November 2002
Back Issues

Contents

• Emmanuel at the National Missionary Convention
• Emmanuel at the Eastern Christian Convention
• Stokes receives Legion of Merit award
• Meditation: The Real Issue
• Clipnotes
• Book Review: Giving Good Gifts: The Spiritual Journey of Parenthood
• DMin quote of the month
• January Intersession courses announced
• Faculty News
• Development & Recruitment on the Road

The 55th National Missionary Convention will be held in Wichita, Kan., at the Century II Convention Center November 14–17. Tom Blackeagle, an American Indian from Toppenish, Washington, will serve as president this year. President Wetzel and David Fulks will represent Emmanuel, and alumnus Enoch Nyador (MDiv ‘86), who serves with FAME in Ghana, will be one of the main session speakers. Stop by Emmanuel’s booth #174 for an update on all the latest developments at the school. n

Emmanuel at the Eastern Christian Convention

Emmanuel will be well represented at this year’s Eastern Christian Convention in Hershey, Pa., on November 8–10. Two Emmanuel alums, Cam Huxford (’78–’84) and Ben Cacharias (MDiv ’92), will be among the featured speakers.

Cam is the senior minister of Savannah Christian Church, Savannah, Ga., and will deliver the message at the Friday evening and Sunday morning worship services. Ben, senior minister of Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Md., will speak Saturday morning. Professor Bruce Shields will lead a Bible study workshop, and Emmanuel’s Village coordinators, Ron and Kay Schnelle, will staff the Emmanuel display booth. n

Professor Thomas E. Stokes retired from the Tennessee Army National Guard on October 31 after 28 years of service. His last duty assignment was as the State Area Command Chaplain. Chaplain Stokes was awarded the Legion of Merit, which is awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States without degree for exceptionally outstanding conduct in the performance of meritorious service to the United States. Stokes has served as Librarian at Emmanuel since 1975 and is Director of the Doctor of Ministry degree program. n

Meditation:
The Real Issue

“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions” (Mark 7:8).

What’s the real issue? What’s the bottom line? What’s really at stake?

As a Bible professor, as a preaching minister, and as a seminary graduate, people come to me with questions. My problem is not providing answers but understanding the questions. What deep currents of faithfulness or syncretism, emotion or experience, force to the surface the questions that people bring? What is really at stake?

I can pontificate on the goodness of created pleasure where the real problem is gluttony, or unleash women’s leadership where the real problem is a bossy old lady. The right answer to the wrong question fails to edify; it also tends to make us look silly. So we “answerers” learn to probe for where questions are coming from.

Don’t assume, however, that the questioner always knows what is at stake. The Pharisees thought the point was respect for tradition. Jesus saw a deeper problem—the command and word of God was being “ignored,” “set aside,” and ultimately “nullified” (Mk. 7:8, 9, and 13). A respected system blending experience and Scripture (see Nu. 30) was in reality a barrier to the challenging voice of God (see Is. 29:13–16, quoted in part in Mk. 7:6–7).

Don’t assume that it is others’ traditions that have set aside the command of God; perhaps it is yours. But don’t be afraid to call a bluff and raise your own questions: Is our faithful response to God the real issue? Is obedience the bottom line? Is God’s word itself at stake? n

DAVID BARNES (MDiv ’83) has been advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree in Adult Education with a Human Resource Development emphasis at the University of Idaho. David expects to complete his dissertation early in 2003 and graduate in May. David’s dissertation is entitled “The Use of Power and Influence Tactics in Project Planning as influenced by Personality, Corporate Culture, and Hierarchical Position.” David is manager of Knowledge and Skills Development at Idaho Power Company in Boise, Idaho.

DAVID CHAPMAN (’95–’99) and his wife, Cindy, welcomed a new daughter, Chloe Grace, on August 20, 2002. David is minister at East Tenth Street Church of Christ in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

NATHAN FLORA (MDiv ’02) and his wife, Holly, announce the birth of their first child, Elizabeth Ann, on September 20, 2002. Nathan serves as campus minister at Milligan College and resides in Johnson City, Tenn.

TOM FOUST (MDiv ’86) is scheduled to receive the Ph.D. degree from the University of Birmingham, England, in December.

ANDREW GILL (MDiv ’00) and his wife, Denise, recently began their third year of ministry with New Hope Christian Community in Pittsburgh, Pa.

JUDITH HAZEN (’90–’93) serves as Associate Pastor of Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Center, Minn. Judith resides in Little Canada, Minn.

MIKE HILLEY (MAR ’86) wrote a response to the editorial, “Sunday Night Services Revisited,” in the October 27, 2002, issue of Christian Standard. Mike serves as minister at Fort Caroline Christian Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

DONALD JEANES (MDiv ’72) reviewed the book God at Work — Your Christian Vocation in All of Life by Gene Edward Veith Jr. in the October 13 issue of Christian Standard. Don contniues to serve as president of Milligan College.

NOEL KIRK (MDiv ’73) concluded a seven-year ministry with West Village Christian Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He accepted the call to minister at First Christian Church, Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in August.

BOB LAVER (MDiv ’87, DMin ’02) has devotions and notes published in the Zondervan Boys Bible, designed for boys ages 9–12. Bob serves as minister of First Christian Church in Myrtle Point, Ore.

MARK LITTEN (MDiv ’93) and his wife, Margaret, have moved into temporary missionary housing in St. Petersburg, Fla., as they prepare to join CMF’s Chilean Field Team in Concepción. They will be planting a church among middle-class urban professionals. They hope to be on the field in December 2002.

JONATHAN (MAR ’98) and HEATHER (MAR ’98) POWELL announce the birth of their daughter, Maya Love, on May 14, 2002. The Powells serve with CMF in Berdyansk, Ukraine.

KENYON L. SMITH (MDiv ’97) stepped into the Senior Pastor position at Coquille Christian Community Church in Coquille, Ore., on September 8.

DON TROTTER (MDiv ’89) was elected to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers for 2002. Don teaches history, church history, Bible, and religion at several colleges in the Knoxville, Tenn., area.

WADE WILSON (MDiv ’99) and his family moved from Toccoa, Ga., to Madison, Wis., in August to begin a full-time ministry with Westwood Christian Church. n

Book Review:
Giving Good Gifts: The Spiritual Journey of Parenthood
By George E. Conway
Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2001

Reviewed by Rollin A. Ramsaran, Professor of New Testament

George Conway offers us an insightful book on the process of parenting. Undergirding his approach is a firm confidence in the example of God as parent to all humanity and more particularly to God’s own people as we find recorded in the Scriptures. In a provocative way, then, Conway is able to read passages (e.g., the story of Adam and Eve, the story of Joseph, the Lord’s Prayer) as guidance for the relationship between parents and children. The book combines notable parental guidance, a keen attention to Scripture, and interesting stories and anecdotes from the experience of a life–long Christian educator.

The book is divided into eight chapters: The Companionship of God; Finding God; A Transcendent Perspective; Truth: The Absolute Horizon; The Freedom to Doubt; Honor; The Triumph of Timshel (our power to overcome evil); and The Spiritual Journey of Parenthood. Each chapter closes with a list of ten things one can do to implement the lessons learned. The advice is quite practical and specifically focused.

Conway is hard-hitting in asking parents to take responsibility and time in providing a safe and flexible environment of accountability and trust, in forming the character of their children, and in allowing our Scriptural witness to confront the contemporary culture. The book was completed post–9/11 and squarely faces parental challenges to promote realistic attitudes of safety, caution, and hopeful optimism among our children.

As practical as this book is, its real power as a “how–to” book is the process by which one is challenged to tune into God in such a way that our own example as a parent is kind, firm, just, risk-taking, merciful, hopeful — a journey through life — with our children — with God. Strongly recommended for continual use by pastors, parents, and grandparents. n

by Jody Owens (MDiv ’98)

“The D Min. program at Emmanuel proved to me that one can be scholarly without being cynical, that one can tackle the critical questions of Scripture and still affirm the authority of Scripture. A love for the church is evident at ESR and results in an approach that is both humble and gracious.”

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

All courses are offered for 3 hours graduate credit or audit. To register or for more information, contact the Dean’s Office at (423) 461-1520 or DeanOffice@esr.edu.

A study of the background and contents of the O.T. Deuterocanonical/ Apocryphal books and other Jewish writings, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, from about 200 B.C. to A.D. 100. OT 5130, also NT 5130.

Taught by Dr. Christopher A. Rollston, Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Studies.

This course will study life together in the Christian community and how essential praying for one another, bearing one another’s burdens, encouraging one another, submitting to one another, and loving one another are to the life of the Church. CME 7040.

Taught by Dr. Eleanor Daniel, Visiting Professor of Christian Education and Director of Institutional Research. n

PAUL M. BLOWERS is Grandview Christian Church’s coordinator for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a ministry in Johnson City for families transitioning out of homelessness or joblessness. Dr. Blowers’ article “‘Living in a Land of Prophets’: James T. Barclay and an Early Disciples of Christ Mission to Jews in the Holy Land,” originally published in the journal Church History (1992), has been reprinted in The Stone-Campbell Movement: An International Religious Tradition, ed. Michael Casey and Douglas Foster (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2002), pp. 271–291.

ELEANOR A. DANIEL taught classes for TCM October 1–12 in Austria and October 14–18 in Russia. She will teach a week-long course, “Small Groups Ministry & Christian Education: A Hands-on Approach,” at Christian Church of Redmond, Ore., January 6–11, 2003, and at Turner Christian Church, Turner, Ore., January 13–17, 2003.

JACK B. HOLLAND is speaking one Sunday a month at the Sonlight Church of Christ in Greeneville, Tenn. He spoke on the topic of Conflict Resolution at the Milligan College Colloquium on Ministry on October 31. Dr. Holland participated in the Character and Assessment of Learning for Religious Vocation workshop of ATS in Pittsburgh, Pa., November 1–3. He currently serves on the Board of Advocates for Christian Children’s Homes of Tennessee.

ROBERT F. HULL served as overnight host and van driver for Interfaith Hospitality Network September 29–October 6. He preached at Kingsport Community Church on October 6. He attended the Fund for Theological Education peer group meeting on Theological Programs for High School Youth October 9–11 in Louisville, Ky., and attended a workshop on the Character and Assessment of Learning for Religious Vocation November 1–3 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. Hull will give lectures on Ephesians at Tellico Village Community Church in Tellico, Tenn., November 8–10. He will attend the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Toronto, Canada, November 22–26.

THOMAS F. JONES taught a church planting seminar in Indianapolis for the Disciples of Christ church planting coaches on September 16; preached at First Christian Church, Johnson City, Tenn., on September 22; attended the first service for the new Journey Christian Church in New Orleans on October 6; attended an ordination service at SouthBrook Christian Church in Dayton, Ohio, on October 28, where he was the founding pastor. Dr. Jones will consult with Bluegrass Men’s Fellowship Association about church planting in the Lexington, Ky., area on November 11–12; will consult with the South Carolina Evangelizing Association about the new church, Three Strands Christian Church, in Greenville, S.C., in November; and speak for Princeton Community Church’s tenth anniversary December 14–15, where he and his wife were founding pastors.

FRED W. NORRIS has written a chapter, “The Canon of Scripture in the Church,” pp. 3–25, in Daniel H. Williams, ed., The Free Church & the Early Church: Bridging the Historical and Theological Divide (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002).

CHRISTOPHER A. ROLLSTON returned in September from a four month National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in Jordan and Lebanon where he collated and translated inscriptions (in the Ammonite, Aramaic, and Phoenician languages) at museums in numerous cities of the Middle East. During July, he delivered a lecture on ancient Semitic inscriptions at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman. Dr. Rollston will be giving a lecture in November at Carter Christian Church in Elizabethton, Tenn., entitled “Ancient Semitic Inscriptions and the Old Testament.” He recently delivered a lecture on “Archaeology and the Bible” at Boone’s Creek Christian Church in Gray, Tenn. Dr. Rollston’s book, The Gospels According to Michael Goulder: A North American Response (Trinity Press International, 2002), was just published. It consists of various articles by some of the leading scholars in the field of New Testament studies. Dr. Rollston has recently published reviews in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Old Testament Abstracts, and Review of Biblical Literature.

BRUCE E. SHIELDS is teaching a course on Romans to the Anchor Sunday School Class at First Christian Church, Johnson City, and to the Imitators of Christ (men’s group) at Hopwood Christian Church. He presided over the meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Evangelistic Society in Johnson City, October 24–26. He will lead a Bible Study on Romans 14–15 at the Eastern Christian Convention in Hershey, Pa., November 8–10. Dr. Shields is on call once a month as a volunteer chaplain at Johnson City Medical Center. n

DAVID FULKS will travel to Nebraska Christian College, Dallas Christian College, Milligan College, and attend the National Missionary Convention in Wichita, Kan., in November. He will travel to Atlanta Christian College in December and to Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Auburn University, and the Florida Campus Ministries Retreat in January.

DAN LAWSON will travel to northern California and Colorado in November; to Nevada in December; and to southern Florida and Arizona in January.

JEFF MCNABB will travel to the Pittsburgh, Pa., area and the Cincinnati, Ohio, area in November; to southern Kentucky and southwest Virginia in December; and to Indiana in January.

JERRY RUDBERG will travel to Seattle, Wash.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Portland, Ore., in November. He will travel to The Dalles, Portland, Salem, and Beaverton, Ore.; Seattle, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Castle Rock, and Vancouver, Wash.; and Lewiston, Idaho, in December. He will travel to Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho in January.

C. ROBERT WETZEL will speak at First Christian Church in Hugoton, Kan., on November 10; attend the National Missionary Convention in Wichita, Kan., November 14–17; speak at West Side Christian Church in Wichita, Kan., on November 18; attend the Restoration House Board Meeting in New Hampshire on November 23; and attend the Iowa Christian Convention on November 29. He will speak at First Christian Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on December 1; speak at First Christian Church in Green Bay, Wis., December 8; and at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Ind., on December 29. n