February 1998
Back Issues

Contents

• The Thompson Center: The ‘Heart’ of the Emmanuel Village
• From the President: Let Us Sway
• Mays to Bring Kershner Lectures in April
• Anna Grant Works With Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity: Student Volunteers for Ministry in Calcutta
• The Fig Tree Fellowship Story
• Recent Books by Emmanuel Faculty
• Heritage of Excellence Update: Campaign Commitments Pass $1,600,000
• Emmanuel to Host Church Growth and Planting Seminar

The Thompson Center: The ‘Heart’ of the Emmanuel Village

In the last issue of the Envoy, we were excited to announce the five-year campaign entitled “Heritage of Excellence.” One of the key elements of the campaign is the construction of student housing, which we are calling The Emmanuel Village.

An essential ingredient to the spirit of any village is the community life that takes place... that’s why instead of constructing simply residences for students, the plan includes the Thompson Center which is named for Fred , the second president of Emmanuel School of Religion, and his wife Dorothy. The Center is called the “heart” of the village because it will be the focus for all community and fellowship activities.

Constructed in an English motif, as is the rest of the Village, the 10,000 square foot facility will house a large fellowship room, a fireplace room, a child care center, and an apartment for the village director. The Thompson Center will be where students, families, and friends gather for small and large meetings, for recreational activities, and for personal quiet time.

The fireplace room will be constructed along the lines of a large living room or a grand hotel lobby. It will be a place for relaxation and independent and group activities. We are pleased to announce that the fireplace room will be named in honor of Roger and Verna Dean of Heyburn, Idaho. In addition to their faithful friendship and support of Emmanuel for many years, Roger has been a member of Emmanuel’s Board of Associates in Christian Education. We truly appreciate the Deans for all they have done for the cause of Christian graduate education through the years. Many have come to serve Christ because of their stewardship of time, talent, and treasure.

The child care center, a tremendous help to the Emmanuel community, will be equipped to provide care for 40 children. Student families needing assistance with child care will know that their children are not only being cared for by concerned Christian people, but will also be sharing their daily experiences with children of other Emmanuel families.

From the President
Let Us Sway

Debbie Fleenor is a second year student who has brought to Emmanuel the rich heritage of a missionary family and an irrepressible vitality and enthusiasm. Her parents and grandparents are well known for their missionary service in Japan. Given Debbie’s lovely voice and her outgoing personality she often leads the music for our chapel services.

During the Emmanuel Fall Retreat at Lake Junaluska Debbie was leading the singing for a late evening worship service. After singing several hymns and choruses she said that she wanted to teach us a chorus. She sang it through once: “Wade in the Water.” “But,” she said, “you can’t sing this just sitting there. You have to sway and clap.” For better or for worse, most of us at Emmanuel School of Religion are not natural swayers, and so she proceeded to teach us. We stood as she led us in swaying, left and right. Then she taught us to put a clap with the sway. It was only then that we tried to put the song with our new-found body movement. I never did get it right.

As it happened, the next person on the program was Danny Johnson, an African American student, who serves one of the swayingest congregations in Johnson City. He began by saying, “That was interesting. I remember that song. We used to sing it in my home church when I was a boy. We sang it a little differently.” Then he paused. He could not contain his laughter any longer. He said, “I just can’t wait till I get to my church on Sunday morning and tell them how they had to teach those people out at Emmanuel School of Religion how to sway!”

It must have been when Debbie heard that I was telling this story rather freely that she decided to have the last word. She formed a choir for our final chapel service of the semester, a group which Prof. Jim Street named, “The Holy Hill Gospel Singers.” Under the direction of the remarkably talented David Butzu they did a magnificent version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” with Debbie singing the lead. And did they sway! (Although they still had to have Deborah Powell, another African-American student, lead them.) And thus another dimension was added to the rich variety of Christian music we enjoy in our worship service.

This past summer I was watching the televised program of the Boston Pops Fourth of July Special. The only decidedly Christian music in their program was by a powerful black gospel choir. At the time I thought, “How interesting that the only Christian music to penetrate this very secular celebration came from African-American culture.”

If those of us at Emmanuel School of Religion are to learn to sway, it will take the Debbie Fleenors and Deborah Powells to teach us. The President readily admits his inability to lead in this area. He comes from a line of presidents who are decidedly non-swayers. Try imagining Dean Walker, Fred Thompson, Calvin Phillips, and Bob Wetzel forming a fast-moving gospel quartet! (The Church of Christ at Platt Bridge, England, must still be chuckling from the night they tried to teach me to do the Wigan Slog. Fortunately it was a going-away party, and the performance was never repeated.)

But then, presidents are not supposed to be swayers moving back and forth. They are supposed to bring stability to the institutions they serve. And when I consider the service of my three predecessors, that has certainly been the case here at Emmanuel. In this issue of The Envoy we announce the naming of the proposed community center for the Emmanuel Village as “The Fred and Dorothy Thompson Center.” There were some strong winds blowing during Fred’s presidency, but he led the Emmanuel community through what might have been a destructive storm. And hence, now in addition to Walker Drive and the Calvin Phillips Drive, we will have the Thompson Center. These are reminders to us that presidents do not sway.

—Dr. C. Robert Wetzel, President

Mays to Bring Kershner Lectures in April

Dr. James Luther Mays of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia will bring the 1998 Kershner Lectures April 14–17 at Emmanuel School of Religion. The lectures will take place at 11:00 a.m. each day in the Mildred Welshimer Phillips Memorial Chapel on the seminary’s campus.

The lectures will explore “The Paradox of the Psalms.” Dr. Mays says, “The Psalms came out of the religion of ancient Israel, but they are immensely popular in the current revival of interest in spirituality. The book is introduced as ‘law’ by the first paslm, yet it is composed mostly of prayers and hymns. It is in such contrasting characteristics that the power of the Psalms seems to lie.” These lectures will offer explorations of why and how the apparent paradoxes create the profundity and possibilities that lie in the Psalms.

Dr. Mays is The Cyrus McCormick Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. An ordained minister of the Presbyterian church, Dr. Mays received his Ph.D. from Manchester University in England in 1957. He has also studied at the University of Basel, Switzerland; Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, where he received the B.D. degree; Columbia University; and Erskine College, where he received the B.A. degree.

Dr. Mays served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, where he received four battle stars and the Air Medal. From 1945–1955 he served pastorates in Steele’s Tavern, Virginia, and Lincolnton, North Carolina. He and his wife, Mary, have two adult daughters.

Student Volunteers for Ministry in Calcutta

Second-year Emmanuel student Anna Grant, a veteran of missionary work in other countries, spent the summer of 1997 working in Calcutta, India, as a volunteer for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

Anna felt called to minister in Calcutta after reading a book by Mother Teresa which told of her work in the city. An address in the back of the book led Anna to write for information on volunteering. “It was easy,” she said. “They sent me a form to fill out, then they sent me information on places to stay and the different places I could work.” The Missionaries of Charity operates several missions in the city of Calcutta, including an orphanage and the Prem Dan nursing home, where Anna volunteered. “Some mission trips are almost like sightseeing tours,” she said, “but I knew I would have the opportunity to actually work in Calcutta. I knew I had the skills to take care of people and could help.”

“I washed clothes and ministered to the sick,” said Anna, who was one of about 100 volunteers. “We washed clothes and bedsheets by hand in a big tub, then we would slap them on a concrete slab several times, wring them, and hang them up to dry.” The Missionaries of Charity don’t have modern washing machines, even though several have been offered to the community. “The order wants the volunteers to live like the peasants to whom they minister,” Anna stated.

Prem Dan was home to around 80 women who suffered from various illnesses. “Some were sick, and some were mentally ill,” said Anna, “and not all of them were elderly. We would feed them, wash them, and wash their clothes and bed clothes.” There were also nurses who worked in the home administering medicine and taking care of the residents’ personal hygiene.

Living in Calcutta was an experience for Anna, even though she has lived in Zaire and in Mexico for other missionary work. Calcutta is a city of 12 million people and is India’s largest city. The population is one of the most dense in the world with 85,500 people per square mile. “Some streets have garbage piled on the sidewalks,” Anna said, “and some people and all the animals use the bathroom by the side of the road. Then these streets flood on a regular basis, and everyone wades through the water to get to where they’re going.” As a result, diseases such as tuberculosis are very common in the city.

Anna’s biggest culture shock was due to the dense population. “The streets were very busy,” she said, “and the men were very rude. There was no privacy if you felt you needed to get away for a quiet time—no place to escape into solitude.”

Anna was fortunate to meet Mother Teresa on a few different occasions. “When we went to Adoration, she would bless us,” Anna said. Another time, Anna and three other people were able to hold a more intimate conversation with her.

And once, Anna was the answer to one of Mother Teresa’s prayers. Anna recalls the situation: “There was one nun visiting from Mexico City by herself. Usually the sisters travel two by two for companionship and safety, but this sister was travelling by herself and it was time for her to return to Mexico. At prayers that morning I heard them request prayer for Sister Dominique and I had prayed myself that she would have a safe journey. Mother Teresa was very concerned and was praying for her as well. When I got to the airport I saw three nuns there and they asked me if I was flying to the United States on British Air—and I was. It turned out that Sister Dominique was on the same flights as I was and I was able to be her travelling companion.”

After Anna graduates from Emmanuel, she hopes to work as a Bible translator. In 1994, she worked with a Bible translation team in Zaire for a few months when refugees flooded into the country from Rwanda. Anna found herself working in an orphanage taking care of the youngest of the refugees.

When asked what she learned the most from the experience of working in Calcutta, Anna said, “One thing the sisters expressed was that you need to see Christ in everyone, no matter their circumstances.” She also learned to be both compassionate and aggressive to compete in the close-knit culture. “I think that whenever you go somewhere where you’re lonely and when you do something that takes a lot of courage, you grow,” she said.

The Fig Tree Fellowship Story

The Fig Tree Fellowship is a women’s organization (although men are also welcome) which encourages faithful giving to Emmanuel School of Religion. Fig Tree members put their small gifts together monthly and ask God to help them use the gifts wisely in educating men and women for ministry at the Seminary.

Recent Scholarship Recipients Sergio Faria & Family Valmir Delgado & Family Mr. & Mrs. Michael Tanner

The Fig Tree Fellowship was born out of the recession of 1974. At that time, the Board of Trustees of Emmanuel School of Religion took drastic and painful steps in answer to the Seminary’s rapidly mounting deficit. They eliminated several projects, five staff jobs, and two faculty positions. The administrative positions of President and Dean were even merged into one, to become effective the following June (though this action was later reversed).

Almost immediately, Hylda Smith (then of Aurora, Illinois) began thinking of ways to help. Within three weeks she had persuaded thirteen of her friends to make monthly, direct-support pledges to Emmanuel School of Religion: Fig Tree Fellowship was born! The group’s name clearly indicated their mission of bearing fruit. Proverbs 27:18 has become the Fig Tree Fellowship’s watchword: “He who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who watches his master’s interests will come to honor.”

In Johnson City, Tennessee, there was a resounding response to this fledgling “Tree.” The enthusiasm mounted as the program was presented in homes, at women’s circles, in local Sunday School classes, and by word of mouth in private conversation. Women gladly did without a specific item and gave the money saved. Sacrificial, creative giving nourished the “Tree.”

Today the volunteer efforts of many women keep the Fig Tree Fellowship growing. The Fellowship operates under the direction of a volunteer Board of Directors who perform various tasks for Fig Tree Fellowship and meet regularly for consideration of what can be done to best serve the needs of the Seminary. The Fellowship serves the school by telling the story of Emmanuel to individuals and church groups, by promoting Emmanuel in bringing together area women for fellowship events, and by raising funds to underwrite educational needs of the school.

Over the past twenty-three years, members of Fig Tree Fellowship have contributed a total of $466,793 to Emmanuel School of Religion through pledges and gifts. These funds have helped to prepare men and women to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

One project underwritten by the Fig Tree Fellowship is the establishment of two endowed full tuition scholarships, the Fig Tree Fellowship Scholarship and the Dorothy Thompson Fig Tree Fellowship Scholarship. These scholarships are awarded to entering students each fall and cover full tuition, books, and fees for the students’ first year of studies at Emmanuel. A goal of the Fig Tree Fellowship is to establish as many full tuition endowed scholarships as possible, thereby encouraging academically gifted men and women to attend Emmanuel. Announcement of the establishment of a third endowed scholarship is expected this spring. There is no way to evaluate the magnitude of the good, the extent of the outreach, or the eternal significance of the gifts to these students who are preparing for ministry.

Since 1978, Fig Tree Fellowship has sponsored the Mission of the Church Lectures held at the school each year. This lectureship series has provided the opportunity for Emmanuel’s faculty and students, as well as the surrounding community, to hear and to engage in stimulating discussions with outstanding scholars in Christian world mission. The Emmanuel community has been blessed with inspiring visions of the church in the world through the messages brought by these guest lecturers from around the world.

Gifts to Emmanuel’s Library are probably the Fig Tree Fellowship’s greatest impact on the Seminary. In twenty-three years, Fig Tree has given $235,762 to the Library for works of permanent value, and the group continues to be the Library’s largest contributor.

Through the years the Fig Tree Fellowship has also given to many other worthy projects at Emmanuel School of Religion including the installation of a sound system in the Chapel, new Chapel hymnals, the building of a workshop for maintenance, and funds to help retain the Office of the Dean back in 1975.

Emmanuel School of Religion is thankful for each person who has supported the Fig Tree Fellowship in the past. Others are invited to join the group for a glorious future in this Kingdom work.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the Fig Tree Fellowship, please write to Fig Tree Fellowship, One Walker Drive, Johnson City TN 37601.

Recent Books by Emmanuel Faculty

The following books were recently authored or edited by members of the Emmanuel faculty. In addition, Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism: The Development of an Institution, is forthcoming from Dr. Rodney Werline, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. It will be published in April by Scholars Press. The following reviews were taken from the books themselves and from the Clipboard, Emmanuel’s alumni newsletter. In the next few weeks the Emmanuel web site will feature a comprehensive bibliography of all the members of the Emmanuel faculty.

The Bible in Greek Christian Antiquity
Edited and Translated by Paul M. Blowers, Associate Professor of Church History
Published 1997 by Notre Dame Press. 468 pages. Softcover.
ISBN: 0-268-00702-0

The Bible in Greek Christian Antiquity is a collection of wide-ranging essays on the influence of the Bible in numerous and varied aspects of the life of the Greek-speaking churches during the first four centuries. Individual essays probe topics as diverse as the use of the Bible in early Christian preaching and catechesis, appeals to Scripture in the conflicts between Jews and Christians, pagan use of Scripture against the Church, and the Bible’s influence in early Christian art, martyrology, liturgical reading, pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and ascetical life.

Much of the volume constitutes a translation, revision, and adaptation of essays originally presented in the French volume Le monde grec ancien et la Bible (1984), Volume 1 of the series Bible de Tous les Temps. Four new studies appear, however, including an introductory essay on Origen of Alexandria as a guide to the biblical reader, and two essays on the biblical culture of early Eastern Christian monasticism.

Liberating Words: Paul’s Use of Rhetorical Maxims in 1 Corinthians 1–10
By Rollin A. Ramsaran, Assistant Professor of New Testament
Published 1996 by Trinity Press International. 168 pages. Softcover.
ISBN: 1-56338-164-8

All cultures and all religious movements have their own traditional sayings, and most have a collection of religious maxims as well. This book shows how maxim usage is valuable in determining by whom, for whom, and how maxims are used to provide internal ordering, stability, and a general stable of teaching material for religious movements.

In particular, readers are invited to consider the full and proper context that stands behind the social interaction of Paul and the believing community in Corinth. The author argues that this context is incomplete without a recognition of the rhetorical conventions of maxim usage in Paul’s world. Understanding Paul’s use of maxim argumentation as, in part, a response to the maxim argumentation of some Corinthians opens a window on 1 Corinthians 1–10 that has not been previously explored.

Emmanuel’s Dr. Paul M. Blowers says, “Emmanuel’s own Rollin Ramsaran lends a very important voice to this scholarly discussion of the moral worldview and ethics of the earliest Christians in his analysis of Paul’s use of maxims—i.e., rhetorical or poetic statements that are memorable, pregnant with meaning, and intended to qualify moral performance—which Paul weaves into his discourse in 1 Corinthians 1–10 to instruct and exhort this conflicted community. ... ‘Freedom,’ ‘power,’ ‘knowledge’ only make sense for Christians in the light of the Cross of Jesus Christ and the ministry of loving servanthood. Maxims thus provide a crucial form of pastoral guidance and insight.

“This is a superb study, much to be recommended for the libraries of pastors and teachers in the local church.”

Selling Out the Church: The Dangers of Church Marketing
by James L. Street, Professor of Christian Care and Counseling, and Philip D. Kenneson, Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Milligan College
Published 1997 by Abingdon Press. 176 pages. Softcover.
ISBN: 0-687-01044-6

Marketing the church is hot. Theologians Kenneson and Street offer a thoughtful and provocative protest, with a foreword from Stanley Hauerwas.

The authors propose an alternative, constructive account of the church’s mission and purpose that is “not based on an exchange of value but on reminding us that the gospel is always a gift — a gift that makes impossible any presumptions that there can be an exchange between human beings and God that is rooted in the satisfaction of our untrained needs.” The cross and resurrection challenge the world’s understanding of what our needs should be.

Emmanuel’s Dr. Charles Taber says, “Undoubtedly the chief reason why the church of Jesus Christ in the broadest sense is having a minimal impact on the United States today is not that it has failed to contextualize its style and message, but that it has contextualized excessively in ways that have compromised the church’s own nature and the gospel message. Kenneson and Street have produced a small masterpiece detailing and critiquing one of those mistaken and compromising kinds of adaptation to the contemporary American culture: marketing the church, as advocated by Barna and a number of other people. This book powerfully indicts church marketing on biblical and theological grounds: using marketing techniques is simply incompatible with the truest nature of the church and with the gospel. An absolute must.”

Heritage of Excellence Update
Campaign Commitments Pass $1,600,000

Emmanuel School of Religion announced the launch of the largest fund raising campaign in the history of the Seminary in the last Envoy. To our great delight, after only three months, commitments to the Heritage of Excellence campaign have increased to over $1,600,000, nearly half of the $3,275,000 goal. Commitments from members of the Emmanuel Board of Trustees and Associates in Christian Education already total over $700,000, and 100% of Emmanuel’s faculty and staff have made commitments that total $102,000. Emmanuel is asking friends of the Seminary to make 5-year commitments to the campaign. With many friends and alumni yet to be contacted, we are thrilled with this early response to this venture.

Funds raised by this endeavor will be used for construction of the first stage of The Emmanuel Village, a student housing community located adjacent to the current campus. The Village will be constructed in the architectural style of an English village. The master plan calls ultimately for 80 cottages (apartments) housed in courts of 4–6 units. The Village will also include the Thompson Community Center, which will include a child care center, recreation room, and Fireplace Room for small gatherings.

The campaign fund will also be used to expand the Emmanuel Library into the unfinished third floor of the B.D. Phillips Memorial Building. That expansion will provide space for 60,000 additional volumes. The existing library will also be remodeled. The new third floor will be named in memory of Dr. Beauford Bryant, the late Professor of New Testament Emeritus at Emmanuel.

As Emmanuel grows in enrollment and facilities, there is also a need for additional staff to ensure that the school is able to maintain its historic quality. This campaign will provide the funds necessary for three additional staff positions. Finally it will also provide additional financial aid for our students.

Emmanuel to Host Church Growth & Planting Seminar

Emmanuel School of Religion and Milligan College together announce the Continuing Education Seminar, “Planting and Growing Effective Churches,” on March 23, 1998, at Emmanuel School of Religion. It will be led by Emmanuel alum John E. Wasem (MDiv ’87) who now serves SunCrest Christian Church in St. John, Indiana, as Lead Minister.

This one-day seminar will cover such topics as the profile of a successful church planter, developing a magnetic community image, teambuilding for new church effectiveness, worship and preaching to reach the unchurched, and identifying and overcoming growth barriers.

Wasem has served at SunCrest Christian Church since its founding on September 24, 1994. Today the church averages over 390 in worship. In addition, John serves as associate professor of church planting at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary and is a former instructor of church growth and evangelism at Cincinnati Bible Seminary. John received his B.A. cum laude from Milligan College in 1976, and the M.Div. from Emmanuel School of Religion in 1987.

The cost of the seminar, including lunch, is $35. For more information or to register for the seminar contact The Office of the President, Emmanuel School of Religion, One Walker Drive, Johnson City TN 37601, (423) 461-1510.