August 2003
Back Issues

Contents

• Get well Dr. Wetzel!
• Drs. Wetzel and Blowers to lead tours prior to World Convention
• Emmanuel to co-host Restoration Forum XXI
• Dr. Norris to teach course at Yale during sabbatical
• January 2004 Intersession offers outstanding opportunities
• Meditation: The Strength of Weakness
• Book Review: Conflict in Corinth: Redefining the System
• Clipnotes
• Faculty News
• Development & Recruitment on the Road
• DMin Quote of the Month
    

Brighton, England, will play host to the 16th World Convention July 28-August 1, 2004. The Convention is shaping up to be the most representative gathering ever of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ global family. The President for the Brighton Convention is Dr. David Thompson of Cambridge University. Our own Dr. Robert Wetzel is First Vice President of the 2004 World Convention, and at the close of the 2004 session the President’s gavel will be passed to Dr. Wetzel. He will serve as President through the 2008 World Convention, which is scheduled for the United States.

In conjunction with the 2004 World Convention, tours are being planned to enhance the learning experience. Dr. Wetzel will co-host a 12-day general sightseeing tour of England and Scotland, including several Churches of Christ and Christian heritage spots. Dr. Wetzel, whose knowledge and rich experiences derive from his 11-year tenure as Principal of Springdale College in Birmingham, England, will serve as an invaluable resource and blessing for tour participants. Departure will be July 16 from London.

Dr. Paul Blowers, Professor of Church History at Emmanuel, will co-host a tour along with his co-editors of the Stone-Campbell Encyclopedia. The 15-day journey through Ireland, Iona, Scotland, and England will be a “panoramic sweep” that visits sites not only of the historic roots of Christianity in Britain, but also the British beginnings of the Stone-Campbell Movement. The beauty of these isles and their cherished Christian history will be a wonderful mix for tour participants. Departure will be July 13 from Dublin.

For further information on the 2004 World Convention and the tours being offered, visit http://www.worldconvention.org, or write to Dr. Wetzel at PresOffice@esr.edu .

Emmanuel School of Religion and Milligan College will co-host the 21st annual Restoration Forum October 12-14, 2003. The Restoration Forum is an annual meeting designed for interested members of the Stone-Campbell Movement or anyone who is concerned about answering Christ’s prayer for unity. The Forum provides an opportunity for discussion, dialogue, worship, and fellowship. It has been meeting annually since 1984.

The theme of Restoration Forum XXI is taken from Colossians 3:11, “Christ is All… Christ in All.” Keynote speakers are Dr. James Collins, minister of the Peachtree Christian Church (DOC) in Atlanta, Ga., and Dr. Paul Watson, minister of the Mill Road Church of Christ in Durham, N.C.

Registration for the three-day meeting is $25 for individuals, $35 for couples, or $12 for students. Some meals are provided. Lodging is available in local homes or hotels.

More information about Restoration Forum XXI can be found at http://www.poeministries.org/Pages/RF.html or write Dr. C. Robert Wetzel at PresOffice@esr.edu for a registration brochure.

Restoration Forum Schedule Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Dr. Fred Norris, Professor of World Christianity at Emmanuel School of Religion, will teach a course in the History of Christianity at Yale University Divinity School this fall. Norris also has a heavy research and publishing plan laid out for his fall semester sabbatical.

The invitation to serve as Visiting Professor of the History of Christianity was extended shortly after Dr. David Bartlett, Dean of Yale Divinity School, spent a week lecturing at Emmanuel earlier this year.

This appointment brings Dr. Norris full circle at Yale. He completed his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1970, serving as a graduate assistant in the seminary for famed church historian Jaroslav Pelikan.

Dr. Norris will live in New Haven, Conn., this fall while teaching and completing his other sabbatical projects. He will return to Emmanuel for the spring 2004 term.

Plan to come in out of the cold and warm up your ministry with a one-week intensive seminar at Emmanuel School of Religion.

These seminars are open to non-credit participants at a special cost of $225 per person when registration is received before December 31 and $275 after January 1. Students who audit or take the course for credit are subject to regular tuition fees of $280 per credit hour/$140 per audit hour. All seminars carry three credits.

January 5-9: The Church in the City
The widely popular Dr. Gordon Moyes will be back with us from Sydney, Australia, where he directs the largest urban ministry program in the world. Learn the theology and practice of ministry in the city. New emphases this year will include a drug/rehabilitation program for a small church, funding initiatives for serving the poor, a camp for inner-city underprivileged kids, and low-budget church plants - a new methodology that works. CMM/CD 7010

January 12-16 Small Groups Leadership
Dr. Eleanor Daniel will offer the fruit of her long and deep experience in developing and leading small groups for the local church. She has helped thousands of leaders not only in North America, but also in Europe and Asia to unleash the power in their congregations through the use of small groups. CME 7040.

January 19-23 Seminar: The Use of Fiction to Tell the Truth: Storytelling for Preachers
Charles W. Maynard is a professional storyteller and Director of Advancement at the International Storytelling Center in nearby Jonesborough. An ordained United Methodist Minister, he is a veteran leader of workshops for teachers and ministers who want to use storytelling in the pulpit and the classroom. CMP 7910.

The following course is open only to credit or audit students:

January 20-30 Theological Hermeneutics in a Changing World Miriam Perkins Fernie, Emmanuel alumna and Ph.D. student at Catholic University of America, will introduce students to interpretive strategies for dealing with difficult texts using the so-called “texts of terror” from the book of Judges as a model. CD 7950.

Meditation:
The Strength of Weakness

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 2 Cor. 4:7

Power, status, security - we’re intoxicated by them, aren’t we! They lure and tease us like some sultry desert mirage, only to laugh in our faces whenever we’re convinced we possess them. Seventeenth Century philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that humans are driven by two overriding concerns: fear of death and the desire for power. Maybe he was right.

The church at Corinth was laden with knowledge, giftedness, and, to a certain extent, power and status (1 Cor. 1:10-31). Conversely, with their numerous glaring inconsistencies and moral failings, they bore the dubious distinction of being a problem congregation. Adding insult to injury, by the time 2 Corinthians was penned, Paul was facing a crisis of confidence at Corinth via the so called super apostles. Apparently they were much more impressive and convincing than the apostle Paul and wreaked havoc with his authority and respect among the Corinthian Christians.

Might it have been the case that the very strengths Corinth possessed became their weakness? You know the time-honored maxim, pride goes before destruction…

What I find fascinating about Paul’s counter to the super apostles is that he argues the superiority of his apostolic authority from the standpoint of his hardships and weakness (2 Cor. 11 & 12). After a thrice-repeated prayer for deliverance from his enigmatic “thorn in the flesh,” the Lord’s word to Paul was, “…my strength is made perfect in weakness,” (2 Cor. 12:9). Among several of Paul’s counter-arguments against his opponents is that while the messengers of the gospel may be weak (i.e. jars of clay), the message (treasure) is powerful. Why must it be this way? So that “the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).

Years ago as a young minister, I erroneously believed that my congregation should “never see me sweat.” I am now slowly beginning to realize that it is not through my strengths that God is most glorified, but rather through my weaknesses. This is akin to the concept as found in Henri Nouwen’s terrific little book, The Wounded Healer, the essence of which is that the only healers are wounded healers. Without pretense or pomp, we ordinary, earthy, even cracked (!) jars of clay give broken lives an authentic model with which they can identify, and God’s light shines through us. That’s the strength of weakness.

Critical reflection on one’s call to the vocation of ministry from the contexts of theology, church history, scripture, and personal awareness is the opportunity of this book. Prolific author William Willimon, Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University Divinity School, offers a readable and often thought-provoking text. The primary rationale of this work is explained: “One of the skills needed for the future of ministry of the ordained will be the constant ability to be critical — to be diagnostic of the present context for clerical leadership — and adaptive to the particular needs of the church in our particular time and place” (p. 72). This ability to be diagnostic is shaped within Willimon’s consideration of the pastor in the leadership of worship, as the provider of pastoral care, as interpreter of scripture, as teacher, as evangelist, as prophet and preacher, and as leader.

The particular strength of this book is the author’s effort to bring his thirty years of pastoral ministry into conversation with the Confessions of Augustine, the book of Acts, and other sources in ways that call pastors to personally reflect on their own assumptions and styles of ministry. In Resident Aliens (1989), Willimon and co-author Stanley Hauerwas provided an indispensable critique of contemporary American Christianity. While not intentionally composed as a companion to the earlier book, Pastor is an important work for those acquainted with the ideas of Hauerwas and Willimon because it offers a practical context for thinking about ministry in post-Enlightenment Christianity. This is a ministry that is rooted in the ministry of the church down through the ages, a ministry that finds voice and context in corporate worship, and a ministry that invests its faith in the guiding presence of God. In Willimon’s own words, “Much of what I fret over in ministry is God’s business rather than mine. Therefore, I keep preaching, keep teaching, keep at ministry, caught up in God’s business more than my own” (p. 333).

Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry is an important resource for the minister. For the seminarian, this book offers thoughtful context for understanding the vocation of ministry. For the beleaguered pastor, the book is a hopeful and encouraging devotion. For all pastors, the work provides a challenging contemplation of our call to the sacred task of ministry.

You may purchase a copy of this book in the Emmanuel Bookstore by contacting Sabine Eagle at 423-461-1545 or emailing her at bookstore@esr.edu.

JOE BRENNAN (MDiv ’00) and his wife, Lori, moved to Biloxi, Miss., in August. Joe will serve as a chaplain at the Gulf Coast Veterans Hospital.

BRYAN EDWARDS (MDiv ’95) and his wife, Gennie, announce the birth of a daughter, Gwenyth Kirsop Edwards, on June 30, 2003. Bryan and Gennie reside in Wichita, Kan.

NATHAN FLORA (MDiv ’02) was ordained at Grandview Christian Church, Johnson City, Tenn., on July 27, 2003. Nathan serves as Campus Minister at Milligan College.

BOB (MDiv ’94) and JOY HARVEY (MDiv ’95) completed a seven-year team ministry at Grape Grove Church of Christ in Jamestown, Ohio. Bob now serves as senior minister at Bethany Church of Christ in Kettering, Ohio. Bob and Joy also announce the birth of a son, Grant Robert, on June 16, 2003, who joins sisters Autumn and Lilly.

DOUGLAS LAWSON (MDiv ’80) will teach Bible at the College Heights Christian School in Joplin, Mo., beginning fall 2003. He is scheduled to teach a seminar course on the military chaplaincy for Ozark Christian College in September. He continues to serve as chaplain at Freeman Hospital in Joplin. Doug retired recently from the military after 25 years as a Navy chaplain and resides in Joplin with his wife, Cindy.

KIP (MAR ’98) and KATY LINES (MAR ’98) have completed their first four-year term as church planters and leadership trainers with CMF among the Turkana people of northern Kenya. They will serve as Milligan College’s visiting missionaries for the 2003-2004 academic year.

JOHN OWSTON (MDiv ’88, MAR ’93) began his 20th year of ministry with Belvue Christian Church in Kingsport, Tenn., in August 2003.

JOEY POTTER (’80-’81) now serves as youth pastor of First Christian Church in Ft. Myers, Fla. He continues his Masters in Youth Ministry at Huntington College.

CLARK SCOTT (MDiv ’77) began a ministry with the Port Orange (Fla.) Christian Church in May 2003.

Micah Weedman (MDiv ’02) and his wife, Jo Ellen, announce the birth of Emmaline Grace on May 18, 2003. Micah is Resident-in-Ministry in the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Programs at the University of Indianapolis. Jo Ellen finished her Master's in Journalism from the University of Illinois in July 2003.

MARK (MDiv ’01) and NANCY ANN WILT (’00) and their children Angela, Brian, and Celeste, are preparing to serve in Papua New Guinea with Pioneer Bible Translators.

Faculty News

PAUL M. BLOWERS continues to serve as an elder at Grandview Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn., and to serve as Grandview’s coordinator with the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a ministry to the homeless and unemployed.

JACK B. HOLLAND was a speaker at the Youth in Ministry event, “The Big Picture,” July 21-26 at Milligan College campus. He led the sessions “A critical view of culture” and “What does culture have to do with ministry?” as well as directed a ministry skills workshop on counseling. He preached at Sonlight Church of Christ in Greeneville, Tenn., July 6, and at Union Church of Christ in Jonesborough, Tenn., July 13.

ROBERT F. HULL JR. represented Emmanuel at the conference “Appalachia: Hurt, Hope, and Help” in Charleston, W. Va., July 17-19, sponsored by the Commission on Religion in Appalachia and Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center. He taught the Church and Community Class at Grandview Christian Church, Johnson City, Tenn., on July 27. Dr. Hull reviewed the book God’s Holy Fire: The Nature and Function of Scripture by Kenneth L. Cukrowski, Mark W. Hamilton, and James W. Thompson (Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2002) in Stone-Campbell Journal 6 (Spring, 2003), 151-152. He wrote a resource review of the book Engaging God’s World by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in the July 27 issue of Christian Standard.

THOMAS F. JONES JR. has been asked to direct church planter care and assessment for Stadia, a church planting organization in the southeast. He will train the trainers and assess the assessors. He participated in Stadia’s southeast team retreat in Peachtree City, Ga., on July 2. He attended the Church Development Fund Banquet in Indianapolis July 7 and participated in Stadia’s national team retreat in Indianapolis July 8. July 14-15, Dr. Jones met with the leadership of Bluegrass Men’s Fellowship in Lexington, Ky., about a new church planned for the area. Dr. Jones will host the Church Planting Assessment Center at ESR August 18-21. He will speak for the Jefferson City (Tenn.) Christian Church homecoming August 24.

DAVID P. MARWEDE will attend the Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference in Philadelphia, Pa., on September 5-6 and will present a paper on Cicero’s use of moralis, de moribus and other expressions to designate the ethical part of philosophy.

ROLLIN A. RAMSARAN’s essay, “Paul and Maxims,” will be published in Paul in the Greco-Roman World, ed. J. Paul Sampley (Trinity Press International), available in November 2003.

BRUCE E. SHIELDS served as a judge for the teen public speaking competition at the North American Christian Convention July 8-9. He presided at the European Evangelistic Society breakfast at the NACC July 10. Dr. Shields continues to serve as volunteer chaplain at the Johnson City Medical Center.

THOMAS E. STOKES was a booth representative for Emmanuel School of Religion and the Chaplaincy Endorsement Commission at the North American Christian Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., July 8-11.

Development & Recruitment
on the Road

DAVID FULKS to the Collegiate Leadership Conference in Evansville, Ind., August 2-7.
  

Dan Lawson to Dallas in August and to Colorado and northern California in September.
  

Jeff mcnabb to Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky in August, and to North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania in September.

JERRY RUDBERG to Week of Missions-Oregon Coast, Vancouver and Battle Ground, Wash., Portland and Eugene, Ore., in August; to Septemberfest at Wi-Ne-Ma Camp and Conference Grounds, Eugene and Roseburg, Ore., in September.