened. One beautiful lady about my age confronted me with, "So you're Leroy Garrett! You called me for a date one time and I turned you down"-as if that were her claim to fame. She went on to say that she had never married, which positioned me to tease a bit: "That's what you get for turning me down!" The dear sister has given her celibate life to Churches of Christ missions all these years.

One dear brother - who is almost old, and a retired oil man from the Texas hill country - thought he might buy my history book, The Stone-Campbell Movement, but the price tag was $35.00. He sat in our booth for a half hour reading parts of it, trying to decide if it was worth the price. Ouida says he mumbled parts of it aloud. At last he made his decision, asking if we'd take a check. I figured he had a lot of money in the bank back home, and that most of it stays there!

Rick Atchley, minister to our largest congregation (Fort Worth), came by and called me aside, telling me I might be able to help him on a highly significant project. He and Bob Russell, minister to the largest Independent Christian Church (Louisville) are collaborating in an effort to encourage unity between our two churches, even to repudiate the division that dates back to 1906, the date we use for the separation of Churches of Christ from Christian Churches.

They are focusing on the North American Christian Convention (Christian Churches) in 2006 as the venue to dramatize this effort. If we divided in 1906, why can we not unite in 2006? The vision even includes the possibility of starting new congregations together, which would be united to start with.

Part of the plan is to publish a book well before the 2006 convention that will inform the readers how much the churches have in common, and how they should repudiate their factious past and be a united people once more. They want the book to tell stories out of our past that will help to accomplish these purposes. Rick thought I might help in coming up with some of these stories.

The ACU Lectureship 2005 was a mirror of change that we could hardly have dreamed of only a few years ago. We have blessings to count and challenges to meet.

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