>> This is the October 2015 issue containing the November Bible Study Lessons 32 Funerals, burials taking new forms baptiststoday.org Creative CHAOS Preacher, folk artist 4 Howard Finster left a large legacy Williamsburg teaches lessons for today 43 BIBLE STUDIES 17 FA TH™ John D. Pierce Executive Editor [email protected] Julie Steele Chief Operations Officer [email protected] Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor [email protected] Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor [email protected] Bruce T. Gourley Online Editor/Contributing Writer [email protected] David Cassady Church Resources Editor [email protected] Vickie Frayne Art Director What is Nurturing Faith? 14 Jannie Lister Customer Service Manager [email protected] and why do you ask for financial support? 40 Lex Horton Nurturing Faith Resources Manager [email protected] Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus PERSPECTIVES Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus ‘It’s what we do’ 9 Gifts to Baptists Today DIRECTORS EMERITI By John Pierce Thomas E. Boland IN MEMORY OF R. Kirby Godsey Don’t expect millennials to carry on Guy Rutland III CHARLES L. TYER Mary Etta Sanders parents’ tradition 30 Mel Williams By Bob Ballance From Ida Jean Tyer Winnie V. Williams Conservative Christians’ new scare word 38 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. (chairman) By Jonathan Merritt Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. (vice chair) Nannette Avery, Signal Mountain, Tenn. How to win gay rights with patience and grace Kelly L. Belcher, Asheville, N.C. By Tom Krattenmaker 39 Edwin Boland, Johns Creek, Ga. Ronnie Brewer, Bristol, Va. Janie Brown, Elon, N.C. Straightening Randall Lolley 42 Bob Cates, Rome, Ga. By Alan Sherouse Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. Doug Dortch, Birmingham, Ala. IN THE NEWS FEATURE Jack Glasgow, Zebulon, N.C. Wayne Glasgow, Macon, Ga. Some larger black churches are avoiding decline 12 RELIGION AND THE AMERICAN Frank Granger, Athens, Ga. PRESIDENTS: JAMES MONROE Cynthia Holmes, St. Louis, Mo. Israel’s young militant settlers latest front David Hull, Watkinsville, Ga. (1817-1825) 10 Bill Ireland, Dalton, Ga. in struggle against terrorism 13 By Bruce Gourley Becky Matheny, Athens, Ga. Tommy McDearis, Blacksburg, Va. Andrew McGill, Chattanooga, Tenn. FEATURE Cynthia Wise Mitchell, Birmingham, Ala. Quotation Remarks 8 William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. MISSION TOURISM: Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas Critics say popular approach to short-term trips Editorial 9 Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. doesn’t meet needs Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. 36 Classifieds 28 Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. By Aaron Weaver David Turner, Richmond, Va. Lighter Side 29 Clem White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Donna Wood, Macon, Ga. COVER PHOTO BY JOHN PIERCE. 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Creative CHAOS Preacher, folk artist Howard Finster left a large legacy UMMERVILLE, Ga. — Howard SWAMP TO GARDEN Finster was a Baptist preacher with a S sixth-grade education and a folk artist A non-profit organization has brought Paradise whose fame took him to New York galleries Garden to life again. Jordan Poole, executive (A section of one walkway is now on perma- and put him on the front page of The Wall director of the Paradise Garden Foundation, nent display at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art.) Street Journal. Whether in a revival tent, on welcomes visitors to the same front porch late night television with Johnny Carson, or where Finster greeted famed artists and musi- painting out of divine inspiration, he was fully cians as well as anyone one else curious about PRESERVATION expressive. his art. Finster’s life and work are well recorded, said Finster, who died in 2001, could turn any- “We get people from all around the world Poole: “He did so many [photo] collages and thing into art — resulting in more than 46,000 who come here,” Poole said of the “adaptive told his own story.” And hardly a thought (or pieces. Everything from hubcaps to bicycle rehabilitation” of the buildings and grounds. “vision”) went unexpressed. parts to vending machines to the Cadillac he A second phase will tackle Finster’s towering, There is nowhere at Paradise Garden to drove around Summerville (a gift from artist odd-designed World’s Folk Art Church that look without seeing some artistic expression by Victor Faccinto of Wake Forest University) was Poole hopes to make into conference space. Finster or those influenced by his works. Nor is subject to the colorful messages he claimed as The swampy land that Finster moved there a view without hand-painted renderings visions from God. onto in the 1960s was drained through a series by the Baptist preacher of Bible verses. Rock band R.E.M. put his work on an of canals that now allow water to flow freely. Visitors seeking a resting space for reflec- album cover and filmed their music video Walkways were not only practical but yet tion can stop in Finster’s open-air meditation Radio Free Europe in the artist’s sprawling, art- another canvas for Finster who embedded mar- chapel that he purchased with a grant from the filled Paradise Garden in Northwest Georgia. bles, broken glass and other discarded items National Endowment for the Arts. He was both eccentric and eclectic. into the concrete to create a mosaic look. Poole said that Finster was “nomadic” 4 | Feature October 2015 - and moved about the acreage to work rather than settle into one studio. And the foundation wants to preserve all of those spaces as much as possible. “We want to maintain everything that has the artist’s hand on it,” he said. Finster’s family, grateful for the preser- vation work, is “very much involved” in the effort, said Poole. “They are glad somebody is up to doing this.” ODDITIES Jordan Poole, executive director of the Paradise Garden Foundation, welcomes visitors to Born in 1916 as the youngest of 13 children, the same front door where Howard Finster greeted famous musicians and artists along Finster, an Alabama native who called himself October 2015 Feature | 5 Howard Finster recorded much of his own history through said Jordan Poole, was well as a favored art considered a waiting and willing canvas for Finster to share a mes- “a man of visions,” was not afraid to stray from the mainstream of society. Through his art he shared prophetic warnings and even glimpses into the celestial world that he considered to be divine revelations. Finster claimed to see spacecraft as well as angels, stars and mountains when he sat to paint. Locally, “Preacher Finster” was perceived as both an insider and someone a bit different, said Poole. “He baptized or preached to most every- one in the county…,” said Poole. “But he was a topic of conversation!” Few artists fit into societal norms. So Finster’s eccentricities were considered part of his personality, mission and genius. “The people who loved to come to the garden most were the children, and the teen- agers wanting to have their bicycles fixed,” said Kathy Berry, administrator for the Paradise Garden Foundation. “If they didn’t have the money, Howard would put them to work.” Finster’s work as a preacher, repairman and artist often seemed inseparable. However, after a vision in 1976 (in which he saw a human face in a smudge on his finger while painting a bicycle), he set his tools in concrete as an expression of art and a clear commitment to producing “sacred art” in abundance. one of several Howard Finster Wasting little time, this “second Noah” churned out one piece after another — from renderings of George Washington, Elvis and Coke bottles to obscure fantasies, and lots and lots of scripture. 6 | Feature October 2015 ATTENTION was as comfortable on a Hollywood set before By giving the body to Howard, said Berry, a live audience and millions of viewers as in everyone knew it would be “cared for and An elevated exhibition gallery is filled with a hot summertime tent in the rural South watched over.” many pieces of art gifted to Finster by those preaching sin and salvation. Towers of hubcaps, rusted bicycle parts inspired by his works. Interspersed along the With banjo in hand he roamed the stage and other junk rise throughout the unique simple walls — lighted by occasional overhead to Carson’s wide-eyed wonder and sidekick Ed garden of art.