The United Brethren - Vol. 103, No. 5 (May 1988)

              •A Church That Doesn’t Play by the Rules
•Can Evangelicals Regain Integrity?
•Wedding Bloopers: Tales of Mistied Knots
•Where, Oh Where, Does the Decimal Point Go?
May 1988
DENOMINATIONAL
OFFICIALS
Board of Bishops
Dr. C. Ray Miller (chairman)
East District
Dr. Wilber L. Sites, Jr.
Central District
Rev. Clarence A. Kopp, Jr.
West D istrict
Rev. Jerry F. Datema
Overseas District
Office Manager/Treasurer
Mrs. Marda Hoffman
Department of Education
Dr. Eugene Habecker
Director
President, Huntington College
Department of Missions Staff
Rev. Harold Wust
Associate Director
Mrs. Hazel McCray
Associate Director
Executive Secretary, WMA
Rev. Kyle McQuillen
Associate Director
Department of Church Services Staff
Rev. Paul Hirschy
Director
Rev. Carlson Becker
Associate Director
Rev. Dennis R. Miller
Associate Director
Steve Dennie
Editor
Mrs. Jane Mason
Archivist
Volume 103
MAY 1988
No. 5
Editor
Steve Dennie
The United Brethren (USPS 619-760)
is the official publication of the Church
of the United Brethren in Christ. It is
published monthly by the Department
of Church Services. Second-class post­age
paid at Huntington, Ind., and other
offices.
Subscriptions: $10.00 per year
Single copies: $1.00
© 1988 Department of Church Ser­vices
Subscriptions, address changes, let­ters
to the editor, news items, materials
for publication, and other correspond­ence
should be sent to:
THE UNITED BRETHREN
302 Lake St.
Huntington, Ind. 46750
(219) 356-2312
EVANGELICAL M E S S ASSOCIATION
Random Pokes
It’s a good thing Job wasn’t a racquetball player.
His sufferings might have been far worse.
I play racquetball once or twice a week with
Denny Miller. That’s Rev. Dennis R. Miller, Asso­ciate
Director of Church Services, but hey, we’re
talking sports here, so let’s be informal. We go to the
YMCA during the lunch hour and he humiliates me.
Oh, I always win at least one game, maybe even two
or three. But so far, I haven’t broken the 50-50
barrier. Repeat: so far.
Racquetball, for those of you unfamiliar with the
game, is played in a little room with one unmarked
exit and no fire escape. To start a point, someone
whacks a little blue rubber ball against one wall.
Then the fun begins. The object is to run full-speed
into as many walls as possible before the ball stops
bouncing.
While caroming around the room, you may
accidentally come near the unpredictably bouncing
ball. That is why you carry a sawed-off tennis rac­quet.
You swing the racquet with all your might and
smack the ball at your opponent, trying to imbed it
in his ear or at least make a satisfying whop on a
thigh. This can be difficult when playing expe­rienced
opponents, who wisely present a small target
by cowering in the corner in fetal position.
At the end of the hour, you divide the number of
wall collisions by the number of welts on your body.
The person with the highest score wins. Then you
mop up the sweat on the floor, which after an hour
usually lies about an inch deep, go home, and enter a
coma.
It’s a great game. The only problem is, I keep
getting hurt.
First, it was my lower back. Now, I’d had prob­lems
before, starting with a last-second three-quarter
court shot in a church league basketball
game about seven years ago. That put me in the
hospital for a few days. I’ve had occasional minor
back problems since, but nothing like last fall. I was
in bad shape. I’d go to the chiropractor, feel better,
play some racquetball, and hurt. Finally, I gave up
racquetball for about six weeks, went sedentary, and
got fat. I felt much better.
In January, we took to the Field of Battle again. I
promptly pulled a hamstring, which took a week to
heal. Then I severely sprained my ankle during one
especially artful wall collision (I won the point).
That took a couple weeks. I pulled something in my
left side, but played anyway, since Denny threatened
to recruit a healthier opponent from a nursing
home.
Then, a couple weeks ago, I got whiplash. No
kidding.
Denny and I were playing three-way Cut Throat
with Tim Becker, son of our coworker Carlson
Becker. I served the ball to Tim and, like everyone
with half a brain says you absolutely shouldn’t do, I
turned around to follow the ball. Tim hit it straight
2 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
at my face, and I jerked my head back. The ball
struck the nob of my nose and continued on its
merry way. No harm done. We kept playing.
The next morning, I began feeling pain in my
shoulder and neck, and it got worse as the day
progressed. All the second day, I did my critically
acclaimed Hunchback imitation. And on the third
day, my chiropractor confirmed my amateur diag­nosis:
whiplash. She said she’d treated people suffer­ing
whiplash from major auto accidents who were in
better shape than me. And all I did was get bumped
on the nose with a rubber ball. How ridiculous.
Actually, racquetball’s effect on my body is more
good than bad. I’m in better shape than I’ve been for
years, and I’m losing weight in the process. The
tradeoff is that certain key areas cry out in torment
now and then.
At the moment, I am injury-free, knock knock.
Oh, my ankle remains a bit weak, my back uses any
excuse to gripe, I feel a little something in my neck,
my left knee is thinking about going on strike, and
I’ve got a minor case of Bubonic Plague. But in
general, I ’m healthy. For now. By the time you read
this, I ’m sure I will have discovered sundry other
bodily parts to maim and brutalize.
Charlotte Elliott, who wrote the hymn “Just As I
Am,” began losing her health at age 30. I’m 31. She
ended up a bed-ridden invalid for the rest of her life
(she died at 82), writing “Just As I Am” amidst
physical suffering and despair. The way things are
going, I’ll be writing songs before too long.
Maybe I should sign up for wheelchair lessons. Or
guzzle Geritol. Or take up checkers. Or sue Denny.
So why do I keep playing racquetball? I get hurt,
and I lose—two good reasons to quit. Why? Because
I love racquetball. I can limp off the court, having
just lost 15-0, and say, “That was fun!” Maybe such
thinking results from running head first into walls, I
don’t know. But it is fun.
But is it fa ir? No.
I lose and get hurt. Denny not only wins and
remains unhurt, but loses more weight than I do. It’s
not fair, I tell you, it’s not fair!
The editor concentrating hard on his work.
But then, many things in life aren’t fair.
•One person, after two years of piano lessons,
plays like Dino. Another takes lessons for ten years,
and still can’t find middle C.
•A glutton never gains weight, while a disciplined,
calorie-counting weight-watcher grows into blimp-hood.
•Larry buys a shiny new car, and within a week,
someone rear-ends him. Moe buys a beat-up 1967
Ford, and goes 100,000 miles without a scratch.
•The 50-year-old anchor man is considered in­creasingly
distinguished and credible as he ages. The
50-year-old anchor woman is coaxed into a producer
slot.
•A one-week Love Boat romance produces a
marriage that lasts 40 years. While a bright couple
who dated for two years, received extensive premari­tal
counseling, and considered every contingency get
divorced after a year.
•A dim-witted editor has the skills and a forum
for expressing his shallow views, while someone
with profound thoughts lacks communications skills
and a forum.
I’m sure Job and his wife felt God wasn’t treating
them fairly. They’d been so faithful to God, and such
good stewards of all He had given them. Their
reward? Being bulldozed flat.
Jeremiah complained about unfairness when he
said, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?” The psalmist
Asaph, in Psalm 73, echoed those sentiments. He
pointed out to God that the wicked often get rich,
enjoy good health, have no struggles, and live a
carefree life.
Along with Jeremiah and Asaph, I have some
complaints.
•Jesus arose early in the morning to pray, and
we’re supposed to follow His example. So why
didn’t God make us all morning people? What about
us late-nighters, who can’t get to sleep before 1 a.m.?
•Why does God heal some people and not others?
Doesn’t fairness require consistency?
•One person tithes and prospers, another tithes
and doesn’t. Why?
•Will Anderson prays for a Christian wife and
gets Ann Kiemel. Other people start praying for a
Christian spouse at age 16, and die single at 92.
•An inspirational but shallow pastor sees his
church grow, and his annual report impresses the
bishop. While a deeply spiritual, disciplined, gifted,
hard-working pastor crashes into barrier after bar­rier.
And guess which one is asked to lead a church
growth seminar? Is that fair?
Parenting can seem highly unfair. James Dobson,
in his “Turn Your Heart Toward Home” film series
and his latest book Parenting Isn't For Cowards,
discusses why kids from good homes go bad. It
doesn’t seem fair. You do everything right as a
parent, but your child becomes an alcoholic; while
the child of nonChristians down the street becomes
a missionary. Is that fair?
Proverbs says, “Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old, he will not depart
from it” (22:6). Christians quote that like it’s a prom­ise.
But the truth is, some well-trained children do
depart. Is Scripture lying? Is God not playing by His
own rules?
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 3
Part of the answer comes from understanding the
nature of Proverbs. It consists of generalizations,
statements that are usually true—not promises.
That verse could more accurately be interpreted,
“ . . . and when he is old, chances are pretty good he
won’t depart from it.” But the other part of the
answer remains hidden.
There’s no guarantee when it comes to parenting.
All you can do is train a child in the way; he may or
may not choose to depart from it. That’s not fair, but
it’s fact. Many superb parents have agonized for
years, “What did I do wrong?” Dobson relieves their
guilt by saying, “The same boiling water that softens
the carrot also hardens the egg. Likewise, some
individuals react positively to certain circumstances,
and others negatively. We don’t know why.”
We d o n ’t know why.
The Christian life is filled with unanswered
“Why’s?”
In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable in which, at
the end of the day, all of the workers in a vineyard
received the same amount of money, even though
some worked only one hour and others worked all
day. The vineyard owner tells a grumbler, “I’m not
being unfair to you. You agreed to work for a
denarius, and that’s what you got. Besides, I can do
whatever I want with my money.”
If I had been listening to Jesus, I would have
argued, “Sure, the owner has that right. But that
doesn’t make it fa ir.” Jesus, however, didn’t deal
with the apparent unfairness in His story. His
approach seems to be, “Like it or not, tha t’s the way
it is. Now, for my next parable . . . .”
Christians often apply this parable to death-bed
conversions. Now, I’m happy about death-bed con­versions.
But in some cases, something within me
cries “Unfair!” A guy says “No” to Christ for
decades, and then, feeling fire on his feet, says “Yes”
at the last minute. So he avoids having to live the
Christian life, and receives the same reward as Chris­tians
who did. My baser instincts insist, “T hat’s not
fair! Give him a shack in the valley, but not a man­sion
on the hilltop!”
Many people wonder, “What about the people in
remote jungles who die without ever hearing about
Christ? Will God send them to Hell? It doesn’t seem
fair.”
I ’ve told people, “I have no idea how God will
treat them, and the Bible isn’t much help. All I know
is that God will be fair. When we see how He handles
it, we’ll remark, ‘Yeah, that’s the best way to do it.’ ”
Take a Vacation with a Purpose
in Knoxville, Tenn.
You’ll be Glad You Did!
I ’m sure that when I get to heaven, 111 totally
agree with God’s policies concerning the heathen
and death-bed converts. But my approval is irrele­vant.
He says, “Like it or not, th a t’s the way it is.”
Is God unfair? No. Does He seem unfair? You bet
He does. And we have-io live with it.
I get the impression Asaph drew the same conclu­sion
in Psalm 73, after complaining about the unfair
rewards of wickedness. He basically said, “I don’t
have God’s answers, but I do have God. As long as
I’m close to Him, I’ll be content living with unans­wered
why’s.”
Job, after all he endured, never got an explana­tion—
even after a personal conversation with God.
The last chapter mentions how God rewarded Job,
and concludes, “And so he died, old and full of
years. ” I wonder if it would be accurate to say, “And
so he died, old and full of years, and still wondering,
Why?"
For life’s unanswerable Why’s, we like to say,
“When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God
why . . . .” But we may be disappointed. The Bible
doesn’t say anything about a heavenly Q & A
session.
I can see it now. When I get to heaven, one of the
first items on my To Do list will be to ask God some
questions—like what Christ wrote in the dirt, are
there people on other planets, what really happened
to the dinosaurs, and why I continuously get hurt
and Denny doesn’t.
I’ll approach the Throne and say, “When I was on
earth, some things really had me puzzled. I saved up
some questions for You. Number One—”
God will interrupt, “You don’t need to know the
answers.”
“But I’ve waited so long! It’s not fair!”
“Sure it is. Trust me.”
On Yonder Pages
The April “Random Pokes” discussed the Jimmy
Swaggart scandal. I said it was risky writing some­thing
which wouldn’t appear in print for six weeks,
since the situation and facts could change drasti­cally.
But I felt in my heart that the Swaggart scan­dal
would yield much-needed examples of repent­ance,
restoration, and accountability. Writing now,
with the April issue due to hit mailboxes any day, I
feel deeply disappointed. Maybe that will change by
the time this column appears.
After I sent the April issue to the printer, I heard
Dr. Paul Fetters give a seminar on “Ministerial
Integrity” at Central Conference Leadership Day.
He gave me his manuscript, which is the basis for an
article in this issue. I think you’ll appreciate his
insights and directness.
Following that Leadership Day, I went to Rey­noldsburg,
Ohio, where a new church is doing great.
I’ve heard of UB churches doing non-traditional
things. First Love UB takes the grand prize. I was
thrilled hearing Pastor Dan Kopp describe their
innovative approaches and goals. And the worship
service Sunday morning—123 people crowded into
a school cafeteria—was one of the most refreshing
UB services I’ve ever experienced. Read all about it.
Mark Your
Calendars!
4 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
For six years, a Prayer Calendar has graced the
back cover. Last month, you probably noticed
something different there—“UBBB—United Breth­ren
Bulletin Board.” Most people seemed to use the
Prayer Calendar more as a denominational calendar
of events than as a prayer guide, so I decided to
make that the emphasis.
Each month, UBBB will convey information
about upcoming conference and denominational
events, seminars, retreats, local church activities,
camp happenings, and who knows what else. I wel­come
submissions for items to include in UBBB.
They can even be of a “classified ad” nature—
something your church is selling that another UB
church may be interested in, or something you’re
looking for. Whatever. 1 can still say “No,” but you
can at least try. Just keep in mind that 1 need items at
least six weeks in advance.
“But you’re eliminating prayer,” some may pro­test.
Not at all. Nothing’s stopping you from using
UBBB as a prayer guide. Besides, it mentions more
things to pray about. So pray away.
Now I’ll stop telling you about this issue and let
you read it for yourself. Enjoy.—SD
The February issue interested me for a number
reasons, but especially because of the information
about Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hadley.
I have enclosed a photo of Mrs.
I. H. Wilson, who is Mary Had­ley,
the infant daughter the Had­leys
left in Indiana when they went
to Sierra Leone. Mrs. Wilson was
a member of my home church in
Dayton, Wash., which I pastored
1941-44. Her former husband had
been the pastor in years past. She
died, as I recall, while I was pastor
there, and I had her funeral (I
think).
She gave me her father’s journal, from which I
submitted some items for The Christian Conserva­tor
in the 1940’s. I gave the journal to Dr. Fleming
when he was writing his books on the African
mission.
George M. Martin
Detroit, Mich.
I appreciated the March issue, especially since it
was written primarily by United Brethren writers
and about United Brethren issues and concerns.
There are many good Christian magazines, but only
one speaks specifically to and for United Brethren.
Ralph Butzow
Claytonville UB church
Claytonville, III.
Overall, I enthusiastically agreed with all that
Rev. Philip Burkett said in the March “Sounding
Board.” However, I must challenge his closing
words. Asserting that unbelief is the only excuse for
not singing may seem reasonable, and it may chal­lenge
those who are too lazy to sing, but it is not a
fair generalization.
Some people simply do not sing for any of many
reasons. They gain spiritual enrichment from listen­ing
to and reading the words, while the rest of us
sing. As they do so, they commit the words to their
hearts, where they belong, often gaining more from
the music than we who sing our lungs out. Music is
just as much a part of congregational worship for
those who do not vocalize as it is for those of us who
do. Total participation can only be judged by our
Father, who sees the heart, rather than by those of us
who see only faces.
Rev. Burkett promised to challenge us, and he
has. For that, I thank him.
Lynn Newbraugh
Winchester UB church
Winchester, Va.
The 1988 Elderhostel program will again
be offered by Huntington College. This
year’s dates are June 20-24.
The curriculum is specifically created for
older adults. We welcome individuals 60
years of age or o lder, together with their
spouses.
Three interesting courses will be offered
daily:
1. “Flying Friends and Feathers,” a course
on bird-watching taught by Mr. and Mrs.
Neil Case.
2. “The Wonders of Word Processing,”
taught by HC professor Mrs. Sharon Custer.
3. “Turbulence, Thunderstorms, and
Tornadoes,” a course on weather taught by
government aerologist Paul Sell.
Costs. For commuters and those who
provide their own room and board: $25 per
course, or $70 total.
For fulltime Elderhostelers: $225. This
includes room and board from Sunday
evening, June 19, through Saturday morn­ing,
June 25.
For further information: contact host/
coordinators Dr. and Mrs. E. D. Baker, Hun­tington
College, Huntington, Ind. 46750.
Home phone: 356-0781.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 5
ELDERHOSTEL
For Senior Citizens
Letters
Dr. Paul R. Fetters
Having been discredited in the world’s eyes
by highly-publicized scandals involving our
own leaders, can we Christians regain our — Integrity
Erma Bombeck’s book title The Grass is Always
Greener Over the Septic Tank would fit some recent
religious news stories. For years, we looked over the
fence at the gospel giants rolling in the lush grass of
luxury and success. Now we are wondering if maybe
the grass isn’t so green, after all.
A few years ago, we found a small hole in our
backyard near the foundation of the house. After
some investigation, I discovered that our beautiful
yard was not what it appeared to be. Although the
grass was greener over our septic tank, our septic
tank wasn’t working right. We had to install a whole
new sewer system.
Likewise, things are not what they have appeared
to be in the living color of the televangelists. And
now the whole world knows it. Their grass looked so
green that we didn’t notice anything wrong until the
system malfunctioned.
Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and others have
embarrassed the Christian world. I believe they all
began with pure motives. If Jim and Jimmy had died
five years ago, we would have made movies about
their life stories, and thousands of viewers would
have entered the Kingdom.
We see parallels in some Bible characters. If death
had come before the mid-life crisis, we wouldn’t
have heard about Lot and the incest with his daugh­ters,
or David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Few peo-
6 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
pie can handle prestige, position, possessions, and
power. After attaining those sweet P ’s, they forget to
be dependent. And they fall.
The Loss of Integrity
During the past year, the Christian church has
suffered an enormous loss of integrity. But we didn’t
lose integrity overnight. I see three elements which
have contributed to it.
Holy God, Loving God
One reason we lost our integrity is that at some
point, we exchanged a God of Holiness fo ra God of
Love.
We have become so enamored with the God of
Love that we feel entitled to love ourselves. This is
seen in the relational theologians—Robert Schuller,
Bruce Larson, and others—who teach a God-of-
Love and Man-is-Good theology.
A Holy God is more demanding than a God of
Love. In fact, my understanding is that God com­mands
us to love, but he demands that we be holy.
The problem is, we don’t want anyone to demand
anything of us. We love ourselves and others, our
objects and objectives, more than we love a God
who says, “I am holy and jealous, and I will not
share the supreme devotion in your life with any
other.”
In the past 25-30 years, we have smothered the
earth with “God is love.” What would happen if, in
the next 25 years, we blitzed the world with, “God is
holy”?
Exalting Pragmatism
We also lost integrity by trading biblical princi­ples
for pragmatism. According to pragmatism,
there is no absolute truth. If it works, it is right. The
end justifies the means. Pragmatism is perhaps the
only distinctively American philosophy.
The last General Conference wrestled with a
statement concerning the marriage relationship of
preachers. I raised some questions, and was asked to
write a statement over the noon hour. One fellow
told me, “Don’t give us anything theological. Give us
something that will work.” That is pragmatism!
The Bible gives several examples of pragmatic
expediency, where people thought the end justified
the means.
Abraham and Sarah were promised a son, but
they didn’t think God could pull it off. So they
devised their own pragmatic plan, and Ishmael was
born to Hagar.
Another example concerns Rebekah and Jacob.
God had said the older brother would serve the
younger, indicating that the birthright would go to
Jacob instead of Esau. They thought, “Doesn’t God
understand that in our culture, the birthright goes to
the oldest?” They decided that since God promised
the birthright to Jacob, it didn’t matter how he got it.
So they tricked Esau out of his birthright. The end
justified the means.
I see pragmatism in some of our fundraising
efforts.
A few years ago, Oral Roberts thrust his 900-foot
Jesus vision upon the public. This fundraising
scheme promised peace of mind and a set of New
Testament tapes to everyone who sent $20 a month.
To sweeten the pot, God supposedly promised to
give the City of Faith a cure for cancer if the public
faithfully responded to the goal. In his latest prag­matic
trick, Oral announced that God was holding
him hostage and demanding $8 million ransom.
People tell me, “You shouldn’t criticize Oral
Few people can handle prestige,
position, possessions, and
power. After attaining those
sweet P’s, they forget to be
dependent. And they fall.
Roberts. God is blessing his work.”
To which I reply, “It isn’t payday yet. The day will
come.”
Such fundraising schemes reaffirm the pragmatic
preference: if it works, it’s right.
This reminds me of a comment made by Madeline
Murray O’Hair, when asked about the cause of
atheism in America: “It is going so well that if I were
not an atheist, I would be inclined to say God is
blessing.”
Some people within the Church Growth move­ment
exhibit a pragmatic preference.
I cringe when I hear some people within the
movement say that as a church grows, it cannot
insist on doctrinal or denominational purity. Does
this mean we can’t insist on the virgin birth? On the
inerrancy of Scripture? On the depravity of man?
Do I begin watering down my theology when I get
50 people, then back off a little more when I get 100,
200, 500, until eventually I have no theology—but
everyone feels comfortable? That’s what I sense I’m
hearing. And it frightens me.
I continue to be amazed when I teach in the Third
World. In America, pastors ask me, “Will it work? If
it will work, we’ll throw some Scripture verses at it
and force it to be biblical.”
But in Africa, Honduras, and Jamaica, pastors
Dr. Paul R. Fetters
is dean o f the
Huntington College
Graduate School o f
Christian Ministries,
and a member o f the
College Park UB church
in Huntington, Ind.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 7
ask me, “Is it biblicaP. If so, we will make it work. If
it isn’t biblical, we don’t want anything to do with it. ”
Adopting the World’s Methods
Let me add one more reason we have lost
integrity.
We argue that the church is an organism which
operates under the power of the Holy Spirit. How­ever,
we organize the church according to the
world’s methods. Instead of following the Holy Spir­it’s
lead, we take our cues from our culture, the
business world, or the latest hunch of our favorite
pop psychologist.
For instance, we condemn the nebulously defined
enemy of secular humanism, yet simultaneously
adopt their methods. If 1 adopt their methods, won’t
I eventually adopt the premises on which those
methods are based? We may be close to that now.
Today, too many ministers are willing to trade the
role of shepherd for the title of chief executive
officer, and follow Peter Drucker’s manual of opera­tions,
The Effective Executive. The “team” is now
the hero. Individual moral convictions have yielded
to group goals and moral consensus. Movements
have replaced men as leaders. No one loses, be he
right or wrong, for we now have a model in which
everybody wins.
In the past 25-30 years,
we have smothered the earth
with “God is love.”
What would happen if,
in the next 25 years,
we blitzed the world with,
“God is holy”?
Our newest managerial guru is Lee Iacocca. We
study Chrysler’s success to find help in promoting
our church’s success. But consider these words from
his bestselling autobiography, Iacocca: “The Chrys­ler
story was cooperation and democracy at their
best. I’m not talking about a biblical lesson here. I’m
talking about real life.”
Holding UB
Ministers
Accountable
A t Central Conference Leadership Day, Dr.
Fetters presented a seminar on ministerial
integrity. The two sidebars are based on his
responses during a question-and-answer time
following the seminar.
How can we hold ministers accountable in
the United Brethren church?
We already have a system for holding minis­ters
accountable. First, the local congregation
decides whether or not you should enter the
ministry. Then the annual conference decides
whether or not to accept you into its member­ship.
After you have met certain academic and
service requirements, a committee decides
whether or not to recommend you for ordina­tion,
and the annual conference votes on that.
Every year after ordination, ministers appear
before an auditing committee. At annual con­ference,
the auditing committee says, “We have
looked at the ministers on our ministerial role
and find them morally acceptable and officially
competent.”
We have the system. The question is: will we
make it work?
One year at Central Annual Conference, I
was the only person among over a hundred
delegates who voted against accepting the report
of the ordination committee.
I got taken to task for it. “Do you know
something we don’t know?”
I said, “Do you know this and this and this?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you know everything I know. And you
still voted yes.”
Who says I can’t vote no? If I don’t feel
someone is fit to be a United Brethren minister
in my conference, then it’s my right and duty to
vote no. I won’t passively look the other way.
Historically, United Brethren pastors have
been assigned to churches by the conference.
But local churches are becoming increasingly
involved in the selection process. Why? Perhaps
because we send them incompetents. Local
churches say, “If you won’t protect us by send­ing
ministers who are administratively compe­tent
and morally acceptable for our church,
then we’ll protect ourselves.”
It’s time we began policing our own ranks.
We need to either use the system of accountabil­ity
established by our forefathers, or write poli­cies
which will more effectively protect our con­gregations.
8 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Do we really want to pattern our church after
Chrysler? Do we really want to build our church
upon the managerial practices, job descriptions, per­formance
standards, and objectives of the business
world? Do we really want the world, rather than the
Bible, defining our standards and practices?
Regaining Our Integrity
How can we regain our integrity? I have three
suggestions.
A Personal Reformation
First, we need to experience a personal reforma­tion.
By reformation, I mean we bow to the author­ity
of God’s Word and obey it.
We can either agree with the Word, or we can
acquiesce to its authority. Agreement means you’ll do
it willingly. Acquiescence is like the little girl who,
when told to sit down, said, “I ’m seated, but inside,
I ’m standing up.” We need to say, “If th a t’s what
God demands, that’s what I’ll do, whether I like it or
not.”
Most of our revival services are reformation ser­vices.
We come to the saints at revival time and say,
“This is what you say you are. Why don’t you bring
your life into agreement with your testimony?”
We cannot be hypocrites, claiming to agree with
God yet marching to a different drum. People must
see that, whether on stage or off stage, we really do
believe and practice what we preach.
Church Renewal
Secondly, we need to experience church renewal.
By that, I mean leading the church back to its origi­nal
purpose. I’m not sure we know why the church
exists anymore.
Why was the United Brethren church called into
existence? To proclaim a soul-saving assurance of
salvation to people that would free them from the
sin nature and bring holiness and righteousness. The
sermons recorded in old conference minutes empha­size
our need to come to grips with this dual foci.
I sometimes wonder: If we took a secret ballot in
our churches today, how many people would say
they really believe that the Bible is God’s Word and
that man is sinful by nature? Many people graduate
from public schools and secular colleges; much of
what they read is shaped by the social sciences,
which do not teach that man is evil by nature, nor
that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God.
In addition, I fear that ministers don’t preach it
anymore. We do evangelism, make pastoral calls,
conducts weddings and funerals, and teach our peo­ple
things that won’t upset them. But we don’t probe
the conscience and challenge the will, because we’re
afraid of what might happen.
Universal Revival
Third, I think we need to experience a universal
revival. Nobody can make this happen. Hype and
organization won’t do it. It is sovereign. God brings
it. We can only put ourselves in a position—through
prayer, humility, and repentance—where God can
send a revival. And wait.
What should we tell our parishioners when
they ask our opinion about the Bakker and
Swaggart scandals?
My students in the School of Christian Min­istries
have asked me that question frequently. I
tell them, “You cannot ignore these situations.
While you shouldn’t condemn or condone, you
should at least comment.”
Oral Roberts discredited himself. Jim Bakker
did. And now Jimmy Swaggart. Some of our
people are devastated by what has happened.
We need to give them direction.
How have these situations effected pastors in
general?
These leaders owe the Christian world—
especially ministers—an apology. Their hypoc­risy
has brought shame, embarrassment, and
derision to the whole profession of the ministry.
Not only is our integrity being questioned. So is
our reason to exist.
People have watched the celebrity super­saints
crash. Now they wonder, “What about
our little amateur pastor who has never preached
to more than a hundred people? Does he have
some dark secrets? Is he a hypocrite, too? If it
can happen to the biggies . . . .”
I’ve seen pastors ask for trouble by flirting, or
joking in such a way that people could make
something of it. That has always been out-of­place.
Now, it is dangerous.
Innocent encounters with church women can
fuel destructive rumors. When I started out in
the ministry, I never worried about visiting a
woman if her husband wasn’t home. I was cau­tious,
explaining why I came and leaving when
done. But I didn’t avoid such visits.
“The pastor dropped by today,” the wife says.
“What did he want?”
“He came to discuss Vacation Bible School.”
“How long was he here?”
A husband has every right to ask those ques­tions.
I’m sure they were asked when I was a
pastor. Now, there will be more of that—“What
did he want, and how long did he stay?”
I warn my students, “No longer do people
view ministers as above reproach. People will
now make jokes at your expense. They will
doubt your sincerity and the value of your
work. You must work hard to protect your
integrity, and avoid doing or saying anything
which might jeopardize it.”
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 9
Living Under
Suspicion
The Church That Threw
Away the
Rulebook
Above: Pastor Dan Kopp
with some of his parish­ioners.
Below: Sunday
set-up time.
Here’s something novel: a United Brethren
church that’s not designed for Christians.
In the heart of the Buckeye Belt,
there exists a church which looks
like this.
•They meet in a school.
•The Sunday morning service
lasts one hour, with no Sunday
school.
•They do funny skits during the
worship service.
•The sanctuary includes two
TVs hooked up to VCRs, on
which they’ve shown the congre­gation
clips from general-release
movies.
•They don’t take an offering.
Which means . . . .
•They don’t sing the Doxology.
•No pastoral prayer, either.
•No Sunday evening or mid­week
service.
•Nearly everyone is less than 40
years old.
•The congregation is alive and
growing like crazy.
Now answer this multiple choice
question. Circle as many as apply.
This church is:
a. Probably a cult.
b. Doing everything wrong.
c. A carry-over from the Jesus
People days.
d. Definitely not United Breth­ren.
e. Doomed to extinction.
f. All of the above.
g. None of the above.
one of the above.
The church is First Love Com­munity,
and yes, it is UB. It’s a
Central Conference church exten­sion
project in Reynoldsburg,
Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.
Pastor Dan Kopp started the
church several years ago as a
“tentmaker,” simultaneously min­istering
fulltime with Campus Life.
He has gradually reduced his
Campus Life responsibilities, and
hopes to go fulltime with First
Love this fall.
Dan didn’t want to plant First
Love in a rut. So from the begin­ning,
the church was designed to
look far different from traditional
churches.
The typical unchurched person
feels uncomfortable in God’s house.
It’s alien terrain. The people act
too nice. He doesn’t know when to
stand up and when to sit down.
People speak in strange words
and phrases. He’s forced to sing
unfamiliar songs.
The special music is exceedingly
dull, especially compared to the
10 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Steve Dennie
Springsteen tape he listened to on
the way to church. An offering
plate is stuck under his nose, and
all he has in his wallet is a twenty.
Why does he feel discomfort?
Because the service isn’t designed
for him. It’s designed for the
regulars.
The First Lovers reverse that.
They try to create a worship expe­rience
which puts the unchurched
person at ease. And they’re suc­ceeding.
Too many growing churches
specialize in sheep-stealing, filling
the pews by luring the already-converted
from other churches.
Sure, some people at First Love
transferred from other churches,
but the focus is the unchurched.
You can build an individual
church by shuffling the deck. But
if you want to build the Kingdom,
you have to increase the size of the
deck. That’s First Love’s goal.
They’re searching sleeves and
pockets for new cards.
So far, Dan says, they’ve had
12-18 decision for Christ a year.
“We’re most successful in reaching
people with some church back­ground
who, at some point, drifted
away from the church. Maybe
they left as kids, or became dis­gruntled
in a traditional church.
We want to do a better job of
reaching people with no church
background.”
The Sunday I was there—a
regular Sunday in March, with
nothing special happening— 123
people showed up. The average
attendance for January and Feb­ruary
had been 103.
They met in a school cafeteria—
a rather small one, as school cafe­terias
go, no bigger than the typi­cal
church fellowship hall. As soon
as a basketball league ended, they
would move back into the school
gym.
The “sanctuary” was arranged
in sideways fashion, with the pul­pit
in the middle of one side. The
two TVs, set atop high stands,
flanked the pulpit. Five rows of
plastic chairs angled around the
platform area. Nobody sat far
from the pulpit or the TV screens.
“What time does the service
start?” I had asked my overnight
hosts.
“About 9:45,” I was told.
Dan started the service at 9:50,
welcoming everyone and then tell­ing
a joke. We sang two songs
from the Gaither hymnal, had a
short period of silent prayer, and
sang “His Name is Wonderful.”
Then associate pastor Joe Leighton
gave the announcements, kindly
including a plug for The United
Brethren.
All this took 15 minutes. At
10:05, they showed videotaped
promotional clips of the new Billy
Graham film, “Caught.” Children
came forward and sat on carpet
samples scattered on the tile floor
in front of one TV. After the
promo, Dan gave a brief chil­dren’s
message. Then the kids left
for the rest of the service.
At 10:20, Dan began his mes­sage—
the conclusion of a series
called “Habit Busters,” this one
about making habits stick. He
wore a lapel microphone, and
spoke from 2 Chronicles 34 about
Josiah. His message sparkled with
numerous illustrations, amusing
stories, humorous asides, general
joviality—and solid content. Re­freshing.
The service ended just after
11:00. That was it. No Sunday
school. Some people stayed for a
regular talk-back session with the
pastor, which focuses on applying
the sermon, but most went home.
They didn’t collect an offering.
Did they forget? No. The bulletin
said, “First Love is supported by
its regular participants. We do not
wish our guests to feel pressured
to give. Thus, we allow those who
wish to give to do so in the box by
the door.”
Again, they were looking out
for the unchurched. “Churches
only want your money,” some
people assert. Not First Love.
They want you.
One thing glared at me: the
disproportionate number of young
people. There were so many teens
and young couples! I noticed only
a handful of people I figured were
50 or older. And they call this a
United Brethren church?
Yep. The difference is, First
Love reaches people most UB
churches only pray about.
“As a denomination, we need to
examine our effectiveness in reach­ing
teenagers, young adults, and
young marrieds,” Dan told me.
“Our churches do a lot of things
that don’t pay off. We need to
allow for some creativity, flexibil­ity,
and change. The younger gen­erations
are more familiar with
certain mediums, because they
were brought up with them. So
let’s use them.
“People today, especially the
younger generations, are pro­gramed
mainly by television. And
it’s usually short and sweet—30-
second commercials with a thou­sand
things happening all at once.
We can’t present our message in a
very non-stimulating, dry atmos­phere.
We need to creatively use
mediums that make them think.”
The medium First Love em­phasizes
is drama. Most Sundays,
they use a skit of some kind to
introduce the message or to get
across a point of the message.
They make dramas both humor­ous
and insightful.
“In the Habit Busters series, we
did a funny skit about a guy who
couldn’t manage his time. He kept
breaking appointments, which hurt
his relationships with everybody.
It ended with the line, ‘You just
can’t count on some people, can
you?’ That brought us from the
humorous to the serious, and set
the stage for the sermon.”
In another drama, a girl sat at a
table saying the Lord’s Prayer.
God—someone offstage with a
microphone—interrupted her pray­er
and tried to talk with her. That
caught her by surprise. “Wait a
minute, Lord. I need to finish this
prayer. Don’t talk to me about
this guy I should forgive. I’m try­ing
to pray.”
On Valentines Day, Dan con­ducted
a mock wedding. As the
organist played the wedding march,
a couple came down the aisle in
tuxedo and gown. Dan started
through the wedding ceremony.
Then, at the vows, voices came
over the speakers giving the
thoughts of the bride and groom.
It turns out the blissful couple
weren’t so sure of their “for better
or worse” commitment to each
other, after all.
Another time, they showed a
short clip from the film “Ghost
Busters.” Dan cautions, “I wouldn’t
recommend showing that in most
churches, but it worked in our
situation, and went right along
with the sermon.'” Besides, a high
percentage of our people, espe­cially
the younger ones, had prob­ably
seen that movie and could
relate to it. It was an effective way
to get their attention and com­The
UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 11
municate a point."
They would like to use the
medium of contemporary music.
“How many people attend con­certs
or listen to albums that use
only piano and organ? We have a
vision for doing the type of music
that really turns on the unchurched.
“We want to work toward using
a synthesizer, drums, guitar, bass,
keyboard. You need a mix of gifts
to do that, and it requires com­mitment
from musicians. But God
may be giving us enough tools to
pull it off.”
Creativity requires planning.
You can’t throw a skit together an
hour before the service begins.
“We’re trying very hard to develop
the message themes well in advance,
so we can coordinate the various
elements of the service—choruses,
drama, special music, etc.—with
the day’s theme.”
Part of Dan’s job description,
written by the church, is to spend
one week this summer planning
all the services through the end of
1988. He will isolate himself and
concentrate on topics, texts, themes,
outlines, the invitation to be offered
that day, drama ideas, etc.
Sunday morning is the only
church service, partly because they
still meet in a school.
But can a church really thrive
without a Sunday night service?
Without a midweek service? Can
such radical behavior succeed?
“Sure,” Dan says. “Our cells
meet all of those needs.”
Cells are basically small groups
with a purpose. They take many
forms. Cells for young adults, for
singles, for couples. Men’s and
women’s cells. Men’s breakfasts.
Challenge '88!
The Hyatt Regency
Monday—Thursday. A Church Leaders Clinic with Dr.
John Maxwell.
Friday—Sunday. A UB Convention—a denominational
first. Up to 1000 people are expected.
Over 40 seminars. A dynamic keynote speaker. The Murk
Family Singers. Activities for children. Incredible worship
experiences.
And the best of fellowship among UBs from Maryland to
Oregon, Jamaica to Ontario.
It will be a high-quality convention at low cost. Registra­tion
is $10 for individuals, $25 for families.
Lodging at the Hyatt Regency, where the meetings will be
held, is just $49 per room per night. Up to four people can
stay in a room, yet the price remains $49. People can also
take advantage of nearby campsites.
Church Leaders
Clinic
August 15-18
UB Convention
August 18-21
The Hyatt Regency
in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Murk Family Singers
12 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Take a Vacation with a Purpose
next summer in Knoxville, Tenn.,
with up to 1000 other UBs.
A vacation to remember!
Discipleship groups. Bible studies.
A JOY—Just Older Youth—cell
for senior adults.
After church, I went to lunch
with two families that eat together
every Sunday. They call it their
“fat cell." The Habit Busters series
spawned a support group for peo­ple
wanting to overcome alcoho­lism,
cigarette smoking, or over­eating.
“People’s needs are better met
in more intimate circles. We prob­ably
have a higher percentage of
the congregation attending cells
than you’ll find in the average
Sunday evening service.”
They also have some outstand­ing
athletic teams, which are a
type of cell. The basketball team
won two different church leagues
this year. The team is led by Brad
Hoffman, who played starting
guard for Dean Smith at North
Carolina during the early 1970’s,
and later toured with Campus
Crusade’s Athletes in Action.
Oh—the First Love softball team
won its league championship, too.
Not bad for an infant church that
doesn’t even have it’s own build­ing
yet.
third to First Love. This year, it’s
reversed, which means he had to
give up a big share of his Campus
Life responsibilities.
Dan still directs the local Cam­pus
Life ministry. His goal is to be
fulltime with the church this fall,
yet continue directing the Campus
Life club as a volunteer.
As you may guess, the name
“First Love” comes from Revela­tion.
Jesus said the church at
Ephesus had lost it’s first love. The
church at Reynoldsburg doesn’t
want to be accused of that.
1 John 4:19, however, is their
theme verse. They incorporated it
into their purpose statement: “We
love, because He first loved us. We
demonstrate that love by celebrat­ing
life in Christ, cultivating per­sonal
growth in Christ, caring
about one another in Christ, and
communicating Christ to the
world.”
The church is not “First Love
United Brethren Church.” Rather,
it’s “First Love Community,” fol­lowed
by the description “Church
of the United Brethren in Christ.”
A number of UB churches,
especially newer ones, use the “Com­munity”
label. This practice, believe
it or not, draws fire from some
UBs—“What’s the matter? Are
they ashamed to admit being Unit­ed
Brethren?”
Dan addressed this. “We must
deal realistically with the minds of
the unchurched. In our situation,
the ‘United Brethren’ name raises
certain questions and connotations.
Many people are turned off by
denominationalism, or wonder,
‘What does that group believe?’
“We’re not one bit embarrassed
about our heritage or doctrine. In
fact, First Love exists only because
a denomination cares. They nur­tured
me and helped me through
school. They got this church off
the ground, and even provided a
core of families when we began in
somebody’s basement. We exist
because of the denomination.
“But we prefer introducing peo­ple
to Christ, and later telling
them about our denomination.
We want to be a community-minded,
community-centered
church—a group of believers who
happen to be United Brethren.”
Dan calls his Campus Life
work and church planting “a great
marriage of ministries.”
How does he juggle the two?
“A majority of the kids have no
idea I’m a pastor, and I like it that
way. For two reasons. One, I
don’t have to deal with their pre­conceptions
about preachers. They
treat me as a person who cares
about them and runs something
they’re excited about.
“Second, Campus Life is a para-church
ministry. In that capacity,
I represent the entire Body of
Christ in the area, regardless of
denomination. I’m not involved in
Campus Life to feed my own
church.
“Sure, some kids we’ve won to
Christ through Campus Life are
involved at First Love. Most of
them lack any kind of church
background. But on the whole, I
keep the church and Campus Life
separate.”
Dan’s written agreement with
Campus Life mentions a five-year
sliding plan, during which he
gradually reduces his Campus Life
involvement.
Last year, Dan devoted himself
two-thirds to Campus Life, one-
Church planting is expensive.
Typically, a conference or denom­ination
totally funds a new church—
pastor’s salary and other expenses—
until the congregation is big enough
to support itself. That can take
many years. The high cost means
we can start only so many churches.
“T en t-m ak in g ”—sup p o rtin g
yourself at least part-time while
starting the church—cuts the cost
significantly. Dan is a tentmaker
under unique circumstances. He is
planting a fulltime ministry while
doing a fulltime ministry.
As in other ministries, Campus
Life staffers raise their own sup­port.
This usually comes from
friends, church members, and rel­atives
who pledge so much a month.
“I recruited support not only
for youth ministry, but for plant­ing
a church. In our monthly
prayer letter, we report on both,”
Dan explains.
“The advantage is that our sup­porters
won’t continue giving inde­finitely.
As the church grows, we
need less outside support. A per­son
might agree to give $400 the
first year, $300 the second, $200
the third, $100 the fourth—and
then they’re done. Their financial
support is no longer needed, be­cause
a congregation is providing
it.”
Dan envisions using this ap­proach
in planting other churches.
If a person feels burdened to plant
a church, he could be instructed,
“Find some people to support
your needs over the next three
years. The first year you need full
support, the next year two-thirds,
the third year a third, and the
fourth year you won’t need any­thing.”
It’s a method which has worked
well at First Love.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 13
A New Way
to Make
Tents
Childhood Days
with Grandpa
I was privileged to have a grand­father
who, as he put it, was “fond
of young’uns.”To this day, Grand­dad
still has a hold upon me and
often times, I suppose, gently tugs
on the reins that guide my foot­steps.
Granddad wasn’t too far re­moved
from being a young’un
himself. Like any young boy, he
had a powerful sweet tooth. I can
still see him devouring heaping
bowls of rich, homemade ice cream
topped with a liberal sprinkling of
sugar.
Yes, sugar. At meals, Granddad
was never without his sugar bowl.
He even sprinkled sugar on his
nightly bowl of homemade bread,
which had been soaked in a mix­ture
of sweet cream and milk.
Granddad was a big man, stand­ing
about six feet tall and proba­bly
weighing close to 200 pounds
in his prime. He had fought in the
Civil War at age 16. He went on to
work as a sawmill operator, lum­berjack,
and teamster.
But I remember him only as a
farmer. When I came along, Grand­dad
was farming 50 acres in
southern Michigan, about two
miles west of Blissfield. My father
taught school about 20 miles away.
The farm stood along a dirt
road which, in summer, was hardly
more than a couple of wagon
tracks in the sand with a ribbon of
grass running up the middle. In
the spring, it became a quagmire
of soupy mud.
The land contained a little bit of
everything in the way of soil.
There was good, rich, black sandy
loam, a sand hill, a small wood lot,
and a patch of swamp. Granddad
kept a team, a couple of milk
cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and a
fair sized collection of both usable
and discarded farm machinery.
Granddad dressed in the usual
overalls and straw hat of the
farmer. His ruddy face sported a
big iron gray mustache which,
during the winter, was often deco­rated
with an icicle or two and
hoary frost from his breath.
He was a kindly man not easily
aroused, but was known to “make
the fur fly when he got his dander
up.” He could hold his own with
any mule skinner in the country
when it came to scolding an ornery
team of horses, with which he
always seemed to be blessed.
14 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Robert Cory
And he had an insatiable appe­tite
for tinkerin’ and putterin ’
around machinery, whether a
steam engine, threshing machine,
or one of his early vintage cars.
Grandma said he was happiest
when elbow deep in grease.
I don’t know just when Grand­dad
got married. All that matters
is that he did. Grandma was as
kind a soul as ever a man could
want for a wife.
I know too that she was Grand­dad’s
guiding light, for when she
passed on in later years, he was
like a man lost upon the desert
and as restless as its shifting sands.
Their reunion beyond our horizon
must have been something fine.
It was a Warm, spring day, and
I was out “around the place” with
Grandpa. Grandpa was fixing the
land fence. I stood beside Grandpa
as he worked, quietly absorbing
the delicious smells, sights and
sounds.
The air bore the fragrance of
blossoming clover, apple trees,
wild flowers, and the tangy odor
of freshly plowed ground. Many
sounds punctuated the morning—
the whisperings of countless in­sects,
the steady low-pitched drone
of bees, the tinkle of a cowbell
floating from the woods, and the
tink, tink, tink of Grandpa’s ham­mer
driving staples into the cedar
posts.
Grandpa watched me with a
twinkle in his eye. Finally, he took
a deep breath, slowly and lov­ingly,
seeming to caress every bit
of air drawn into his lungs. Then
he looked out across the fields.
“Shore is nice, ain’t it, son?” he
said softly. “Guess the Good Lord
wouldn’t have needed no further
excuse for puttin’ a nose on a man
fer anything else than just enjoyin’
the smell of growin’ things.”
We were startled out of our rev­erie
by a halloo from the back
stoop—Grandma calling us for
dinner. Half the day had slipped
away.
Grandpa said he needed to
start start plowin’ the west meader
that afternoon, and if I was a mind
to, I could follow behind in the
furrow. So after dinner, we went
to the barn to hitch up the team.
This business of “hitching up”
fascinated me—the smell of the
leather mingled with the odor of
the horses, the chink of the chain
tugs, the struggle with strange
straps and buckles that were too
high for me to reach.
I bustled around importantly,
and Grandpa let me think I was a
great help. When we were ready,
Grandpa gave me the honor of
driving the team to the field. How
I strutted!
We hitched the team to the
plow. Then Grandpa lined up his
first furrow, stuck the point of the
plow into the ground, and clucked
to the horses. They lurched for­ward.
Like the bow wave of a ship,
the earth rolled away from the
plow in a long straight ribbon,
lying black upon the green.
I followed along behind, shoes
off, toes digging into the cool,
moist, freshly turned earth, the
mellow sun beating upon my back
and shoulders. I could smell the
crushed clover and the sweat of
the working team. I could hear the
squeak of leather on leather, the
chink of chain tugs, the blowing of
the horses, and the pop, pop, pop
of the big clover roots being cut.
I can still see the field com­pletely
plowed, fitted, and planted.
Within it lay sleeping life, waiting
but for man and God’s hand to
bring it forth.
A s spring progresses, a field
dons new garments. One day, the
farmer sees nothing but the warm
earth. The next day, he sees corn
poking inquisitive sprouts out of
the ground, reaching for the sun.
The farmer carefully hoes and
cultivates throughout the hot sum­mer,
keeping the earth loose and
free of poaching weeds. The stalks
grow, in time towering above him,
heavy ears hanging down. As fall
approaches and the nights get
chilly, the color changes from green
to delicate shades of yellow and
brown.
And the farmer looks upon the
fruits of his labor with satisfac­tion.
Grandpa reached down, picked
up a handfull of the soil, and let it
trickle slowly through his fingers—
probably contemplating what fer­tilizer
the soil needed.
“You can’t always take; you’ve
got to put, too,” Grandpa wisely
stated. “Ground is just like your­self.
If you want to get the most
out of it, you’ve got to feed it and
give it rest.”
To Grandpa, soil wasn’t just
dirt. Dirt came out of a smoke­stack,
or blew off a city street into
your face on a windy day.
But soil—it was vibrant, alive.
Soil was something to care for, to
cherish; something to handle with
the skill of an artist to achieve the
best results. It was stable, an im­movable
rock upon which man
could build life. Material things—
even life itself—might come and
go, but there would always be the
soil.
All that warm afternoon, a team
of horses, a man, and a small boy
trod back and forth across the
west meadow, followed by a flock
of noisy birds busily picking fat
worms and bugs from the newly-turned
furrows. Yes, even the birds
look forward to the plowing.
Then God said, “Let the land
produce vegetation.”...And it was
so. The land produced vegetation:
plants bearing seed according to
their kinds and trees bearing fru it
with seed in it, according to their
kinds. A n d God saw that it was
good.
Bob Cory is a member o f Zion
UB, Blissfield, Mich.
I can still see the field
completely plowed, fitted,
and planted. Within it lay
sleeping life, waiting but
for man and God’s hand
to bring it forth.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 15
The Missed Kiss
It amazes me that anyone survives the first
dozen weddings a pastor performs. There is so
much to remember, and so much that can go
wrong. The whole blessed ceremony is printed
right before you. Yet there are times when you
have difficulty finding your own hands.
Since I have a record of every wedding I have
performed, I know it was the fourth one when I
forgot to have the couple kiss, of all things. As
everyone knows, that is the highlight of the whole
event. I had written it IN CAPITAL LETTERS at
the appropriate place in the ceremony, but that
didn’t mean a thing. I forgot.
The couple would not be denied, however. They
took one step into the processional, stopped very
unceremoniously, and proceeded to get what they
came for.
I am proud to say I have not forgotten it since.
Maybe because I now write it at least three time IN
CAPS across the page.
The Runaway Ring
The more hands an object passes through, the
greater the chance gravity will grab it and wrestle it
to the floor. Especially when all the hands are
shaking and sweaty. Such is often the fate of wed­ding
rings.
Someone came up with the insidious idea that
the ring becomes more sacred if the minister
touches it during its perilous journey from the best
man to the bride’s ring finger. The same genius
probably invented the ringbearer’s pillow, with its
foolproof bows that never are.
To outsmart gravity and spare myself humilia­tion,
I have always insisted that the best man lay
the ring in the palm of my hand, rather than pass it
fingertip to fingertip. So who knows why, at one
wedding, I extended my hand with my middle and
ring fingers separated. And who knows why the
best man placed the ring between those two fingers
instead of in my palm. I only know that gravity
won that evening.
And did you ever notice that rings don’t just fall
flat and lay there? No, they roll, even on carpet. I
am still working on a dignified way to walk from
the platform to the front pew to retrieve a runaway
ring. It sure would help if the best man and ushers
didn’t act like a bunch of Keystone Kops as they
chase after it.
Two Wives, No Hubby
Being a versatile person, I can make wedding
bloopers on either side of the altar rail.
Unquestionably, my most embarrassing blooper
16 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Tales
of Mistied Knots
Rev. Fred Johns
Birmingham Church Extension
Birmingham, Ala.
occurred at my very own wedding. Bishop C. Ray
Miller, then pastor of Prince Street church, was
assisting.
Mary and I had spent weeks memorizing our
vows. We weren’t going to blandly repeat what
some minister told us to say. We were going to
express our commitment in words that we had
mulled over in our minds and that came straight
from our hearts.
It was a beautiful Thanksgiving wedding. Every­thing
moved along nicely, except that I forgot to
bring money to pay the pastors (my best man
bailed me out).
Then came time for our vows. I very solemnly
began, “I, Fred, take you, Mary, to be my wedded
wife; and I do promise, before God and these
witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife . . . .”
Then it hit me—I had just promised to my wife’s
wife. I couldn’t believe it. Now what do I do? I
looked at both pastors, but they weren’t any help.
They just stood there grinning from ear-to-ear.
After what seemed like an eternity, I corrected my
mistake and went on to complete my vow without
further incident.
Ring Juggling
While pastoring in Michigan, I conducted a
wedding for a couple in their fifties, both of whom
were widowed. They wanted a very simple wed­ding,
with just a best man and maid of honor.
The wedding proceeded fine until the exchang­ing
of rings.
I asked the groom, “What do you give in token
of your pledge?”
“This ring,” he said, placing the ring in my hand
just like we had practiced. We went through the
vows with no problems. The bride now wore a
ring.
Then I asked the bride, “What do you give as a
token of your pledge?”
“This ring,” she replied. She placed a tiny little
ring in my hand. I looked at it and thought, That
ring will never f i t on his hand.
Then the bride removed the ring on her finger—
a much bigger ring—and placed it in my hand,
next to the little one. Next, she took the little ring,
slipped it on her finger, and then picked up the
larger ring and put it on his finger. And the wed­ding
proceeded.
The couple had simply gotten the rings switched.
They taped the wedding, and crack up laughing
every time they listen to it. There is a silent pause at
that point. I must have worn an odd expression as I
stood there with two rings in my hand, not know­ing
what to do.
Revive Us Again
In another wedding, I noticed the bride getting
pale.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
In response, she stiffened like a board and fell
backwards into the arms of her parents and
groom. Fortunately, they had included a hymn in
the service. The congregation sang while the bride
recovered.
Hand Surgery
I have never seen a perfect wedding. Even if a
wedding rehearsal goes without a hitch—and it
rarely does—the real thing will probably have at
least a small slip-up.
In at least two weddings, I was the slip-up.
A few years ago, I led a wedding one beautiful
Father’s Day afternoon. Everything went fine until
we got to the ring ceremony. After explaining the
significance of the ring, I told the bride, “You may
put the finger on his hand.”
I didn’t catch my blooper until afterwards, when
one of the groomsmen—who was on the verge of
cracking up the rest of the ceremony—told me
what I had said.
Going Down
The other blooper happened during the wedding
of my oldest brother one hot summer day in an
un-air-conditioned country church. Near the begin­ning
of the wedding I, a groomsman, decided to
take the quick way out. I fainted!
Nerves (it was my first wedding), heat, and
locked knees provided just the right combination
for me to pass out. Fortunately, another grooms­man
caught me before I hit my head on the front
pew.
As a pastor, I now make it a point at every
rehearsal to tell the guys, “Don’t lock your knees.”
Nevertheless, summer weddings with a lot of can­dles
(additional heat, less oxygen) make me very
nervous!
Do you have an amusing story to tell about a
wedding blooper, or perhaps a blooper from a
funeral or some other church service? More such
stories will be compiled in future issues. Any sub­missions
are welcome. Send to: The United Breth­ren,
302 Lake St., Huntington, IN 46750.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 17
Rev. Michael R. Brown
Monroe UB church
Monroe, Ind.
Rev. Jerry Au
Fountain UB church
Keyser, West Virginia
Rev. Keith Kunda
Make a Joyful Musical
Unto the Lord
This month, Rev. Philip Burkett takes a break
from this monthly column. Replacing him is Rev.
Keith Kunda, minister o f youth and music at
College Park UB church in Huntington.
Knowing that many UB choir directors, lack­ing
musical training, may not know what to look
fo r in selecting a musical and may fe e l over­whelmed
by the number o f musicals available, I
asked Keith to write some reviews. It turns out
that Keith, fo r his own benefit, had already writ­ten
evaluations o f numerous church musicals,
many o f which he has personally directed over
the years. So much o f the work was already done.
A ll he had to do was call them up on his
computer.
Here, he deals with non-seasonal musicals—
ones your church choir can perform anytime o f
the year.—SD
Difficulty level
5 most difficult
1 least difficult
Alleluia
by Bill and Gloria Gaither and Ron H u ff
1973, Benson
Now distributed by Zondervan
Although 15 years old, this remains a very fine
praise musical for anyone who likes the Gaithers’
music. It contains many of their most familiar
songs—“Because He Lives,” “Let’s Just Praise
the Lord,” “Get All Excited,” and others. It
works nicely with accompaniment tape or piano.
Difficulty level: 2.5
Bind Us Together
by Steve and Annie Chapman
1986, Star Song Music
This musical about the family contains a pow­erful
message of family commitment to Christ
that every church needs to hear. It takes more
soloists than most other works, but the music,
including the solos, is not difficult. It works best
with accompaniment tape.
Difficulty level: 2
Celebrate Life
by Buryi Red
1972, Broadman
Now distributed by Genevox
This musical drama is designed for Easter, but
would work at any time of the year. Though the
oldest work in this list, it remains a great classic.
Celebrate Life could be done by adult or youth
choirs, or a combination of both. It does not
require large forces, the music is great, and it is
not very difficult. Works best with live accom­paniment
of piano, organ, drums, and electric
bass.
Difficulty level: 2.5
18 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
The Sounding
Board
Exaltation
by Ron H u ff
1981, Paragon
Distributed by Alexandria House
This beautiful praise musical incorporates
many of the praise choruses of the past 20 years,
powerfully arranged for choirs. It also incorpo­rates
some Scripture readings, and makes a great
worship service. Works best with accompani­ment
tape.
Difficulty level: 3 (one number is 4.5, but could
be cut)
God Has Always Had a People
by Don Marsh
1981, Paragon
Distributed by Alexandria House
This musical about faith, based on Hebrews
11, delivers a powerful message for believers
today. Outstanding music combined with quality
narration (requiring lengthy memorization work)
make this one of the best musicals on the market.
Works best with accompaniment tape. Not recom­mended
for choirs of less that 25 people.
Difficulty level: 3.5
How Great Thou Art
by David Clydesdale
1984, Royal Tapestry
Now distributed by Lexicon/ Spectra
Based on the great gospel song of the same
title, this is an excellent presentation of God’s
greatness revealed through the death and resur­rection
of Christ. It works at Easter, but could be
done any time of the year. Could be done with
piano or accompaniment tape.
Difficulty level: 3
Ruth
by Sue Farrar
1985, Fourth Day
This is a musical drama about the events in the
book of Ruth. Everyone wears period costume
and must perform from memory. However, the
script and the music are not difficult, and it can be
done with a relatively small cast. Ruth is very true
to the biblical text and historical customs, and
conveys a great message about faith and com­mitment.
The only drawback for some churches
is that it requires a large proportion of men.
Difficulty level: 2
Jubilate
by Mark Hayes
1985, Tempo
Distributed by Alexandria House
This is a quasi-charismatic praise musical
intended to have lots of congregational involve­ment.
If your congregation picks up on new
things quickly to be able to sing along, it could be
a great worship experience. The songs are nice,
and the arranging is very good. Works best with
tape accompaniment.
Difficulty level: 3
Thou Art Worthy
by David Clydesdale
1987, Royal Tapestry
Distributed by Lexicon/Spectra
Here is something for the bigger choir. It is
hard, high, and big, but contains an exciting
message. Subtitled “The Anthem of Eternity,” it
concerns heaven and the second coming. The
music ranges from Brahms’ “How Lovely is Thy
Dwelling Place” to Gaither’s “The King Is Com­ing."
Not recommended for choirs of less than 35.
Works best with tape or live orchestral accompani­ment.
Difficulty level: 4
Hymns Triumphant
by Lee Holdridge
1981, Sparrow
Nine hymn medleys, each titled with a phrase
from the Lord’s Prayer (e.g., “Our Father Who
Art in Heaven”), are arranged into a choral suite.
All songs are traditional hymns. The difficulty
level will show this to be fairly easy, but it does
have much division in the choral parts (fre­quently
5-8 parts). You don’t need a large group
of singers, just people who can sing many parts.
Works with piano/organ accompaniment or
tape.
Difficulty level: 2.5
To clear your August schedule for Chal­lenge
’88, the annual Summer Seminar on
United Brethren Church History has been
moved to June 16-18. This annual course is
sponsored by the Huntington College
Graduate School of Christian Ministries.
The tuition is $60. Students need two
books: Trials and Triumphs, the UB church
history book ($14.95); and the 1985-1989
Discipline ($4). Both can be purchased at
the UB Headquarters Building in Hunting­ton,
or ordered from; Department of Church
Services, 302 Lake St., Huntington, Ind.
46750.
The seminar will begin at 9 a.m. on
Thursday, June 16. Dr. Howard Cherry will
teach the course.
If you are interested in attending, please
write to:
Graduate School
Huntington College
Huntington, Ind. 46750
Summer Seminar
on UB
Church History
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 19
Where, Oh Where,
Some friends of mine have a $50 bill. Or at least it
looks like a $50 bill. On the front anyway. The back
is blank, but the front looks absolutely genuine. It
has a picture of some obscure dead President. It feels
like real money. And it makes your mouth water just
like real money.
These friends get a great deal of mileage out of this
phoney $50. Especially at the local bowling alley.
Their favorite trick is to strategically place it under a
table near the lanes. Then they sit back and watch.
Recently, their victim was a fellow in their
bowling league. For the sake of one of those awful
puns my wife hates so much, we’ll call him “Buck.”
Buck spotted the $50 about midway through the
first game. His eyes bugged out. His mouth went
dry. His palms grew sweaty. All the normal reac­tions
of a guy who had just spotted an orphaned
fortune.
But Buck didn’t pick it up. He just watched it. He
casually strolled around the general vicinity, eyeing
it from every possible angle. My friends could barely
control their laughter.
Finally, early in the second game, Buck could
stand it no longer. As quickly as he could without
drawing attention to himself, he swooped down on
that $50 bill and slipped it into his pocket—without
giving it a closer look. And even more quickly, he
fled the scene.
Does My
Decimal
Point
Go?
20 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Being freed from
bondage to the law
of the percentage sign.
Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck
Buck’s whole attitude changed. As if some magi­cal
happy medication coated that piece of paper
and, through the process of osmosis, was being
absorbed through his pants pocket into his blood­stream.
Soon, though, the medication wore off. Some­thing
was bothering Buck. To appease his con­scious,
he innocently asked those around him, “Did
anyone lose some money?”
A third party—not privy to the d e c e p tio n -
responded, “If it’s $50, it’s mine!”
Buck’s face dropped. Not just his jaw. His whole
face.
He pulled the money from his pocket. Then he
noticed. The back was blank. The thrill of discovery,
the excitement of the hunt, the satisfaction of the
capture, the ecstasy of possession—all were bull­dozed
by the disappointment of the return and the
anger of public humiliation.
The Touchy Subject of Money
The love of money is, indeed, the root of all kinds
of evil. A magnetic-like force rivets our attention on
it. Money determines where we live, what we drive,
and whether we order a pizza or go home to eat
leftovers . . . again.
Is any topic as sensitive as money? When I was
growing up, my parents gave me two pieces of
advice: never ask a woman her weight or her age,
and never ask a man how much money he makes.
We love to earn it, spend it, control it. Anything but
talk about it. We get defensive real quick about our
finances.
Two days after I began a new pastorate, the
chairman of my Personnel Relations Committee
informed me, “I’ll support you as long as you don’t
preach on tithing." And he did. Until I did. And true
to his word, once I did, he didn’t.
God in His great wisdom knew money would
create turmoil. That’s why the Holy Spirit devoted a
considerable percentage of His inspiration to the
subject. Since the Scriptures speak on it, we should,
too.M
ention money in the local church, and folks
immediately think “tithing.” My Personnel Rela­tions
Committee chairman sure did. “Tithe” is part
of the standard church vocabulary we must interpret
for all newcomers. The Holy Lingo List also
includes baptistry, anthem, doxology, and “with
every head bowed and every eye closed.”
For many, tithing measures a person’s spiritual­ity.
They link your fitness for leadership or member­ship
to your ability and willingness to contribute
that magical percentage of income every week. That
upsets me, as you’ve already figured out. Why else
would I write about it?
You see, I am convinced that tithing, as practiced
by many, is a sin.
Furthermore, I am certain that such tithing
doesn’t work.
Now, lest you brand me a heretic and take away
my “Wir Sind Bruder” tie tac, let me explain how I
have arrived at these convictions.
Focus on God, Not Percentages
First, tithing focuses attention on the gift instead
of on God, the recipient of the gift. We’re more
concerned about where we place the decimal point
than we are with honoring God.
Some parishioners once asked me, “Which is
right—10% of the gross, or 10% of the net?”
I answered, “Neither. ‘How much’ is not the
point.”
I realize that “tithe” means “tenth.” My Webster’s
works fine, thank you. But we often teach that the
first tenth belongs to God. And I don’t buy that. I
won’t even rent it. The whole thing belongs to God.
All ten tenths. He wants everything, not just a token
10% gesture. If you believe you should “give to God
what is God’s,” then be ready to endorse your pay­check
and drop the whole thing in the offering plate.
When we start thinking about decimal points, we
stop thinking about God. And that’s wrong. No
matter how accurate your arithmetic, the gift is
invalid unless God is central to your thinking.
A False Sense of Accomplishment
We live in a goal-oriented society. You can take a
seminar on “How to Set Goals,” with a follow-up
seminar on “How to Achieve Your Goals.”
Goal-oriented people like the tithing concept
because it is measurable. Every time you get paid,
you slide the decimal point to the left two spaces,
round to the nearest dollar, and write the church a
check for that amount. You feel satisfied at accomp­lishing
that goal. It’s good for the ego. Congratula­tions!
You have achieved a goal (and probably saved
yourself the $200 registration fee for the follow-up
seminar).
This goal-orientation makes me uncomfortable
with that approach to tithing. Too many people give
their 10% and quit. “I’ve done my part,” they say.
Even though they could give more, they feel they’ve
done “all that God expects.”
These folks need to be nudged with the example
of the widow and her mite. Remember her? While
the rich tithers rejoiced in doing “all that God
expects,” she ignored the percentage sign—and
earned praise from Jesus. When you reach heaven,
try to tell her that she overpaid.
On the other side of this coin is the person who
simply can’t give 10%. Maybe he lost a job. Maybe
he came to Christ after a lifestyle that greatly over­extended
his income.
More frequently, you’ll find the ever-so-faithful
young mother whose non-Christian husband tightly
controls the checkbook. This mom lugs four pre­schoolers
to church for every service, and somehow
manages to save a dollar or two from the grocery
budget for the offering plate. Money that her hus­band
would be angry about. Is she really unfit for
leadership simply because of that percentage sign?
No way. And it is a crime to make her feel so.
The Scriptures say “God loves a cheerful giver” (2
Corinthians 9:7). Not, “God loves a mathematically
precise giver.” If giving determines who leads and
who follows, then scan the congregation during the
offertory and see who’s smiling.
Old Law, New Standard
One more reason to be agitated by tithing. It’s an
Old Testament concept. Hold on! I believe in the
inspiration of the Old Testament, too. Yet, like so
many Old Testament principles, tithing has become
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 21
part of a legalistic system that emphasizes com­pliance
rather than the attitude of the giver.
Under the work of grace, we have been freed from
the law of the percentage sign to give cheerfully and
generously. That’s how the Philippians gave—
generously, not proportionately.
We need deliverance from such stale legalistic
thinking. If we have been freed from such rules, why
do we submit to their bondage over and over again?
That’s a probing question for each of us to consider.
“They Only Want My Money!”
Church growth experts have identified the five
accusations most often leveled against the local
church:
1. It’s boring.
2. It’s unfriendly.
3. It’s irrelevant.
4. There’s nothing for my kids.
5. They only want my money.
Ouch!
We could talk for days about each of these, but
our focus right now is Number 5. Money.
What do your neighbors hear about your church?
The youth group is selling candy to go to Florida.
There’s a car wash this Saturday. A rummage sale
next week. They show up to church services and an
offering plate is handed to them. Plus they find an
envelope or two tucked inside the bulletin for this
week’s special offering: the Flower Fund, the Kitch­en
Fund, the Toilet Paper Fund, or better yet, those
ever-present annual denominational pleas.
Those of us who have been around the church for
awhile have grown immune to such annoyances.
They don’t bother us anymore. While someone
explains the envelopes, we switch to another station.
We find the next hymn. Go get a drink of water.
Stick our fingers through the communion cup
holder. Our neighbor, though, is appalled, and
remarks, “They’re only after my money.”
I applaud those sensitive churches that find crea­tive
ways for visitors to not contribute without feel­ing
guilty. But some churches feel compelled to
extract at least a dollar from every stranger who
darkens the door. And—this breaks my heart—a
few churches are gung-ho on outreach only because
they need more paychecks to meet the budget.
Getting to the Roots
Paul wrote, “The love of money is a root of all
kinds of evil. ” To whom was that letter addressed? A
pastor—Timothy. And ultimately, the church. That’s
important. Paul wasn’t writing to non-Christians.
He was warning against falling into the trap of
loving money.
The verse continues, “Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 10b).
These wanderers weren’t on the golf course Sunday
morning. They were in the pew. Perhaps teaching
Sunday school. Maybe even counting the offering.
They weren’t thieves. They would never steal from
the treasury. It’s just that their main concern was the
amount needed to “run the church.” They were
“eager for money.” And when the weekly total
dipped below the weekly need, they were “pierced
. . . with many griefs.”
Paul continues, “But you, man of God, flee from
all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, endurance, and gentleness” (v. 11).
Flee the love of money, man of God! And pursue
. . . candy sales? No! Pursue righteousness!
Model the latest line of offering envelopes? No!
Model godliness!
The generosity needed for the church budget
comes as Christians flee an emphasis on money and
pursue the attributes of God—righteousness, faith,
love, etc. No other way. Not by fundraisers. Not by
countless special offerings. Not by a legalistic ap­proach
to tithing.
And face it, folks—too often, we d o n ’t flee the
love of money. We commit adultery with it. Many
Christians are having extra-marital affairs with
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Rooting Out the Roots
So how do we change? It’s tough to reverse long­term
practices and orientations. “Roots of evil”
grow deep. And cosmetic alterations don’t solve
deep root problems.
First, and foremost, look inward. Ask God to
help you review your personal finances.
Focus on the 90% not being turned over to the
church. How do you spend it? Is there waste? If so,
give that waste to God. Do your spending habits
include things that are even moderately inconsistent
with your Christian witness? If so, make changes.
The bottom line has to be, “Is the Lord honored by
every penny He has provided for me?”
Next, get the local church to review its spending
practices.
Where is there waste? How much is spent on
maintaining what you have vs. outreach? There is no
respectable way to continually pour money into
outdated and ineffective programs. As a church, cut
all the extra funds and special appeals. Consolidate
every department’s checking account into one cen­tralized
account.
Finally, review God’s promises to provide your
needs. When you break through the 10% barrier,
you will encounter some initial anguish. You’ll ask
yourself, “Can I really live on less than the 90% I’ve
always used?” But hang in there. You will experience
relief at being freed from the burden of the percen­tage
sign.
For those of you who honestly can’t give more—
forget about the expectations of others, and give
God what you can cheerfully. Even if only a mite or
two.
The Whole Package
God values givers far more than gifts. We Chris­tians
prefer the gifts. But since the Bible puts God’s
desires above man’s desires, we should elevate the
giver.
This week, begin doing that in your own life.
When the usher hands you the plate, regardless of
the size of your offering, symbolically place all 100%
of you into it. Picture yourself sealed up in that
offering envelope. God will be pleased. And that, my
friend, is what it’s all about.
Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck pastors Prince o f
Peace UB church, Springfield, Ohio.
22 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
44th General Conference, June 24-28,1985
THE MAIN EVENT
The 45th General Conference, to be held in June
1989, is rapidly approaching. It is time to announce
the number of delegates each conference can elect.
The Discipline states the following for the North
American conferences: “Each annual conference
shall be entitled to two delegates—one minister and
one lay person. Each conference shall average its
adult membership and morning worship attend­ance,
and shall have one additional delegate for each
average of 500 or major fraction thereof above 500”
(paragraph 223.1a).
It then gives the breakdown of lay and ministerial
delegates. For instance, a conference entitled to 4-6
delegates must include two lay delegates in that
number.
Adult AM
Member­Attend­Total
Total Ministerial
North American Conferences ship ance Average Delegates Delegates Delegates
Arizona 208 270 239 0 0 0
California 499 369 434 2 1 1
Central 6977 4951 5964 14 5 9
Florida 262 457 360 2 1 1
Michigan 3049 3516 3283 8 3 5
Midwest 474 361 418 2 1 1
North Ohio 2467 2484 2476 6 2 4
Northwest 338 263 301 2 1 1
Ontario 845 864 854 3 1 2
Pennsylvania 8463 5181 6822 16 6 10
Rock River 390 356 373 2 1 1
Sandusky 1903 2073 1988 5 2 3
Overseas Conferences
Honduras 1757 1520 1639 1
Hong Kong (Information pending)
Jamaica (Information pending)
Sierra Leone 4827 2344 3586 2
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 23
Delegate totals for the 1989 General Conference.
Rev. Lester Smith
The Fateful 40
I want to make clear that I am not trying to set a
date for the return of Christ. Jesus said that only His
Father knows that time. However, our Lord did
encourage His followers to look for signs concerning
the end of the age. That’s what I am doing here.
For several years, I have felt that a significant
prophecy would be fulfilled in 1988. Forty years
have passed since 1948, when Israel became a nation
again after being scattered throughout the world for
2000 years.
The number 40 is the key period of time found
throughout biblical history. Consider the following:
1. The flood lasted 40 days (Genesis 7:4).
2. Isaac married Rebekah (mother of “Israel)”) at
age 40 (Genesis 25:20). His twin, Esau, also married
at age 40 (26:34).
3. Moses received the Ten Commandments after
fasting 40 days (Exodus 34:28).
4. After spying out the Promised Land for 40
days, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40
years (Numbers 14:34).
5. The life of Moses involved three 40-year peri­ods
(Acts 7:23, 30, 36).
6. According to Judges, Israel enjoyed 40 years of
peace after the victories by Othniel (3:11), Deborah
(5:31), and Gideon (8:28)
7. Eli led Israel 40 years (1 Samuel 4:1).
8. King Saul ruled 40 years (Acts 13:21).
9. King David ruled 40 years (2 Samuel 5:4).
10. King Solomon ruled 40 years (1 Kings 11:42).
After Solomon, the nation was divided. Not until
1948 did Israel again become a free and united
nation.
11. Goliath the Philistine (from which we get the
word “Palestinian”) challenged Israel 40 days (1
Samuel 17:16).
12. Ezekiel was told to symbolically “bare the
sins” of God’s people for 40 days before the siege of
Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:6-7).
13. Jonah warned that Ninevah could be de­stroyed
in 40 days (Jonah 3:4).
14. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days,
during which Satan tempted Him (Matthew 4:1-2).
15. Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days
after His resurrection (Acts 1:3).
16. Forty years after Jesus died, the Romans de­stroyed
the temple in Jerusalem and scattered the
Jews until 1948.
These events convince me that something biblically
significant will occur in 1988. Most scholars agree
that what happened in 1948 fulfilled the “dry bones”
prophecy of Ezekiel 37—“I will bring you back to
the land of Israel . . . . I will settle you in your own
land” (verses 12,14). The war described in chapters
3-39 has not yet occurred. So I believe it will be
fulfilled this year.
What if I’m wrong? In that case, I look for Eze­kiel’s
prophecy to be fulfilled 19 years from now.
That will be 40 years after the Six Day War of 1967.
It was during the Six Day War that Israel captured
old Jerusalem, where the temple once stood, and the
West Bank, restoring to Israel the land God origi­nally
gave His people.
Rev. Lester Smith pastors the UB church in Flint,
Mich.
24 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Will something important happen in Israel this year?
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 25
The Good Shepherd Easter cantata.
Central
Huntington, Ind. The Good Shepherd church pre­sented
two performances of the Easter cantata
“Now I See You,” by Don March and Claire Clo­ninger.
The sanctuary was filled for both per­formances—
one on Palm Sunday, the other on the
following Tuesday. Mark Kiefer directed the cantata.
The sanctuary was transformed into Jerusalem,
with the city wall towering across the front of the
church. A marketplace, the Upper Room, and the
tomb were also built.
The adult choir, dressed in biblical costumes,
presented scenes from the last week of Christ’s min­istry.
A colt coming down the center aisle was used
to depict Jesus triumphantly entering the city on
Palm Sunday. Men from the congregation por­trayed
Jesus’ disciples and dramatized the Last
Supper.
The children’s choir, called the Sonshine Kids,
joined the festivities for one song.
— Submitted by Vicki Kiefer
Zanesville, Ind. At an auction, the Zanesville church
purchased a four-bedroom house next door to the
parsonage. Youth director Scott Taylor and his
wife, Mary Anne, moved into the house in Febru­ary.
Scott also holds youth meetings there.
The property features a large backyard, part of
which will be made into a parking lot for the church.
At just $28,250, the members consider it a good
investment.
Chambersburg, Pa. Garnet and Evelyn Dice cele­brated
their 50th wedding anniversary in February.
They were married February 12, 1938, in Cham­bersburg.
They have two children and seven grand­children.
They are members of the Criders UB
church. The celebration occurred at the Salem UB
church.
Port Orange. Carrie Powell, 15, plans to serve on
the mission field June 15—August 19 with Missions
Outreach, Inc. She will spend six weeks in Quatzal­tenango,
Guatemala, as part of a 24-member team.
They will build a much-needed science lab at the
26 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
HEARTBEAT
Pennsylvania
Florida
International Missions School there.
Carrie is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Charles
Causey, who pastor Faith UB in Port Orange. She is
the church’s first missionary. Carrie is currently rais­ing
$1350 in support needed for the trip.
The store-front meeting place being rented by the Chicago
church planters.
Rock River
Chicago. Rock River Conference’s church exten­sion
work in Chicago has finally been able to rent an
office and small meeting area at 3845 W. Montrose
Ave. A missions trust fund, recently left to the Ade­line
UB church by an estate, is paying half of the rent
and utilities for the one-year lease. A special offering
is being taken in Rock River churches on Pentecost
Sunday to provide the other half.
The work began last September under the leader­ship
of Rev. Lou and Kim Sari, and Rev. Paul
Barber. Please pray with them that the Lord will
begin softening the hard hearts of the people they are
trying to reach with the Gospel in the Irving Park
area of Chicago.
—Submitted by Rev. Paul L. Barber
The Huntington College
Graduate School
of
Christian Ministries
Conflict
Management
and
Administrative
Styles
of Leadership
an Intensive Education
Module Course
for the
Master of Christian
Ministry Degree
June 6-10,1988
at Huntington College
This course relates theory about conflict
to the life of the church. It discusses such
issues as the nature of human differences,
the constructive values and uses of con­flict,
the biblical and theological under­standing
of conflict, styles of conflict man­agement,
and organizational handling of
conflict. Students will examine their own
styles of leadership and conflict, analyze
typical conflict situations, and design an
approach to managing conflict based on
their own places of ministry.
The instructor is Dr. Paul R. Fetters, who
pastored UB churches for 18 years and
currently serves as dean of the Graduate
School.
This course, worth three credit hours,
runs Monday through Friday, June 6-10.
IEM Tuition Costs for 1988
General Tuition (per credit hour) $100
Tuition for UBs 67
Senior adults (over 55) 35
Senior adults (over 62) Free
Limited room space is available on cam­pus
at reasonable rates.
For more information, contact:
Graduate School
Huntington College
Huntington, IN 46750
(219) 356-6000
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 27
€vents
VIETNAMESE BIBLE
PROJECT RESUMES
Six pastors from Vietnam, now
fulltime church workers in Amer­ica,
resumed translation of the
Bible into everyday Vietnamese.
This project halted 14 years ago,
when Saigon fell.
Four of the men are Southern
Baptist ministers, and two are re­lated
to the Christian and Mission­ary
Alliance. They are scattered
from California to Texas to Louisi­ana
to Georgia. This makes team­work
difficult, so they do much
work independently.
They recently completed Luke,
and have finished parts of Mat­thew,
Mark, John, and Philippians.
They expect to complete the entire
Bible in seven years.
Most of the $725,000 project
cost is coming from a foundation
established by a retired Southern
Baptist teacher in Texas. A United
Bible Societies worker in New York
City provides overall guidance.
THAI TO THAI
SEATTLE, Wash.—A 2900-mem­ber
church in Thailand is starting a
church in Seattle, led by a Thai
physician. Up to 100,000 Thais live
in America.
The mother church has already
started 10 churches in Thailand,
and plans to start 20 more in 1988.
AMITY PRESSES
GOING FULL SPEED
NANJING, China—The Ameri­can
Bible Society reports that
Amity Printing Press, which began
operating last fall, is already run­ning
three full shifts daily.
Things are going so well that
they doubled the press-run of
Bibles originally projected for
1988—from 300,000 to 600,000.
Amity completed 145,000 Chi­nese
Bibles in traditional Chinese
characters, and is finishing 100,000
reference Bibles. Amity also ex­pects
to print 200,000 New Testa­ments
with Psalms in a simplified
script geared to young people.
Amity, heavily financed by the
ABS, boasts state-of-the-art equip­ment
which can handle any kind of
printing job.
GENDER TESTS
The World Development Forum
reports that prenatal gender tests
are flourishing in Asian nations.
Mothers often abort babies when
the test shows that the fetus is a
girl.
In India, gender tests and abor­tions
are legal, cheap, and readily
available.
China allows abortion, but for­bids
gender tests. Yet illegal gender
tests and infanticide of female
babies reduces the number of baby
girls.
South Korea also shows “an
alarming swing” toward male
births.
BRAZILIAN CHINESE
SAO PAULO—Gospel Mission­ary
Union assigned its first mis­sionaries
to the 100,000 Chinese
living in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
CARIBBEAN MUSLIMS
Nearly 400,000 Muslims live in
various Caribbean nations.
•Suriname has 100,000 Muslims.
•Trinidad and Tobago have
100,000 Muslims. Trinidad, smaller
than Delaware, has 85 mosques
and a Muslim president.
•120,000 Muslims live in Guyana.
“CULT” PASTOR EXPELLED
SEATTLE—Donald Barnett, found­ing
pastor of the Seattle-based
Community Chapel and Bible Train­ing
Center, was excommunicated
by his church in March.
Barnett’s unusual teachings
brought the church a reputation
as a “cult” church. He first came
under scrutiny two years ago, when
a member killed her six-year-old
daughter, believing the girl was
demon-possessed.
Later reports claimed Barnett
advocated forming “spiritual con­nections”
with other members
through sexual intimacy.
In February, church elders de­clared
Barnett guilty of “sexual sin
of substantial magnitude” with
several women in the congrega­tion.
The elders forbid him to meet
women alone.
Barnett refused. So elders amend­ed
church bylaws that had made
Barnett “ Pastor for Life,” and ex­pelled
him.
Barnett faces civil suits charg­ing
child abuse and sexual assault.
ECFA’S 500TH MEMBER
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Evan­gelical
Council for Financial Ac­countability
approved its500th mem­ber:
Christian Financial Concepts,
an organization headed by Larry
Burkett.
28 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
TWR LOSES LICENSE
SOUTHERN AFRICA—Trans
World Radio has been broadcast­ing
on an AM frequency in South­ern
Africa for five years. The
government recently decided it
needed the frequency for com­mercial
needs, and told TWR the
license wouldn’t be renewed.
To continue broadcasting to
Southern Africa, TWR will add a
seventh transmitter at its Swazi­land
facility.
THE PTL PULITZER
The Charlotte Observer won the
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for
its reporting on the PTL scandal.
THREE FOOD TRUCKS
DESTROYED IN ATTACK
ETHIOPIA—Anti-Marxist rebels
attacked a seven-truck food con­voy
transporting from ports to in­land
distribution centers. They
ignored four United Nations trucks,
and singled out the three long-haul
trucks owned by Food for the
Hungry.
They destroyed the three 23-ton
trucks, valued at $300,000 and car­rying
151,000 pounds of grain.
Food for the Hungry had been dis­tributing
80,000 pounds of food
daily, feeding 275,000 people. The
loss of the trucks—only two more
remain—severely curtails the organi­zation’s
ability to provide hunger
relief.
Food fo r the Hungry filed formal
protests through the U. S. State
Department, and with the Washing­ton
office of Tigray People’s Lib­eration
Front, believed responsi­ble
for the attack.
MORMONS IN BRAZIL
BRAZIL—Christianity is growing
faster in Brazil than in most nations.
But so is Mormonism.
The Mormons field 15,000 mis­sionaries
in Brazil. They gain about
2000 converts a month. These con­verts
are being trained as mission­aries,
and Argentina is being tar­geted.
RUMOR CONTROL
TULSA, Okla.—Christian rock
group Stryper received some unde­served
bad publicity.
Three Oklahoma young people
tortured a dog and cat to death,
recording the animals’ cries. They
said they were imitating a song
called “Granny," which features
screaming animals in the back­ground.
The Tulsa press reported that
Stryper recorded the song. Angry
Christian parents besieged a local
Christian radio station with calls.
Stryper never recorded such a
song.
“JESUS IS ALIVE” MAIL
ENGLAND—Through March and
part of April, letters mailed in Great
Britain carried the message^'Jesus
is Alive.” It was part of a postmark
stamped on nearly 50 million pieces
of mail each day. This included
mail bound for Muslim, Buddhist,
and Jewish nations.
A British postal service policy
allows any institution, organization,
or person to pay to have a slogan
put on the postmark. Paul Slennet,
a 41-year-old Christian bookstore
owner, paid $88,500 for the “Jesus
is Alive” postmark.
People
•William J. Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education, has called for
restoring content, character, and choice to public education. In a
message at the National Association of Evangelicals convention,
he stressed the need for developing personal character in stu­dents,
and suggested ways to instill moral values. Then, in a
question-and-answer period, he said, “ It doesn’t help my cause to
teach moral values when those who speak the loudest cannot live
up to their own beliefs. Frankly, I’m mad about it.”
•Gordon Loux resigned as president and CEO of Prison Fellow­ship
Ministries, citing “differences in management philosophy,
style, and role expectations." Loux and Charles Colson founded
Prison Fellowship in 1976. Colson commented, “ I will sorely miss
him, though he has assured me I can continue to call on him for
counsel and help.”
•Bob Jones, chancellor of Bob Jones University, said, “ Pat
Robertson makes a lot of crazy statements. I make them, too, but
I’m not running for office.”
•Jesse Jackson, in a speech he gives regularly to high school
audiences, says, “You are not a man just ‘cause you make a baby.
And you young ladies, [pregnancy] is a short-term thrill and a
long-term chill for you. How do I know? Because I am the son of a
teenage mother, who was the daughter of a teenage mother. I
never lived in a house with my father one night of my life.”
•Robert Seiple said the following in his inaugural address as
new president of World Vision: “We have marketed children as a
bargain by claiming, ‘For a few pennies a day . . . , Just give up
one meal out of a month . . . , For the cost of a pair of Dodger
tickets . . . .’ Subconsciously we say to millions of Americans,
‘That child isn’t worth much.’ ”
•Rev. Michael Agnello, who headed a five-state TV ministry
from Charleston, W. Va., admitted committing adultery. He told his
wife and 350 worshipers that he was guilty of sexual misconduct
with the widow of Davy Jo Hissom, who founded New Life Church.
Agnello became pastor four months after Hissom died in a plane
crash. His confession, dwarfed by the Jimmy Swaggart scandal,
drew little media attention.
•Jim Bakker returned to the pulpit fo r the first time in over a year
on March 13, when he addressed 225 retirees in a California trailer
park. His uncle is the park’s Lutheran pastor during the winter.
•Eugene Antonio Marino is the first black Catholic archbishop
in the U.S. The Pope appointed him to the Atlanta archdiocese
March 14.
•James Irwin found nothing during his six trips in search of
Noah’s Ark. Now the former astronaut is looking for Egyptian
chariots beneath the Red Sea. He joined an international team
which retraced probable routes for the Israelites when they left
Egypt. The effort included unsuccessful dives for chariot remains
in the Red Sea, which God closed on Pharoah’s army after the
Israelites had crossed on dry land.
•Win Am, a church growth expert, says Sunday school attend­ance
has dropped 14 million since 1970. The percentage of church
members attending Sunday school plunged from 31% in 1970 to
18% in 1986. In 1970, only 10% of the population said they received
no religious training as a child. In 1987, 27% made that response.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 29
Is the Christian media any less biased than the
secular media?
I hear complaints about slanted news in the
secular arena. Sometimes I myself complain.
For instance, a friend of mine attended a prayer
meeting October 3 at Yoida Plaza in Seoul, South
Korea. He and one million Koreans! After the
prayer meeting, they peacefully marched to city
hall. Their purpose for the prayer and march was
two-fold:
1. They prayed to invoke God’s solution to
Korea’s problems; and for the 1988 Summer
Olympics, being held in Seoul.
2. They marched to show they were looking to
God for His solution. They wanted all Koreans to
know they were waging their war with the weap­ons
of love and prayer.
That item didn’t reach the U.S. evening news.
But let a tiny coterie of radicals raise cane on a
Korean campus, and all the American networks
and dailies billboard it.
But what about the Christian media? Are they
less slanted?
Ifyou follow the Christian media, you will likely
conclude that the only significant Work done in
the Third World is done by Americans.
What about the late Dr. John Sung of China?
He impacted China, Indochina, and southeast
Asia for God as no western missionary or organi­zation
in history. Have you ever heard his name?
What about Mr. F. E. Accad? He took the Gos­pel
to more Muslims in the completely closed
countries of the Arabic speaking world than any
western group in history. Have you heard his
name?
What about Dr. K. C. Han? His church in Seoul
started with 28 refugees, and has now exploded
into the world’s largest Presbyterian C h u rc h -
65,000 members. How often do you hear his
name?
You've probably heard the name Dr. Paul
Yonggi Cho, founder and pastor of history’s larg­est
church—more than 550,000 members. You’ve
heard of him because he’s active in the United
States and because some of America’s most vis­ible
ministers regularly make a trek there to study
his methods. Then again, maybe you haven’t
heard his name.
I thank God for western missionaries and
evangelists. I’m a second-generation product of
Presbyterian missions to Damascus, Syria. But
must the Christian press deny reality by spotlight­ing
western Christians and ignoring Third World
heroes of the faith?
Recently, an American Christian leader, a ded­icated
but unreconstructed cultural colonialist,
organized a convocation of other American Chris-tian
leaders to discuss coordinating world evan­gelism
efforts between now and the year 2000.
Strange.
Where were the Third World leaders?
Are they not the most qualified to lead such a
convocation?
Are they not the only ones who can evangelize
with credibility and effectiveness in nations that
today house 80% of all Third World peoples?
The convocation seemed to be an attempt by
westerners to de-westernize world evangelism.
How? By telling the Third World how to do it—a
continuing colonial attitude that presumes the
superiority of western control.
Perhaps the Christian media slants the stories
westward because the input they get comes from
westerners who insist on dominating both pro­gram
and personnel overseas.
We need solid investigative reporting of the
global facts by qualified journalists, so that sin­cere
western Christians at home can pray intelli­gently
and support (not control) the worldwide
spread of the Gospel.
An increasing number of organizations are fol­lowing
the example of such ministries as Prison
Fellowship International, Evangelism Explosion,
World Vision, and Living Bibles International.
These ministries work as equals, not superiors,
with their non-western colleagues. They urge
their Third World brothers and sisters to advise
and guide them, the westerners. And they enthu­siastically
report on the work of the contemporary
Sungs, Accads, and Hans.
Let every western, world-minded Christian ask
himself, “Would the overseas Christians still ac­cept
western domination if western money was
neither needed nor used?”
Maybe when westerners stop their colonial
control of Christian work in the Third World, the
evangelical press will report all the news.
John Haggai is president of the Haggai Insti­tute,
which specializes in training Third World
leaders.
30 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988
Colonial
Christianity
John Haggai
Of the world’s Christians,
only 1 out of 20 live
in the United States.
BURMA’S LOST TRIBES
BURMA—Seven native mission­aries
recently discovered nomadic
people believed to be the lost tribes
of Le lu Chin. The people, never
reached by missionaries, live in vil­lages
hidden deep in the jungle
rain forest.
Burmese evangelist Ronald Lal-thanlina
said the team found the
people “starved for the Gospel”
and eager to accept Christ. At
least 75 did.
The Le lu are animists. They
believe demon spirits inhabit the
rocks and trees they worship. Some
Le lu villages remain unreached.
Burma expelled all foreign mis­sionaries
in 1966. But about 1000
native missionaries are at work.
Burma, one of the world’s most
isolated nations, is cut off from
surrounding nations by a horse­shoe
ring of mountains.
VIETNAM NOTES
•According to Britain’s Keston
College, 18 Vietnamese pastors
are still in prison, 9 of them since
the communist takeover of South
Vietnam in 1975.
The charges include preaching
against the revolution, organizing
boat trips for refugees, receiving
money from abroad, printing ma­terials,
and expanding church
groups without permission.
•Vietnam lost an estimated 38%
of its wooded area during the last
30 years. U.S. troops inflicted most
of the damage, spraying defoliants
on 4 million acres. The Mennonite
Central Committee has offered
funds to reforest three scarred
areas.
• Poor harvests since 1985 have
prompted the government to find
ways to slow population growth.
Vietnam, which adds 1.2 million
people a year, competes with
Bangladesh for the world’s high­est
birth rate.
GOOD NEWS DOWN UNDER
AUSTRALIA—To go along with
Australia's 1988 bicentennial, the
Australian Evangelical Alliance
launched a nationwide evangelis­tic
campaign called “Operation
Good News ’88.” Every major
denomination is involved.
In May and June, thousands of
trained volunteers will visit homes,
sharing the gospel and offering a
New Testament. Less than 20% of
Australians attend church.
MARXIST UNITY
ZIMBABWE—Prime Minister
Robert Mugabe and long-time pol­itical
foe Joshua Nkomo signed an
agreement to unite their parties.
This establishes a one-party Marx-
/st state
HOLLYWOOD—This summer,
theaters across America will begin
showing “The Last Temptation of
Christ.”
The Universal Studios film, di­rected
by Martin Scorsese, is based
on a controversial novel by Nikos
Kazantzakis. The book’s notoriety
has caused Christians to line up in
protest against the film long before
it’s release.
To deal with such criticism, Uni­versal
hired Christian consultant
Tim Penland, who helped promote
“Chariots of Fire” and “The Mis­sion”
in the evangelical market.
Penland says Universal and
Scorsese intended to make a “faith-
CZECH DISCONTENT
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia—Over
300,000 Czech church members
signed a 31-point petition. It de­manded
more bishops and priests,
separation of church and state, the
right to question Marxist dogma,
and the right to petition authorities
without harassment.
affirming” movie, and cautions
Christians against judging the
movie before seeing it.
But Christian author Steve Law-head
says, “ It’s a bleak book that
portrays Christ as a deluded, sun­burned
idiot. Unless they take great
liberties of personal interpretation,
it would be very difficult to get a
faith-affirming story out of that
book.”
Penland will fly evangelical
leaders to Hollywood for advance
screenings. He says, "I'm hopeful
[Christian leaders] will be able to
embrace a film that shows the
human side of Christ yet affirms
Christ as Savior."
But not having seen the film
himself, he adds, “ If the movie is
blasphemous, or if the Christian
leaders feel it would be damaging
to the cause of Christ, that will be
the end of my involvement."
AND FINALLY . . .
At least three women in Santa
Barbara, Calif., were conned by a
team of “witches” who promised
to exorcise evil spirits from their
cash and jewelry.
Police arrested three suspects
for stealing a watch and $450 in
cash.
In the Courts
Baptist Battles. The Supreme Court rejected without comment
a case involving liberal-conservative power struggles within the
Southern Baptist Convention. A liberal couple accused conserva­tives
of “parliamentary irregularities” in 1985. Courts consistently
claimed lack of jurisdiction.
Cemetery Dispute. The Supreme Court demanded a trial for a
New Jersey dispute. It involves a woman who wants to force a
Jewish cemetery to disinter her husband’s body—a violation of
Jewish law.
Disneyland Dancing. Three gay men sued Disneyland for not
allowing them to slow-dance, despite a court decision against
such discrimination at dances. They say security guards at the
Videopolis nightclub told them, “Touch-dancing is only for hetero­sexual
couples."
Bakkers Sued, Bakkers Sue. The PTL ministry is suing Jim and
Tammy Bakker and former Bakker aide David Taggart for $52.8
million, charging mismanagement and unjustified compensation.
The Bakkers sued PTL for $1.3 million in back salary.
Activist Churches Lose. The Supreme Court refused to hear the
appeal of 13 churches in Jackson, Tenn., which jointly opposed a
1984 liquor-by-the-drink referendum. State law requires financial
disclosures by organizations participating in referendum issues.
Officials said the churches had to register as “ political action
committees" and make certain financial disclosures. The churches
objected on freedom of religion grounds. The High Court dismis­sal
leaves in place a lower court decision against the churches.
The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 31
Controversy
ot the Cinema
United Brethren Bulletin Board
Calendar
May 7. Ontario Conference
Missions Day'.
May 8. Mother's Day.
May10. The 4 bishops meet all
day.
May 11-12. The General Board
meets at the College Park UB
church in Huntington.
May 13. HC trustee meeting.
May14. HC baccalaureate and
commencement.
May 20. North Ohio conference
council.
May 21. Arizona Leadership
Day in Fountain Hills. Michigan
conference council.
May 23-24. Michigan stationing
committee meeting.
June 4. Pennsylvania Confer­ence
Pastors and Family Break­fast.
June 7. HQ staff picnic. The
UB Building will be closed all
afternoon.
July 2. Denominational Bible
quizzing finals at CM.
From HC
i p S
senior0citizens for
Dewitt and Evelyn^Bajfer. ° r'
Parish^ an3"lntensUnSp in9 in the
Module courw T Education
Donald Roth 3U9ht by Dr-
1988 Annual
Conferences
Ontario: June 3-4
Midwest June 17-18
Northwest: June 24-25
North Ohio: June 28-30
California: June 29-JU
Sandusky: July 17-20
Michigan: July 12-14
Rock River: July 12-14
Central: July 27‘ 3?
Pennsylvania: August 3-5
Graduation Day
cofes?p«uaV0;3° a-™. «
D ' - V e r n o n G r o u n d ' s Peal<&:
. speaker, and f f aulfl° r
f President. rmer seminary
front .^ p u s ^ b a /r in n 'h 1' ° n the ‘
fher, in which case th Wea'
Center will be used? o erri,att
Dr. Jerry White o r ^ l i peaker-'
Navigators ’ president of The
Prayer Concerns
•Challenge 88, as preparations continue in these few remaining
months. Rev. Paul Hirschy, director of Church Services, is
shouldering much of the responsibility for the convention.
•A great graduation day at Huntington College on May 14.
•Keith and Carlene Schieling, who began a three-month mis­sionary
term in Sierra Leone at the end of April.
•Rev. Brent and Sandie Birdsall, who leave for Sierra Leone in
July for a 21 -month term. Brent will teach at the Sierra Leone Bible
College. The family, which includes three children (and a fourth
due in September), has spent the last four years in Fort Wayne,
Ind., where Brent has pastored the Emmanuel UB church.
• Missionaries currently on furlough and doing deputation: The
Prabhakarfamily (India), June Brown and Michelle Becker (Sierra
Leone).
Guide to Abbreviations. UB—United Brethren. HC—Huntington College.
GSCM—Graduate School of Christian Ministries. RGC—Rhodes Grove
Camp (Pennsylvania). CC—CampCotubic (Central). CLW—Camp Living
Waters (Michigan). CM—Camp Michindoh (North Ohio). GC—General
Conference. HQ—Headquarters.
At Camp
May 14. RGC work day.
May 21. CLW Source of Life
fundraising banquet.
May 27-30. RGC Spring Fam­ily
Camp.
May 27-30. CLW work camp.
June 3-4. RGC men’s canoe
trip.
June1-12. CLW pre-camp train­ing
for summer staff.
June 10-12. RGC College and
Career Retreat.
July 16-22. CLW Family Camp.
August6-14. RGC campmeet­ing.
August 21-26. Arizona teen
camp (Prescott, Ariz.)