March 2004
Back Issues

Contents

• Professor Tom Jones edits book on church planting
• Western Student Scholarship Dinners
• Summer courses offered
• Meditation: A walk outside the park
• Book Review: The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics
• Clipnotes
• Faculty News
• Emmanuel on the Road
• DMin Quote of the Month

Dr. Tom Jones, Associate Professor of Christian Ministries and Director of the Supervised Ministerial Experience Program, has edited a new book titled Church Planting from the Ground Up. Published by College Press and to be released in late March, the volume is a comprehensive tool for those who are serious about establishing new congregations in this postmodern age.

Dr. Jones, a church planting veteran, assembled a team of writers who are known for their expertise and vision. He also penned several chapters of the book himself.

Dr. Jones said, “These writers get it. They’ve done it. They’ve been on the front lines and are experts when it comes to starting churches. This book is practical, motivating, culturally relevant, and biblically sound and is a must read for church planters and anyone interested in or passionate about multiplying communities of faith.”

You may purchase a copy of this book in the Emmanuel Bookstore. Contact 423-461-1545 or email bookstore@esr.edu.

Western Student Scholarship Dinners

Western churches will host the second round of scholarship dinners to benefit students from the region who study at Emmanuel School of Religion from April 25 through May 2. 

Presently Emmanuel has twenty-eight students who receive tuition scholarships provided by the Western Student Scholarship. 

The featured speaker at the dinners will be Christopher Smith, a thesis student who will receive his Master of Divinity degree in May. Chris came to Emmanuel from Georgia Tech and is currently on the leadership team of a new church plant in Atlanta, Georgia. Mark your calendars now to attend a dinner in your area!

Sunday, April 25	Twin Falls Area	Buhl Christian Church, Art Freund Chair
Monday, April 26	Boise Area	Cherry Lane Christian Church, Steve Moore Chair
Tuesday, April 27	Enterprise Area	Enterprise Christian Church, David Bruce Chair
Wednesday, April 28	Grangeville Area	Grangeville Christian Church, Harold Gott Chair
Thursday, April 29	Pomeroy Area	Pomeroy Christian Church, Frank Musgrave Chair
Sunday, May 2	Bend Area	Discovery Christian Church, Dave Drullinger Chair

• Ministry to the Aging and Their Families, June 7-11, Dr. Jack Holland

• Seminar in Preaching, June 22-July 2, Dr. Myron Taylor

• Seminar: Christianity and Public Policy, July 13-23, Jess O. Hale

To register of for more information, please contact the Dean’s Office at (423) 461-1520 or Email DeanOffice@esr.edu.

Breath rises like an early morning mist rolling across a still, cool lake, and voices leave visible trails floating across the black sea of a crisp September night. Among the vast mixture of currents and conversation my daughter and I make our way out of the unnatural glare of the stadium lights with the sound of peanut shells and empty drink cups crunching beneath our feet.

While I do not remember much about the game itself or even the final score, I will never forget the excitement and fascination that consumed the face of my daughter that night. Like a sponge, she soaked up everything and everybody around her. The cry for fresh peanuts, the dazzle of the scoreboard, fans cheering for a base hit; all were adventures into a world of new experiences.

After that game, we enjoyed a twenty-minute walk to the car, holding hands and talking. As we walked, we passed a disheveled man rattling an old stadium drink cup and asking for pocket change to help buy new tires for his wheelchair. Without thinking much about it, I reached into my pocket, grabbed a bit of money left over from our evening, and in silence dropped it into a cup as ragged and frayed as the one who held it.

We continued our journey for another block when two curious eyes looked up at me and asked a very innocent question, “Who was that, Daddy?” It was a question that I had never thought to ask. My daughter never saw the cup; instead she saw the one who rattled it.

In the past decade I have read probably a dozen books dealing with aspects of homosexual identity and practice. This book is worth more than all the others combined. Here’s why: (1) Many books and articles deal with only a handful of biblical texts and offer up very sketchy exegesis; this book deals substantively with more than a dozen specific texts, as well as taking seriously the larger historical and literary contexts of these passages. (2) Much of popular and semi-popular writing of the past 30 years is ill-informed about the literature of the ancient Near East (not much) and the Graeco-Roman world (quite a bit) dealing with same-sex intercourse; Gagnon includes lengthy quotations of relevant materials and shows their possible bearing on the biblical texts. (3) The author interacts carefully, critically, and fairly (it seems to me) with scholars who have offered a “revisionist” interpretation of the relevant biblical texts. (4) Gagnon includes in his hermeneutical section substantive discussions about and citations from the technical literature in journals of science on the causes of homosexual behavior and the possibility of change.

The contemporary debate about homosexual practice in society in general and the church in particular is both difficult and important. It is threatening the unity of major denominations, including the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) (Gagnon is a scholar at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a PCUSA school), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church. It is a contentious issue also within the churches of the Disciples of Christ wing of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Moreover, the question of whether there will long be societal or legal disapproval of any sexual act or arrangement (with the possible exception of forcible rape) is a live one, and quite sobering. Thoughtful Christians need the help of such books as this.

You may purchase a copy of this book in the Emmanuel Bookstore. Contact 423-461-1545 or email bookstore@esr.edu.

MIKE BEVERLY (MDiv ’99) and his wife, Tabby, announce the birth of Gary Michael on November 7, 2003. The baby joins big sister, Katie. Mike serves as Senior Minister at Indian Springs Christian Church in Kingsport, Tenn.

MICHAEL BIGELOW (MDiv ’93) serves as a Navy Chaplain and had a permanent change of station from North Carolina to Naples, Italy, in February. Michael and his family will reside in Italy for the next three years.

CLAUDIO DIVINO (MDiv ’97) will deliver the 2004 Reed Lecture for the Disciples of Christ Historical Society hosted by Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., on April 5. His topic will be “Dynamics of Unity and Diversity in Congregational Ministry from an Ethnic Perspective.” He will emphasize three aspects of the Stone-Campbell tradition: the Lord’s Supper, baptism, and the Christian unity plea. Claudio is an inter-cultural professor at Crossroads College in Rochester, Minn., where he and his wife, Alzira, reside.

PERRY HAAGEN (MDiv ’98) serves as command chaplain for the USS Vella Gulf and was recently deployed on a six-month tour of duty to the Middle East on the Norfolk-based George Washington Carrier Strike Group. Perry and his wife, Debra, reside in Virginia Beach.

ERIC PERRY (MDiv ’94) and his wife, Melodie, have affiliated with Christian Missionary Fellowship for a long-term assignment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Eric has previously served with the CMF Kenya Team in literacy and church-planting ministries and participated in a vision trip to Ethiopia in January 2003.

CAROL PIERSON (MAR ’97) has accepted a Christian educator position at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., where she now resides.

GORDON PIPPIN (MDiv ’81) has been granted a three month sabbatical after seven years of ministry with the Central Christian Church in Battle Creek, Mich. In May, Gordon will attend a seminar on “The Gospel of Matthew” at the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In June, he will attend a month-long session of ecumenical studies at the Tantur Institute in Jerusalem, with excursions to various archeological sites. In July, he and his wife, Carla, will tour Israel, Italy, Switzerland, France, and England.

MIKE TANNER (MDiv ’00) and his wife, Stephanie, welcomed the arrival of a son, Paul Michael, born February 5. Mike serves as senior pastor of Northwest Christian Church in Vancouver, Wash. Northwest is a new church plant which held its first preview service in February 2004. Pre-launch services begin in March with the grand opening to be held on Easter Sunday, April 11.

Larry Van Dyke (MAR ’82) serves as Executive Director- Advancement for World Vision Chicago. He traveled to South Africa and Malawi in February to partner with churches and communities there working on programs to combat HIV/AIDS.

GLENN ZUBER (MAR ’94) and his wife, Jennifer, announce the birth of their son Eli Nathaniel Zuber. Glenn will defend his dissertation in March in preparation for receiving the Ph.D. from Indiana University at Bloomington. He teaches part time in the theology department at Fordham University. The family lives in New York City.

Faculty News

	PAUL M. BLOWERS participated in the inauguration of D. Newell Williams as the new President of Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, Texas, on January 22. He spoke for the Youth in Ministry “Emmaus Walk” retreat at Buffalo Mountain Camp on January 30. Dr. Blowers will make a presentation along with Doug Foster and D. Newell Williams on the meaning of the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery (1804) for the Stone-Campbell churches today at the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, East 91st Street Christian Church, in Indianapolis, Ind., April 25-26.
	ELEANOR A. DANIEL will attend the Higher Learning Commission meeting in Chicago, Ill., March 27-30; will attend the TCM board meeting in Indianapolis, Ind., April 2-3; will attend a meeting of the Committee on the Character of Assessment for Religious Vocation at ATS in Pittsburg, Pa., April 16; and will attend a board meeting for Mission Services Association in April. Dr. Daniel continues to teach a Sunday school class, lead a weekly women’s Bible study, and lead a monthly women’s Bible study at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn.
	JACK B. HOLLAND will preach at Sonlight Church of Christ in Greeneville, Tenn., March 14 and March 28.
	THOMAS F. JONES JR. wrote a reflection article, “In the Mud of the Jabbok,” in the February 22 issue of Christian Standard. He will teach a church planting class for Lincoln Christian Seminary via web chat with Emmanuel alum John Wasem on March 22. Dr. Jones will attend the National Stadia meeting in St. John, Ind., March 30. He will participate in the National New Church Conference in St. John, Ind., March 31-April 1, where Church Planting from the Ground Up, a book edited by Dr. Jones, will be released.
	FREDERICK W. NORRIS will teach one session of a class on Appalachian religion at Valle Crucis, N.C., on March 8. The course is for Yale and Wake Forest divinity students and is taught by Brian Cole, an Episcopal priest in Asheville, N.C.
	BRUCE E. SHIELDS published a review of Luther's Rhetoric: Strategies and Style from the Invocavit Sermons (St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press, 2002) by Neil R. Leroux in Homiletic (Volume XXVIII, number 2, Winter 2003) pp. 42-43.
	C. ROBERT WETZEL wrote an article titled “Why I participate in the World Convention” in the February 8 issue of Christian Standard. He also wrote a resource review of the book The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World by Arthur W. Hunt III in the February 8 issue of Christian Standard.