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Letters to the Editor - October to December 2005

To send us a Letter to the Editor, click here. (Full instructions are at the bottom of this page.) 


For all letters responding to the October 2 "Stolen Sermons" issue, click here.


RESPONSE TO DECEMBER 25 ISSUE

Excellent Column
(posted 12-22-05)
I just read the “From The Editor” column for the December 25 issue—“The Truth About Christmas.” I plan on using it for my Communion meditation on Christmas Day.

Quite often I find an article or commentary and use the ideas as a starting point for my Communion meditation, but have to make some changes because as my wife says, “It doesn’t sound like Mike.” I don’t think I need or want to change a word. Thanks.
—Mike Bumpus
West Union, Illinois


RESPONSE TO DECEMBER 18 ISSUE

Hospital Is Creating Labyrinth
(posted 12-29-05)
To Naomi Kouns, regarding “A Labyrinth Leading to God” in the December 18 CHRISTIAN STANDARD: What a great article you had in the Christian Standard. I’m working with the administrator of a small Catholic hospital; he has recently dedicated space on our campus for a labyrinth to use as a reflection tool for patients, families, staff and community.

We’re currently working with an architect who is creating the setting—something that will take time to “mellow” of course, when using plants.

We’re anticipating an opportunity for awareness—perhaps even a “user’s guide” in which we help those less familiar to see the value of taking the time to walk and reflect.

My thanks to you for creating this thought-provoking piece—particularly at this special time of year.
—Name withheld upon request


 RESPONSE TO DECEMBER 11 ISSUE

A Wise Approach
(posted 12-14-05)
Thanks for the e-version of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. Your copy addressing the advantage of providing coaches for ministers (December 11) addresses a wise approach to improving our ministries. Fresh eyes from the outside can quickly see things to which we have grown accustomed. Thanks for the insight.
—Dennis Thomas
Brighton, Colorado

Is It Just a Fad?
(posted 12-12-05)
I just read your December 11 issue on coaching. I thought it was interesting that the subject is finally trickling down into the church. As I read the articles, I was struck by the thought, “Is it just a fad?”

I believe the answer depends on how you define coaching. Coaching is not new, but it is becoming popular. Everywhere you look you see a different definition for coaching. Many of the definitions contradict each other, and create confusion. The same questions always come up—how is it different from counseling? Mentoring? Consulting?

I believe that coaching will be a fad everywhere including the church if it is left in the realm of short-term performance and results. I have no doubt that coaching is valuable in bringing about success, and desired results. I have experienced its value. However, coaching is not about a successful church plant, or successful church leadership, or about a successful business. Coaching is about a successful life.

As a Christian my success is not judged by my desires for my life. My success is determined by God’s desires for my life; from how I treat my wife to how I spend my free time.

If you want to build a successful ministry, find a mentor and hire a consultant. If you truly want to discover who God made you to be and what role he wants you to play in his kingdom, find several mentors and get connected with a coach who will help you discover God’s purpose as you walk through the journey together.

The kingdom does not need more successful ministers. The kingdom needs more men and women who are devoted to trusting God, and daily living God’s will in every area of their lives. I believe that a good coach can make this journey truly successful.
—Mark Bryant
Anacortes, Washington


READERS' REACTIONS TO DECEMBER 4 ISSUE

Thankful for Female Preachers
(posted 12-14-05)
Bob Strimboulis raises interesting questions in his letter “Surprised There Are Female Chaplains” (see below). First, he questions “are we not the brotherhood against the ordination of females?” Not exactly, “we” are a brotherhood of independent churches whose individual policies and beliefs are outlined by that congregation. Consequently, “we” aren’t for (or against) anything officially.

Second, his question “There aren’t any female preachers amongst us, are there?” bears the answer, yes, yes, and yes. We must be thankful for the female preachers who came before us and those coming behind us. Otherwise, Christianity might have died out generations ago!
George Timm
Bradenton, Florida

Surprised There Are Female Chaplains
(posted 12-8-05)
Brother, I was surprised to find the testimony of a female chaplain. Are not we who are of the brotherhood against the ordination of females? There aren’t any female preachers amongst us, are there?
—Bob Strimboulis
Trout Run, Pennsylvania

Many Chaplaincy Opportunities at Prisons
(posted 12-1-05)
Thank you for highlighting the chaplaincy in your December 4 issue. Though often an unheralded ministry, chaplaincy certainly touches many lives in unique ways, not often seen in located “church” ministry.

I would encourage future articles to highlight prison ministry. Having served as a clinical chaplain for the North Carolina Department of Correction, I can attest to the many opportunities that exist to touch the lives of inmates, their families, and community volunteers who come into the prison to conduct services. Tremendous opportunities exist to minister to the prison staff and their families as well.

Prison ministry certainly was on Jesus’ mind as he spoke of being in prison “and you came to me” (cf. Matthew 25:36-45), and the Hebrews writer as well, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners” (Hebrews 13:3).

Other religions, from Islam to Wicca, have found a foothold in the prisons. New Testament Christianity needs a faithful witness behind the razor wire and bars as well.
Blair Yager
Chesapeake, Virginia

Another Type of Chaplaincy
(posted 11-30-05)
I appreciated your issue (December 4) that dealt with chaplains, both in the U.S. and abroad. I serve in a unique atmosphere myself. My full-time calling is youth pastor in Marion, Iowa, but I also serve on a volunteer basis as a track chaplain in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It’s interesting to compare and contrast the different types of chaplaincy and the needs of each particular group that is ministered to. I encourage you to research and share with your readers how organizations such as Motor Racing Outreach are ministering to those in various types of racing communities and reaching the lost, and how they can get involved and help serve in these areas of ministry.
—Rob Lee
Cedar Rapids, Iowa


READERS' REACTIONS TO NOVEMBER 27 ISSUE

Occasionally Something Gets Through
(posted 12-29-05)
CHRISTIAN STANDARD is truly a ministry worthy of support and the writers and staff do a great job producing the nearly flawless publication each week, but occasionally something gets through. Just a comment about items excerpted from other sources and published in “Seen & Heard” or elsewhere in the Christian Standard. In the November 27 issue, a citation says that the average debt for seminary graduates in 2001 was $25,018. However, it also states that the percentage of those borrowing over $20,000 was only 33 percent. How can the average be over $25,000 when 67 percent borrowed less than $20,000?  Do not trust the original publisher to have gotten it right.
—Mark A. McClanahan
Atlanta, Georgia

A Puzzling Clause
(posted 11-23-05)
The article by Kent E. Fillinger in the November 27 issue (“Ministerial Pay—What Besides Pay?”) was both timely and excellent—except for one rather baffling clause regarding sabbatical and study breaks. Mr. Fillinger writes, “For senior ministers especially, it is normal to have an additional one to four weeks of time away every year to prepare spiritually, emotionally, and physically for the upcoming ministry season.”

It’s that first phrase that has me puzzled. I’m curious as to why a senior minister would require “especially” more time to rejuvenate than an associate or youth minister? In my experience as an associate, I spent just as much time in study as did the excellent senior minister on our staff. Associates may be responsible for up to four lessons a week (Sunday AM, PM, Wednesday PM, and weekly Bible study), and sometimes a sermon in addition to those! And youth ministers who are worth their salt are not just planning fun and games; they are working on in-depth, frontline issues and lessons that influence the spiritual lives of students for 60 years or more, plus they have to deal hands-on with the most traumatic period in the life of a human being (adolescence).

I don’t have any problems with treating ministry staff members differently. Sometimes they have differing needs. But receiving time off for spiritual, emotional, and physical rejuvenation is definitely necessary for ALL staff members—and probably on an equal basis.
—Nathan Hannum
Nelsonville, Ohio


READERS' REACTIONS TO NOVEMBER 20 ISSUE

'Is Grace Really Law After All?'
(posted 11-21-05)
“Based on Law” by Donald A. Nash in the CHRISTIAN STANDARD for November 20 suggests that we’re under law, just not the law of Moses. Many eagerly call us to obey the commandments given by Jesus Christ. It is to be hoped that we all are eager to do whatever we understand Jesus wants us to do and that we are equally eager to avoid what he wants us to not do. But if we’re under a code of law, what a favor would be done for us by someone who would spell out exactly what the code says. What specifically must we do? What must we not do? Where do we find the New Covenant’s book of Leviticus? Is grace really law after all? Or are we saved by grace through faith by keeping laws? Isn’t that what the article is saying?
—Ray Downen
Joplin Missouri

'Freed from the Clutches of Law'
(posted 11-15-05)
“Missing on Flannelgraph” by Charlie Crowe (November 20) beautifully captured the spirit of grace lacking in those who are obsessed with law and terrified of freedom in Christ. The Old Testament law was an object lesson that vividly showed its adherents (as well as us today) the dire consequences of being lawbreakers before a holy God and our need for a Savior. This was God’s ingenious plan and purpose for the law (Galatians 3:23-25). And as is so richly illustrated in this article, the Old Testament still holds invaluable lessons for New Testament believers living under grace.

The most joyful, fulfilled, and effective Christians I know are those who have embraced God’s grace and have been freed from the clutches of law as the focus of their Christian lives and as a means of being in right relationship with God. By his grace may we all escape, no matter how well-meaning, those who would cause us to desert “the one who called [us] by the grace of Christ and [would turn us] to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
—Brian J. Waldrop
Mount Healthy, Ohio


READERS' REACTIONS TO NOVEMBER 13 ISSUE

'An Incredible Reminder" 
(posted 11-16-05)
Alan Ahlgrim’s article “Dealing with Distractions” (November 13) was an incredible reminder and encouragement to me to keep the main thing the main thing. Hopefully this article will help me avoid another session with my senior minister on “How to Say No!”
—James Fruits
Centralia, Illinois

'A Laser-Light of Truth'
(posted 11-11-05)
Leroy Lawson’s Communion meditation “Just Another Primate?” (November 13) was a laser-light of truth piercing the darkened thinking of our muddleheaded culture. Thank God for thinking men like brother Lawson who are so adept at getting to the point in eight short paragraphs. Let an ape try to do that! His final line, “But let our God-breathed souls be released and we can take our seats at the Lord’s table, where places are reserved for his friends. Not his pets,” is a jewel. Thanks Leroy and CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
—Steve Jones
Oviedo, Florida


READERS' REACTIONS TO NOVEMBER 6 ISSUE

Series Provided Wonderful Explanation
(posted 11-8-05)
The three articles (by Clint Gill, October 23, 30, and Nov. 6) written on the Declaration and Address principles of the church being essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one were a wonderful explanation of a subject most Restoration Movement/4C churchgoers just do, but don't really think about. What God wants, what God intends, and what God demands of his followers is unity of purpose by him, in him, for him.
—Alan Kirkpatrick
Via e-mail

A Strict Constructionist
(posted 11-03-05)
I breathed a sigh of relief as I finished part three of Clint Gill’s series “The Church Is One” (November 6). I was relieved by what brother Gill did not write. An often repeated non sequitur in similar series on unity is that church people need not agree on “everything” in order to have it. That’s fair enough. But then the writer will go on to state that among the “things” we need not agree on is baptism. In my opinion, that doesn’t necessarily follow. Thank you, Clint Gill, for reminding us that the church is “constitutionally” one and for being a strict constitutional constructionist.
—Steve Jones
Oviedo, Florida


READERS' REACTIONS TO OCTOBER 30 ISSUE

Nice Balance
(posted 10-31-05)
From start to finish, your October 30 issue of CHRISTIAN STANDARD was one of your best. A very nice balance between a dedication to biblical truth and an outstretched concern for others. Keep up the good work.
—David Dowd
Grayson, Kentucky

An Exhilarating Issue
(posted 10-28-05)
 
Kudos to Brent Foulke and Bert Crabbe for their complimentary “Into A Movement” articles. Brent Foulke combines the passion for unity of Barton W. Stone with the encouraging/recruiting gifts of the New Testament Barnabas. Bert Crabbe reveals a humility of spirit and colorful flair which hint at the qualities suggesting he’d make a great church planter. These two articles, combined with Clint Gill’s “The Church is Intentionally One” series, give one the feeling that the Restoration Movement is alive and well in 21st century America. What an exhilarating issue of the CHRISTIAN STANDARD. Thank you!
—Steve Jones
Oviedo, Florida

You Provide Much Encouragement
(posted 10-21-05)

I often go to your [Paul Williams’] column first, or occasionally, second—having been detoured by a gripping graphic on the cover. I am rarely disappointed. Please be encouraged, for you provide much encouragement to others. Your column in the October 30 Standard (“At What Price?”) was truly outstanding: personal, powerful, poignant, and redemptive. Thank you. May our great Lord and only Savior continue RICHLY to bless you and your service to him through your service to us.
—M. Stephen Gerton
Via e-mail


READERS' REACTIONS TO OCTOBER 23 ISSUE

We've Fallen Into a Trap
(posted 10-31-05)
I think Clint Gill has the right idea about the church. His first article on October 23 (“The Church Is Essentially One” [part one of three]), has put forth my thoughts about the church. We, who believe we have all the truth, have fallen into the same trap as all other churches. This trap is making the church a physical organization and not a spiritual one. When we try to restore the church, all we look at is the building and what happens there. The church is ONE with many different congregations. And we do not have to believe everything the same. Our focus should be on Jesus ALONE! We, of the Restoration Movement, need more men like Clint to teach us how to be a real Christian in the world.
—Bill Parker
Oakland, Oregon


READERS' REACTIONS TO OCTOBER 16 ISSUE

We Would All Do Well to Remember
(posted 10-14-05)
I loved Paul Williams’s “An Evening Not So Long Ago” (October 16)! Often we do worry so much about making a good impression that we end up getting in the way of what God is trying to do. It is something all of us preachers would do well to remember. Thank you Mr. Williams, for you candor. It is refreshing!
Jerry Langley
Danville, Virginia

Struck By the Contrast
(posted 10-12-05)
I just read Howard Brammer’s 2005 NACC President’s Message, “Journey to the Presence” (October 16).

I was struck by the contrast between the author’s emphasis on an experiential encounter with God, termed the “Presence,” and Ken Read’s article “Is This the End of the Worship Fad?” (October 9).

Read wrote, “Experiential-based faith, shored up by emotion-based worship, is destined to fall. I mean, how many times can you sing to an invisible being the words, ‘I see you, I long to touch you, I feel you near to me,’ and not have it start to sound hollow after a while? An indisputable supernatural encounter never actually happened.”

I confess to falling into Read’s camp of “non-experiencers.” I’ve been a worshiping Christian (and preacher) for decades and, while I’ve experienced genuine emotion in my worship, I can’t say with any certainty that I’ve experienced the “Presence” that Brammer alludes to. Is there something deficient in me? Has there been a deficiency in my worship? Are there Christians who “can” and some who “can’t”? Am I missing out on something? Is it dependent upon one’s personality—whether you’re sanguine, melancholy, or phlegmatic?

If the “Presence” is a real phenomenon, and the Bible teaches us to expect it, then I’d like to have it. If not, maybe it’s a case of simple mislabeling.

I will proceed with caution. My study of church history indicates that an emphasis on subjectively experiencing God sometimes comes at the expense of objective doctrine. Note the response of interviewees quoted in brother Brammer’s article:

“I’ve tried church, but it’s not my thing. I like the Bible, but the Koran has some good teaching also.” But he said he has never talked to anyone who said, “I’ve experienced the Presence of God, but no thanks I don’t want it.”

That’s a pretty good example of a subjective over objective mind-set. The problem is that people might be getting that “experience” in a mosque, temple, or seance. What those people actually NEED is the truth and the truth is back there in the church that wasn’t “their thing” and the Bible as opposed to the Koran. In other words, I wonder if that which differentiates our worship is not that it is experiential, the worship of all the competing religions is also experiential. That which differentiates our worship is that it is TRUE.

I have accepted that my walk with God is by faith, not sight. I trust that I am saved because God’s word says I am, not because I always feel saved. And I trust that God is meeting me in worship for the same reason—God’s Word says he is—whether I feel his “Presence” or not.
—Steve Jones
Oviedo, Florida


READERS' REACTIONS TO OCTOBER 9 ISSUE

'Propesied in Great Detail'
(posted 2-23-06)
“Is This the End of the Worship Fad?” by Ken Read, in the October 9 CHRISTIAN STANDARD. Good material. As a noninstrumentalist I have been thrown into schizophrenia by all of the hype about music and worship. The discord sets in when I read the Bible and discover that ekklesia is synagogue which means school of the Bible. Romans 14 defines some of those personal diversities which are not subject to dialog or dispuations. Paul then jumps right into Romans 15 and defines away what most of both “wings” do as they do worship. We know that the synagogue that existed as “the church in the wilderness” was for instructions only and loud instruments and “loud rejoicing” (the Alarm or Triumph over Judas would try on Jesus) was forbidden. The Bible and contemporanous literature proves that music is a bypass into the emotions and actually creates spiritual anxiety which is the laded burden Jesus died to remove. You are describing the spiritual exhaustion that sets in when the “worship leader” tells them that the feeling is spiritual. People long to rest and the ekklesia defines speaking that which is written using one mind and one mouth as a way to edify or educate, glorify God and keep the peace. In the Greek literature “speaking in the ekklesia” is defined as “a whisper or conversational tone.” Well, that gets the preacher in trouble. Music has a place but is always seen in the literature as abrading as the word psallo demands. I hope you put the pressure on everyone and probably the so called a cappellas (the popes castratos) are more destructive having honed complex harmony to a nerve-shattering edge. I have collected perhaps the best set of documents beginning with Babylonian tablets and Nimrod at the Towers of Babylon knew that you could hurt people with sound. As an electronics engineer with a career in acoustics I know that if osha wasn’t afraid of religion most churches would be in trouble for physical and emotional abuse. It is a historical fact that not even singing was added as an act of worship until the year 373 when they also began to compose their own “scripture” for singing. What you are seeing is prophesied in great detail.
Kenneth Sublett
Hohenwald, Tennessee

Our Most Powerful Service Each Year
(posted 10-28-05)
Thanks to Ken Read for his article (“Is This the End of the Worship Fad?” October 9) on the future of our “assemblies” (which has become synonymous with “worship”). Our congregation would be described by most as contemporary. However, our most powerful service each year is the Good Friday service. As people walk into a dark auditorium they face a candle-lit platform and the cross. The ritual of the service rivals most “high” church experiences. Scriptures are read; prayers are prepared; Communion is a sacred moment. There is definitely a place in this gen-X minister’s heart for the ancient-future style that Ken predicts.
—Matt Johnson
Levittown, Pennsylvania

Pronouncement Seems Premature
(posted 10-21-05)
Professor Read’s (“Is This the End of the Worship Fad?” October 9) obituary for contemporary services—with all due deference to Mark Twain—seems premature. Aside from the orientation of youth events, the existing contemporary services have been around long enough that they can now partake of the typical institutional conservatism for which religious practices are well known. In other words, for all those who have grown up with nothing else, they will undoubtedly cling to these services much as country churches still sing such historical favorites as “Church in the Wildwood” or “In the Garden.”

His piece, not unlike the views of a growing number of seminary professors, seems to romanticize—indeed even glamorize—the liturgy as a centuries-old repository of profundities. It seems more logical to this observer, who is not a fan of contemporary services, that the appeal he talks about is not so much a reaction to contemporary music as in fact an extension of it.

I respectfully suggest that the issue is not between scripted profundity and superficial spontaneity but rather differing degrees and cycles of repetition. Even the most profound thoughts, repeated 5 to 50 times—if not more—during a service, tend to reduce that profundity and depth. For anyone who has sat through a Greek Orthodox or other liturgical “high” wedding, the frequent repetition of the same or similar phrases seems to be what most resembles many contemporary choruses.

In addition, while the lines of influence for contemporary songs can often be easily traced to contemporary secular music, the situation of the liturgy, while obviously much more removed in time, is not exactly exempt from pagan influences, especially in its early centuries.
—C. J. Dull
Moberly, Missouri

Kudos and Dittos
(posted 10-19-05)
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