RRN Online Volume 352

March 01 '03

Volume 352

FBC To Build A Tough Choice

Within evangelical Protestant churches, one of the hardest choices faced is how best to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. A number of avenues are available, sending or supporting missionaries abroad or at home, broadcasting worship services via communication's media such as radio and television, providing financial support for churches where evangelical Protestants are in the minority, planting churches, enhancing church member training programs, expanding community outreach efforts, providing educational space and physical plant space to accommodate a growing church membership, and the list goes on.

The First Baptist Church of Pontotoc, MS, is an evangelical Protestant church. Throughout its history the church has used all the means listed above to spread the gospel. There are times when the church must decide which opportunity has the most potential in helping the church realize it's primary goal, spreading the gospel.

There is probably no cause among Baptists more heartwarming than the notion that by giving cooperatively with other churches Baptists are helping evangelize the world by supporting missionaries on foreign soils. After all, it rings true to the last commandment of Jesus, prior to his ascension: Go...make disciples…baptizing them...teaching them…and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. In obeying Jesus' command, we are hastening the day of our Lord's return, for we believe that day awaits, in part, the spreading of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Building gloriously and elaborately ornate houses of worship is a secondary concern when weighed in the light of the "Great Commission" or last commandment of Jesus. Yet, for the average church member, a special place to worship is crucial to experiencing the presence of God. Where once a single story wooden structure sufficed a given congregation for its worship house or temple, affluence joined hands with affirmation and acclamation to build beautifully designed buildings of stone or brick and mortar and showcased them with stained glass windows.

Where once a minister served as pastor for a congregation, taught the scriptures, visited the sick, rejoiced with parents over a newborn baby, gave comfort to the bereaved, and helped bury the dead, now there are ministers who specialize in each aspect of church life, and the roster of staff members gives many churches the look and feel of a corporation.

Where once church members assumed the role of administration of organized Christian Education, paid professionals do it for us. Where once the youth of the church were engaged in Bible study and Christian action by interested adults, professionals lead our youth. Where once congregational singing was led by a church member who may or may not have held a degree in music, professionals are hired to do this, too.

Where once youth were encouraged to play simple games like badminton or volleyball with minimal adult supervision and adults met in small groups in homes to plan events related to the church, a Family Life Center is, more often than not, required in order to provide such simple needs.

With respect to "church life" things have dramatically changed in the almost fifty years of my membership. I don't recount the above comparisons to disparage change. Certainly, our church members, or the members of any church, must continually strive to meet changing needs within the church, the community, and beyond. Change, in itself, is often as tough as the choices that must be made to effect change.

The physical plant of First Baptist, Pontotoc has greatly expanded during my lifetime. The older educational building adjacent to the domed sanctuary was built in 1953, the year my family moved back to Pontotoc. The newer educational facility was constructed in the mid-sixties.

I'm certain there were church members opposed to each of the prior building projects, and of these, some would have argued the money for the buildings might serve the cause of Christ better if allocated to the work of missionaries. The Sanctuary has twice been renovated in my lifetime, and each time there was discussion and deliberation over the proper stewardship of our possessions. As long as humans comprise the church, differences of opinion will surface whenever large amounts of money are involved.

First Baptist Church of Pontotoc has just voted to proceed with plans to build two additional buildings adjacent or near the present physical plant. One building will contain classroom space on one floor for children in age groups from bed-babies through third grade. A second floor will provide additional classroom space and doubles as a fellowship/ banquet hall.

The second building is hailed as a Family Life Center, but it is basically a basketball gym with a couple of small classrooms and a small kitchen. The buildings mentioned are pictured above as those with pitched roofs on the right side of the architectural rendering.

Cost projections are approximately three million dollars, and the church has committed to raising one million in cash prior to letting bids for construction. It is hoped that the actual work can begin in May of 2004 and be completed by December of 2005.

The approved plan is one scaled down from a seven million dollar master plan that included climate-controlled, enclosed walkways connecting the educational buildings to the sanctuary, and the renovation of existing educational space. I expect the church will eventually seek to incorporate other aspects of the master plan as indebtedness is reduced.

It took a building committee two long years to bring an architect before the church for a formal presentation. A number of challenges faced the committee, who based their plans on three major objectives:

Classroom space to average 600 in Sunday School
A Fellowship Hall (Larger than present one)
A Family Life Center

Other than monetary concerns, the committee had to overcome the challenge of where to locate the facilities on existing church property that is surrounded on three sides by city streets.

Over the last twenty years, the church's commitment to Missions has decreased as Baby Boomers populate and dominate the membership. Historically Baby Boomers have been more concerned with their families and themselves than with the welfare of others. That may explain the near fanatical insistence of some for a Family Life Center that is basically a half-million dollar gymnasium.

However, I like the logic of Max Akins. Max has one of the best financial minds to be found anywhere.

As he and I discussed the lack of merit of a gym-only Family Life Center, Max remembered how he was not keen on certain aspects of an earlier renovation of the Sanctuary, as it involved removing classroom spaces from the rear of the auditorium.

"I finally decided there was more to like about the plan than there was to dislike. The good outweighed the bad," he concluded.

Ninety-seven percent, of the four hundred members who voted, voted to approve the most recent building program. I'm convinced that not all of those in favor were convinced it was the right thing to do, but believing the good outweighed the bad, they elected to cast a vote supporting the recommendation of the building committee.

It was a tough choice, but, as a church, FBC has faced tough choices in the past. Whether or not it was the best choice, the wisest of methods to reach the world for Jesus remains to be seen.

Creative Reading An Introduction

There are readers, who are writers, and there are writers, who are readers, and then there are some of us who just write. I think I fit best into the last category, because I don't particularly enjoy reading anything of length. I know people who love a good novel or a biography. I've seen many a person packing a book into the workplace, reading as opportunities arise during the day. I envy their passion, but I do not share it. Instead, the readings I most enjoy are short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, things that enlighten or inspire but don't require hours of commitment to finish.

My mind is not disciplined enough to focus on one subject for days at a time. Oh, were I a speed-reader, perhaps, I would enjoy a lengthy novel, but I like to read every word. This business of scanning a page, picking out the main sentences, action words, and skipping the articles, a, and, and the, is not for me. Somebody had to write all the words and somebody should read all the words, else the author is getting short-changed.

Please, don't send me your favorite novel, and while I love history, I don't care to be smothered in it. I'll try to stay informed by reading national and local news, via print and/or the Internet. I listen to public radio frequently in the early morning and late afternoon when I'm driving, and mostly out of habit, I sit through the ten o'clock, nightly news but consider it something to be endured until the weather comes on, and most of the time I can't tell you the forecast after hearing it. Fortunately, I have the Weatherbug program on my computer and have the current temperature in my system tray and the forecast is only a click away.

My gripe with musical groups is that once they form and create their own sound, everything they play sounds the same. In the interest of group recognition, I suppose the sound is important to the musicians, but as a listener I need variety. Therefore, I've been to all the concerts I care to attend, and I can't remember one that didn't wear on me near the end, hearing that same "sound." Sure the words of the songs changed, the musical rhythms varied, the instrumentation differed, perhaps, but in it all the "sound" prevailed. Boring.

Depending on whom you ask, some readers may declare that this newsletter has the same sound issue after issue. I'd like to think it varies, but I could be wrong. Okay, I couldn't be wrong, but perhaps I'm mistaken. No wait, that's too close to the same thing. Now, that I think about it, this newsletter offers plenty of variety in both commentary and writing style. There, that should settle the matter.

According to my sister, Sarah, the sort of writing I normally do is called "Creative Writing." Actually, I find that a bit too fancy a title, but she insists she is correct, and who am I to argue with an English major? I only think of my writing a being creative whenever, I don't have much of a base to work with, but somehow manage to "create" an article. If that's creative writing, so be it.

Near the end of "All Things Considered" on Public Radio the other day, I listened to Melissa Block interview Mark Moskowitz, who described something I had never considered. He introduced an idea to me that there's such a thing as "Creative Reading," and did a pretty good job in convincing me.

It seems there was a writer, Dow Mossman, who wrote only one book, "The Stones Of Summer," a book that, twenty-five years earlier, held little appeal for Moskowitz, but upon taking it up a second time, he found he loved it for all the reasons he had first disliked it. When he began to search for other works by the same author, he found there were none. When he asked others, no one had ever heard of the author. Finding the author became something of a quest for him, and his quest became the documentary, Stone Reader.

Mossman eventually found the author he sought, but he found a greatly changed individual, one who had channeled his creativity into reading rather than writing. Moskowitz shared he had observed something similar in his own wife's creativity. Once she gave up painting, she channeled her creativity into gardening and cooking and other things. It sounded reasonable to me that if one aspect of our individual creativity is shut down we will find another means to express ourselves. I'm unsure what got shut down or turned off in my situation, but something kicked me into "writer's mode" about seven years ago.

What intrigued me most with regard to creative reading, was something in the documentary relayed by writer Frank Conroy: You enter worlds you couldn't possibly enter in any other way. You feel the pressure of another human soul on the other side of the book, and that makes you feel less alone, less trapped in your body and less isolated. You feel that you are the brother of the author and the two of you are working together. It's a very profound and moving experience. It's almost spiritual…When I read Dickens the old man might just as well be sitting next to me. That's how close he is. I feel him right there. He's there; he's with me.

Well, I'm no Dickens, so I don't presume to think when others are reading this newsletter, they feel my presence as though I'm sitting right beside them. However, if one is a really creative reader, it could happen.

Bodock Beau Why Did The Chicken Cross

At long last, more plausible answers to the riddle of the chicken crossing the road than "to get to the other side," are available. Thanks to Jo T. Haney for contributing the following:

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD

SADDAM HUSSEIN -This was an unprovoked act of rebellion, and we were quite justified in first torturing its 6 baby chicks as the chicken watched and then dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on the chicken itself.

GEORGE W. BUSH - We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.

AL GORE - I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.

MARTHA STEWART - No one called to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the farmer's market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR. SEUSS -
Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road,
But why it crossed,
I've not been told!

ERNEST HEMINGWAY - To die. In the rain. Alone.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. - I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA - In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

RALPH NADER - The chicken's habitat on the original side of the road had been polluted by unchecked industrialist greed. The chicken did not reach the unspoiled habitat on the other side of the road because it was crushed by the wheels of a gas-guzzling SUV.

JERRY FALWELL - Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what they call it -- the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too.

JOHN LENNON - Imagine all the chickens crossing roads in peace.

ARISTOTLE - It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

KARL MARX - It was an historical inevitability.

VOLTAIRE - I may not agree with what the chicken did, but I will defend to the death its right to do it.

CAPTAIN KIRK -To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

FOX MULDER (X-Files) - You saw it cross the road with your own eyes! How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it?

SIGMUND FREUD - The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

ALBERT EINSTEIN - Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON - I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define chicken, please?

COLONEL SANDERS - You mean, I missed one?

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