F I R S T MINISTRY Ministry is the international journal of the Seventh-day Adventist Ministerial Association and has been published since 1928.

Association Secretary James A. Cress Editor Willmore D. Eva Loving the city Managing Editor Julia W. Norcott Editorial Assistant Sheila Draper Neither assimilation nor separation: Our ministry Professional Growth and Inter-church Relations to the cities Nikolaus Satelmajer Contributing Editors: Sharon Cress, Peter Prime, Joel Samir Selmanovic Sarli, Kit Watts International Editors: Inter-American Division Felix Cortes South American Division Zinaldo A. Santos Consulting Editors: The Christian man©s battle Ben Clausen, Raoul Dederen, Teofilo Ferreira, Ron with his sexuality Flowers, John M. Fowler, Michael Hasel, Roland Hegstad, Kathleen Kuntaraf, Ekkehardt Mueller, Jan Pastoral pressure points, part 4 Paulsen, Robert Peach, Angel Manuel Rodriguez, Penny Shell, William Shea, Russell Staples, Richard Tibbits, Ted Archibald D. Hart Wilson, Edward Zinke Pastoral Assistant Editors: John C. Cress, Fredrick Russell, Maylan Schurch, Loren Seibold International Advisors: Alejandro Bullon, John Duroe, Andrews Laurence Ewoo, Paulraj Isaiah, Anthony Patrons and patronage in the early Kent, Jairyong Lee, Ivan Manilich, Zacchaeus Mathema, Christian church Gabriel Maurer, Ivan Omana, David Osborne, Peter Roennfeldt, Raymond Zeeman A biblical and historical study of the influence of Pastoral Advisors: Leslie Baumgartner, S. Peter the economically advantaged in the church Campbell, Miguel A. Cerna, Jeanne Hartwell, Mitchell Henson, Creg Nelson, Norma Osborn, Leslie Pollard, Greg Brothers Dan Smith, Steve Willsey Advertising Editorial Office Subscriptions and Circulation Jeannette Calbi Cover Photo Photodisc The use of imagination Cover Design Harry Knox in preaching Resources Cathy Payne

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MINISTRY July 2002 L T T R

Recovery and pastoral suggestion that they attend [Twelve- "Letters") said, "The premise that ©we ministry Step meetings] on an ongoing basis. all have codependent attitudes and want to applaud Marvin Moore for his There are, however, great benefits behaviors© smacks of the psychological I willingness to share his journey into the for a Christian leader in acknowledging extremism of the 1980s and 1990s that emotional recovery that the Twelve-Step the particular struggles that are a part of transferred the guilt of sin from an indi program brings, and for his willingness our sinfulness, and taking intentional vidual to the actions of others." to discuss an issue that Adventist steps toward healing and reconciliation. No one who is involved in a genuine Christians tend to shy away from. As Dr. Even if it is not through "recovery" and Twelve-Step program thinks that way. Moore stated, recovery is not merely the Twelve Steps, it must be open, real, The recovery movement recognizes the about alcoholism, narcotics abuse, or and intentional, daily requesting the very biblical concept that "the sins of physical violence. Recovery is what all Lord to (1) search us (Ps. 139:23, 24), the fathers are visited on the children to Christians need to experience, in one letting us know what He finds; (2) help the third and fourth generation." By degree or another. We speak about us not to be stubborn (Ps. 32.9); and this they mean that parental abuse pro grace as Christians, but most of the time (3) cleanse us with His hyssop (Ps. duces major character defects in we don©t want to admit we need it. 51:7), along with whatever public or children, which they pass on to their When one takes the time to read the private acknowledgment of our faults children when they become parents. Twelve Steps, they will see the gospel of that may require. Only then, when we This is so well documented that I say it grace enveloped within those steps. are on a daily path of healing and rec without fear of being challenged. At the Seventh-day Adventist World onciliation, will we be able to be But anyone who is seriously into General Conference session, held in ministers of healing and reconciliation "recovery" and the Twelve-Step process Toronto, Canada, in June 2000, we were within our families and our ministries. will absolutely refuse to merely push the privileged to have Dr. Archibald Hart as As much as we would like to pretend blame for their sins and character a speaker. I will always remember his it is, healing and reconciliation (or defects off onto their ancestors. The admonition to pastors: "If you are going recovery) is not a one-time-only process advice I©ve heard over and over and to have healthy churches, you must be that is completed at conversion (or over and over is that Yes, your parents healthy yourselves." As pastors, we must graduation from the seminary). and grandparents© parents created come to the place where we acknowl Kathleen Beagles, Columbia, Maryland. some of the problems you©re struggling edge our powerlessness over the with, but you are responsible for fixing character defects in our lives and seek Marvin Moore responds: I©ve read them through your own diligent effort, through Christ to be as healthy as possi many criticisms of the Twelve Steps and in your relationship with Cod, and with ble so we can minister to our members the recovery movement, including, the wisdom and support of people who with compassion, humility, and healing. most recently, some response to my are qualified to help you. And don©t go Bonita ]. Shields, Brookeville, Maryland. Ministry article "Recovery and Pastoral around whining and blaming. Ministry" (see April 2002 Ministry, There will always be people who dis appreciated Marvin Moore©s article "Letters"). Some criticisms are valid, of agree with the recovery movement and ( "Recovery and Pastoral Ministry" course. However, all too often those the Twelve Steps. They have a perfect (January 2002) because I have experi doing the criticizing are standing on the right to their opinion, and I respect that. enced what he was explaining. I can outside looking in. And unfortunately, We are all struggling humans, and I©m imagine, however, that those readers they are attacking their own misunder sure they have found solutions to life©s who have not faced the brokenness that standings of the recovery process rather problems that work for them. I surely leads to serious relationship issues at than what recovery is truly about. hope so. home or work, might not have liked the For example, Doug Carlson (April continued on page 28

Free Subscription If you©re receiving Ministry bimonthly and haven©t paid for a subscription, it©s not a mistake. Since 1928 Ministry has been published for Seventh-day Adventist ministers. We believe, however, that the time has come for clergy everywhere to experience a resurgence of faith in the authority of Scripture and in the great truths that reveal the gospel of our salvation by grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. We want to share our aspirations and faith in a way that will provide inspiration and help to you as clergy. We hope you will accept this journal as our outstretched hand to you. Look over our shoulder, take what you want and find helpful, and discard what you can©t use. Bimonthly gift subscriptions are available to all licensed and/or ordained clergy. Requests should be on church letterhead and addressed to the editorial office.

July 2002 MINISTRY EDITORIAL

Pastors and sex

et©s be honest: the behavior behind need, is being given. Never mind. After the latest clergy sex abuse scandals each failure, ask forgiveness, pick your L are not limited to just one denom self up, and try again. Very often what ination. Clerical sexual improprieties, God first helps us towards is not the WlLL EVA moderate or extreme contaminate virtue itself but just this power of always every Christian community. trying again."3 Clergy immorality in Christian set Indeed, the New Testament shows tings ranges from the inappropriate to us that the most obstinate demons the scandalous and on to the criminal. sometimes become most desperately Recently, church leaders called to be at active at the moment they are con the spiritual, moral and ethical forefront fronted by the presence and power of have behaved in the most contradicto the living Christ and the will to cast ry, destructive way. them out. Perhaps above all, it©s tragic and 11). Meanwhile, here are some insights We are, I think, just beginning to unnerving that some of us within the found in just a couple of pages in the realize the far-reaching negative effects ministerial community acting in our writings of C. S. Lewis: that contemporary sexual, and other capacity as servants of Cod have 1. "Before we can be cured we must more generalized attitudes have had on exploited the trust placed in us. And want to be cured. Those who really our formerly sensibly established faith yes, we clergy have felt hurt and cha wish for help will get it... It is easy to and value systems. We are also, I think, grined by it all, especially at a time think that we want something when we gaining a deeper awareness of how we when so much in Christian faith and do not really want it."1 have in so many ways significantly witness is already disdained and when, The question is, What do we actual abandoned the positive power found in in many cultures, the credibility of the ly want more than anything else? the promises, in the pardon, and in the pastor simply does not have the capital 2. Lewis talks also of "our warped presence of God in our life and in the to sustain this kind of internally gener natures, and the devils who tempt us fabulous potency of the gospel. It©s the ated assault. and all the contemporary propaganda half-hearted, halting and above all the But I must not appear to rant about for lust [that] combine to make us feel partial inner knowledge and application the sins of my brothers, because along that the desires we are resisting are so of this gospel that sometimes make our with the thoughts and feelings I©ve ©natural© and so reasonable, that it is efforts seem so fruitless. expressed so far, other thoughts also almost perverse and abnormal to resist With this in mind, here are two need to aired. them."2 magnificent promises: The most striking and, at the same Our own personal sexual "wrestling" "His divine power has given us time, most hidden of these thoughts is seems to make these culturally condi everything we need for life and godli perhaps those that have to do with our tioned perceptions all the more ness through our knowledge of him now heightened sense of personal sexu believable, but authentic Christian faith who called us by his own glory and al weakness and imperfection. Why are takes hold and claims the powerful goodness. Through these he has given sexual impulses so notoriously difficult work of God, which goes deep inside us his very great and precious promises, to handle? What is so powerful in "sex the human soul providing us the power so that through them you may partici ual temptation" that makes us willing to to overcome, yes, even sexual tempta pate in the divine nature and escape the risk so much for such fleeting gratifica tions and sin. Do we still actually believe corruption in the world caused by evil tion? And, perhaps most importantly, this to be true? desires" (2 Peter 1:3, 4, NIV). "They where do we find actual relief from the 3. "Many people are deterred from overcame him by the blood of the failures we experience in this area? seriously attempting Christian chastity Lamb and by the word of their testimo In future issues of Ministry we will because they think (before trying) that ny" (Rev. 12:11, NIV). HI work on these questions. Also, don©t it is impossible . . .You must ask for

miss Dr. Archibald Hart©s fine article in God©s help. Even when you have done 1 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: McMillan this issue of Ministry dealing with some so, it may seem to you for a long time Pub. Co., 1943), 78. 2 Ibid. of the aspects of this topic (see pages 9- that no help, or less help than you 3 Ibid., 79.

MINISTRY July 2002 was demoted to the role of custodian. Third, postmodernity came in the second half of the twentieth century and completed the process of marginalizing the church, rele gating it to just one of many voices in the cacophony of ideas. In this process the church turned from being the custodian of culture to being just one part of the culture. The culture custodial role dissolved into a sur- vivalistic participation in the culture. With these three leaps the Christian church has become a wandering exile in a hostile, sec ular, pluralistic, polytheistic, urban world. How should we love such a world?1 Or is that still the mandate?2

The blueprint: Neither assimilation nor separation Loving the city God©s people have been in exile before in Babylon, for example. Babylon was a hostile, pluralistic, polytheistic culture, divorced from biblical education, arts, and society. The ince beginning to pastor a down Babylonian emperor had a clear goal for Samir Selmanovic town church five years ago, I have Israel: assimilation. kept asking, "If our Lord ©so loved the This was attractive to Israelites since it world© (John 3:16), why can©t we?" I promised them economic prosperity and have also begun to wonder if our fear social acceptance. The false prophet Hana- ofS secular culture is not so much an out niah (Jer. 28) had another goal for them: growth of our piety as of our lack of love and separation. Staying outside of the city, care for the non-Christian people who live in remaining unpolluted, and praying for God©s our cities. judgment against the pagan city seemed to be The ministry of the early church was noted in line with their heritage. for its extravagant love for people. It extended The same two options are still open. A the love of Jesus through humility, inclusion, number of denominations have led their con generosity, and martyrdom. But the picture gregations into assimilation. Assimilation today is different, and that can be traced to occurs when the church©s theology is de- three historic developments. supernaturalized, thus losing its innate First, back in the fourth century, during the identity and authority. It becomes indistin reign of Constantine, a church that had once guishable from the host culture, assuming been a humble, yet potent underground similar value systems and customs. movement was transformed into one of the It can also happen by creating a subculture greatest power brokerages of all time. During within the dominant culture. Subcultures are this period, the church developed its own cul usually set apart by external social markers ture of pride, exclusion, greed, and persecu such as food, dress, social-cultural habits and tion. It turned from a strong countercultural religious jargon. But such subcultures do not influence into the world©s definer and enforcer exhibit a truly different value system. In other of culture. The serving church became the words, they are different only in ways that conquering church. are, in and of themselves, not ultimately Samir Selmanovic, Second came the Enlightenment when the defining. Ph.D., is senior church was toppled from its position of pastor of the Church Other Christian groups opt to separate of the Advent Hope power. It remained in society with a mandate themselves by creating Christian ghettos in Manhattan, to adapt to, support, and bless the newly where they can remain separate in their New York. enthroned values of reason and progress. It schools, hospitals, and other institutions. The turned from being the broker of the culture to lure of this arrangement is the sense of safety the keeper of culture. The conquering church and superiority that one gets from living in an

July 2002 MINISTRY "unpolluted culture," and feeling vin Exile was used by God to strip His ians© themselves! And I want you to dicated by denigrating the deteriora people of their cultural power in do it while keeping your identity and tion of that which is outside: the order to give them something far values as genuinely spiritual Israelites. secular culture. more precious. And the message I want you to make the host culture Such groups or persons can live as reveals this blessing by denouncing better any way you can while living Christians only if they exercise a cul both assimilation and separation. distinctively as My people. That©s tural control in their groups. While God refuses to have His people where My heart is. Don©t be assimilat disengaged from secular society, they think of their mission in either of ed; that is, don©t love the city and for may launch efforts to increase their these ways. He urges them not to get Me. But at the same time, don©t numbers, praying that God will corn- assimilate and to keep their identity separate from the city; that is, don©t love Me and hate the city." In short, live in the city as the incarnate Christ TAYING OUTSIDE OF THE CITY, REMAINING lived on this earth among the people. Christians and the city UNPOLLUTED, AND PRAYING FOR GOD©S S Judging by his life and outlook, the prophet Daniel knew about JUDGMENT AGAINST THE PAGAN CITY SEEMED TO Jeremiah©s controversial message to the Israelite exiles. While holding a BE I^| LINI WITH THEIR STATE AND HERITAGE. leading position in the Babylonian government, he mastered the liberal arts of the day as practiced in pel people to join their separate, strong. On the other hand God tells Babylon. He swam skillfully in the parallel culture. them not to separate from Babylon pagan culture, and acted positively While Israel, in the dramatic days either, but to settle down in the city. while in it. He was integrated, flexi of Jeremiah, was torn between assimi By taking away their power, He ble, and proactive, but all the while lation and separation, God revealed planned to lead them into an experi he uncompromisingly retained his His will for His people in exile. "This ence by which they would learn to monotheism and was unswervingly is what the Lord Almighty, the God of truly love well, and bless the people loyal to the God of his fathers. He Israel, says to all those I carried into of the world. This was the reason for lived a life in which he was neither exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Israel©s creation and existence in the separate from Babylonian culture nor ©Build houses and settle down; plant first place (Gen. 12:2, 3). God©s com assimilated into it. gardens and eat what they produce. mitment to this runs deep. Praying Looking only at the well-known Marry and have sons and daughters; for Shalom the city 0er. 29:7) meant instance of the lions© den (Dan. 6), it find wives for your sons and give your asking God for its complete well- is clear that while Daniel obviously daughters in marriage, so that they being: spiritual, material, emotional, respected and honored Babylonian too may have sons and daughters. and social. culture and had attained to high Increase in number there; do not Moving from the experience of office, he still maintained the life of decrease. Also, seek the peace Israel to our times, consider how God his distinctive Israelite faith, to the [shalom] and prosperity of the city to may address us here and now: "I have point of actually being willing to die which I have carried you into exile. taken away your cultural power and for it. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it want you to live as exiles. I don©t want If Daniel did that, why can©t we? prospers, you too will prosper©" 0er. you to live in separate, culturally con It©s because we choose either assimila 29:4-7, NIV). trolled enclaves from which you tion or separation or see-saw between This counsel must have been bemoan the state of the culture. And I the two. How do you raise successful absolutely astounding to Israel. It was don©t want you to go into secular Christian actors, lawyers, business- counterintuitive to what they (or we) cities just to build your churches people, and musicians when you live thought God would say. The message there. I want you to go into the belly in Babylon? What roles should the clearly conveyed the idea that the of the city, see how broken it is, and actors choose? What cases should the Exile was part of God©s plan to care get involved. I want you to work lawyers take? What does Christian for His people ("I have carried you" there, pray there, and sacrifice to integrity mean in the business world? into exile). make it a great place, a safe place, a What music should these musicians But all God©s acts come from His prosperous place, a better place. I play? How does Creation, the Cross, love. Jeremiah described the Exile as a want you to build, and love, and serve and the Resurrection impact a blessing disguised as a curse! The ©Babylon© better than the ©Babylon Christian©s daily life in the secular

MINISTRY July 2002 city? And what of the imminent But Christians must neither run return of Jesus? away from such a culture, nor melt If you interact with people The answers don©t come easily. The into it. We must be the people that of other faiths, Bible contains no book of rules on enter Borg and set its people free. We how to do it. We have to struggle our were meant to be a counterculture way through, helping each other dis to be "communities of resistance" as YOU NEED cover how to be urban disciples. If we Dietrich Bonhoeffer once noted. don©t struggle with these questions, in The apostle Peter reminded first- one way or another, we©ve become century Christians that when they assimilated. If we©re in despair about received grace, they became "aliens the lack of rules and shrink back from and strangers" in the world (1 Peter entering these vocations, we©re sepa 2:11, NIV). The world will be both rating. attracted to and repelled by We©ve forgotten that separation Christians at the same time. Jesus was from the world is as fatal as assimila that kind of enigma. He was very tion. It©s good to live in places where attractive, but even His family had a Christians are out of power, where our hard time believing Him. They didn©t friends are not Christians. The city is quite know how to relate to Him and the place where your faith is seriously treated Him with disrespect. challenged. You are forced to confront To the degree that we©re like Jesus, the fact that many of your Christian we©ll be an enigma too. People should answers are shallow. The city humbles scratch their heads about us. We can©t you. And thus forces you to grow and be anything else but an enigma if we refine your faith. believe stuff like "serving is better After living in the city, you realize than being served" and "dying is bet there are many smart, virtuous, non- ter than killing," or if we pray for the Christian people there. You meet well-being of our enemies, or if we wonderful Buddhists, Muslims, and fight the battle of life with the atheists. If your faith is disturbed by weapons of forgiveness, humility, and £f«?"'tt««;r-° this, and you start to question the rea sacrifice, then in the average urban sons why you©re a Christian, it means culture, we are indeed strange. So let©s you never really understood the get on with it! essence of the gospel in the first place. And here is the heart of the bias If you can©t find joy in the goodness against Christians in the secular city. of nonbelievers, it shows you©ve Secular people see something they always thought you were saved don©t understand. When you say, "I through your own goodness. know God!" you think of His grace we have issued a revised The city does need us to come in extended to you. But to them, it edition. and mend its brokenness, but we also sounds extremely arrogant. "You Quantity Price need the city. The city challenges our know God? Why would God come to 1 Free with SASE understanding of the gospel and you? You must be thinking you have 5 US $5.00 deepens our Christian experience. a better moral record, or a better char 10 US $7.50 acter than the rest of us." 20 US $10.00 Equipped to challenge the What is for us a statement of the 5P US $15.00 culture greatest humility, sounds like a state Si , i ad over US $.25 each Metropolitan cultures are like Borg ment of arrogance. The world has a (Price includes a durable, plastic sleeve spaceships from the science fiction hard time accepting grace and thus plus shipping and handling.) series Star Trek. Borg is a civilization feels that all that Christian stuff is Order From traveling through the universe in some kind of scam. And it is! It is a large black cubes assimilating other heavenly scandal, the scandal of Ministry Professional Growth Seminars civilizations. They project the mes grace. God schemed for our salvation 12501 Old Columbia Pike sage: "Resistance is futile. You will be so we could have life abundant. Silver Spring, MD 20904 USA assimilated." Borg offers only two Christianity is absent from the life Phone 301.680.6518; Fax: 301.680.6502 options: run away from Borg or webs of the cities. After decades of E-mail: [email protected] become Borg. work, one of the greatest urban missi-

July 2002 MINISTRY ologists, Ray Bakke, reported on what and energies away from both preserv 3. Restructure the institution. Local he has learned: "I thought the barri ing the cultural markers of Christi urban churches desperately need ers to mission were the big, bad cities. anity and Adventism on one hand, resources to enter and challenge the But 90 percent of the barriers to and on the other, from the burden to culture, affect the neighborhoods, reaching cities are not in the city at adjust our thinking to the thought and build the congregations as places all." The barriers are in our theology, and values of surrounding culture. of respite in the cities. In order to structures, and attitudes.3 So here are Formulating such theology will deserve a hearing among secular peo three ways our church can equip inspire us not to be less radical, but to ple, we must embody Christian urban congregations to live the bibli be far more radical than what we see servanthood in our denominational cal blueprint and get back into the today in our conservative or liberal structures themselves. downtowns of our nations. churches. Generally speaking, educated 2. Recognize the beauty of the city. urban dwellers simply refuse to join Living the blueprint: three Can we learn to see the grace and or support a church structure that ways beauty of God on the city streets? We takes away the resources from local 1. Radicalize our theology. Over the must be converted from our cynicism churches and neighborhoods. Except decades our theology has been grow about the city and follow Jeremiah©s for some notable exceptions" this ing like a tax code. It is detailed, mas counsel and bless the city. issue is still a taboo. sive, and convoluted. If we are going When the New Jerusalem Organizational change is the most to challenge the culture we live in, we descends, we will all be urbanites. Our difficult act for any long-established must forge a theology that is not sim hearts may dance when we see a organization. But it is not impossible ply an argument with a left or a right. mountain, waterfall, or tree. But our if the church listens to its edges, and We must abandon our conservationist hearts must learn also to dance when has strong visionary leaders who can posture and see the "third way" of we see an overcrowded subway car, navigate the church through the genuine Christian, Adventist spiritual because it is full of people the sight "coming crisis of the tree that realizes ity emerge. that moves God©s heart to dance. it is dying from its roots."5 This theology must be germinated Cities have much evil, suffering, and If we put mission and ministry in the urban mission field itself, and injustice, but God is attracted to sin ahead of maintenance and self-preser offer a guidance to real life in the sec ners, because where sin abounds grace vation, we will surely incur some ular world. It must redirect its focus can abound even more (Rom. 5:20). short-term losses. But God would greatly reward our sacrifice. With our own eyes we would witness the most dynamic and effective evangelistic BICYCLES FOR AFRICAN PASTORS action one can imagine: "authentic When Jim Cress explained the Ministerial Association's project to provide bicycles for local communities of believers African pastors with dozens of churches but inadequate transporation, the students empowered to worship and serve in and faculty of Pacific Union College's Theology Department joined together to the presence of the world." Our provide funding for a dozen bicycles for this project. churches would finally become those "©[cities] on a hill"©(Matt. 5:14, NIV) that Jesus wanted the world to see. H

1 For many ideas in this article I am indebted to Daniel Augsburger, Ryan Bel], George Knight, and Jon Paulien (from SDA Theological Seminary), Tim Keller in New York, and writings of Leslie Newbigin. 2 George Knight, "Another Look at City Mission," Adventist Review, December 2001. 3 Ray Bakke, "Loving an Urbanized World," Regener ation Web site. 4 See George Knight, The Fat Lady and the Kingdom (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1995); Robert K. Mclver, "Strategic Use of Tithe," Ministry, October 2001; and Greg Taylor, "Stop Strangling the Goose," Adventist Today, May/June 2001. For an extensive discussion from the historical perspective, see: George Knight, Organizing to Beat the Devil (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2001). 5 Statement made by John McVay, Dean of the SDA Theological Seminary, at the Church of the Advent Hope, February 2002.

MINISTRY July 2002 PASTORAL PRESSURE POINTS

The Christian man's battle with his sexuality t is Cod's will that you should be healthy sexuality and what is abnormal. sanctified: that you should avoid sex Many men fear that just because they I ual immorality" (1 Thess. 4:3, NIV). have a strong sex drive they are in some The greatest challenge facing the way deviant. "1 must be something of a Christian church in this century lies in ARCHIBALD D. HART freak" a pretty normal pastor told me the area of sexuality. And it is men, once. Some even fear that they may be especially "good" Christian men, who "perverted" or addicted to some sexual face the greatest challenge. Almost aberration. every letter I have received from men The bottom line is that all men strug- since publishing my book The Sexual gle to keep their heads above the Mart eight years ago confirms this turbulent waves of their testosterone. assertion, which for me is a conviction. The sex drive is a powerful force in A distorted gift healthy men and clearly some have a The war within Sex is a joyous gift from Cod. But of harder battle with the fight than others. In the hearts of all good men there is all of the gifts of creation it is probably Men with strong sex drives can easily a battle raging, a battle as real as any lit the most perplexing. There is more develop a pervasive sense of shame and eral war we might wage. It is a battle for potential for sin in the realm of sexuality self-rejection, even though a strong integrity, decency, and purity. It is a than in almost any other area of our drive, in and of itself, is not abnormal. struggle to overcome forces that seem lives. Paul's admonition to the Thessa- That we must learn to control our uncontrollable—in human terms. And lonians is as needed today as it was in sexual urges and channel them into many good men are losing this battle, New Testament times. This Thessalonian appropriate outlets is the challenge we including pastors. text gives indication of the power sex all face. But how do we accomplish this While recent revelations of sexual had in Paul's day and that it has indeed and what is the real problem? It can't abuse by Roman Catholic priests has always had. be sexuality in and of itself, since this is rocked the confidence and trust of In more than 30 years of clinical part of God's creation. Catholic parishioners in North America, practice, working with many Christian 1 believe it is that the beautiful gift we have known for many years that the men and pastors, I have not encoun God has given us has become distorted, Protestant house isn't exactly in order. tered a topic more bewildering to and men in particular, have lost their I first started researching the inci them. Despite the sexual revolution, or way! What was intended by God to be a dence of pastoral sexual failures 18 years perhaps because of it, men seem to be joyous, transcendent experience that ago, as did several others. We went pub more confused about their sexuality unites a man and a woman, has become lic with these findings and soon noticed than ever before. They struggle to a bewildering, bothersome, and, for a gradual decline of reported violations. understand its power, how to control it, most, baffling challenge. Raising the consciousness of pastors by and above all how to "sanctify" it reminding them of how vulnerable they according to the admonition of Paul. Major sources of distortion were in the sexual arena, coupled with Why is it that so many struggle to Several obvious sources for the dis clearer ethical statements from denomi balance their strong hormonally-driven tortions can be identified. I discuss national leaders, did much to stem the urges with their desire to be good, these in detail in my book The Sexual tide. Now I see a gradual but steady devout, and faithful partners and pas Man, but here we will take up only increase in pastoral sexual failures. tors? One reason is that the tensions we three major sources. My focus here is not on the sexual feel in our sexual drive seem to fit "the 1. The "veil of silence." "Men are indiscretions of pastors. Rather, I want lusts of the flesh" Paul talks about. known by the silence they keep" some to examine the broader issue of male Another is that we live in an era of sex one has said. This sums up a major sexuality that, to some extent, underlies ually supercharged stimuli. distorting influence in male sexuality. pastoral failures. "Pastoral indiscretions" That men engage in such a struggle The shrouding of male sexuality is not are, in my opinion, the outworking of a is indisputable, as every counselor of difficult to discern. While average men distorted male sexuality—a reality all men knows. Good men have difficulty think about sex a lot, it's too personal men must face up to. differentiating between ordinary, and intimate to discuss openly. They

July 2002 MINISTRY won't even admit how often they think how men view women in that they are about it! only seen as sexual objects, and fosters Some men may joke about sex, but a nonrelational sexuality. This means they hardly ever talk about it seriously. that many men who have used pornog The result? Most boys grow up strug raphy for a long time do not know how gling to distinguish between what is to relate to real women, and have great "normal" and "healthy" from what is difficulty breaking the way they do it. "sick, sinful and dysfunctional." They Pornography is only the tip of the have no sense of where "normal" lies iceberg. Cybersex is rapidly becoming because they don't know what others the primary source of pornography. are thinking or feeling deep down. There are now literally thousands of This "veil of silence" can have devas Web sites that offer extremely explicit tating consequences. For one thing pornography that can be indulged in boys don't get healthy or even accurate total privacy without anyone else know information about sex from their fathers ing about it. as they grow up. What they learn from This has already become a significant friends is full of distortions and embel temptation for Christian men—includ lished with the shame we so easily ing pastors. Besides this, just around the associate with sex if you grow up in a corner there is an even more frighten Christian home. ing prospect that will turrt the current There is, however, a much more seri level of pornography into "virtual sex," ous penalty for men's silence: It fails to where computers connected to high help fathers model a healthy sexuality. speed Internet sites will be able to offer Most sons do not see their fathers as sex-hungry men a variety of sexual sexual beings and this can, for example, experiences in real time with "virtual" keep them from learning how to partners. This promises to be so addict behave in a healthy way toward ing that it is bound to put substance women. Without adequate models, abuse down on the list of social con boys develop a sexuality that is mis cerns. guided, and in many cases immoral or 3. Puberty, adolescence, and the long even dangerous. "waiting period." The detrimental influ irJ^^^^'^tAiiisiS^^i^fefct^ 2. Pornography and cybersex. There is ence of pornography is particularly no greater threat to a healthy, let alone severe when it captures young boys. In sanctified, male sexuality than pornog this context we need to be aware of one raphy. It is devastating our Christian significant biological effect that is not sons and creating an epidemic of addic going to go away. It is this: The age of tion to sexually stimulating images. puberty is now lower than it has ever Through pornography and the relat been, and it continues to drop. ed means of communication that it This reality always comes as a sur exploits, many men have developed or prise whenever I lecture on the topic of exacerbated what can only be described male sexuality. For both boys and girls, as "an obsessive/compulsive sexuality." the more developed a culture, the That is, men are engrossed in the physi lower is the age of puberty. Many fac (NTSC or PAL! and US $10 for the two tape cal aspects of human sexuality and they tors, including healthier living set of audios. Shipping and handling included, have come to obsessively act these out conditions and better nutrition are con Contact: compulsively. sidered to be the cause. Ministerial Association Resource Center The average male growing up in Two hundred years ago puberty only 12501 Old Columbia Pike today's world is so bombarded by sexu Silver Spring, MO 20904 arrived at 17 or 18, when a young per al stimulation (mainly through the son was almost certainly going to be Phone: 888.771.0738 (toll-free) or 301.680.6508 sex-crazed media who have discovered married by age 20—a very short "wait- Fax: 301.680.6502 that everything sexual sells better than ing-for-sex" period. When I was a Ernait: [email protected] anything else), that few men escape its teenager, the average age of puberty influence. was around 13. My grandchildren now Web site: www.ministerialassociation.com Pornography also feeds unrealistic are all going through puberty at about expectations for gratification, changes 11 years of age. Who knows when this

10 MINISTRY July 2002 phenomenon will level out! more shame, remorse, and crippling distance from these matters or which do Think for a moment about the differ silence. The battle can only be won by not offer programs that can help cou ence in maturity between 11 and 18. It helping them to develop a healthier ples in their struggles at reconciling the is frightening to realize that 11 -year-old sexuality. sexual differences between the spouses boys, and for some it is younger than How does one create a healthy sex are only perpetuating the problem. this, are physically mature enough to uality, given the problems mentioned? 4. Parents need help in educating their "make babies," but not mature enough And what can men do to heal an children, especially boys, into developing to feed or raise them. But that is the already distorted sexuality? a healthy sexuality. This has to be done reality of our world today. The ramifica The challenges are enormous and I without shaming them or creating tions are mind boggling. don't want to give the impression that severe guilt, which is quite inadvertent At the other end, the age of adoles there are quick and easy solutions. ly the most common form of control cence has gone up. No longer can we However, here are some practical ways that Christian parents resort to. Parents think about it ending, say, when a boy we can begin to rebuild the beautiful themselves need training in how to leaves high school. Many social com gift that God has given us through our educate their children! mentators are saying that today sexuality: Since it takes healthy parents to raise adolescence doesn't really end until age healthy children, parents, especially 28 or 30 because men are not financial ASTORAL fathers, should be encouraged to con ly able to support a family until they are front their own sexual distortions and done with graduate school and begin to P INDISCRETIONS" get help in undoing them. work and live independently. The point is this: The period of "wait ARE . . . THE Conclusion ing" between puberty (say 11) and The problems facing men as they when a young man can legitimately OUTWORKING OF A seek to develop a sanctified sexuality experience sex in marriage (say 28), is aren't going to go away. Instead, the already too long and getting longer. DISTORTED MALE challenges are greater. For our Christian And it is this long "waiting" period that subculture at least, the church is the is highly influential in providing the SEXUALITY A REALITY system that must commit itself to opportunity for sexual distortion to restoring a sanctified sexuality. develop in young men. The apostle Paul's advice to men has The common, secular-based alterna never been more needed than now: tives facing our young people today are "That each of you should learn to con either free sex without any commitment trol his own body in a way that is holy (risking pregnancy and a host of spiritu 1 . We need to acknowledge our need and honorable, not in passionate lust al, psychological, cultural, and social for divine intervention. While there is a like the heathen, who do not know distortions) or masturbation to pornog iot of therapeutic help we can offer, God" (1 Thess. 4:4, 5, NIV). raphy. Often it is a combination of both. only the power of God can get a man In one sense we need to learn how Certainly, a heavy dependence on out of the mess of a distorted sexuality to control our bodies because the pornography by men in these early years with any degree of permanency. temptation to sin is greater in the realm must inevitably create serious addictive 2. We must help the church at large to of sex than in anything else. But we also tendencies that will be difficult to break. break the veil of silence that shrouds sex need to learn control because we have uality. Men's support groups have lost our way on the sexual road. Creating a healthier sexuality already begun to spring up around the God help us as a society if we don't Given what I have said so far it is not country. The time has come for frank, find the way back to His road before it surprising that I cannot stress strongly open discussions in our churches about is too late! SB enough how important it is that we the dangers of such practices as sexual address these issues in our churches. fantasies, the damage of the early expo Editor©s note: Ministry is proud to recommend There is no other social structure that sure of boys to pornography, and the Dr. Hart's book, The Sexual Man (Dallas: Word holds out hope! importance of building healthy, bal Books, 1994). Whatever else we do, we must give anced lives. Believe it or not, when Archibald Hart, Ph.D., is senior professor of the highest priority to shaping a health one's life is rich with meaning, sexual psychology and dean emeritus, Graduate ier sexuality in our young people, temptations lose their power even in School of Psychology, Fuller Theological especially boys. We also need to provide men with serious distortion. Seminary. opportunities to bring healing to our 3. Couples need help in addressing sex

men. judging them because they seem ual problems as early as possible in their 1 Archibald D. Hart, The Sexual Man (Dallas: Word out of control won't help. It only breeds marriages. Churches which maintain a Books, 1994).

July 2002 MINISTRY 11 Patrons and clients in Roman society Roman society was sharply divided between those who ruled, and those who fol lowed. Only 5 percent of the people belonged to one of the three governing classes: senato rial, equestrian, and decurion. Perhaps another 5 percent made up what Tacitus called the populus integer—the merchants, arti sans, and small landowners who constituted Patrons and "the respectable populace." Most of the rest picked up whatever work they could from day to day; they were the "shabby people."1 patronage in Roman law saw to it that each group remained in its own proper place. For exam ple, no Roman could sue someone on a level the early above their own; neither could they marry outside their class. And if a senator and a commoner were both charged with exactly Christian church the same crime, each would be tried in a sep arate court one that was class-appropriate. Not surprisingly, many Romans sought protection from those who were better off. our name is Cornelius, and you Anyone who planned a career in government, Greg Brothers are a freed man. Once a slave, you for instance, sought the protection of a purchased your freedom and went wealthy and powerful patron. Poets and into business on your own. Like all philosophers did the same the better to freed persons, however, you still avoid actually working for a living! And even Ybelong to the household of your old master if they were not related by blood, commoners whom we©ll call Flavius. As such, you still owe might join the household of wealthy persons Flavius honor. What©s more, you promised in the hope of being included in their will.2 your master that you would continue to serve As already described, many "clients" were him on a regular basis in fact, this was a part freed persons who had once served their mas of the price you©d paid for your freedom. ters as slaves. Having earned their purchase That©s why every morning finds you at the price, many now worked for themselves as door of Flavius©s house. Several freed persons merchants or artisans but they still belonged are there with you, as well as a dozen or so to the family of their old master. They still free ones, all lined up in order of rank. When owed him compliance. They still owed him Flavius appears, the salutation begins. One by service as part of their liberty. As such, they one, each of you greet him, and then make were required to attend the morning greeting. your request a loan, perhaps, or help with a Though time consuming, this system of lawsuit. One by one, Flavius decides each case patronage offered real benefits to its clients. in his role as "father of the household." Then Loans, food, and legal advice were theirs for he gives each of you a basket with food and the asking in fact, patrons were required to gifts that is worth a day©s wage or so. If you are feed their clients in times of want. What©s fortunate, you may then go home; if not, more, clients shared in the status of their Flavius may require your services for the rest of patrons; the higher the rank of the patron, the day. He may need to appear in the Senate, the higher the rank of his or her client. after all, or serve as host at a banquet, and no For their part, patrons gathered clients to Greg Brothers, Ph.D., Roman citizen of any importance would dare gain prestige. In a sense, charity was a form of pastors the Lincoln appear in public without a large retinue of conspicuous consumption. Wealthy Romans City Seventh-day Adventist Church in clients and slaves. helped their clients for the same reason that Lincoln City, Oregon. Today Flavius announces that he has aban they endowed libraries and supplied fuel to doned the gods of Rome to worship the one, warm the public baths: They did so because true God a God whose name is Jesus. they expected the public to recognize them as Fair enough. What does this mean to you? "benefactors."

12 MINISTRY July 2002 Even death did not end the rela tionship between patrons and their clients. The freed persons of Roman citizens had the right to be buried in the family tomb of their patron since they were a part of their family. They and their descendants were expected to maintain the regular commemora tive rites at the tomb.3

Patronage and Christianity This system of patronage soon left its mark on the church. Given the presence of freed persons in the BREAKING church, some of its members were undoubtedly clients. Then too, some theS/LEA/CE members undoubtedly served as patrons. The "Erastus" mentioned in Romans 16:23, for instance, seems to Is have served as the city manager of Corinth; in fact, a pavement that bears the name Erastus, known as a benefactor, has been found in that city. As such, he probably had his own retinue of "clients." "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, Thus, no one in Roman society for the rights of all who are destitue. Speak up and would have been surprised by Lydia©s judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." actions, as recorded in Acts 16:14, 15. "A certain woman named Lydia, a Prov.31:8, 9, NIV worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ©If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay.© And she prevailed upon us." A Special Sabbath for As "a seller of purple," Lydia had the wealth needed to be a patron The Fourth Sabbath of August of Each Year and the reference to her "household" suggests that she already had her cir cle of clients. Lydia©s offer was more than just an act of hospitality; it was apparently a patron©s admission of a SPONSORED BY: valuable new member to her family. General Conference World Headquarters of Seventh-day Adventists Other believers also served as in conjunction with the following departments: patrons. In Romans 16:2, Paul refers Women's Ministries * Children's Ministries • Youth Ministries « Family Ministries to the deacon Phoebe as a prostatis— Health Ministries Education Department • Ministerial Association a "patron" or "benefactor." Other Order brochures and resource material from: patrons may have included Jason Women©s Ministries (Acts 16), Artistobulus (Rom. 16:10), Seventh-day Adventists Church World Headquarters Narcissus (verse 11), Stephanas 12S01 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring. MD 20904-6600 USA (1 Cor. 1:16), Onesiphorus (2 Tim. http://wtn.gc.adventist.org 4:19), Philemon (Phil. 2), and Gaius

July 2002 MINISTRY 13 (3 John 1). These patrons provided by just such lawsuits. It is clear that no explicit limitations placed on their valuable support to the church. As enmity had developed in the Corin authority. In fact, the role of a patron we©ve seen with Lydia, patrons often thian church because of personal loy is almost absent in most discussions encouraged members of their house alty to teachers. This "strife and of the early church. holds to be baptized. They were help jealousy" arising out of the issue of If one looks at the role of authority ful in other ways; for example, when Christian leadership expressed itself in in the church, however, it seems clear Paul was arrested in Thessalonica, litigation with one member taking that the New Testament hoped to Jason posted the bond that secured another to court. If in 1 Corinthians limit the patron©s role in the church. his release (Acts 17:9). Patrons proba 3:1-4 "strife" and "jealousy" were While the New Testament spoke of bly furnished places for the church to signs of an "immature person" and the church as a household, it made it meet. In fact for the first 200 years of that they were "walking in a secular clear that it was not led by an earthly the Christian church, believers met fashion," then the litigation of 1 Cor father, but by God and His appointed almost exclusively in "house church inthians 6 was a manifestation of the leaders. Says Paul: " [You are]... mem es"; probably most of which were the same problem, but manifested this bers of the household of God, built homes of Christian patrons. time in secular courts rather than the upon the foundation of the apostles Given these benefits, it©s no sur Christian congregation. and prophets, with Christ Jesus him prise that some churches did Finally, some patrons acted as self as the cornerstone. In him the everything they could to encourage though they were the "father" of the whole structure is joined together and the membership of potential benefac church family. Wealthy believers grows into a holy temple in the Lord; tors. James speaks to this situation entertained their family at agape in whom you also are built together carried to an extreme: "My brothers feasts, just as secular patrons might spiritually into a dwelling place for and sisters, do you with your acts of entertain their clients at a banquet. God" (Eph. 2:19-21). favoritism really believe in our glori "Unlike the opposing missionaries What©s more, church leaders ous Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person who have sought to replace him, Paul emphasized that every member had with gold rings and in fine clothes has never asked the Corinthians for something to offer God©s church, comes into your assembly, and if a money for himself, and this has since every member had been "gifted" poor person in dirty clothes also offended upper-class members of the by the Holy Spirit. To be sure, the abil comes in, and if you take notice of congregation who believed that the ity to grant financial assistance could the one wearing the fine clothes and community should pay their teachers, be one of these gifts, but it remained say, ©Have a seat here, please,© while to who should not be self-supported arti only one of the gifts. "For as in one the one who is poor you say, ©Stand sans (the well-to-do despised arti body we have many members, and there,© or, ©Sit at my feet,© have you sans)."4 not all the members have the same not made distinctions among your In all fairness, clients could create function, so we, who are many, are selves, and become judges with evil just as many problems as patrons. For one body in Christ, and individually thought?" Games 2:1-4). instance, issues addressed in Romans we are members one of another. We and 1 Peter indicate that some have gifts that differ according to the Problems with patrons Christians thought the "new birth" grace given to us: prophecy, in pro As James indicated, patrons could freed them from all obligations; they portion to faith; ministry, in minister be a mixed blessing to the church. no longer owed their patrons compli ing; the teacher, in teaching; the Few patrons included the poor as ance after freedom. exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in clients; they wanted clients "of the Then too, Paul©s letters to the generosity; the leader, in diligence; better sort" clients whose status church in Thessalonica indicate that the compassionate, in cheerfulness" would enhance their own. This atti some believers took literally the idea (Rom. 12:4-8, emphasis supplied). tude could lead church members into that they belonged to "the household In short, every member could be a the kind of behavior that James con of God." As such, they expected to be "benefactor" in some way; every demned; snubbing the poor, after all, fed by the church or more likely by believer could be a "patron" in his or would rid the church of "undesir the patrons of the church just as her church. In theory, at least, this ables" and improve its chances of secular patrons would give the clients meant that churches had no reason gaining status and benefactors! of their families their daily gifts. to favor the rich over the poor. Not Patrons could be contentious. "Is it only were members of the two groups not the rich who oppress you?" James Principles for patrons equal in God©s sight, but each could asked. "Is it not they who drag you The New Testament does not deal benefit the church in some way, into court?" 0ames 2:5-7). exhaustively or exclusively with the regardless of their standing in Roman This was not a theoretical concern. duties of patrons to the church. There society. The church in Corinth was troubled are no obvious lists of qualifications; Deprived of any special status in

14 MINISTRY July 2002 the church, patrons should use their patrons and clients could worship as the preferment of upper-class candi "gifts" in the same way as every other equals in the early church. Going back dates was attracting widespread believer: they should glorify God, and to our earlier example, we might polemic."6 not themselves. This meant the end expect the freed Cornelius to follow One of the most enduring legacies of lawsuits as a means of attaining the example of his patron Flavius and of the patronage system, however, status or power; litigants were now to become a Christian; as with Lydia, was the cult of the saints. As a part of abide by the church©s decision (1 Cor. patrons would try to lead their fami his family, clients were supposed to 6:1-11). Agape feasts were no longer lies into the church. Cornelius would meet on a regular basis at the tomb of to be treated as banquets; communi probably continue to serve Flavius as a the "father" of the family for the cants were now to eat at home if they client, and Flavius would continue to appropriate commemorative rites. wanted something more than the serve Cornelius as patron. As church Christians quickly transferred this church©s regular fare (11:33, 34). And members, however, Cornelius and practice to the tombs of martyrs and patrons were not to look down on Flavius would meet in the condition other saints. As Brown notes, by the members who refused their support; of equals. Flavius might own the fourth century, the figure of the saint in working with his own hands, after building in which the church met, but "... had taken on all the features of a all, Paul had only meant to help the Cornelius could become its bishop! late-Roman patronus. The saint was church in Corinth (2 Cor. 11:7-11; In reality, however, patrons did not the good patronus: he was the 3:13-17). give up power that easily indeed, as patronus whose intercessions were The case of Philemon and Onesi time went on, their struggle for power successful, whose wealth was at the mus is a good example of how the became even more intense. Peter disposal of all, whose potentia was patron-client relationship should Brown comments: What "is clearly exercised without violence and to work out in practice. Though their demonstrated [in the fourth-century whom loyalty could be shown with relationship was one of master and church] is the tension caused by the out restraint."7 slave, the bonds of status and power way in which the demands of a new Today churches still struggle with that connected them were similar to elite of well-to-do Christian lay- the problems caused by inequities of those of Roman patrons and their women and laymen were met by the wealth within the community of clients. As a slave-owner, Philemon determination of an equally new elite faith. In theory, every church should had a right to the service of Onesimus. of bishops, who often came from the be governed by the rule of the But as a Christian, Philemon should same class, that they and they alone gospel that all are one in Christ. treat Onesimus as a "beloved brother" should be the patroni of the publicly This New Testament study is (Phil. 16). Likewise, as a runaway established Christian communities."5 offered with the hope that it will be slave, Onesimus had every reason to One way to defuse this struggle was discerned to be strikingly parallel to fear Philemon and seek to avoid any to combine the role of patron and and suggestive of principles and contact with him. Yet as a Christian, bishop. For instance, by the fourth applications which may be helpful in Onesimus was to go back to Phile century many believers assumed that pastoring the congregations and mon, and continue his service. civic benefactors would make good church structures of the contempo Despite their disparate status in church leaders even if these patrons rary scene. Roman society, Paul urged Philemon had not been baptized! Ambrose of and Onesimus to love and serve each Milan, for example, was baptized after other as brothers in Christ. In the he had been made bishop; his fame as same way, all relationships in the an orator and his office as imperial * All Scripture passages in this article are from the church should be marked by this kind governor was enough to secure his New Revised Standard Version. of mutual regard. "As many of you as election by popular acclaim. 1 James Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New were baptized into Christ have As Robin Fox explains: "In civic Testament: Exploring the Background of Christianity (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 180-188. clothed yourselves with Christ. There life, electors paid great attention to 2 Paul Veyne, "The Household and Its Freed Slaves," in is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no the candidate©s willingness to prom A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to longer slave or free, there is no longer ise gifts and perform civic services at Byzantium, ed. Phillippe Aries and Georges Duby, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Cambridge, Mass.: The male and female; for all of you are their own expense. The laity could Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987), 90. one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:27, 28). not be expected to abandon this 3 Jeffers, 45. And to this might well have been familiar pattern whenever they met. 4 Craig Keener, The 1VP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, 111.: 1993), 492. added the fact that in Christ "there is The Church, too, needed money and 5 Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and no more patron or client." service, and if Christians saw a rich Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago: The candidate, they would anticipate University of Chicago Press, 1981), 32, 33. 6 Robin Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York: Alfred The enduring role of patron charity for themselves and their com A. Knopf, 1987), 509, 510. In theory, it would seem that munity. By the later fourth century, 7 Brown, 41.

July 2002 MINISTRY 15 gine the faith. These are very precious things that have been given to us and they make it possible for us to worship together as a reli gious community. Empathetic imagination is the ability to imagine ourselves in someone else©s shoes. One of the hallmarks of effective preachers is that they have the ability not just to know their own experience but also to ask "What is the experience of my people?" If a minister The use of has no empathetic imagination, he or she is not going to be able to connect with a con gregation. imagination in Visionary imagination involves the capacity to see and to respond to new things that God is doing in the world. I love that passage in preaching Isaiah: "©Behold, I am doing a new thing, . . . do you not perceive it©" (Isa. 43:19, RSV). An interview with Thomas H. Troeger Visionary imagination helps the preacher to see that the church could be so much more than it is. There are so many possibilities for witness that we haven©t even begun to claim. Derek Morris: In your book Imagining a Sermon, you state that "the imaginative DM: You suggest that a primary principle process can be compared to the art of sailing for developing the imagination is to be atten a boat."2 How is that metaphor helpful in tive to what is. Perhaps we could consider two thinking about the use of imagination in aspects of being attentive to what is: being preaching? attentive with our eyes and being attentive with our ears. You have observed that "the Thomas Troeger: When you sail a boat, untrained eye is not adept at seeing things there are two different realities. You don©t accurately."3 How do we train our eyes to see have control over one reality: the wind. You things accurately? can©t make the wind blow. But, with the other reality, your eyes, you can survey the water TT: Margaret Miles suggests that we should Thomas H. Troeger,© and see where the wind is blowing. Then you take a picture that is particularly engaging S. T.D., is professor can set your sails to take maximum advantage and use it to meditate upon. What are the col of preaching and of the wind. ors? How does one shape relate to another? communications at As a preacher, you can take stock of your What is the sweep of the lines? What is cast in Iliff School of Theology in Denver, situation and set your sails so they are pre shadow? How is light used? Thus we actually Colorado. pared for the blowing of the wind, but it is take time to analyze the picture. not your prerogative to command the Spirit There is a wonderful new book of poetry to blow. For me, the process of imagination is called In Quiet Light: Poems on Vermeer's preparing for the wind of the Spirit to blow. Women by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre." The author has taken a collection of paintings of DM: You have spoken about three kinds of women by the artist Jan Vermeer and then imagination: conventional, empathetic, and imagined what those women were thinking. visionary. Could you define them? She calls her imaginings "the details of the pictures." It would be an excellent idea for a TT: By conventional imagination, I mean the preacher to take one of her poems each day, Derek J. Morris, imagination that we have inherited from lis look at the picture, and then see how the D.Min., is senior tening to other preachers and from being part author imagines by looking at the picture pastor of the of a particular church tradition. There are cer with extreme care. That would be one way to Calimesa Seventh-day tain hymns, like Silent Night, Holy Night at train our eyes to see things accurately. It actu Adventist Church in Christmas and Christ the Lord is Risen Today at ally takes self-conscious work. Otherwise, we Calimesa, California. Easter they are part of the way that we ima see but do not see.

16 MINISTRY July 2002 DM: You also suggest that when biblical story. Midrash developed par ence. Parables invite the listeners to we are being "attentive to what is," ticularly at the time of Jesus and become engaged with the truth of we need to be attentive with our ears. shortly thereafter. There were certain God. We use our imagination to draw We need to listen to the music of rules which the rabbis suggested for parables from life, from plain human speech. In your book, Imagining a Midrashim. You could add details, stories that are marked by ambiguity, Sermon you emphasize that "we need you could imagine it in any way, pro resolution, and further ambiguity. to discipline the ear as well so that we vided that you did not violate the When you tell a parable like the may become aware of the aural effect basic integrity of the biblical story. In story of the prodigal son, people start of speech. A preacher whose ear is other words, your elaboration of the projecting themselves into that story. alert to the sound of spoken language story must honor the spirit and truth It engages their own family dynam may produce a manuscript that of the story. ics. It engages their sense of human ©preaches well,© that breathes and pulses with the rhythms of the best conversational speech."5 Apparently, HE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SPEECH ITS effective preachers need to be atten tive to the music of speech as well as RHYTHM, PITCH, VOLUME, AND INFLECTION the content of speech. T

TT: Definitely! The physical prop ., ARE A KIND OF MUSIC THAT MAKES erties of speech its rhythm, pitch, volume, and inflection are a kind of music that makes the imagination dance. What often happens to preachers is this: The anxiety level So, for example, in Ten Strategies for worthlessness. Once you©ve got peo about the delivery of the sermon Preaching in a Multi Media Culture, I ple hooked like that, then God can becomes so great that the music that have a sermon on the wedding at really work with them. Preachers is usually in their voices is lost. Rather Cana and I imagine the couple when need to trust that God will work with than learning how to add music to they are coining near the end of their people when they tell the parables, our speech, we need to unlearn how life together.7 The sermon is a series of especially if they do so in the context not to do it! Music comes naturally! flashbacks, all related to the marriage of genuine worship and faith. I like If you started to drown and called at Cana. I don©t think that I have in parables for that reason. for help, no one would have to give any way violated what that biblical you elocution lessons about how to story is about. I©ve just tried to look DM: You have observed that "it is shout for help. It would come natu into what the meaning of that story striking how secular most of Jesus© rally! If you are falling in love, and might have been for the couple for parables are. There is almost nothing you say to that special person "I love the rest of their lives. explicitly religious about them." 10 I you," no one would have to teach suppose that some hearers might lis you how to say that. If the thought is DM: You have done some creative ten to a preacher sharing a modern genuinely there, it will be expressed work with modern parables. I©m parable and discount it as not being a with a particular music to it. We can thinking particularly of your book "real sermon" because it seems to do it in regular everyday life, so when The Parable of Ten Preachers* and more have less of the actual word or text of we are preaching we need to get in recently in strategy #2 of your book the Bible. touch with that living reality. Then Ten Strategies for Preaching in a Multi the music of our speech will make our Media Culture* Why do you think TT: I think that©s true. However, if sermons genuine and engaging. that modern parables are such an you look at the parables that I have effective means of communicating written, I deliberately designed them DM: When reading a biblical story, the truth of God©s Word? so people get hooked in terms of the you encourage preachers to use their theological dimension. And when we imagination and to "assume there is TT: For the same reason that para read them in worship, the context more to the story."6 Can you unpack bles were effective with Jesus. He is often helps people hear the theologi that for us? my greatest inspiration when it cal message itself. comes to drawing parables from life. TT: I share that concept in the con His stories reveal Someone who is DM: You have observed that text of Midrash, a form of preaching attentive to what is, who closely "imagination is not always a welcome where the preacher expands upon the observes common human experi- guest in the household of faith." 11

July 2002 MINISTRY 17 How would you respond to the critic them feel the current and the water Allowing people their choices is very who contends that the use of imagi for themselves."13 It seems that some important. If you take certain nation is inappropriate in preaching? times, when a preacher is preparing a assumptions and proclaim them sermon, he or she will study a passage, strongly, you can intimidate people. TT: First of all, we need to realize enter into it, and then step out of that Preaching is not about manipulation that imagination can be abused. imaginative process when the sermon or intimidation. I©m very taken with There©s no question about it. But rea is actually preached. I hear you saying the story of the rich young ruler. son can also be abused. For example, that you want to actually bring your Jesus is sad that the rich young ruler there were people who used reason to hearers into that imaginative process doesn©t respond to His invitation, but very carefully justify slavery. But the with you. Jesus doesn©t go after him and say, very fact that we have imaginations, "You must do this." and we know that we have them, TT: Exactly. Too often we get excit Having said that, let me address means that God built us with imagi ed in our study and then when we the issue of entertainment. I do not nations. come to the moment of sermon deliv think of myself as trying to entertain The question, as with every other ery we only give people a sampling of people. I do think of myself as trying gift God has given us, is this: How the full experience. It would be much to engage every gift that God has will we use it? There is no one with a better to take our hearers with us on given. When that happens, when more active imagination than God. the journey. people get engaged at multiple levels Look at what God imagined billions For example, many preachers start with the multiple gifts that God has of galaxies, each filled with billions of out studying a passage and they say given, then people will be captured stars. And God imagined that there "Oh, I don©t believe this!" or "How by the wonder of God. That©s what could be creatures like you and me! I can the Bible possibly say such a I©m really interested in. If you©re think we are more Godlike when we thing?" However, that is in itself a doing that, if you are trying to use use our imaginations for healthy, cre wonderful place to begin! When you every gift that God has given you to ative purposes. enact this process of discovery in engage every gift that God has given your sermon, you are modeling to your people, all kinds of things will DM: So you would agree with your people how to use the happen. Henry Ward Beecher that imagination Scriptures not just to read them and I often say to people, "If you get is "the most important prerequisite say, "Oh yes, that©s what©s in the people to God, sit down." I would for effective preaching."12 Bible," but to actually wrestle with it like to be a vessel of the Spirit, and struggle to find its meaning. through whom people feel the Spirit TT: Yes! Beecher, in his famous Yale Shaping a sermon is a highly disci and the risen Christ, and come into Lectures on Preaching (1872-1874), plined art. When I create a sermon, I the presence of the living God. If that noted that many people have misun probably get rid of about 90 percent of happens, I must stand back so God derstood imagination and have been what I©ve gone through to come down can take it from there. H told to suppress it. However, he sug to what really matters. Do I leave this gests that they have not understood in? Do I take it out? Do I leave it for 1 Thomas Troeger is also an accomplished musician, its glorious function. Many Protestant another sermon? Those are hard deci poet, and hymn writer. His most recent books of poetry are Above the Moon Earth Rises (New York: preachers have been influenced by sions to make. That©s the part of sail Oxford University Press, 2002), and Borrowed Light Calvin who once called imagination ing the boat that takes real skill. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994). He has "a perpetual factory of idolatry." also published numerous Christian hymns. 2 Troeger, Imagining a Sermon (Nashville: Abingdon Imagination can also be a factory of DM: You encourage preachers to Press, 1990), 14. beauty, grace, and vivid faith. use their imaginations and experi 3 Ibid., 33. ment with fresh, creative approaches 4 Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, In Quiet Light: Poems on Vermeer's Women (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, DM: I was fascinated by your com to preaching. At the same time you 2000). ment that, when preaching a sermon, caution that "new strategies for pre 5 Imagining a Sermon, 69. you do not want to "cheat the con senting the word of God could result 6 Troeger, Ten Strategies for Preaching in a Multi Media Culture (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 22. gregation by handing them a souvenir in manipulative preaching, by reduc 7 Ibid., 24-29. from my trip on the river when I can ing proclamation to what is attractive 8 Troeger, The Parable of Ten Preachers (Nashville: take them along on the voyage and let and entertaining."14 How does the Abingdon Press, 1992). 9 Ten Strategies for Preaching in a Multi Media Culture, preacher avoid that trap while still 30-38. using imagination to be fresh and cre 10 Imagining a Sermon, 92. ative? 11 Ibid., 99. 12 Ibid., 114. 13 Ibid., 26. TT: That is a profound question. 14 Ten Strategies for Preaching in a Multi Media Culture, 19.

18 MINISTRY July 2002 THE PASTO R©S C A L L L

My call to ministry ot all calls to ministry are dra this work, though 1 must confess I was matic, such as Paul's on the not always very diligent. N Damascus Road. My call came My ambition to be a medical mis when I was very young—only seven sionary stayed with me. Never had any years old! I was born into a Seventh-day EDGAR J. HULBERT other career attracted me. I had an Adventist family. My father was a litera evening scholarship in an art school, ture evangelist and my mother a former and was studying commercial art, and it Bible instructor. was even suggested I train as an archi When 1 was four years old we moved tect. But my sight was set on being a to the village of Auchtermuchty in missionary. Scotland. I started school at five, as is As my sixteenth birthday drew near, required in Britain, and soon acquired a I sent applications to four Adventist broad Scottish accent. institutions, seeking employment in Having missionary relatives influ afterward, a horse and cart passing over three of them, and education in the enced my thinking, and on my seventh a crossroad, was hit by a car that cata fourth. The family made this a matter of birthday—I can picture the scene pulted over the cart and landed upside prayer for the Lord's leading. One by now—as I sat in the wooden arm chair down, injuring driver and passengers. one refusals came from the three insti in the stone-flagged kitchen by the old- If the cyclist hadn't stopped me, I tutions at Stanborough Park, but to my fashioned kitchen stove, I said to my would have been right beside that cart, delight I was invited to Newbold mother, "When I grow up, I am going and could have been killed or seriously College, which was then near Rugby in to be a medical missionary." injured. Was that cyclist another angel? the Midlands, and became my home An event that took place about that These two events convinced me that for the next seven years. time strengthened my belief that God God really had called me to ministry. 1 still had dreams of getting some had something special for me to do. To Many years went by. We moved to medical training, but God had other get to school from our humble home in Watford, near London, where my plans. So not too long after starting in Auchtermuchty, I had to cross a bridge brother, sister, and I were able to go to ministry, I laid that plan aside as some over a stream, then walk through the the Stanborough Primary School. There thing that was not for me. After two main road of the village, and up a hill. I deeply appreciated the godly teachers years assisting in public evangelism, I Coming home one day, I saw my moth who by their example taught me to received a call to Nigeria. This led to er standing at our front door talking to value gospel truth. hurried plans with my then-fiancee, our landlady. When I was ten, my family moved to Ruth Dorland, for our wedding, which I must have had something exciting Hastings, Sussex, on the South Coast of took place on August 14,1945, the very I wanted to tell her, because I forgot to England. Here there was no church day, as it happened, when Japan had pause at the foot of the hill and look school, and only a small church group asked for surrender terms. What a won around a blind corner at the crossroads meeting in the "Friends Meeting derful wedding present! to see if any traffic was coming. As I ran House." There my Sabbath School We spent 12 happy years, mostly in across the road, I felt someone pull me teacher—a truly Christian lady—taught Nigeria, apart from 15 months in back just as a truck swept by directly in us to love the Word of God, and exem Ghana. Our last tour was spent in front of me. Looking around, I could see plified her teaching by the life she lived. Calabar, where we had the joy of estab no one! Who pulled me back? It could At 14, I left school (as many did at lishing a new witness center, which has have been none other than an angel. that age in those days), and started to since blossomed into two missions. The Mother, too, was convinced that God work with my father in an Adventist rest of our years of service were spent in had something special in mind for me. building firm. After several months, Scotland, Ireland, and South England. A similar thing occurred many years however, due to financial problems in I do not regret for one moment later. One hot summer evening, I was the firm, father and I were laid off. responding to the call of ministry. SB returning to my lodging after colpor- From then until I was 16,1 sold mag teuring all day. A cyclist stopped me azines and small books to raise money Edgar Hulbert is a retired pastor who lives in and asked for directions. Immediately to help with family finances. I enjoyed Watford, Hertsfordsh/re, England-

July 2002 MINISTRY 19 spouses. Yet, based on my own experience as a marriage counselor working with clergy couples, for the most part he was correct on all counts. Not all troubled clergy marriages survive, of course, but of the ones that I have personally been involved with professionally, nearly 90 percent are still married. So when it comes to working with clergy and their spous es, I©ve become an optimist as well. I enjoy When clergy working with them, because I have seen so many of them not just survive as couples, but go on to thrive. They are good clients, well- couples come motivated, and willing to work hard to revitalize their marriages. for counseling Particular needs of clergy couples The therapist was certainly right about confidentiality. It is, indeed, a very big con cern. Some clergy couples drive 500 miles Observations of a therapist round trip to seek marriage counseling in an area where they are not known. And they are usually open to spiritual early ten years ago, I attended a interventions such as prayer. In fact, at times William E. Rabior seminar conducted by a thera I have been the only person who regularly pist nationally known for his prayed with them during their time of crisis. expertise as a practitioner of Pastors and their spouses often pray for and marital therapy for clergy and with others, but frequently, no one realizes Ntheir spouses. I still have my notes from that they are in need of prayer themselves. Usually, seminar, and I find myself reflecting upon his they yearn for it, but they may not feel free to remarks whenever a clergy couple approaches bring their own personal issues to prayer with me for counseling. members of their congregations. Many times "Clergy couples seeking help will be very they simply do without it to their detriment. much like other married couples," he said. In most respects, clergy couples are just like "Many of the issues will be identical to those other couples who come for therapy. The dif you typically see in nonclergy marriages. ference is that the clerical lifestyle can give However, generally there will be two impor rise to certain dynamics which may overstress tant differences. First, confidentiality will be the marriage, for example, by putting exces absolutely paramount. They don©t want their sive demands on the pastor©s time or giving congregations knowing they are seeking mar rise to the feeling of living in a fish bowl. The riage counseling, because while it makes for a lifestyle itself can negatively affect a marriage. delicious piece of gossip back home, it only With these remarks as a kind of preface, makes their personal situation worse. Second, what follows are eight common issues which most of the time they will be open to spiritu clergy couples have brought to my office over al interventions like prayer, so use them." the years. He added, "Most clergy couples really want to make their marriages work. They are usual Eight common issues among clergy ly willing to do whatever it takes to transform couples their hurts into healing, and get their mar 1. Anger issues. For many of us anger is the William £ Rabior is riages back on track. Give them a sense of single most difficult emotion to deal with, chaplain at St. hope and help them strengthen their inter and clergy and their spouses are no exception. Mary©s Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan. personal skills and you©ll be surprised at how Often, they simply do not know what to do well they do." with their anger. For example, I have seen At the time, I remember thinking that he clergy virtually unable to express any anger at seemed overly optimistic about the effective all because of a conviction that a man or ness of marital therapy for clergy and their woman of God must be peaceful at all times,

20 MINISTRY July 2002 or that the expression of anger is sin ing. Compromising enables both to tion is one of the basic "super glues" ful and must be tightly suppressed or come away reasonably satisfied and which holds a marriage together. The denied. helps break the power struggle-victim spouses need to take and make time The trouble with this is that in ization cycle. It also allows the couple just to talk and listen. Two-way com every marriage there are times when to engage in genuine problem solving munication must become a priority or spouses become angry with one together, so that gridlock takes place it will not happen. another, whether they admit to it or less frequently, and the marriage can As a therapist addressing this issue, not. Unless anger can be successfully gain some positive momentum. I try to show clergy couples how to processed in a marriage, it can 3. Communication problems. Good use basic communication skills such become toxic and poisonous to the communication fuels a marriage, so as deep listening while the other marital relationship. when a clergy couple complains that speaks, and then mirroring back to Therapy dealing with this issue their marriage is "running out of gas," their spouse what she or he has said focuses on helping the couple develop it is often because they have virtually as a form of validation. I usually stress and practice anger management skills stopped talking and listening to each to the couple that talking and listen and giving them permission to other, and as a result have steadily ing to one another can be seen as a express their anger in safe ways, grown apart. form of making love, which strength which in turn enables them to reduce Talking and listening strengthen ens the bonds of marriage. I try to and more rapidly resolve angry feel the bonds of friendship, help with help them discover all over again the ings. problem solving and conflict resolu joy of talking and being listened to. 2. Marital gridlock. Marital gridlock tion, and enable the couple to affirm 4. Loss of closeness. The need to feel is the couple©s inability to successfully and validate each other. When this close to one©s spouse is essential to discuss and iron out differences, solve does not happen, individual spouses the well-being of any marriage. When problems together, and in general to may turn to someone else to whom it starts to fade, so can the love. resolve at least some of their issues. they can vent and find a sympathetic Typically, when a clergy couple Nagging conflicts and fights over the ear. Often, this only widens the gap tells me they no longer feel close, same old things keep recurring. in the marriage. they also describe a constellation of One the one hand, a certain Therapy here helps the clergy cou other things that have been adversely amount of gridlock is normal in a ple realize how crucial dialogue is affected by this feeling. There has marriage, because spouses bring to with each other that communica been a reduction in talking and their union different personalities, attitudes, and outlooks. It is inevitable that at some point a husband and wife NAD©S NEW APPROACH TO NET CASTING will disagree on some issue and per Halifax, Nova Scotia to host NET 2002, "Revelation Speaks Peace" haps even clash over its resolution. Gridlock becomes a serious prob "We're suggesting a whole new approach to NET evangelism in 2002," lem when spouses are unwilling or says Kermit Netteburg, assistant to the president of the North American unable to compromise, thereby creat Division. "It will allow congregations the freedom to create the evangelistic ing a power struggle. This in turn meeting and follow-up that best fits them." gives rise to a win-lose situation, Shawn Boonstra and Henry Feyerabend, of It Is Written Canada, have where one has to be the victor, the conducted several successful evangelistic efforts that have spanned generational other the defeated. Gridlock in this and cultural diversity, and they will be the featured speakers for "Revelation form keeps a couple infuriated and Speaks Peace." stuck in the cage of their issues. Don Schneider, president of the North American Division, urges churches to Bickering becomes endless and posi begin planning. "The Lord wants to bless your efforts," he says. "Since tive energy is drained from the 'Revelation Speaks Peace' begins just after the first anniversary of September 11, relationship. people will still be thinking seriously about their spiritual relationship with God. A pastor who is experiencing grid It's a perfect opportunity to meet people's needs. Let's be prepared." lock with his or her congregation as Registration is free. Call 800.ACN.1119 or visit www.acn.info to receive your well as in a marriage will be highly NET Evangelism Handbook. For planning suggestions, visit frustrated, indeed, and will be seri www.revelationspeakspeace.info; to see and hear Boonstra and Feyerabend ously overstressed. preach, visit www.acn.info. When gridlock surfaces as an issue, —Bernadine Delafield, Project Coordinator therapy typically focuses on showing Adventist Communication Network the clergy couple how to create win- North American Division win situations through compromis

July 2002 MINISTRY 21 touching, a waning of affection and legitimate concerns about financial serious problem. And infidelity can sexual problems have usually devel pressures in the present but also deep prove so damaging, that I have seen oped. In fact, physical intimacy may concerns about having sufficient even strong marriages collapse like a have virtually disappeared from financial resources on which to retire house of cards from the overwhelm their relationship. All of this can cre in the future. ing sense of betrayal and emotional ate a downward spiral in the marital Like other married couples, clergy devastation. relationship which is damaging and couples often have real difficulty han Dysfunctional behaviors like the dangerous. dling money and frequently fall into ones mentioned above may warrant a Therapy for an issue such as this the trap of overspending. Inter variety of interventions. Severe sub one involves training spouses to turn ventions for this issue may include stance abuse problems might require toward each other instead of away. It sending the couple to a financial in-patient rehabilitation services and teaches them how to reconnect counselor who can help with budget follow-up which includes regular beginning with the smallest efforts ing and debt consolidation. attendance at support groups such as such as holding hands and learning Instead of turning their finances Alcoholics Anonymous. how to touch each other again. into a battleground, I encourage the I have sent clergy to Gamblers It emphasizes what is right about couple to talk openly about their Anonymous for compulsive gambling problems and even to Overeaters Anonymous for eating disorders. BOVE ALL, MY WORK AS A THERAPIST IS TO They often do well in support groups such as these, provided confidentiali ty is maintained. IHELP THE COUPLE VIEW THEIR MARRIAGE A For sexual dysfunctions I have uti lized everything from evaluations by RELATIONSHIP AS A MAJOR PRIORITY. medical specialists, teaching one or both spouses how to set strong boundaries, intimacy work, and sig the marriage instead of what is finances with each other and plan nificant spiritual interventions such wrong. If couples can identify a single carefully, until they begin to get some as seeking and finding forgiveness area where they still function well sense that they are managing their from God for sexual sins. together, I encourage them to do money and not having their money 7. Family issues. Like everything more of that. manage them. else mentioned above, family issues Dating each other again can help 6. Dysfunctional behaviors. Across can take many forms in the lives of restore romance and excitement to the country, therapists are reporting clergy couples. For example, if a hus the relationship. Spouses who have that more clergy persons and spouses band or wife has not successfully distanced from each other can redis are seeking help for compulsive emancipated from his or her parents, cover how to be close to each other behaviors such as uncontrolled gam it may be difficult for the couple to once again, but it needs to become a bling. Often, the pastor has become a create a strong bond of their own. priority, and they need to do the workaholic, giving all his or her ener Interfering parents or in-laws can pre sometimes demanding work which is gies to pastoral work and leaving little vent a couple from creating a solid necessary for this to happen. or nothing for the marriage. It is also relationship together. 5. Finances. For many clergy cou not unusual for addictions to alcohol Children, too, can sometimes ples, financial issues generate or drugs to put severe strain on a mar destabilize a marriage. An out-of-con- tremendous stress which in turn usu ital relationship. trol child can severely stress a ally takes a toll on the marriage. Too Sexual dysfunction is also com marriage and be a source of embar often, clergy are underpaid and over mon among clergy and spouses. Not rassment to a clergy couple. worked. An inadequate salary may infrequently, one or sometimes both If there have been previous mar seem to necessitate the pastor having mates may have been sexually abused riages, the process of blending several to take another job or even several as a child and consequently as adults different families can prove formida jobs. The other spouse may have to be having difficulty trusting or being ble. Sometimes the illness or death of work, too, to make ends meet. truly intimate. A clergy person and a a child can introduce grieving issues All of this can mean less quality spouse in a seemingly heterosexual into the marriage. time spent together, more fatigue, marriage even after years of marriage I have learned to be creative when and in general, constantly living with may still be experiencing confusion helping a clergy couple cope with a sense of being overwhelmed. The about sexual orientation. family problems. If parents or in-laws clergy couple may not only have Pornography may have become a have been a problem, I have some-

22 MINISTRY July 2002 times recommended that the couple A common one is the unwilling lege to work with many clergy couples accept an assignment as far away ness on the part of one spouse to over the years. Often they come for from them as possible. Parenting forgive and permanently bury some counseling not because the marriage classes have often proved helpful, hurt inflicted by the other spouse, for is shaky, but because they are at the especially to new parents. example, adultery. A ghost such as point where they want to change pat Above all, my work as a therapist is this starts to acquire a life and power terns of behavior which no longer to help the couple view their marriage of its own, keeping the couple at log work well and substitute healthier relationship as a major priority. I try gerheads and making healing behaviors so that the marriage can be to help them make each other the pri virtually impossible. happier and more fulfilling. They mary focus, so that not all their The best way I know of to drive a view their marriage as a work in energy is directed toward children or ghost from a marriage is through sim progress and are willing to do whatev family (or the church). As spouses ple, straightforward forgiveness. er it takes to renew and revitalize it. strengthen the bonds of their mar Forgiveness is much more than My challenge as a therapist is to riage and become more united, they just a feeling, it is a choice and a deci help these couples make wise and are in a better position to face family sion. One spouse can choose to responsible choices which enrich and issues together, which in turn can forgive the other even without feeling expand their love and friendship, so make these issues more manageable. very forgiving. Of course, he or she that their remaining years together 8. Marital "ghosts." Some clergy may have to make that decision are sweet and joyous. couples live in a marriage haunted by many times, but it is the only way a As clergy couples become more a ghost or ghosts from the past that marital ghost can be permanently mutually supportive of one another seem never to go away because the driven away and the slate wiped and more willing to nurture one couple lacks the desire or the ability to clean. Forgiveness allows a couple to another, many times I also see their "exorcize" them. Marital ghosts come love again, trust again, and move for ministry start to flourish and become in many different shapes and sizes, ward together down the road of life as even more effective. Helping a clergy and some are more malevolent than friends and lovers. couple©s marriage inevitably helps others. It has been my pleasure and privi their ministry. H

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July 2002 MINISTRY 23 Darwin©s man Rather than fashioned in God©s image, Darwin©s man "is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears . . ."© Reduced to its core, evolutionism contends that human life and intelligence sprang spontaneously (and certainly inexpli cably) from a nonliving, nonconscious, nonintelligent source. This view was initially articulated by a wealthy, Victorian elitist, whose credentials "It ain't include three Cambridge years studying for the Anglican ministry. Some say he was a man disillusioned by the heartbreak of his necessarily so" ten-year-old daughter©s death; a distraught philosopher who railed against a contempo A review of the validity of rary religion that caricatured God as a tyrant, intent on torturing the wayward with the Charles Darwin's thinking pangs of their present existence and the hor ror of an everlasting fiery torment. Rejecting the prospect of eternal life, Darwin sentenced Homo sapiens to a bleak future, predicting that "we may safely infer Warren L. Johns J^"W"^he propagandized postulates of that not one living species will transmit its Charles Robert Darwin call to unaltered likeness to a distant futurity."2 I mind the lyrics of a song from the One of Darwin©s more outrageous supposi twentieth-century Broadway hit tions never made it past his 1859 first edition ^L. musical Porgy and Bess: "It Ain©t of The Origin of Species. The naturalist imag Necessarily So." A growing number of aca ined he could "see no difficulty in a race of demics assess evolution©s science with similar bears being rendered, by natural selection, skepticism. more and more aquatic in their structure and Darwin©s wish list of unsubstantiated habits ... till a creature was produced as mon propositions starts with his primitive percep strous as a whale." tion of the "simple" cell with sequences His assertions wandered into the realm of allegedly leading to fish, amphibians, reptiles, today©s politically incorrect. He ranked the birds, mammals, and ultimately Homo sapiens. male gender as the one decidedly superior Evolution©s essence envisions life without a over the female. He asserted that "the chief guiding conscious intelligence; without a cre distinction in the intellectual powers of the ator. Proposed instead is a haphazard jungle two sexes is shewn [shown] by man attaining menagerie of random-chance forces, compet to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes ing for survival, yet still having the capacity up, than woman can attain whether requir of producing the amazing natural, productive ing deep thought, reason, or imagination, or orderliness that surrounds us. merely the use of the senses and hands."3 In this dismal scenario, we face a forever With a nod to eugenics (alleged "improve death, with no prospect of further life. Our ment of the human race by controlled present toil and pain is unexplained, unless, selective breeding"4), he fretted that the prac perhaps as they are seen to be the conse tice of vaccination spared the lives of quence of an ill-defined, undirected struggle. small-pox victims. "Vaccination has preserved Warren L Johns, They certainly are not seen to be the conse thousands, who from a weak constitution Esq., a retired quence of sin, for under this worldview, moral would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. lawyer and editor of Creation Digest, and spiritual realities are essentially ignored. Thus the weak members of civilised [civilized] lives in Brookeville, Darwinism proposes a gradual "progress to societies propagate their kind ... this must be Maryland. perfection" over deep time, and it intention highly injurious to the race of man."5 In the ally dismisses a Creation week put in place by face of this supposed dire result, he said that the verbal command of Infinite God. society should maintain a stiff upper lip: "We

24 MINISTRY July 2002 must bear without complaining the He worried that he may "... have resents an isolated point, with no undoubtedly bad effects of the weak devoted my life to a phantasy."8 knowable connection to any other surviving and propagating their given fossil, and all float around in an kind."6 Beyond the bounds of science overwhelming sea of gaps."10 Thus, not surprisingly, the predic Valid scientific reasons exist for Another avowed evolutionist pulls tions of evolution©s guru echoes as Darwin©s intellectual hand wringing! no punches. Dr. Michael Denton por racist. "At some future period, not Evolution suffers from a terminal case trays "the Darwinian theory of very distant as measured by centuries, of ambivalent viability. Despite the evolution [as] no more or less than the the civilised [civilized] races of man secular media©s repetitious rhetoric great cosmogenic myth of the twenti will almost certainly exterminate and parading evolution as "fact," an eth century." He further elaborates replace throughout the world the sav impressive roster of contemporary "that nowhere was Darwin able to age races."7 scientists discount Darwinism. point to one bona fide case of natural Very significantly, Darwin made A prominent evolutionist writer selection having actually generated two crucial and far-reaching conces flatly asserts the conviction that evolutionary change in nature ..."" sions: (1) That his ideas about origins "over millions of years, tree-living Scientific evidence abounds, cor were "©a mere rag of an hypothesis reptiles evolved into birds." But roborating Darwin©s admission that with as many flaw[s] and holes as simultaneously, in the same book, he his philosophy of origins is "beyond sound parts...©" and (2) "T am quite acknowledges "it is impossible to the bounds of true science." Three conscious that my speculations run know for certain whether one species obvious shortfalls in his suppositions beyond the bounds of true science.©" is the ancestor of another."© stand out in bold relief, edging evolu These admissions, by their nature In a further burst of admirable tion©s hype toward history©s dustbin. possess a constitutional weight. At candor, the same writer describes evo * Evolution cannot explain the their heart they still stand despite the lution©s "chain of ancestry" as "a first-ever appearance of a living cell; long, powerful and now establish completely human invention created * The sudden appearance, simulta ment-driven attempts to reduce their after the fact, shaped to accord with neously and worldwide, of more than shattering truth. human prejudices.... Each fossil rep 7,000 complex species of life, without

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MINISTRY a trace of ancestry; and ation allegedly accomplished, or how with transitional or intermediate life * The demonstrated incompetence it actually might have happened, forms, bridging the gaping gulfs of mutations to transform one kind except to in effect attribute it to some between single-celled ancestors and of life into an entirely new kind, even accident or chance, taking place in the multi-celled descendants. given vast periods of deep time. dim recesses of prebiotic time and Instead, the evidence reveals a "soup" and continuing through the plethora of complex animal and plant Simple cells? eons to what is presently extant. The life species that appeared suddenly, The technology of Charles Robert recipe for first life and its complete simultaneously and worldwide Darwin©s day deprived investigators genome baffles the scientific elect and without evidence of fossil ancestry. of the faintest clue that a "simple" elite! The Pre-Cambrian fossil record offers cell was anything more than a blob of The odds of random chance gener a virtual paleontological desert. This protoplasm. Astutely, Darwin skipped ating a friendly environment essential reality astounded Darwin. any serious attempt to explain the to produce and sustain organic life, is "©Nothing is more extraordinary in spontaneous generation of original mathematically less likely than six bil the history of the Vegetable Kingdom life. Instead, the canny philosopher lion blindfolded humans simultane . . . than the apparently very sudden surrendered to the ultimate mystery, ously solving the riddle of a Rubik©s or abrupt development of the higher admitting "science as yet throws no Cube in less than a minute. plants.©"13 light on the far higher problem of the Late in the twentieth century, a essence or origin of life."12 The gradual and the sudden Cambridge University Botany Laboratory replication of a single In discarding the possibility of a Department scientist concluded, "to cell from scratch, life from nonlife, conscious, intelligent, creative life- the unprejudiced, the fossil record of complete with a full code of genes source, Darwin came to alternatively plants favours [favors] special cre exponentially more complex than envision a simple-to-complex gradu ation."14 any mechanism humans have yet alism somehow taking place within This universal appearance of a per devised, continues to elude Darwin©s the recesses of deep time zones. vasive diversity of complex life kinds, heirs. No scientist has yet duplicated Verification of this grandiose scheme is diametrically opposed to specula or explained what spontaneous gener demanded fossil cemeteries filled tions requiring the gradual emergence

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26 MINISTRY July 2002 of "innumerable transitional forms." sheds its dull camouflage colors of within a prototype genome have yet It is this that troubled Darwin. summer, each year, in exchange for a to bridge the biological gap leading to "Geological research . . . does not winter mantle of white feathers to an entirely new and different kind. yield the infinitely many fine grada match the snow. Come summer Clearly there are colossal problems tions between past and present again, there©s a consistent reversion here! species required on the theory . . . back to the subdued shades of rock. Mutations never add new informa why do we not find beneath this sys The ptarmigan©s genes carry the cam tion to the genetic code essential for tem great piles of strata stored with ouflage information that triggers sea- an entirely new life form; and, muta- the remains of the progenitors of the Cambrian fossils?"15 Equally stunning and subversive to EVOUT DARWINIAN THEORETICIANS Darwin©s fondest theories is the reali ty that many of these original fossil CANNOT WITH INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY, kinds of life failed to subsequently D "evolve." Instead they continue to be stable, in a state of stasis, virtually EXTRAPOLATE THE REALITY OF EACH GENOME©S unchanged today from any fossil ancestors. A classic example of this is ADAPTABILITY SO THAT IT ASSURES DAZZLING the fact that the oldest known water lily fossils appear identical to their VARIETY WITHIN KINDS, AND THUS twenty-first-century descendants.16

Genomes and mutations AUTHETICATES Beyond neo-Darwinism©s inability to explain the "how" and "when" of first life arising from inorganic matter and the abrupt appearance of com plex life without evidence of prior sonal change, generation after tions are notoriously deleterious to ancestry, is the discovery of the generation. No matter how many sea the genome. Despite laboratory genome which underscores the intel sonal cycles come and go with mutations induced repeatedly in the ligent design, irreducible complexity, color-coded transformations, the lowly fruit fly, descendant fruit flies and unique information code inher ptarmigan remains a ptarmigan for continue to be fruit flies, often with ent in each prototypical life. ever. weird deformities but always fruit The genetic code packed in the Devout Darwinian theoreticians flies, never dragonflies or butterflies DNA of each genome is vested with cannot, with intellectual integrity, and this goes on ad infinitum for an inherent capacity for variation extrapolate the reality of each thousands of generations. designed to accommodate environ genome©s adaptability so that it And it©s the same with bacteria! ment. The degree of flexibility assures dazzling variety within kinds, Alleged by evolutionists to have facilitated by this adaptation to the and thus authenticates what is essen been around for something like 3.6 environment does not in the least tial to evolutionary theory. billion years, bacteria, under this assume the radical shifts of evolution Lock-step misinterpretation of a assumption, have produced millions envisioned by Darwinists. genome©s capacity for variety, as well of generations. Despite mutations, Genome engendered flexibility as the development of hybrids, touts however, descendant bacteria remain does not accommodate, for example, apples to "prove" oranges, thus mis bacteria, now and forever. the reptile-to-bird scenario. Evolu leading a gullible public in a Even the amazing ptarmigan is tionists allege or assume, essentially lemminglike march to nowhere! alleged to have descended from a rep on the basis of extrapolation, that Neo-Darwinists rely on mutations tile ancestor who insisted on trying to because the genome enables an organ as the elixir that drives evolutionary fly until it successfully sprouted ism to adapt to its environment, it change to feed the natural selection feathers rather than scales, hollow also enables that organism, over great process, ultimately blazing the trail to bones, warm blood, and a host of periods of time, to leap over into an an entirely new and different descen other necessities that make birds entirely new kind of critter! This dant organism thanks to an birds! assumption is, on the face of what assumed time scale counted in mil Yawning, genetic chasms separat may actually be observed, unmerited. lions of years. ing distinct kinds of organic formats Alaska©s state bird, the ptarmigan, Regardless, random mutations have never been bridged by the muta-

July 2002 MINISTRY 27 tion/natural selection combo concoct eloquently: "My speculations run Language (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, ed by neo-Darwinists. This is true beyond the bounds of true science." 1992), third edition, 632. 5 Da:vi'm, The Descent of Man, 1:168. even when we allow for all the sup Faith in the mystical convergence 6 Ibid., 169. posed millions of years these changes of inorganic matter by "natural" 7 Ibid., 201. are supposed to have taken place. forces, in an attempt to explain the 8 Charles Darwin letter to Asa Gray, cited by Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin (New York: Random chance transitions from genesis of the first ever cell of organic W.W. Norton and Company, 1991), 456, 475. one kind of critter to another, pro life, worships or at least plays at the 9 Henry Gee, In Search of Deep Time- (New York: The posed as "fact" by neo-Darwinism, feet of primitive superstition, which Free Press, 1999), 177, 155. 10 Ibid., 32. never happened and never will hap is the very antithesis of science! 11 Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis pen! Forget the knee-jerk mantra Michael Ruse, atheist and devoted (Bethesda, Md.: Adler & Adler, 1986), 62, 358. asserting life©s emergence from pri disciple of Darwinian faith, describes 12 Darwin, The Origin of Species, 637. 13 Charles Darwin, (1881) in F. Darwin, The Life and mordial slime followed by a mindless evolution as "a full-fledged alterna Letters of Charles Darwin (London: John Murray, march from the sea. A single cell fish tive to Christianity. ... Evolution is a 1888) 3:248; cited by Michael Denton, Evolution: A to a man or woman? It never hap religion. This was true of evolution in Theory in Crisis, 163. 14 Oliver & Boyd, Contemporary Botanical Thought, pened. the beginning, and it is true of evolu 1971, 97. tion still today."17 15 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 617, 618. The Christian view Rational faith, on the other hand, 16 Peter Crane, et. al. "New Scientist," April, 2001, 1. 17 Michael Ruse, "Saving Darwinism from the Articles of faith embraced by envisions an Intelligent Designer who Darwinians," National Post (May 13, 2000), B-3; Christians anchor in an unequivocal created life as well as the science that quoted by Henry B. Morris, "Evolution is Religion belief in the biblical account of focuses on life©s origin; a Supreme Not Science," Impact, February 2001. 18 Tile Thompson Chain Reference Bible (Grand Rapids, Creation week and the worldwide Intelligence beyond mortal compre Mich.: ___, 1983), Matthew 24:21. deluge of Noah©s day. hension. Christ Himself confirmed God©s Here©s a terse paraphrase of the miracle of Creation and the timeless testament of a recently Letters continued from page 3 planet-wide destruction wreaked by a deceased scholar, whose life was com cataclysmic deluge. Theological rejec mitted to faith in a Creator: But in criticizing the recovery move tion or compromise with these "God created all things, a long ment and the Twelve Steps, they are biblical accounts, conflicts head-on time ago!" undercutting a process that has provid with the articulated testimony of Two distinct worldviews offer an ed freedom from cherished sin (also Jesus Christ. either/or choice. Both options envi known as addiction) for millions—and "Theistic Evolution" appeals to sion faith-based religions. Faith in the by now surely billions—of people all some who sport Christian trappings religion of evolutionism leads to over the world. The results speak for despite discounting the words of darkness and to mere death. The themselves. Christ©s ministry. Trying to merge the other, the biblical faith, worships a The best thing I can say is that my life unmergable in this field of thought Supreme Being who created human is far more in harmony with biblical diminishes God, contending He relied ity in His own image and personally principles because of what I have on evolution©s random chance blazed the trail of victory over death. learned and applied from the recovery sequences over eons of deep time. Charles Darwin boasted of movement and the Twelve Steps. IB This incompatible theology-pseudo- "progress toward perfection," a siren —Marvin Moore, Ca/dwell, Idaho. science mixes, glosses over, or ignores song that leads inevitably, by its own the rich meaning of a weekly celebra implied nature, merely to the abyss of September 2001 issue tion saluting God©s power to create life death. Christ predicted a time of have been receiving Ministry since by His command and to spare sinners "great distress, unequaled from the I being ordained over 12 years ago. from their inevitable fate. beginning of the world," 18 coupled Each issue contains something relevant Darwinian thought has been with the promise of His return and to my personal and professional life as a repeatedly patched, reprogrammed, life eternal to all who believe. pastor and teacher. and revised, in futile attempts to cre Choose this day whom you will I especially enjoyed the articles ate a worldview that does not clash serve, m "Dealing With Criticism" by Victor with belief in an Infinite Creator God. Parachin and "The Lonely Pastor" by But evolutionism©s thin soup recipe \ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (Princeton, Larry Yeagley in the September 2001 New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981, photo for life offers a starvation diet of reproduction of the 1871 version published by J. issue. As I read through the articles, I unsubstantiated myth laced with Murray, London), 2:389. knew they were speaking to me. This fancy phraseology. 2 , The Origin of Species (New York: Random issue was one of your best ever. W House, 1993), 647. —Rev. L F. Hofmann, Edmondton, Alberta, Darwin©s own characterization of 3 , The Descent of'Man, 2:327. his "mere rag of a hypothesis," speaks 4 See American Heritage Dictionary of the English Canada.

28 MINISTRY July 2002 PASTOR©S PASTOR More good ideas

s I've said before, one of my big tion for their building fund from anoth blessings comes from seeing and er local congregation almost three A sharing practical ideas. thousand miles away, they wondered JAMES A. CRESS what prompted such generosity. Then Baby Bonds. When parents bring they learned that they are among sev infants for dedication, Sligo school prin eral churches each year which receive a cipal Ruth Satelmajer (Takoma Park, boost from the donor congregation's Maryland) presents a "Baby Bond" "Brotherhood Fund" to boost big proj good for three months' free tuition, to ects in small places. I will not reveal the be used when the child enters school. donor congregation; you cannot apply This gift firmly cements the importance for their generosity. But when they dis of planning for Christian education years cover a need, they generously share. Try before formal schooling begins. the illustrative material that will go into following their example and lead your them as he reads, interacts with people, church to assist some project some Sabbath morning breakfast. and experiences daily life.1 where else. Hoping to increase attendance at Sabbath School and recognizing that Photo business card. Recently a Picture worth a thousand words. most adults cannot concentrate when contribution arrived for a ministry proj Try illustrating your confidence in Bible they are hungry (even more so chil ect which included a short note on the themes through art placed in your lobby dren), the Palm Springs Church back of Tom and Brooke Stafford's busi or office. At the Ministerial Association schedules fellowship breakfast prior to ness card. The check was appreciated, we display two original oil paintings by the scheduled time for Bible study. the note was encouraging, but the busi Elfred Lee, The Truth as It Is in Jesus, ness card came to life because it which highlights seven significant doc Christmas in July. Albert and Elaine included their photo. trinal themes (salvation by grace, sola Ellis enjoy holiday greetings twice: first Realtors and other scriptura, sabbath, second coming, state when cards and letters arrive, and then entrepreneurs long of man, sanctuary, and spiritual gifts) when they review them throughout the ago learned the value and The Way of the Cross Leads Home, year. They select one or two cards a of connecting their name and face. You which portrays the joyous return of Jesus week as part of their daily devotions, may want to try a new design for your to His Father following His second review the greeting, reflect on special personal business card. advent. See ad on page 31 to obtain friends, and lift up that family in prayer. posters or limited-edition, artist-signed They say, "It's almost like a face-to-face Cafe church. Determined to reach prints of these remarkable paintings. visit as well as a second time to enjoy secular society people who might, oth these holiday remembrances!" erwise, bypass church, Adventists in Simply Speaking. Former U.S. pres Helsinki have planted a cafe church idential speech writer, Peggy Noonan, Three years to prepare a sermon. where attendees gather casually around relates insight she learned from novelist In the latest issue of Preaching, Lloyd tables and refreshments to study Bible Edith Wharton who said, "No matter John Ogilvie describes his three-year topics, fellowship, and interact. Before what the gift of the writer, whether cycle for preparing to preach a sermon you dismiss such ventures as "not genius or dunce, the language of love is series. After selecting a portion of scrip church," reflect on the way most New always the same: 'I love you, I love you, ture, he spends a year with that section Testament house churches functioned. my darling, you are so wonderful . . ." as a devotional exercise. The next year, Cafe church may be more closely Noonan says, "The language of love is he does an in-depth expositional study aligned with Scripture than fifty pews simple because love is big. And big coupled with reading great expositors. lined up in rows. things are best said, almost always said, In the actual year of preaching he out in small words."1 SB lines the presentations and prepares a Pass on the bonus! When a strug- folder for each week of the series—one gling, small congregation in New folder for each sermon ready to receive Hampshire received a $1000 contribu

July 2002 MINISTRY 29 RESOURCES

erful. Gradually, over time, I have tive suspicion of the noncerebral, mere found it easier to use helpful slides dur ly emotional approach. This understand ing most of my sermon, but inserting ing of the work of the Holy Spirit is well black slides provided the key to getting illustrated in the Appendix. There he Freedom with black slides started with computer graphics on a evaluates some of the problems associ or several years, I have been using a regular basis. ated with "charismatic renewal move F computer to generate slides to com —Glenn Holland, pastor, Norfolk, Virginia. ments." His approach is balanced and plement my preaching, but only in the biblical. past two years have I found it practical The value and relevance of this book, and relatively easy to prepare slides for in my view, is threefold: nearly every sermon I preach. Using First, Paulsen shows that the exis slides dramatically increases audience tence of the Christian church and all attention, and in the past year we have spiritual life in the believer is the work of experienced an average attendance When the Spirit Descends: the Holy Spirit. It is here and now, not at increase of more than 10 percent. Most Understanding the Role of the some later stage or in a special experi of the increase has been due to guests Holy Spirit, by Jan Paulsen, ence that the Holy Spirit is present in our and friends of members coming more (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald daily lives. But He is present not only for regularly. Pub. Assn., 2001), $7.65, 142 pages. salvation, but for service. In this respect, One idea that has been instrumental This is a significant book, and its reis Paulsen asks some searching questions in making my presentations work more sue in a slightly edited form with an and makes trenchant observations, for effectively has been my use of black additional chapter, "The Community of example, "Spiritfilledness is the opposite slides. Spirit," is to be welcomed. of weakness, lethargy, and confusion. It I use three black slides to begin a The author is surely correct in rec has to do with power to be and act, and presentation, with the second being a ognizing that there is confusion and it lifts us to a level where we otherwise test slide with the word "test" in small uncertainty as to the role of the Holy would not be" (page 126). type at the top left of the screen. This is Spirit in the life of the individual believ Second, it is a biblically-based an inconspicuous way to check to make er, the church, and the world. Does this approach by which we can evaluate sure things are running smoothly before book make a contribution to clearing and relate to contemporary teachings I get up to preach. The first graphic away this confusion and uncertainty and claims regarding the Holy Spirit's image will then fade or zoom in at the and has it relevance for the church presence and work. appropriate time. today? Third, the book will be most helpful Before discovering black slides, I felt I I compared my original copy with to pastors, teachers, and administrators. had to have something on the screen the present edi It has value for the church member, but during all of my sermon. Often I found tion to refresh it will be of greatest benefit to the it difficult to find appropriate texts or my memory and church as a whole if its message comes photos to accompany an entire mes to attempt to in a teaching form from ministers in the sage, so I would give up. find an answer to pulpit and power in our lives. It is a By freely inserting black slides the question. book which transcends sectarian and throughout a presentation, the screen Paulsen has denominational biases and can with can be used only when you want to an academic profit be used by any Christian whatev draw attention to something impor inclination and it er their tradition. tant, but it isn't critical to always have is reflected in his This book is one to be read and re something for people to see or read on writing. This read with rich spiritual benefits. It is the screen. In fact, fading to a black gives depth to what he writes. His inten more relevant today than when it was slide and making a point without tion is to be genuinely biblical in his first published. M something on the screen can be pow approach. He has the scholar's instinc —Patrick ]. Boyle.

30 MINISTRY July 2002 6f9ff 40% // fo off

rou might try illustrating your confidence in Bible themes through art works well placed in your church lobby or orrice. In he Ministerial Association we display two original oil paintings by Elfred Lee, The Truth as it is injcsus, which highlights even significant doctrinal themes (salvation by grace, sola scriptura, Sabbath, second coming, state of man, sanctuary, and jpiritual gifts) and The Way of the Cross Leads Home, which portrays the joyous return of Jesus to His Father following His lathering of the world©s redeemed at His second advent.

The Truth as It is in Jesus (22" x 32.5") by Lee The Truth as it is in Jesus Poster (17"x 22") The Way of the Cross Home (22"x 17")

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To order your own copy of a poster or limited print signed by Elfred Lee contact the Ministerial Resource Center at:

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