December 2015 Issue Containing the January Bible Study Lessons
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>> This is the December 2015 issue containing the January Bible Study Lessons Fanny Crosby’s unpublished works recovered 4 baptiststoday.org LOSS & LEGACY Lessons from the American Civil War 32 Did you say, ‘Merry Clausmas’? 9 BIBLE STUDIES 17 FA TH™ John D. Pierce Executive Editor [email protected] Julie Steele Chief Operations Officer [email protected] Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor [email protected] Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor [email protected] Bruce T. Gourley Online Editor/Contributing Writer [email protected] David Cassady Church Resources Editor [email protected] Pathway Vickie Frayne Art Director to Peace Jannie Lister 36 Customer Service Manager [email protected] Lex Horton Nurturing Faith Resources Manager [email protected] PERSPECTIVES Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus The shaping power of fear 7 Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus By John Pierce Dig Deeper DIRECTORS EMERITI Did you say ‘Merry Clausmas’? 9 Thomas E. Boland By Ben Self R. Kirby Godsey 12 Ann Roebuck Is advocacy in your church’s wheelhouse? 29 Guy Rutland III Mary Etta Sanders By Chris Sanders Mel Williams Winnie V. Williams IN THE NEWS MEDIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. (chairman) Holy pepperoni! Church tips big 10 Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. (vice chair) tribute to John Nannette Avery, Signal Mountain, Tenn. Evangelical group softens stance on Kelly L. Belcher, Asheville, N.C. Edwin Boland, Johns Creek, Ga. death penalty 10 Ronnie Brewer, Bristol, Va. Janie Brown, Elon, N.C. Christians, Muslims commit to oppose Bob Cates, Rome, Ga. religious bigotry 11 14 Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. Study shows more Americans reject religion, Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. but believers firm in faith 40 Doug Dortch, Birmingham, Ala. Jack Glasgow, Zebulon, N.C. Do science and religion conflict? Wayne Glasgow, Macon, Ga. Frank Granger, Athens, Ga. It’s all in how you ‘see’ it 42 Cynthia Holmes, St. Louis, Mo. David Hull, Watkinsville, Ga. Quotation Remarks 6 Bill Ireland, Dalton, Ga. FEATURE Becky Matheny, Athens, Ga. Tommy McDearis, Blacksburg, Va. Religion and the American Presidents: Andrew McGill, Chattanooga, Tenn. Cynthia Wise Mitchell, Birmingham, Ala. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) 30 William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. In the Know 28 Roger Paynter, Decatur, Ga. Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. COVER PHOTO BY JOHN PIERCE. Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. David Turner, Richmond, Va. Clem White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Donna Wood, Macon, Ga. CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS Drayton and Mary Etta Sanders READERS SERVICES Mission Statement or Baptists Today serves churches by providing a reliable TEACH source of unrestricted news coverage, thoughtful analysis, helpful resources and inspiring features FACILITATE? focusing on issues of importance to Baptist Christians. Advertising GREAT BIBLE STUDY in combination is in YOUR HANDS right now! 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Baptists Today (ISSN 1072-7787) is published monthly by: Baptists Today Periodical postage paid at Macon, Ga. 31208 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: Baptists TodayAll rights reserved. !" #$%& '()*+) Treasure Trove Beloved hymn writer Fanny Crosby’s unpublished works recovered enerations of Christians have long Christ in rescue missions. sung — from hymnals and memory Crosby, he learned, understood her voca- G — the inspiring hymns of Fanny J. tion to be that of a mission worker more Crosby (1820-1915) such as “To God Be the than a songwriter — and that hymns such as Glory,” “Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home” “Rescue the Perishing” and “Pass Me Not, O and “Blessed Assurance.” But very, very few Gentle Saviour” were influenced by her work knew that some 2,700 of her unpublished and among immigrants, the urban poor and the unfinished compositions were stashed away in imprisoned. a library. Crosby was a member of Brooklyn’s Sixth Avenue Baptist Church but felt at home in a OUT OF SIGHT variety of congregations. She wrote songs and poetry out of her compassion and faith. These compositions — dictated by the blind In addition to the thousands of hymns poet, lyricist, composer and social worker — and poems, Crosby wrote some popular and had been scribbled out on various sheets and political tunes — especially songs during the scraps of paper, all with her initials and tucked American Civil War that reflected her deep out of sight at Wheaton College. moral commitment to the abolition of slavery. They might have remained hidden had Stephen Kelley’s mind not wandered during a NEW LIFE sermon long ago. The artist/entrepreneur was Upon a visit to Wheaton in 2000, Kelley Fifteen years passed and still no project. Much searching for a unique word to help brand a was first shown an envelope containing some of Kelley’s attention shifted to care for his wife, company he was forming. of Crosby’s writings. He insisted on seeing the Janda, who began cancer treatments shortly The sermon ended with a call to commit- whole collection — which was wheeled out on after their move to Nashville. She died in ment while singing the hymn “To God Be the 20 library carts. 2007. Glory,” that included the line: “… and opened He offered to pay Nashville was “ground zero” for the music the lifegate that all may go in.” for having every word industry, said Kelley. There he met music pro- “The word (lifegate) sunk into my heart,” digitized — a project that ducer Bobby Blazier, also a drummer for Roy said Kelley. took about two months. Orbison, Michael Martin Murphey and other His curiosity led him to note that the Kelley was sure that popular artists. hymn writer was Fanny Crosby and to discover something must come Kelley discussed his long-ago discovery her name listed several times in the hymnal from this successful “trea- with Blazier over dinner and got an unexpected index. He didn’t stop there, however. sure hunt.” But he wasn’t response. “I can barely hum, but wanted to know sure what it would be. “He grew up on Fanny Crosby,” said more about that songwriter,” said Kelley, who “I’m not a hymn- Kelley. “He started to cry.” is an avid collector of antique hymnals. ologist,” he noted. “… I had a business sense, That which had languished for so long So he began intensive research into the but had never done a musical project.” remarkable life of Fanny J. Crosby, one of his- now had a future. tory’s most prolific hymn writers. “That’s when it became a project,” he ‘RESCUE THE PERISHING’ confirmed. “Bobby had the music contacts.” Kelley also discovered that Crosby’s old piano After a failed attempt with one publisher, THE DISCOVERY was reportedly housed in a New York rescue the project was presented to Integrity Music Kelley learned that Hope Publishing had mission. So he headed to the Bowery from his where a deal was struck. acquired Crosby’s catalog from her publisher but South Florida home to check it out. The challenge was deciding on a first that the many unpublished and incomplete writ- “There sits her Steinway upright,” he said. project from such a massive collection. Of the ings “languished in their files.” They were then And a nearby plaque on the wall acknowledged 2,700 discovered compositions, only 200 had donated to Wheaton College and stored away. that it was on this instrument that Crosby been scored, said Kelley. “No one had pursued them at all except wrote the hymn, “Rescue the Perishing.” And Kelley was insistent that whatever hap- two or three students who’d done theses on It reflected much of Crosby’s faith as pened with these treasures must be respectful of them,” he said. well as her long, deep commitment to serving Crosby — and, therefore, “tastefully done.” 4 NEW/OLD MUSIC: Blessed Assurance: The New Hymns of Fanny Crosby OLD BECOMES NEW someone who had inspired each of them — to style genres that are present in today’s mod- complete her unfinished songs,” he said. ern church while simultaneously maintaining The resulting first project was released this fall. Thompson said that each work was the lyrical depth and perspective that Fanny Blessed Assurance: The New Hymns of Fanny assessed “to see if it could stand the test of Crosby brought to the church back in the late Crosby has 15 compositions further crafted by time” — realizing they were 1800s and early 1900s,” said respected songwriters such as Michael Farren “now stewards of some potential Thompson. and Michael W. Smith. great hymns that could, and With so much more of The involvement of contemporary should, be sung in churches for Fanny Crosby’s recovered music Christian artists bridged some modern musical decades to come.” still awaiting the light, what’s preferences. And the timing for that was just next? The answer to that ques- right, said Kelley, who remarried and now lives THE PROJECT tion will take a little time, said in the mountain town of Tiger, Ga.