April/May 2000
Back Issues

Contents

• Village Dedication Set for October 25
• Coming Events
• Meditation: Galatians 6:7–8
• Book Review: From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East
• Clipnotes (alumni news)
• Faculty Notes
• Development & Recruitment on the Road
• DMin Quote of the Month
• 2000 Doctor of Ministry Course Schedule

Village Dedication Set for October 25

Formal dedication of The Emmanuel Village will take place Wednesday, October 25, 2000, featuring ribbon-cuttings for all cottages and courts. Please plan to be in attendance for this festive occasion! n

Coming Events

35th Anniversary Celebration Breakfast
Wednesday, July 12, 2000
7:30 a.m.
During the North American Christian Convention
Louisville Radisson East Hotel, Louisville, Ky.
9700 Bluegrass Parkway, at exit 15 off of I-64.
Tickets are $15, advance reservations required.

World Convention Breakfast
Friday, August 4, 2000
Brisbane, Australia
During the 15th World Convention of Churches of Christ
Tickets are $15 U.S., advance reservations required.

Reservations are required for each of these events.

Tickets may be ordered by sending a check for the appropriate amount to the Office of the President, Emmanuel School of Religion, One Walker Drive, Johnson City TN 37601. If you have questions, phone the President's Office at (423) 926-1186, or email PresOffice@esr.edu.

Meditation:
Galatians 6:7–8

by Cara Snyder (MRE ’82)

Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7–8

“You reap what you sow”—a simple fact of farming and of life. But if that’s the case, why do the wicked prosper? Why do the righteous get martyred? Why do the “sots and thralls of lust … in spare hours more thrive than I that spend, / Sir, life upon thy cause?”*

It is a promise and a fact. We do reap what we sow—eternally. Sow to the flesh; reap destruction. Sow to the Spirit; reap eternal life. And even on this side of eternity, the principle works. The prosperous wicked are actually the exception, not the rule (which is perhaps why they get so much press).

Moreover, God is not a miser carefully dispensing gold stars for good deeds, black marks for bad. God is bountiful, and so is the system. In farming, from one seed comes hundreds of fruits and thousands of seeds. In life the produce is subtler. When we sow to the flesh, we may not see the monstrous destruction that our disobedience causes. Nor do we see the abundant good that sowing to the Spirit produces. But it is there nonetheless. Sow wickedness; reap disaster in the family, the community, the world. Sow goodness; reap—for self and others—love, joy, peace, and all the other wonderful invisibles that make life good.

God knows our tendency to pride. Perhaps that is why he gives us the Gospels instead of Chicken Soup for the Saints. He gives us Jesus. Jesus sowed only to the Spirit—and of course got crucified. But to what effect? Not only eternal life and glory for himself and eternal life for all believers, but also everything else that is good in the world today. That’s all.

So, do not grow weary in well doing…n

*Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord." Collected Poems and Prose. (back)

Book Review

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East

Reviewed by Dr. Robert J. Owens, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

In A.D. 578, the elderly monk John Moschos set out from Bethlehem on a 30-year pilgrimage to the most important Christian centers in the Middle East. The terrible suffering of the Christian communities he visited made for almost apocalyptic scenes at times. When John wrote the engaging account of his travels in 615 under the title The Spiritual Meadow, he preserved memorable anecdotes, spiritual sayings, and stories of saintly Christians.

In 1994, William Dalrymple, a British Christian, retraced the itinerary of John Moschus. Starting from Mount Athos in Greece, he traversed Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, visiting the places where Christianity was first established and where for over three hundred years many hundreds of thousands of Christians lived out their faith with spiritual vigor.

Dalrymple’s quest was spiritual and hopeful: to witness the life of the Christian faithful in the modern Middle East. What he actually found—and what he describes with passion and eloquence—is a generally sad story of a Christianity that is being ground down or forcibly uprooted from the lands of its glorious beginnings, “an unfolding tragedy that is still being written.”

To read this book is to gain a profoundly deeper acquaintance with the rich legacy of Middle Eastern Christianity. But it is also to become perplexed and perhaps angry at how uncaring the prosperous churches in the West have been toward their spiritual brothers and sisters there who are in extremis. The welfare and total number of Christians is declining at alarming rates in these countries, almost always due to state sanctioned or tolerated harassment, discrimination, and in some cases outright terror. U.S. foreign policy and public opinion typically pays no attention to anti-Christian policies on the part of these governments, even in such countries as Turkey and Israel with whom the West has considerable influence.

Dalrymple’s book is not a political tract. Nor does it fail to be critical of the failures and sins of the Middle Eastern churches. It is the gripping story of a fascinating journey mixed with history and spiritual reflections. Every page has something to teach. One reader has termed this book, “an elegy to the slowly dying civilization of Eastern Christianity.” No one can read it without concluding that we Christians are losing a precious part of our worldwide family of faith. n

Clipnotes

L.D. CAMPBELL (1965 & 1970) wrote the Reflections article titled “Preaching Is Primary” for the April 9 issue of Christian Standard. L.D. is the minister at First Church of Christ in Burlington, Ky., where he and his wife, Joyce, reside.

TIM DEFOR (MDiv ’98) became the Associate Director of Admissions for Nebraska Christian College in Norfolk, Neb., where he and his wife, Julie, reside.

CURT FLOSKI (MAR ’88) and wife, Marci, announce the birth of their third child on February 29, 2000. Curt and his family are serving with CityTeam ministries in San Jose, Calif., where they reside.

JAMES GAZAWAY (MAR ’89, MDiv ’89) is serving with the US Army as a Chaplain for BSB(P) Sarajevo in Bosnia until October 2000. He was activated from the Indiana National Guard. He and his wife, Dora, reside in Trafalgar, Ind.

RICK GROVER (MDiv ’93, DMin ’98) wrote the Bible School Lesson titled “Need for Church Discipline,” in the March 19 issue of Christian Standard. He also wrote an essay titled “Honeymoon Reflections,” in the March 26 issue of Christian Standard. Rick is the Senior Minister of Woodlawn Christian Church in Knoxville, Tenn., where he and his wife, Laura, reside.

MARVIN HATFIELD (1989–90) and wife, Georgie, presently minister at First Christian Church in John Day, Ore., where they reside. Since returning to Oregon, Marvin has completed his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity degrees.

MICHAEL HILLEY (MAR ’86) and wife, Teri, are presently serving at the Westside Christian Church in Martinez, Ga. The church is heavily involved in an outreach ministry to families within a 3–to–5-mile radius of the worship facility. He and his wife reside in Evans, Ga.

CAM HUXFORD (1978–79) wrote the Reflections article titled, “Grateful for a Grateful Church,” in the February 27 issue of Christian Standard. Cam is the minister at Savannah Christian Church in Savannah, Ga., where he and his wife, Sarah, reside.

JERRY RUDBERG (mre ’70) was appointed to the Program Committee for the 150th Oregon Christian Convention in 2002. He is also on the Convention Publicity Committee. Jerry is Emmanuel’s Director of Development, Western Region. He resides in Eugene, Ore.

TIM SHIELDS (MAR ’99) is the new Senior Minister at Rogue Valley Christian Church in Medford, Ore. n

ELEANOR A. DANIEL spoke for the evening service at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn., April 2. She attended the TCM Board Meeting April 7–9, and the Mission Service Board Meeting April 14 in Nashville, Ind. Dr. Daniel was inaugurated into the Dorothy Keister Walker Chair of Christian Education on April 26. She will speak for the Elizabethton DAR chapter on May 6. Dr. Daniel will do the Communion Meditation at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn., May 17. Dr. Daniel continues teaching an adult Bible class, a weekly women’s Bible Study, and a monthly women’s Bible Study at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn.

JACK B. HOLLAND is teaching a Wednesday evening class titled “Parenting 2000” at Boones Creek Christian Church in Gray, Tenn., April 5–May 24.

ROBERT F. HULL spoke at Hassen Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Rogersville, Tenn., during March and April on the topic “Women in Church Leadership.” He will preach at First Christian Church in Greeneville, Tenn., May 28. Dr. Hull reviewed the book Thinking Through Our Faith: Theology for Twenty-First Century Christians, by C. David Grant (Abingdon, 1998), in Restoration Quarterly 42/1 (2000), pages 61–62.

THOMAS F. JONES attended the National New Church Conference in Chicago, Ill., April 10–13. He spoke for the Faith Promise Conference of First Christian Church in Los Alamos, N.M., April 29–30. He will consult for Miami Valley Evangelizers in Dayton, Ohio, May 8; Community Christian Church in Charlotte, N.C., May 12; and South Carolina Evangelizing Association in Columbia on May 15.

FRED W. NORRIS served as a consultant on cross-cultural ethics for the Mexico City campus ministry team of Christian Missionary Fellowship April 17–18 in Indianapolis, Ind. He will attend the conference on the History of the World Christian Movement May 4–7 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

ROBERT J. OWENS taught the series “I Believe in Life Everlasting” to the Sunday Adult Forum of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Johnson City, Tenn., March 12–April 9. He will lead Sunday morning worship services at Pine Oaks Assisted Living Center in Johnson City, Tenn., in May.

ROLLIN A. RAMSARAN began the new Koinonia Sunday School class at Grandview Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn. He will present a paper titled, “In Non-essentials, Liberty: A Key Ministry Theme from Romans 14:1–15:13,” for the Leaven Symposium on Ministry Themes from Romans at the 57th Annual Pepperdine University Bible Lectures in Malibu, Calif. May 2–5.

BRUCE E. SHIELDS presided at the Annual Meeting of Members and Board of the European Evangelistic Society at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn., April 9–11. He attended and functioned as a member of the Steering Committee of the Association of Doctor of Ministry Education Annual Meeting at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, April 27–29. Dr. Shields will preach at Irving Christian Church in Eugene, Ore., May 7. He has an article titled “The Reality of Christian Worship as Depicted in Revelation,” in Leaven 8/1 (Winter, 2000), pages 32–35. He will perform in the Johnson City Symphony outdoor concert May 28.

DAVID FULKS in April to Atlanta Christian College and to Georgia Tech, where attended the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals meeting; to the Campus Minister’s Retreat at McCormick Creek State Park in Spencer, Ind., in May.

DAN LAWSON to Colorado in April; to Arizona, Kansas and Oklahoma in May.

JERRY RUDBERG to Vancouver, Wash.; Twin Falls, Idaho; Portland, Burns, Tigard, and Hillsboro, Ore., in April; to Boise, Nezperce, Meridian, and Grangeville, Idaho; Pomeroy, Renton, Edmonds, and Dayton, Wash.; Enterprise, Imbler, Redmond, Cloverdale, and Bend, Ore., and to the Christian Heritage Conference at Wi-Ne-Ma Christian Camp in May.

C. ROBERT WETZEL to teach Ukrainian students at Haus Edelweiss in Heiligenkreuz, Austria, in April; to First Christian Church in Chicago, Ill., in May. n

DMin Quote of the Month

By Bruce Martin, current DMin student

“After several years of being away from the halls of academia, it is good to again be wrestling with issues on this level, interacting with colleagues, and preparing for whatever further service the Lord has in mind. The D.Min. program provides a wonderful forum to update knowledge and skills, to sharpen one’s focus, and to grow personally and spiritually. I’m certainly glad to be a part of this challenging and stimulating program.”

For information about Emmanuel’s Doctor of Ministry degree program contact Melissa Noble at 1-800-933-3771. n

2000 Doctor of Ministry Course Schedule