A God Given Baby 

	For 13 plus hours the pregnant mother had wrestled with the unborn child she had carried for a little over nine months. She, trying with every effort to expel the infant . . . it struggling to remain in the warmth of the womb . . . at approximately 3:00 a.m. on July 22, 1918, with a scream and mighty effort, she expelled the child, with the help of the mid-wife, only to find the umbilical cord wrapped about his neck and a bluish tint of the skin . . . commonly called a "blue baby".  She held him up and gave the traditional slap, but got no reaction. She did it again and still no sound escaped the lips of the child and she laid the body down on the table and slowly shook her head and dropped her hands to her side.  At that point the father went into action. He gripped the ankles of his son, lifted him high . .  called out "He's yours, God" and gave the little guy a mighty "whack" . .  and the baby cried out . . . and thus begins this true story about a "God given baby" . .  and an exciting Christian couple that a snowball brought together . .  their relationships with their God in a 120% marriage partnership . .  and their retirement filled with the passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and His work around the world. 

		Witnessed and related by Martha Elizabeth Loveless, Grand-mother of the new-born infant Jack Beverly Fellows Springfield, Missouri, USA July 22, 1918  

	

	Two weeks later baby Jack was put in a hand-made market basket by his mother and taken to the First Baptist Church of Springfield, Missouri and placed on the Communion table in the altar area, as she offered him to the services of God.  

	

	Prolog Health Reasons for Putting Our Lives on Paper 

	

		From the Pen of Jack  It is 2:22 p.m., June 22, 2007, and I have just learned from Dr. Leo Shunyakov, MD, that the biopsy of the growth removed from my right arm pit on June 2, 2007 indicated I have a very rare cancer called Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma.  We were getting a little concerned from not having heard back from the doctor concerning the biopsy, as it had been over three weeks since the surgery. However, we learned the local CMH pathologist had never examined this form of cancer and could find very little printed information concerning this Sarcoma and was having a hard time getting the proper information to the doctor and thus to us.  Dr. Shunyakov said they are so rare, medical science knows of only 25 cases in an international research study of this Sarcoma, plus four others not included in the study. Reading the report caused some concerns, as I read the copy of the history of these 25 known cases. The results in four of the cases have not been reported.  Of those included in the research study, one died after one week,one after seven weeks,two within four months,one died after each of the following months: five, six, eight, nine, 10, 12 and 18 months. The six still alivewith the cancer were from six months to four years and two were free of the disease for a year and a half and one for six years. Of the four not included in the research, one died after 2 months, one was reported free of the cancer for six months, another for nine months and one was still alive after a year and a half. As it stands now, on April 10, 2008, I am just barely over 10 months in my battle for survival.  Dr. Shunyakov said I became the 30th person known to have this Sarcoma, when I agreed to register with the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) and permit him to formulate and conduct the observation, treatments and reporting of the progress of my cancer.I agreed to turn my life over to Dr. Shunyakov for his study and treatment, if he would do his best to keep me alive long enough to finally do what friends and associates have urged us to do for years . . . for us to put our life stories on paper to serve as a challenge to others to live life to their maximum abilities in serving God and others. More about this later.  

	

	Borrowing $200,000.00 to Give it Away  

	

		Our hope and prayer is that as you read the story of our lives, you will be made more aware of the rich rewards that may be bestowed on a person that decides to become involved in sharing their lives in the adventures of volunteerism.  To illustrate this; we are fortunate to have a very creative "daughter by marriage" to our youngest son, Dr. Neal Howard Fellows, a psychiatrist practicing in Traverse City, Michigan and the parents of four of our 17 grandchildren . . . not overlooking our eight great-grandchildren.  His wife, Deborah Wyatt Fellows, is the President/Editor in Chief of a fantastic monthly magazine of Northern Michigan called TRAVERSE. This outstanding journal of the delights of life in Northern Michigan has been awarded the prestigious 2007 IRMA Magazine of the Year as a member of the International Regional Magazine Association, having also received awards from IRMA in 2003, 2005, 2006 and two awards in 2007.  Her editorial in the December 2007 issue is so in tune with what we are putting together in our "life story" that we have received Deborah's permission to include it in our manuscript on the rich rewards coming to those who decide that volunteerism is a "way of life" for them. Deb's editorial follows:  Martha Teichner, Emmy-award-winning newswoman on CBS Sunday Morning, knew she had to act fast. Almost 10 years earlier, Teichner had donated her inherited 20 acres on the Lime Lake to the Leelanau Conservancy.  It became the Teichner Preserve in honor of her parents, Hans and Miriam. Recently, on a rare visit back to the area, Teichner was told that the land near her preserve  was slated for development in a matter of weeks. She began working quickly with the conservancy to try to purchase the land, putting the first dollars into the project herself.  "Borrowing $200,000 just to give it away  is frightening, but I did it with great joy and no hesitation," Teichner said afterward. "I'm still saving for retirement and had to take out a home equity loan to pull it all together. During the negotiations, it was not clear to me that we would succeed, but then I got the call that there was a signed agreement. I can honestly say it was one of the happiest moments of my life."  To top it all off, as the project was coming together, Teichner learned that Jean Raymond, a neighbor of the project, was willing to donate 8 acres that would tie together Teichner's first donation and the second project. "I can't tell you how happy that has made me. It's beyond my wildest dreams," she said.  Teichner's stunning generosity, and that of people involved in nonprofit organizations throughout the North, clearly benefits everyone in the region. And I know that Teichner's enthusiasm for preserving that land and her sheer happiness in the outcome brought her a satisfaction to her soul.  But until recently, I didn't realize that something done merely for the good of others contributes to good health, even adding years to one's life. This phenomenon even has a name, "the Helper's High,", a play on the well-known runner's high, where endorphins kick in to create a sense of euphoria for the runner.  John Hopkins Magazine wrote about the work of Allan Luke, a researcher into the Helper's High, who says studies are proving that doing for others, volunteering time or money, eases stress of the body, which in turn can probably strengthen the immune system. Luka feels that acts of generosity can decrease the intensity and awareness of pain, activate positive emotions vital to good health and reduce the well of negativity that can damage the body.  The existence and benefits of the Helper's High are now documented scientifically. Studies show that people who give money show the kind of increased brain activity and an increase in the presence of mood-enhancing  chemicals such as dopamine that match what happens when people receive money.  A 10-year study of the physical, health and social activities of 2,700 men in Tecumseh, Michigan, found that those who did regular volunteer work had death rates two and a half times lowers than those who didn't.  At Duke University's Medical Center, recovering heart patients were asked to visit current patients just to listen, share experiences, etc. The helpers recovered 60 percent faster than those who chose not to help other patients. AIDS patients' immune systems have been boosted by volunteering to visit other AID'S patients. Senior citizens who volunteer in a school have reported fewer aches and pains, and students who volunteer have improved attentiveness in school and on test scores.  "Giving is as good for the giver as it is for the receiver. Science says it's so. We'll be happier, healthier, and even . . . odds are . . . live longer if we're generous," says Stephen Post, author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People. According the Post, the Helper's High has been measured physically, indicating there's an actual physiological state that is euphoric.  Everyone who has stepped outside themselves with their time or pocket-books will tell you that it feels good. It's kind of strange to think science is involved, but now understanding that truth, I find it easy to believe that our brains really do respond with a chemical reaction, and our bodies really are made healthier. I have volunteered at nonprofit organizations my entire adult life.  Giving is as good for the giver as it is for the receiver.  We'll be happier, healthier, and even . . .  odds are . . . live a little longer  Stephen Post  Sometimes the time has been hard to justify while raising four children and owning a company. I've struggled at times to explain to those around me why it is so important for me to participate in nonprofit efforts . . .  what I gain from being exposed to both the generosity of people like Martha Teichner or to people whose lives have far greater challenges than mine.  I've known only that my life is better when I do it. I feel a sense of completion, of well-being and calm. For me, this has always seemed to be something coming from my soul, a kind of spiritual response. Does it make it more poignant to learn that my mind and body may actually be responding  positively to my work with nonprofits? Not really. But what it tells me is that our bodies are wired to do good. Our chemistry is aligned to reward us for giving. And every time we act upon that, we are made more whole.  Christmas is the season when the idea of giving finds a place closer to the top of our lists. Volunteer . . . Donate . . . Teach . . . Build . . . Listen . . . Read . . . Sew . . . Walk. The need is so great. But the reward is even greater . . . to your heart . . . your mind . . . your body . . . and your soul.  Deborah Wyatt Fellows  SECTION ONE  We decided when we started recording the history of our lives, that we would divide the book into three parts; with the first a "quickie" revue of the things that happened to us as we were preparing our lives for service; second, what we have done with those experiences since marriage and to what has happened to us in retirement and finally the unique ministry in the challenge we faced at the Southwest Baptist University.  You will find little "snap-shot" recordings of our early years in Chapter One through Chapter Sixty-Six. Part Two will be the record of what we did after we married and began our lives with what we had learned;  There will not be as much detail in the early things . . . what we hope as you read the "service" years of our lives, is that we are simply trying to say that what we have done can be duplicated by anyone. YOU can be "different" . . . "special" . . . if YOU so desire!  Edythe and Jack

  

	Prayer to the Living Christ  

  

		We worship and adore you, the living Christ,  most fully man and fully God,  who art the fullness of all that is created . . .  We worship and adore you, the living Christ.  that in the high place of the spirit's sphere  you have manifested in flesh the spirit's truth  that all things are created to acknowledge God . . .  We worship and  adore you. the living Christ,  that you have known the fullness of the devil's power,  and you have given us the grace that in you  we may be sustained in temptation's darkest hour.  Gilbert Shaw, (1886-1967)  

  

  

	"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."  1 Peter 4:10  





Chapter One  Why? . . . "Different" . . . "Special"  



	When you get to Chapter Eight, page 22, on "Ordination" you will find out why we have titled our book "YOU Too Can Be Different . . . Special". However, before we begin to share our "lives" with you, we want to first share our "faith" with you.  We believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are Believers!  We believe in the God spoken of in Genesis 1:1 to 2:25.  "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water.  And God said, "let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening and there was morning . . . the first day.  And God said, "let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.  God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning . . . the second day.  And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered water He called "seas." And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning . . . the third day.  And God said, "Let there be light in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be light in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.God made two great lights . . . the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning . . . the fourth day.  And God said, "let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and everything living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind and God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning . . . the fifth day.  And God said, "let the land produce living creatures according to their kind: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."  So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in numbers; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over everything living creature that moves on the ground."  Then God said, "I give you every seed, berry, plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit that has seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground . . . everything that has the breath of life in it . . . I give every green plant for food." And it was so.  God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning . . . the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing: so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed theseventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done."  Taken from the New International Version  

	

Chapter Two  Beginnings of Life  



	From the Pens of Both of Us  The stories of creations have always stirred the innermost challenge of our minds, as we have studied the beginnings of life on this earth. It would be impossible to include all of them on a vast number of shelves in the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C.  It seems to us that the conflict between the findings of those who believe in the Biblical recording of what God did in the creation of the world and those that believe everything we have has come about through evolution can be logically understood and explained.  Our position is that they are partners; actually, both creation and evolution are like night and day . . . hot and cold . . . up and down. You cannot have one without the other.  It seems to us that the evolutionistsevolutnists have spent their time in trying to prove humans have evolved from animals . . . a salamander . . . a monkey . . .  or some type of biological life. What they have never been able to prove pertains to the birth or creation of the salamander . . . from whence did it come . . . and how? Evolution also has to be taken by faith!  As we watched the DVD of Planet Earth, and saw the enormity of the elephant . . . the graceful movements of the giraffe . . . the fantastic flight of the swan and the antics of some of the many various forms of life on . . . in . . . and beneath the earth and in the waters of the oceans . . . we wondered how all of these forms of life could have been created by chance . . . or maybe that same salamander that begot us.  It seems to us that the evolutionists never calls attention to all the other things that contain some type of life, such as trees, plants, flowers, food stuff, etc. . . . where did they come from?  We are not sure if God created the first apple tree . . . the first apple . . . or the first apple tree seed, although Genesis 1:11 reads "Then God said, let the land produce vegetation; seed baring plants and trees on the land that produce fruit with seed in it, according to their various kind. And it was so!"  What we do know, is that there are hundreds of different species of apples that have evolved since the first mention of apples in the section on the Holy Word that deals with the story of Adam and Eve. We believe they have all been developed for our enjoyment through the process of horticultural evolution.  Take a look at the potato. How did it get into the food chain? From whence came the first one? Certainly it was not created in the Big Bang that some credit with the beginning of all forms of life. We also have no problem with what happened when Burbank began his study of the potato and experimented with it's evolution into what we enjoy today.  We grow orchids in our home. They fill some of our eastern and western windows. One of them has been a beautiful dark purple that has had a total of fourteen blooms on it consistently for seven months, and to our sorrow the final blossom dropped from the bloom stalk about four months ago.  To our surprised delight recently, we have just discovered two new stalks coming from beneath the leaves of the plant. So we ask where did the first orchid come from? It certainly is not the offspring of the first salamander.  No, those of us that love the beauty of this gorgeous work of plant life simply say that it came from God. Yes, the various varieties, colors and types have evolved from the experiments done by floriculturists . . . cross pollinating one life stem (color) with the life stem (color) of another, sometimes producing another that is truly different . . . special.  You may ask did God create the both of us . . . No, our mothers and fathers did this, and they fashioned our lives to the point our waking thought is for others, and we thank God put permitting us to be born in an environment that has enabled is to continue this practice in our lives.  We believe God has chosen to take an interest in our lives and has cross-bred us into another of His "Special" and "Different" creations.  As you read the record of rather weird or unusual things that have happened to us, some rather graphic and threatening, you will notice we never say 'WHY" . . . We just breathe a simple prayer . . . "WHAT NEXT, GOD, FOR US?"  We would also like to share the thought that if God can help one person or couple to find or create a different path . . . or a special way to create a new path of service, we would like to be the catalyst that gives you the inspiration to live the "different" life; the "special" life we have enjoyed for over  68 years . . . we love that 120% . . . or maybe we now give 75%, expecting 25%, making ours the 150% marriage partnership. Now, we want to share a personal word about our living faith. It seems most of life requires some amount of faith.  Our Living Faith   We have a personal faith in the One we call the Lord Jesus Christ . . . the Son of the Living God.  We believe that God caused new life to be placed in the womb of Mary, without any interference or sexual intercourse by Joseph, as the Bible tells us in Matthew 1:1-17 and the birth of Jesus Christ as told by Matthew in verses 18 through

 25.  When you get to the section of this story that deals with our involvements in the Middle East, you will discover how many places we have walked in the Holy Land wherein Jesus may have unknowingly left some of His footsteps; in the place of His birth, early years, life, ministry, death and resurrection. In the months we have spent in that section of the world, we may have accidentally placed our feet where His had been.  We believe in the Holy Spirit, given to motivate our lives, and empower us to live our lives outside ourselves.  One of the most important verses in the  old King James version of the Bible for me, is found in Philippians 4:13 . . . "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  When I enrolled at the little Junior College known then as the South West Baptist College, now a full-fledged four year outstanding Christian University, in Bolivar, Missouri in 1937, I wrote this verse on every one of my notebooks. I printed a large sign to hang over my bed that said the same thing. It was foremost in my every waking moment.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, there was nothing I could not do . . . no problem I could not solve . . . no battle with sin that I could not defeat . . . so to you seeking to find help in these pages . . . believe me, for more than 89 years, I have lived life to the fullest and have had the most unusual and seemingly magical moments that I will try to interpret for you throughout this book.  The "I" in this verse is NOT the important one . . . it is "through Christ" in the powerful form of the Holy Spirit, that we can do all things. This has been my favorite verse . . . my motto . . . my inspiration . . . my motivation and empowerment for the past nearly a hundred years.  Hanging around my neck on a gold chain is a work of art that rather explains my belief is the above paragraph. Taking some pieces of pure gold, melting them, and then dropping the molten metal in cold water, we got an unusual shape that pleased me very much. The jeweler then placed a one-carat diamond where it will shine in about the center of the gold. This represents my faith. Jesus is the diamond of my life, placed in the peculiarly shaped melted gold. He shines . . . I am simply a jagged formed life that serves Him in my daily life.  Actually, this book is a simple example of what God can do, if you have the motivation to invest your life, especially in retirement, in serving other people.  We have included a lot of very little things we have enjoyed during our marriage and especially our retirement in service for the Lord Jesus Christ and we have put it all on paper in the hope that it might inspire you to enjoy the satisfaction of feeling you have made a contribution that has brought you some personal happiness in volunteer work.  If you would like to read more about what Jesus left for His disciples in the way of granting them the power to lay down their nets and follow Him, you might like to take a look at some of the things we have included in the back of the book.  These include miracles and parables and some of our favorite passages to help in time of trouble. Below gives a good picture of what we have felt through the years, as we have learned to live within the shelter of His loving arms.  Jack's Early Years  From the Pen of Edythe  Jack's first six years were anything but comfortable, probably caused by the circumstances at his birth. Every childhood illness and disease put the young parents on the defensive as they tried to put pounds on his body, while they offered the loving care the sickly child needed. There were times when the doctors or nurses would look at his tiny body and wonder whether or not he would make it through another illness.  However, what appeared to be another miracle occurred during a visit to extended family in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the late summer of 1924. Either the expressed love of family;  the heaps of fried chicken, chocolate cake and delicious pies; fresh air from the high altitudes of the Colorado mountains; and the love that was showered on Jack, all came together and the future became brighter as he was to enter the first grade at the Roundtree Elementary School in September 1924.  He came home  from the Colorado family trip a different child.  Don and Del Fellows were family and church oriented. A Sunday seldom passed without the Fellows' family finding their way to the First Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.  Jack started to the First Baptist Church in the second week of his life; in a home-made market basket placed on the alter at the church by his mother and he missed only a few Sundays when health concerns were too much of a problem.  These grew fewer with the passing years, much to the thanksgivings of the parents and amazement of the medical professionals treating him.  At the age of 12, as related by Luke in chapter 2:41-52, Jack felt Jesus did the right thing when he stayed behind in the Temple, while his parents started to return to Nazareth, and He began His ministry.  When they missed him, they returned to Jerusalem and asked Jesus why he had stayed behind and he told them "didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" and his parents did not understand why he said this.  Jack seemed to believe that age 12 would be a "right" time for him to declare his faith in the promises of Jesus and asked for baptism that would propel him into a life of service with his friend, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . and what an unusual life of service it has been.  A lot about his life has been experienced by countless others and many of the things included in this true story will not be very exciting, but we believe God has blessed us with many experiences, both large and small.  We have included them in the hope you may find that God can be present in your life, just as He had been present in ours. Our prayer is that every reader can be inspired to serve others both at home and around the world.  

  

	My Faith Looks Up to Thee  

  

		My faith looks up to Thee, thou Lamb of Calvary,  Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray,  take all my guilt away;  O let me from this day be wholly Thine!  May Thy rich grace impart strength  To my fainting heart, my zeal inspire;  As Thou has died for me, O may my love to Thee  pure, warm, and changeless be, a living fire!  While life's dark maze I tread,  and grief's around me spread, be Thou my Guide;  bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow's tears away,  nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.  When ends life's transient dream,  when death's cold, silent stream shall o'er me roll;  Blest Savior, then, in love, fear and distrust remove,  O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!  Ray Palmer, 1930  

  

  

	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  



Chapter Four  Early Evidence of Leadership  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  When I was a senior in the Greenwood Lab School of Southwest Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri, I also served as president of the CKM College Sunday School Class at the First Baptist Church, a class of over 200 college and university students. This brought me in close contact with Ms. Lois Blankenship, our Education and Youth Director.  It was she who gave me my new Bible when I was baptized and also gave me a copy of Sheldon's book entitled "In His Steps" that was to become the format for nearly every decision I was to make for the rest of my life . . . What would Jesus Do? . . . makes it rather simple.  She also introduced me to Rev. W. O. Vought, the State of Missouri Director of the Baptist Student Union, who told me about the BSU Convention to be held in Cape Girardeau, Missouri that fall.  I decided to go, but learned from dad that I would have to raise the money for the trip by working for him and probably do other things to get enough money for the trip.  I applied for a job to sell books and Bibles for the Philadelphia Book and Bible House, going from door to door to get the extra  money to pay for the trip.  Although I had traveled many a mile, as a member of the largest Boy Scout band in the world; over 500 members in the three bands directed by Dr. R. Ritchie Roberson in Springfield; getting on the school bus to begin the trip to Cape Girardeau seemed different.  There were 34 of on my bus. I did not know more that a half a dozen of them from our church, as most of them were students from Drury College or Southwest Missouri State.  However, I felt the undercurrent of joy and excitement that seemed to penetrate every inch of the bus. For some reason I felt we were on a trip to see what Jesus had with which to surprise each of us. Believe me, He certainly had a series of surprises for me.  The first one follows on the next page:  

	

Chapter Five  A Mountaintop Experience  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  It was at this BSU Convention that I had heard about a place called the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in Ridgecrest, NC and that Rev. Vought was planning on taking three school bus loads of students there the following summer.  I decided to also make this trip . . . so more work for dad . . . and more books and Bibles had to be sold. I made it along with about 100 other students. It was on this trip that I would make two decisions that would be a part of my life style for the rest of my life.  It all started when I was placed, not only on the same school bus, but found myself as the seat-mate of George Hale, the son of my pastor, Dr. Lewis M. Hale, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.  George was a student and an outstanding six foot two athlete at the William Jewel College in Liberty, Missouri.  I had not started to college at this time; or actually had not even thought of going on to college. At that point in my life I thought I would simply follow along in the footstep's of my dad in the field of horticulture and the retail landscaping business he had had established to become   "Number ONE" in Springfield and that section of the world.  Then, too, I was playing with a small musical group and this was also of great importance to me at that time.  However, I would hear about William Jewel College for the full two weeks of the trip with George. Little did I know the lesson I would learn from George about making key decisions about my life.  The first happened when the three buses took off from Ridgecrest to go to Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River.  Today you can drive to the top and park within a few hundred feet of the tower. But in 1934 you had to travel on a dirt road into the valley at the foot of the mountain and then climb a rustic winding rock filled narrow path from the valley to the top of Mt. Mitchell.  George had got up early and was sitting in the front seat of bus number one, when I got to the loading area. He had saved the other seat for me. Little did I know the lesson he was going to share with me that day.  At George's urging, I was off the bus and just stood there waiting for the others to get off the bus, when he said "come on Jack, we have to get startedif we are going to be the first two to reach the top of the mountain this morning."  And, like a Poodle dog chasing a great Dane, I rushed off to catch up with George . . . "why the rush" escaped me at that time. I could only guess at it.  Soon the constant lifting one foot after the other began to get the better of me and I suggested we take a rest break.  George looked at me as if I had told him there was a rattlesnake in the middle of the path we were following and he said "we will not stop until we reach the top . . .  today . . . we ARE going to be the first two to the top of Mt. Mitchell."  It was apparent that we were well in front of all the other students and I looked back toward the busses and saw some still getting off of the bus . . . others just a short distance up the trail and only a few scattered down the trail behind us. This happened several times as we continued climbing.  By this time I was about ready to club George over the head with a rock and just sit down and rest.  Then he said, "Jack, what we are doing today will show what we might like to do with our lives, if we really wish to succeed in whatever God has in store for us." Believe me, at that point I was not too sure about a future for me.  What a welcome sight it was to finally see the tower on the top of the mountain. We climbed the steps and enjoyed the beauty in all four direction of the compass.  Before anyone else has joined us on the tower, George took me to the west side and we could look down the trail and see the busses.  I was amazed at what I could see. Three tiny busses, a few cars, and even tinier people. There were several still standing by the bus and we could see climbers at spots all the way down. It seemed that only a few   were still climbing, while small groups were resting along the trail.  I finally realized what George was showing me. If you want to be "top dog" in your life, do not hesitate . . . keep climbing! "THANK YOU George".              Side-light: George went on to get his MD degree.  Later on that same week, our leaders had scheduled a sunrise service on another smaller mountain called Mt. Kitasuma, just off the campus of the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly.  Prior to sunrise, with a small flashlight and a bottle of water, I began the climb to set a goal that would help to determine my future.  As I stood looking at the changing colors of the sky, I again felt a stirring in my soul and I felt a need to commit my life to some kind of Christian service . . . and at the same time I had the conviction that I would have to prepare for this service in a Christian atmosphere . . . I would have to go to college.  Still standing, watching the sun add it's beauty to the mountains, I was not sure just where I would go to college, when or how this might happen, but I pledged to have my doctorate degree by the time I was 30 years old and I was only 17 at the time . . . 13 years in the making.  This would also mean I could not continue to work with my dad, nor follow the musical career I enjoyed so much.  

  

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	Take my Life and Let It Be Consecrated  

  

		Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to Thee;  take my hands and let the move at the impulse of Thy love,  at the impulse of Thy love.  Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee;  Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King,  always, only, for my King.  Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee;  Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold,  Not a mite would I withhold.  Take my love, my God, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store;  Take myself and I will be ever, only all for Thee,  ever, only, all for Thee  Frances R. Havergal, 1874  

	

Chapter Six  South West Baptist College  From the Pen of Jack  

	

	Also in the crowd of students on the trip was a young couple by the names of Howard Olive and Marjorie Douglas. They were students at the South West Baptist Junior College in Bolivar, Missouri. When Rev. Vought publicly announced the names of the students that had dedicated their lives to Christian service during our stay at Ridgecrest; Howard and Marjorie said they had heard that I had dedicated for Christian service and they said they would like to talk with me about enrolling at SWBC.  One promise they made to me was that if I came to SWBC they wanted me to become a member of the Baptist Student Union on campus. Howard said that this was really something special, as no Freshman had ever served on the SWBC Baptist Student Union before.  An interesting sideline in this story are the guidelines given by Christian leaders in that generation. Rev. Vought gave each Missouri student a paper that we soon learned to call the "Thou Shall NOT" paper.  NO picture shows . . . NO dancing (A side-light; Williams Jewel permitted dancing and this was on the "NO" list, and I was caught up in that silly phase of Christian life at the time) . . . NO smoking . . . NO drinking . . . etc. Just NO's . . . NO to DO'S. I vowed at that time, that I would become prepared professionally to develop a life style that would reflect a "DO THIS" list for the Glory of God and the happiness of Christians and mankind in general.  Prayerfully I hope I have done this and that as you read this story of my life, and the life of my companion, it might challenge you to do something "different" . . . something "special" that would point people to a Loving and Caring God. Maybe W. O. was caught up in the same generation as I, or maybe God had a part in this and I would make the decision NOT to go to William Jewel, but would be enrolled at the South West Baptist Junior College in Bolivar as soon as I could save up enough money for the first semester.  Thanks to my dad and his desire to see me serve the Lord, he made it possible for me to quickly put the $300 I needed for the first semester in the bank. SWBC . . . here I come!!  

	

Chapter Seven  On the SWBC Campus  



	From the Pen of Jack  I came to the SWBC campus in 1937, with only $300 in my pocket, room and board money; what I would need for the first semester, on the recommendation of Howard Olive and Marjorie Douglas, two of the SWBC students that I had met on the trip to the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly that summer.  Howard and Marjorie had suggested that if I enrolled, they would like for me to become a member of the Baptist Student Union, of which Howard was President. I was glad to accept this opportunity to be involved with campus life.  In the early weeks I was elected President of the Freshman Class. I would get married in my sophomore year and ultimately would letter in track and tennis. I was on the 1939/1940 tennis teams with Eddie Lightfoot, whose wife Edith would ultimately establish the "Edwin Lightfoot Award" to be given annually to the most outstanding alumni of SBU.  I was privileged to receive this award at the Homecoming celebration in October 2007. I also lettered in track by running and jumping for Coach Stewart, whom I had learned to love and respect under his leadership.  I lived in Hoffman Hall, the boy's dormitory on West Broadway, and as President of the Freshman Class, I had to spend many an hour with Professor Titus Beazley, who managed Hoffman Hall. I will never forget this bit of advice during one of the many conferences.  He said "Jack, you are an amazing creature and I am trying to figure out what God has for you in the coming years. You are "different" than most of the others on campus at this time."  However, my "differences" may have been even more remarkable. You see, I had hitch-hiked 2,820 miles on weekends in the first year to small communities without churches or abandoned country churches, and conducted Bible classes and Christian song-fests, apparently forgetting that I would need funds for the second semester.  No money meant that I would have to give up my room in Hoffman Hall and leave SWBC. As I said, as Freshman Class President, I had spent many an hour with Professor Titus Beasley, as he lived with us in Hoffman Hall, listening how to better serve the Lord and be a top-notch student leader at SWBC. He said he was sorry I would have to leave the college, "but hurry back, we need students like you on campus" never left my memory bank.  Dr. Courts Redford, President of SWBC spent several hours with me during the course of my first semester in giving guidance as I tried to be a "good" and effective president of the Freshman Class.  I spent a lot of time talking with my classmates to get their ideas about our class and what we could do to leave the campus a better one than what we found when we got to SWBC.  Coach Stewart was a most remarkable coach and teacher. Much of my common day life has been a part of what he shared with me and others on the basketball court; NO football at that time; the tennis, track and field teams. It was a joy to dedicate one of the six new tennis courts at Southwest Baptist University in his memory a few years ago.  Packing my trunk, saying "so-long" to room-mates Dwain Goodman and Robert E. Lee, I went across the street to Mac's Café (where Safari is located in 2008) to tell Mac "so long". Asked why "so long" I said I had run out of money and was going home to work for my dad in Springfield.  To my surprise Mac told me he had a room upstairs and if I wanted to help in the café; do dishes, pots and pans, wash and iron his shirts and table linens, I could just go get my trunk and move to the café for room and board.  So . . . "Goodbye Hoffman Hall" . . . "Hello Mac's Café" . . . I must have washed a million plates, cups and saucers, pots and pans . . . to say nothing about washing and ironing the table linens and Mac's shirts . . . but living one day at a time, and I must say there was an improvement in the food. SWBC was not noted for gourmet food . . . all in all, I had a very successful second semester!  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Eight  Ordained to Something "Different" . . . "Special"  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  In the meantime, Rev. Oscar Pigg, the Greene County-Webster County Executive of the Ministerial Association, had heard about my volunteer hitch-hiking ministry and said he wanted to recommend me to several part-time churches in Webster County. I alerted him to the fact I was not ordained, nor at that time was I planning on being a pastor.  This did not deter Rev. Pigg, so I agreed to the ordination. On April 20, 1938, at the First Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, in the presence of 35 Ministers and Deacons (Their names are listed on the next page, along with the name of my pastor, Dr. Lewis M. Hale, who called the Ordination Council to Order.  After listening to me describe my views of Bible Doctrine, Rev. Pigg asked me whether I had been "called" to be a preacher or a missionary. To the chagrin of Rev. Pigg, I said I have not been "called" to be either and the ordination came to an abrupt halt and Rev. Pigg said he would recommend the Council be dismissed.  My pastor, Dr. Lewis M. Hale, the Moderator, said he would like for me to leave the room; that he wanted to say something. My dad was one of the 35 witnesses, as he was a Deacon at the First Baptist Church, and told me later that Parson Hale had made something like the following statement: Gentlemen, you are about to make the most horrible mistake of your lives, I have known Jack since he was two weeks old, when his mother brought him in a market basket and placed him on the alter and dedicated him to God . . . I tell you he may never become a preacher or missionary, but God has something special . . . something different . . . in mind for this young man.  I move we continue with ordaining him to a "different" ministry . . . something "special" . . . some "ministry" that we cannot imagined at this time, but may come to pass in the future ministries of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jack will be a part of it!"I am going to recognize the laymen and pastors that officiated at my ordination in the following chapter. They are all probably long gone, but I am still here, still trying to do something "different" and something "special" for the Lord Jesus Christ.  

	

Chapter Nine  The Men that Set me Apart  



	My dad must have been very proud of the ordination of the son he had such a significant part to play at my birth; as you read the record of my birth in the "God Given   of this story. When the Ordination papers were circulated, he made sure I would never forget the real reason for the Ordination, as he signed his name on the list, he also added the following reminder: "Be always steadfast and true to God."  The Following Signed my Ordination Certificate on April 20, 1938:  W. C . Armstrong, E. E. Atchley, L. M. Backlund, Thomas E. Babb,  K. C. Bean,, F. Y. Campbell,  W. W. Carnagey, Jr. ,  Raymond Clayton,  Roy B. Edwards ,  Don B. Fellows, J. W. Geren, Dr. Lewis M. Hale, Ben H. Horine, Moderator  J. E. Jackson, E. M. Long,  T. D. Martin, J. W. Millsap,  Milton M. Moore, William M. Moore,  Rev. Oscar Pigg, J. E. Potts,  M. M. Richardson, Clerk, A. Shoemaker,  W. Ed. Smith, R. Virgil Spencer,  William A. Stewart, O. A. Thompson,  Dr. O. P. Trentham, L. H. Turner  My Greenwood High School Principal, L. L. Turner,  I. A. Uhr, George O. Van Noy,  G. M. Walker , Dr. J. S. Weaver,  Rev. Tom Wiles SWBC Professor.

  

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	An interesting side-light; as you can see; there are no women listed in the record of my ordination.  Women were not allowed to pastor a church in 1938 nor take part in the ordination of pastors. Times have changed in 70 years.  

  

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	"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  2 Timothy 2:15  

  

Chapter Ten  Becoming a Pastor  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  Yet, before long I would find myself as pastor of the Mission Home Baptist Church, going twice a month; to Good Hope Baptist, Niangua Baptist, once a month and Timber Ridge Baptist at a different time once a month, all in Webster County and, the revived church in Dadeville, on fifth Sundays.  I was never sure I was cut out to be a pastor. I was uncomfortable having to conduct funerals. Performing marriages always left me feeling I had not done enough to see that those committing their lives to each other understood what I meant when I talked to them about the 120% Marriage Partnership Covenant.  I felt this was only the beginning . . . the way to an end. Surely God had something else I could do for Him and his creations.  This is when I would come in contact with Dr. Forbes Yarborough at Oklahoma Baptist University that you will read more about a little later in this story.  Sure, I served as pastor of five churches in Webster County and moved up to be the full time pastor of the Pythian Avenue Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, but my "different" ministries were only beginning and I would need a help-mate . . . a companion-in-ministries.  One of the interesting side-lights, is that while hitch hiking to the churches in Webster and Dade Counties, my mother and dad bought me a 1934 Pontiac in 1937 to get me off the highway with my thumb in the air seeking my destinations.  Unlike today on the SBU campus where everybody has a car or truck . . . there are more cars and trucks on campus in 2008, than there were students on campus in 1938. I was the only single male student on campus to have a car, except for the ministerial students.  Rev. Chester McClure, Pastor of the Baptist Church in Southwest City, Missouri, had learned about the "hitch-hiking" SWBC student and the success he was having as a youth revivalist and invited me to come to Southwest City in November 1938 for two weeks during the Thanksgiving school vacation break.  On the second night of the meeting, a snow ball was thrown that would change the lives of two people and launch them together in a "different" kind of ministry.  The youth revival was so successful that it was extended an extra week. On the last night of the third week, lasting until 1:30 a.m., when 14 people, mostly Southwest City youth and young adults, had accepted Christ as Savior, every person in the church could raise their hand when I asked for everyone that acknowledged Christ as Savior to please raise their hands . . . every hand went up . . .  . . . and yes, the snow ball was not thrown in vain in November 1938.  

  

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	Let There Be Light  

  

		"Let there be light!" thus spoke the Lord;  Thus we were made and thus restored.  Christ's conquering Word created all;  Our shining hope; His sovereign call.  Now Christ has summoned us to speak  His mighty Word, though we are weak.  So let our feet be Gospel shod,  and all the power belong to God.  Christ speaks and freedom is conferred;  He reigns triumphant in His Word  to frustrate Satan's fatal might,  and lead his captives into light.  Come, broken hearted, take good cheer;  Come, crushed in spirit, do not fear.  The Lord who reigns in blinding light  dwells with the lowly and contrite.  Now let us set the world aflame;  proclaim the glory of His name!  His light be everywhere adored,  and every creature own him Lord!  John Piper, 1976 



Chapter Eleven  The Magic Show Ball  



	From the Pen of Jack  The snow ball; it was thrown by Edythe Mae Hammack, the daughter of Henry and Calla Hammack of Southwest City, MO. Mr. Hammack was a Deacon at the Baptist Church and had served as their Sunday School Superintendent for 35 years. He was truly a remarkable man.  On the second night of the youth revival, it had snowed and when I started to get in my car, I was pelted with what seemed to be a "huge" snow ball and it caused me to slip and fall flat in the street.  I think it also caused me to "fall" in love at the same time.  Edythe had not missed a single night of the revival after coming the second night. Needless to say when I returned to the SWBC campus, and as the college did not have classes on Monday, I drove from one of my churches following services on Sunday to Southwest City on many weekends getting to know Edythe and her family a little better.  Then, I made the best decision I ever made. I asked her if she would consider becoming the wife of a young pastor that served several small churches. To the anger and disappointment of several young men in Southwest City, she said "yes" to my question and a new problem entered my life.  I brought her to my parents home in Springfield for Christmas 1938 and told them we were planning to get married the following August. I found this was not very welcome news for them.  During the previous school year, before I met Edythe, I would take fellow students of SWBC home to get one of my mother's marvelous meals. Some of them were preachers and several of them were married and had small children and were having a rough time making a go of it.  As I was born in the "Do NOT" generation, my parents were of even a more restricted generation. I never heard the word "sex" mentioned during my entire life with my parents.  However, mother expressed her opinion that Edythe would end up with babies very soon and I would not be able to finish my education. They would not sanction or approve the marriage. Little did she know that even the early public schools permitted studies in the field of sex education. The next few months were not happy months for me, my family, or Edythe and her family.  One of my favorite people in the Bible is Gideon and his "fleece" test as found in (Judges 6:1 to 7:25); more specifically the 36th through the 40th verses of chapter 6, and I include it herein: "Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised . . . look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew . . . a bowl full of water.  Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me! Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew."  I have no idea how may times I have bothered God with my version of the "fleece" test. This time will probably be the most important one of my life. You cannot know the agony I faced with my parent's response to my proposed marriage. I believed it was what God wanted me to do. I believed my life's ministry depended on my having a life-time companion that shared the same feelings and beliefs I had and I believed God was about to give me that companion . . . so the marriage was arranged for August 6, 1939 in the First Baptist Church of Southwest City, MO.  Shortly before the marriage, my parents planned a trip west to visit family in Colorado and California. "Yes" I had to go, desired or not. I had "Edythe" for breakfast . . . "Edythe" for lunch . . . "Edythe for dinner" . . . some times with "Edythe" before I tucked in for bed at night, with family scattered from Missouri to California.  It got to the place where I could not take it any more, so I left the family in California and hitch-hiked back to Missouri. I refused to take any money, but my dad stuck a $20 bill in my pocket and said it was only for emergencies. He knew me fairly well and knew he did not have to worry about my getting home.  As I was in no hurry, I stopped along the way to work on a farm, in an orchard, a grocery store, three filling stations and one time in a church that was having a Vacation Bible School. Made enough to get plenty of food or snacks when I felt the desire . . . even enough for three nights in a motel along the way.  I had scheduled a youth revival in Dadeville, Missouri for a week and would use this for my "fleece" test. The Baptist Church in Dadeville had been abandoned for years.  I met Archie Farmer and his family and found out they were former Baptists and I could stay with them and they would support the youth revival.  We repaired all the broken windows, cleaned out all of the bird "do", bought some simple song books and was loaned a piano by another of the Dadeville residents. Archie said there was not much of a chance we would have any success in Dadeville, but he would pray for God's will to be done.  I told him about my "fleece" test and he said "make it simple, Jack, it will be rough. Dadeville is not very responsive to revivals." My prayer was that God would have time to listen to my problem and would give me guidance in solving this with my family.  With prospects limited, I asked God to let five people come forward in five nights of the youth revival and I would take this as a sign that He approved my asking Edythe to become my companion.  It was a   rough five nights. No one responded the first night. One young man came forward and accepted Christ the second night. A man, his wife and their daughter professed faith in Jesus Christ the third night. We had no response on the fourth night.  I reminded God several times before sleep claimed me about my need to know His will and told Him to either receive one more soul on Friday night so I could go ahead with my marriage to Edythe, or reject my request to let me know it was not in His will. I then went to sleep satisfied He would let me know by Friday night.  I believed I would be given the message someone needed to hear and I searched all the scriptures for reasons why a person should acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. I told the story of His birth, life, death, resurrection . . . and the reason we should accept His offer of life everlasting.  Yes, I "preached" from my heart . . . yet no one responded during the final song of invitation on that Friday night and I thought I would have to close the service with a negative answer to my "fleece" request.  I turned to the pianist and asked her to softly play the song again, and as she started, a voice came through the open window . . . "keep singing, I want to come in" and seconds later a grown man came in the front door, down the aisle and asked me if God could save just any body and I said "yes He can" and the man got on his knees in the altar and confessed his sins and asked God to help him get his life back in order with his family.  And . . . I guess I was the one to wring the dew out of the fleece that time . . . The Holy Spirit had lead five people to accept God's Son Jesus and had given me my answer about asking Edythe to be my companion.  To my sorrow, and that of the Hammack family, my mother and father did not attend our wedding, and I thought I had gained a bride but had lost a mother, father and sister. Edythe Hammack would become Edythe Fellows the following August 6, 1939. and God gave us Grace as He has through the years, as we celebrated our 68th anniversary on August 6th 2007.  And how did it end with my family? Really well . . . Edythe and I practiced "safe" sex for nine years while we were in school.Our first child, of five, was born on March 3, 1948 . . . I fulfilled my pledge to get my doctorate on May 7, 1948 and celebrated my 30th birthday on July 22, 1948.  It had been a busy 13 years since that day on the mountain in North Carolina. After the sixth or seventh year of our marriage mother began to ask "when am I going to be come a grandmother?" and asked for forgiveness. She died happy! She would be happy to know we have five wonderful children, 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.  Not only was I to get a lovely wife; we got a beautiful hand-tooled solid walnut bedstead as a wedding gift from Archie Farmer and his family that is now resting in the bedroom of one of our grandchildren, Calla Hopeman, whom we saw "capped" as a nurse at the University of Wyoming in Laramie on May 5, 2007.  As of this date, January 1, 2008, and the gap since August 6, 1939, we have been able to enjoy the pleasures of what we call "The 120% love partnership" and we urge you to try it. Sure . . . we have had many differences and some serious disagreements; as we are poles apart in temperament and personalities, but somehow, whenever these times came, nearly always one of us would simply whisper . . . "remember The 120 % marriage partnership we took on August 6, 1939" and we would burst out laughing . . . hug . . . and start a new day!  

	

Chapter Twelve  The 120% Marriage Partnership As Recommended to Us by "Auntie Mack"  



	Sometime after we decided God was drawing us together, Edythe told me of an elderly woman in Southwest City that had developed what she called the Blessed 120% Marriage Partnership, and she would like for me to go meet "Auntie Mack" as she was known in the community. I agreed and we made the trip to her home. After pie and coffee she shared this with us, she explained that her "mission in life" was to help young people contemplating marriage get their priorities aligned before they were joined together.  "To do this" she said, and turned to me and said: "Jack, you are taking one of the most important steps you will ever take in this world. So, I want to offer a suggestion that will help you throughout the rest of your life. Beginning today, as you think of your bride-to-be, Edythe, from now on you must be willing to always offer at least 60% of everything you are and have in your lifetime to Edythe . . . and concurrently only expect 40% in return . . . do you agree to do this?" Realizing what she was saying, and it made such good sense, I said I would do it to the best of my ability.  She then turned to Edythe and said the same thing. "Edythe, you are taking one of the most important steps you will ever take in this world. So, I want to offer a suggestion that will help you throughout the rest of your life. Beginning today, as you think of your husband-to-be, Jack, from now on you must be willing to always offer at least 60% of everything you are and have in your lifetime with Jack . . . and concurrently only expect 40% in return . . . do you agree to do this?"  Realizing what she was saying, and it made such good sense, I said I would do it to the best of my ability for as long as I lived.Auntie Mack went ahead and said she thought the reason some marriages failed was that they followed the old concept that marriage was a 50-50 proposition. Then, she said, "Jack, if you always give 60% and expect 40% . . . and Edythe, if you always give 60% and expect 40% . . . you will not have a 50-50 proposition, you will have what I call the 120% marriage partnership. May God bless your union!"  Was her advice good? The 120% Marriage Concept has worked very well for us. As I write on this date, September 3, 2007, we were fortunate to celebrate our 68th anniversary on August 6th 2007.  Believe me, if you are having problems within your marriage, let me urge you to practice the 120th Partnership for sixty days . . . Each of you try giving 60 % in even the tiniest of situations, expecting 40% in return . . . you may be surprised at how different the ending situations may be, if you totally pledge to give 60%, expecting 40% and follow through for the sixty days . . . your marriage may NOT be over!  To see how you have managed your half of the 120% partnership, try keeping a written record of each time a problem comes up   and you need to fulfill your commitment  . . . you gave 60%, expecting 40% . . . write down the problem . . . and the solution . . . and whether this is helping you become a partner, rather than just a part of the marriage problem.  

  

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	We read in the USA Today newspaper the other day that Hallmark was considering discontinuing the production of Anniversary Cards for the 25th Anniversary and older because nearly half of the "baby boomers" marriages are ending up in divorce and sadder still, that people getting married in the 2000's will probably not need a card for their 15th anniversary.  Yes, we have had differences, some serious, during our 69 years together, but after we listened to "Aunty Mack" and promisedwe would practice the 120% marriage partnership, we managed to believe that if each of us gave in 60% of the time, expecting 40% in return, our marriage would not fall apart.  We are still very much in loveand would recommend the 120% marriage to anyone having trouble in their marriage!  

  

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	Admonitions to Love  

  

		"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourself. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."  Romans 12:9-13  

	

Chapter Thirteen  Our lives at South West Baptist College  



	From the Pen of Edythe  Jack had been a part of the student government, serving as a member of the Baptist Student Union and President of the Freshman Class. He used to tell about the thirty minutes to an hour he had to spend every other week with Dr. Courts Redford, the President of SWBC . . . the many lectures he received from Professor Titus Beasley when he lived in Hoffman Hall the first   semester . . . and the wonderful relationship he had with Coach Stewart in his sport activities of tennis and track.  However, all of this sortasort of took second place when we married and settled into a totally different life after Jack's Freshman year and our marriage on August 6, 1939.  Dormitory facilities were not available on campus at SWBC in 1939 for married students. We pretty much had to find our own housing. We were lucky to find an upstairs two room apartment, with shared bath, near the campus we could rent for $25.00 a month . . . and that is about all it was worth. We spent our first year in this apartment.  We heated it with an old time King Heater . . . the type of very thinned metal sides that would burn you up, when filled with wood, but would let you freeze quickly when the wood was consumed.  We learned the meaning of "layer" dressing. At one time the weather was so cold we had to wear boots and heavy clothing in the apartment all winter.  It is hard to remember that we actually lived on $65.00 a week from the part-time churches and how we had to stretch every dollar as much as possible. After we paid our expenses to the college, rent, travel to and from the churches, we did not have a lot left over for any extras . . . and we got pretty good about creating some of our various holidays.  Jack has a delightful surprise for me on my February 20th birthday, he only $1.25 left over from the recent shopping trip.The surprise was a large glass plate; a boxed chocolate cake and icing , and he picked out some of the pecans one of the churches had given us. He finally got the cake baked in the landlord's oven downstairs, icing it and completely covering it with the pecans from the church . . . and we had a birthday celebration with plate, cake and coffee.  Cooking was about as bad for me. We had little more than a two unit electric hot plate. Jack said I always tickled him when I said "I know so little about cooking, since there were three older girls in our family. So it was probably no surprise to any one that I cooked a chicken with the bag left inside."  Grocery shopping was a fun time for us every two weeks at the market in Springfield on the way back from one of our churches. We look back on those times and wonder just how we got through them. We shopped at the old Ramey Market on South Glenstone and Sunshine. We would fill up two large paper bags with enough essential food for two weeks, at an average cost of $5.00 a bag. Jack graduated from SWBC in 1940 and I had completed one year and another semester. I would finish my undergraduate work at Oklahoma Baptist University.  

  

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	When Love Is Found  

  

		When Love is found and hope comes home,  sing and be glad that two are one.  When love explodes and fills the sky,  praise God and share our Maker's joy.  When love has flowered in trust and care,  build both each day that love may dare  to reach beyond home's warmth and light,  to serve and strive for truth and right.  When love is tried and loved ones change,  hold still to hope though all seems strange  till ease returns and love grows wise  through listening ears and opened eyes.  When love is torn and trust betrayed,  pray strength to love till torments fade,  till lovers keep no score of wrong,  but bear through pain love's Easter song.  Praise God for love, praise God for life,  in age or youth, in husband, wife  Lift up your hearts: let love be fed  through death and life in broken bread.  Brian Wren, 1978  

	

Chapter Fourteen  Our lives at Oklahoma Baptist University  



	From the Pen of Edythe  We worked for Jack's parents in the nursery and craft's shop in Springfield to get enough money to make our way to OBU.  When we got it, we packed our belongings in a rickety, unstable trailer and sure enough it broke down and we had to park it at a church along the way until Jack's Dad came from Springfield with a heavy oak box trailer he built and came to rescue us on our way to Shawnee, Oklahoma and OBU.  At that time there were no facilities for married students on campus and we lived with Professor and Mrs. Short. We had only one room and shared the bath with the family. However, this was a wonderful family and we shall never forget what they did for us in making us feel welcome to their home and OBU.  OBU was busy with a contingent of Navy personnel and it helped us receive employment in the Post Exchange and also the accounting department. I worked for .20 an hour in the business office and was glad to have it.  Jack was also offered a job at .20 an hour, but he decided he could do better than that down town. He took a job at the C. R. Anthony Department Store, working after school and on Saturdays. He had charge of the suit and shoe department. I later got a job there and took over the infant and hat department.  Shortly after he started working, the Advertising Manager resigned to go into the Navy. Jack went to Mr. Dillon, the manager, and asked if he could also have that job . . . yet knowing next to nothing about what he would have to do.  He got the promotion and the first thing he was told to do by Mr. Dillon, was that it was time for him to "dress" the windows. He decided he needed some help!  He went next door to the Montgomery Ward company and talked with their advertising person and learned that to "dress" the window simply meant you took everything out of the windows and put in a new display.  Before long he also took on the account of the Johnson-Templeton Men's Store across the street to do the same thing and also worked for the Shawnee Merchant's Association in creating the newspaper ads for the monthly sales promotion called the "Shawnee Trades Day" and saw that the banners were placed all up and down Main Street.  This was really a "fun" day each month. Shawnee was in the midst of many tribes of Native Americans and they came in on "Trades Day" by the carload.  The entire staff at C. R. Anthony's was "charged" with the responsibility of seeing that their needs were met . . . and their needs were many, as they also brought in all their children for outfitting for school and special occasions.  At the same time we stayed busy with the activities taking place on campus. I was President of the Yathian Social Society, one of three, for young women and Jack was elected as President of the Elean Social Society one of three, for young men on campus.  We were elected by the students as Best All-Around Man and Woman on Campus and I was elected as Harvest Queen in my senior year, the highest honor on campus at that time. Jack was also President of the Baptist Student Union and on the Student Council.  We were active each weekend in church work and Bible Schools.  It was at this time that Dr. Forbes Yarborough suggested to Jack that he should consider the new field of Religious Education as our life's work. This pleased Jack in many, many ways. He had never felt comfortable as a pastor.  Dr. Yarborough said the church needed people like Jack to develop different programs that would attract them to the church. He said Jack was better qualified to be an organizer; that he should go into Religious Education as our life's work.  At one time Jack was asked which professor had helped him the most and he quickly said Dr. Yarborough. There seemed to be an excellent relationship that developed between Jack and Dr. Yarborough outside the classroom and I am sure that Dr, Yarborough was completely responsible for the service track Jack decided upon for his ministry.  As Jack completed his Junior and Senior years at OBU, I had completed all but one semester toward my bachelor's degree, and we decided we would go ahead to Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and get Jack enrolled in his graduate work and I would return to OBU for the second semester and finish my undergraduate work and then join him in Fort Worth. Jack would take four years to get his Master's and Doctorate degrees and I would have plenty of time to finish work on my Master's. I had no desire to get a Doctorate degree. Included herein is a poem that seems to fit both of us in so many ways, we decided to include it as a vital part of our book.  

  

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	Those Who Love and Those Who Labor  

  

		Those who love and those who labor  follow in the way of Christ;  thus the first disciples found Him,  thus the gift of love sufficed.  Jesus says to those who seek Him.  I will never pass you by;  raise the stone and you shall find me;  cleave the wood, and there am I.  Where the many work together;  they with Christ himself abide,  but the lonely workers also  find Him ever at their side.  Lo, the Prince of comfort welfare  dwells within the market strife,  lo, the bread of heaven is broken  in the sacrament of life.  Let the seeker never falter  till the truth is found afar  with the wisdom of the ages  underneath a giant star,  With the richest and the poorest,  of the sum of things possessed,  like a child at first to wonder,  like a king at last to rest.  Greffrey Dearmer, 1926  

	

Chapter Fifteen  We Move to Fort Worth, Texas  



	From the Pen of Edythe  We had learned that Southwestern did not have separate facilities for married couples, but placed them on the top floor of the women's dorm, so we disposed of what little furniture we had collected and when we moved toward Texas, all we had with us in the car were books and clothing. This should be an easy move.  However, driving onto the campus of Southwestern was a shocker! Easy move . . . it will NOT be! You could have cooked an egg on the sidewalk! Keep in mind that it is August and they have had experienced an unusually dry summer.  While we drove around the circle in the center of the campus, we almost turned around and left the campus. It projected the most unappealing image you could ever imagine and we have to live on this campus for at least four years.  Better judgment prevailed and we parked where we had been directed to get to the place where Jack would register and we would make arrangements for housing. A very gracious young woman registered us and told us she would take us to our apartment. She also told us where we could find information as the church positions that were available in the Fort Worth/Dallas area.  We would need this as we had not accumulated any large surplus savings. Although we left Shawnee and OBU with a little over $3,000 that we had earned working downtown, we would need to have additional regular income during the four years we had to devote to our graduate studies.  Our first stop was the women's dormitory and a climb up three flights of stairs to find we were going to be living in one room, about 14' by 16' and containing only a standard size bed, a check of drawers, with small mirror and two non-descript chairs, and a small closet. We would share a community bath on the hall.  While we were getting used to what could be "home" for two years, we heard a knock on the door and opened to find a six foot, three inch "giant" and a less than five foot lass with their hands outstretched, hers holding a nice bowl of fruit. This was our introduction to Bert and Wanda Edmison . . . an association that would last through the years and when we finally decided to begin our family, one youngest would ultimately bear the name of one of their children.  Before the day was over, there would be another knock on the door and another giant and his wife, Ivy Miller and his wife Winnie D. were there with a plate full of cookies. Things were looking better all the time.  The HOT August day was almost forgotten. That is, until all of us went down stairs into the outdoor oven and started getting our things carried up the stairs.  We were so happy to get to know two families the first day we were in Fort Worth. As it turned our Bert and Ivy were from Baylor University and had played on their basketball team, plus Bert was the place kicker for the football team. They had also begun the process of putting a Seminary basketball team together and asked Jack to join the squad.  After a few days of getting everything done we could with that one small room, we registered and got the text books and stuff needed for the first semester, and went back to the registration office to get more information about the job placement opportunities available for new students. Most of the openings were for pastors, but there were three churches seeking the combination of Education, Youth, and/or music Directors.  One that interested Jack was the Diamond Hill Baptist Church in North Fort Worth. The open position was Director of Education and Music and paid a fairly good salary and was only about an hour's drive from the Seminary.  They were also interested in getting a young woman from the Seminary to serve as the Church Secretary and another for the Children's worker.  In the orientation sessions they had for new students, I had met two young women that I thought might be interested in the Diamond Hill positions. Adelle Carlson, would be very good for the secretarial position and Eloise Landers wanted to interview for the children's position.  They were very interested . . . and we arranged a meeting with Rev. Hatchett, the Pastor, and we took what was to be the first trip that would continue on for the first two years Jack needed to complete the work for his Master's of Religious Education degree.  The meeting with Rev. Hatchett was successful . . . we were hired.  All three of us returned to Diamond Hill for two or three Sundays getting to know some of the people and finding out more about what would be expected of us.  A telephone call from Rev. Hatchett make all of us very happy . . . the church wanted all three of us to come to Diamond Hill. Salaries were good and the trip across Fort Worth would take about one hour and the three of us would share the costs of gas and oil . . . even the pecan waffles on the way home from the church on Sunday evenings.  The church was right around the corner from the high school and Rev. Hatchett had asked Jack to also teach the class for high school young men. This was to become one of the funniest times Jack had ever had . . . there were only three guys in the class the first Sunday, and they had made up their minds they were going to make these Sunday mornings an "experience" never to be forgotten.  At the same time Jack told the three he would like to meet some of their friends, as he heard they were planning a "Snipe Hunt" in three or four weeks and he would like to meet as many as possible.  The second Sunday there were 11 guys. The third Sunday 19 showed up and Jack learned most of them were on the Diamond Hill High School football team, so he talked with the coaches and told them how he would like very much to get involved with the team.  He told the coach of how he had heard about another church worker that would always bring a van full of drinks and sweets for the team after each ball game . . . would it be possible for him to do something like this for their team, if they so desired . . . which they did! One of the coaches said he had never seen the football team members taking such an interest in the church . . . and Jack would be welcome to sideline passes for their games and serve as the team chaplain if he so desired.  They were also pleased with the idea of refreshments following each game. Now all we had to do was to sell the church leadership on paying for the weekly football games refreshments. That did not prove to be too much of a problem. The Diamond Hill church was a very closely knit church, especially then their children and youth were involved.  They were generous in the payment of our salaries and we felt sure we would be able to meet all of the expenses incurred with our seminary education.  From the Pen of Jack  I want to take a little space to tell about the successful "Snipe Hunt" the guys planned for my enjoyment. You may not be familiar with what a "Snipe Hunt" is all about, so I will describe one. One person that is to be the "featured person" of the hunt is told that the Snipe is a very special bird and for those lucky enough to capture one of them in the bag . . . it makes them a "very special" person.  Little did the guys know that I was fully aware of the "Snipe Hunt" scheme, so I agreed to hold the bag while the team would be working the woods to drive it to where I was waiting to capture the very "special" bird. They took me to the location where they thought the snipe lived . . . sat me down with the large bag and they trooped off to round up the bird.  As soon as they were out of sight, I left the area and got back to where I had left my car earlier and drove on home. Dark had come by this time and I told my wife what was happening and asked her to play dumb, if she got any calls about my presence. About 10:30 p.m. she got the call from one of the guys telling her I was lost in some woods where they left me.  About a half hour later, we got another call, but this one was from the police . . . they had been recruited to help locate the "Snipe Hunter" and I had no other choice but to tell them about the prank the football players were playing on me.  Fortunately, the officer knew what the "Snipe Hunt" was all about and he said he would tell the guys to go on home . . . that the "Snipe Hunter" had been located and was safe at home. The guys never learned of how I had turned the trick on them and this was the way I wanted it . . . it sortasort of kept the guys wondering what had really happened.  We conclude this section by sharing the high-light of my ministry with the Diamond Hill Baptist Church. Four weeks before I was to conclude my work with them, we had a Youth Revival and brought in several other Seminary Students to assist and at the end of this feature of the ministry to youth, Rev. Hackett baptized 23 of these young men and eight of their girl friends on the last Sunday I served the Diamond Hill church.  It was a great two years! I rather think I had figured out I would stay the full four years at the Diamond Hill Baptist Church, but this was not to be. Changes were soon to be made. 

	

Chapter Sixteen  My Trip Back to Shawnee, Oklahoma  



	From the Pen of Edythe  At the end of the first semester at Southwestern   we decided Edythe should return to Oklahoma Baptist University and finish her undergraduate work so she could get started on her Masters of Religious Education.  Having to be separated for a nearly five months was of such importance that it made the decision to go much easier. Completing our education was uppermost in our minds because you never knew what the future was going to surprise you with.  When I began thinking about this time when I was back at OBU, I chuckled because the two things that came to my mind immediately were a funny happening for one thing and my being very selfish.  I live in a house/dorm with Professor Earle, who served as our Dorm Mother. One day she appeared in class with one black shoe and one brown so, we tagged her "the Absent Minded Professor".  When it came time for Jack to return to Fort Worth he presented me with a gift of a very popular fragrance called TABU. I think my selfish side must have come out, when I found my roommate, Esther Tappmeyer kept using it so much, I had to finally hide it. One thing I have learned since then, is that there are surely more things to be selfish about than a perfume!  Many of the events that took place during this period of time have been erased from memory and all our memorabilia were lost when our home burned when we living in Indiana.  I had been very active in the Yathian Club, so I chose this time to plan events to show the joy of belonging to the "best club" on campus. The new students were given special attention, as we took a lot of time helping them learn their way around campus and the town of Shawnee.  I was President of the Yathian Club, so planning activities and seeing that they were carried out was my major responsibility. This may sound like there was no class work being done, but I assure you that was not the case. I learned early that the university intended for us to get an excellent education . . . and at the same time, provide extra-curricular leadership. My responsibilities as President of Yathian, also proved to be very valuable, as it make it possible for me to have conferences with teachers and others on the campus.  My very favorite professor was Dr. Forbes Yarborough. He was the one that had taken a personal interest in Jack and me and had steered us in looking at the field of Religious Education Administration.  This was a new field of ministry and he could see we had the ability to organize and carry out difficult projects. We could not let him down.  Another professor that all the students looked up to was "Uncle" Jimmy Owens, one of the language professors at OBU. He kept a rocking chair in his classroom. Sitting in his special chair was something you did not get just sitting in the classroom.  I look back to the times I sat in his rocking chair, not really realizing how valuable were these times. He had such a way of turning your searching mind in the right direction as you sat there rocking back and forth. It made you feel better just to have sat there. These personal contacts and expressed interest expressed by the professors were the turning points in our lives.  Homecoming time was special for me because I was chosen by   the student body to serve as Harvest Queen and got to ride in the open convertible in the parade that went all over the campus and a complete circle of the town. However, the "special" item for me was Jack would be coming for my graduation and the ceremonies of Homecoming and I could hardly wait for him to get to Shawnee. I grew excited as I thought of how long a semester of separation would be, could have come and gone so quickly.  Graduation time was so exciting when I thought back on what I had learned in the short four and a half months and I would soon be completing my undergraduate work and could start on my Masters of Religious Education degree in only a few more months.  I was fortunate to be able to transfer some of my OBU credits to the seminary and this helped me very much and before long I would be back with my partner and we should be together very soon.  Being separated from the one you love is never a very happy time . . . but it has been worth it all. I believed I would better able to serve for having paid the price of separation.  

	

Chapter Seventeen  Jack Rooms with Bert Edmison  



	From the Pen of Jack  Edythe still needed one semester to complete her undergraduate work before she could begin work on her Masters of   Religious Education degree, so she arranged to stay with one of the teachers at OBU and finish her undergraduate work.  At the same time Wanda and Bert told us Wanda was pregnant and was going to return to her parents while Bert finished his final semester at the Seminary.  After we discussed our plans with them and they told us theirs, we found out that Dr. Barnes was moving out of his old office in the Religious Education building and it would be rented out to students.  Wanda would go to her parents . . . Edythe would go back to OBU . . . and Bert and I would move out of the women's dorm and into Dr. Barnes old office. One advantage for me was that his old office was also in the building where I had most of my classes and it would save an awful lot of walking.  However, the greatest blessing that would come out of these moves, was the friendship that would develop between Bert and me. We found we had a lot in common, as to what we wanted to do when we all got out of the seminary. It was the first time I had the privilege of getting to develop such a close relationship with another male. I think it took a little pain off our emotions of   being separated from our wives.  One common enjoyment was the fun I got out of playing on the seminary basketball team with Bert and Ivy Miller and several other students.  The basketball team was not recognized as an official function of the Seminary. The team members were responsible for providing the funds for the equipment, uniforms and travel. We were not a member of any conference, so we could arrange our own schedule. We played on an average of once or twice a week. Several on the team were pro-capable and we won more games than we lost.  However, something else was going to happen while I was rooming with Bert. When I came in from class following graduation on May 10, 1946, Bert handed me a note he had found attached to our door. It said "Please call Rev. C. E. Matthews at your convenience." Where had I seen that name, then I realized it was on my seminary diploma. He had signed it as the President of the Board of Trustees on my Masters of Religious Education diploma.  Now . . . why was he calling me?  

  

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	"Take Up Your Cross," the Savior Said



		"Take up your cross," the Savior said,  "if you would my disciple be;  take up your cross with willing heart,  and humbly follow after me."  Take up your cross---let not it's weight  fill your weak spirit with alarm;  His strength shall bear your spirit up,  and brace your heart, and nerve your arm.  Take up your cross, heed not the shame,  and let your foolish heart be still;  the Lord for you accepted death  upon a cross on Calvary's hill.  Take up your cross, then in His strength,  and calmly every danger brave;  He guides you to abundant life  and leads to victory   o'er the grave.  Take up your cross and follow Christ,  Nor think till death to lay it down;  For only they who bear the cross  May hope to win the glorious crown.  Charles W. Everest, 1833  

  

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	"Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always projects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails."  1 Corinthians 13:4-8  

  

Chapter Eighteen  Called to the Travis Avenue Baptist Church  



	From the Pen of Jack  As I said earlier, I rather thought I would stay on at the Diamond Hill Baptist Church for the two additional years it would take to complete the work on my Doctorate of Religious Education, but in God's plans for my training this was not to be.  Fortunately, Edythe was about to finish her undergraduate work at OBU and we would be getting together very soon to decide about staying on at Diamond Hill and where we would be living.  We were looking forward to getting back together as soon as possible. Bert had finished his work and had been called as pastor of a nice sized church and he had picked up Wanda at her parents and they were excited with the beginning of their family and his becoming a pastor.  I called Rev. Matthews and he said he would like for me to come talk with him at the church at my earliest convenience. Rev. Charlie Matthews was a legend among Southern Baptists at that time. Travis Avenue Baptist Church was one of about six Mega-Churches.  I told him Mrs. Fellows had just finished her undergraduate work at OBU and I was going to Shawnee on the weekend to bring her back to Fort Worth . . . and I would be available any time the following week.  He said he would also like for Mrs. Fellows to come with me. The date and time were set . . . but the question kept running through my mind . . . what does Rev. Charlie Matthews want to talk with us about?  The time for the appointment came and we found our way to Rev. Matthews office and for us . . . the surprise of our lives. He did not waste any time. He said he kept hearing the names of Jack and Edythe Fellows at the meetings of the Pastor's Association of Fort Worth and he wanted to meet us . . . how we had been responsible for the large number of not only the football players and their girl friends, but some of their parents as well accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. He told us of the high praise given us by Rev. Hatchett.  He took a long time in telling us of his desires for Travis Avenue Baptist Church and their mission churches. We were soon caught up in his enthusiastic description of his vision of his church.  Then he dropped the bombshell . . . at least it was for us. He wanted us to consider joining his staff as Minister of Education and Youth. Now, believe me, this took some time to believe he had just asked us to join his staff. Yet, this was not to happen over night.  We were still officially associated with the Diamond Hill church and we had shared the offer from Rev. Matthews with Rev. Hatchett, and he told us he already knew about it . . . Rev. Matthews had told him they were going to make an offer to us.  We managed to get free for three or four Sundays and spent these doing a lot of research at Travis Avenue. We visited Sunday School Classes. During the week we met with the Deacons . . . took a real good look at their educational objectives and youth and children programs. It seemed we were there almost every day.  They told us about the large house just across the street from the church. They would provide this as our home and help furnish it. Having lived in seminary housing, we had not purchased any furniture.  They did, however, ask for us to open two of the rooms for the young people to use. They would furnish some good equipment and would provide one staff member to supervise the young people. At first, we did not consider this a problem, as it was a very large house and we had not collected any furniture.  One of the greatest blessings for us was that it would be rent and utility free. On top of these, our salary would be nearly three times more than what we were receiving from Diamond Hill.  We were satisfied with what we had seen and heard and Travis Avenue seemed satisfied, so we accepted their offer to become their Minister of Education and Youth.  We notified Diamond Hill and they had a wonderful gathering for us and gave us a substantial love offering. It had been   a GREAT two years.  Everything went very well for the first six or seven months. However, so successful were the activities and programs for the young people using portions of the house the church provided, that we sometimes had a problem finding a little quiet time for ourselves . . . however, we could live with that!  Edythe will tell you how successful our Vacation Bible School had been, however one of the older Deacons became very critical about what it had cost . . . Yet, we had more than twice as many children as they had ever had before . . . OK, we had bested Broadway Baptist Church in their reaching out to children and their families . . . and someone was saying that "it still cost too much" seemed a little ridiculous.  He went so far as telling the Deacons he had come by the house one evening around 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. and lights were on all over the house and "kids were all over the place" even that late at night.  On one occasion, he brought it up in Deacon's meeting that the "young kid" you have employed has been seen riding around on a small motor scooter . . . which was true, as I had bought a compact Packard Motor Bike to go back and forth to class.  It was no big deal for most of the Deacons, when they learned we were getting nearly a 100 miles to the gallon of gas.  Several of them took the time to come tell us they were sorry for what the Deacon was doing . . .  "but he has always been like that . . . too bad our church does not have a length of term of office for Deaconship. He is an ordained Deacon . . . active for life."  It finally got so bad we had to go to Rev. Matthews with the problems the Deacon was causing us and the young people. He said he was familiar with the problem, as the Deacon had to come to him relating the same list of complaints. He said the Deacon had always been like that, and that the leadership had learned to either ignore him or tried to "soft-soap" him in rejoicing the number of families being reached through our ministries to their sons and daughters.  One of my advisors for my doctorate program was Dr. Boyd Hunt, Pastor of another Mega-Church, the First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. We were attending a convention in Houston and Edythe and I had driven down for two or three days. During this time we had a chance to tell Boyd about the problem we were having and out of the clear blue sky, he asked us to resign Travis and move to Houston and become his Minister of Education and Youth.  



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	God, give us grace . . .  to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,  the courage to change the things that should be changed,  and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.  Reinhold Niebuhr  

  

Chapter Nineteen  Our lives at Southwestern Seminary  

  

	From the Pen of Edythe  Jack graduated from OBU and went on to Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and I would return to OBU to complete my undergraduate degree, before finally getting to join Jack at SWBTS.  Jack again excelled as a leader. He became President of the Religious Education Club; appointed as Student Assistant to Dr. W. L. Howse, the head of the Religious Education School; grading papers and teaching when Dr. Howse had to be away, led the way in organizing the first Student Council at the seminary, and assisted Mr. Ralph Churchill in the Recreation classes he taught.  There were about 200 people in this class and each one had to write two parties or recreation activities. Jack had to grade these.  During a conference with Dr. Howse and Mr. Churchill, Jack asked them if they had ever considered selecting the best of these and putting them into book form. No, they had not thought of it, but it seemed to be a great idea . . . "so Jack, do it!" The assignment was to grade them and then select the best 50 to 60 and put them in some kind of printed form.  At this time we were living in a house just across from the Travis Avenue Baptist Church, where Jack served as Minister of Education and Youth. The plan was to use one of the churches mimeograph machines, but this got shot down because they were in constant use by the church staff.  We bought a large A. B. Dick machine and an electric typewriter and started cutting the stencils. Weeks later they were ready to copy and we borrowed some folding tables from the church and invited ten of the young people to come in and walk around the tables picking up one page from each of the stacks.  We only planned on producing 250 copies of the book, as we took a chance the 200 members of the recreation class would buy a copy. Jack created an attractive cover and named the book "The Church at Play" and took them to the SWBTS book store on campus and they sold the book.  To our surprise we got a call from the book store two weeks later that they had sold out the supply and would like to have another 250 copies. We cranked up the A. B. Dick and brought the young people back in for another round of the table collection of the book. The second edition was soon depleted and we got an order for 1,000 copies.  By this time getting these things printed, compiled and bound was consuming too much of our time, however we agreed to produce the ordered 1,000 copies and at the same time we arranged for the Baptist Sunday School Board to take over the production and sale of the book.  I think one of the most exciting things that happened to Jack while he was a Travis Avenue, was the competition he had with his major professor. Dr Howse also served as the Educational Director for the Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. The church had lead the Southern Baptist Convention in the size of their Vacation Bible School each year for several years.  Jack decided he would take on the challenge to try to enroll more in the VBS at Travis Avenue, than what Dr. Howse could do at Broadway. As we look back, it probably was not a very good idea to take on your major professor. However, he did. Our church took up the challenge and we recruited a large volunteer team and spent months in creating lesson materials and other activities that would appeal to children and young people.  We developed a plan with the public transportation company, whereby any child could give the driver a small card and could ride free to church and return home. We served a small carton of chocolate milk and cookies to each person every day.  During the last years before Jack left for college, he had worked with his dad in developing many different craft kits to use in VBS and camps and also to be sold through the Fel'Crest Enterprises partnership Jack had developed with his dad.  These included lots of different wood kits Mr. Fellows turned out in his shop; shell ear ring and pin kits, leather key cases   and billfolds that Jack designed. Now Jack would develop a new line of these crafts and include them in the VBS activities at Travis Avenue. These would ultimately be a part of the crafts and leisure program at the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly and through the Baptist Book Stores of the Southern Baptist Convention following our years at Ridgecrest.  The VBS was an outstanding success and we enrolled 554 children and young people. The VBS at Broadway enrolled 550 . . . four less than Travis Avenue . . . and no, Jack did not run into any trouble with Dr. Howse. He said he had more enjoyment working against the plans of Jack than at any other time he had been involved at Broadway. Also they had the largest VBS in their history that year.  Being in Fort Worth had one advantage, it was the home of the Tandy Leather Company and Jack could go through their supply of leather skins and select those he wanted. It was here where he was to find the greatest collection of leather tools to be found on the market. He told his dad, and they designed a wooden carrying case and filled it with the necessary tools and began selling them though Fel'Crest Enterprises, Inc., along with the leather-craft kits.  He was stopped one day while selecting some skins and told that the owner of Tandy would like to talk with him. When he got to the office he found that he was being asked to write a leather craft manual that could be sold throughout the United States . He was also told they needed a large selection of different designs people could copy for things they wanted to make . . . could he draw these?  He said he had drawn several for his own work, and could add to those. At that time Jack was living in Houston, but had to fly back to Fort Worth every week for classes and conferences with faculty. So on the next trip, not only did his briefcase have notebooks in it, but this trip the case contained drawing tools and sketch paper and thus began an entire selection of designs for tooling items on leather that would be published for Tandy . . . created at 35,000 feet between Houston and Fort Worth.An item of interest . . . the Tandy Leather Company of the '30's and 40's has become what we know today as the Radio Shack company.  I think you might be interested in another phase of Jack's concerns for people. It would be 10 years before Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., would deliver his "I have a Dream" message; that Jack would have his "I Have a Nightmare" message. As I said earlier, Jack had started a crafts manufacturing activity to produce craft kits for the Vacation Bible School at the Travis Avenue Baptist Church, and had received permission to use one of the unused rooms in the basement of the Cowden Music Hall to produce these kits; a real challenge, as he was carrying a full academic load; getting ready for his own VBS . . . however he agreed to help the pastors.  One night he stumbled into another basement room, to find it occupied with African-Americans. This night he would find out why he had never seen an African-American in any of his classes. His nightmare . . . One of the African-American ministerial students then told him they were not permitted to attend classes with the white students at the seminary.  Incensed, Jack got the newly formed Student Council to back him and they went to Dr. E. D. Head, the President of SWBTS and told him the student body would go on strike if the African-American students were not permitted to join their "white brethren" in the regular classes of the seminary. He was warned by Dr. Howse, his Doctorate Advisor, that he might be jeopardizing his graduation, if he continued taking the part of the "Black" students. This only made Jack even more upset by this threat and he continued to push the cause of the African-American ministerial students.  He finally got Dr. Head to promise he would do his best, if we would call off the strike . . . yet it took 61 years for some.The next year a few African-Americans were permitted to be regular members of the seminary student body, no longer segregated in the basement; being taught by student assistants.  However, there were still limitations that we have just learned about yesterday. This came about when Edythe and I just learned on March 18, 2008, as a result of having just received a copy of a beautiful book celebrating the 100 years history of SWBTS from 1908 to 2008, that the policy of SWBTS really did not change for African-American students all that much. Even though the African-American could now sit in classes with whites, they would not be granted degrees. As we rejoiced in reading page after page, we came to page 135, in the lower right hand corner, was a picture of Dr. Page Patterson, along with Rev. Eugene Florence with the following apology:  "Mending Old Wounds  When Eugene Florence graduated from Southwestern in 1943, no black students were awarded the Master of Divinity degree, even though they did the same amount of work as their white colleagues. During the December, 2004 graduation ceremony however, President Page Patterson apologized for the past and awarded   Florence, then 100 years old, with his long-awaited degree. On February 14, 2006, Rev. Florence returned to the seminary to preach in chapel."  Things at Southwestern had not changed that much after all in 1947. It would take another 50 years before the concept would change . . . At least I got the Seminary leadership to be aware of the problem.  

	

Chapter Twenty  We Move to Houston, Texas  



	From the Pen of Jack  I was honored by Dr. Boyd Hunt inviting me to become his Minister of Youth and Education at the First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas during the second year of my doctorial program. This was another of the largest Baptist Churches in Texas in 1948, even more so today.  Shortly after we agreed to move to Houston, one of the deacons of the church agreed to make a personal

 loan of $3,000 we could use as a down-payment on our first house we were to purchase. We were able to find a two story duplex that just suited our needs. We moved into the lower level and outfitted the upstairs three bedroom units with six twin beds and rented it out to six young working women.  The income from this source during the two years of our ownership was sufficient to pay all payments on the house and when we left Houston to go to the seminary to teach, we found we had only been out a total of $20.00 during the two years . . . income from the upper unit took care of all the other expenses . . . Increased property value repaid the original loan of $3,000 and we had increased the value of the property by about $5,000.  Some of our fondest and darkest memories are centered in Houston. We loved our church and the people. Dr. Hunt made it possible for me to have a personal secretary to type up each section of my dissertation as I finished writing them. Our goal was to have it completed in time to be reviewed and defended so I could graduate in May of 1948.  On the fondest side; we were quickly befriended by several older couples, and among these we found five of the older couples that loved to fish. Before long we were invited to join their group. One of their favorite places to fish was in the Matagorda Bay on the gulf coast just west of Galveston, Texas.  On our first trip with them, we had the good luck to catch over 80 sea trout. I could hardly wait to get back to Houston and the sporting goods store to stock up on fishing gear. This crazy, newly excited fisherman had spent over $500. Another advantage was that around 3:00 a.m. I would go out with Beck, the skipper of the boat and seine for shrimp. This would be the bait we would use for the day. If the fish were not going for the shrimp bait and fishing was lousy; the bait got cooked on the way back to shore and we had about two bushel of shrimp to eat. . . not all had been lost!  Now, for one of the worst memories . . . One of the things I remember most vividly during our stay in Houston revolves around one of the worst ever industrial and civilian disasters that occurred on April 16, 1947 in the harbor of Texas City.  The cargo ship "Grand Camp" was anchored in the harbor, carrying a load of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that was being shipped to Europe. No one has ever able to prove what may have caused the ship to catch on fire while tied down in the harbor. This is primarily true in that there were no survivors among their crew.  Texas City has been described as a small town where many of the residents worked in the refineries and chemical plants, located on the Galveston Bay, a little over 40 miles south of Houston.  It was a small town of about 15,000 people in which everyone was a friend with everyone else. Word soon spread that the "Grand Camp" was on fire and that a pretty red color was mixed in with the black smoke. It was not long before half of the people who lived there were gathered to watch the Texas City firefighters trying to control the fire. As word traveled on the radio, and by friend calling friend, the crowd of onlookers rapidly grew in number.  Unfortunately, the crowd probably did not know the explosive danger of the nitrate, or even if they knew what the ship was carrying, they probably thought the firemen could keep it under control until it would be towed   out to sea, as was the usual practice.  At 9:00 a.m. there was a mighty explosion, and unbelievably, I actually felt the shock in my office in Houston . . . 40 miles away. This was followed by a much greater explosion that rocked the ship and created a shockwave that swept in on the mass of people watching the show. It was not long before the giant Monsanto Chemical plant burst in flame, thought to have been caused by broken gas lines and stored containers.  In those few seconds, most all of the firefighters were killed, as well as the masses of civilians and childrenwatching the exciting fire.  Under ground pipe lines that served the entire harbor complex, exploded from the pressures of the two explosions and it was not long before the entire area was engulfed in flames.  I had a lot that needed to be written on my dissertation and arrived to the office a little earlier than usual and had the radio on listening to the weather report, when the announcer broke in to announce the unbelievable catastrophic damage that had occurred in Texas City and the surrounding areas.  The call came out for volunteers to come assist with aid to the injured and recovery of the bodies of the dead. Having received training in disaster relief in achieving my Eagle Scout award when I was 15 years old, I felt I might be able to help. I had my secretary call Edythe and tell her I had gone to help.  It was announced on the radio that workers would receive hard-hats, heavy gloves, shatter-proof glasses, and other items when we checked in at the disaster relief tables . . . with the call to come quickly. We were told to register as soon as we arrived . . . with next of kin and a way to contact them. I was assigned as a team leader, along with three more volunteers.  I will never forget the agony of that single day. In the area my team had been assigned to, we found what looked like a human finger sticking out of the mud. Carefully removing the mud and debris, we found the remains of a female.  We found a large piece of construction equipment with large metal wheels. It had been so badly damaged that her body must have actually been forced up against it by the pressure wave caused by the explosion and then blanketed over with the mud and debris when the shock wave swept up from the second explosion.  Removing the mud and debris had to be done carefully, and as we removed the body of the female, we found a leg that had been terribly burned. This turned out to be one of the Texas City fire fighters. Most of his uniform had been destroyed by the explosive fire.  We recovered a total of eight bodies, plus arms, legs, heads, pieces of human flesh of those buried in that one pile. This went on all day and we were relived at 1:00 a.m., with the request to come back at daylight the next day.  Getting in the car took an extra effort. I was so tired I thought I would call Edythe and tell her I was spending the rest of the night in the car, so I would be there early to start work. Then with second thoughts, I knew she would be worried, so I would go home for aquick, but long, shower and a good meal. It was not easy to eat after what we had experienced that day, but I felt I had to . . . I had promised to be back early the next day.  I know I had not driven more than five miles, when I felt the car swerve and buck and I had a rough time keeping it on the highway. Then the sound reached me and I knew something had gone wrong. I stopped and looked back to see a mass of flames erupting high into the sky.  As we had worked that day, we saw that there were two ships still afloat in the Bay. One was the "High Flyer" and close by was the "Wilson B. Keene" and both of these had seemingly escaped serious damage. We had noticed a small fire on the "High Flyer" but it seemed to be under control.  However, at 1:10 a.m., the "High Flyer" exploded with a greater force than that produced by the "Grand Camp" and in so doing, destroyed the "Wilson B. Keene" and took out a concrete warehouse and a huge grain elevator, with fires and explosions.  Fortunately, it appeared that all of those working during the day had left the area, however many of us had heard the sound and saw the flames and started back toward Texas City and the site of the explosions.  We were stopped by the police and made to understand that the area where we had been working had been cleared of workers and that we would have to wait until daylight before being allowed to go back to work.  Those few fire fighters and crew remaining on the Texas City would have been destroyed and we could do no good there.  The Red Cross or the Salvation Army had set up a food and drink service and had tried to set up a phone system, so we could call home, but it did not work out. Day light seemed forever in coming, but it did and we were permitted to return to the destroyed area to search for more bodies and body parts.  The second day was worse than the first, however, there are two things I will never forget . . . the real danger of ammonium nitrate . . . and the Grace of God that permitted those of us who remained to look for the living and remove the dead . . . to have 10 minutes to start on our way home before the other ships were destroyed. Writing this has brought back memories of death and destruction  . . . and that I have had an extra 60 years to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now for the supreme memory of joy that would be difficult to describe as the opposite side of the coin from the destruction . . . I am going to become a father.  As Edythe was pregnant with our first child, we had developed an evening adventure each day for nice long, slow walks around the several blocks of the location of our house. These times together were precious. We talked about family and what we hoped might come from our new adventures as parents.  The closer we got to March 3, 1948, the walks became a little slower and took a lot more time. This gave us the chance to talk about our families back in Missouri . . . how much our parents had meant to us and how we hoped we could be as good parents with our child or children, as they had been with us.  Then the Sunday morning of March 3 dawned and we were on the way to the hospital not far from the church, with a call to the doctor to learn he was planning on singing in the choir, but would leave immediately and meet us at the hospital.  The birth of David Wayne Fellows was uneventful . . . just a normal delivery and we now had a Texan

 on the Fellows Family Tree.  However, events were developing to the point he might no longer be living in Texas. I finished the work on my dissertation, passed the orals, and received the Doctorate of Religious Education in May of 1948. I was told that I was the fourth person to receive this degree up to that time from SWBTS.  Keep in mind that on the top of a mountain near Ridgecrest, at a sunrise service in 1936, I told the Lord I would serve Him and wanted to earn my doctorate by the time I was 30 . . . being 17 at the time. Several months later we would be making the move to the Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Twenty-One  Central Baptist Seminary Extends a Call  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  When I finished my work at Southwestern Seminary and learned that Dr. Boyd Hunt, the pastor with whom I worked at the First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas, was going to resign to take a professorship at the Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, I began to think about my future and the type of service I would like to become involved in, I turned quickly to recreation, directed leisure, and youth work.  An offer from out of the blue came from the Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas for me to join the faculty as a full professor, with special concerns for teaching Christian education, directed leisure for both youth and adults, crafts, drama, church recreation, modern worship, and contemporary religious experiences, I believed this was an opening from God, as I would be free to do something very special in the summer.  Central did not have a summer program that would require me to teach.  The nice part was that we were paid on a 12 months schedule, so we would not have any financial problems.  During my last year at the church in Houston, I had been invited to develop a recreation and directed leisure conference for the three Baptist Young People's Union (BYPU) 1947 summer conferences at the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly. This was the place in North Carolina where I had surrendered to the Holy Spirit to devote my life to people needing to find God's place and plan for their lives. I wish to was only possible to go back there every year and climb that mountain.  While there Mr. Robert Guy, the Director of the Assembly asked if I would return for the summer of 1948 for 13 weeks to develop a program of leisure activities for around 200 staff members, plus developing recreation and crafts activities for the guests to enjoy in their free time.  I agreed and thus began the first official recognition of the value of recreation and directed leisure by the Baptist Sunday School Board, at the request of Dr. T. L. Holcomb, head of the board. I would return to Ridgecrest for the next five years to assist the volunteer staff have a good summer and exciting things for the guests to enjoy. During the years we had opened a large craft center on the inner balcony of Rhododendron Hall, built a miniature golf course, a ball diamond, and a watermelon and refreshment stand with lots of picnic tables. In my last summer there, the assembly had a staff of over 350 young people and I had a total of 41 of them on my recreation and leisure staff.  During these years we continued to lead recreation and leisure time conferences for the BYPU, added two each summer for the Sunday School Conference weeks, one each summer for the Young Women's Association (YWA), the Baptist Student Union (BSU), and Bible Week, plus a separate Recreation Conference that registered over 500 people.  At the end of the last summer, Dr. Holcomb asked if we would consider moving to Nashville and for me to head up a new department of recreation he was planning to announce that fall. I needed the summer months to have the time to think through what might be needed, if we were to go into the field of recreation for the rest of our ministry.After much prayer, I had to say no, as I enjoyed the fellowship of faculty at Central and challenge of helping the seminary students find new ways to reach out to people for the Lord Jesus Christ through directed leisure.  I suggested he contact Agnes Pylant that I had met at Southwestern Seminary. He did and she accepted and I was free to return to Central and this led to one of the most exciting and unusual experiences I have ever had. It is a story of the power of prayer and as I was to find out, if you seek something from God through prayer, it can travel half way around the world!  

  

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	I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship  of sharing in  His sufferings, become like him in His death and so,  somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made  perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus  took hold of me.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what  is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God  has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus  Philippians 3:10-14  

  

Chapter Twenty-Two  From the Seminary to the War in Korea  



	From the Pen of Jack  This is as good a place to share an experience that proves the power of prayer in a most unusual way.  When the Chinese came across the Yal Yalea River in 1950 and entered North Korea to attack American Marines in South Korea , there was a tremendous loss of life and injuries.  Rev. Glenn Bryant, a SWBC graduate and at this time a student at the Central Baptist Seminary, had been elected as President of the student body. He called a meeting of students and faculty to pray for the injured and those caring for them . . . and to ask what could we do to show our concern.  At 1:00 a.m., feeling the spirit move within, I offered to do something to help them . . . what I might do was not clear, but I did say I would go to Korea, if the seminary would release me.  The next morning I went to Dr. W. W. Adams, our President, and told him I must have been out of my mind and I really did not want to go to Korea . I should not have been surprised but he said I had to go . . . someone needed to show concern and care for what was happening in that section of the world.  Edythe could hardly believe what she was hearing, but she did not say no, even though she was two months pregnant with our second child.  I had a student in some of my classes that was a millionaire in his own right and had his own plane and he said he would like to go with me. We used his plane to take us to Washington, D. C. to secure Passports and activate visas to the 26 countries we planned to visit during the course of the world-wide trip.  Next we flew to Chicago to try to talk Trans World Airlines (TWA) and Philippine Air Line (PAL) into providing free transportation and to the Bell and Howell Company to see if they would provide camera and recording equipment.  With a little free time one early morning, John and I decided to take in the "Breakfast Club" radio show. When we entered, we were given cards with a question as to what we would say if called on to take part in the radio show. I told what we were doing in Chicago and that we wanted to express our concern for the wounded in Korea .  At that point Don McNeill announced that "Operation Prayerlift" had just been born and he asked his listeners to send cards and letters to the post office in Kansas City, Kansas. In three days we received over 65,000 cards and letters and by the time we were to leave, it had swelled to over 100,000. This was going to be a job to deliver all these greetings.  TWA and PAL agreed to furnish total travel costs . . . Bell and Howell furnished the cameras and recording equipment.  Back in the hotel, we found the telephone light blinking. Returning the call I found I was talking with Mr. James L. Kraft, head of the Kraft Food Company.  He had a request. His hobby was lapidary and he had fashioned a hand carved jade ring as a gift for General McArthur and wanted to know if I would deliver it to the general.  Of course I said yes if I could, but with a little concern I knew this might be a problem, as you see up to this point we had not been able to get visas to enter Korea . We were civilians.  Soon the time came for me and John Brown to board the plane for the trip. After a stop in LA, we were on our way to Hawaii hoping to see a little of Honolulu before we went on to Manila.  However, this was not to be. We were not permitted to get off the plane, although the rest of the passengers got off to spend several hours there. We were finally told we were being held because they thought we were illegally taking gold bullion out of the country.  You see, we had over 500 pounds of excess baggage containing our photographic and recording equipment, over 5,000 feet of color 16mm film, the 100,000 plus get well cards and letters, and a lot of other stuff.  Fortunately, we also had received letters from two Missouri and our two Kansas Senators, six Congressmen, two Bishops, pastors of 17 leading mid-west churches, Don McNeill of the Chicago Breakfast Club, letters from Mr. Kraft, Trans World Airlines (TWA), Philippine Airlines (PAL), Bell and Howell, Kodak and a raft of others.  They opened our luggage and demanded to see what was in all the small boxes of Kodak film. I explained what we were doing. We showed them the boxes of get well cards and letters we were planning to deliver to our military personnel in Korea . We finally convinced them we were not gold smugglers and would you believe it, they even gave us a fast guided tour of the city . . . the wait was worth it.  Then it was time to leave for the Philippines and PAL to get us to Tokyo, where we would be able to again join TWA for the rest of the trip.  Now, to cut a very long account to the next episode . . . the telephone in Tokyo was also blinking. This time it was the Far East Command Chief of Chaplains Col. Ivan L. Bennett and he asked if I could come to his office the next day; he had a request he hoped I would grant.  In his office the next day, he told me he had heard about my abilities with the camera and they were looking for someone to do a motion picture of the activities of Chaplains in the Eighth Army ( Korea ). Would I consider producing this motion picture?  The army would furnish a complete camera crew and any personnel we needed. As the leader, I was given the rank of Brigadier General, although still a citizen, not a person of the military . . . this would protect me in case of being captured . . . oh happy day!  At this point I had to tell him neither John or I had a visa to enter Korea . Disappointed, Chaplain Bennett asked if we had anything we could use to get the military to provide a visa.  I told him about the beautiful jade ring I was carrying as a gift to General Macarthur and the hundreds of get well cards and letters for the service personnel and he said . . . "you just got your visa."  I never knew what Chaplain Bennett did, but three days later I learned that my visa had been approved, but as John was classified as a student of the seminary and not being a professional photographer or professor they could not give him a visa.  John would have to go on with the rest of the planned trip and I landed in Pusan, Korea three days later . . . where I would spend seven months trying to bring as much happiness as possible to the wounded and those fighting the battle of fatigue . . . and of course to produce the two needed films.  I spent the next few days making arrangements to get part of the cards and letters delivered to people in Korea . . . more than half of them had been left with the chaplain's office personnel in Tokyo for them to distribute to the hospitals and care organizations in Japan and elsewhere.  It was also time for me to get acquainted with my crew and getting an idea of what we would be covering in the Chaplain's movie and also to learn they wanted a second movie featuring the welfare activities of the military personnel . . . so I set to work on developing two scripts at the same time.  One was to cover the activities of Chaplains; the other to document what the service personnel were doing to spread sweets and good cheer to the hundreds of abandoned children, living on the streets and in orphanages in Korea. This promised to be a fun job.  Little did I realize what might have happened to me in the several months I would be in Korea .  

  

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	God of Grace and God of Glory  

  

		God of grace and God of glory, on your people pour your power;  crown your ancient Church's story, bring the bud to glorious  flower. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing  of this hour, for the facing of this hour.  Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn your Christ, assail His ways!  Fears and doubts too long have bound us—free our hearts to work and praise. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the living of these days, for the living of these days.  Heal your children's warring madness, bend our pride to your control;  shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss your kingdom's goal.lest we miss your kingdom's goal.  Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore;  Let the gift of your salvation be our glory evermore.  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving you whom we adore,  serving you whom we adore,  Harry E. Fosdick, 1930  

  

Chapter Twenty-Three  Mr. James L. Kraft's Jade Ring  



	President Truman had just fired General MacArthur and when Chaplain Bennett heard the General would be leaving from Pusan the next day; I was put on the helicopter, flown to the airbase in Pusan and just before General MacArthur got on the plane, he had been alerted that I had a gift for him from Mr. Kraft. It was a real pleasure to make the presentation in person, as he boarded the plane and took off for home and retirement, maybe even to run for President.  Soon I was back in Seoul to complete the work on the two movies. They were cool. I never dreamed the things the Chaplains had to do to care for the spiritual needs of the military . . . but I soon learned.  One of the Chaplains was stationed where only a helicopter or parachute drop could reach him. Food and supplies cam in the same way. I had made three practice jumps, and the Chaplain had come out for two weeks of R & R  and so I joined him in a jump back to his station.  Another was in such an out-of-the-way place he could only be reached by climbing a mountain. He was stationed too close to the MLR for anyone to use a helicopter or parachute. This was really a drag.  The military photo team had to carry a considerable amount of equipment up the mountain. My job was to work out the shooting script and this meant I had to sped a lot of time climbing up and down and surveying the terrain.  We had religious services in nearly 40 places and under unbelievable conditions, but we got the first movie completed and in the can and I started to make plans for the second, but that had to wait.  I was interrupted by another call from Chaplain Bennett wanting to see what we had produced. I told him we had already seen the story we had produced for the Department of Defense and it had been shipped back to the studio where I would be editing the film when I got home. Those stationed in Korea did not want anything to happen to what we had produced.  I told him that I did have a copy of the 16 mm private color film I had also been in shooting at the same time the Army photographer was shooting his copy and I could edit it enough that he could get an idea of what we had produced for the Chief of Chaplains.  He had me flown back to Tokyo and arranged for me to meet with nearly a dozen Far East Chaplains stationed in that section of the world and he want them to take a critical look at what we had produced.  The meeting was held and I was very pleased with the reactions we got from the professional preachers responsible for the spiritual welfare of those involved in the war.  Chaplain Bennett knew what I had been through in the several months it took to produce his Eighth Army Chaplain's ministry film to the military personnel and he asked if I would like to have a few days off before returning to produce the second film.  Bless him, he put me in the world famous military controlled Imperial Hotel in the center of Tokyo, wherein all my physical needs were met by the military personnel in that great and beautiful hotel. As I said before, I had been commissioned as the equivalent of a Brigadier General and had all the privileges that rank could demand, even when I was technically on leave and a civilian.  I told him this would be great, as I had two missionary friends and their wives stationed in Tokyo and they had asked me to speak to their churches; one in Nagasaki and the other in Hiroshima.  I agreed and it was uncanny how I felt I understood the Japanese Christians and they seemed to understand what I was preaching about. My message was being interpreted   by a Japanese clergyman that had as good, or better command of English than did I.  After visits to Ground Zero in each of those two places, I came away with a terrible feeling of sorrow of what had happened that had caused it to become necessary to end the war in that fashion. In many places, even at that late date, there were many piles of dust and debris still left in what had been two great cities.  Shortly thereafter, I found that my leave was about over and they would be flying me back to Korea to do the second film. After the sorrow of the past few days, I looked forward to what I knew would make a great film.  This one would really fun to produce. I have forgotten how many candy bars or little boxes of breakfast food we gave out to the children who flocked to where the military personnel were giving sweets to the children of the streets or watching that little Boy Scout troup marching down the street in Seoul, decked out in bright green uniforms made out of Army blankets some Sergeant had made off with in a "mid-night" raid on the commissary to get the materials to make these uniforms. But . . . It was not all fun! The months there left a profound sense of the horrors if war!  What I have never forgotten was how one of the chaplains and I had   found a four year girl and her few months old sister in their bombed out home, and their dead parents, nor the trip to one of the many orphanages, where we left several thousand dollars military personnel had donated to get the two children cared for in the orphanage.  We visited over 20 orphanages with gifts of blankets, food, medicine and a jillion other things.  No, the story does not end here. When I got back to Tokyo about ready to return home, Col. Bennett called again for him to come to his office; he wanted to share something else.  Remember what I said earlier, "prayer can travel a long way" . . . now I will tell you why I said this.  It seems that at the same time the Seminary students and faculty were praying in the early hours of the new day in Kansas City, seven Chaplains were in Chaplain Bennett office in Tokyo praying that God would send someone to record the service record of Chaplains in the Eighth Army in Korea . . . and God had some how directed that prayer to me in the home of the President of the Central Baptist Seminary Kansas City, Kansas while we too were in prayer for the wounded and those who treated them in Korea.  Now it was time for me to head home. The two movies had been successfully completed and viewed by Col. Bennett and his crew of chaplains and received the highest commendations and I was notified that I was to be flown back to the States, hopefully in time to welcome our second child into the Fellows world, but more so to spend time in Washington, D. C. that fall in putting the finishing touches on the two film.  The stay in Korea produced some very disturbing elements in my daily life.  I still carry some of the mental scars from those months.  Having seen so much destruction, standing by in MASH units watching medical professionals patching living beings back together, and watching as they laid down their pieces of equipment, when the heart monitor went flat. It did not really seem real that I had actually having been a part of several military actions.  Actions that included three parachute jumps, snacking on only a large block of cheese and a hunk of bread for two or three days at a time, riding in those rumbling tanks and listening to the ping of bullets on the outside, as we traveled beyond the MLR, even the one night when we were over-run by the Chinese and I lost several pieces of my photographic and recording equipment, clothing and supplies.  I was having a hard time getting back to my pre-war life and was concerned for the first time about my return to Ridgecrest . . . and even back to the Seminary in the fall. It had been a rough seven months.  As we had planned on spending another summer at the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly, my wife was already there and would soon be making the trip to the hospital in Asheville, NC to give birth to our second child.  I raced for 25,000 miles, picked up the new mobile home in Wichita, Kansas, and beat the stork by three and a half days. Still suffering jet lag and the results of the seven months service bearing down on me, I felt I was in no shape to welcome my child to this world.  However, on the morning of May 24, Edythe wakened me with the message it was time to go to Asheville so we could welcome Dawna Beverly Fellows into the world and I found myself head-over-heels with another year of camp work that eventually turned out to be the last time we would serve Southern Baptists, the Baptist Assembly at Ridgecrest and the Baptist Sunday School Board at Ridgecrest.  This had been a most hectic year in our lives. However, it taught me that when we deal in prayer, we are involved with something extremely powerful. I would never would have guessed that God would speak to me directly in Kansas City, Kansas and relay the message that some Chaplains in Korea were praying for someone to come to record their work.  Nor would I have felt competent to do what they wanted, had I received the invitation by letter or phone call. I hope and pray you have had this experience.  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

	

Chapter Twenty-Four  Fel'Crest Enterprises, Inc. 

 

	From the Pen of Jack  During the five years while we served as Director of Recreation and Directed Leisure at the Ridgecrest Assembly, dad had supplied all of the craft kits we needed and we had expanded the Craft Center to care for up to 200 people at a time. It became one of the most popular places on the Ridgecrest campus.  The sale of which provided an excellent return for mom and dad to use in their retirement. It also meant that the team of Edythe and Jack Fellows would have the financial resources necessary to care for our growing family. It even may present us with a reason NOT to return to Central Baptist Seminary in the fall.  We were all caught up in excitement of Ridgecrest and the use of craft activities for the guests and staff. We had found that there was really not many unusual types of crafts at that time that would interest young people . . . mostly simple things that had little challenge . . . so we had to develop some new things . . . things that would cause a spark to get in their eyes when they saw what they were going to create.  We have described the workshop I had helped dad build when he retired from the Fel'Crest Enterprises shop in Springfield and moved to our 140 acre farm 15 miles west of Springfield.  I would need to spend time with him in developing a larger line of truly creative craft kits for VBS and summer camp work.  It was during this time that Edythe became pregnant again with our third child and my work with dad gave her the opportunity to get all the rest and care she needed before we returned to Ridgecrest for another summer. On July 4, 1953, Jack D. joined the Fellows Clan at the hospital in Asheville, North Carolina and moved with us into the Monte Vista Hotel from the hospital.  Soon we were getting inquiries and orders from the churches the visitors to Ridgecrest would tell about when they got home. Dad had also had a "feeler" from the main office of the Assembly of God church in Springfield, inquiring about the craft kits Fel'Crest Enterprises was supplying at the Ridgecrest Assembly. They were interested in including our line of craft kits for their VBS and camps and they would like for dad and mother to start going to their annual nationwide conventions.  They wanted displays, vocal presentations, and then to accept invitations to visit their churches all over the United States . We had to spend months getting the displays of all the new craft kits for the folks to take on their trips for the Assembly. Shortly I would learn we were going to have to prepare two sets of all the displays; one for dad to use with the Assembly of God and one for us to use with Southern Baptists.  Before long we got a call from the headquarters of the Baptist Book Store in Nashville, Tennessee, asking if we would be willing to supply all the bookstores in 26 states, and if so, we should submit the opening inventory for each of the bookstores.  This we did, and we thought we would never be able to finance such large orders. However, mom and dad had more resources than I knew about and there was no problem in fulfilling all of the orders from the Baptist Book Stores.  Next they also wanted to know if we would be willing to bring a team to each of the bookstores for a week not only teaching them how to use the kits, but they also wanted us to spend time in telling them how to use recreational crafts and leisure activities to win people to Christ.  As the primary person in Nashville had watched what we had been doing at Ridgecrest, he raised the question if we could enlarge the team to also include recreation and party activities, music, drama, and other things like we had been planning and directing at Ridgecrest.  This would require recruiting a staff, some very careful planning and training, and the purchase of some major pieces of equipment and vehicles. I sensed that this would take a lot of prayer and we wanted to make doubly sure that this was what God wanted us to do. It was much greater than anything we had ever done before. Yet, somehow we never got around to question what God might be wanting us to do with the talents he had given us.  We responded that we would have to pray about this expansion. At that time it was only us and our two children. Just prior to the birth of Dawna, we had purchased a 40' mobile home in Wichita. Kansas, and I picked it up when I got back from Korea so we could use it as our more private home during the summer at Ridgecrest.  We parked it next to the little cabin known as "Suit's Us" and it did. The Assembly also furnished a staff member as a helper for Edythe. This was good for her.  Believe me, as I had used the "fleece" test in knowing whether my marriage to Edythe was within the Will of God, I prepared to put out the "fleece" for this new venture in our Christian service; yet I could never come up with what I felt was a true "fleece" test.  This was an undertaking of magnitude that required greater power than that Edythe and I might be able to generate. We would need His guidance.  

  

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	Lord, You Gave the Great Commission

		

		Lord, You gave the great commission; "Heal the sick and preach the Word."  Lest the church neglect its mission and the gospel goes unheard,  help us witness to your purpose with renewed integrity:  With the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry.  Lord, You call us to your service; "In my name baptize and teach"  That the world may trust your promise, life abundant meant for each, give us all   new fervor, draw us closer in community:  With the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry.  Lord, you make the common holy: "This my body , this my blood."  Let us all for earth's true glory, daily lift life heavenward,  Asking that the world around us share your children's liberty:  With the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry.  Lord, You show us love's true measure: "Father, what they do, forgive."  Yet we hoard as private treasure all that you so freely give,  May your care and mercy lead us to a just society:  With the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry.  Lord, you bless with words assuring: "I am with you to the end."  Faith, and hope and love restoring, may we serve as you intend  and amid the cares that claim us, hold in mind eternity:  With the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry.  Jeffery Rowthorn, 1978  

  

Chapter Twenty-Five  The Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain, NC  



	From the Pen of Jack  We had to have at least four on the staff, besides ourselves. We would need a headquarters and training facility.  We found out that the people that owned the 280 bed Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain were trying to find someone to take over the management, due to illness in their family.  It would be perfect for what we had in mind for family and headquarters for our work.  We could still continue to operate the hotel for the public. This would give us the space we needed to do all that was going to be necessary to get the show on the road and at the same time provided a financial surplus to care for the physical needs of our family and the staff.  Our "fleece" test for this was if the owners would give us the management at a reasonable cost for only one year, with options. I never thought they would do what they did, but the monthly rental was well within in the projection of what we thought would be coming from guests and those coming on Sundays for the special buffet we planned, so we signed the contract.  As we were still in the midst of the summer activities at Ridgecrest, and I had an opportunity to share what we were thinking about doing and asking the staff to join us in prayer that we might be able to put a staff together that could travel for a year . . . and the one drawback . . . there would be no salaries for us or any of the team members.  It would be a year of volunteer service for Southern Baptists.  We had 15 to submit an application and Edythe and I would spend a lot of time during the last few weeks of the Assembly interviewing each of them. We finally got down to what we thought would be the perfect team. We had a young married couple and four others representing different phases of recreation and directed leisure.  We moved into the hotel, served the needs of tourists and several who spent the summer at the hotel each year. We had a great time.  One of the crafts we were involved with at the time, was the decorating of large Glo-Lite Candles. We filled half-gallon square milk cartons with a special kind of wax that would give a delightful glow when lit.  We then spun the cooling wax with an egg beater and spread it all over the candle and base with a fork. We sold them in our gift shop as fast as we could turn them out.  We finally had a large metal tank constructed wherein we could melt several tons of wax at a time and this speeded up the production of the candles. We also had some different shaped containers made out of brass and these became even more popular that those from the milk cartons.  As we got further along in the plans for the trip to the bookstores and the nearing the end of the first year at the Monte Vista, it was time for us to think about travel.  The only auto we had was a large Chrysler and it was sufficient to pull the mobile home. However, we figured we would have to have at least two vans, one to transport the displays and supplies and one for the traveling staff. I did use the "fleece" test in regard to the purchase of the vehicles.  We went to the small bank in Black Mountain, where we had our personal and business accounts and told them our plans and needs. As we banked with them, they knew we had had a very successful financial year at the Monte Vista.  Fel-Crest Enterprises had a fairly good balance in the bank and we had no trouble getting quick approval for the purchase of two new Ford vehicles. One was a small enclosed cargo van, with only two seats. This would pull our mobile home. The other contained nine seats for the staff and rest of the family.  A month or two before we were to start out on the trip, we decided we needed a smaller vehicle and the bank loaned us the money to purchase a small Ford Courier.  Our operating plan was very simple. The Baptist Book Store would make arrangements for us to use one of the larger churches in each city. This would give us a good group from that church and all the churches in the city were alerted to the coming of a Fel-Crest Enterprises week of Crafts, Drama, Recreation and Directed Leisure, as related to the church. We also got a nice love gift from each church and with the gift and the sale of the craft equipment and kits, we felt we would be able to afford salaries for the fist time the next year.  The experiences of the year led us to believe this might be why we had said "no" to Dr. Holcomb. Churches were beginning to construct recreation buildings. Christ-centered recreation and directed leisure for the church under our leadership seemed to be the answer.  

  

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	Loyalty and Courage  "For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of  power and of love and of self-discipline.  Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his  prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace.  This Grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began but it has  now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light  through the Gospel."  2 Timothy 1:7-10  

  

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	"You then, my child, be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus; and what  you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful  people who will be able to   each others as well. Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No one serving in the army gets entangled in every day affairs; the soldier's  aim is to please the enlisting officer.  The saying is sure:  If we have died with Him, we will live with Him;  if we endure, we will also reign with Him;  if we deny him, he will also deny us;  if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny Himself.  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by Him, a worker  who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth."  2 Timothy 1:1-4, 11-13, 15  

  

Chapter Twenty-Six  Accident in the Mountains  



	From the Pen of Jack  We were in the 47th week of our journey throughout the Southern Baptist Convention with our Fel-Crest Enterprises week of Crafts, Drama, Recreation and Directed Leisure team, and it would only be three more weeks before we would be returning to Black Mountain to prepare for the second year of training, researching new crafts, writing . . . and signing the contract to manage the Monte Vista Hotel for the second year.  Next to the last city and church we were scheduled to visit for a week, was the Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia . However we had planned on staying an extra week in Georgia so Edythe could visit her sister in Conyers, Georgia and the team could take in the sights and attractions of Atlanta. This would require the mobile home for the team   to use while they were there.  We had just finished a week in South Carolina and had a week free before we were to go to Atlanta, so we went back to Black Mountain to refill the supply of craft kits and get a little rest.  In the middle of the week, I decided it would be a good time to take the mobile home to Atlanta, so we would not have to be bothered with it the following Sunday.  I had always preferred traveling with the mobile home during the night. Traffic was reduced and it was much more comfortable to drive. I left Black Mountain around 8:00 p.m., got close to North Wilkesboro, and suddenly the truck began to sputter and finally die. I tried to start it again with the key . . . did not work, it only gave out a clicking sound.  The truck pulled by gravity slowly began to roll backwards and I thought I remembered the highway had been rather straight, so I tried to start the engine by putting it in reverse and releasing the clutch, but to no avail.  There was no next time. . . the road was not straight. I found myself being thrust against the steering wheel, as the back of the truck was suddenly lifted and that is about all I remembered, except to utter . . . "please God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  "  A couple of days later I woke up in the hospital, strapped in bed with my head and left leg in all kinds of traction equipment. Edythe was there and I tried to find out what had happened. And another of the seemingly miracles with which I seemed to be blessed, must have been bestowed on me on the mountain side that night.  She told me that the highway patrol officer reported that a truck driver that traveled that highway all the time, had followed a curve in the highway and saw an unusual light about 75 to 100 feet down the side of the mountain . . . something he had never seen there before.  It seems he stopped his truck and found his way down the mountain to reach the aluminum mobile home, with the nose of the truck buried into the front of the mobile home. It had broken lose and made a full jack-knife during the trip down the mountain.  He ascertained I had been thrown over the seat into the back of the truck, as he found me pinned down with the spare wheel across my back. It had been removed when the trailer hitch had been installed.  He called an ambulance . . . I was unconscious. They found the injury was to my third cervical and 12th lumbar, below the thoracic part of the spine. Findings indicated injury to the spinal cord. I had no feelings in my left leg, nor could I move it at that time.  Still groggy and under the influence of heavy medication, I was feeling no pain in the body, but was consumed with agony as to what this meant for Fel-Crest Enterprises Crafts, Drama, Recreation and Directed Leisure program.  Edythe said this was all that I talked about from the time she walked in the room after I had awakened from a drug inspired sleep of a couple of days.  I was to find out soon thereafter that it was probably doomed, with no one to organize it. The owners of the Monte Vista did not press us to sign the lease for the second year.  We had taken out insurance on all the vehicles, and named the bank the beneficiary, so the insurance company settled with us and the bank, and they did not lose anything. The vehicles were paid for in full.  Now began the time when I was faced with the problem of what did my faith hold for our future and how was I going to handle it. Frankly, there were times when worry caused me to wonder, never doubt, just what might come out of all this. I never doubted God, nor did I think He had anything to do with the accident . . . it just happened . . . my only concern seemed to be "what next . . . not "Why"?  People who "blame" God for illness or accidents like mine, are being very insecure. Logic tells me life always must follow certain avenues of nature and have little or nothing to do with whether God did or did not do something.  I was in the hospital for over two weeks and was subjected to every test in the medical book, as to the possibility of permanent injury to the spinal cord that was keeping me from walking.  I was also have a rough time with the pain control medications. They were so severe, I kept calling the nurse for more relief every five minutes or so, until the doctor told me I was already "hooked" on Demerol and had an immediate need to learn to manage the pain.  Shortly before I was to be released, the doctor said when I made up my mind I could handle the pain, to tell my nurse to stop the frequent medications and they would assist me with the withdrawal, and when I did, it was more like a battle, not a withdrawal.  I remember biting holes in the pillows, frantically tearing the sheets and probably screaming a lot . . . yet, my hands were restrained . . .. . . sweat covered my body . . . quiet mummers came from the lips of Edythe and the nurses . . . I think the thing that made withdrawal possible, was when Edythe whispered . . . "I need you" . . . "your children need you" . . .  your friends and associates need you" and Jack . . . "God needs you!"  I was glad to get back with family and among some wonderful friends. Having lived among the people of Ridgecrest and Black Mountain, the day never came when there were not cards for me to enjoy . . . nor seldom a day when two of three came to visit and encourage me and send out prayers to God for me.  The pastor of the Baptist Church in Ridgecrest made the habit of a visit at least once a day . . . sometimes more. What a friend!  When released, I was permitted to occupy one of the houses on the Ridgecrest campus and thus began a long period of exercise and mind-bending to get me up and out of the bed.  In this I was to need physical help. I was fitted with a full-body Taylor Brace from the neck down and a torso brace down my left leg and hooked into the heel of my shoe. I was in a wheelchair and could only hobble around with the aid of crutches.  I was to spend a year trying to find my way back to productive service for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Still in the brace and on crutches, I finally realized it was still in my hands . . . getting well and relocating took on real meaning and pressures.  In the meantime, I had received an invitation from the United Methodist Church to join their summer camp in Florida for two weeks. We had   been working with them prior to the accident.  While there, a good friend asked if I knew of the opening in the School and Health, Physical Education and Recreation for a Crafts Specialist   to teach at Indiana University and I said I had not heard about it . . . but would check it out. I did and it sounded interesting, so I applied for admittance to do some additional graduate work and hopefully would do some more teaching.  On of the delightful "extra's" about the UMC camp, was that it was located in the midst of a huge tangerine grove and we had been told we could go help ourselves, as they had picked all they were going to pick that year.  Taking a sheet, putting it under the branches of the tree, getting a bunch of friends to shake the tree, the sheet was soon filled with about two bushels of tangerines. We have always joked about scattering tangerine skins from Florida all the way to Waynesville, N. C. where we would be staying for several months, while waiting for the birth of our third son Douglas Rae and where I would be directing a crafts program for the guests at the Junaluska Methodist Assembly though still on crutches and mobile in the wheel chair.  We had a few months of leisurely getting the family all back in shape and for me to continue to gain strength and confidence. This was really a wonderful opportunity for all of us and we are grateful for the blessings God poured out on us in those days in the beautiful mountains and valleys in the lovely state of North Carolina.  We had disposed of all our vehicles, except for our faithful Chrysler, and settled with the insurance company for the wrecked truck and trailer and now it was time for us to pack up with the little we had left, put the children, David, Dawna, Jack D. and Doug in the car and take off for the drive from North Carolina to Indiana. Unfortunately, we had no tangerine skins to scatted along the way.  

	

Chapter Twenty-Seven  Move to Bloomington, Indiana and Indiana University  



	From the Pen of Jack  I had applied for the Crafts Specialist opening in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University and had been accepted, even though I was still in a wheel-chair and on crutches . . . and the recreation class met in the basement of the HPER building. They assured me there would be an abundance of hefty men to help me up and down the stairs.  We were able to rent one of the brand new apartments in the development of housing for married students and their families. No one had ever lived in it.  These were unusually spacious for university housing. David, Jack D. and Doug could share one of the bedrooms on the second floor, with Dawna alone in the other. We remodeled the lower level with a Queen size bed and curtains for the two of us.  This was a new experience for us, as neither SWBC, OBU or SWBTS had available married housing. We now had neighbors and friends in the large married complex and this was new for us.  Our children were especially happy to find little friends living around our apartment. This was really the first time for the children to make and have close friends.  We were to live here for two years, while I taught the Recreation Crafts classes and did some extra graduate study. This was an interesting two years of teaching crafts to the football and basketball players at IU.  My class was a required class for all athletes. Each had to successfully produce a total of 14 craft projects out of a list of 30 in order to pass the course.  One interesting thing I found out that several of the students were either in their second or third attempt of the same class and still trying to produce these 14 craft items, having failed the course two previous semesters.  It got to the place that the head of the department finally said, "let them count all the ones they have made in the past year or two . . . just get them out of here."  The basketball coach's wife, used to come in for a chat and tell about one of the players with hands like huge hams, trying to create an octopus by weaving eight yarn tentacles beneath a Styrofoam ball and never quite able to get the thing to completion . . . how he did it I will never know . . . he ended up with only seven tentacles . . but he finally passed the course.  At least I got to know a lot of the IU sports people. There was always one or two students available at the stairs to get me up or down.  I was elected President of the HPER Recreation Club in 1955/1956 and was honored by HPER in receiving the Albert H. Weir Award as Outstanding Student of the Year in 1956.  I was also able to complete the class work for a BS in Recreation in 1995 and a BS in Audio-Visual Communications and with extra study in Psychology in 1956 and completed all the class work for a second doctorate, but could not finish the dissertation due to physical limitations . . . still in a wheel-chair and on crutches . . . and still alive after three falls down those steps because I could not wait for one of the students to help me down the stairs.  As I had finished my teaching assignment and completed the work for the two additional BS degrees, we found it would soon be necessary for us to move out of the school apartment.  While I was finishing my work at IU, Edythe was busy getting ready to welcome our fifth child into our household. The day came, as we welcomed Neal Howard into the world. Now, we had to find a larger place to call home.  We found a lovely limestone one-level rancher that the builder had lived in for a year, with full basement, on the outskirts of Bloomington with a 200 foot wide, 300 foot deep lot; lots of garden space and we decided this would be a good location for our growing family and we were fortunate enough for it to be within the price range we could afford. We also bought the same sized empty lot just to the west of us.  We were constantly making improvements in the property. We built a large 20 foot square concrete patio area on the back of the family room, lined by small walled in garden areas for roses.  It also contained a fire place and bar-b-que cook area. Down the hill we also built a dog house big enough for the largest kind of dogs . . . but this soon got taken over by the younger boys as their live-in personal hut.  There were lots of young families near us with lots of kids and this made it just right for our family. The school bus came just at the end of our block.  Although two of our younger children never did really feel comfortable with the school bus driver . . . a huge man that scared them to death.  We had a huge garden on the back of the property. Each one of the children was assigned a certain section of the garden and could grow whatever they wished.  The only restriction was they had to keep it weeded and what they planted could not grow over into the area of another child.  We had also become interested in bee-keeping and had developed a colony that was large enough to care for all the garden . . . plus giving us a nice supply of honey at the end of the growing season.  These were some wonderful years on which to look back and Edythe and I grew even closed together, if that were possible. Yes, it was possible and the family seemed to grow even closer. All the children were doing well in school.  We would have nearly ten years before we would be compelled to make another move and this one would not be very welcome, but did turn out to one of the best things that had every happened to us. Our lives seemed to be on the right track . . . Yes, God is gracious and good!  

  

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	Go Now in Peace  

	

		Go now in peace, never be afraid  God will go with you each hour of every day.  Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.  Know He will guide you in all you do.  Go now in love, and show you believe.  Reach out to others so all the world can see,  God will be there, watching from above,  Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.  

  

Chapter Twenty-Eight  First Baptist Church in Bloomington  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  We found a new church home in the First Baptist Church. The Pastor, Dr. W. Douglas Rae had come to visit us in student housing shortly after we arrived in Bloomington and made us feel most welcome to the church and community.  At this time, the church was a very old red brick building in the center of   town. The only real advantage for the handicapped members was it had two handicapped reserved parking spaces and you could park there and walk to almost any other place in downtown Bloomington. Shortly thereafter, the church made the decision to re-locate on one of the main streets, very close to the university campus.  When the church was completed and dedicated, I expressed a desire to teach a young adult Sunday School class and with much greater space in the new church, it was possible to organize a class for young adults and I would spend nearly five years as their teacher. I can certainly testify to the joy that comes when you have the opportunity to share the Word of God.About two years after I started teaching the class, Dr. Ray asked me to come in and talk about a real need in what was called the "Pigeon Hill" slum area of Bloomington.  Several of the churches had got together a large enough fund to build a nice, but plain, concrete building about 75' wide and 300' long, divided into two sections with office space and storage in the center, along with the kitchen and they needed a new Director of the Christian Center . . . would I consider it?  They also wanted to start a nursery, kindergarten, and first grade and would like to have Edythe become the teacher. We both agreed that we would be happy to get involved with the Christian Center and School. It was also about this time when Dr. Ray recommended to Mayor Lemon that I be added to the Board of Directors of the Bloomington Hospital. He recommended it and this was going to open some doors sometime in the future.  Little did we know what this was going to lead to . . . but as always, we placed our trust in the Lord and moved right along. Doors were opened that I never dreamed about.  

	

Chapter Twenty-Nine  Bloomington Christian Center  



	From the Pen of Jack  To say the center was in the slum area, was being very loose with the English language. Crime was rampant. Gangs of young men, plus a few young women, ruled the roost and very few Bloomington citizens dared step foot in it or park their cars on "Pigeon Hill" without the glass being smashed or items stripped from them as they sat on the street.  Even Mayor Tom Lemon admitted that "Pigeon Hill" was probably without hope and they were probably going to have declare the area as an urban renewal area in two or three years. But first he wanted me to try to see what we could do in the mean time.  I am not sure if I had realized yet, but this was going to be the biggest challenge I had ever faced. There were about 20 to 30 members of the "Pigeon Hill" gang that would come in every evening and attempt to break up whatever program was being provided.  One of their favorite nightly "pleasures" was taking rocks or ball bats and breaking out the windows and this was going to provide the first opportunity for me to break the mold of what the gang had been doing for years.  One thing that was spared was the nursery, kindergarten, and first grade that Edythe had organized in the east end of the building.  This was really the first breakthrough in getting to know the members of the "Pigeon Hill gang and believe me I worked hard at getting to know three or four of the gang and letting them know, they were doing the right thing in keeping their hands off of the windows at that end of the building. It did not do any good to ask them to also leave the other end of the building alone.  Maybe there is hope for some of the guys yet.  My favorite question to them was . . . "do you want your little sister or brother to get cut because you have broken out the windows?" I actually found five of the guys that seemed to care about something.  I personally selected two of the gang that seemed to have a more reasonable altitude toward life and human relations. These were the two I always asked some of them to go with me when we went to pick up clothing at one of the eight churches that sponsored the center.  These were the two that nearly always indicated a burger and beer might make a difference in their lives.  The burgers were in . . . the beers were out, as I had a practice of monthly visits to the jail cells were the drunks were trying to come alive and needed some new duds before they were released.  These visits were not too popular with the gang members, but were accepted as part of our program of providing fresh clothing for the jail population.  One of the favorite things at the center was the monthly rummage sale sponsored by the "Mother's Club" and it was apparent that the quality of rummage was excellent as most of it came from seven or eight of the leading churches in Bloomington that provided most of the rummage and the women were quite protective of their turf . . . about the only thing I had found the mothers had any control over their sons and daughters . . . and these were few in number.  Yes, on several occasions even the rummage display room was "dumped" and everything was swept off the tables and onto the floor. This is when Edythe got into the picture and talked with the women about better ways to control their children and the time when I took the two I had befriended under my wing and began a personal attack on their behaviors.  Probably the break-through came about in a most unusual way. I got a call from one of the two that one of the gang had got loaded with wine; broke out a window, and got into the center and was trying to cut down some of the other members of the gang with a sharpened blade embedded in his belt buckle and the police had failed to respond to the call for help . . . would I come to the center? They were actually scared by what the guy was trying to do.  This was to be the occasion that would make a difference in the lives of the two young men. Yes, I drove to the center in the middle of the night, to find about a dozen young men and women, standing in a wide circle around the guy swinging belt . . . some were teasing him . . . some where trying to get him to calm down and go home, as I walked in the center's main room.  This is a scene I will remember all my life. Here was a young man I had been trying to help . . . one with whom I had shared burgers with, plus lots of watermelon in season . . . and was still swinging his belt in a vicious circle as I walked slowly toward him, heart pounding and prayers rising.  I put my hand out in front and walked even more slowly, when one of the two that I considered where near the point where I could do some good, came between me and the belt swinger . . . now what to do? . . . continue to reach for the belt or let his cronies take the punishment.  I signaled the two to back off and continued to move toward him when I saw he had slowed the circle of the belt considerably . . . finally I got close enough to grasp the belt and he let go of it and began to cry and scream . . . "I can't hurt you . . . I can't cut you . . . leave me alone . . . I'm a lost dud."The two guys I was counting on responded. They joined me and we put our arms around the swinger and I am not sure what they whispered to him, but it seemed to work and we turned out the lights and he was taken out of the center.  That is what divided the gang that night. I would slowly continue to work with the two I had selected as the best possible leaders of the gang and the ones I could depend on to help me rescue as many as possible in the next year or two.  We began group discussions on owning a car . . . getting a job . . . doing unto others as you would have done unto you . . . the future. Sure enough, when we got to talking about the future, there was nothing but shrugs of the shoulders, for they had already told me there was really no future for them.  One seemed to take this all in and began questioning why he and his friends were in such a destructive mood all the time . . . why his friend had tried to harm him and others in the gang? What could they do to change things?  This gave the opportunity I had been hoping for . . . and it came out of the blue with one I had chosen. I told him I would like to make a suggestion for him to take to his friends. I showed him how much the center was spending on replacement window panes and putty.  He was floored by what it was costing on a monthly basis. I said the center Board of Directors said we would have to close the center for three days to make up what was needed to purchase more glass.  I asked them what they thought of the idea? Naturally, they were not in favor of closing the center. They had no place other to go . . . but . . . "do we have to close the center for three days? . . . could we only close it for two days."  This was a question they had probably never thought of before. They had taken the first step . . . willingness to take responsibilities, but trying to salvage as much as possible. I had to help them find their way on this new path. It took a long time but over the next several months, we would only have to say we would have to close for three days . . . then two . . . then one . . .  then none . . . we felt the gang was ready for the next step. And this is when I came up with the idea of Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc. Will the gang go for it? Little did I know what this idea would ultimately lead to!  

  

	* * * * * * * * * * * *  

  

	Foot Prints  One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes on his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: One belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.  When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.  This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow You, You'd walk with all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed You most You would leave me."  The Lord replied, "My precious child, I love you and I will never leave you. During your times of trials and sufferings, when you only see one set of footprints, it was then when I carried you."  Author Unknown  

  

Chapter Thirty  Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc.  



	From the Pen of Jack  One of the most important things we did during our prolonged stay in Bloomington, was the introduction of a vocational approach planned to provide construction skills to 16 year old young men that had dropped out of public school.  The Bloomington School System was no different than in most smaller cities across America . Finances played an important part in why the school board could not offer any special vocational assistance to these young men.  Not many communities had the people with a vision to plan new things for students that did not fit the normal educational mold, nor the funds to support research and implementation of a different way to keep them in school and give them guidance in preparing for the field of work.  We proposed to purchase ground and build houses . . . using these 16 year old young men to do all the work necessary in house construction.  Because of our years in the community and the leadership we gave to finding a new way to satisfy the vocational needs of this group of young men, several key leaders in the community responded to the call to provide construction skills to this group.  I had been appointed by the Mayor of Bloomington to the Board of Directors of the local hospital and had the responsibility of serving as the head of fund raising for the nearly $2,000,000 addition they had approved. The hospital was completed, as the community and state support made it all possible. I got a lot of good publicity out of it.  One of the things we did was to have a 36 hour Radio and TV auction of the thousands of items that had been donated by the local and statewide business leaders and also to constantly give attention to the idea that individuals, businesses, and organizations could make large contributions to the support of the new hospital wing.  Names may not be important, but positions are. We selected a seven man Board of Directors and set up a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization to provide financial support for the program.One was the owner of the local TV and radio stations. He also owned a large factory to produce radios, TV sets, and many other electronic devices. He was most liberal with what God had entrusted him with and we had many doors to open when we told those from whom we needed support that he was on our board.  He was the one that got the Ely Lilly Pharmaceutical Company to make several $30,000 annual contributions to the support of the Boy Builder program.  The editor and owner of the local newspaper; a Vice-President of the foremost bank; the owner of the major plumbing company; the owner of the largest construction supply company; the owner of the leading real estate company and a major Professor in the School of Business of Indiana University . . . these seven constituted the group that made this project succeed; and succeed it did.  Even the construction unions began to take an interest in Boy Builders and we finally had the approval we needed to have the work done by the Boy Builders inspected by union personnel.  We purchased our first lot in one of the nicer sub-divisions south of town . . . and the work began. It was also close to our home when it came time for lunch and an afternoon "snack" time.  A striking feature was that all of the construction union leaders also became involved with the training of the young men and the inspection to see that all building codes were being maintained and that the quality of their work lead to approval in all the construction work we did over a five-year period.  Success: Every young man we selected stayed through the entire program, although their only compensation was a $5.00 stipend each week. I hardly recognized the guys from Pigeon Hill.  We selected two young men to be Junior Supervisors. They got $10.00 a week. One decided after three years in the program, he would rather be a high-rise welder than a residential house builder. We arranged for him to go to the Lincoln Welding Institute in Omaha, Nebraska.  Two or three years later, when I was helping him with his income tax report, I found he had grossed over $90,000 in the prior year.Another of the young men decided he just had to have "wheels," so we showed him how he could make some money when he was off duty from Boy Builders.  We arranged with a local car dealer to furnish him with an older model truck, with modest payments he felt he could handle and purchased the necessary lawn care equipment and he developed a large enough group of customers that he could pay off the truck, get a better one, buy more equipment and hire a couple of his buddies.  The second Junior Supervisor stayed with Boy Builders until the end, and the end was what we were working for all the time. Using the power of the sponsoring churches, we were finally able to convince the school board that this type of training was about the only way they were going to salvage these youth.  We reminded them that this was an interesting way to develop vocational challenges to fit their needs. They finally accepted the fact we had proven the concept effective.  With the school system now sponsoring vocational education, what was the Junior Supervisor going to do? He had taken a liking to doing the dry-wall interior work on the houses, so we suggested he set up a small company, get out a nice brochure containing pictures and testimonies of the superior work he was capable of producing and he was off and running.  We helped him finance a large truck and get the necessary equipment. He also talked his two brothers, who had not been in the Boy Builder program, to work for him.  One decided Boy Builders was a good idea and continued to work with his brother. The other brother said he was not cut out for hard work . . . and he became almost a permanent resident of the jail and prison.  Within two years Dean bought a very nice home of the lake near Bloomington; another truck and when we went to visit them on a trip through Indiana several years later, he had just bought his wife a new car and had added some features to their home and was talking about how he was going to be well off when he would retire in two or three years. I thought Boy Builders was done for when we left Bloomington. Little did I know what was going to happen several years later in Washington, D. C.  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

	

Chapter Thirty-One  Our House Destroyed by Fire  



	From the Pen of Edythe  With my own brood to care for, it was a little stretch to take on 10 boys as "mother"  . . . "cook" . . . "auditor" . . . "counselor" . . . but I did all of these from time to time and it seemed to make a difference in their daily lives.  We used the lower level of our house as the headquarters for the Boy Builders program. We always tried to have something for them to eat when they came to work. There was probably only one of the boys that would have had breakfast before he left home. We brought them to our home for lunch and had an afternoon break of "goodies" nearly every day.  We had interested two or three in the GED program and I would help them as much as possible to working with them to complete sections of their required work. One of the interesting things we learned was that only one of the young men had ever heard of the GED program. The only who knew about it was the son of one of the leading professors at Indiana University.  Jack and a couple of the guys had helped remodel half of the basement to include an office for the Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc. secretary, smaller bedrooms for our two younger family members and a long stretch of shelves that contained over 4,800 books of Jack's extensive library.  The other half had a ping pong table, TV set, comfortable chairs and small tables for snacks and drinks . . . things none of them had in their homes. It was sometimes sortasort of a drag to get them to leave this area and return to the work on the house. We only prayed that what we were doing would also lead them to continue on with some form of educational preparations.  February 20 was soon to be on us, and we always did something unusual for my birthday. This year the children had decided they would take mother to Indianapolis and find a hotel that had a hot indoor pool . . . I am not too sure who the trip was planned for . . . mother or her kids?  Anyway that is what was about to happen, but our daughter Dawna told us she and six or seven of her classmates were going to have a "slumber-in" party at her friends house just up the road from ours. It appeared mother would celebrate her birthday surrounded by sons and husband, so it was off to the hotel in Indianapolis, the hot pool, and an evening of celebration for me. I am a very lucky mother and wife.  However, the celebration was shattered around 1:30 a.m. when the telephone rang and it was my secretary telling me that our home had burned to the ground. When we got back to Bloomington, all that was standing was the chimney and a crying daughter, she had seen the house destroyed from where she was spending the night with friends.  The fire department was never able to determine just where, when or how the fire began, however, we learned much later that one of the Junior Supervisors told us he saw one of the guys drop a cigarette in a waste container after he had enjoyed the late afternoon break before going home . . . although he knew that smoking was a "no no" rule in our house.Whether this happened we will never know, however, it does not seem possible he could have dropped the cigarette in the trash around 5:00 p.m., and we did not get the call until 1:30 a.m.  Yet, the trash containers were fairly large and I guess it might be that the contents were destroyed before expanding to destroy the entire house.Neither do we have any idea when the fire actually began to destroy the house, as we were outside the city limits of Bloomington and the nearest water connection was about a half mile from our house.  Fortunately, we learned about the cigarette in the trash container long after we had made settlement with the insurance agency and we are glad we did not have to go through the agony of learning one of the guys was responsible for the fire. I think this would have destroyed the empathy we had developed with these young men.  We were not too surprised when the school system decided to include the premise of our Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc. in their plans for expanding vocational training in the school system. This is where it belonged. You win some – your lose some, but it was finally incorporated in the local school system and included technical skills training along with basic language.  We would finish the house we were working on and then have the board decide the future of Boy Builders. We had to move into one of the local motels, wherein we began to wonder just what was going to happen next. We found out two weeks later, as we received a call from Washington, D. C. What happened next is another miracle.  

	

Chapter Thirty-Two  The Call from Washington  

	

		From the Pen of Jack  The call was from Dr. Robert Watkins, CEO of Goodwill Industries of America, Inc. in Washington, D. C.  He was familiar with my interest in the handicapped. We had crossed paths when I was in Washington as a member of the Presidents Committee for the Employment of the Handicapped for nearly five years past and that would last for another 10 years.  He knew I had expressed concern at what appeared to be an apparent lack of professional training of the Goodwill supervisory personnel and other rehabilitation agencies working with the handicapped.  He expressed sorrow at the loss of our house, and said he was calling to see if I had any interest in exploring the possibility of working for Goodwill Industries.  I told him I might be interested, if it meant I would be involved in the training of the people that provided services for the handicapped. He asked us to pray about it and get back in touch if I had any interest in becoming a part of Goodwill Industries.  This was something that could not be decided at that point. We would have to finish the house Boy Builders was building and get it sold. As the school system was going to enhance their programs to care for these students, it did not seem Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc. would be needed in the future.  However, there were a lot of loose ends that had to be gathered and resolved and our board asked us to stay on and they would help with the provision of housing at the motel, unless we wanted to find another house.  Several months went by, with calls once in a while from Dr. Watkins. Finally we had just about completed everything needed to bring Boy Builders of Bloomington, Inc. to an end. Nothing else had turned up that had much appeal for us . . . so with next call, I said we might be ready to consider an offer.He indicated I would have to go through a period of training and that he was recommending this be done in the Goodwill in Columbus, Ohio. I would be working directly under Rev. George Evans, one of the most successful CEO's of local Goodwill's. I agreed to go talk with him. He indicated he would be happy to have me join his staff as a trainee.  He had a recommendation as to a place to stay . . . with a friend of Goodwill that provided housing for other trainees coming to Columbus to train with him. Apparently the Columbus Goodwill was used for the training of future executives of local Goodwill Industries.  The family could remain in Bloomington so the children could finish school before having to move on. It was not too long a trip between Columbus and Bloomington and I could be home nearly every weekend, as I would not have any responsibilities on the weekends.  Edythe would drive up to Indianapolis to meet me and we would enjoy an evening at one of the better restaurants before going to Bloomington.  In one of my conversations with Dr. Watkins he suggested he would like to recommend me as the CEO of one of the larger Goodwill's and I told him I was not really interested in becoming a CEO of a Goodwill that still did not have a qualified and trained supervisory staff.  Nearing the end of the training period, I was still not all that enamored with Goodwill Industries training personnel and I expressed this to Rev. Evans and Dr. Watkins.  My evaluation was that a major effort should be made to provide a better training program for the supervisors responsible for working with the handicapped on a daily basis.  Dr. Watkins asked how I thought this might be accomplished and I sent him a copy of the proposal I had worked on while in training.  It contained a suggestion of getting a major grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; enlisting two Associate Training Directors immediately; putting together a nationally recognized Training Committee made up of representatives from industry, rehab agencies and commercial companies and we got a grant of $250,000.00.  We   spent the first year in developing a one week training program that could be taken to a rehabilitation facility any where; during the later stages of the development of the training program, it was suggested that the three regional offices be established in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Indianapolis, Indiana and San Jose, California; and the second and third years would see the program taken to Goodwill Industries and other rehabilitation agencies for a week at a time.  Apparently he was impressed, as the next call from him, included a request to come to the National headquarters in Washington, D. C. to discuss becoming the National Training Director of Goodwill Industries of America, Inc.  He also told me Rev. Evans was also coming to the national office and I would be associated with him in seeing that everything went smoothly, as he was so familiar with the working of Goodwill. Dr. Watkins also indicated that the chain-of-command would be solely from my office to his office.  Now, I had finally convinced Dr. Watkins that I was serious of about the need for adequate training for the supervisors working with handicapped in the 120 Goodwill Industries in America and the 20 overseas, plus all other rehabilitation agencies and organizations.  Without the grant from Health, Education and Welfare section of the Federal Government, we would never have been able to develop the kind of training program I had envisioned. I visited several of the larger and more successful Goodwill's, finally selecting two younger CEO's to become my Associate Training Directors and added them to the overall training committee for the development of the training program. These two would also be with me when we took the program out on the field. My office was in Washington, D. C. and we had established offices in North Wilkesboro, N. C., Indianapolis, Indiana, San Jose, California.  In my first year in Washington with Goodwill Industries, I had met and become friends with the CEO of the Washington, D. C. Goodwill Industries. I got a call from him one day, inviting me to attend a meeting he was having with Martin Luther King, Jr.. The mayor of Washington, D. C. would be introducing him. If memory serves me right, Dr. King was getting some kind of award. As I think back on that meeting, I decided to include something that has been on my heart for a long time.  It started when I was just a child. We had gone into Springfield to get some equipment for one of the greenhouses and we passed an old red brick dilapidated building where there were a bunch of Africa-American boys and girls on the playground. I told dad I did not know we had that many kids like that in Springfield . . . that we did not have any in the school I went to.  Dad stopped the car and we watched them play for a while, and Dad then asked me what I was thinking . . . and I asked him why they were not in school where I went. I remember he looked at me . . . shook his head . . . and finally said "Son, they are what some people call second-class citizens and are not permitted to attend school with white kids." I asked why and he explained that most of them where the grandkids, great-grandkids, even great-great-grandkids of slaves brought to this country in the 1700/1800's. Sensing my curiosity, he said he wanted to help me understand what the situation was in this country.  He told me most of the people in the south, and even Missouri as well, in his generation called them "N------" but that today a few were beginning to refer to them as "Blacks" and he went on to say that this might change even more in the future. I knew he was on the verge of telling me something very important, so I asked him what he thought I should call them and he quickly smiled and said "they should be called human beings, just like you and me. Never forget this Jack, they are the children of God, just like you and me."  Dad has been gone since 1993, but his "human being" name for them has stuck with me. Yes, I came through the Negro phase and today use the accepted name African-American. Some day I hope all of us will recognize them simply as "human beings."  This is only a little glimpse of who and what my father was and I proudly affirm that this is how I think of my "human being" friends . . . equal to me in every way . . . probably better in some.  I am going to do something no author would do, but it is important to what I have to say about what my dad taught me in front of the old red brick building in Springfield, Missouri. The following was written in the chapter "We Move to Fort Worth" and is near the last of that section:  "More than a dozen pastors enrolled in SWBTS had come to Jack, hearing about the crafts items he had used in the VBS at Travis and they wanted him to supply the kits for them to use in their churches.  This was a real challenge, as he was carrying a full academic load, getting ready for his own VBS . . . however he agreed to help the pastors.  One night while working on the craft kits, he stumbled into a basement room, to find it occupied with African-Americans. This night he would find out why he had never seen an African-American in any of his classes. His nightmare . . . African-American students were not permitted to attend classes with the other students at the seminary.  Incensed, Jack got the newly formed Student Council to back him and they went to Dr. E. D. Head, the President of SWBTS and told him the student body would go on strike if the African-American students were not permitted to join their "white brethren" in the regular classes of the seminary. The next semester, the African-Americans were just regular members of the seminary student body, no longer segregated in the basement, being taught by student assistants." We decided to include a section of our story about a man who was also "different" and in many ways "special" in this testimony concerning the brotherhood of mankind.  I am lifting a line from page 18 of the February 4, 2008 issue of Time magazine. It is a quotation from Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., University of Buffalo professor, on how Americans have lost sight of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s message: "All we know is that the guy had a dream. We don't know what that dream was."  Maybe he is right, maybe we do not know what the dream was, or possibly we have forgotten the content of his dream, as he stood in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D. C. on August 28, 1963, so  I include it herein:  The Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  "I am happy to join with you today, in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.  But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to the nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of he Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all me, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of lift, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check---a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.  We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.  It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will not be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.  There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds   of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.  We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed   he Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. The have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.  As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.  We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood

 and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only".  We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.  I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veteran of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.  Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of it's creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.  I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppressions, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with the governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification one day right there in Alabama, little black boys an girls will be sable to join hands with little white guys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.  This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the south with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My Country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land were our fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."  And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia ! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring!  And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed the day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"  Dr. King made this speech on August 28, 1963. His plans for a 1968 Poor Peoples March on Washington were interrupted by a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking sanitation workers; on April 4, 1968, he was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.Two days later much of Dr. Kings "I Have a Dream" was shattered.  It has been 45 years since Dr. King gave us an insight of his vision of what America should be like, if we would take up his dream and live it as it should to be lived. I make no apology of including it in our book, because a new generation may not have heard it. Herein, if you are reading our book, we hope you will read his challenge very carefully.  We are still not to the place where all persons are equal.  If you go back to page 53, you will find what Dr. Patterson wrote concerning Rev. Florence and the situation at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary concerning African-American ministerial students where Edythe and I earned our graduate degrees:  "However, there were still limitations that we have just learned about yesterday.  This came about when Edythe and I just learned on March 18, 2008, as a result of having just received a copy of a beautiful book celebrating the 100 years history of SWBTS from 1908 to 2008, that the policy of SWBTS really did not change for African-American students all that much.  Even though the African-American could now sit in classes with whites, they would not be granted degrees.  As we rejoiced in reading page after page, we came to page 135, in the lower right hand corner, was a picture of Dr. Page Patterson, along with Rev. Eugene Florence with the following apology:  "Mending Old Wounds  When Eugene Florence graduated from Southwestern in 1943, no black students were awarded the Master of Divinity degree, even though they did the same amount of work as their white colleagues.  During the December, 2004 graduation ceremony however, President Page Patterson apologized for the past and awarded   Florence, then 100 years old, with his long-awaited degree.  On February 14, 2006, Rev. Florence returned to the seminary to preach in chapel."  As we have been adding things to our book, we have also been caught up in the 2008 elections and I have taken time to listen very carefully to all the candidates for the Presidency of our United States .  I have been much impressed with the message I heard from Dr. Obama on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, but do not consider this something that will sway my vote.  

	

Chapter Thirty-Three  Praise God People Still Have Dreams  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  As I have included the "I Have A Dream" of Dr.  Martin Luther King, Jr., I felt yesterday as I listened to another African-American deliver his "Dream for America" as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, I felt I was moving back half a century listening to Dr. King.  I was moved to include his message in the manuscript of our "special" . . . "different" lives . . . for an African-American to have achieved this as a possible thing that may happen in 2008 Brings me to the point of hoping in my life time to see an improvement in the way people of all races and religions may also wish to "dream" their "Dream". . . and as I write this, it is not that I am or am not endorsing his candidacy.  Rather, this is a message from the Man of Galilee who said "Love your neighbor as thyself."  It is more on how much I thank God that I live in a country that might permit this today.  I am including his "Dream" message in the hope that if a young person of different race, color, religion, status, etc., of mine picks up our book and finds the "Dream" of Dr. King . . . the "Dream" of Senator Obama.  Prayerfully, it might awaken a "Dream" in their minds and they will pursue it with the same dedication to the beliefs of our Constitution that "all men (and women) are created equal!"  Nor am I disturbed by including his middle name.  Having spent over two years in the last ten years in Palestine ( Israel ) and having lived and worked for nearly a year in a Moslem home in Hebron, West Bank. Also having lived and worked with Christians and Moslems in the Balkans for a total of about two years with Moslems, I found that the bestowing of the family name Hussein was indeed an honor, being used in some of the top level families of society, even royalty, in the Middle East and in the Balkans among Moslems.  Hear him now as he shares his dream in the place where our democracy began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA over 200 years ago!  The Dream of Baracka Hussein Obama  "Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America 's improbable experiment in democracy.  Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.  The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished.  It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least 20 more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.  Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution -- a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.  And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States .  What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part -- through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk -- to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.  This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign -- to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.  I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together -- unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.  This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people.  But it also comes from my own American story.  I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.  I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.  I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations.  I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave-owners -- an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters.  I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.  It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate.  But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts -- that out of many, we are truly one.  Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity.  Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country.  In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African-Americans and white Americans.  This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign.  At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough."  We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary.  The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.  And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.  On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action, that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.  On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation -- that rightly offend white and black alike.  I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy.  For some, nagging questions remain.  Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course.  Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely -- just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.  But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial.  They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice.  Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America, a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.  As such, Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems -- two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.  Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough.  Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?  And I confess that if all that I knew of Rev. Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way  But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man.  The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.  He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine, who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth -- by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.  In my first book, "Dreams From My Father," I described the experience of my first service

 at Trinity:  "People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note -- hope! -- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones.  "Those stories -- of survival, and freedom, and hope -- became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.  "Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish -- and with which we could start to rebuild."  That has been my experience at Trinity.  Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety -- the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.  Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor.  They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.  The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.  And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Rev. Wright.  As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me.  He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.  Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.  He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.  I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.  I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.  These people are a part of me.  And they are a part of America , this country that I love.  Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable.  I can assure you it is not.  I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork.  We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.  But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.  We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.  The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through -- a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.  And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.  Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point.  As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried.  In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.  But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.  Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.  Legalized discrimination -- where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments -- meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.  That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.  A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families -- a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.  And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods -- parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement -- all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.  This is the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up.  They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.  What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.  But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it -- those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.  That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations -- those young men and, increasingly, young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future.  Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.  For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.  That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends.  But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.  And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews.  The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Rev. Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.  That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.  But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.  In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community.  Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.  Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch.  They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.  They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.  So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.  Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company.  But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.  Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition.  Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends.  Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.  Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle-class

 squeeze -- a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.  And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns -- this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.  This is where we are right now.  It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.  Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.  But I have asserted a firm conviction -- a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people -- that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.  For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.  It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.  But it also means binding our particular grievances -- for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs -- to the larger aspirations of all Americans, the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family.  And it means taking full responsibility for own lives -- by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.  Ironically, this quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-help found frequent expression in Rev. Wright's sermons.  But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.  The profound mistake of Rev. Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society.  It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country -- a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.  But what we know -- what we have seen -- is that America can change.  That is the true genius of this nation.  What we have already achieved gives us hope -- the audacity to hope -- for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.  In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed.  Not just with words, but with deeds -- by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.  It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.  In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us.  Let us be our sister's keeper.  Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.  For we have a choice in this country.  We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism.  We can tackle race only as spectacle -- as we did in the O.J. trial -- or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina -- or as fodder for the nightly news.  We can play Rev. Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.  We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.  We can do that.  But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction.  And then another one.  And then another one.  And nothing will change.  That is one option.  Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.  This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem.  The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st Century economy.  Not this time. This time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care, who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.  This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.  This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.  This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.  We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.  I would not be running for president if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country.  This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.  And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation -- the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.  There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today -- a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.  There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina.  She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.  And Ashley said that when she was 9 years old, her mother got cancer.  And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.  They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.  She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches.  Because that was the cheapest way to eat.  She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents, too.  Now Ashley might have made a different choice.  Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally.  But she didn't.  She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.  Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign.  They all have different stories and reasons.  Many bring up a specific issue.  And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.  And Ashley asks him why he's there.  And he does not bring up a specific issue.  He does not say health care or the economy.  He does not say education or the war.  He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.  He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough.  It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.  But it is where we start.  It is where our union grows stronger.  And as so

 many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.  

  

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	It has been interesting to also follow the news, as to how his "dream" message has been received.  I found two sides . . . one critical, in that he was opening the entire field of the age old race issue and should not be allowed.  The other it is a timely subject with which to be concerned.  Page 10 in Conventional Wisdom Watch, Newsweek raised the question: "Will the greatest speech in recent history get him sidelined as a "black" candidate"? . . . On page 33, Ellis Cose said, " . . . .Instead, he invited Americans of all hues to engage in a serious, sustained thinking through of our shared history and to focus on the continuing ramifications slavery, American's "original sin." . . . Again, on page 37, Jonathan Alter wrote "As the afterglow of last week's landmark Philadelphia speech on race fades, even many conservatives agree with liberal editorial writers that Obama's approach was brilliant."  Only time will tell whether we embrace the "brotherhood of Mankind," or continue to hide it under the bushel basket of race.  Now I will have to take you back to Washington, D. C. where I am sitting at my desk at Goodwill I received two phone calls that were going to prove how difficult it was going to put his message into the minds and hearts of the thousands of disenchanted African Americans, at least in Washington, D. C. One call was from the local Goodwill in Washington, D. C. that the store was being threatened by a mob of angry armed men.  The other call was from Mayor Washington's office asking if they could get me to come into the heart of Washington and get pictures of what was going on.  I told the person about the threat toward the local Goodwill and he assured me they would try to help, and of course I had to agree to take pictures for the Mayor's office, but I told them I would need at least three Negro men to accompany me.  I did think at the time that they would agree to this request, but they did.  They sent one of the District of Columbia vans for me and I did find three fine looking brawny guys in the van and we headed for Seventh Avenue, in the heart of where a lot of the looting and throwing of bottles of gasoline through the broken plate glass windows of some of the major department stores.  I got some shots of all this and then we went over to H Street, where most of the small stores were owned by white people and here the job got more difficult for us as I took pictures from the van.  There were mobs every where and they were still breaking into the stores, looting every thing they could carry out and then throwing glass bottles of what must have been gasoline; as whatever was burnable burst into roaring flames within minutes.  As the mobs grew in size, we decided we had enough pictures.  I want to return to Goodwill for just a last word about my ministry while serving as the Training Director for Goodwill.  As most of you know, Goodwill Industries depends on donations, and because of my relationships with major industrial firms, Dr. Watkins asked me to keep in mind that we had 120 Goodwill's in the United States and 20 overseas and if I ran into anything exciting, try to get donations.  On one of my several trips to New York City, I was in contact with CBS and I chanced on coming in contact with Mr. Sarnoff and told him who I was and that I headed the training program for Goodwill Industries that received the quarter of a million dollars from Health, Education and Welfare to develop a training program for supervisors that worked with the handicapped.  I asked him what they did with the over-runs, the not successful cuttings of albums, and public non-acceptance of long-play albums and he said they probably had them by the millions in storage.  At that point I asked him for a million of the albums we could sell through the Goodwill Industries stores throughout the United State and he said I could have them, but they could not be sold for more than $1.00 each.  Not a bad gift for about one hour work.  In the early years of copying equipment, the emphasis was on size . . . not small, but HUGE.  While in Chicago on another trip for Goodwill, I again studied the local yellow pages to see if I could come up with a firm that I might interest in making a contribution of surplus equipment.  Sure enough, I found that the makers of the Apex copying equipment had a "white elephant" on their production line.  These were machines that were about four by six feet and sold for $600 each wholesale.  I finally met the CEO and told him Goodwill Industries would give them a credit of $750 each, if they would donate 120 of the copiers . . . one to each of the 120 local Goodwill's and five for the national headquarters of Goodwill located in Bethesda, Maryland (Washington, D. C. area).  Apex officials agreed to a gift valued at $1,125,000.  This is only two of the companies that made significant gifts during my three year assignment with Goodwill Industries of America and space is not available to describe what we were able to raise for Goodwill.  I had just about finished the three year contract I had signed with Goodwill Industries; the first year to develop the training manuals and seminars and the taking the seminars to every section of the United States in the second and third years.  As my assignment was soon coming to a close with the final production of the teaching manuals the rehab agencies could purchase, my time with Goodwill would soon be completed.  It has been a most interesting three years.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Thirty-Four  Moving the Family to Maryland  



	From the Pen of Jack  Edythe and the children were more than ready to make the move from Bloomington.  We had gotten tired of living in two units at the motel and had rented a small house on South Rogers Street for the last few months, but it was not much like the home we all remembered before the fire.  As I was now associated with Goodwill Industries, with an office in Washington, D. C., I was able to spend a lot of time looking for our new home.  We had decided early on that we would not be locating in the District.  We had been told that the educational system in the District was in a shambles and would be the last place you would want to settle in for the sake of your children.  So, do we go south into Virginia or north into Maryland.  For some reason we had made the choice of Maryland, I guess because we hoped it would be a "merry-land" for the family, and good schools for the children.  We now had five for which to provide.  The one criteria was it had to be close to schools, all the way from an elementary to high school . . . and would be nice if it was near open parkland.  Weeks went by and we had not found any place I could write home about.  On day, a friend we had known since Seminary days found out we were in the area and looking for a location to purchase a house.  She offered to pick me up at the Goodwill Office in Bethesda and show me around.  Asking about grades, I told her from elementary to high school and she said she thought I would like the first one she wanted to show me.  The trip from the office to Potomac and the school area took us through some very nice parkland as we wandered through a mall and onto another road and through another park.  We soon parked in front of Beverly Farms, an elementary school.  Driving about four blocks we found Hoover Junior High, the Junior High school, just adjacent with Sherwood, the High school . . . the property butting into each other.  In the middle of these two, was a construction project with three or four houses still under construction, and several lots still undeveloped.  All of the houses were totally of brick construction and beautifully landscaped.  The two children for the Beverly Farms Elementary school could easily walk or bike in good weather.  Another would be out the front door, turn right and be on the Hoover Junior High School ground in two to three minutes.  The one going to Churchill High School had only to walk across the street and enter the back door of the school.  I think the family would like to take a good look at one of the last houses under construction.  I explained this to all of them in a conference call that evening and got the approval to find out price and availability.I found out the price was well within our budget and that the house I wanted would be finished in a few weeks.  Yes, I could make a deposit and they would start to work on drawing up the sales papers and checking with us about colors of paint for the interior walls . . . what kind of landscaping did we want . . . where exactly do you want the driveway . . . and on and on.  The deposit was made and we were on the way to getting back in a house of our own.  Only this time, we had little furniture or clothing that had to be shipped from Bloomington, Indiana   to Potomac, Maryland.  Everything had been totally destroyed when our home and office had been destroyed by fire.  Every once in a while we would hear the children talking about having lost everything in the fire.  We knew we were in for a lengthy period of helping them get over their loss and situated in a new community.  The date to move into our new house was three weeks before school would start.  Most of our housing needs would be purchased locally and it was about time for us to begin exploring the companies and stores we would need to help us get started in a new section of the country.  The children were ready to enter school.  Edythe was ready to start looking for work.  I could hardly wait to get started on becoming the National Training Director for Goodwill Industries of America.  

	

Chapter Thirty-Five  My Search for Employment  



	From the Pen of Edythe  We made the move to Maryland with David driving his car, with our cat sitting on his shoulders, and the family in another and hoping that what few things we owned would keep us going for awhile.  I knew I would have to find work!    Middle school and high school were very close by and the elementary school was a little farther away and the two younger boys would have to walk since we were just barely out of bus range.  Jack and I would leave before the younger ones so we depended on them to get off on time and be sure and shut the door.  We were told soon as we moved there that each child should have a house key around his neck and that is where the name of "latch key children" originated.  The key plan lasted about a week and from then on the doors were just left unlocked and to our knowledge nothing was ever stolen from our home.  This was in 1964 . . . unheard of today.  I got things in order enough that I could start looking for work.  I found two ads that seemed interesting to me so I contacted the first one which was quiet a distance from our home.  The ad was for an office worker for a Nursery-Greenhouse company and I thought that would be interesting.  The other ad was a new company being formed by two engineers who wanted to work on government projects.  It was called Challenger Research.  At this interview I met   several interesting people that seemed to take pride in what they were doing.  I was accepted by both companies but decided I would take Challenger, as it was closer to were we lived.  I was the eighteenth person put on the payroll so it did not take long for us working together to feel like a "family".  I was put in the typing pool to prepare drafts for   the engineers and many years had past since I sat at a typewriter, it was a time of recalling much I had learned back in high school.  We would do our work but also plan some fun things to do and that would bring much entertainment.  Some of us needed to watch the scales and to help us succeed, we had a sheet to keep track of the pounds we had  lost and see who could first meet their goal.  We felt our department was so up to date because we had the tape machines for recording and use for copying.  It worked well as long as you did not lose your work some where back along the way of miles of tape!  We later went to Word Processing which was much easier to use.  White-Out (liquid and paper) came into being and what a help it was!! We were just on the beginning of the electronic revolution, and our company was going to take full advantage of it.  We kept the copy machine going and a table would be covered with sheets to be gathered.  We soon lost count of the many miles we walked, as we would go around picking up one sheet at a time and ending up making a nice printed project.  The company kept growing and new equipment was added.  We felt the most valuable one was the copy machine that would do its own paginating as each sheet was printed.  In these beginning years we never dreamed that eventually we would have enormous equipment that could complete gathering of a whole book.Through the years I learned all the phases of the work.  The secretary to the President resigned to get married and moved to another city.  I asked for the position since I felt capable to perform the executive work required.  The President agreed and I was given the job.  I would stay with him and eventually became the Administrative Executive to the President.  That is the beginning of a very close tie with the executive department that lasted until my retirement.  My duties were varied from taking care of company telephone calls and letters to planning parties for entire departments.  Christmas was always a joy, since we were to purchase and wrap gifts for all the employee's children.  The Christmas I remember most was when we had made punch in a tall metal container and along came one of the men and tossed in a paper towel, thinking it was the trash can.  With a "gasp" and a "oh, No" we pulled it out and no one knew the difference.  I have so many things around the house that were given to me at Christmas; crystal vases, beautiful bowls, china and even a rug that was purchased for me to complete.  They were most generous for showing appreciation to all the workers.  It was truly a rewarding 21 years with the organization.I have always believed that God had a great part to play in my getting the job at Challenger Research.  In addition to my salary through the years, bonuses and income from investments in the company really paid off, when it came time to sell our property and move from Maryland to Bolivar, Missouri.  

  

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	Through All the World  Through all the world let every nation sing to God the King:  as Lord may Christ preside where now he is defied,  and sovereign place his throne in land not yet his own,  throughout all the world let every nation sing to God the King.  Through all the world let everyone express true righteousness:  may Christ now be the norm to which we all conform,  His passion sure the sin that festers from within.  Through all the world let everyone express true righteousness.  Through all the world let everyone embrace the gift of grace:  May Christ's great light consume our darkest cities gloom.  May Christ's great love efface hostilities of race.  Through all the world let everyone embrace the gift of grace.  If all the world in every part shall hear, and God revere;  we must be moved to care, and in his name to share  the liberating word which must be told abroad.  Then all the world in every part shall hear, and God revere.  

  

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	"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:5-9  

  

Chapter Thirty-Six  21st Century Learning Centers  



	From the Pen of Jack  Shortly before I resigned from Goodwill Industries , we had established a private educational facility in Washington, D. C. called the 21st Century Learning Centers, Inc.  This was a new approach for dealing with educationally, culturally, and socially impaired children in the Washington, D. C. area.  The objective was to get the learners, usually two to five years behind their peer group, back into the mainstream of the public school system.  In the 10 years, we had a 65% success in getting them back into the public school system WITH their peers.  You will notice that the 21st Century Learning Centers program did not use normal public school terminology.  We did not have teachers . . . we had Learning Guides.  The children were not called students . . . they were Learners . . . although we furnished door-to-door transportation in gaily painted vans . . . they were not called school buses.  We never assigned home work, at least we never called it that . . . instead we created special assignments that were geared at getting others in the household to help in solving problems, answering questions, and helping the child get his assigned paper work done for the next day.  And the next day was always important to them.  One of the extra's we provided for every Learner was that he or she could select some kind of pet that would be their responsibility to feed and care for each morning.  We used small glass aquariums that could house fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, even flowers, etc.  Each Learner "owned" one of these and it was their responsibility to tend to them each morning . . . after they had turned in the "family fun papers" from the Leader's assignment the night before to do at home.  They soon learned that "no papers returned meant "no time with their pets the next morning."  Five centers were established in the District and Maryland.  The Centers were funded by the Department of Special Education Section of the Washington, D.C. school system.  Two were housed in churches; one in the District of Columbia with the Riverside Baptist Church and the other in the Chevy Chase Baptist Church in Maryland.  The Johanning Center in Southeast Washington, D. C. also opened their doors to one of the younger units.  Two Centers for the older Learners were located in residential properties Boy Builders of Washington, Inc. owned on 14th Street NW.  We accepted contracts from the District of Columbia Special Education division of the public school system to take 60 children a year and were responsible for transportation and feeding of all the children.  We had one Learning Guide for each three Learners.  It took time for the children to get used to be in an environment in which they could get the personal attention they needed in trying to upgrade their educational abilities and get back in the public school with their peers.  Working with these children was very difficult.  Most of them came from homes without a live-in natural father and a good portion of the mothers were employed as domestics and where gone most of the day, and some times at night.  Getting the  "family fun papers" done was a real chore in the beginning.  One of the requirements for accepting a child was that there had to be one older sibling or family member that would be assigned as the "caretaker of the "family fun papers" and had to work with the Learner each and every night, Monday through Friday.  We had to turn several away, as they indicated they were unable to have a person available to do this.  However, several that we had turned away heard what was happening at the 21st Century Learning Center, Inc. with the children and decided they could provide the "caretaker" of the "family fun papers" after all.  In a way, the families began to understand that one of the purposes of the 21st Century Learning Center, Inc. was also planned to provide for other members of the family as well and when we indicated that the Learner could only care for his or her hamster by turning in the "family fun papers" as soon as the Center opened for the business of learning, it was not long before all the Learners were getting real good at turning in their assigned papers every day.  The downside of working with the Special Education Department of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia, was the constant battle to keep in touch with the public school officials and getting paid on time.  In the first five years of our relationship with the district, we had to learn to deal with four different Assistant Superintendents of Special Education, as we had a new one each of the first four years.  They did not seem to last very long.  Payment was another thing that would ultimately cause us to lose our house in Potomac.  In the last year we signed a contract with the Special Education Department of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia, we took 60 of their children in September and finally got our first pay check in April of the following year.  This was the longest, but was an indication of what we had faced through the years.  We had to take out several loans with the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D. C. and during the time from September to April, the total had gotten beyond what a signature loan would provide and we were required to use our property as collateral for the total loans.  Even when we finally got a partial check for three months, September, October and November, it was not enough to cover the bank loans and the bank foreclosed and we had to sell our property.  Fortunately, we had made a substantial down payment and had been paying more than one month at a time, from the funds acquired by me from my work.  The property was sold and we also came out OK financially.  The bank loans were satisfied and we had a good next egg in savings for when we would buy property again.  Now, we were only interested in renting and we found a place close by where our three sons would later set up their little Aquariums, Terrariums, and THINGS business on Flower Avenue in Silver Spring, as Jack will tell you about their business venture a little later in our story.  In fact, where we were renting would be the inspiration for what the boys decided   to do while Neal finished his senior year in high school.  We thought that all we had to be concerned about was lodging, for at this time, we were just renters.  We thought we would be moving back to Missouri when we retired in a year or two . . . but this was not to be, as you will see later.  We had already decided we would not continue to operate the school.  When we received the contract for the next school year, we told them we would not sign up again, as their late payments had caused us to be put in a situation that resulted in our losing our home.  They came back and promised we would be paid on time . . . and I had to remind them that they had made the same promise for the last two contracts and we could not depend upon promises that were never fulfilled.  We retired in 1983, thinking we would be returning to our 140 farm, 15 miles went of Springfield when Neal finished high school, but we would spend the next 15 years in Maryland as principle backers of our three young sons in their AT & T business and educational pursuits.  This is also when Jack and I began to explore what we wanted to do in retirement.  Thus, we became much more involved in volunteer work within the community and through the various mission ministries of the church.  This is when we began to think more seriously about the things we would like to do through our church mission programs.  

  

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	Hope of the World  Hope of the world, O Christ of great compassion:  speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent;  save us, your people, from consuming passion,  who by our own false hopes and aims are spent.  Hope of the world, God's gift from highest heaven,  bringing to hungry souls the bread of life;  still let your Spirit unto us be given  to heal earth's wounds and end her bitter strife.  Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways,  showing to wandering souls the path of light;  walk now beside us, lest the tempting byways  lure us away from you to endless night.  Hope of the world, who by your cross did save us  from death and dark despair, from sin and guilt;  we render back the love your mercy gave us;  take now our lives and use them as you will.  Hope of the world, O Christ, o'er death victorious,  who by this sign did conquer grief and pain:  we would be faithful to your gospel glorious;  you are our Lord, and you forever reign!  

  

Chapter Thirty-Seven  Edythe's Retirement Party 

 

	From the Pen of Edythe  During the 21 years I had worked for Challenger Research, beginning as a simple clerk in the typing pool, to the time I would finish my work as   the Executive Assistant to the President of E G & G . . . it did not seem possible I was about to retire.  Thanks to some of my associates, they got the President to agree to let them plan a Retirement Party to celebrate my 21 years with the company and was it ever a party! They had rented the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg . . . my husband was also caught up in the celebration in a way that amazed me, but I guess I should not have been surprised.  To my utter amazement, as I was walking among the guests, I totally disregarded the presence of our older son David and our daughter Dawna, not knowing that Jack had alerted all the family to my retirement party and had made it possible for all the family to attend.  Was I ever surprised when Dawna walked up and said "I'm Dawna, mom" with David close behind saying somewhat the same thing . . . "Congregations, mom . . . they are throwing quite a party for you . . . glad I got the invitation."  I had no idea that Jack had made it possible for those who lived some distance from Washington to come to join me at the party given by the company for which I had worked for a little over 21 years.  All five of our children made it to the party for their mother.  What a surprise . . . I will never forget it.  There were about 200 guests from the company at my   party and following an hour long enjoyment of all kinds of "goodies" and drinks, we sat down to a wonderful dinner.  Following dinner, each of the various section heads of the E G & G complex took a few minutes to make a presentation of a gift to remind me of my 21 years with the company.  I have the gift from the President hanging in our living room.  It is the famous "Milk Drop" picture created by Mr. Edgerton, one of the founders of E. G. & G. This was followed by more than 20 gifts from various sections of the company.  What a way to leave your company!  

	

Chapter Thirty-Eight  Aquariums, Terrariums, and THINGS  



	From the Pen of Jack  We realized one day that with our example of going to the top for our personal graduate work, we had neglected introducing our children to the world of business and entrepreneurial skills.  As Neal, our youngest son, still had one year before he graduated from Churchill High School, and we did not want to subject him to what we had to do with our daughter Dawna in leaving Bloomington, Indiana after finishing her Junior year and having to take her out of school without finishing her Senior year with friends with whom she had started kindergarten.  She really had a hard time adjusting with her Senior year in Maryland.  One Sunday we got to talking about Neal; his need to stay in Churchill, yet what will the rest of you, especially Jack and Doug, what do you want to do within this one year.  David had already gone into the Sea Bees and Dawna was in the university in Fort Collins, Colorado.  Jack D., Doug and even Neal were already taking a good look down the path leading to a university education.  I suggested that they could start their work at the University of Maryland while Neal finished his Senior year at Churchill."  The question came up as to what kind of business we wanted.  In the course of the conversations, we came up with aquariums and tropical fish . . . Each of our kids had their own tank in their rooms in Bloomington.  They know how to care for both tropical and marine fish.  Next, we had wonderful gardens and flower beds in Bloomington, so why not go for plants . . . after all I had grown up in a greenhouse while my dad was the Frisco Florist and then into his own business during the depression . . . so how about plants and flowers.  We were trying to hitch-hike on the A T & T of telephone fame, so lets call the last "T" "Things" and this would sell anything and everything we would think of that might sell to kids in the neighborhood.  So we added kites, street skates, skateboards, balloons for weddings and birthdays . . . . and anything else we found that people wanted to buy.  Not far from where we were living, a woman was developing a Boutique Shopping Mall in a large abandoned grocery store complex on Flower Avenue at Piney Branch, in Silver Spring, MD.  She was preparing small rooms of 250 to 300 square feet and they rented at fairly reasonable amounts . . . $250 a month.  Then, we hit a snag . . . none of the boys were over 21 and could not sign any legal papers and we finally signed the lease for one of the smaller units and added a little bit of all three things "A T & T" sold in the one room.  Within three months the three guys had rented a second unit of 350 square feet . . . putting the fish and aquariums in one unit and the plants in the second, with the "Things" stuck any place we could find for them.  Less than two months later we were renting the third unit of about 300 square feet . . . giving them around a 1,000 square feet.  However we found a real problem in the handling of sales in these three enclosed rooms . . . especially on school days and when I was there by myself.  If someone came in for fish, I had to close down the other two rooms . . . If plants . . . the other rooms had to be closed.  We approached Mrs. Dominguez about knocking our the three walls and make just one large room our of our three.  She was not interested.  We noticed that one of the local plumbing companies was building a two unit structure that was 30' wide by 100' deep and offering them for rent.  We inquired and found the rents would be about the same we were paying for the three rooms.  Jack D. was already enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Maryland that would ultimately lead to his being awarded the PhD degree in Civil Engineering.  He began to talk with Neal about also considering going to the University of Maryland to do his undergraduate work there before going on to medical school.  Profits had been such in the first six or seven months, that we felt it was worth investigating what it would cost to rent one of the new units being built next to the Mall.  It was only slightly more that what we had been paying for the three rooms, but with twice as much space and not crowded like the Boutique Mall had been.  Space had become a premium for AT&T.  We were also able to buy each of three guys a new Fiesta auto.Neal could finish high school.  Jack D. and Doug could get a year's work done on their undergraduate work, before Neal would join them at Maryland.  Again the guys were too young to sign contracts, so we hit the kids with how long do you want us to sign for . . . Five years? . . . option for another five? . . . another option for the third five? Their decision "go for all three and we can get our studies cared for at the same time."  So, what had started out to be for one year, suddenly grew to five years . . . might grow to 10 years . . . and believe it or not, ended up being for the full 15 years.  What was planned for only one year became 16 years of successful business entrepreneurships and was instrumental in helping our sons get through the University of Maryland without any outstanding debts.  Jack D. would receive his Ph. D degree in Civil Engineering. Neal would finish his undergraduate work at the University of Maryland; was awarded a DO from the West Virginia School in Lewisburg, Virginia and went on to get his MD in Psychiatry.  The third son, Doug, dropped out of the University of Maryland after finishing two years and came to work full time with AT&T until it was closed down on our retirement.  He is highly experienced in the field of computers and electronic communications.  I also think that something about our Boy Builders of Bloomington program must have rubbed off on Doug.  There is nothing he cannot analyze and repair if something goes wrong with the plumbing, electricity, roof, the computer and all types of electronic gadgets, even his automobile.  If it goes wrong, it will soon be made right when he gets his hands on it.  

  

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	"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works them   in all men."  I Corinthians 12:4-6  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

	

Chapter Thirty-Nine  Our Retirement Plans  



	From the Pen of Jack  When I turned 65 in 1983, I decided to retire and we began to think and plan on how we might become more active in doing personal volunteer work when Edythe finished work.  Edythe decided to continue working until she was 66 and then both us would concentrate on doing volunteer work, primarily in Christian missions through our church.  We would have time to explore it.  However, because of my volunteer work with the American Red Cross and the Montgomery General Hospital, there was enough latitude that she could continue to work full time and still be active in volunteer work.  She will be writing more about our volunteer work with the American Red Cross in the next two chapters where we spent 21 years and the Montgomery General Hospital where we were volunteers one evening a week for 11 years.  One of our favorite places to spend vacations in beautiful scenery was at the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in Ridgecrest, North Carolina.  We had gone the first time when we were students at Oklahoma, followed by a trip to teach recreation classes for the Baptist Sunday School Board for 13 weeks during the summer and receive the invitation from Mr. Robert Guy to return each summer for five years to provide leadership for crafts, directed leisure and recreation for staff and guests.  It was the place where I had surrendered my life for Christian service and made the decision to enroll in college or university and receive my doctorate by the time I was 30 years old.  This decision was made when I was 17.  It was also where Edythe and our three youngest children could have a wonderful three month's vacation each summer.  It was also the place where our Assembly Recreation Staff took on the job of spending their free time in helping to renovate the Prayer Garden on campus.  It had been overlooked for several years and many of the seats were broken, weeds and trash from several years had been getting worse year after year.  During our second summer there in 1952, we had received permission from Mr. Robert Guy to completely develop a cleaned up and beautified Prayer Garden.  Please keep in mind that the staff that were going to do all this in their spare time . . . which was not too great to start with.  It was an unbelievable job.  Trash was everywhere.  Weeds had taken over most of the ground.  About half of the seats were either split or had completely broken down,   and the little stream that flowed through the middle of the Prayer Garden was not more than a trickle because of weeds, rocks and trash.  We had asked Mr. Guy to come take a look at the condition of the benches.  He did and after one look told us to take them all down and install new ones and he would order the lumber for the new benches as soon as he got the estimate from me and he got that the next day.  He had agreed to get pressure treated lumber for the benches.  He wanted to see that they would not get in the present condition for a long time.  We thought he would make that kind of a decision.  We gave the order for supplies to Mr. Guy and started to work on picking up the trash and then digging out the weeds.  Next a group took over getting the stream cleaned up and flowing, while the rest of us began work on the benches.  It took nearly all three summers to finally dedicate the renewed Prayer Garden.  You may wonder what the renovation of the Prayer Garden has to do with our retirement.  Here is why!Edythe's sister, Beverly Hammack, who had worked for the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board for over 30 years, invited us to spend some time with her at the assembly during Home Mission Week and we decided to take her up on the invitation.  It had been a few years since we had made a visit to Ridgecrest.  When we got there, we were surprised at how well it had been managed.  The Prayer Garden seemed to be the perfect place for us to talk about what we would like to do when we both were retired and into full time volunteer work.  We were there for about a week and spent most of our free time in the garden.  One first decision was that when we both were retired we would devote at least one half of our remaining years on earth as volunteers; first with our church and it's mission programs and with any future opportunity to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and when called upon, try to extend our Care for the needy in every way we could.  It might be like the olden days of American Red Cross or hospital work, but we would continue to use whatever time might be needed to help someone in need.  This is where our future seemed to be going.  

	

Chapter Forty  Montgomery General Hospital  



	From the Pen of Edythe  I served as a Pink Lady in the Bloomington, Indiana hospital and found it to be a very satisfying type of volunteer work.  When the call came from the Montgomery Hospital in Olney, Maryland for more volunteers Jack and I decided we could spend 2 hours each Thursday at the hospital and we were assigned to work at the Information Desk.  We did not work with the patients, as I had done before, but with those who entered the hospital and needed directions or information about room numbers, plus various other requests.  You have times of hearing great joy when a young mother comes down with her first little one in her arms, assisted by a grinning husband and father.  At the same time, we had to give as much attention to one who has just lost a loved one.  One of my memories I still have after all these years, is about the time a lady that came from out of town to see a sick family member and needed some one to talk to.  Unfortunately, she picked me and it does not take long for me to shed tears when I share this kind of sorrow.  I was wondering if I would be a good one to help many at the front desk, but there is always the sadness that comes in life and it is good to have someone with whom it can be shared . . . this is a good part of being a volunteer in the hospital.  You can share both joy and sadness!  We had a wonderful lady that headed the volunteer program.  She was so enthused by the help that is provided by volunteers, you would get the same feeling.  It was no an easy task because there are always schedules that cause a conflict and many phone calls may have to be made to fill the need.  Varied tasks were part of our work but it seemed the most important was giving folks the room number of those they wished to visit.  There were times that a certain code was called and we knew one of us had to go to the elevator and keep it free only for Doctors and nurses to use.  The hospital was fortunate to have a large lawn where the medical helicopter could land, but also unfortunate, as it was located only about 150 feet from the front door, and when the message came that it was nearing the landing area, one of us had to go to the front door and watch that people would not be in harms way as they left the hospital building.  They had to remain inside the hospital.  The official security cars and vans would keep vehicles from entering the groups until the helicopter had landed or taken off.  This also kept people from entering the hospital and Jack usually would stand just outside the front entrance and keep people from leaving the hospital.  This hospital was considered to be small but still workers had to know every crack and corner so we could give directions.  Surgery Care was a very busy place and we stayed in touch with them to help give messages as information came from this area.  A new telephone system was put in and of course it was more technical than the one we had been using, so there were times when it was difficult to remember all of the do's and don'ts when making calls or answering.  People would bring their old magazines to the front desk and these were given to the volunteer leader and she would carefully check them and distribute them to the area most needed.  Hardly an evening would go by without having a florist delivery truck pull up in front and bring in one or more pretty floral arrangements and we would then have to see that they got delivered to the proper room.  We would find that get well cards needed to be delivered.  Hospitals could not do their work without volunteers, I have never figured out why people consider it a "sick" place and shy away from serving!! We spent over eleven years as volunteers until we left the area to return to Missouri.  We had special times when the volunteers were given very pretty Volunteer Pins when a certain number of hours had been served.  We received them with great pride to have been able to help.  We were also recognized as "Volunteer of the Year" three times during the eleven years we served.In addition to doing work we found this a place where we could meet others and acquire very good friends.  Serving others brings joy as well as making one aware of the various phases of needs so we had much to share as we worked together with other members of the staff.  Our Administrator, Pete, was very appreciative of the volunteer workers and would be proud of the help in making the hospital meet the standards required.  We were acquainted with many of the Doctors and at times used their profession for visits and surgery.  Dr. Tom Dooley, our Family Doctor, became a very good friend.  Dr. Mess was the surgeon that performed surgery on both of my hands and also both feet, due mostly from the arthritic problems with which I still have to deal.  Dr. McMahan is well remembered as the one who did the knee replacement so Jack could walk with less pain.  There are advantages in being a smaller facility and community where you have good care of your physical needs.  

  

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	Lord of Creation  

	

		Lord of creation, to you be all praise;  most mighty your working, most wondrous your ways!  Your glory and might are beyond us to tell,  and yet in the heart of the humble you dwell.  Lord of all power, I give you my will,  in joyful obedience your tasks to fulfill;  your bondage is freedom, your service is song.  and, held in your keeping, my weakness is strong.  Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind,  rich truth that surpasses our knowledge to find,  what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard  is taught by hour Spirit and shines from your word.  Lord of all bounty, I give you my heart;  I praise and adore you for all you impart---  your love to inspire me, your counsel to guide,  your presence to cheer me, whatever betide.  Lord of all being, I   give you my all;  for if I disown you I stumble and fall  but, sworn in glad service your word to obey,  I walk in your freedom to the end of the way.  John C. Winslow  

  

Chapter Forty-One  American Red Cross  



	From the Pen of Edythe  Since we have been in the position of asking for help in the form of money for missions we decided to share a different kind of "body service" when the American Red Cross called for help in getting food delivered to folks in need.  This project was called "The Red Cross Shoppers."  The Food Bank was in Rockville, MD where the grocery stores would send food as well as many churches and other organizations.  Through   Red Cross and the Social Worker we were assigned three places in an apartment complex where we delivered boxes from the Food Bank to those in need.  It was always a joy to visit with them and knew that they were very thankful to have the food.  Miss Georgia was such a delight to see and we knew if there was food she did not need that she would give it to others.  We depended on her many times for delivery help.  Miss Mattie Drawn was near to total blindness and we would go in the apartment to help with placing the food and telling her what we had brought that day.  She kept all the lamps with large bulbs on during the day and they put out so much heat we were thankful she did have air conditioning.  We never had many conversations with a Spanish/Mexican lady since she was very hard of hearing and   spoke very little English but she would always be so happy to have the box.  A mother and her son's apartment was another delivery place and it was always a surprise to see the many dolls she had collected through the years.  I never got a count, but I am sure there were 500 or more scattered throughout their apartment.  They were most unusual with many sizes and kinds and seemed to me to be an item that would be bring quite a price in a sale.  We were told the lady had died and the son took the dolls when he was moved to another apartment.  We continued to deliver to him.  Mrs. Matthews owned her home and had income from Social Security   for food but was bound to a wheel chair.  It is amazing how she could care for herself and keep the house so neat.  I would call every Monday and she would tell me what she needed.  On Tuesday Jack would shop and make delivery of the food giving her the receipt and receiving the money for them.  She is proof of the value of the "Life Line Project" wearing the signal button around her neck.  One day she slipped in the bath room and got wedged in a place and could not move so she pushed the button and the Fire Department came to help her.  We were able to get the "Christmas in April" volunteers to come and do repair work on her front porch and steps.  Another request was for a lady that had money for her groceries but no way to shop since she was very crippled and wore heavy braces.  Again it was a matter of calling one day for the list and next day of shopping and delivery.  She lived in a nice apartment and was a collector of doll houses that she loved so much and must have played with them from childhood.  Her brother moved her to another facility so that ended the shopping for her.  The last family I will write about is a Professor and his wife who needed help since he was blind and unable to help me carry the groceries from the car to the house.  Jack would pick her up, take her to the store, and then return in two hours; some times she said she needed three hours; get her groceries all loaded in the van, take her home and carry in the boxes and bags of groceries.  Jack would come home some times and say "she must have bought out the store" with what I had to carry in today.  Thanksgiving and Christmas, or when the Red Cross had some unusual food that had to be delivered, we would receive calls to find out if we would be able to make these deliveries.  We were nearly always free enough to make these deliveries.  This always meant more calls to many places even out of our shopping area.  I remember one lady we took a turkey and food to and she cried because she was out of food.  It was the same for Christmas and it brought a good feeling to know these people would have a good meal for the holidays.  A special luncheon was held annually and many lapel pens and acknowledgements of shoppers were acknowledged.  With surprise and much pride we received the following award:  "l998 Outstanding Montgomery County Volunteer Award."  Presented to Dr. Jack Fellows and Mrs. "Edde" Fellows.  Presented by the Volunteer Partnership Montgomery, Inc. and Marriott International, Inc.  American Red Cross is always in need of all kinds of volunteers for their many assistance programs and it brings personal joy to know you have helped somebody, family, church or organization.  This is what volunteer work is all about for us!  

  

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	God's Roll Call of Faith  

	

		"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.  By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.  And be faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.  By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away.  For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.  By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet he, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.  By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going . . . For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouth of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned into strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned, they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword . . . the world is not worthy of them.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."  Hebrews 11:1-10, 32-38, 12:1-2  

  

Chapter Forty-Two  Loss of Frank and Sarah Foster  



	From the Pen of Jack  Shortly after we moved to Maryland for me to become the National Training Director of Goodwill Industries of America, Inc.  I got a telephone call from a Rev. Frank Foster, Pastor of the Riverside Baptist Church in Southwest Washington, D. C.  He indicated he had heard about the work we had done in Bloomington, Indiana with school dropouts and wanted to talk with me about doing something like this in the District of Columbia, accept we would not be building new homes, but would be renovating old boarded-up abandoned houses owned by the city.  These were offered at a low cash price to any organization that would make improvements on them.  He already had control of two on them located on 14th Street NW and we would start with them.  All we had to do what change the name of the 501 (c) (3) we had in Bloomington to Boy Builders of Washington, D. C. and register this with the Internal Revenue Service.  The purposes would be about the same . . . using the house improvement plan to rescue the 16 year olds roaming the streets of the District of Columbia.  We were also very impressed with the ministry of Rev. Foster and decided we would transfer our membership from the First Baptist Church in Bloomington, Indiana to the Riverside Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. I was asked to serve as a Deacon and the boys and I served as volunteer custodians for the church.  It took about three years to completely renovate the two 14th Street houses and by this time my three year contract with Goodwill Industries had been fulfilled and I was ready to strike out in something other that Goodwill.  This is when we would come up with the idea of the different type of educational program we were going to call the 21st Center Learning Centers of Washington, D. C. We could rent the two houses to serve as two of the six Learning Centers for this new program.  One of the other four would use the Riverside Baptist Church   and one would be in the Chevy Chase Baptist Church.  Several weeks before the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Denver. CO, Frank said he and Sarah were flying in his plane to Denver and would like for us to go along with him.  At first we were thrilled until we look at the 21st Center Learning Centers schedule and found we had special activities for the Learners and their parents on that week-end and we had to tell we could not go with him.  He said not to worry, he thought the pastor of the Chevy Chase Baptist Church and his wife would fly out with him and Sarah.  Little did we know at the time how these decisions would affect three different families and their children.As I served as a Deacon for the Riverside Baptist Church, I got an early morning call from the church, saying that Rev. Foster's flight had not arrived in Denver.  After many restless hours, we finally got the message the wreckage of his plane had been located near Lima, CO and they needed someone to attempt to identify the remains and arrange for transportation back to Washington and I got the assignment.  Getting a flight to Denver was difficult due to the thousands of visitors normally coming out to snow country, plus the several thousand delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention.  Finally getting a flight and a car rental, I was on my way to the wreck site . . . to open the four body bags . . . and stare down at the remains of four dear friends . . . smashed almost to make identification impossible . . . I could officially state who they were and the numbers on the wrecked plane checked out and the color of Sarah's beautiful red hair made easy identification of her, and the assumed death of the other three passengers.  Arrangements were made to fly the remains back to Washington.  Then . . . my drive back to Denver, awaiting a flight home, I sat in the airport wondering about what had happened in the past forty-eight hours.  Losing four friends . . . and how close it had been that Edythe and I might have been on that plane with Frank and Sarah.  Still, I could not but feel deep sorrow for the two adopted children of Frank and Sarah and the three natural children of the other couple.  Fortunately, Frank and Sarah had a dear friend that immediately expresses a desire to adopt the two children as his own.  And thankfulness for the Grace that prevented us from being on that plane when it was forced down due to a heavy layer of ice on the wings and fuselage of the plane.  

	

Chapter Forty-Three  Problems Within the Southern Baptist Convention  



	From the Pen of Jack  Shortly after I had received my Doctorate of Religious Education degree, I was asked to become the Vice President and Board Member of the Southwestern Seminary Alumni Association.  I accepted, as this is an honor that means a great deal to a graduate.  However, after a meeting or two, I found the association, and the Southern Baptist Convention, were being torn apart with the conflict between the fundamentalist representatives and those that had been involved for years in the traditional interpretation of the Scripture.  It was not long before I found out that the Alumni Association was represented by about 50% on each side.  I had not taken a side with either group, as I felt this was becoming a power struggle for the control of Southern Baptists and really did not have anything to do with the administration of the alumni association.  Near the end of the first term, I was asked to again serve for a second term, however, the pressure from both sides was so concentrated, I felt the association was really doing very little for the seminary and the graduates, so I said I could not serve another term.  This time, the calls and letters became more personal . . . threats from one side . . . confusion from the other.  I was glad when my term was finally completed and I could get out of the mess in the association.  As the years went by and the conflict grew, nearly every week I would get a telephone call or letter urging me to come out on one side of the other.  These were calls and letters from graduates from all over the world.  I really have no idea how many contacted me to become involved with their side of the struggle, as it would be hard to make sense out of the struggle.  What had started in 1949 continued to exist even to the time when we had moved to the Washington, D. C. area.  I remember talking with Rev. Foster about this when we were working together on the Boy Builder's of Washington, D. C.  However the conflict had left it's mark on our personal family life.  Even the church we were attending was beginning to be hooked into one of the sides and inasmuch as we felt that the convention was losing it's perspective of the real purpose of serving the people, reaching out to the unchurched, helping members to grow in the faith and service of the Lord Jesus Christ, we lost interest in the attendance and decided it would be best for me to resign as a Deacon of the Riverside Baptist Church and for us to seek our spiritual life in another church.  However it did not take long before we discovered we were not the only family caught up in this struggle for control.  Thus began a lengthy period of our visiting other churches . . . churches of our convention, as well as churches of other denominations.  Finding another church is an exciting story of our ultimate finding a place in which to do volunteer mission work.  Edythe will tell you about our new church relationship and how it came about.  

  

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	A Prayer for Unity in the Church  

	

		Holy Spirit, as in the past you have united different men and women and made them one, so bring us together in a oneness that celebrates our diversity   of talent and ability.  May our personalities blend in a superb harmony, as, laying egos aside, we learn to prefer one anotherand to delight in encouraging the gifts we see in others.  Let there be no star temperament, no prima donna behavior among us, but a sense of ensemble, as we try to be as anonymous as possible so that you can shine   through our efforts to the glory of Christ.  And when all is done may we be in the wings and he in the spotlight, taking center stage and receiving all the applause! Holy Spirit, you are fully God and yet so anonymous, hide us that we may reveal him!  Bryan Jeffery Leech  

  

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	"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.  Offer   hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each one   should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."  I Peter 4:8-10  SECTION TWO  It is possibly as great a problem to decide what to do in retirement, as it is to decide many other things during one's lifetime.  What university to attend? What decision will it be in finding the right companion? What would be the best choice, as I consider a vocation best suited to my desires and abilities . . . questions that will be raised all through life and this is what inspired us to let you know what had happened to us.  We had reached that point in our lives.  Some of our friends in retirement have chosen to seek a life in a retirement community, surrounded by lots of physical and sport opportunities, while others simply go on living about the same way they did during their employment or entrepreneur careers.  Still others will find the most satisfaction in gardening or golf or both.  Our concerns were leading us in quite a different direction.  For us, we choose our retirement based on volunteer activities and this included such things as serving in the local hospital, assisting those with handicaps in doing their shopping, and especially serving with and through our local church or an agency meeting the needs in health and education in another section of the world.  You will find in several chapters that we were just doing every day things, while in others, we were following in the paths we seemed destined to travel . . . something "different" . . . something "special" , , , and we have included these to serve as a guide for those of you that have a difficulty in deciding what to do in life . . . or retirement.  

  

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	Submission  O Lord,Let me not henceforth desire health or life, except to spend them  for you, with you, and in you.  You alone know what is good for me;  do, therefore, what seems best to you.  Give to me, or take from me; conform my will to yours.  And grant that, with humble and perfect submission,  and in holy confidence, I may receive the orders of your eternal Providence; and may equally adore all that comes  to me from you; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.  Anonymous  

  

Chapter Forty-Four  We visit the National Presbyterian Church  



	From the Pen of Edythe  The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. was without a Senior Pastor and they had arranged to have a retired Presbyterian minister, Dr. Brian Kirkland, to serve as Interim Pastor and this is what our daughter-in-law Kay wanted to share with us.  Kay told us he had served the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City for many years.  As is a usual custom with the Presbyterian Church, an Interim ministry can last a year or even up to two years.  We would later learn why it took so long to call a new pastor, something to do with having to get approval from a system called the Presbytery.  He had been at National for only four weeks and would be delivering his fifth sermon the following Sunday . . . it was on missions and Kay thought Jack would be interested in his sermon.  We arranged to get with Kay and our son Jack D. at church.  To say the least, we were completely spell bound listening to him preach.  He was a marvelous preacher.  We spent a long time after church at Jack's home and about all we could do, was to talk about Dr. Kirkland.  I think Jackfelt we would attend National for as many Sundays as possible in the coming weeks.  Another factor that influenced us was that another of our sons had become friends with a very attractive young woman and had become a regular usher for the 8:30 a.m. service.  This was the one we would also be attending.  This would give us a chance to be with two of our families on Sunday.  I could also tell that Jack had really taken a liking to listening to Dr. Kirkland and I sensed that maybe we had found a church where we could worship and get involved in the life of a church after such a long absence of not feeling a part of any church.  I wondered how Jack would respond to the differences between the Baptist and Presbyterian churches.  This is when I learned that Jack's father had originally been a member of the Presbyterian Church, but had switched to the Baptist Church, as it was the church of Jack's mother.  He felt the family should be a complete unity in their attendance and membership activities in the same denomination.  The more we attended National, the greater was the enthusiasm Jack expressed Sunday after Sunday on the way home from church.  Dr. Kirkland was just the perfect preacher for Jack, after all the turmoil and unsettled years of our not being active in any one church.  National Presbyterian was a beautiful church, with an active fountain facing one of the major streets in northwest Washington, D. C., and a glorious tower that had a beautiful set of bells that played at various times during the day.  The grounds were professional planned, but planted and maintained by a very active Flower Committee of church members.  Jack would later become a member of the committee, as working with growing things in the earth came natural with him, having worked with this father in the landscaping field.  The inside of the church was also very beautiful.  It seated 1,400 and it was not unusual to have all three services filled for the worship services.  The organ system was huge and provided an outstanding opportunity to simply get carried away during the worship service.  The organist was the best I had ever heard.  It was not unusual for him to play for five or more minutes at the end of each service.  It seemed as if hundreds would either stay in their seats or join him at the front of the church; as they had the chance to get this added blessing each Sunday.  The musical director was one of the best I had ever had the opportunity to listen to; in the way he could plan and present a musical program keyed to the message of the day from Dr. Kirkland.  Then, at special times of the year he would plan special programs that included a hundred or more voices, accompanied by twenty or more instrumental artists to assist in the musical programs.  It would not be fair to leave this unit without taking a little space to tell about the out-of-world stained glass windows.  There were no trees to block the sunlight coming through artistic creations and it is hard to describe the message they resonated.  Sometimes Jack and I would stay in our seats and listen to the organist as he gave his after service concert and combine the music with the windows fabulous message was the icing on the cake of our Sunday worship.  There was another important factor in the location of the church.  The world famous American University was only two blocks from the church, thus offering an easy journey to take advantage of all that National had to offer.  For the most part, I felt having someone like Dr. Kirkland and his way of preaching, should appeal to any student that was looking for a place to worship that would inspire them and add to what they would be receiving from American University.  You will also enjoy reading the next sections, as they give you a good picture of what is happening to us as we become active in the NPC church programs.  

  

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	Help Us Accept Each Other  Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;  Teach us as sister, brother each person to embrace.  Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe  we are ourselves accepted, and meant to love and live.  Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life  we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith,  Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,  To love them as we find them, or as they may become  Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved  in living situations to do the truth in love,  To practice your acceptance until we know by heart  the table of forgiveness, and laughter's healing art.  Lord, for today's encounters with all who are in need,  who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread,  we need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on;  renew   us with your Spirit, Lord, free us, make us one!  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Forty-Five  NPC 1993 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land  



	From the Pen of Jack  Several weeks after we had started going regularly, I noticed in the church bulletin that National was planning on taking a group to the Holy Land the next spring.  Neither Edythe or I had ever spent any time in the Holy Land, and I asked her if she would be interested to going with the church group on the trip and surprisingly she did not seem to stop to think about it . . . this was a little unusual for her . . . she said she thought it would be great for us to go.  So we signed up to go and to our surprise one Sunday after lunch, our next to the youngest son, Doug, said he would also like to go and this pleased us very much.  We made the deposit for all three and began our plans for the Pilgrimage.  In late May, we learned our trip might have to be cancelled.  We were facing two problems, one was that I had my right knee replaced a few months before and was still having to use crutches if I did much walking and I am sure there would be a lot of that, but I was willing to try.  The other major problem was with my father.  He had lived with us for 12 years in our home in Maryland.  However, he fell and broke his hip and shattered the bone in so many places, he had to have a six inch metal structure inserted to replaced the damaged section.  This also put him in a wheelchair.  He had lived us for several more years, but the time finally came when our family doctor said we were going to have to put him in a nursing home.  After many months, we finally reluctantly made the decision that we would follow the suggestion of our doctor, not that it made me feel any better.  Dad was in two different facilities over a period of several years, and having been very active all of his life, he seemed to lose all interest in life.  We got a call from the nursing home that we were going to have to put him in the hospital.  He had developed pneumonia.  We asked them to have him sent to the Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Maryland, as it was only a few miles from our home.  He had learned several months before that we were hoping to make the trip with the church to the Holy Land.  The first thing he said when we made the first visit in the hospital was that his being there must not interfere with our making the trip in April . . . typical dad!  I went to tell the Mission Pastor, Dr. Peg Cantwell, what had happened and wanted counsel of what she thought we should do.  We prayed and she read some selections of Scripture and then said, while it was a tough decision, she thought we should honor his wish for us to make the trip, but we would have to make the decision.  I called my sister in Jefferson City, MO and asked her what she thought and she expressed the same thing.  Dad had made us promise to make the trip, no matter what happened to him.  She said we should keep the promise.  He would want us to go.  After two or three days I finally told Edythe that I did not think it would be disrespectful if we did continue our plans to make the Pilgrimage.  However, having celebrated his 99th birthday the previous December, his body had lost the power necessary to fight the infection.  Yet, on every visit we made, he said nothing should interfere with our trip.  It seemed this was more important to him than anything else . . . it was as if he was planning on going with us . . . and maybe he did.  I was with him in the hospital around the first of April and he again made me promise we would make the Pilgrimage.  The next day his breathing was much more difficult and his blood count was off the chart and shortly before midnight, as I sat with him, he whispered not to let anything make us cancel our trip and shortly thereafter he stopped the struggle and went to meet his Lord.  The funeral was simple . . . the children came and we laid him to rest by his wife in Hazelwood Cemetery . . . thirteen days before we were to go on the trip.  Dr. Cantwell also said she had heard about the two movies I had made for the Department of Defense in Korea and wanted to know if I would do the same thing for the church on the Pilgrimage.  I told her I had switched from movie film to a camcorder, and if she wanted that, I would be glad to record the activities for the trip.  She said that would be OK.  Edythe and I, joined by son Doug, joined 42 others for the first Pilgrimage to the Holy Land from NPC in April 1993.  This was typical of the average group coming to the Holy Land.  We spent the two weeks, visiting churches all over Israel .  I am not going to give you a day by day schedule, rather it will be a random composite of where we went and what we saw.  We will also explain how the Pilgrimage led to some very important involvements with the National Presbyterian Church.  The leader, Dr. Don Kruse, had formerly lived in Jerusalem as the Ambassador to Israel for the US State Department.  He already knew places for us to go and people to hear, so it was a win-win situation of meeting outstanding leaders of the Jews and Arabs, as we learned more about the history of the area.  We heard one of the most important pieces of advise from Don as we were preparing our minds to take in the significance of our trip to the Holy Land.  He said we should not get caught up in wondering if this was really the place where Jesus was born . . . where He was crucified . . . or exactly where the 5,000 men and their families were served the meal containing only a few fish and loaves of bread.  In other words, it was not really that important to have to believe that this was exact spot or place after 2,000 years.  The important thing to remember was that it did happen, but the place is really not of such significance to spend time trying to figure out all the logistics of His life.  In and Around Jerusalem  We stayed in the Seven Arches for most of the time we were in the Jerusalem and West Bank. Shortly after breakfast on the first day of travel; as we were close to the Church of the Pater Noster, Don said we would start the day there.  This church was built in 1874 by the Princess D'Auvergne of Belgium for the Carmelite Sisters.  It is most famous for the 80 plaques handing on the walls, each repeating the Lord's Prayer in a different language or dialect.  Also on the Mt. of Olives, is the Church of Dominus Flevit.  This marks the spot where Jesus is reported to have said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered her brood under her wings and you would not." I am not sure but I think this was the most solemn I had seen the group at any other time on the trip.  It was a very quiet and reflective group.  The beginning point of the walk down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane begins just about 500 feet from our hotel and takes anywhere for thirty minutes to an hour, depending on how fast you walk.  The group Edythe, Doug and I were among the first to get to the garden, It is difficult to say which was more impressive; the Garden of the thousand of year old olive trees or the beautiful Church of Gethsemane.  One of the trees has been tested to be over 3000 years and still produces olives.  If that age is anywhere true, it was in the garden when Jesus uttered his prayer of agony.  As you walk around the garden to enter the church, you are surrounded by flowers everywhere, in the ground and from the top of the walls . . . yes . . . everywhere.  Entering the beautifully decorated church, with it's elaborate windows and magnificent twelve domes, it surely reflects a quiet and subdued spirit to honor where the agony of Jesus took place.  Our motor coach met us at the Church of Gethsemane and took us to the Damascus Gate, one of the most beautiful and popular.  This would give us the opportunity to walk by the hundreds of the bazaars on the way to another very highly regarded Christian church . . . The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It is one of the most holy shrines in Christendom for some and is believed to have been built over the crucifixion site of Jesus on Golgotha, as well as the tomb where he was resurrected.  The church was first built by Emperor Constantine in 325 AD and dedicated in 335 AD.  With the Persian invasion in 691, a great amount of damage was done to the church, but it was in 1009 that the Moslem ruler Hakim invaded Jerusalem and did massive destruction, especially at the Tomb of Christ.  Because of the lack of revenue, the crusaders were only able to restore one-third of the original church; that section thought to be site of the Crucifixion and the area of the Tomb of Christ.  In 1852 the Ottoman Turks granted special rights and privileges to only three major religious communities; the Roman Catholics, or Latin's under Franciscans, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox.  Lessor rights were granted to the Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian Orthodox communities.  Frankly, my opinion is that there was too much competition.  I think the message they were trying to present, was lost in the confusion.  I think this was especially true when you had to fight the crowds, as some of the stations of the Via Dolorosa . . . Stations Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen were always so crowded.  We were to spend several days in Jerusalem in the surrounding area.  The city of Jerusalem is associated historical with Judaism and Christianity in the early years and later with Islam in the 7th century AD.  It is the eternal city for some 600,000 people.  The circle of walls of the city measure two and half miles and has nine gates, eight of which are open to the public.  Some twenty nations have invaded, captured and governed the city over the centuries.  For Jews, its importance lies within the ancient Temple first built by Solomon and later re-built by Herod the Great.  For Christians, it is within these walls that Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity was crucified on Calvary and then arose from the tomb.  For

 Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is the place where Mohammed, the prophet, made his night journey to heaven.  The Wailing Wall is Judaism's holiest site.  It is the closest section to where the original Temple stood.  When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, it's destruction brought sorrow for the Jew.  Today, the Jew refers to the wall as "The Synagogue of the Wall" and is 200 feet long and 90 feet high.  The upper section was re-built by the Ottomans and the middle and lower parts are from the Herodian period.  The present level goes down another 63 feet to bedrock, indicating how deep the original wall of the Temple went.  We also visited the Dome of the Rock.  We learned that there was a great deal of arguments between the Jew and the Moslem regarding the Rock.  There is a huge stone in the center that the Jews claim was to be use by Abraham when he accepted the command of God to sacrifice his son Isaac.  On the other hand, the Islam Faith maintains that this is the rock from which Mohammed took his journey to heaven.  The dome measures 64 feet in diameter and the richly adorned ceilings reflect the beautiful art of Islam.  The sacred rock is surrounded by a mahogany barrier.  It was built in 691 by Abd-el-Malik and has had several external restorations.  The newly gold-gilded dome was a gift from the late King Hussein of Jordan in 1994 . . . just a year before we made the Pilgrimage.  On the same grounds is the Al-Aqksa Mosque was built at the beginning of the 8th century by Umayyad Caliph Al-Waleed Ibn Abd-el-Malik and since has been destroyed several times by earthquakes.  The Mosque has the form of a basilica with seven naves.  The central apse rests on twelve marble columns.  To the west of the minbar (pulpit) are two places of prayer, each having a small mihrab (prayer niche), one is dedicated to Jesus and the other to Moses.  The Mosque is the main place of prayer for the Muslims of the region and is closed to visitors during any sanctioned prayer time.  We made four more important visits while in the Jerusalem area.  One was to the Pool of Siloam.  The tunnel and pool, located in the City of David, was constructed by King Hezekiah in order to assure there would be a supply of water in time of siege.  It is considered a major engineering feat for this period of the 8th century BC.  This is where Jesus spat on the ground and made clay and anointed the man's eyes and told him to "Go wash in the pool of Siloam (that means Sent) and when the blind man washed the clay from his eyes, he came back seeing.  The Church of St. Ann and the Pool of Bethesda.  The church was built by the Crusaders in 1140 to commemorate the place of the birth of Mary.  Critics question her birth here and maintain she was born in Sepphoris, not far from Nazareth.  In either case, the church is still standing thanks to Saladin the Moslem conqueror who turned the church into a Moslem seminary.  In 1850 the Ottoman Turks assigned the property to France , as a sign of appreciation for helping them in the Crimean War of the 1850's.  It is thought that the Pool of Bethesda is the place where Jesus cured the paralytic man.  One can still see the descending steps leading to the pool the people of that time thought as being a "healing" pool.  All of the archaeological findings have been under the sponsorship of the White Fathers who own and manage the property.  There were several that wanted to make a visit to the place called "The Upper Room" that was located above the Tomb of David on Mount Zion and that some believe might be the Cenacle in which Jesus ate the Passover meal, which turned into the Eucharistic meal.  It is also thought to be the same room where the Pentecost took place . . . that is, the official founding of the Christian Church.  The fourth place we visited was the Garden Tomb, and though it is outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate.  In 1883, General Gordon, a British officer discovered what he thought might be the site of the resurrection.  It is a most popular place for nearly all Pilgrimage groups to visit and the English group that own it have landscaped it beautifully and it is very convenient to have some kind of worship service while visiting the Garden.  We enjoyed communion while we were there.  We went to the Knesset (Israeli governing body) while it was in session and followed this with a visit to the Shrine of the Book; where the entire book of Isaiah is displayed, having been found in Qumran, where we also visited and heard a lecture on how the Dead Sea Scrolls were found; this on our way to Massada.  We made a quick visit to David's Spring in Ein Gedi for refreshments and bottles of water we would need to make the exploration at the top of Massada, the Dead Sea was not tempting enough to take a swim.  On the way back we stopped in Jericho, thought to be the oldest city in the world and dates back to 7000 BC, the period of the Neolithic age when man stopped being a hunter and became a planter.  After the conquest of Bethel and Ai by Joshua's forces, Jericho became his next city to conquer.  It is here the tax collector, Zacchaeus, touched by Jesus' spirit gave half of his belongings to the poor.  It is also thought this may be the place where Barthemaus was cured of blindness by Jesus.  The Upper Galilee  One of the most beautiful sections of Israel is the upper Galilee.  We had several exciting experiences in Galilee and one of them was in Nazareth.  We left the Seven Arches hotel and moved to Tiberias which would be our headquarters for a few days.  Sailing in a model of an ancient fishing vessel, we set sail for Capernaum.  The trip over was an exciting experience.  The captain of the boat stopped in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and various members read one of the passages dealing with Jesus and His disciples.  This was one of the highlights of the Pilgrimage for us.  Arriving on the other side of the Sea of Galilee we found out we were going to be treated to a fish meal served with fish caught in the Sea of Galilee and we each got a large fish with all the trimmings.  This was a part of a great experience on our way to Capernaum.  We were only a short distance to the entry to the "City of Jesus," as Capernaum was called by the disciples.  It was a small fishing village where Jesus called his disciples where he performed eight miracles.  The property was purchased by the Franciscans in 1894 and they began excavations in 1968 that uncovered the house of the apostle Peter, and a 4th century synagogue.  The Franciscans built a new church elevated   over the house of Peter that was dedicated in tbethe early 1990's.  Additional discoveries consisted of a five family dwelling.  The principle insula or dwelling was  remarkable in that it had several layers of walls from various centuries surrounding it.  Written on the inner wall of the dwellings were 135 inscriptions containing the names of Jesus and Peter from the first century.  They also found seven layers of crushed oil lamps in the ground below the dwellings indicating that this was a place of worship or house church.  We could have spent more time in Capernaum.  However, we had to keep up a very busy schedule.  Our next place to visit was a small village called Ibillin and there we would visit with Abuna Elias Chahour, the developer of the kindergarten and creator of the high school and college.  What a story he had to share with us.  He has been posted by the Melkacite Bishop as his first parish. He tells the story of arriving in Ibillin with no place to live; how he spent three years living in a little compact VW, and was subjected to vile treatment by the caretaker of the kindergarten property.   Today he serves not only the village of Ibillin, but is the headmaster of a fully graded 12 year school system and college giving educational opportunities to Arabs, Druse, and Jews totaling over 4,000 students.  He is the author of two books I have in my library.  One is entitled "We   Belong to the Land" and the other is "Blood Brothers" and I think you would be blessed and enlightened by taking the time to find and read both.  I went back for a week in 1994 and spent a week shooting a video of Abuna, the facilities, beautiful new church, and of course interviews with dozens of students.  He used this in his fundraising programs.  On the way back we visited Nazareth.  This is the place where the scripture says, "The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, who was of the house and lineage of David and the virgin was called Mary.  Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and will bear a son and his names shall be called Jesus."  The Basilica of the Annunciation was the first church that we visited in Nazareth, a community of over 40,000 is where the majority of Israeli Christians and Muslims live . . . side by side.  This is a magnificent work of art, both from the structure itself, the gorgeous interior windows and wall paintings.  It was designed by Giovanni Muzio and consecrated in 1969 and is owned and operated by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.  The great dome of the Basilica is designed like an inverted lily with 16 petals inscribed inside with the letter "M" for Mary.  It's root is facing toward God and it's opening shadows the Grotto below were the Incarnation took place, symbolizing God's graces coming down upon mankind.  We also spent nearly two hours in the Grotto of the Annunciation on the ground floor, which some scholars claim to be the exact spot where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing that she was to be the Mother of Jesus.  Most of our Pilgrimage just sat in awe and wondering what this must have meant to Mary.  Another church less than a mile away in Nazareth was the Church of the Archangel Gabriel.  This is owned and operated by the Greek Orthodox

 Church of St.  Gabriel that houses the ancient source of water for the local well in Nazareth.  Near the Church of the Archangel Gabriel was The St. John Baptist Church, but we did not make a personal visit there.  It required a lengthy walk and by this time most of us were ready to call it a day . . . a long and tiring day.  However, we did spend two hours with Arch Bishop Abu El Assal, the Rector of the Episcopal Church in Nazareth and head of a wonderful school for kindergarten children up to the 12th grade.  He conducted a "blessing" service for our group that was very touching.  He insisted we visit each of the classes, although we told him we should not be disturbing the teachers.  We made a quick journey in nearby Ain Karem, signifying "spring Vineyard" though never mentioned in the Bible, tradition is that this is where St. John the Baptist was born and grew up.  It may also be the place were Mary came to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was with child, namely her son John.  Also in upper Galilee we visited the Church of the Beatitudes.  The church was built in 1938 by the architect Barluzzi and constructed with white limestone and black basalt stones.  The dome contains eight stained glass windows depicting the Beatitudes and provides a lovely panorama of the Sea of Galilee.  As we sat in the small, but beautiful church, one of our Pilgrims sang "How Great Thou Art" as Dr. Cantwell read "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth; Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied; Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy; Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God; Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."  Matthew 5:3-12  Tradition has it that somewhere on this mountain Jesus called together His disciples and hundreds of followers and shared the Sermon on the Mount with them.  I can frankly say that this was also one of the highlights of our Pilgrimage to the Holy land.  Also nearby was the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes located in Tabgha, and it is thought that this might be the place, or near it, were Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 men, their wives and children.  This all came about from an old mosaic they had discovered.  The beautiful and faithfully reconstructed Byzantine church contains this mosaic and many other exquisite and well preserved fifth century mosaics.  We also visited Cana of Galilee, geographically located near the present village of Kefar-Kanna.  This is where Jesus performed his first miracle   of changing water into wine for the wedding party.  If you would like to read the Biblical record of this event you can find it in John 2:1-11.  Three churches in Cana commemorate this event, the Franciscan Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and the small Baptist Church of Cana that is served by a dear friend of mine, a graduate of the Bethlehem Bible College.  We also visited Beit Sean, founded in 3500 BC.  It is located near Mount Gilboa and is the town where the Philistines impaled the bodies of Saul and this three sons after the defeat on Mount Gilboa (I Samuel 13:8-10).  During the Roman period it became the principle city for the textile industry.  It's lush areas have always been a factor for settlements over the centuries.  We visited an old Roman city being excavated exposing what must have been a rich and varied culture.  We also visited Mount Tabor in lower Galilee, an ancient mountain going back to 1250 BC.  When the Prophet Jeremiah first saw it in the 8th century BC, he associated it with the strength of Nebuchadnezzar.  It is 3,000 feet long, 800 feet wide at the base and is 1,800 feet high, surrounded by perfectly level ground in all directions.  A Crusader fortress was built on the summit in 1099 by Tancred and entrusted to the Benedictines who had built the ancient basilica.  The fortress and church were attacked in 1113, leaving 72 monks dead.  The Benedictines returned in 1115 and in 1187 Saladin re-conquered the summit.  In 1631 the Franciscans bought the property from the Moslems and have been maintaining this holy site for thousands of pilgrims whom come to visit.  We also visited Megiddo that was built by Solomon, although previous civilizations such as the Canaanites and Philistines had occupied it.  Megiddo is mentioned in Joshua, Judges and the Chronicles.  A place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon, the great symbolic battlefield in which the final struggle between the powers of good and evil.  Bethlehem and Surrounding Area  In the Old Testament, Bethlehem was known as Ephrata.  It was a small village where David was born and anointed and since Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, he brought Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child, to Bethlehem to register for the census.  In Bethlehem, on the highest elevation, is the Church of the Nativity.  It is the oldest Christian church in the world.  During the Persian invasion in 624 AD, while all the other Constantinian built churches were being destroyed, this church was spared.  In 1333 AD the Franciscans were allowed to reside and pray in the church.  The Church of the Nativity, along with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (in Jerusalem) are now registered as Status Quo churches, meaning that they are jointly administered by the Franciscans (Latin's), the Greek and the Armenian Orthodox communities.  To get into the Church of the Nativity, the only entrance is a small two and a half foot wide by five foot high opening and you have to be very careful as you enter.  There is a nearly two foot stone that serves as an impediment to keep those out that are not worthy to enter the Church of the Nativity.  Having gained entry, you will see that some of the floor is covered with wooden panels.  Beneath them is what is left of the original flooring the Constantinian Church built in 335 AD.  The forty-four columns on either side of the church are eighteen feet high and are from the Justinian period.  The steps leading down to the arch to the left will take you to the Grotto of the Nativity . . . one of Christendom's holies sites, the place where Jesus was born.  To the right is where the Roman Catholic's believe the three Kings made their gifts to the new born Christ.  However the most holiest place in Christian tradition is the Star of Bethlehem, the place that many assume is the exact spot where the Lord Jesus was born.  It was put there in 1717 by the Franciscan with the Latin inscription: "Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natusest." (Here the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.) The altar is used by the Greek and Armenian Orthodox communities.  Just down the hill from Bethlehem in Beit Sahur is the Chapel of the Shepherd operate by the Franciscans.  It is created in the shape of a Bedouin tent with glass enclosed skylights symbolizing the bright star that the shepherds saw when the angels appeared to them.  One of the places we visited was the Bethlehem Bible College where we were so impressed with what they were doing to help young people become Christian leaders and pastors.  We were so impressed with the work of Dr. Bishara Awad and his faculty and staff, that we took a team back to the BBC in 1994 to serve the college and to learn more still about the conflict between the Arab and Jew.  The team returned to the states after two weeks and we stayed on to serve as volunteers with the Bethlehem Bible College for five months.  

	

Chapter Forty-Six  Political Research with Jerry and Sis Levin  November 1993  



	From the Pen of Jack  Don Kruse, a veteran member of the USA State Department, tried to be diplomatic in planning the schedule for our Pilgrimage and I must admit that the Pilgrimage did take us to the various places in the Holy Land that had significance for us as Christians.  I also admit that he tried to develop a travel schedule that would take us to these places, but at the same time we had little personal contact with Arabs or Jews, nor did we have an opportunity to talk with or listen to them concerning the problems between the Arab and the Jew and I was equally interested in learning more about this conflict.  In November 1993 I got a call from Sis Levin with the question if I would like to join her and Jerry for a two week political research trip to Israel and I jumped at the chance.  Having been a friend of Jerry for several years, I knew he would not be afraid to expose us to both sides of the struggle.  In case you are not familiar with the name Jerry Levin, he was the United Press Correspondent that was captured and held as prisoner in Lebanon for eleven months.  I had already read Sis's book about her struggle with the State Department in trying to get our government to do more in helping to get Jerry released from the Lebanon prison.  I knew we were in for a full two weeks, but really was surprised with the quality of people we listened to and to whom we could ask questions.  The first person we met was the Mayor of Halhul, a small Palestinian village south of Jerusalem and east of Hebron.  He had just been released that day from prison and told us an unbelievable story of what he had suffered as a prisoner of the Israeli government for the seven years he had been held in prison.  Jerry asked him why he had been imprisoned and he said it was simply because he was the elected mayor of his community . . . no other reason for him to have been out of contact with his family, friends and his community . . . arrested and imprisoned just because he was the elected mayor!  We had another equally interesting experience when we interviewed the President of the Bir Zeit University.  He had just returned the day before from a 14 year exile from Israel , based on the actions of some of the students.  He had managed to conduct the affairs of the university even though we had to live in    Cyprus and Jordon for the 14 years.  He told of how students would be routed out of their classrooms, the males would be stripped searched, the books destroyed by the military, faculty and staff arrested for minor things, but held in prison for months.  One of their greatest problems was that during curfew or closure during the days of the Intifada, both faculty and students would be stopped at the first of the 180 check points in effect at that time and would not be permitted to go through the check point, even though they had official permits to cross the check points.  After the interview, the President said he had arranged for us to meet with a large number of students, all who had been arrested at some time during their enrollment at Bir Zeit and they had been instructed to open up as much as they wanted in a one hour session.  They were encouraged to ask any of us any question they might have as to why we were visiting Bir Zeit and the Holy Land.  One of them wanted to know what I thought about the problems they were facing . . . did I have any idea of what they had to go through just to get to the university?  Fortunately, having spent the five months at the Bethlehem Bible College in April.  I could talk intelligently about what had happened to me even as an American citizen trying to get through check-points.  This was the most exciting thing that happened to me during the entire two weeks.  I listened spell bound to their tales of sorrow and suffering at the hands of the military and government.  I tried to take notes, but it became impossible.  I was so shaken up by listening to one after the other tell of what they had suffered simply because they were students and I had never heard of such things to which the young women were subjected by the military in the civilized world.  I had never had any problem with this before, as these things never come to the attention of the general American public.  I could easily take several more pages relating the same things as the above, just changing names and places.  I was amazed with how Jerry had managed to make contact with the nearly two dozen individuals and organizations with whom we got to spent two weeks.  I was never so confused and upset by what the two weeks had shown me; that I stayed on for an additional week to see if there was another side to the Arab/Jew conflict and I found out there were almost as many sides as there are Arabs on one side and Jews on the other.  Will the problem ever be solved is question all of us who have spent months in Israel and Palestine trying to get a grip on what is happening there every day . . . . . . . . . .  

  

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	God is working His Purpose Out  God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year:  God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near,  nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be,  when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God,  as the waters cover the sea.  From utmost east to utmost west, where o'er the church has gone,  by the mouth of many messengers the call of God has come:  Listen to me, you continents, you isles, give ear to me,  that the earth may be filled with the glory of God,  as the waters cover the sea.  March we forth in the strength of God, with banner of Christ unfurled,  that the light of the glorious gospel of truth may shine throughout the   world;Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin to set their captives free so that the earth may be filled with the glory of God,  as the waters cover the sea.  All we can do is done in vain unless God blesses the deed;  vainly we hope for the harvest tide till God gives life to the seed:  Yet nearer and nearer draws the time, the time shall surely be  as the waters cover the sea.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Forty-Seven  The Bethlehem Bible College in 1994  



	From the Pen of Jack  One of the major projects for the team was to begin the development of a Biblical Garden. We planted olive trees, mish-mish (apricot) trees, flowers like the Rose of Sharon rose bushes and plants we found mentioned in the Bible.  We built two large metal arbors for grapes and planted several types of grapes at the base of the arbors.  Others of the team, that were not interested in the garden, were either put to work repainting the upstairs Prayer Room or working with Peg Prudden and her son George, who were with the team to work with the College Librarian in upgrading the library to a modern system with the computer.  George also had agreed to serve as the leader for those going home after spending two weeks as volunteers.  Shortly thereafter we had to send the visiting team home to the states with George, as we were scheduled to stay with the Bethlehem Bible College for five months as volunteers.  Edythe was assigned to many things after the team had returned home.  These included taking care of the gift shop, office work as needed, helping in the kitchen and when large groups were coming, she and all the rest of us would pitch in and see that all the rooms were ready for occupancy.  She was kept very busy in the five months we were there.  I was to continue working on developing the Biblical Garden and doing a lot of work on beautifying the campus.  One of the things I had done when I was in high school was working for my dad in the greenhouses and producing hundreds of thousands of new plants and seeing them planted either in small pots or planted in the growth beds outdoors.  These experiences came in handy at the Bethlehem Bible College.  The college had a lot of walled areas that I could use by making cuttings and planting them along the edges of each of the walls.  One problem was solved in getting cuttings of some sedem that grew in that country.  We had stayed in the Seven Arches Hotel on the top of the Mount of Olives when we were there with the National Presbyterian Church Pilgrimage group in 1993 and I had become good friends with one of the staff of the hotel.  Edythe and I decided to have lunch at the Seven Aches one Sunday when we had stayed in Jerusalem after attending the East Jerusalem Baptist Church and I had a chance to see that the grounds people at the hotel were trimming a large bed of the same kind of plant I was wanting for the Bethlehem Bible College garden walls.  So I asked my friend Mohammad if I could take some of them back to the college with me and he said they would just put the cuttings in the dumpster and they would be destroyed and to take all I wanted.  We took a large box full back to the college to make cutting.  This is a very simple process.  I would collect the empty large plastic two liter soda bottles and cut off the top, leaving a container about eight inches tall.  Stripping of a good part of the lower leaves, I would put 15 to 20 in each of the bottles and put them in sunny places to watch for roots to develop.  The water had to be changed each week, as algae would grow as the sun shown on the bottles.  It usually took two or three weeks for the cuttings to root enough to plant in the soil close to the edge of the wall.  The objective was to ultimately have the four to six feet tall walls completely covered with the sedem.  With lots of water they would grow several feet long.  In the course of the five months we were at the College, along my other duties, I probably made several thousand cuttings and planted them along the walls.  It was during this time that Dr. Bernard Goldstein took the machine gun and hand grenades into the Abraham Mosque in Hebron and murdered 29 Moslems at prayer and wounded over 200 more, before those being attacked could respond . . . and this they finally did, by beating Dr. Goldstein to death with a fire extinguisher before the military could arrive.  Following the massacre of the 29 Moslems in the Abraham Mosque in Hebron, and living with the Palestinians in the West Bank and observing what the average Palestinian family suffered during Curfew and Closure, I began to understand a little more what the uprising, the Intifada as it was called, was all about.  I personally have had to go through the days of several Intifada uprisings, along with the people of the West Bank.  Believe me it was rough.  As I said before, it took a lot of water to keep the cuttings in fresh water.  It took even more water when I got them planted.  Another of my major duties was to see that the large cistern was kept full of water.  The college had three lines that came into the campus.  As the punishment for the killing of Dr. Goldstein, the Israeli government cut off the supply of water to the West Bank.  Sometimes is was only for a few hours . . . other times it could be off for two to three weeks.  Thus part of my duties was to keep a close check on the water system.  I would get up at 3:00 or 4:00 o'clock a.m. and go to the places where the water came to the college to see if the water was available.  If not, I would go back to bed for a few hours and get up and try again.  If it is running, I would quickly turn on the major source and get it hooked up to the cistern and turned it on full force and then go to check the other two sources of incoming water.  One of the first thing I had done for the gardens was to work out a system using soaker hose throughout each of them and working it so that each of the other two water sources would serve two different sections of the gardens.  The shutting off and turning on of water was to last the entire time we were there, so I was kept very busy.  Several times the Israeli government kept the water turned off for one to two weeks, and one time we got down to only about eight inches of water in the cistern and none was in the large container scattered all over the top of the buildings.  They were all empty!  We   were about out of water, when the Israeli government announced the water would be turned on for four hours.  This would go on for the remaining four months of our volunteer stay with the Bethlehem Bible College.  Shortly after George Prudden was on his way home with the team, I learned that Dr. Mubarak Awad, the brother of the President of the Bethlehem Bible College, would be coming to the West Bank to unseal some Palestinian homes that had been welded shut by the Israeli military and when he got there he invited me to join the group. Dr. Awad was head of an organization in Washington, D. C. that was very active in reconciliation and non-violent work.  That is what this trip is to be.  Mubarak asked me to video the entire process and I did.  Every door, every window had been welded in so many places, about the only way was to take heavy hammers and large chisels and beat them open, inch by inch.  We began about 8:00 a.m. and did not finish until nearly dark.  It was something else to watch the family swing open the doors and windows and invite everyone in to come in their home for sweets and sodas.  The entire evening was spent in this fashion.  I had never seen a family so happy.  However the happiness did not last long, the lady of the house called Mubarak and told him the military had come back and welded everything shut again.  It did not take Mubarak long to round up a crew and we went through the same thing again, taking a long, long day to unseal the house.  They had used thicker welds and it took longer, but the job was completed and the family moved back in and we went home dead tired, but again happy for the family.  This happiness did not last very long either.  Three days later we got a call to tell Mubark that the military had returned and resealed the house for the third time . . . and welded to the front door was a message written both in Arabic and English that if the house was unsealed the third time, the house would be dynamited and destroyed just like the one of the their neighbors who lived on the street just behind them.  This will take a little explanation as to why the house had been welded shut and the one behind it dynamited and totally destroyed.  The 16 year old son of the family had been arrested for throwing stones at an Israeli military jeep, along with two other neighbor boys the same age.  All three denied throwing any stones.  However, the military paid no attention to their denial and they were carted off to prison.  As punishment for the alleged stone throwing by the one boy, was that his family had to leave their house immediately, without being permitted to take anything with them.  Hardly before they were out, the military went to work immediately welding all the doors and windows.  The house of his two friends was dynamited, bulldozed and totally destroyed.  I stood amidst the destroyed house and use my camcorder to record the piles of stone, mixed in with the personal belongings of the family and cried.  What makes people do such horrible things?  The family notified Mubarak not to come back and that they had found a smaller house near theirs and were going to go see Jonathon Kutab, a famous Palestinian Christian Advocate (lawyer) and he had agreed to represent the family and would try to get the three boys released from prison and get the military to permit the house to be opened, but there was little hope the destroyed house would be re-built!  I checked when I went back to Hebron   in 1996 and it was still sealed and the son was still in prison.  However, I got a letter in 2002 that Jonathan had been successful to getting the case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court, the house opened by the military, and had gotten some financial aid from the government.  The other family also got their two sons released from prison and enough of a settlement to rebuild their house.  It took a little over eight years but justice was finally served in this case.  I had decided I wanted to return

 to Hebron in 1995 to interview some of the families that had lost loved ones.  I told Mubarak when he got to Bethlehem what I wanted to do, and he said he thought he had the perfect solution.  I could do some work at the Al Watan Center in Hebron and Nayef Hashlamoun, the director, could help me with the interviews and recordings and he would probably want me to also help him do some things.  Little did I know what kind of help he wanted.  He said to send a copy of my resume to Nayef and reasons why I wanted to do the interviews with families whose sons, fathers, uncles, etc.  had been killed in the Mosque.  Within three days, I had received the desired invitation, and made plans to return to Hebron for three months in 1995.  My headquarters would be the AL Watan Center in Hebron and I would live with the Director, Nayef Hashlamoun, and he would serve as the interpreter when we did the recorded interviews.  Believe it on not, I   would not know what Nayef would want me to do until I got there . . . and it was a shock beyond belief!  As always, though, things worked out better than I thought possible when he explained what he wanted me to do.I might as well believe it . . . Nayef wanted me to teach several groups of Palestinian English teachers, using conversational English as the subject material . . . and the real problem was that I had not brought any teaching materials of any kind that could be used with the Conversational English classes for the Palestinian English teachers.  

  

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	"I am the true vine, and my Father is the Gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be more fruitful."  John 15:1  

	

Chapter Forty-Eight  Why Our Interest in the BBC?  



	From the Pen of Dr. Awad  Following is a newsletter we received from in 2006.  The BBC story is how a man took a $20 bill 23 year ago and accepted a challenge to build a Bible College in or near Bethlehem, that is now appraised at slightly over $4,000,000.00.  Update October 2006  "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."  Dear Friends of Bethlehem Bible College,  Introduction  The summer months – with their heat and many activities – are gone.  Many of our staff were able to travel, and wherever they went, they were lights and ambassadors for their Lord and for the Ministry of Bethlehem Bible College.  Brenda and Rev. Alex are still away in the U.S.A.  We miss them and look forward to their return on October 20th.  New School Year  Classes at Bethlehem Bible College started September 4th with 13 new students in the freshman class.  With our extensions in Gaza and Nazareth, we are touching the lives of over 135 students.  These students come to us from the Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical churches.  Pray with us that these dedicated young men and women will open their hearts to the Lord and be trained to be leaders for the churches.  We do want to keep the Gospel light shining in the Holy Land!  Choir  We are all excited that the Choir of Bethlehem Bible College will soon be in the U.S.A.  The 35-voice Palestinian Choir will present beautiful songs of praise, give testimonies and present a Palestinian folklore dance.  Attached is their schedule.  We invite you to come to one of the concerts.  Bishara will be traveling with the Choir for part of the time and our church history teacher, Rev. Nihad, will be with them the rest of the time.  Rev. David Adam is the coordinator of the Choir in the U.S.A.  (See attachment for contact person and Choir itinerary)  Mass Media  The Mass Media Department of Bethlehem Bible College is being used for the glory of God.  The TV program on Bethlehem television is aired twice weekly to an audience of hundreds of people.  The Media Department is producing several programs for Satellite # 7, an Arabic-speaking satellite station for the Middle East, as well as preparing their fourteen-student class for graduation this coming May.  Soon we will be producing a new DVD, "Living Light," for the College which the Mass Media department will help in developing.  Their part in this ministry is a vital part and your prayers are most appreciated.  Shepherd Society  The Shepherd Society is the humanitarian arm of Bethlehem Bible College.  What a delight to be able to help the community by providing medical assistance and food for the poor, creating jobs for the unemployed as well as giving 500 school bags to local school children.  The society also joined efforts with the local Arab Rehabilitation Hospital in Beit Jala to open an Ears Nose and Throat Clinic (ENT) by providing all the equipment and the salary of the specialist doctor.  The situation in Bethlehem and the West Bank is very bad; more than one million people live under poverty levels.  Please pray for our region.  Building Project  We finally managed to get all the paperwork done, and the construction on the Student Center building should start soon.  The Building Committee is meeting regularly and is hoping that by the end of October the first phase of the building will take place.  Besides the certificate to build from the City, the ground was tested, a retaining wall (600' X 15' high) was completed and we are looking for vendors from which the Committee will prayerfully pick the best ones to work on the building.  We anticipate creating jobs for over one hundred people.  A certain Foundation is willing to provide us the sum of $125,000 if this figure can be matched in full by June, 2007.  We now seek help, small or large, to be able to match this wonderful gift.  Our Holy Land team from First and Calvary were there in June of 2006 to watch them lay the cornerstone for this new Student Center.  Prayer Day  The whole body of Bethlehem Bible College – students, staff, faculty and board – are setting aside October 17th as a day of fasting and prayer.  Please join us in prayer on that day.  We cannot tell you in words how bad the situation here is, but the Lord, who is our "refuge and strength" will listen from above and will have mercy on our Land.  Volunteers  The Lord is truly good to us.  He sent us dedicated volunteers to be with us and help with the ministry.  David and Elspeth Rymer came to us from Somerset in England .  They are helping us by teaching English, taking charge of the Guest House and helping with the Gift Shop.  We had Dr. Jack Fellows and his wife Edythe Fellows back on campus for a week in June. They were volunteers with us for five months in 1994. They were the leaders of a group of University students from Springfield, Missouri on a two week journey through the Holy Land. They built the retaining wall for our new garden at the north end of our property.  Susan Rybarchyk came to us from Pennsylvania and Jessica Mackie came from Wisconsin to help out in the office.  Matthew Alberty, and Tracy Partain are short-term volunteers.  Rev. Musa Abu Ali, from Bethlehem, is helping us in the absence of Rev. Alex and is acting as Chaplain and spiritual father for the students.  Please pray for these missionaries as they serve the Lord and we welcome you to write letters of encouragement for them to us. (see Bethlehem Bible College mailing address and e-mail information below)  Visitors  Despite all the restrictions and fear, we have been receiving many visitors.  Some come for a day to visit the College and see Bethlehem.  Others come for a longer time and stay at our Guest House, specially built for visitors of the College.  We wish to let you all know that it is safe to come to Bethlehem!  Come and visit us and see with your own eyes this powerful ministry for the Lord Jesus.  Jack Sarah  Great news – one of our teachers, Jack Sarah, and his wife, Madeline,  who is also a teacher here, have adopted a beautiful baby girl named  Maranatha.  Now Nathan, aged two, has a playmate!  Future  As people of faith, we are also people of hope.  We look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  To see young people loving and wanting to serve the Lord is so fulfilling.  We look forward to better days and for students to come to us from neighboring Arab countries.  We thank you one and all for standing with us, for your part in this ministry, and most of all for your prayers.  We love to hear from you.  Yours for His Service,  Bishara Awad, President  Bethlehem Bible College  PO Box 17166, Jerusalem 91190 Israel  www.bethlehembiblecollege.eduinfo@bethlehembiblecollege.edu  

  

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	Jesus said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.  Mark 15:15-16,   20  

  

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	"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."  Ephesians 5:25-27  

	

Chapter Forty-Nine  Witnessing to Hebron in 1995  



	From the Pen of Jack  I had decided to return to Hebron in 1995 to interview some of the families that had lost loved ones, or who had suffered injuries. I told Mubarak when he got to Bethlehem what I wanted to do, and he said he thought he had the perfect solution.  I could do some work at the Al WATAN Center in Hebron and Nayef Hashlamoun, the director, could help me with the interviews and recordings and he would probably want me to also help him do some things. Little did I know what kind of help he wanted.  Within three days, I had received the desired invitation, and made plans to return to Hebron for three months. My headquarters would be the Al WATAN Center in Hebron and I would live with the Director, Nayef Hashlamoun and he would serve as the interpreter when we did the interviews.  However, I am going to put that on hold and write about it further in the book, as there is another trip I made in 1993 that is different than the Pilgrimage made with the National Presbyterian Church.  A devastating surprise came after I had joined Nayef Hashlamoun, when I learned I would have to teach Conversational English to Arab English Teachers during the day and he would help me do the interviews in the late afternoon and evenings.  I had not been told to bring any teaching materials that would be suitable for teaching Conversational English to Arab teachers. A quick trip to bookstores in Jerusalem showed me very quickly that I was facing a problem. There were all kinds of books and teaching materials   available for Hebrew to English and English to Hebrew, but nothing suitable for English to Arabic . . . what was I going to do?  Then, I remembered once long since passed, of a reference in a Comparative Religions Class at the seminary, that there mere many references to Jesus in the Quran (Koran).  I bought an English translation and after a long time required in reading it from beginning to end, I found what I would use as the teaching materials for my classes of Arab English teachers.  The Quran has many references to Jesus, so I copied all I could find with direct reference to Jesus and this would become the materials I would use in teaching Conversational English during the three months I was to teach each of the four classes. I made copies for all of the students, with a prayer that they might have enough curiosity to keep and read them.  I asked Nayef if it would be alright for me to tell the students I was a Christian and why I had come to Hebron and he said it would be OK. In all the places around the world that I have witnessed, I have never been afraid to acknowledge my acceptance of Jesus; Hebron, a city of  over 140,000 Moslems would be no exception.  When I met with each of the classes for the first time I would simply announce that I was not there to try to convert anyone; and I am a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and if they ever wish to hear more, they may ask, but this would be the only time I would make any reference to my faith in Jesus . . . or that I would ever refer to being a Christian in their presence during the three month I would be with them.  One day one of the students told me that Mohammad acknowledged that he recognized Jesus as a great prophet and then asked me how much more was there in my Bible about Jesus and this was the break for which I was very grateful.  I told her there was much more and if she wanted I would copy them and we could add them to the resources of teaching materials. However she would have to clear it with Mr. Hashlamoun and the other three classes.  How I prayed it would be approved. My prayers were answered. Mr. Hashlamoun said OK and so did all four classes. So from that point on half of their Conversational English reading assignments was taken from the Quran and the other half from the New Testament. As I was planning on coming back for another three months in 1996, you will learn what doing this would bring about. Be sure and read the next section.  As I said before, I would be living for the three months in Nayef's home and during the first week with him; one night after we had finished the recordings and I was dead tired from teaching the four classes, he said he needed some help in preparing proposals to send out for financial support . . . and would I write them? Also, he said he wanted to discus the difference between Islam and Christianity while I was with him.  What could I say, but of course. So began three months of the most hectic schedule, and sometimes frustrating work, I had ever done. I taught the classes from 10:00a.m. to noon; 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Ate a hasty meal. Went out for recordings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and then home to spend anywhere from two hours to as much some nights that lasted into the wee hours after midnight, talking with Nayef.  Was I ever glad when Saturday came. I did not have to spend time with Nayef, so I would take the taxi up to Bethlehem where I had a room at the House of Hope for the Blind and Mentally Retarded I could use for week-ends; hop in bed early and hopefully get a good nights rest.  Early Sunday, I would flag down a taxi to Jerusalem real early and wander around the Damascus Gate, stop in for a hearty breakfasts at one of the shops just inside the gate, buy a copy of the Jerusalem Post and then walk on up the hill to the East Jerusalem Baptist Church to worship with Rev. Alex Awad, the pastor and his people.  It was mixed congregation. About half the group would be Palestinian Christians and the other half would be groups of Pilgrims from all over the world.  One of the delights I had, was that Alex had asked me to take five to ten minutes each Sunday morning and give what he called the "The Time for Children's Worship" and I really got a joy out of using object lessons that would quickly catch the attention of the children . . . soon the adults too.  Then, following church I would either go home with one of the families for lunch or would take the bus up to the Seven Arches Hotel to be with my friend Mohammad and have a good American prepared steak and all the trimmings, while I read the newspaper.  He always sat me in a choice location; my table permitted me to look out over Jerusalem, and I could stay as long as I wanted. After a hard week this usually took two or three hours. Then it was time for me to go through the two or three check points, and take a taxi back to Hebron and Nayef's house and family.  In the second or third week, one of the Arab English teachers said she thought they were also going to take things from my New Testament about Jesus, as part of their using conversational English reading materials.  So began the practice of taking half of the teaching time with sections from the Quran and the other half things taken from the New Testament. This was to become a witness I never dreamed of when I came to Hebron.  It was also getting more crowded every day. I had written one proposal for Nayef to send to an organization in Washington, D. C. for a $5,000 grant to aid the Children's Learning Passport reading program.  We had made three interviews, one with the family of a seven year old boy that had been shot in the left back side. They showed me where he had been wounded. I could have stuffed a mature walnut in the hole the shot had left in his body.  The second was with a stone-mason that had been shot in the upper back spine and was totally paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Interestingly enough, he lived in the same general neighborhood as had Dr. Goldstein and could see his house and gardens.  Nayef told me the man would be placed outside his home in the sunshine, but had to suffered additional pain as he watched Jewish friends bring fresh flowers to put on the grave of Dr. Goldstein every day.  The third was with the family of a man and his son. The man was killed . . . the son shot in three places but still survived, but seemed to be totally out of it and would not even talk with Nayef or answer his questions. His mother told Nayef the boy did nothing but spending the day and most of the night in prayer to Allah to get well so he could become a suicide Bomber.  I could tell from these first three interviews that it was going take all of my emotional strength and objectivity to listen to the families or still alive victims. I had taken on a job I might not be able to complete.  I slept very little after the third interview, or should I say attempted interview. Even Nayef shook his head in disbelief to some of the things he was hearing and I believe he did not translate everything he heard. We did not talk much that night when we got home.  The fourth through the seventh interviews were equally devastating to hear and all of these were taken with victims that had survived the masacuremassacre. Three were grown men and one was an eighteen year old youth.  All had been injured from the hips down. Nearly all of them told the same story . . . it was apparent that Dr. Goldstein was not trying to kill them, only to wound them as much as possible. Later the rumor being circulated among the Jews was that his objective was to injure as many as possible and make them suffer.  The eighth and ninth interviews with the families of two men that had been taken to the hospital and left at the front entrance until someone could come out and get them. In the meantime, a military jeep had driven up and three soldiers got out, came up to the entrance shot both of them in the head; got in their jeep and drove back toward the mosque.  The tenth interview took place in the man's home, but he could not see or speak. His wife told Nayef, as I recorded when Nayef translated, that after the surviving worshippers had taken a fire extinguisher and beaten Dr. Goldstein to death, the swarms of soldiers that entered the mosque seemed to go crazy. Several more men and boys were killed.  Some of the soldiers

 actually kicked and stomped some of the wounded. The story the wife told us was that a soldier smashed his foot across the face of her husband until his nose was gone, his eyes poked out and he had apparently bitten his tongue off in agony.  This was the last interview Nayef and I would make. I told him I had heard enough to last me for the rest of my life and could not take any more, or I would not be able to do justice to the Conversational English classes I had agreed to teach.  He agreed, and as he knew I was planning on returning next year, he said if he learned anything else about the massacre  that he thought might interest me, we might take up the interviews again. I told him I doubted it. I never thought I would live to hear or see what men can do to each other.  Nayef came to visit me at the Bethlehem Bible College last year while I was working in the garden. He said he had heard about the Children's English Reading Club we had established in the Children's Library room and he would like to see it.  Taking him over to the library and introducing him to Hala, the young woman that served as librarian, really got his interest, I watched him as he thumbed through the 150 books we had included in their library and he listened to the cassette tapes of several books.  On the was back to Hebron Nayef asked how he could get something like this for the Al-WATAN Center and I told him it might be possible. We would talk about it.  You will learn more about the Children's English Reading Club in another section a little later in this story and how we were able to raise the $2,000.00 to install a CERC in an orphanage, church or school.  

	

Chapter Fifty  Witnessing in Hebron in 1996  



	From the Pen of Jack  I went back to Hebron in 1996 for three months and would be using the Al WATAN as my working headquarters and again living with Nayef Hashlamoun and his family. I have not shared anything with you about his family, so will do so now. He has a lovely and talented wife, four sons and a beautiful young daughter. They all worked to make me feel at home and it was three months of happily watching the family in their daily activities.  One of the first things I did    when I got back to Hebron, was to dedicate a Children' English Reading Club in the Al WATAN Center. I had gone to some extra work in putting his CERC together. There were 195 books all together. Normally a CERC is composed of 150 books, but as Nayef would not let me pay anything during the 1995 visit, we added more books. We also tripled the number of Walkman recorders and players.  It took a long time to record the other 45 new books but we thought it was worth it. He never got over saying "thanks" for the books, recorded cassette tapes, Walkman's and a lot of other things that would be helpful with his Children's Passport Reading Club.  Now, for some of the things that makes me wonder about what is going on in Israel . I told you about the interviews of the injured and the families of the 29 men and boys killed in the massacre in the Abraham Mosque in 1994 and how I had to discontinue the interviews in 1995 after the tenth one. The emotional drag was just more that I could stand and I am sure it brought much sadness to the families that had to live those experiences all over again.  There were many other things that happened to me in 1996 . . . things that make me wonder at the objectives of the Israeli government and military. In what seemed to me to be in the middle of the night, although it was 3:00 a.m., Nayef came rushing into my bedroom and asked he to help him. It seems he had just received the message that curfew would be lifted from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. by the military so that people could go shopping for food and water.  He had heard that the baker had found out about it two hours earlier and was doing two things . . . rounded up his family to get help in making as much bread as possible and calling his customers telling them   about the curfew being lifted. Nayef asked me how many Shekel's I had and I asked him how many he wanted and he said as much as I could spare . . . he wanted to buy as much bread and food as possible to share with family and his friends. As soon as we had finished getting the bread, we were off to the market to get vegetables, milk, eggs, and meat.  I had another experience with Nayef that is worth telling. His wife had given birth to another son a few months before I got there and they were having trouble in getting him a supply of milk. He could not keep his mother's milk or the milk that came in plastic containers down, and they had found out the only milk he could tolerate   was that from a cow . . . which Nayef did not have. Nor could he go to the closed market.  This again, was during curfew and he would be shot if he were found out of his house at any time night or day. However, he had to have milk for his young son. We had spent a long evening talking about the problems he and other Palestinians faced every day and night.  I was   tired and about ready to ask if I could be excused when he told me about the problem his son was having keeping milk down and told me he was going to sneak out about midnight to walk the mile and half to the man's house that had the cow . . . "do you want to come along" and I could hardly say "no" to a friend.  We set out about 1:00 o'clock in pitch darkness. When I asked Nayef why we did not have a flashlight, he said he did not want to get shot, nor to get me shot . . . THANKS . . . This is a night I will remember a long as I live.  Every time we saw the light of a vehicle, we had to find some place to hide, even if it were only a ditch or a tree . . . nothing but military vehicles would be traveling during curfew and Palestinians would not be traveling in a car or truck, so the order given to the military was to shoot anyone found walking or driving during curfew.  We could see the beginning of dawn when we finally crawled from the hiding place near Nayef's house until the jeep passed along and finally got home with a gallon of milk for the little one and one very tired American ready to fall back into bed after having walked, sometimes crawled, nearly three miles in the middle of the night.  Nevertheless, 1996 proved to be an entirely different year than 1995. I did not have to teach Conversational English to the Arab English teachers. Instead, I had apparently done a good job with writing the proposal for the Children's Passport Reading Club, that we received $10,000 instead of the $5,000 we had requested.  So, naturally the first thing Nayef wanted was for me to write more proposals. He had been told of some other organizations that might be interested in the creative program he had designed for the approximately 300 children he had enrolled in his Passport program.  I have already shared some of the things that happened during an earlier curfew, but I will also be exposed to several situations that I had no idea would develop, but will give you an idea of unusual things that happened to me during the three months in Hebron in 1996. The first one follows.  About two weeks after I got there, busy in writing more proposals, Nayef came running in my office, hollering for me to get my camera. We were going to take pictures of the military bulldozing a home; for the third time in five years. Grabbing the camera and a notepad, I got in his car for a hair-raising ride; arriving before all of the military and the bulldozer got there.  We were ready to photograph the military as they destroyed the house for the third time and I must say it nearly broke my heart to watch what they did.  First, though, we had to break through the thin line of soldiers to get up close enough to get the total process on film. I will never know how he did it, but he flashed his press card and this got him through the military.  Next he flashed another card and it had my name and picture on it . . . I was from the Washington Post in Washington, D. C. How he did this and when he took my picture, I would never know; he would just laugh when I asked him about it. Any way it got us close up to take pictures of what the military was doing.  I still pick up the album from the spot on my work station where it has had a prominent place for anyone to look through when they come to see me and have to wait a little while.  This is the story of the destruction of the house for the third time. It seems the family could not get the Israeli government to give them a permit, even though it would be built on property that had been in the family for over 400 years. They wanted to build the house on the top of a mountain, that overlooked the new Jewish road that had been built to connect Jerusalem to the Sinai.  The request for the permit was denied because they said someone could fire a rocket down on the road, even though the road could barely be seen. It was nearly two miles away.  The family went ahead and built the house anyway and about two months after it had been completed, the military came and totally destroyed the house, without even permitting the family to remove anything.  About a year later, after the family had worked at the destroyed house site to salvage as many of the concrete blocks and other items as possible; their extended family had again helped to raise enough money to rebuild the house.  It was a lot like the old "barn raising" of early days in America where friends and neighbors came and built the barn and house in only a part of the normal time. However it did little good, within a few weeks, the military was back and the house was destroyed for the second time.  It took longer to rebuild the house for the third time. The husband had been arrested for endangering the safety of Israel and was in prison. The wife, about 45 years of age, was alone with her teen age daughter and three other children, the youngest about four years of age. However, again the family and friends came and helped them rebuild the house again.  Now, it was been torn apart by the bulldozer and soon there was nothing but a huge pile of stone, rubble, and their possessions. I have about thirty pictures that show the process step by step. The shot I took was of the enraged wife and mother rushing at the commanders jeep as he was rushing to leave.  She picked up a large stone and rushed up and bounced the stone off the hood of the jeep as it was driven away. What a chance she was taking. He could easily have had her shot on the spot for damaging Israeli property.  We fully expected the military to return and do something to the woman, but there were too many photographers, including one from the Washington Post (HA!), standing with their cameras ready to record what other damage the military could do, so we left and returned to the center and the computer to write some more proposals.  Two weeks later, Nayef said he had received a strange and unexpected request. It seems the Religious Advisor to Chairman Arafat had a lovely home in Hebron and he had contacted Nayef to find out more about the American that was teaching English to Arab teachers and was using parts of the Quran and parts of the Christian New Testament.  The Sheik wanted to know if I could come to his home for lunch and we could have time for us to talk about the Quran and New Testament. Nayef said he could arrange for me to come to his home, but seemed to be disappointed to have not been included in the invitation.  After a typical Middle Eastern meal of about two dozed selections spread on a beautiful inlaid lower table, the Sheik suggested we

 go into what he called his guest room for coffee and conversation. The next five hours are some of the most memorable of my visits to Israel and the West Bank.  He took his Quran and suggested I take the Bible he offered for me to use and he would suggest I read from a certain chapter and when I did, he took his Quran and in perfect English, read about the same thing.  Then, he led a discussion on what the portion represented. This went on for over five hours and believe me, they were five of the most pleasant hours I have ever spent with a representative of another faith, as we compared what was in both of our sacred books.  When he arranged for an associate to take me back to the center, he gave me a lovely decorated plate made in Hebron and I have it hanging on the wall of my office and touch it nearly every day in remembrance of what happened with the Sheik that day . . . our talks about Jesus who appears in both the Quran and our New Testament.  Nayef could hardly wait to find out what had happened and when I told him, he said he had a hard time believing what he was hearing. He said he had never heard of the Sheik doing this before.  He wondered how the Sheik had learned what I had done in 1995 with the Arab English Teachers . . . how it had gotten back to him. Nayef said however it had happened, I should be very proud of what had happened. I still feel it was a very rewarding experience.  The next two experiences leaves me with no happy or pleasant thoughts. Just across the street from the Al WATAN Center was the Hebron    Technical University. One day when Nayef and I were getting to the center, wewould not be permitted to turn off the main street and up to the center. Military were every where and Nayef turned around and parked and we got out an walked toward the center, to be stopped by the military.  Finally, Nayef convinced the soldiers he had to get to his office. At first they were not going to let me go with him and this took another round of arguments before they would let me through the line, even though I had let him see my American Passport.  There must have been hundreds of military working in and out of the Technical University building. When we got inside the Al WATAN Center there was a man waiting for Nayef. I learned he was the Director of the Tech Center and had been thrown out of the building before the military realized he was the Director. All the time the military was completely destroying the university.  Three days later we were able to get into the building and when we did, I would just as soon not have seen the horrible damage the military had done. Desks, table, chairs, etc. had all been destroyed by what look like they had used an axe or some other very sharp tool. Book cases and display wall shelved had been pulled down and the contents scattered all over the floor.  The library was equally destroyed. The shelving had been torn down and the books were scattered all over the floor and it looked like the military had then taken a hose and sprayed it all over the books and journals. It was a soggy mess.  I learned several days later that the Technical University had been per-mentally   closed. The 286 students would not be permitted to continue their studies. Several of the faculty had been arrested and taken to prison. The Director had escaped this, as he had been warned what was going to take place and had hidden in the basement of the Al WATAN Center.  I could never find out for sure why this destruction had taken place, but it had something to do with the objective of destroying everything that might make the Palestinian people a stronger group.  The next experience was also very difficult for me to comprehend. Nayef had found a young man in the refugee camp south of Hebron that had also been shot, but had survived the massacre, while his father had been shot down and killed. Nayef said he was planning on being a suicide bomber and would I like to have an interview with him.  Reluctantly I said yes, and I told Nayef I really wanted to know why the young man was making his plans to die. We met in a coffee house in Hebron and then decided to go to a quieter place for the interview. The young man had been shot in both legs and had taken several months to get to the place he could walk without cane or support.  During the interview the young man indicated one of his sisters had been in one of the Conversational English classes I taught the year before and that she told him, she thought he should meet me and tell me why he was doing what he was doing and he agreed to meet with me.  I had asked Nayef to ask the young man why he was contemplating giving up his life at so young an age. This is what Nayef told me he said. Every male member of his family over the age of 13 had been arrested and imprisoned and that when a Palestinian was imprisoned he could never get a permit to enter Israel to find work. The chance of good employment in the Hebron area was negative and impossible in Israel .  He told Nayef that Hamas had agreed that every member of his Clan would be cared for, no matter what happened, for the rest of their lives, if he was willing to become a trainee as a suicide bomber and then did his best to kill as many Israeli as possible. I got the sickening e-mail from Nayef that the young many had lived up to his pledge. Several were killed and more injured.  I know that Hamas has an ugly name and is guilty of sickening attacks like the suicide bombings and the rockets fired upon innocent children and their parents all over Israel . Generally speaking this is the common opinion in the minds of western people.  However, I was surprised when Nayef said one of the more moderate officers of Hamas called and said he would like to meet with me. I agreed and Nayef took me to his office, wondering why he wanted to talk with me.  I soon found out that someone in Bethlehem had told him about the Pilgrimage we had been on in 1993 and that he understood that the leader from National had been in the State Department and had spent four years in the Consulate in Jerusalem.  He wanted me to take a message back to someone in the State Department that there were a few in Hamas that did not demand the destruction of Israel and they would like to see the Peace process continued.  If this was true, he would like for me to deliver the message to someone in the State Department that they would be wiling to come to Washington to discuss it. However, he said they must be given freedom from arrest, because probably half of the group would be on the list of terrorists the US had compiled. Apparently, safe passage could not be arranged and I never heard anything more about the meeting.  I talked very freely with Nayef about the contact we had with the Hamas representative and he assured me he knew from   many years of association with Hamas personnel, that what the man was talking about was a real possibility. However, I learned later from Nayef that the State Department did not respond to their suggestion.  One of the more happy things that occurred was the invitation Nayef got for me to attend the wedding of a member of his Clan. I could hardly believe my eyes when I walked with him into a hotel ballroom that contained what looked like over 500 people; people of all ages from babies to old and faded men. The wedding festivities lasted for several days, but I just took in the first day.  I spent lots of nights when we got home from the center talking with Nayef about Islam and Christianity. The Islamic rule is that any Moslem that converts to Christianity should be the immediate target from a member of his Clan and if they do not kill him, it is open season for anyone that knows about his conversion.  There are a lot more things I could share with you, but we have covered most of what happened outside of the office of the Al WATAN Center and the results of the proposals I wrote for him; as we won three more grants and I told Nayef I hoped to get back again, but had my doubts as our church was talking about switching me to another committee.  I must confess that was a different year than 1995, but what happened had reinforced my concerns as to the question if there would ever be peace in the Middle East. Hatred and revenge have become ingrained in the soul of each newborn Arab or Jew, that the other is their enemy.As the body grows, so does fear and hatred grow in both races and the question is whether or not this will ever change.  

  

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	"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always   to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:19-20  

	

Chapter Fifty-One  "The Jesus Man"  



	From the Pen of Jack  As I said before, when I met with each of the Conversational English classes for the first time I would simply announce that I was not there to try to convert anyone; that I was a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and if they ever wish to hear more, they might ask, but this would be the only time I would make reference to my faith in Jesus . . . or that I would ever refer to being a Christian in their presence during the three month I would be with them.  There were questions, but these were mostly centered in the discussions we had about what was included in the Quran and what was included in the Bible.  Getting back and forth from Hebron was very easy. There are probably more seven passenger Mercedes taxis than you can hardly imagine in all of the West Bank and it only cost five shekels (about $1.50) to make the 15 mile trip and it was usually very easy to flag one down anywhere you were.  However, something happened on the way back to Bethlehem from Hebron one day in 1996 that made me more conscious of when we might be witnessing and not even be aware of it.  We were about half way between Hebron and Bethlehem, and had just passed a Refugee Camp, when the driver said something in Arabic and some one answered him in the same language and then said to me in English that the driver wanted me to know he knew me and asked the young man to tell me:  "I know you. Last year you rode with me and one day when I did not have any other customers, we stopped and I took you back in the Refugee Center to meet my wife and five children and you gave my children some coloring books and crayons."  Then I remembered meeting five lovely children and a gracious hostess who served me coffee and sweets. Wanting to do something again for the children, what could I do?Then I remembered the joy on their faces when they got book and crayons last year. I had been in a store in Bethlehem a couple weeks earlier getting some supplies and had seen a stack of coloring books and crayons. Why not!  The next time I was in Bethlehem I proceeded to purchase a fairly large selection of coloring books and several large packages of crayons and on the next trip I would request that he stop at his home so I could give his children the coloring books and crayons.  I could not sure if he could understood what I was asking him to do on my next trip. To be on the safe side, I had Mrs. David at the House of Hope write a note for me to give to the driver asking him to take me to his home the next time I rode with him to Hebron.  The driver had also given me his phone card when Ineeded a taxi between Bethlehem and Hebron told Dr. Awad to tell me I should always call him when I wanted to go either way. Conversing with him required a lot of sign language, as I think he had trouble with English.  The day I called him and told him " Bethlehem to Hebron . . . 9:00 in the morning." Of course his answer was "9:00 o'clock . . . Inshallah". Now with the Palestinian "Inshallah" means "as God wills" and that means he would pick me up some time between 8:45 and 9:15. That 30 minute window was covered by "Inshallah" for the driver.  Sure enough he arrived at a little after 9:15 and he had saved the front seat again for me and we got on the way. Just before we got to the Refugee Camp where he lived, I gave him the note Mrs. David had written for me to give him. Then when I showed him the books and crayons and he got the idea.  It should only take more than a few minutes and there was no grumbling from the other passengers as we drove back to his house and I gave the books and crayons to his children.  Of course "Mrs. Driver" insisted we have Turkish coffee and the other three passengers seemed pleased to have a hot cup of the Arabic thickened coffee. The children had forgotten all about us, as they were having the time of their lives with the new coloring books and crayons.  One day I had a hard time flagging a taxi close to the Al WATAN Center and so Nayef called to make arrangements to get me back to the House of Hope. He said he had to find a driver that would agree to take me to the House of Hope, not just to the Bethlehem exchange point, where you got out of the Hebron taxi and got into a Bethlehem taxi. Neither could work on the other side of the Israeli check point.  This took a lot of arguments because none of the drivers wanted to take a chance of being caught by the military. So Nayef had to call and arrange with a driver to take me all the way into Bethlehem, as too many times there were check points that   these taxi drivers could not cross, but a few drivers were willing to use a much longer seldom used back entrance to escape the check point for twice the fare.  This is what Nayef arranged to take me back to the House of Hope and he asked for the front seat for me. Nayef loved to pull jokes on me, it was the driver from the Refugee camp. Nayef had his number too, so he called to see if he was in Hebron. He was, and would be returning to Bethlehem in about a half hour . . .  "Inshallah" . . . He finally came to pick me up at the center. He seemed glad to see me.  There was another passenger thatgot in the taxi with me just as we were leaving the center and he spoke to me in English and we talked about the horrible destruction at the Technical University and how many of the teachers had been arrested and that the university had been closed and would not be permitted to reopen. We talked about all this as we were traveling toward Bethlehem.  When we passed the Refugee Center where the driver lived, again I heard someone say something in Arabic to the young man that got in the taxi with me and he explained that the driver had said something to the effect . . . "but I do not know your name" and before I could say anything a voice hollered out from the back of the taxi . . . "He's the Jesus Man" and it was another young man sitting on the back seat with the young man who got on the taxi with me.  He told me when we got to Bethlehem that he was the brother of one of the English Teachers that I had taught last year and that he had read some of the Jesus lessons taken from the Quran and my New Testament.  He said his sister said nearly all of the teachers in the classes referred to me as "the Jesus Man" and they said it was a compliment and he would like to talk with me about Jesus. He, and all the others in this account were all of the Islamic faith. Nayef told me later that I should be very proud. He said he doubted if anyone could have a better nick-name than that!  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Fifty-Two  70 Mile Trek from Jerusalem to Jericho in 1996  



	From the Pen of Jack  During my visit to Hebron in 1996, I was so disturbed by what I had seen and heard that I told Nayef I would like to take a week off and take some time to myself. I was not teaching the classes of Conversational English classes to the Arab English teachers this year and had just about finished all I had hoped to achieve during my 1996 visit to Hebron.  I told him I had always wondered what it must of taken for Jesus to walk from Jerusalem to Jericho and I was thinking about doing it. He said he understood how I was feeling , but warned me   that there was no way he would want to see me do it, unless I had a good guide.  He said he could suggest someone that might be able to help me, but it might cost more than I wanted to pay. I met the man in Jerusalem and explained what I wanted to do. He, too, knew enough English for us to talk together  Shortly thereafter, he called for me to come see him in Jerusalem and   said he thought he had worked out something for me, if I still wanted to "do this crazy thing" I was thinking about. I still thought I would like to try it . . . so the crazy thing began.  First, I was to meet with two or three young Bedouin men that would be my guides and protectors. Two of them spoke good enough English for us to talk together. They had planned on the trek taking seven days and this would take an average of 10 miles a day, but it ended up taking nine days.  What they had worked out was that during the trek, the three young Bedouin would guide me through the walk, and they were going to arrange with some Bedouins between Jerusalem and Jericho and if I needed, I could spend the night if and when I felt I need to get a good night's rest. I have done some things that probably do not make any more sense than what I was proposing, but we will go ahead with the plan.  One of the most important decisions was not made by me, but it had been explained who I was to three young men, why I wanted to make this trek, and what they should do to guide and help   me.  I found out later during the trek that the arrangements he helped them make probably saved my life several times. I watched later to the way they deferred to my condition and physical strength.  The bedrolls, goat-skin flasks for water, walking sticks and what I would call snack stuff, made up a fairly good size back-pack for each of the three young guys. When I asked for mine they said I was not going to carry anything except a walking stick and a bottle of water.  I thought it interesting that it had been arranged for us to start from the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqksa Mosque in Jerusalem. I had worn the white socks that morning, and as I removed my shoes before entering the mosque, I was permitted to enter. We would spend some time, them asking Allah . . . me asking God, to protect us during the next several days . . . and we started on the trek.  The worse time we had was getting out of Jerusalem. It was early in the morning and the traffic was very heavy and we had to dodge cars, busses and trucks, even a few donkeys pulling theirlittle carts for the first two hours, but   we finally got through all the traffic.  Actually, we had worked out a schedule to be up at twilight, walk until around 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and take break time until 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. if we could find any shelter.  One thing I was soon to learn was that on the route they had planned, there would be a few trees from time to time, nearly always in some of the Wadi's (dry most of the time, but collected enough moisture during the short rainy season to keep the trees alive.)  Boy, did that shade feel good. However, when we were not in a Wadi, they had devised a little lean-to covered with hide that would shelter me from the sun. They said they did not need protection. They lived most of the time directly under the sun. They either had walked some of this area before or were very good at reading the signs for places to rest.  Sometimes, they scooped out a small area from a rise in the sand into which I could sit, and they put the little shelter over me, gave me a goat-skin of water and let me rest.  After the noon rest break, we would start on walking again until about an hour before sunset. I must admit that I was tired, but surprised at how far we had managed to walk that day. I was surprised by what happened to me on five of the nine nights. I had seen several Bedouin camps along the way when I had   traveled by car or bus from Jerusalem to Jericho and before I knew what was happening, the guides told me we were going to share the tent with the head man for the night.  Then came another surprise . . . I learned we would be fed and then spend the night in their camp. The funny thing was that I would find out that night and the other four nights what Bedouin hospitality is all about. These experiences are deeply bedded in my memory box. I am not going to try to give you a day-by-day experience.  Our schedule would be about the same for the nine days. Up at twilight . . . rest when needed, but especially no walking between 11:00 and 3:00 p.m., drinking plenty of water . . . finding trees or having the guys build my little sand shelter. Three of the nights we had to find a good place to spend the night . . . the other five we were to meet a new family of Bedouins.  There were some highlights that I will share. As we were walking through one of the Wadi's, the guys pointed out a large cross on the top of one of the mountains and I remembered the time my Palestinian friend Dr. Hytham Alami had taken Edythe and me to the heights to actually stand in the shadow of that cross. It brought back loving memories of time spent with their family in Jericho in 1994.  Another time we came to where we could see the Samaritans Inn on the highway that used to be a place to stop and get a bite to eat or something cold to drink, but was now closed and fenced in and out of business. I never learned why.  It was a good time though to stop and think about the story Jesus told of the Samaritan who found the wounded man on the side of the road, that some had passed by without providing aid, and the Samaritan tended to his needs and then told the Innkeeper to provide for his every need, with a promise to return and pay whatever the Inn Keeper had spent to help the man get well.  Strong are the memories of the nights spent in the various Bedouin camps. I know there are lots of negative stories about Bedouins, and I have never really understood why they would invite a stranger, and an American at that, to enjoy their hospitality by taking him into their family circle.  Of course every Bedouin head man would have a gang of children and I could sit back and watch them in their play and family activities. Believe me, these unplanned over-night stays enhanced the nine day trek in a way I could never imagined.  I think these are the memories I remember most, along with the three young men that took at least nine days out of their lives to assist and old Christian man that wanted to see if he could make the 70 mile trek at 77 years of age.  Any way, we took the bus back to Jerusalem and I went to settle up with the man who had agreed to help me. The three young men were paid, with a bonus, and one of them said he did not want any money . . . he counted it a privilege to have spent the nine days with me, but I finally convenience him he should take my gift of thanks.  Adnan Mohammad, the man who had helped arrange everything asked if I wished to do anything for the five Bedouin families and I told him I would like to buy some books and crayons to be taken back to each of the families and he thought it was a good idea. He said one of my three guides was a Bedouin and would take care of it.  There was a bookstore in Jerusalem where I had purchased lots of books for our Children's English Reading Clubs, so I bought enough for the couple dozen or more children and arranged for the my Bedouin guide to see that they were taken to the five families.  It had also been suggested that I prepare a bag of Shekels, wrapped in a small square of sheepskin, he could take to each of the five head men at the Bedouin camps. Apparently, this was an accepted way to say thanks to a Bedouin.  I was told they would not have accepted anything from me when I was under their tent, but if it came from someone else for them, it was acceptable. I learn something every time I make the trip to another culture. They seemed to be surprised at the size of the gift I gave them.  Would I do it again? I would probably have answered "NO WAY" if you had asked me during one of the last nine days, but as I think back to all my experiences of the trips to the Holy Land, I would have to admit that these were in the top memories of my travels to that section of the world.  I would not do it now in 2007, as I just celebrated my 89th birthday on July 22, 2007! HA!  

  

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	"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is Love."  I Corinthians 13:13  

  

Chapter Fifty-Three  Our Involvements with National Presbyterian  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  This is going to be easy. When our daughter by marriage to our middle son, Dr. Jack D., called us and told us we had to come hear Dr. Kirkland, little did we know what was going to develop as a result of that telephone call, We heard him on the fifth Sunday of his interim ministry that was to last nearly two years, and we did not miss any, unless we were out of town or the country.  We made the visit and our relationship with National really started to grow when we made the church Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1993.  As said once before, I made a video record that ended up being four two hour video tapes.  The music program was out of sight. National had one of the largest organs on the East Coast. The organist's magic fingers could quickly fill the large sanctuary until it seemed the entire church was signing with an angelic choir. The Music Director, Mike Denham did not have an equal in any church we had ever attended nor heard in any church we ever visited.  Dr. Cantwell called one day and asked if Edythe and I could come to her office, she had something she wanted to talk with us about. When we got there she told us she would like for us to take a 13 week slot during the Sunday school hour and teach a class called Christian Responsibilities in the Holy Land and use some of the videos we had prepared to keep the interest of the people in the class at a high level as we challenged the members to have an open mind to what we would be suggesting.  About half way through the series, at one of the meetings we had with her each week, she stunned us by asking how we could be teaching a Sunday school class in a Presbyterian church when we were Baptists? The shock worn off when she laughed, but asked us if we had considered becoming members at National.  This took a little time to think about what she was suggesting. My mother had taken me to the First Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri when I was two weeks old and I did not miss many Sundays after that until I left to go to college when I was 17. Dad had been a Deacon for several years.  It was no different with Edythe. Her father was the mainstay of the First Baptist Church in Southwest City, Missouri; also a Deacon and had served as the Sunday school superintendent for over 35 years. She had grown up in the Baptist church just as I had. Then we remembered how we had lost interest in the Baptist church because of the power struggle to control the denomination. Why not?  After several weeks we told Dr. Cantwell we would join National, if they would accept us by statement of faith, without having to be baptized again. She said baptism would not be required and we joined the "NPC and Me" orientation class and became members.  This began a 14 year journey with a great church. We had Dr. Bryan Kirkland for nearly two years as Interim Pastor, Dr. Craig Barnes for nine yeas as Executive Pastor and Dr. Tom Erickson as Interim Pastor for two years. These were three very inspirational preachers.  The journey with the church group to the Holy Land in 1993 brought us in contact with 42 other members of the church and several of them were either Sunday school teachers, Deacons or Elders. This gave us an opportunity to get acquainted with some of the key leaders of National.  Edythe and I were volunteers at the Bethlehem Bible College in 1994 when the second Pilgrimage group came to the Holy Land and we were invited to join them on their travels for several days . . . more leaders and members for us to meet.  We had already learned to appreciate the Pilgrimage leader. He had been our State Department Ambassador stationed in Israel for four years. Don Kruse and his wife Sally were excellent team leaders, and I was pleased when he asked me to become a member of the Middle East Mission Committee, of which he was the Chair.  He gave Edythe and me excellent advice, as we prepared to take an Outreach team to the Bethlehem Bible College in the summer of 1994, after which we would remain with the BBC for five months as volunteers. This was the first mission connection I had with the National Presbyterian Church. I served with Don until I was transferred to the Balkan Mission Committee in 1996.  Edythe's first official involvement was as a Deacon. She was Ordained for a three year term in 1999 and then served for another three year term, making a total of six years she would a tremendous contribution to the people who lived in our section of upper Maryland.  One organization we joined shortly after we joined National was a monthly meeting of mostly seniors who gathered for a luncheon once a month. It was called SKIFF (Shipmates Knit In Firm Friendship). It's primary purpose was to provide an excellent luncheon, good music, prayers for the sick and to provide an occasion for close to a hundred people each month to gather in really warm fellowship, and where we could always enjoy a wonderful program. SKIFF had supported several of our mission projects with several contributions of $1,000.00 or more.  About three years before the end of our stay in the Washington, D. C. area we were asked to serve as Co-Chairs or "Skippers" of SKIFF and we did this for two years before we had to leave to come to Bolivar. We still send the $5.00 annual membership and fellowship fee and get the SKIFF newsletter that lets us know who is sick and who has died.  During the five years from 1997 to 2001, we took a team from National each year for three years to work on the Hope Center renovation of the 100 year old former orphanage and to give leadership to teams that provided "Children's Festivals" for several hundred Croatian children in the last two years.  You can read all about our involvements with the Balkan Mission Committee, by checking out what is included in the sections beginning with the first one on page 256 and going through to page 266.(Check)  The church also ran an exclusive private school that was open to any child in the area. The only draw back was that it was very expensive and I think I heard one time that almost half of the students came from high government officials or people connected with foreign embassies.  It was the school that provided all the new heavy duty clothes for me to take to Croatia and Bosnia one winter and the T-shirts and shorts on another trip in the summer.  We spent nearly 14 years serving National in one way or another and as you can see, most all of it was centered in missions.  

  

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	"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God . . . this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed in the renewing of your mind."  Romans 12:2  

  

Chapter Fifty-Four  Life Center International-America, Inc.  

  

	From the Pen of Jack  When we began our volunteer mission work with National in 1992, the church had a standing policy that funds could be designated for mission trips and could go through the church business office. In our involvements with National, we could channel incoming funds for mission trips through the church.  However, in 1995 the church Administrator went to Session and asked the Elders to discontinue this practice . . . he said it was too much extra work for which his office was responsible to keep track of all the things being designated. His request was granted.  It was later learned that it was not the office personnel complaining about too much work but came solely from the Administrator. Shortly thereafter he was relieved of his position, but the damage had already been done.  I spent three months in Israel in 1995 and another three months in 1996, and while these were individual trips, not necessarily sponsored by the church, they were mission trips requested by our partners. We thought we could channel the funds through the church, as we had done since 1993.  We discussed the problem with some of the church leaders and also talked with several of the Elders and finally got approval to handle the planned 1995 and 1996 trips through the church office, but we should know that some timein the near future something else would have to be worked for any other future trips.  One of the pastors asked if we had thought of setting up a 501 (c) (3) and I indicated we had not thought of it at that point, but it seemed like the best solution for our problem. We also discussed it with some of our friends who had been on mission trips with us and they also thought it would be a good idea. Several offered to serve on the Board of Directors.  We finally decided to establish a 501 (c) (3), with nearly all of the members of NPC serving on the Board of Directors, and as my wife and I had been involved with three 501 (c) (3)'s over the years, we felt we could handle it. We used the internet to get the forms from the Internal Revenue Service and started getting the paper work done. It took several months to get it all completed in good order, and we were finally ready to go to the IRS; had the $400.00 fee in hand, so we submitted the application. On February 1998 we received the letter of approval from the IRS and Life Center International-America, Inc., Federal ID: 52-2133815became a reality.  The Board of Directors decided that I would serve as President and Edythe would serve as Vice-President and Treasurer, and our good friend and mission companion to Croatia in 1997, Dr. Scott Serich of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. agreed to serve as Secretary. We were fortunate to get ten members from National to serve on our Board of Directors.The general purposes for which the Corporation is organized are:  To engage in Christian ministries of spiritual nature, educational  systems, charitable works, cultural, social, and philanthropic activities directed toward needy, under-privileged people wherever they may be found throughout the world.  To develop professional relationships with organizations that have  similar objectives in serving these fundamental needs throughout  the world.  To develop a system of partnership of American churches with any  group in the world, desiring to develop a system of Christian worship, education, and mutual philanthropic assistance.  To arrange for teams of volunteers to travel from a local church  or a group of churches in America , to any country in which there is a group desiring to develop such a Christian relationship.  To assist other organizations in Christian, charitable, or philanthropic  works and deeds.  To raise money for non-profit purposes, solicit and receive charitable  donations and contributions for use in Christian, charitable, or  philanthropic works and deeds.  To operate as a not-for-profit organization for spiritual, Christian  educational and philanthropic ministries.  To do all things permitted under the Maryland and Missouri  Corporation Laws.  We will not describe any of the things Life Center International-America, Inc. has done since February 1998, as most of these things are well covered in individual sections of the book.  However, we will talk about the financial success we have had, as taken from the five (5) year report we had to make to the Internal Revenue Service covering the income from 1998 to 2002.  The IRS 990 shows Life Center handled a total of $96,746 in 1998.  The IRS 990 shows Life Center handled a total of $325,606 in 1999.  The IRS 990 shows Life Center handled a total of   $189,366 in 2000  The IRS 990 shows Life Center handled a total of $121,381 in 2001  The IRS 990 shows Life Center handled a total of $42,145 in 2002  This shows a total of $745,687 for the years 1998 through 2002.  The headquarters were moved to Bolivar, Missouri in September 2004 and we have added 13 new members of the Board of Directors who live in Bolivar, to be added to the seven on the East Coast.  You will read later of the relationship we have established with the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Missouri . . . the church where my grandparents and two aunts were members. We have been added to the Missions Committee and on January 1, 2008 will begin a three year tour of duty as an Elder.  The church has already began to be involved with Life Center International-America, Inc. with substantial support for the University student team trip to the Holy Land in June of 2006 and support for the establishment of an office in Bolivar.  The next few pages will be the official copy of the last board meeting that will be conducted on the East Coast, as we will be moving the headquarters for Life Center to Bolivar, Missouri.  Life Center International – America, Inc. Witnessing to the Saving Power of the Lord Jesus Christ Matthew 28:19-20  July 9, 2004  Highlights of the 2004 Annual Board Meeting  Held on June 28, 2004 in Washington, D.C.  Meeting called to order at 12:30 p.m. by the president.  Scripture: Edythe M. Fellows  Prayer: Keith Patman  SEVEN new Board Members added: Ms. Diane Boram, Gregg Gochnour, Dr. Robert Kugel, Mrs. Doris Main, Keith Patman, Anna Walsh, and Dr. Sharon Wolchik. The following Board Members were retained: Marie Beard (California), Royal Benjamin (Colorado), Jim Brown, (London, England), Edythe and Jack Fellows, (Maryland), Sharon Hamilton (Washington State), Srecko Ilisinovic (Croatia), Scott Serich (Virginia - now on leave teaching in Hong Kong), and Robert Tolliver (Missouri, now serving for four years in Russia).  Approved the New Purposes of Life Center International - America, Inc. In 1998, when LCI-A, Inc. was approved, the functions were limited to the Hope Center, schools in Gorski kotar, other activities of Life Center ministries in Croatia and the Balkans in general. As we have now finished most of our work there, we felt we should re-think our purposes.  The new purposes will be reflected in the new committee which has been approved, called Global Ambassadors International, Inc. The purpose now is not to limit our programs to any one country or section of the world, but to consider the entire world as a place where we may serve. (If you would like a copy on the new purposes, you may write to Global Ambassadors International, Inc. at post office box 353, Bolivar, Missouri 65613-0353.)  Approved the five year report to the Internal Revenue Service, in which a total of $945,497.00 has been received, expended, audited and reported to the IRS. We were notified on April 23, 2005 that our report for February 1998 through December 3, 2004, had been received, approved, and certified that LCI-A, Inc. could continue to operate as a 501 (c) (3) organization to which tax free contributions might be made.  Approved a NEW statement on membership to be included in the LCI-A, Inc., By-Laws, ARTICLE II, Section 11 which now reads: "A member, recognized to vote at the annual meeting, is a person or organization making a financial contribution of $120.00 on more in the current fiscal year. An organization shall submit the name of the representative in writing at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting."  Approved the appointment of a committee under ARTICLE IV, Section 3, entitled: Global Ambassadors International, Inc. under the umbrella of LCI-A, Inc., in which some future activities may function. (Considering new QuickBook Pro Account.)  Approved the recommendation of the Executive Committee as follows: Inasmuch as the Fellows have been invited to return to the campus of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, as volunteers in the Missions and Ministries Department, we hereby approve the following: An amount up to $1,700 a month be allocated to sustain the new office.  It includes rents for office and storage, utilities, telephones, insurance, automobile expenses, travel, office supplies, computer expenses, etc. and other necessary expenses. (See attached copy of the SBU Life, the Southwest Baptist University President's Report on page four.)  The Primary office of Global Ambassadors International, Inc. will officially be located at 2855 South Orchard Avenue, Bolivar, Missouri 65613-7106. Principle Agent will be Dr. Jack B. Fellows, President. The East Coast office will be located at 10404 Parkwood Drive, Kensington, MD 20895. The Agent will be Mr. Keith Patman.  Approved our continued LCI-A, Inc. Association with Paul Drogowski and his ministry with youth in Croatia . We are under no financial obligation for his monthly support. However, we will cooperate in helping him get a VAN for his work.  $6,000 is needed.  His own supporters, mostly in Michigan and numbering around 100, are leading in this project. It is an option with LCI-A, Inc. If you would like to help, please let us know. (Got him a $11,000

 van. Total income for 2004 was $32,000.00.)  Partnering with Rev. Lynne Faris, now with Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, approved, to assist in making pledges to her salary support.  Many are not aware she has to raise her own support.  In a recent flyer we got from her she said: "Contribute to Lynne's Salary Support. (This is the humbling part for me.)  The staff of PFF rely on financial support from friends, churches, and organizations to sustain our ministry." Edythe and I are going to start this off with a monthly pledge.  Included is a copy of the subscription form we are using. If you would like to support Lynne, please fill this out and return to Life Center International – America, Inc., Post Office Box 232, Ashton, MD 20861-0232, along with your check.  Partnering with our son, David Fellows, and his "Computer Companion" program in Columbia, South Carolina.  He acquires used computers, takes them to a prison near Columbia, teaches the inmates how to upgrade them, then loans the computers to foster homes for children placed in their care.  The overall objective is to help the children perform better in the public school. They have already placed around 950 computers in foster homes throughout the State.  One inmate has been paroled from prison and is now employed in a computer business in Columbia. The program is sponsored there by one of the Courts and State social agencies.  Partnering with the Steve Quakenbush family to assist in raising funds to support their daughter, Amanda, as she enters the nursing program of Biola University in La Mirada, California, beginning in August 2004. We will be furnished a minimum of 250 names and addresses of potential supporters and will provide mailing to secure donations for her support for both semesters each year.  Approved the completion of securing the funds to re-pay the loan needed to secure the second building on the Life Center Campus in Fuzine, Croatia . This has been a major fund raising project and we included a lengthy report and then recognized Mr. David Pullen, who had made the $30,000 loan to purchase the property.  The story of raising the money for the Friendship House is a miracle in sharing. Edythe and I loaned them $5,000 in August 2000 for the deposit. This loan has not been paid to date. Our good mission-minded friend David Pullen made a loan of $30,000 available on December 13, 2000, to be re-paid by the end of December 2001.  In September 2001 they told us they could not repay the loan. Through the years our motto, or philosophy, has been to "Trust the Lord and Tell the People". Raising the money has taken nearly three and a half years. On January 28, 2004, we paid David $5,000; June 12th, $5,000; and December 16, 2004 the third $5,000.  We started 2005 with a debt of $15,000; reduced it $5,000 on February 28; $5,000 more on April 18.  Our major objective was to see the loan paid before our annual meeting on June 28, 2005. Still owing $5,000 near the end of May, we wrote a letter May 25th asking for 50 people to each give $100. On June 8, we again wrote to others, still needing 22 to give a $100 each.  Thanks be to God, and the success of our "Trust the Lord and Tell the People" faith, these two mailing brought in enough for Edythe to report that the loan of $30,000 had been paid in full by June 20, 2005 . . . . eight days before our board meeting.  Thanks be to God for our friends who love missions!  Meeting adjourned at 2:53 p.m.  Jack B. Fellows, President  Life Center International-America, Inc.  Post Office Box 232, Ashton, MD 20861-0232  

  

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	The People of God  We are the people of God . . .  we have gathered to give our worship to the One who gave usLife, redeemed us in Christ, and who, having redeemed us, has the right to lay claim to our lives.  We are the people of God, and the means though which God ministers to his world.  We give back to God our skills, our experiences, our service, and our money, that both directly and indirectly we may help those in need.  Lord, show us all that you want us to do, in your church and throughout  the world. Remind us again that what we do for others. We do for  you.  Bryan Jeffery Leech  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Fifty-Five  The Middle East Missions Concerns  



	From the Pen of Jack  We wish to include some information in this section, and in several that follow. It would be very easy for you to classify me as being anti-semeticSemitic or against the Jew. However, that is not true.  I have spent nearly as much time talking and working with Israeli's as I have with Palestinians. I know I have talked with nearly 250 Israeli citizens, from the common Israeli worker to the most bigoted government leader, both secular and orthodox,   and have kept a tally of the conversations.  One of the most difficult things I encountered in the 14 months I spent in Israel from 1993 to 2006 was that the vast majority of both Arab and Jew were for peace . . . for some way in which the two groups could learn to live together in peace.  My greatest concern is what is happening today between the Arabs of the world, not just in Gaza and the West Bank, and the tiny, but powerful nation of the Jew, could easily lead to the beginning of World War III and the end of the world as we know it today; even using some of the available war heads that might upset the balance that keeps the earth on its designed path.  It has been hard for me to get the Israeli residents to open up and talk freely about what is happening in their world. I have sought to get invitations to live with Jewish families and try to get a feel of what it is like to never know when the next rocket would fall . . . when the next car would have someone with dynamite wrapped around his body, slows down at the road intersection where 20 soldiers were waiting for the bus and became another dead bomber.  I was able on one occasion to get an invitation to spend a few days on a kibbutz located near the Golan Heights.  In case you are not familiar. The kibbutz (Hebrew word for "communal settlement") is a unique rural community; a society dedicated to mutual aid and social justice; a socioeconomic system based on the principle of joint ownership of property, equality and cooperation of production, consumption and education; the fulfillment of the idea "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"; a home for those who have chosen it. The first kibbutzim (plural of "kibbutz") were founded some 40 years before the establishment of the State of Israel (1948). Degania (from the Hebrew "dagan," meaning grain), located south of Lake Kinneret, it was established in 1909 by a group of pioneers on land acquired by the Jewish National Fund.  Their founders were young Jewish pioneers, mainly from Eastern Europe, who came not only to reclaim the soil of their ancient homeland, but also to forge a new way of life.  Their path was not easy: a hostile environment, inexperience with physical labor, a lack of agricultural know-how, desolate land neglected for centuries, scarcity of water and a shortage of funds were among the difficulties confronting them.  Overcoming many hardships, they succeeded in developing thriving communities which have played a dominant role in the establishment and building of the state.  Now back to the Kibbutz where I am spending a few days and nights. In the middle of the night, the most horrendous siren cut lose and I thought Gabriel must have blown his horn and the world was coming to an end.  Our host came running in the room where I was sleeping, hollering as he ran, "Come on to the shelter. Don't bring anything! We fear incoming shells are heading out way. They hit the settlement just east of us."  When I got inside, the shelter looked like it might hold maybe 30/40 people. That night there were nearly 75 people, mostly standing shoulder to shoulder. Sure enough we heard the screaming screech and then the explosion. It shook the building but did not do any destruction.  It was a well built building and protected us well. By day light we had not had any more incoming shells and were told to go back to our living quarters and prepare for breakfast. Now I could understand better what the Jewish settler went through every night sometimes for a week or two at a time.  On another occasion I was in the office of a Secular Rabbi, again trying to learn more about what was causing all the trouble between his people and the Palestinian people. We had only been talking for about an hour, when a young woman came running in, crying and shaking, as she laid a piece of paper on his desk.  Nor shall I ever forget his agonized sob as I heard him say "My God, that is the bus my daughter uses to get from school to where we live. Come with me if you want" and now I would see how the other side suffers from what is going on in the Middle East.  Breaking every speed limit, we hurtled into the center of Jerusalem, but were stopped by the police near the bus station. He left the car parked on the grass and ran toward the bus station.  I showed the officer my American passport and he let me through and I hurried on to where I thought the Rabbi had gone. The bomber had blown the bus to bits and it was still smoking.  Sure enough, I found him standing across the street from the bus station, still crying, but with a smile on his face. He turned and saw me, beckoned to get me to go back to the car with him.  I learned on the way back to the office that the number of the bus was not the one his daughter used to get home from school. Tragically, I learned that several passengers and the driver had been killed.  

  

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	One Race, One Gospel, One Task  One is the race of mankind under sin's condemnation,  one is the gospel that frees us from death's domination;  one is our task . . . sin, death and hell to unmask,  showing God's way of salvation.  One is the Word that can speak to our fallen condition:  Jesus alone can redeem us and give sin's remission,  His saving name we must forever proclaim:  only in Christ is salvation.  One is the task that our Lord to his Church committed;  His is the spirit by whom for His work we are fitted.  No more our own we serve one Master alone . . .  Jesus, who won our salvation!  One is the hope of eternal rejoicing before us;  one is the song we shall share in God's heavenly chorus;  till that glad day let us Christ's mandate obey . . .  tell the whole world of salvation!  

  

Chapter Fifty-Six  The Twisted Middle East  



	From the Pen of Jack  First . . . speaking for the F&C Team and our Spiritual Co-leaders, Brian Jacobson, and Edythe Fellows, let me express our sincere appreciation for the financial assistance and prayerful remembrances First and Calvary and our Life Center International, Inc. provided to help make the trip possible and I think it was very successful.  NOW . . . Let me give you a re-cap of the trip:  Weather delays – Missed flights – Expensive over-nights in Cincinnati and New York hotels for 12 people – Having to split the Team in Amsterdam – Six traveling on El Al airlines and six leaving four hours later on KLM.  We arrived 2 and half days late – Still in the same clothes . . . THAT called for a Shopping trip in Bethlehem - - - Luggage finally received after 5 and a half days . . . LUXURY . . . CLEAN CLOTHES.  Service wise, we built the fifty-five foot block retaining wall at the Bethlehem Bible College for the new water retainer system and filled the garden area with 7,342 buckets of dirt – at least it probably felt like that many to those of the Team that filled the buckets and carried them up the steps - - - AND emptied them to fill the new garden area around the cistern towers.  We were invited for personal interviews with the Mayor of Bethlehem . . . the Mayor of Bir Zeit . . . the President of the Holy Land Trust . . . the Director of the House of Hope for the Blind and Mentally Retarded . . . The Bishop of the Anglican Church for the Middle East . . . The President of the Bethlehem Bible College . . . Jonathan Kuttab, the only Palestinian lawyer to be permitted to appear before the Israeli Supreme Court, A representative of the Bishop of the Malachite Church in Ibillin where we learned about the 4,000 students in the Elias Chacour High School, College and University that Abuna Elias started 27 years ago. Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, founder of the Rabbi's for Peace movement spoke about peace, or lack of it, today in Israel . Our Guide, Bader Rabadi said, he had never seen such a small group have as many top level and important people speak to a group, as did our Team.  We were honored and you can be honored too because you and the church had such an important part in the trip. You had us in your check books and your prayers! GOD BLESS EACH of you that responded to the call to the annual SUMMIT fund drive. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!  We visited The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Shepherd's Field near Bethlehem, The Churches of the Annunciation, Mary's Well, and the Church of St. Joseph in Nazareth, and we worshipped with the East Jerusalem Baptist church two weeks ago today.  We traveled down from the Mount of Olives to the Church in the Garden of Gethsemane, where we could actually touch the 3000 year old olive tree that heard Jesus pray the night before he was betrayed . . . an olive tree still producing olives.  We visited the Wailing Wall and left written prayers in the cracks of the stone, the Al Asqa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. We visited the Pool of Bethesda and walked the 12 stations of the Via Dolorosa, ending up at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the old city.  One of the highlights for me was the worship service and communion we enjoyed in the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.  Spectacular and moving experiences where those we enjoyed close by where Jesus is thought to have performed some of His miracles or shared His parables . . .  We stopped our boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and Team members read the scriptures of the stilling of the stormy waters . . . the full nets of fish . . . the one is which the nets were torn due to the weight of the catch of fish . . . and Peter walking on the water.  We worshipped at the church on the Mount of the Beatitudes, where we read the 5th chapter of Matthew . . . we visited the Church in Tabgha, and the nearby area in which He may have broken the five loaves of bread and divided the two fish and fed 5,000 men and their families.  What a joy to visit Cana . . . the village where He turned the water into wine. The pastor of the little Baptist church gave each of the Team a small bottle of wine from Cana and we left 60 packages of M&M's for their children. It was also here that we renewed our marriage vows, led by Pastor Hani.  FUN WISE . . . The Team went swimming in the Dead Sea . . . and the Sea of Galilee . . . and some got to swim in a visit to the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea, after we visited Megiddo (The Battlefield of Armageddon mentioned by John in Revelation).  We toured the markets and bazaar's at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem and several in Bethlehem . . . enjoyed an M&M party with the children of the Baraka Presbyterian Church in Beit Jala . . . handed out over 600 packages of M&M's to SOS, House of Hope, Bethlehem Bible College, Al Watan Center in Hebron, children in the church in Cana, and many other places.  Probably the most fun and sense of satisfaction came from the sharing of the gifts First and Calvary, Wal-Mart and our Life Center provided to share our love and humanitarian aid with those in need.  With $2,000, we provided 40 $50 gifts of rice, flour, sugar, oil, fruit and vegetables, staples and canned items and gave them to forty needy families selected by the Bethlehem Bible College.  On our visit to Hebron we also shared $2,000 for an additional 40 gifts of humanitarian aid, and refreshments for the families and children that came to enjoy the party at the Al Watan Center where I served for three months each in 1995 and 1996, as a Teacher of Conversational English to Arab English teachers ,and as a Grant writer in 1996.  I know you would love to see the pictures of the Team as they handed out these love gifts of food. It would bring joy to your heart to have been there and watched the faces of families bordering on starvation. You can be proud of what your church did to relieve the hunger and pain being suffered by these new Palestinian friends.  

  

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	CHALLENGE: I know of at least 1,322 families in which no one is employed and many are on the verge of starvation. We are planning a new web site and if you might be interested in helping us continue this ministry to starving children and their families, please contact me via e-mail at: jbfellows@windstream.net or write: Global Ambassadors, Post Office Box 353, Bolivar, MO 65613-0353 USA.  A gift of $50 will feed a family of four for a month. PLEASE help us with this project.  

  

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	Paul said: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39  

  

Chapter Fifty-Seven  The Collisions of Extremes  



	From the Pen of Jack  I am certain that this section of the book is going to make me look like I am a person that does not like the Jew. That is not true, I have formed many friendships with individual Jews in the months I have spent in Israel .  I have recorded more than 250 conservations I have had with individuals in my 17 months of visiting Israel from 1993 through 2006, where I have asked them their opinion about the conflict between the Arab and the Jew.  I am sorrow to say that I was never able to have a personal interview with an Orthodox Jews. I tried on several occasions to get one of my Rabbi friends to help set up an appointment with an Orthodox family but he could never get one willing to talk with me about the Arabic/Jewish conflict.  Most that I have talked with, including several Rabbis, were willing to say that their government sometimes went overboard in their reactions to suicide bombings and rockets blasted into Jewish settlements, but, that it seemed to be the only language the Palestinian leadership understood.  However, let me quickly say I am not a fanatical anti-semeticSemitic critic of the Jew. One of the greatest books in the world contains the adventures of the Hebrew race since their founding by Abraham.  Yet it seems to me that the people that call themselves Jews today, have little resemblance to the nation that God led out of the wilderness. I relate with the group that opposes the modern day creators of injustice of the Israeli government . . . not the Jewish people who still follow the principles set forth by Moses in the 10 Commandments . . . the Orthodox Jew!  In the first Pilgrimage of the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D. C. where Edythe and I were members, we visited the Knesset (Parliament) and listened to Benjamin "Benny" Begin – son of one of the Founders of Modern Israel and an elected member of the Knesset at that time.  This is what he said:  - "god gave us this land in 1948 . . . ALL of it!" Our leader tried to correct him, saying . . . "The Balfour gave YOU only HALF of . . . . .") and "Benny" stormed on: "there are 21 other Arab countries in the world," and I quote . . . "let those god dam dirty Arabs go to one of them . . . yes . . . this is our land . . . god gave us ALL this land."  Another Extreme! Eight days after Edythe and I   got to the Bethlehem Bible College as volunteers for five months in 1994, Dr. Bernard Goldstein, who signed the Hippocratic Oath to protect and preserve life, and one of about 200 Jews living in the Hebron Settlement, protected by more than   2000 soldiers, with machine gun in hand and what has been reported with at least six hand grenades.  Dr. Goldstein entered the Abraham Mosque while Moslem men and boys were at prayer and tossed the grenades indiscriminately throughout the mosque and using the machine gun, killing 29.  Then, when the men and boys jumped up screaming, I have been told that he purposely lowered the machine gun and shot toward their legs and wounded over 200 more. He was finally captured by some of those not injured and beaten to death with a fire extinguisher.  His friends told the Red Cross he had wanted to deliver as much pain as possible and that is why he shot low. I visited one of his victims in 1995 . . . shot in the back that crushed his spinal cord and left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  Dr. Goldstein's Israeli and American friends erected his LIFE SIZED bronze statue in the front yard of his Hebron home for his "deed of valor" and in his honor, fresh flowers can still be found there every day . . . . daily, he is still honored after 12 years since his murderous killings . . . just across the street from the man in the wheelchair.  I went back to Hebron in 1995 to interview as many of the 29 families as possible that had family members wounded or killed, but had to give up the project after recording the stories of 10 of the 29 families. I could not sleep at night.  The major theme of the interviews . . .  "None of our families will ever be permitted to enter Israel because we killed Dr. Goldstein." . . .  "We might as well be dead" is what more than one mother or wife said during the interviews. Their question . . . . "why does America support these kind of monsters?"  The fourth extreme: I was invited to the refugee camp south of Hebron in 1996 for an interview with an eighteen year old young man training to be a suicide bomber. When the interpreter got around to the question I wanted the young man to answer . . . WHY DO YOU DO THIS? . . . he said. "Every male over 13 years old in our Clan (family . . .  that may number from 100 up to as many as 5,000) have been arrested, and most have been imprisoned and can NEVER enter Israel.  We have family in Gaza I have not seen in my lifetime. Why do I do this? Hamas has promised me that if I GIVE my life, every member of my Clan will be cared for . . . for the rest of their lives." He died protecting the Name of his Clan."  I walked more than two miles of the $2,000,000,000.00 25 foot high concrete new " Berlin" wall, as the Palestinians call it, during my visit to Bethlehem several months ago . . . on the Palestinian side . . . and sometimes at night because I would get chased off by the Israeli military during the day.  I have been told by several Jews that it is NOT really a Security Wall FOR the Israelis . . . it is a PRISON WALL for the Palestinians . . .  AND it is being paid for with your tax money, AUTHORIZED by your congressmen and senators so they can be re-elected and re-elected and re-elected! Possibly a good question might be asked as to how much each of them have received from an Israeli source?  I have been asked many times if I had any idea of the strength of the Israeli lobby, with the millions they continue to give to politicians to keep America funding their many projects and oppressions.  If you live in Bethlehem NOW and have family in Gaza or Nazareth, you might as well accept the fact you will NEVER see your family members again . . . the Israeli government will NOT give you a permit to go through Israel to get to your family members. When I was there in 1994, there were 180 check points.  Now for the last Extreme: The entire experience is too long and too complicated to share it all at this time. This extreme comes   because of the humanitarian aid that the church provided for us to purchase food packages for us to share with families in Hebron.  Our host in Hebron is a photographer and journalist for Rutgers. He arranged to have a photographer present for the distribution of the humanitarian aid packages and he took my picture and interviewed me for a story.  We were told the story appeared in a French newspaper.  It apparently was also picked up by the Israeli military and security. When I was trying to get my boarding pass I was told my documents (passport/ticket) were not in order and I would have to go get it straighten out.  In getting it "straightened out" I was confronted by four soldiers, guns at "ready", and a ranking officer, they called Colonel and he told me that unless I gave him the names of the 40 "terrorist" families we had given food to in Hebron, I would be arrested . . . and I retorted "over my dead body!" You cannot know the fear, anger, disbelief, sorrow, confusion, etc. I felt.  Yet . . . having been involved with this type of extreme Israeli military fanaticism since 1993, I had protected myself and I hoped, our Team. I had written a letter, placed it in our Bolivar post office box, indicating that should anything happen to me or our Team, whoever got the mail, should send the letter to the attention of Dr. Rice, Secretary of State, and a member of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. where Edythe and I had attended for several years.  Feeling braver than I felt, I told the Colonel what he faced if he arrested me, and I was not permitted to get on the plane. He looked like he could have killed me . . . then he screamed . . . "play it that way if you want . . . there is ONE thing I can do . . . Fellows, I can put your name and passport number on our suspected Terrorist list and you will NEVER be permitted to enter Israel again . . . unless you give me that list of 'terrorist' names in Hebron! Refuse . . . and you will be persona non grata in Israel ." Threat or accomplished, I had no plan . . . nor desire to go back to Israel .  Well, that is not exactly true. I would love to go with the members of our church planning on a trip to the Holy Land this spring. I love to walk in the Holy Land, in the chance my feet might step where He has walked . . .  I would love to see my student friends and Dr. Bishara and his family at the Bethlehem Bible College . . . my heart years to again be embraced by Abuna Chahour in Ibillin . . . how I would love to again hold the children of the Olive Wood carvers with whom we have worked for 14 years . . . but . . . but you would not anything about Christian Palestine.  I pushed my luck a little and said . . . "Colonel, sometimes I wonder why I have kept coming back to two of the worst regimes in modern history that constantly creates fear in other human beings. I have no respect for the militant Hamas or the suicide bombers and I am sorry your country is being threatened, but much is the fault of the militants in your military and government."  In the meantime, when I get home I will tell Dr. Rice 'hello' for you and I doubt if I ever would want to come back to a country that has treated me as I have been treated in the last two hours" and walked out . . . back to find the plane was loaded.  They had not permitted my wife and daughter to board the plane . . . all the other members of the Team were on board, and I think they were "praying" me out of that ugly situation.  Believe me, you cannot imagine the joy I had in helping Edythe and Dawna get

 on the plane, just minutes before it was scheduled to take off for home. I reflected a lot of "prayerful" thanks all the way home to Missouri.  Modern day Israel is a secular state. The Hebrew Religion is only a front for too many of them. You should have seen the "sea" of colorful umbrellas on the Mediterranean beach at Tel Aviv on the Sabot as we drove slowly along the shore a week ago Friday . . . almost as many Israeli's as grains of sand . . . and I wondered how many were in the synagogue.  At this point in my thinking . . . when I see and feel the things happening today in Israel and Palestine to human beings born in the image of God, I raise the question . . . are there 10 righteous men in Israel . . . Arab or Jew . . . that can keep the fire of God from falling on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Gaza to punish them for their treatment of their neighbors.  When I was there in 1993, the Mayor of Bethlehem said the population of Christians was a little over three percent, but shrinking. When we were there in June 2006, he said is was down to 1% and still shrinking every day. Too many of the youth are fleeing as there is very little future for them in the land where Christianity began. We need to keep our Palestinian Christian friends in prayer.  As Americans we have every right to challenge the actions of our closest international allies, especially those to whom we give substantial foreign aid and all the more when it affects their treatment of minorities within their borders.  On the following page is a copy of the flyer I was given when I spoke to the Rotary Club in the YMCA in Jerusalem and was told that I could get more at the Israeli Tourism office at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.  Let me share this with you . . . . . "Visitors to Israel . . . . .  I was a little surprised with the frankness of this flyer. Yet I know several Holy Land evangelicals, and a few visitors, who have talked to Jewish people on the street about accepting the Messiah and they were arrested;had to pay a $5,000.00 fine – with a minimum of six months in prison.  

	

Chapter Fifty-Eight  Our Transfer to the NPC Balkan Committee  



	From the Pen of Jack  Dr. M. Craig Barnes, Pastor of the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D. C., had been invited by World Vision to join a team going to the Balkans in 1996 to see what World Vision and mission-minded churches might do to assist in supplying help in that war-torn section of the world.  He came back so fired up by what he had seen in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and other parts of old Yugoslavia, that as he reported back to the congregation and staff of National, it quickly became apparent he wanted the Mission Pastor and Mission Council to become involved in that section of the world as soon as possible.  Rev. Lynne Faris, NPC Missions Pastor indicated that she thought National should narrow their possible involvement to either Bosnia or Croatia .  She also shared that she knew the University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington was very interested in getting involved with a church in Croatia that had as it's purpose the process of renovating a hundred year old orphanage building that had not been occupied for forty years and they were going to take a team and would like for National to join them in this project.  They also told us that a member of the University Presbyterian Croatian Mission Council would be in Washington, D. C. and would like to meet with people in National that might be interested.  Actually, at that time National did not have a Croatian Missions Committee. There were only two people interested in Croatia and they were on the Africa/European Committee and one of them told me that they only had a budget of $300 a year, and hardly could ever get the Africa/European Committee to approve any project in which they wanted to be involved.  Rev. Faris said she knew I was actually over-extended time-wise on the Middle East Committee by about a year, as not too many members at National were that interested in the Middle East. She asked me if I would be interested in being transferred from the Middle East Mission Committee and becoming more involved in the Croatian group on the Africa/European Committee.  I told her that I had learned from one of those serving on the Africa/European Committee that the Croatia Mission group should be recognized as a functioning mission committee in it's own right, with a larger budget. If this were to happen, I would be very interested in changing mission committee membership. Rev. Faris also indicated that if I agreed, she wanted me to serve as Chair of the new Croatian Mission Committee.  She also knew that if National was to do what Dr. Barnes, and those deeply interested in Croatia wanted to see done, those on the European Committee, along with several others, should become an active mission partner member on the Mission Counsel. She agreed and at the next Mission Council the change was approved, with reluctance on the part of the Africa/European Committee Chair.  We were surprised that six others, than the two on the Africa/European Committee, making a total of eight, had agreed to serve on the newly established Croatian Mission Committee.  Two months later the University Presbyterian Croatia Mission Committee representative attended the second meeting of the NPC Croatian Mission Committee and said they would like to partner with us for a work project team in the summer of 1997 at the Hope Center in the mountains of Fuzine, Croatia.  She had a lot of pictures of the old orphanage building . . . and it was not a very exciting picture, but she had also talked with the President and Vice President of the group who were members of the First Baptist Church of Reijka, Croatia that were responsible for the future plans for the use of the building when it would be completed and it became a very exciting and worthwhile project.  They kept talking about "transforming the Ugly Duckling into   a Beautiful Swan" if they could get enough groups to come help them with work.She felt it would work perfectly in the missions program of her church and said she thought it would also be a challenge, as the leaders of Hope Center felt it would take a minimum of four to five years to accomplish their objectives of transforming that only abandoned building into a beautiful and fully functional special center for training leaders in that section of the world. Somehow the chance to change an Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan had a lot of appeal.  

	

Chapter Fifty-Nine  The Mission Trip to Croatia in 1997  The Hope Center Work Project  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  The newly established Croatian Missions Committee had worked out a budget and came up with a figure of $11,000 for the year. It took a lot of hard work to get the Mission Council to approve such a large increase, but we did the same thing the representative from University Presbyterian had done and our budget was finally approved.  National approved a two-week work project in 1997 and our first job was to put together a team to help turn that old abandoned orphanage into a "Beautiful Swan" and we set out to encourage people to join the work team.  We ended up with seven from National, seven from University, one from Phoenix, AZ and one from the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Newport Beach, CA.  One of the nice things about National, is that if it is for missions, then we could get approval to ask for financial assistance from the mission- minded congregation. I told Rev. Faris that I could get a friend that was a wholesaler to loan us what I thought we were going to have to have and we could make up an attractive display for Sunday mornings and the Wednesday evening dinner to encourage the members to donate enough money to buy whatever tool or tools they would like to see us provide for our work team.  Rev. Faris got permission for us to have the display in both places for four weeks and I arranged to borrow a sample of each of the items we would have to have money to buy tools when we got to Croatia .  This was especially true for power tools, as the current there was 220. We also had another table of smaller items people could "buy" and we could take with us when we went and leave when we came home, so others could use them after our team came home.  I told you National was a mission-minded congregation and this trip was no exception, we raised a little over $11,000 for the tool and equipment fund. I told Teo what our church had done and we would be wiring him $6,000 to purchase the most needed tools and equipment just before we got there, but that they should NOT be used until our team got there and we could take pictures of all the new tools before they were put to work.  I also requested that Teo be ready to take me to whatever warehouse I might need to go to, for things we would find we would need in the work we were doing.  I was to serve as Co-Leader of the team with Rev. Lynne Faris and the Construction Co-coordinator to work with a young Croatian named Teo Secen. A friend of mine from Michigan who had been to the Hope Center the year before and when he learned I was to be responsible for our team during some construction work, he called and said "don't go, they have very little in the way of tools, and even what they have are rusty, broken and almost useless."  Well, we had already signed up to go, but we did not have to be limited to what they wanted us to do. I e-mailed Teo and asked him what kind of work we would be doing and the condition of the tools we would be using to accomplish what we were going to be assigned to do. I also asked him where we would be staying, as I had been told the building was in no condition for us to stay in it.  I did not get an answer for nearly a month, after about a dozen more e-mails and the final one that said unless we heard from them concerning the work we were to do and the availability and condition of the tools we would be using, we would have to cancel our trip to work at the Hope Center. I had a feeling we were in for a rough time for the two weeks.  Finally I got the "good" news. They did not have a electric cut-off saw of any kind, nor heavy work gloves, no protective eye glasses, only three or four hammers, no crowbar, a few old pliers, two old 12 foot tapes, one of which had lost it spring and one 25 foot cloth tape. . . no, they did not have any levels or plumb bobs, only two small power drills and one jigsaw and no drywall cutters or tools for applying spackle, none of the drywall lift devices, no small sanders, nor small sandpaper holders for smoothing down the spackle before painting and no sand sandpaper . . . screwdrivers . . . we have some around here somewhere . . .  in short order I felt we were facing an unusually difficult situation.  Teo had never replied to the question of where we would be living, so I had to e-mail him again for the information. Again it took a long time to hear from him, but finally he said we would be living at ROS, the local Refugee Center in Fuzine, but gave me no details, except that the rate of occupancy varied from 70 to 100 residents. Most of them had been living there since 1990/1991 during the war years in Croatia , Bosnia , Albania , Kosovo, etc.  It was quiet a shock to find what ROS was and the details of our living in the Refugee Center and before I get into what we were going to be working on, I will share some of what we found out when we got there. We drove up to find an old building and a group of people standing around waiting for us to get out of the vans.  We got the first warning of what to expect when Teo said "you are going to find things much different, but you will soon see what these people have been having to suffer for the past several years." He took us inside a very dark ground floor and it looked just like the outside did . . . an old building that had not been cared for in the past and now housed people that had been run out of their homes by the war.  It was at this point that we learned

 you cannot determine what is in the box or package until you open it. The lights came on and there on a table were bottles of soda and plates of cookies and we were invited to help our selves . . . the refugees had prepared a little welcoming ceremony. On another long table was a display of all kinds of items made from wool and thread . . . things the refugee women had made to sell.  After about an hour of welcoming activities, Teo told the men to come with him and for the ladies in our group would soon be going with the Supervisor of the refugees and we would be shown where we would be living for the two weeks. The six other men joined me and we went up to the second floor and to the room we would be living in during our stay in Fuzine.  Now we learned what Teo meant when he said we would find things much different. The room was 10 feet wide and 20 feet long and contained four double bunk beds and a very small was basin. Seven of us will be living together in this room for two weeks and believe me it did take some getting use to, as there was barely room to stand up in the middle of the room. However, as how I hoped it would turn out, to the last man, they started laughing and asking who snored and this broke up the tension I could feel building up.  The next shock was to find out there was only one shower head and one toilet in the room across from our bedroom . . . and oh happy day . . . it was also used by the refugees. There was no separate men's room and women's room and we were soon to learn that privacy was a commodity that would be in short supply for the two weeks we would be living as refugees. Frankly, I think this was the best thing that had happened to nearly all the men.  The women were having a little more trouble accepting how they were to be living for the two weeks, as there were nine of them and the room was only slightly bigger than the one for men. One of the women said she had never undressed before with women and was having a hard time with it . . . she asked Lynne if there was a hotel in town where she could rent a room.  At this point, the group sensing what the woman was facing and probably having the same thoughts themselves, listened to Lynne tell of some of her experiences and including some very funny things that had happened to her on the mission fields and before to long, everyone was laughing and finally the concerned woman said "forget the hotel . . . this is probably why God had me come on this trip" and as Lynne told me later, all the women joined in a song and hugged each other.  Lynne and I spent some time in thankfully praying that things had turned out as they did. I was sure that there would be other times and places when and where we would face more cultural shock during our two weeks in the Refugee Center. We would also be taking all three meals in the Refugee Center, but the people that lived in ROS would eat either before or after our work crew would eat.  While the team was settling in, I went to the Hope Center with Teo and we worked out the work assignments. Half of our team would be assigned to clearing out the trash and accumulated filth of nearly 100 years and tearing out some non-supportive brick walls on the first and second levels. Now it was time to go to work.  Had it not been for the generosity of National, they would have had only one old, nearly broken, wheelbarrow with steel wheels, two shovels; one with a cracked handle, one old push broom, two small sledge hammers and only two heavy duty chisels, two shovels,   and very little else.  Part of the other half of the team would be responsible for building the bedroom walls on the top floor. The flooring had already been laid by the team that was there just before us. I had taken the rest of the team to the top level and this required a great deal of adventure.  There was no elevator and all we had was a 2" X 4" ladder built on one of the walls and you had to climb up about 20' to get to the top floor. Tools, equipment, supplies and lumber were pulled up to the top floor either in large buckets or a rope controlled flat platform.  Power cables had been strung up one of the walls to a box on the top floor and we would use extension cords to get to where we needed to use electrical tools.  I took one of the men who had a little construction experience and one of the women who said she wanted to "bang" a hammer, to one end of the third floor where the work team had actually enclosed a room and door, so we could lock the room at night and showed them how I would like for them to convert the room into a temporary tool and supply room and wire tool holders put into the holes of mason board to hold all the tools.  I was amazed to go back up the ladder late in the afternoon and they had the masonite all mounted on three of the walls and had built a heavy duty work bench along the other wall. They had done a great job in a very limited time and this was going to speed up the work considerable in the usage of the limited tools we had at our disposal.  We also posted the rule that if you needed a tool, you went to the tool room, checked out what you needed, and when you were finished the job, take the tool or tools back and hang them in place. It took several days before all the team members were following the suggested procedure of returning the tools when finished with it or them.  I took two of the men and three women to the other end of the third floor and showed them where I had marked out of the floor where I wanted them to put the first wall of what would be the first bedroom on the third floor. The other three walls had also been assembled and made it much easier for this team to soon have the first room enclosed.  Hopefully, before we left to go home we could start installing the drywall, mixing the spackle and tape and when dried, begin the important job of sanding.  Now I will try to remember some of the things I saw during the two weeks we were there.  Rev. Faris and Greg Gochnour had the responsibility of sweeping up the broken bricks, trash, small pieces of lumber and putting them in one of the two NEW rubber tired wheel-barrow . . . the other broken down one had finally given up the ghost and been buried outside with all the other trash.  Lynne would sweep up piles of stuff then she and Greg would shovel it until the wheelbarrow was full and Greg would wheel it to a back window and dump it out, while Lynne would be sweeping more broken bricks and trash into little piles. They would do this all day.  Three of the young women from University, two from National and one of the men from National had the responsibility of breaking bricks with chisel and hammer from some of the non-supportive walls to make doors that would ultimately end up as doors for bedrooms. The woman not pounding on the bricks would be loading the broken pieces of brick into the wheelbarrow and the man would join Greg in making trips to the window and dumping them.  Near the end of the two weeks the Hope Center host and Teo had planned a nice dinner for the team at one of the restaurants and he reviewed what our various teams had done in our two weeks and it was amazing.  Teo said we had done more in the two weeks that any other team that had working so far. This made all of the team happy to know they had done a good job.  He gave special praise to the small team that had constructed the shop for the tools and supplies and to the way the team working on laying out the walls for the bedrooms on the third floor had just about completed getting all the bedroom ready to start working on get them ready for the electrical and plumbing work to get started.  I was especially surprised at what we had done in such a short time and could hardly find words to let the team know how much the splendid work had impressed the Hope Center people and even people from the community.  The Mayor had been invited to the dinner and had expressed her interest and appreciation for what the team had done and said she hoped we would return the next year. This gave me the idea of having an open house near in the end of the two weeks and inviting the community to come for an open house for them to see what volunteers could do, if they wanted to help other people. I told Rev. Faris that I would like for us to bring another team in 1998 and she agreed with me whole heartedly. We really need to contact some other mission minded churches.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Sixty  Our Second Year at the Hope Center in 1998  



	From the Pen of Jack  1998 was a very busy year. It started in late spring when we had to start getting everything we might need to finish our part of the construction work. We had two "gathering" days on display in the halls of the church with samples of thing we were going to need . . . with a sign that said they could make a donation or get the things themselves and bring them and put them in one of the footlockers. The list is too long to include here, but it was quite lengthy.  The National Presbyterian of Washington, D. C.  had a total of nine team members, University Presbyterian of Seattle, Washington had four and St. Andrews Presbyterian of Newport Beach, California had nine to add to the team this year . . . our largest team to date and was certainly needed.  We lived in the rooms we built last year, although we had only one usable bathroom on the top floor. The leadership of the Hope Center put us in that room. Edythe and I shared the bathroom with 20 others. Our floor was NEVER dry . . . but we all had lots of fun as a team.  Our work was all laid out for us. All the bedrooms had been completed and we were living in some we finished framing in 1998. It was really fortunate that we had such a large group of willing workers. We had a team working on cutting out the hole for the light fixture and plug-in boxes and we trained three of the most nimble fingered to actually do the wiring and one of the men from St. Andrews would go to each box when the worker said they were finished. He had a special gismo to use as a tester and if it was wired correctly he would know it and mark it finished OK.  Nearly half of the team was assigned to sanding the spackled walls in preparing for them to be painted. The workers had to wear safety goggles and masks over their eyes, nose and mouth. This was not hard, but it soon grew old, so I tried to work it out so that no person had to sand the walls and the ceiling al day long, If anyone really felt they needed to take a break, which most professional drywall people do, the team member could just lay down the long handled sanding tool, say "excuse me" and go downstairs for a drink of water or outside for some fresh mountain air.  Surprisingly, we had several that never seemed to lay down their sanding tool and take a break, so I thought it best to announce a 10/15 minute break every hour and it seemed we got more rooms done after we started taking the breaks. One thing that amazed me was that on the first day we started the sanding, they finished all the rooms that first day and we left the windows open and the rooms aired out so they would be ready to paint the next day.  We had two on the team that seemed to have had some experience in hooking up water connections, so we set them to work in the bathrooms hooking up for the showers, stools, and water basins.  There were still two rooms that did not have all the wood work finished and had not had the drywall installed, so we found a couple of team members that had finished their assigned work for the day and they volunteered to begin work on getting those two rooms ready to spackle and sand.  Work was going very well on every level with what had been planned for us to do during our two weeks in the Hope Center. Teo and Srecko seemed very pleased with all we were doing. Believe me, we had a most unusual team this year and all the leaders were very proud of the team that had joined us in 1998.  At this point I will jump ahead to say that every project Teo had planned for our team . . . each thing he had planned for us was finished prior to the time we were scheduled   to return home.  I can say that 1998 will always be remembered as a great mission team effort.  So, I will take a break and share some of the things I also wanted to see completed during this trip and one was to see that a complete Children's English Reading Club got installed in the Primary school library, so I asked Edythe if she would help Stanka get this set up in the school and she agreed to do it. This was one of the major objectives for 1998.  In a more personal way, I could not help having local people staring at me when I went daily to the market early in the morning for freshly baked bread and anything else we might be needing in the kitchen that day.  I watched them some days when I was working in an area on the outside.  If you turned to look at them, they quickly stopped looking at the center or some one working on the outside. "They were just curious about those people from America working on that old building" Stanka told me one day. She also asked why we had never invited the village people to come to see what we had done and were doing. and I was really surprised we had never thought of it.  This is also when it occurred to me to plan some time of a Community Party on the next to the last night we were going to be there. Lynne, Edythe, Bill and Srecko all said it was a great and let's do it and Edythe,  Joan and Jewel took it over and planned the entertainment and decided what our guests would have to eat and drink.  Srecko and his twin sons brought their guitars and we had a wonderful "sing-a-long" for nearly an hour and even some of the locals joined in the singing. The young kids had a ball. The team nearly went crazy with joy!  We were told later by Srecko that he thought there must have been some- where between 200 and 250 at the party. He thought it was a great idea and suggested we include it in the program for 1999.  Edythe had also established the first Children's English Reading Club (CERC) in the Primary School and thus began a very close and exciting relationship with Stanka Loncaric, the Principal, and also with The Honorable Ela Korica, Mayor of Fuzine. Again, the Team recommended we return in 1999. Rev. Faris approved the recommendation for 1999.  We had been praying that Lynne would agree to a 1999 team. I do not think she was aware that we had already been asked by the local leadership to bring our 1999 team for the week just before the new Renewing Our Mind Conference would have it's first world-wide conference. Edythe and I had been invited to attend the conference for the first ROM scheduled for August and we were planning to accept the invitation.  

  

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	Jesus said; "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck measure, but on the lamp stand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."  Matthew 5:13-16  

  

Chapter Sixty-One  Getting Ready for the Hope Center in 1998/1999  



	From the Pen of Jack  Two very important things this trip was in getting the facility ready by the summer of 1999 and both of these things required that I return for another three months in early 1998 to work with Vesna Vuletic in developing a program we were going to call "Renewing Our Mind" (ROM) based on the eighth chapter of Romans and hopefully both the proposed program and the Hope Center building would be ready by the middle of July 1999.  After several weeks Vesna had the outline for a two week conference and we passed it along to about a dozen people that had shown a great interest in seeing if this might work in the seriously divided Balkans.  Several outstanding international representatives from the United States, France, Great Britain, and some of the top leaders in the field of reconciliation and conflict resolution agreed to come as unit mentors and at that point I felt the program for the first Renewing Our Minds was in good hands and I could turn my attention to getting the building finished and furnished.  It was thought that this would be possible, as several more teams would be coming to work on the building until Fall in 1998 and several were scheduled in early 1999 to put the finishing touches on getting the "old ugly duckling" ready to   become the "Beautiful Swan" as a totally new conference center to serve the Balkan area.  Our church had agreed to sponsor a third work team in 1999 just before ROM would open and do whatever was needed to be done in getting the facility ready for occupancy. Some of the team would be working on things that still needed to be done on the building while the rest would be cleaning up the construction mess and beautifying the grounds.  One of the first things you notice when you get to Croatia, and especially in Fuzine where we were working, is the attempt to erase the horrible shadows of war and destruction by adding some of the beautiful floral creations God has created for us to use on this earth.  Flowers were around every house, in every window, in fact, in every nook and cranny. In "keeping up with our neighbors" around the Hope Center, we tried to develop as much floral beauty as possible with the $1,200 we had at our disposal.  Several friends had given us $50.00 each to help us get the window boxes built, installed and filled with flowers. These would be the first thing you would see when you approached the Hope Center.  We had learned an important fact about the culture where we were working. No matter how poor and aged, there was never a single house in the village that did not have window boxes and lovely flower gardens. This aided us in making plans to do the same thing for the Hope Center.  In 1999 our team had built a garden retaining wall along the street end of the building and we built a window box for the 48 windows and got them installed with a lot of help from some of the young people from the village.  During our fundraising drive prior to leaving for the trip, we were able to raise close to $10,000.00 when the church allowed us to have display tables in the narthex and printed materials about the mission trip to Croatia in 1999 on the sign-up tables.  We were really fortunate to have people at the tables that had been on one of the precious mission trips and could talk intelligently and with enthusiasm about what the trip had meant to them  It appeared that the Hope Center facility would be finished in time to have the first ROM Conference in the summer of 1999, however a very important thing had to happen; raising the money to furnish the about to be completed 27 bedrooms, the new kitchen and dining room and Conference Hall and this is where I would come in.  I was asked by the leadership of the Hope Center to help raise the money as soon as possible for the bedrooms. This meant I had to find out what they wanted in the bedrooms, get estimates, the items purchased and installed before ROM could happen.  This turned out to be the hardest part of getting the furniture. The mental set of people in the Balkans is not in tune with our concept of planning ahead or why the rush of getting things done so quickly.  I finally got estimates from several firms in Reijka for half and full size beds and mattress, wardroom cabinets, small bedside tables and lamps and found we were going to have to raise $1,700.00 each to furnish the 27 bedrooms. I forget the time difference between Croatia and the States, so I got Edythe out of bed to see if we had an extra $1,700.00 in our missions account and she said we did.  Now, we had to discuss whether or not we wished to do it, and after a few days, we decided that if we did, we could use the news we were sponsoring the Maryland Room for $1,700.00 as a challenge to others, praying that they would join us by sponsoring a room?  I got on the computer and started to e-mail people back home. Can you sponsor a room?  Will your church sponsor one? You could sponsor one in the name of your wife/husband/mother/father. In two days we had three sponsors.  At the end of the first week, we had found nine sponsors. We had raised $15,300.00 in the week. By the end of the second week we had found sponsors for an additional ten rooms . . . $32,000.00 had been paid or pledged . . . yet we still needed eight more sponsors.  A batch of e-mails and telephone calls to churches and friends on the first day of the third week finished up the campaign to secure sponsorships for the 27 rooms.  Another couple really surprised us by telling me they had decided they would sponsor the space for the office and this was going to cost them$2,500.00. In less than three weeks, God had lead 28 sponsors to agree to underwrite the budget of $49,800.00. We were ready to place orders for delivery and installation by July 1, 1999.  In the meantime we had received permission to have a special gift/fund drive at the church on two Sundays to get money for linens, so we set up two tables where we thought most of the members would be walking.  Need I remind you again that we were a part of a great mission-minded passionate church helping us take the gospel and assistance to all parts of the world. Edythe and I were only two serving one area. We probably had over a hundred and fifty in our church doing the same thing we were doing, but in a different location . . . local . . . or international.  This one was rather simple. We needed 48 sets of new and good quality   sheets and pillowcases for twin beds and six sets for standard beds. We needed 54 bath towels and 54 hand towels. It did not surprise me or Edythe, when we received enough donations to purchase 63 sets of sheets for twin and 12 sets for standard . . . We got enough gifts to purchase 77 bath towels and 60 hand towel. NEW sheets, pillow cases, towels and hand towels.  Yet, getting the center ready for occupancy and making sure we had enough beds, chairs, sheets, towels, was really the least important of all the rest. Getting young men and women between the ages of 18 and 29 was really the greatest challenge over all the other physical things.All of us involved in the development of the ROM program were excited with the response we had achieved in getting the sons and daughters of professional leaders from six different countries to sign on for the first ROM. Our objective had been to get those who would be the leaders in the next generation of their community and country, and it looked as if we had achieved this beyond our imagination.  My assignment for the first ROM was to video the entire program and this turned out to be a great blessing for me. I got to hear and capture on tape, on of the major presentations and discussions. It was really one of the richest experiences I had ever had.  The first ROM was so successful that the entire group voted with a great deal of enthusiasm for the leadership to immediately get to work on planning ROM 2000. Edythe and I were privileged to be invited back for the second year, but let it be known we would not be able to continue on after 2000. Instead we recommended that there would be a major world wide ROM at the Hope Center in Fuzine, but smaller Mini-ROM's should be planned and directed by those who had been involved with the first two ROM's in their own countries.  It is my understanding that all of these things have been accomplished and the future of ROM is indeed very bright. It has been a rich experience to have had a part in the planning, development and enrichment of the objective of getting different religious and cultural groups to overcome their prejudices and look upon relationships as a part of the world culture.  

  

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	The Harvest Is Plentiful  "Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, He had compassion on   them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out   workers into His harvest."  Matthew 9:35-38  

  

Chapter Sixty-Two  Heating System and a Second Building  



	From the Pen of Edythe  I guess I should not have been surprised when the Hope Center leadership called on Jack to again help them secure the funds to get a heating system installed in the newly finished and facility and another building.  He was the one who raised the $50,000 necessary to furnish the newly renovated 27 rooms of the center and several more thousand dollars to get them new linens for the bedrooms and baths.  I know what it cost him to help get ROM off the ground and running, with the several plane trips he had to make to Croatia .  The ROM One we attended in 1999 was an outstanding success, I think far beyond the dreams of those who had put the program together, and we were blessed again by ROM Two the next year, it was equally successful. Attendance was greater than in 1999 and it appeared that the ROM program would be a permanent addition on the calendar each year.  I learned later that there was a new feature in 2000 thatcontinues today. Many organizations throughout the Balkans area began what they called "Mini ROMS" for their own organizations and several more in other countries. Jack attended two in Bosnia, one in Romania, and our missionary in Croatia, Paul Drogowski, has had some very successful "Mini ROMS" in his program in Osijek and has had anywhere from 15 to 20 different young people each year.  I have included the success of ROM to indicate that the restored Hope Center can be a very successful center year round . . . if it were heated! So I should not complain about another burden they have put on Jack. As usual he succeeded. I not sure about the way he brought it all about, but he was successful in raising a little over $10,000 and the Hope Center became a year-round facility.  I included the other part about another building in this chapter, because I believe it started back before ROM, if memory serves me right in happened in 1998 during our second year with an Outreach work team, but it could have been in early 1999 when Jack was back in Croatia in helping to get the facility ready for ROM. Just across the street from the Hope Center was another abandoned   building, probably as old as the one volunteers had transformed and probably in worse shape than what we had found in 1997.  Now there was talk about trying to secure the building, renovate it and adding a larger conference room, a library, an audio-visual room, one room with six to eight small study cubes, three or four private rooms for guests and speakers coming for ROM and other conferences, even a dining facility that would be open to the general public, as well as guests in the transformed building.  I bet you do not have to guess on whom would be asked to help them raise the money to purchase the building. That's right it was Jack, the everlasting fund-raiser for the Hope Center people and he did not have the courage, maybe I should say sense,   to say "no" to them.  The first thing he found out was that the property had been abandoned by the owners who had been run out of town and Croatia during the war in 1990 – 1992. We learned that they did not dare return to Fuzine or Croatia . They were probably still living as Refugees in Bosnia .  As an abandoned property, the village government had taken possession of it and I would have to deal with the Mayor and Village Council. In the early years before anyone could stay in the Hope Center, we had made a trip to Fuzine to work with some of the people that owned the Hope Center and we found we could stay in the Bed and Breakfast Mayor Ela provided in her village.  She was not very fluent in English, but fortunately her daughter was and we had gotten to the place that we could have conversations with her in the evening. She seemed to be very curious as to why we were spending time and money working with the folks at the Hope Center.  The young Croatian woman, who was a resident of another village close by and who was serving with our Life Center organization, told Jack that the Mayor did not like the man who was the head of the Hope Center and did not want to talk with him about buying the property, but she would be willing to talk with Jack.  While we were living in her Bread and Breakfast, she had her daughter tell us that the property would be sold by the municipality by sealed bid, with a required deposit of $5,000 that would be returned if our bid was not accepted. Jack knew he would have to make a deposit and had taken $10,000 to cover whatever else might be needed. Fortunately, nothing else came out of the woodworks! We also learned that the property would not be available for purchase until 2000, as the government of Croatia had many requirements that had to be met, before the local government could take possession of the property, but they were going to put it out for bid now and that anyone who wished to bid on the property would have to make a deposit of $5,000 in order to bid on the property and if the bid was not accepted, the deposit would be returned.  This was fine for Jack, as he had already made the deposit. He knew he would have to solve some very serious problems between the mayor and the President of the organization that owned the Hope Center.  He knew he would also have to get the President of the Hope Center organization to sign an agreement to pay a minimum of $10,000 of the purchase price and this made him very angry and he should not have to pay any part of it.  Jack tried to prayerfully remind him that he had been living off of other people and organizations for too long and it was time for him to realize that he and the Croatian people were going to have to start giving of their own financial support, even if it were only pennies.  However in talking with the Vice-President, we learned he would help with the property decisions. However he learned that the President had made a bid, but he did not know how much it was and he would not tell him.  After a lot of prayer, Jack decided he would submit a sealed bid of $35,000. The time came for opening the bids and he made a special trip to Croatia to be there when the final decision would be made in the purchase of the property.  None of us were supposed to know how much the other bids were, but a friend of Jack, who was an officer of the municipality, had suggested he thought $35,000 would buy the property.  There were three bids, one was for $34,500 from a group of outsiders that wanted to come to Fuzine and open a Bistro . . . that the mayor did want to come into her community. The President of the local organization made a bid of $10,000. I made a bid of $35,000 and we won the right to purchase the property.  The President was furious with Jack and was screaming "Why did you make a bid of $35,000 . . . we could have gotten it for less." Then, my friend, the local Vice-President of the Croatian organization, reminded him that another bid had been for $34,500 and only Jack's bid of $35,000 had saved the property for the Hope Center. It was time for Jack to get busy raising the $35,000 and this is where he started. He had a good friend and mission supporter at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington D. C.  He knew Jack had made the $5,000 deposit and he agreed to loan the Croatian organization $30,000 with the understanding that they were responsible to use the $10,000 the President had made as his bid and that Jack would raise the other $25,000, $5,000 cover the deposit and $20,000 to be added to the Croatian $10,000.  The Municipality of Fuzine had finally completed all the requirements and paper work with the government and had received title to the property. It so happened that the settlement was scheduled during my 2001 trip to Croatia and I went to my National friend and got a check for $30,000 to pay the rest of the offered price.  Having worked with the President of the Hope Center, Jack had learned to take every legal precaution possible to protect this loan, so he asked the Mayor to turn the property over to Life Center International-America, Inc. and she said she would be glad to do this. So when the papers were signed that day Life Center owned a horrible old building in Croatia that only $35,000 would take off our books.  It was time for us to begin to raise money to raise the money to pay us back for the $5,000 deposit we had provided and the $30,000 our good Deacon friend at National had provided. With the help of our friends and supporters, we agreed to try to raise $5,000 a month for four months and this was fine with our friend and he said there would be no interest.  I e-mailed the President of the Hope Center in Croatia and told him that we needed the $10,000 he had offered to pay on the bid he had made. He wrote he was not going to pay it . . . that it was unreasonable for a rich American organization not to pay it . . . and I had to write back and tell him the property belonged to Life Center and the only way I would sign the title over to his organization would be when the $10,000 was paid.  In the meantime, we had paid the first $5,000 back to Deacon David, only to learn that he had developed an incurable cancer and did not have more that several months to live. This spurred our efforts to raise funds in our church and through our Life Center mailing list. Three weeks later we paid him another $5,000 and began praying for a $20,000 balance.  Jack was sending an e-mail every week reminding Croatia they owed $10,000 to Life Center. Finally, after about six weeks we got a wire transfer for $4,000 and that this was all they had. Jack wrote back reminding him that he had pledged $10,000 for the property and had assured the Municipality of Fuzine that he had the $10,000.  Jack also told him we were thinking of putting the property up for sale because Life Center had no desire to own property in Croatia . We needed to have the remaining $6,000 to pay off the loan.  At home, we

 had enough contributions to send the third $5,000 in the third month. We were on schedule, but it was getting harder and harder to keep going back to the same people.  I decided to not write Croatia for a while and sure enough we got a check for $5,000 from an organization in Arizona that said they were planning on sending it to Croatia , until they heard what the President was doing and decided to send it to us.  We immediately made another $5,000 payment on the loan, leaving a balance of $10,000 and we were able to make another payment of $5,000 in three weeks and this left only $5,000 to come in to pay off the $30,000 loan.  Jack e-mail Croatia and told them that when the final $1,000 had been paid we would like to have our attorney enter into negotiations with them to transfer title to them. We got an e-mail back immediately complaining that we were greedy and did not care about their organization, but they would go ahead and send the $1,000.  This made Jack laugh and told me he was going to write Croatia and ask them where they got the $50,000 for the furniture and several thousands for the linens for the 27 bedrooms, the $10,000 for the heating system, and the $25,000 to apply on the purchase of the second building. He laughed again and then with a sigh said we would not have to be going back to Croatia with a team.  We made another mailing telling what was happening and we only needed another $5,000 to pay off the loan to David and that we were making a donation of $5,000 to cover the deposit we had made on the property we had purchased in Croatia .  Jack and I never forget the day we went to the Retirement Center where Dave lived. We announce our visit at the front desk and were told that David said he would be right down, for us to please remain in the reception area. When he came around the corner we lost our breath, the cancer had turned him into a skeleton and he looked nothing like the friend we had sat with in the same area when we got the$30,000 check for the loan just about six months ago.  Yet, there was still a sparkle in his eyes and he took the check for $5,000 and with a chuckle said "I never doubted for one minute that you would repay the loan. You are blessed in what you are doing for the Lord. He needs more servants like the two of you."  That was the last time we saw David. A few more weeks he had gone to be with the Lord.  

  

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	Stir Your Church, O God, Our Father  Stir your church, O God, our Father, move throughout its life today;  cultivate a sense of mission in our hearts and minds, we pray.  Help us to renew commitment to a way of ministry  Which interprets for our culture how your truth can make us free.  Make your church a living witness to the power of its Lord;  Send us to the world around us with your Spirit and your Word:  To the inner city turmoil, to affluent suburbs too . . .  To all those who need your message send us forth to tell of you.  Give to us a social conscience which enables us to see  that all folks are your creation and that they have dignity.  Let us feel, with real compassion, needs of body, mind and soul,  for these needs may we provide your ministry which makes them  whole.  Challenge us, O God, our Father, to the tasks which must be done  for your church to find fulfillment in the way taught by your Son.  With awareness of our purpose, with commitment to Your call,  may we help prepare the time when Christ will reign as Lord of  all.  

  

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  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Sixty-Three  Children's English Reading Clubs in 2000  



	From the Pen of Jack  Edythe and I got the idea of helping primary schools in other countries to establish and maintain an English section in their school library from Mrs. Stanka Loncaric, the Principal of the Primary school in Fuzine, Croatia where our church sent teams each year for five years between 1997 and 2001.  We had learned from Srecko Ilisinovic, the Vice President of the church organization that owns The Hope Center property, that the Principal of the Primary School had visited with the team on the last night before we went home from our 1997 work project when Srecko introduced her, she said she was amazed at what a group of volunteers had done to that terrible old building and she wished us God's speed home.  She was one of the first visitors when she came to the Hope Center while our team was there working on the Hope Center building in 1998 and told Teo she would like to talk with me . . . could I come to her office at the school? He arranged for me and our Hope Center host Srecko Ilisinovic to visit as soon as we could get away from our duties at the center. That turned out to be the next day.  After juice and sweets in her office, she asked us to go with her to the library and when we got there she took me to one shelf and pulled out 13 English books and said this is our English library for over a 100 children and I wondered if you might be able to help us.  She also said that Scott Serich, a team member in 1997, had mentioned the Children's English Club he had donated enough money to establish a CERC in the primary school in Bir Zeit, Israel through a program of our church and she should talk with me about it.  Srecko was also involved with me on many other occasions, as we tried to help as many churches, orphanages, schools and families as possible. He asked how I was able to do all I was doing in his country and I told him one of the most important resources I had was with our church, The National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D. C.  NPC had an important program called the Alternate Gifts Christmas Market (AGCM). This was a world-wide program of helping organizations all over the world. It was different, in that you could not buy something and take it home . . . you bought something to honor a member of the family or friend . . . and again they did not get to take it with them. The AGCM was open on two Sundays in late November each year.  To make it a little easier to understand, the Mission Council would ask for applications that explained in detail what the project was we were seeking to sponsor.  Usually there would be in the neighborhood of 60 to a 100 different projects. One year our Life Center International – America Inc. had four projects approved and God blessed us in very pleasant ways. All four exceeded our goals for financial support.  If it were approved, we could have a table, two if you had more than two projects in the AGCM. For instance, one table was set up where you could buy a heifer ($250) for your father and give him a small slip of paper saying you were buying it in his honor and the Heifer organization would see that a needy person or church in another poverty stricken nation would receive the animal without cost.  Instead of buying a new tie for your Dad for Christmas, you would give him a small note saying that you were buying a set of books for an orphan in Africa so he could go to school, in your honor, Dad.  Instead of buying Mother a box of candy, you were buying six small chickens in her honor for a family in India . Another AGCM $50 gift was to provide a family or village with a fresh water well.  In 1994 Edythe and I had an expensive project to raise funds to establish a Children's English Reading Club in the Bethlehem Bible College in the Holy Land, the Catholic Church in Bir Zeit, West Bank, Israel, and the Al WATAN Center in Hebron, West Bank, Israel.  It cost $2,000.00 to provide a CERC that consisted of 150 books, half Christian and half secular, that we had also recorded on cassette tape, several Walkman players, sets of individual head-phones, and a master recorder/player for the teacher and 25 videos, half and half Christian and secular, just like the books.  This was our project for the AGCM thatChristmas, and God richly blessed our efforts . . . Scott Serich underwrote the cost for a compete CERC . . . two women bought a half interest each in a CERC and we had a second one . . . and before the last Sunday when the AGCM closed, we had received enough gifts to establish the three clubs mentioned above in 1994, and four more available for placement where Srecko thought they would do the most good.  The Primary school in Fuzine actually got two complete CERC's and we placed one in an orphanage in Karalavac, Croatia and the seventh in the Baptist church in Osijek, Croatia. As funds became available, I took one to the Baraka PresbytgerianPresbyterian Church in Beit Jala, West Bank near Bethlehem. We established one in the   Primary school in Zagreb, Croatia  We have also placed a CERC in the Baptist church in Zenica, Bosnia , and one in the Baptist Churches in Sarajevo and Banja Luka, Bosnia , and in two different Primary schools in Mostar, Bosnia . We shipped one to Taiwan , China with a missionary friend and Scott Serich took one to a church in Singapore , China and another missionary friend took one to India .  We decided not to continue the establishment of new CERC's during the past five or six years, as our funds and service projects have been expended in different ministries. They were expensive and we were not satisfied with some of the books in the early CERC years and we just did not have time to select new books and record them.  When we established our Life Center International – America Inc. in February 1998, our entire mission service visionchanged directions. We became associated with Paul Drogowski, serving as our Missionary in Osijek, Croatia and supported by eight Michigan Churches and about 60 individuals and we do all the accounting work and correspondence with his supporters is a very consuming job.  It is taking several days a week to just do the book work. Edythe receives the checks and prepares them for deposit. I do the accounting work with the QuickBook Pro accounting system; write thank you letters, and we produce a monthly newsletter and a four page quarterly newsletter in color for our Missionary in Croatia .  This is just one partner and we have seven other partners as of October 11, 2007.  

  

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	"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God . . . this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed in the renewing of your mind."  Romans 12:2  

  

Chapter Sixty-Four  Children's Festivals in 2000  



	From the Pen of Edythe  The year 2000 was something else. Stanka had told us how difficult to was for her Primary students in the summer. None of the parents in Fuzine were able to send their children to any kind of a summer camp, nor was there any organization in Fuzine or nearby that did anything for children in the summer. It was nearly a totally dead time for them. Could we do something to help the children of her community.  There was very little construction work to be done. Two of the men, John Anderson and Robert Spencer were asked to do some work on finishing the ceiling in the reception area and this would keep them busy for the two weeks.  Rev. Faris, Jack and I spent a long time discussing what we might do to fulfill the request of Stanka to do something for her children this summer. We finally came up with he idea we would attempt to plan a different kind of Vacation Bible School, coupled with a lot of craft activities and fun and games  Jewel Cripe from our church in Washington agreed to plan an active program for the younger children and I worked with her back in Washington in getting ready for the summer festival and helped her with the younger children at the Festival.  We had been told by Stanka that we could use the public school facility, however the local elderly Catholic Priest said he would not permit this and he went to the capital of Croatia and got a ruling from the Education Department that non-Catholics could not teach the Bible in the school facility in a community that was predominantly Catholic.  We were limited to 48 chairs in the dining room, but Jewel said she could work with that. It required some changes, but she said she could handle that, with enough of the team to help her.  We were able to borrow some chairs from the school and she ended up with anywhere from 60 to 75 younger children each day for the two weeks. Fortunately, we had no rain during the two weeks and she could take the children outdoors for the fun and games. The Hope Center had been lucky to recruit a young couple to   work as volunteers for two years. Nate Ussery, from America, and Ali Ussery, from England, had been there for only a few months and they were looking forward to working with the children. They would assist Jewel with the younger children.  Nat's mother, Arlene agreed to work with the older Primary students and her husband George also agreed to work with the older students.  The clear weather made it possible for them to carry some of the borrowed chairs and tables outdoors and conduct their Vacation Bible School and other activities in comfort.  We also had a young Croatian couple for the two weeks and Danijela and Ruben Secen were worth their weight in gold for the help they could give Arlene.  We had Joseph Fickus, Scott Foster, Alison Gammage, Sarah Howes, Beth Lloyd, Charlene Price, Rada and Robert Spencer and Dick Tingley from National and Joannah Cook from a Methodist school, John Anderson, Jessica Hocker, Tony Lanera and Louine Vermeil from University Presbyterian in Seattle, Washington.  We were fortunate to have these two   groups, as they worked out a system whereby about half of them could work with each of the two groups of children, doing the same thing twice at different times during the day. It worked out real well.  It was a very successful year. We had a total of 178 younger children and 63 older students and we ended the year with another Community Party with a program for parents and friends and we had a little over 400 in attendance.  This year we had a lot more homemade sweets brought in by members of the community for the party. Stanka was very pleased with what we had done for her children and had a nice gift for each of the team members. We also noticed that the parents and friends of the children interacted more with the team members.  We were pleased with their response. It made it more worthwhile.  

  

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	"Be not deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows, The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature he will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."  Galatians 6:7-8  

  

Chapter Sixty-Five  Children's Festivals in 2001  



	From the Pen of Edythe  Last year during the Festival, Stanka had asked me why we could not expand the Children's Festival to include the other nine schools in her district. It seems that half of Croatia had heard about the "Summer Holiday" the Christian Americans had brought to Fuzine in 2000.  I told her we might be able if Jack and I could interest enough people to join our 2001 Festival team and if she would be willing to make all the local arrangements with the school principals and for bus transportation. Her husband owned a bus and he had provided service for us in 2000 and she knew he would be glad to arrange for the other two busses that would be needed.  I also told her the only we would agree to offer the Festival to the 10 schools would be for her to have to get the local Priest to withdraw his restriction of our not being able to use the school facility. I could tell she was not happy with that, and probably expected a battle with her Priest, but she agreed . . . under no circumstances would we be denied the school facility for the enlarged Festival.  Lynne could not return this summer, so Edythe and I were appointed as Co‑Leaders and the work began. We had to enlarge the 2001 team. We had to raise a lot more money this year than ever before. The bus transportation and educational supplies would require a lot of donations when the tables and footlockers were put out in the foyer  I had the gigantic task of determining the needs for the three week combined English as a Second Language and a Vacation Bible School program last July.  It is difficult to find a supplier in Croatia . More than 90% of what was needed had to be purchased here in the States.  The first job is to find an airline that will transport it free and at the same time provide a low rate for the Team members. This is where I called on Jack to take his charm to Lufthansa and get us three extra pieces of luggage carried and a low a figure as he could for our tickets. Next to anticipate all the needs . . a 1,000 name tags . . 800 three ring binders . . enough three-hole lined paper to put 25 sheets in each binder . . 1,000 diplomas . . 400 magic markers . . 800 ball point pens . . 60 boxes of Crayons, each with 64 . . 500 designed T-Shirts, two-liter bottles of drinks and enough cookies for each of the children to have one a day . . . 15 in the three weeks . . . which we would buy in Fuzine. Our son Doug had upgraded nine more computers for us to take for the Primary school and we were buying a TV set for the Hope Center. We had stacks of new and used clothing to take to our friends in several of the orphanages. We were providing a complete Children's English Reading Club for the nine schools that did not have one, and a large selection of videos we had duplicated for each of the 10 schools. I kept telling Jack . . . Pray for a good response from the airline!  We had to raise a lot of money and this we did by making a large display of what we needed on the tables in the foyer and narthex, with costs for each item, and stationing three team members at each table with open hands. We soon learned that people would rather give us the money to buy the items, than to go shopping for them.  God smiled on the 2001 Festival and opened the pocketbooks and check books and we received $13,853.10, which was great, but I felt would not be enough to cover the costs of the transportation and what we would need to buy in Croatia, if it looked as if we were going to run out of something . . . and this we did several times.  Jack talked with his friend he had worked with for nearly eight years at Lufthansa and convinced him we were really going to need a lot of space this year . . . 10 schools . . . for three weeks . . . could be up to 500 kids. PLEASE! . . . and God showed His power again . . . we got everything we asked for. Get it and pack it.  Give each team member three extra pieces of luggage.  Make sure it all arrives.  Unpack it.  Get it ready for use.  I wish you could see the picture Jack took as we collected our luggage at the airport in Zagreb. You would see the "Children's Festival" Team 2001 of the National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., University Presbyterian Church of Seattle, Washington, and The Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church of Houston, Texas, sorting out our luggage at the airport in Zagreb, Croatia on July 1, 2001.  Lufthansa Airlines permitted each team member to take three extra pieces of luggage FREE! We had 102 pieces of luggage . . . nine complete computers for the Primary school in Fuzine . . . a large TV for the Hope Center . . . eight huge foot lockers and 52 boxes containing teaching materials, team supplies, sports equipment, gifts for the children and 10 large duffel bags of humanitarian aid for the refugees we serve through the "My Neighbor" program in Croatia . . . plus two pieces of team personal luggage . . . and it all arrived without a lost or delayed piece. We are very grateful the good Lord was looking out for our team in 2001!  When The National Presbyterian Church and The Life Center International - America, Inc. (LCI-A, Inc.) began working with the Primary school in Fuzine, Croatia in 1998, they had only one computer and no one knew how to do much with it.  The NPC Balkan Committee sponsoring Outreach Teams have taken a total of 13 computers since 1999.  The school now has enough equipment to begin offering computer education to the children.  LCI-A, Inc. has had a paid staff member in Fuzine, Ms. Milena Smolovic, since 1999.  Her duties include helping the school, assisting in the planning of the summer Children's Festivals, teaching English and computer skills to local refugee children, older youth and adults in the community and continuing the work begun by our Outreach Teams each year.  National had the following team members: Alice Bae, Jewel Cripe for the third year, Elizabeth (Beth) Lloyd for the second year, Emmett Mittlebeeler, Sara Schimmer, Andrew Varnum, Michael Varnum, and their mother Dr. Sharon Wolchik.  We partnered with The Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church of Houston, Texas. Jim Teall, Minister of Youth and Young Adults brought a total of 15 with him. We told Jim to please see if he could get Memorial to provide $10,000.00 in cash. Again God moved the hearts of some more church leaders.  This included: Gavin Clark Bill Cockrell, Dave Code, Brian Frank, Steve Hampton, Tamara Harris, Ashley Lukens, Sue and Joe Dean Phipps, Joan and A. J. Phipps, Sally Roach, Kittredge Stephenson, Linda Thomas, Missions Coordinator for Memorial Drive, and Anne Witham.  University Presbyterian sent Dan Hiddleson, Anita Lee, and her son Derek Sarabery.  We had the following Croatian Team members: Tea Deak, Franjo Delac, Sanela Hadzic, Srecko Ilisinovic, his twin sons, Mihael and Robert, Marjana Gorupic, Estera Perkovic, Danijela and Ruben Secen, both with us last year, Milena Smolovic, Irena Tosic, and Oleksandr Zin. We conducted a two session day. English as a Second Language would be from 9:00 to 12:15 each day, with classes in the school facility. The Vacation Bible School would be conducted from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.  In January of 2000, Mrs. Loncaric had indicated she thought she could get permission for us to use the school for the VBS, however, we learned when we got there in June that the local Catholic Priest still had objections to our use of the school.  Like last year, he still insisted that Protestants could not teach the Bible in the school facility of a community with a predominantly Catholic majority. However, Stanka had agreed that we could use the school facility and she told us later, she had told the Priest she would drop out of his church, if he opposed the use of the school in2001.  I am happy to say we did get to use the school, but he asked for no spoken prayers.  It was a hectic three weeks. As you have read, this trip was for three weeks, not two, and would be divided into two sections and team members would come and leave at two different times. We would teach English as a second language in the first section and conduct a Vacation Bible School in the second section and the students would take in both sections.  This was the fifth year straight that the NPC Outreach Team has worked at the Hope Center in Fuzine, Croatia . The first three years we worked on the renovation of the building. We raised all the money to provide the furnishing and linens for the 27 bedrooms and also raised the money to help install the heating and air-conditioning equipment so the center may be used year round.  The past two years we have been using the completed facility to extend our ministry to the community. We have had two community parties where the children have performed for the parents and friends. In our 2001 Festival it is estimated that we had in excess of 600 people in attendance at the City Hall and enrolled 443 children this year. Over a 1000 were in attendance of our 2001 Festival.  Awards and diplomas were given to each student and Mrs. Loncaric presented a gift to each of those of us on the 2001 Festival team. She presented a beautiful hand-carved clock to me and Jack. She spoke eloquently about what the Fellows' have meant to her personally; the children of the area; and the community as a whole.  The "Children's Festivals" to which we invited the parents, siblings and friends to the final festivities, was held both at the Hope Center and the Fuzine Municipal Hall. We served refreshments at the Hope Center and then went to the Municipal Hall for the program. All ten classes made a presentation from the stage. Rev. Stevo Dereta gave closing message and dismissed the group with prayer.  A short report of how shocked we were when we got the bill for transporting the children from the other nine schools. It is a good thing Jack always has a deep pocket where God has placed some extra funds.

 The bill for four, not three, buses came to $8,000.  This closes the five year plan of missions in Croatia and we wanted to say that we are pleased to have been involved with changing the "Ugly Duckling into the "Beautiful Swan" and for the support we got from our church and the enjoyment of working with several other churches. We feel that the work we did on the Hope Center and "Children's Festivals" have been remarkably successful. Edythe and Jack Become Honorary Croatian Citizens  One of the staff people in the Municipality office took a picture of me and Jack in Mayor Ela Korica's office of me holding the lovely armload of beautiful flowers she gave me and Jack holds the certification of our citizenship. It now hangs nicely framed in our office.  July 22, 2001 will stay forever in my memory.  First, it was Jack's 83rd birthday and we celebrated it as the guests of the Municipality of Fuzine at a lovely luncheon in our honor.  Included on the guest list were the leaders of 1,300 International Boy Scouts, enjoying the beauty of the lake and mountains in their annual Jamboree, the President of Boy Scouts of Croatia, the President of the Red Cross of Croatia, and other dignitaries, plus a representative from the office of the President of Croatia, who presented our citizenship parchment from the President of Croatia and a heavy gift medallion.  We Take the Team to Bosnia  Each year when we take a team, we always take a side trip into Bosnia . I had learned from the young woman from University Presbyterian that we had been with in 1997 about   the damage in Bihac, Bosnia in the '90's.  In 1999 through 2000, we saw the horrendous destruction in Vukovar, Croatia . We found less than 10,000 people remaining from a population of 80,000 in 1990. Damage was incredible!  I wish you could have seen the damage in the main section of Bihac; an abandoned Serb Church on the left and a beautifully renovated Orthodox Church on the right. The Serbs were mostly in Croatia , but others were scattered all over the world. Our host from the local Red Cross took us on a two hour walking tour of the damaged areas; again unbelievable destruction.  The weather was terribly hot and we got back soaking wet. We felt we had walked miles. Back at the Red Cross headquarters, we found cold juice and warm friendship. The President of the Red Cross made all of us honorary members of the Bosnia Red Cross and presented a lovely picture to me and I still have it hanging in my office.  

  

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	O Christ the Great Foundation  "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation"  Isaiah 28:16  O Christ the great foundation on which your people stand  to preach your true salvation in every age and land:  Pour out your Holy Spirit to make us strong and pure,  to keep the faith unbroken as long as worlds endure.  Baptized in one confession, one church in all the earth,  we bear our Lord's impression, the sign of second birth:  one fellowship united in love beyond our own ---  by grace we were invited, by grace we make you known.  Where tyrants' hold is tightened, where strong devour the weak,  where innocents are frightened and righteous fear to speak,  there let your church awaking attack the powers of sin  and, all their ramparts breaking, with the victory win.  The gates of hell are yielding, the hordes of Satan flee,  for Christ the Lord is wielding the sword of victory:  this is the moment glorious when he who once was dead  shall lead His church victorious, their champion and their head.  He comes with acclamation to claim His Holy bride;  She stands in exultation, the Bridegroom at her side;  The Lord of all creation His Father's kingdom brings ---  The final consummation, the glory of all things.  Timothy T'ing Fang Lew, 1936  

  

Chapter Sixty-Six  Working with Srecko Ilisinovic



	– Refugees/Poor  Letter from Srecko to Jack Baptisticka crkva Rijeka  MOJ BLIZNJI – humanitarna djelatnost  Slavka Krautzeka 76  HR–51 000 Rijeka  Croatia  tel/fax: +385 51 516288  e-mail: srecko.ilisinovic@ri.t-com.hr  By this letter, I , Srecko Ilisinovic, the Chairman of the Humanitarian organization of the Baptist church in Rijeka, called "My neighbor" (Moj bliznji - in Croatian), would like to ask Life Center International – America Inc., led by Dr. Jack Fellows, to be a partner of our organization in the project "Ministry to the poor".  The ministry of  "My neighbor"  was started in 1992; in the time of the war in Croatia and Bosnia , which brought death or terrible suffering to hundreds and thousands of people in this area.  They desperately needed help in many ways and that was something that "My neighbor", (alongside other organizations), offered them.  The help was in food, clothes, medicine, schooling, in housing project and spiritual. Beside refugees, "My neighbor" has helped local poor people receive their needs and also helped institutions which take care of population with special needs like orphanages, homes for handicapped children and hospitals.  All that has been done was made possible by generosity and cooperation of different organizations and churches from abroad. We developed close relationship with organizations and churches in USA , Canada , Wales , Scotland , England , Germany and Switzerland .  One of the organizations which took a significant role in this area was Life Center International – America Inc., led by Dr. Jack Fellows. We had a good relationship and worked together with refugees in the camp in Fuzine and helped several orphanages in this area. We also undertook the project of Children Festival and Vacation Bible School for two years, which remains in a good memory to children, teachers and society in this area.  As refugees crises decreased step by step, and was solved gradually by governments of Croatia and Bosnia , "My neighbor" ministry was re-focused and paid more attention and help to local poor and needy people.  Unfortunately in last few years some of our dear friends came to the position in which they had to close down their organizations, like people in Scotland and Switzerland, England and this fact has a big impact on the work of  "My neighbor", because it remained now with very limited resources.  Recalling on our earlier good common work and friendly relationship through years, I would like to invite Life Center International – America Inc., to become an official partner to "My neighbor ", in the ministry to the poor and needy in local society.  This is no longer a big massive deliverance of aid, but rather pastoral and more personal work with neglected, abandoned, sick and poor.  I am sending attached proposed budget of "My neighbor" to give you a picture what I would like to sustain in this new modest circumstances, if possible. I am sending you attached letter with explanation of my personal position as well.  If you would like to join us I would be pleased   to send you some more details of our past and present work.  With best wishes  Srecko Ilisinovic, Chairman  

  

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	Srecko was one of the first persons I met when we took a team to Croatia in 1997 to work on the renovation of the abandoned orphanage building in Fuzine and I must admit that we became the same as "brothers in the Lord" right away . . . we had a lot in common when it came to trying to help needy people. I had the privilege of working closely with him up until we finished our work in Croatia in 2002. We sent Srecko a copy of one of the letter we sent to a woman who wished her daughter to become a partner with Life Center International-America, Inc.  (Following is a copy of our Partnership Requirements)  Becoming a Partner with Life Center International-America, Inc.  Greetings Mrs._________,  We are thrilled with your request to become another partner with Life Center International-America, Inc. in the possible support of your daughter as she enters college this fall. It has been a real joy, and with many prayerful blessings for us in our association with another Wycliffe Bible Translator family.  We just received the information needed to get their daughter started in her third year at the university. You made reference to her first year being debt free. Thanks to God empowerment, through the Holy Spirit, friends of the family can also thank God for a second full year debt free.  We have also been able to send their daughter an average of $200 a month for her personal needs and $1,500 to get her home to the Philippines to enjoy Christmas with her family.  We have three principles of partnership. The first you have already fulfilled . . . that is you must request partnership that I can take to our Board of Directors. This has been done and I am happy to say their are in complete agreement to a new partnership with your family.  The second requirement is that you must submit a list of at least 350 names and addresses to whom we may write for support for your daughter.  We do not have to wait on the full 350 list, but prefer that we get them to us in groups of 50 to 75 so we can get the format set up to get the letters going out. Your mailing list will be solely for your mailings. It will never be used for any other fund raising purpose than for your daughter.  We then request a sample letter that you have written to give us an idea of what you would like for the first letter to say. We do retain the right to edit and submit a final letter back to you for your approval.  If this is agreeable, we then prepare a four-page color brochure for the first mailing. This will entail your getting some materials to us as soon as possible. We normally send out two letters each school year, one for each semester.  The third requirement, is that you agree to let us retain 10% on the incoming contributions as a Service Fee to assist in the administration of Life Center for office rent, utilities, insurance, and other operating expenses. My wife and I are retired and independent and have been doing this for over 20 years as a part of our volunteer service in thanksgiving for what God has given to us. Nor do we have any paid staff and none of the board members receive salaries or expenses. Ours is a totally volunteer enterprise. We will submit a CPA approved expense report to you at the end of each school year and any surplus in this escrow fund that remains at the end of the school year is transferred to the expenses of the next school year.  As you will need time to consider these policies and pray about the partnership, and the fact we will be out of the country and office until June 18, we would still like to know if these two other principles are acceptable and if you wish to establish a partnership.  Again, my apology for the delay in getting back to you. We ask that you keep us and the Team in your prayers as we make this journey to another part of the world that needs the Lord Jesus Christ.  Dr. Fellows, President  Life Center International-America, Inc.  

  

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	We are working on this manuscript as of this date, October 11, 2007. If you might be interested in becoming a Partner with Life Center International-America, Inc. and we are still serving the Lord in this capacity, you may write to Life Center International-America, Inc., Post Office Box 353, Bolivar, MO 65613-0353, USA for details of our program. You are under no obligation to receive this service.  

  

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	It has been our privilege and joy to have been working with Srecko since 1997. He was one of the staff members at the Hope Center with whom our teams began our ministry in the Balkans. He, and his two twin sons, are marvelous musicians and have helped us with each of our teams from 1997 through 2001. I am sorry to have to report that he has been diagnosed with a form of bone cancer and is having a rough time getting funding for his treatment and medicines. Keep him in your prayers.  In addition to the five teams we took to assist the Hope Center and the village of Fuzine, I had the privilege of working with Srecko in from 1998 through 2001 in taking humanitarian items to various orphanages and churches to Bosnia , Croatia , Kosovo and Montenegro . We will share some of these experiences with you.  

  

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	Mrs. Sonja Kaplan, Director of the DOM ZA DJECU Orphanage in Lovran, Croatia, welcomed me and Mrs. Fellows, Deacon of the EMC Parish, The National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., and Vice President and Treasurer, Life Center International - America, Inc., as the Hope Center 2001 Team visited the orphanage to meet some of the children and to leave the 240 pieces of new summer clothing provided by The National Presbyterian School.  The National Presbyterian School also sent more than 200 pieces of new winter clothing with Dr. Fellows, when he went back to Croatia December 13, 2000 to assist in completing the arrangements to purchase the second building across the street from the Hope Center in Fuzine, Croatia.  Near the end of the first week of January 2001, he again visited DOM ZA DJECU and delivered the four large duffel bags of clothing to Mrs. Kaplan. This is the fourth year in a row new clothing has been donated to the orphanage.  The NPC Alternative Gifts at Christmas Market in 2000 featured a project to purchase new clothing being manufactured in Cerna, Croatia . This was a business in which the father of one of the women who owned the business was the Pastor of a small Baptist Church in Eastern Croatia.  The AGCM provided a little over $4,000.00 and we delivered clothing to DOM ZA DJECU and nine other orphanages and three churches in Croatia .  This is how we did it. We asked the visitors at our table to please check page 25 in the 2001 AGCM catalog under the caption THE BALKANS.  We are item # 37 and all together we need a grand total of over 2,000 garments.  This includes: (A) T-Shirt $4.50; (B) Baby "Sleepers" $6.95; (C) Sweat Shirt $8.75; and (D) Sweat Suit $17.50.  You will find us under the caption THE BALKANS five pages from the back of the GREEN covered Shopping List for 2001.  Get your FREE hand crafted olive wood cross from Bethlehem with each purchase.  At the ROS Refugee Center in Fuzine, Croatia  I have a wonderful picture of Srecko and Rev. Faris with Mrs. Mihelcic, the Director of ROS, as Rev. Faris, with a broad smile, gives a large plastic bag of yarn for the women to make the foot-warmers they knit and we buy each trip and take home to sell to raise more money to buy yarn for the next trip.  In this picture Lynne is sharing her gift with  Mrs. Ana Kalas, mother of our two young friends Dragan and Ivana, and wife to a very sick husband.  The Kalas family was run out of their home in the middle of the night early in 1992, with the sounds of bombardment coming ever closer to their village.  As they fled, with only the clothes on their backs, Mrs. Kalas said she heard her six year old daughter, Ivana, scream out in terror, as she saw her home being bombed into nothing but rubble.  Thus, with the scream of her daughter driving her on and her husband Stipo, grasping the small body of two year old Dragan, all of them struggling to get to safety, they finally ended up with someone friendly enough to get them to the ROS Refugee Center.  They used to live in a beautiful large stone house in Sarajevo, Bosnia ; now the four of them occupy a single 10 by 20 foot room.  In 1999 the family had known this as "home" for over 10 years.  

  

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	National Presbyterian School  Donates New Clothing To Orphanage In  Selce, Croatia  The National Presbyterian School in Washington, D.C. changed their school logo last year and decided to donate the left over items to some organization needing such assistance.  Aware of the work of the Balkan Committee of National, and what NPC members Edythe and Jack Fellows have done in Croatia , they filled four extra-large duffel bags with over 200 heavy duty sweat suits and sent them with Dr. Fellows in December of last year . . . just in time for cold weather.  When the team went back in 2001, they took a second load of over 250 summer T-shirts and shorts took just in time for this summer.  Selce Orphanage says "THANKS . .  National Presbyterian School!"In 1999, we visited this orphanage in Osijek, Croatia and left some gift packages containing new clothing and craft materials provided by the AGCM of The National Presbyterian Church and Life Center International - America, Inc.  I know you would have been pleased to see the smile on the face of a young girl as she gave Jack a "THANK YOU" folder the children made and gave him in expression of their pleasure and appreciation for these gifts.  In 2000 we were able to purchase over $4,000.00 in NEW clothing for orphan and refugee children as a result of the gifts made possible through the 1999 Alternative Gift at Christmas Market and Life Center International - America, Inc.  We again are involved in raising funds to buy as much NEW clothing as possible through the 2001 AGCM to share with over 2000 orphan and refugee children in Croatia .  You are the only hope they have for NEW clothing.  I have another picture of Srecko with the 2001 Team visiting ROSfor the evening meal, the sharing of gifts with the refugees, and members of the team looking at and buying the yarn and crochet items the women have made to secure small amounts of cash. This is their only income.  The visit to ROS is usually the highlight of the trip for our Team members. Before the evening is over, all will have a better idea of what the refugees face in their struggle to survive,   Some of them have lived in the Refugee Center for up to 10 years.  Each room is approximately 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, with up to eight people living in this one small room.  Children have been born here.  Only a lucky few have been able to move out to return to their totally destroyed homes, and start the lengthy and expensive process of building again from the ground up.  It may be another 10 years before they finish rebuilding a house.  

  

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	Jesus said: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, whether neither moth nor rust destroy it, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  Matthew 6:20-21  

  

Chapter Sixty-Seven  Service in Bosnia , Montenegro and Kosovo



	From the Pen of Jack  This will be a trip long remembered, as Srecko joined me in taking humanitarian aid to these three countries so torn with the war from 1990-1991, and in some instances still continuing in Kosovo. We will also establish several more Children's English Reading Club's.  Our first stop was in Sarajevo, Bosnia . The Baptist church where we would be providing a CERC for their Guest House in the center of Sarajevo had invited us to make the Guest House our headquarters while we were in Bosnia .  We were fortunate to have raised a little over $2,000 when we spent some time in Switzerland with a family that was also involved in the support of Srecko in his work with the Refugees in Croatia . They wanted to sponsor one of our CERC's.  We were also fortunate to have a group of women in Washington that had been supporting our CERC's since we began the program in 1993 and they agreed to furnish another $4,000.  We used the $2,000 from Switzerland for the CERC in Sarajevo and would use $2,000 of the $4,000 from the National Presbyterian Church women for the CERC in Zenica. Another would be set up in Bana Luka, Bosnia , the results of the NPC Alternative Gifts Market. The last CERC would be saved until Srecko and I could get down to Montenegro .  It was a joy to set up one of the five CERC's in the Guest House of the Sarajevo Baptist Church. They seemed very grateful for the 150 books and tapes we provided in each CERC, as they had very little reading and listening materials to offer to guests coming to spend a few days on a quick visit or several months as volunteers with the church.  We also gave them some suggestions in how to establish one of the Mini-ROMs that was becoming popular all over the Balkan area.  The damage was appalling and even though the war had been over in Bosnia for two to three years, the destruction in the main section of the city was still evident. Building skeletons were visible from the porch of the Guest House. We also left some of the clothing we had brought along to give some assistance were it was needed.  Just around the corner we watched as blue helmeted, blue jacketed men took scissors and cut weeds one at a time, as they were searching for buried land mines still buried all over the city. We had been warned by the pastor not to walk on any area that was not paved. We saw one of the men dig up one of the mines and it was interesting to see how he respected the danger it represented.  We enjoyed this visit very much but it came time for us to move on to Bana Luka, Bosnia to set up another CERC in a combined church and school. I had met the pastor during the ROM gatherings at the Hope Center in 1999 and he expressed a desire to have me visit his church and school. He told me they did not have any English books in the school library.  When he saw the 150 books and the cassette tapes for each of them, he said they could never have afforded to purchase such an addition to their library and they would be both educational and entertaining. We could only stay for a few hours, as we were going to have to make a very long trip to get to Senica, Bosnia before it got dark, and we just barely made it.  On one of my early trips to Croatia I met a young lady from Seneca that wanted to become a doctor and was seeking help to enter the university to begin her studies.Alinka, her mother and 45 others from their church in Senica were spending two weeks in Croatia for a Bible conference and I was invited to join their group and encouraged to visit their newly established church. Their pastor and his wife were Americans   sponsored by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board.  We were so impressed with her that we invited her to become a member of our first Children's Festival as a volunteer and interpreter, as she understood and could speak in the Croatian dialect. She would be a great help for our team members.  Several members of our team were so pleased with her assistance that they asked if they could help her financially and wetook up a collection of several hundred dollars to help her pay her fees at the university and the team suggested we bring her back to Croatia for the Children's Festival next year.  If, and when, I came to Senica, she invited us to stay in her home, with her mother and an uncle. I would find that they had a very lovely home and it was surrounded by both floral and vegetable gardens. Srecko and I had private rooms and it was a joy to rest up a little after the long and tedious trip from Sarajevo.  I was also invited to speak to their church, which had just been organized and they were holding their meetings above a tavern. It was all they could find in which to conduct their services. We also had the joy of setting up one our CERC's for the church, but two of the church members said they would take the books and tapes home with them and bring them back each   Sunday.  They said if they left them above the tavern they would be stolen immediately. To be honest, both of the men had several children and I imagine the books and tapes got used while they were in their homes during the week. In fact one of the men was related to the family some way and had just accepted Christ as Savior.  He had been Moslem and was having a hard time with some of his neighbors in the apartment building where he lived. They were really giving him a rough time, as it was the practice of those of the Islamic faith to kill any Moslem that transferred his belief to become a Christian. He had been attacked several times; one time so bad it put him in the hospital.  Srecko and I visited him several times in the few days we were there and tried to comfort and guide him in his search for peace as a Christian. On the last day when we visited him, he gave me a very attractive hand embrodied picture as a gift for taking time to help him. The next day we thanked our hostess, the uncle and Alinka and left for Montenegro .  This part of the trip was very important, in that not only would we be setting up a Children's English Reading Club in the church and school in Montenegro , but we would also be taking a large shipment of clothing to World Vision in Kosovo.  Travel got worse in the lower part of Bosnia and we had trouble with customs in getting out of Bosnia and into Montenegro . They wanted to know why we had the van full of clothing. Again, my American Passport became the instrument that would finally get us through customs.  Srecko told the custom official that we were taking the load of clothing to World Vision in Kosovo and that it was very important for us to be able to deliver it as soon as possible. Of course there had to be a custom fee for such a thing, but Srecko said later it would never be turned in to the Custom's office. It seems this is the way they "collect" their salaries in Kosovo. He had probably not been paid officially by the government for months. However that may be, we were finally in Montenegro . . . exhausted!  Now to find the church and Guest House in Podgorica. Thank God Srecko had been there before and took us right to the church. There, he called the pastor on his cell phone and got the directions to the pastor's home and rest for us. . . We hope!  There was also a small Guest House next to the home of the pastor and we unloaded our over-night bags, had a good hot meal and after some fellowship, Srecko and I pulled rank and asked if we could get some much needed rest.  There was no time to rest yet as the pastor had called a meeting of his Mission and Education Committees for that evening at the church. When we got there and unloaded the CERC it provided a round of celebration.  It seems that the library for the school and church was very limited in their English section and the committee members just had to put on the ear phones, insert a cassette in the Walkman, pick up a book and listen as we had recorded all the books on tape.  Edythe had selected a Daily Bible Reading for Children book and had personally recorded 365 Bible readings just for children. This proved to be a sensation. They were also impressed with the quality of the children's Christian books.  We had included several beautifully done short stories of hero's of the Old and New Testaments in book form with lots of pictures and these really pleased the pastor and his committee members.  When they were through listening to some of the taped books, the pastor wanted to know how much it cost to put the CERC together and we told him it cost a little over $2,000 to assemble one and he said it was worth every penny!  He rather hinted it would be nice to have a second set and could they buy the second CERC unit he had seen in the van and we had to tell him that set was for the pastor of the church in Kosovo.  Our bodies said it was mid-night, our watches said it was only 9:00 p.m., and we were ready to have the meeting concluded and for us to get some rest. Srecko reminded them that we had been on the road since early that day and the pastor quickly dismissed the group in prayer and we were off and ready for bed. Early the next morning, after a hearty and delicious breakfast, we got under way for Kosovo. I had no idea what to expect, and as Srecko had been there several times, he warned me we were in for a rough trip in and out of Kosovo.  He was not wrong in his evaluation of what we were in for that day. The first problem we ran into was from our own American military police. They demanded to know why we were coming to Kosovo and what we planned to do if they let us in the war-torn country.  He wanted to know what was in the boxes and duffle bags. Srecko explained that we were bringing in humanitarian aid for the refugees. The soldier wanted to know if we planned to sell the things on the street?  Srecko asked me to show him my Passport and then said we were not selling anything but would be delivering all

 of it to World Vision for them to use for the refugees. With this statement, the soldier, opened the barricade and motioned us through into Kosovo.  However, Kosovo did not look very inviting. It seems there was only one black-top lane that traffic was trying to use going in and out. Pot-holes were prevalent every few feet and you had to jockey for position to keep on the paved side of the road. Srecko played it smart; he got behind a military jeep and followed it in for several kilometers.  Then we had to stop for a while for a military convey was coming toward us and no traffic was allowed going into Kosovo. Stalled, we decided to enjoy a cold soda the Pastor's wife had included in our food hamper. It took the edge off of ourjumbled bodies.  We were again lucky to see another jeep waiting for the convey to pass by, and Srecko pulled in behind him and we were on our "bumpy" road again. Military was every where, coming and going; slowed to a crawl by the holes in the road, just as we were.  Finally, we got to the turn-off where World Vision was supposed to have their headquarters and storage facilities. The welcome sign reading "World Vision" was a pleasant sight. Srecko said for me to go to the office and he would stay with the van.  It seems that it is not infrequent for things to be stolen from every unattended vehicle. He said he did not want to have traveled all the way from Croatia to have someone taking the humanitarian aid out of the van and keep World Vision from having it to aid the refugees. He stayed with the van and I went into what looked like the office. It was and when I walked in I was greeted with a cheery "Good morning Dr. Fellows, welcome to World Vision." It was from a young lady who had been a participant at the first ROM gathering at the Hope Center in 1999 and she handed me a cold coke and a plate of cookies, a welcome bit of hospitality.  We chatted a while and then she said she would have some of the men help the driver unload, and when I told her it was Srecko, she beamed and said she would go out and give him a Kosovo greeting. I never did know just what kind of greeting that would be and Srecko never described it for me.  The van was soon unloaded and we thanked all the World Vision people for what they were doing for the refugees. Our next stop would be the church/school where we would leave the last CERC. Srecko had worked with him before and felt he would put it to good use.  On the way to the church I noticed that there were men and boys on every corner with a stack of what looked like two to five gallon containers. I asked Srecko what they were doing and he said they were selling black market petrol they had probably stolen.  I also noticed that none of the cars or trucks had license plates and Srecko said nobody in Kosovo pays taxes, renewed license permits, paid water or electric bills, etc. as government as such does not exist. If it were not for the military, Kosovo would be in greater shambles than it was now.  We finally got to the church. I met the pastor and Srecko greeted him as an old friend, which he probably was. We enjoyed another cold drink and some refreshments and then Srecko presented the CERC unit to him. He seemed very pleased with it and said it would come in wonderfully with what he was trying to do with and for the refugee children.  I was anxious to get back on the road for Montenegro and Srecko seemed to be in no rush to get back, so I just enjoyed listing to them talk, although I could not understand any of it. They were speaking in a universal language used in the Balkans.  I must have dozen off, as Srecko shook my shoulder and I returned to find I was slumped down in the sofa chair and I guess was just waking up and he said we might as well get started on the way back. Smiling he said he imagined it would be as bad getting out as it had been getting in. He was right. The only incident that happened on the way out, was that I had brought along my ever-present camera and could not resist the temptation of taking some shots on the way out. Suddenly, the blinking lights and siren brought Srecko to a stop.  The MP came around to my side of the van and asked if I had been taking pictures and I said yes. He told me it was forbidden and asked me not to take any more while I was surrounded by the military in Kosovo. Other then the pot-holes there were no more problems getting out of that horribly tortured country.  We arrived back to the pastor's home in time for the evening meal and his wife had prepared one of the Montenegro special meals. I have no way to describe it, but can simply say it was one of the best meals I had ever had. We went out later and looked toward Albania and in the flat lands in the distance there were what appeared to be hundreds of tents. The pastor said these housed Albanian refugees that had been run out of Montenegro and had no place to go but to the Refugee Camps. Early the next morning, again after a wonderful breakfast, we started back through Bosnia to Croatia . We did not have to stop for anything but gas, relief and refreshments and my trip to Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo was completed . . . My heart is heavy with sorrow for what I have seen in that war-torn section of our world.  

  

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	Read the Story of Joseph and His Brothers  The love of Jacob for Joseph: Genesis 37:1-4  Joseph reveals his dreams: 37:5-11  Sold by his brothers: 37:12-36  Joseph goes to Egypt , his temptation and success: 39:1-23  The story of the Cupbearer and the Baker: 40:1-23  Pharaoh's Dream and Interpretation by Joseph: 41:1-40  Joseph is put in charge of Egypt : 41:31-57  His brothers come to Egypt :42:1-38  The second journey to Egypt : 43:1-34 and 44:1-34  Joseph makes himself known to his brothers: 45:1-28  Jacob goes to Egypt : 46:1-34  Joseph and the Famine: 47:13-31  

  

Chapter Sixty-Eight  Summary of Balkans Missions  



	From the Pen of Jack  This is a review of my years with the Balkan Committee of the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. and Co‑Leader and Coordinator of the five NPC HOPE CENTER Teams from 1997 to 2001  Dr. Jack B. Fellows, Chair, December 1999 to December 31, 2001  What a joy it was to sit around the table with 12 of you yesterday, serving as members of the Balkan Committee, and for our two guests and two visitors, making a grand total of 16. 1 took a look at the digital picture Guy took for us and will frame a copy and put in on my "prayer wall" in the office. Every time I look at it, and probably more often even than that, I will lift your names on High to ask the Holy Spirit to break melt, mold, fill and use each of us.  This has been an exciting five years of my life.  Never did I dream when I signed up to go with Lynne in 1997, that I could have gotten so involved in our work in the Balkans. Yes, there have been disappointments and I have left out things that did not live up to our expectations, nor to all your hopes and desires, but the work of the Balkan Committee certainly continues to amaze me.  We have developed a two pronged approach. Edythe and I have led out for Croatia and Mike and Bobby have spread the Love of Christ in Bosnia . I will speak for Edythe and me and our work in Croatia . Bobby Houser will speak for the work she and Mike have done in Bosnia .  As we will be gone in October, Bobby will Chair the meeting Sunday, October 14th meeting and tell about the work of TWI in Bosnia . You will not want to miss this meeting. Please remember our November meeting has been changed to the 18th because of the Annual meeting of the Church on the 11th. Now for a little history for those of you new to the work of the Balkan Committee.  In 1996, the old Bosnia Task Force had a budget of $300.00 a year. We were under the umbrella of the Europe/NIS Committee, and only four or five were active on the Task Force when I joined. Amy Beard was Chair.  When she presented my name to serve as her Co. Chair, due to a one‑year assignment in New York City by the firm for which she worked, and it was confirmed in October of 1999. I first learned that our annual budget was $300.00. Some of us felt like an orphan standing lonely on a street corner under an umbrella and a tin cup.  As most of you, do not know, the first thing I did was to check with Amy to see if she agreed for us to seek to become a free standing Outreach committee; the Chair to serve on the Mission Council; to change the name to the Balkan Committee; and to seek greater financial support for the work of the committee. She agreed. The Europe/NIS Committee agreed to this. The Mission Council also agreed.  Then Amy wrote me she would not be returning to National, but would be moving to the West Coast. I was confirmed as Chair for the Mission Council in December. The rest is history. From an annual budget of $300.00 in 1996, our budget for the past two years has been $11,000.00 each year. I trust and pray the committee will ask for more for 2002/2003. It is very important for the continuation of participation in Outreach activities in Croatia .  As I shared with you Sunday, the Chair of a committee is limited to two years by the Session. My term will expire December 31, 2001. Committee memberships are limited to three years by the Session.  As I can take credit for only a small part of the accomplishments of the past six years, I want to take this time to recognize those who have made all of it possible. I like to think the Holy Spirit had a part in my being in the right place at the right time, as far as my Outreach service is concerned. I have been greatly blessed!  So I say THANKS to Dr. Craig Barnes for going to Bosnia in 1996 and coming back to build a Balkan's missions fire in the hearts of some of our members.  At that time I was serving on the Middle East Outreach Committee, but had served my three years. This included leading a Team to the Bethlehem Bible College and spending a total of over 14 months working in the Holy Land with Palestinian Christians and Moslems throughout the West Bank and in Hebron. When I read the following on the bulletin each Sunday, Dr. Barnes is speaking directly to me:\  The National Presbyterian Church  A Ministry of Grace, Passionate about Christ's Mission in the World."  Dr Barnes challenge in 1996 caught fire in my heart and I accepted membership on the Bosnia Task Force. What a blessing!  THANKS to Rev. Lynne Faris, who has given extremely valuable professional, personal and inspiring leadership to Edythe and me in our leadership of our Mission Outreach activities in the Balkans. Without Lynne, none of it would ever have happened.  THANKS to the Church, with the increase from $300.00 to $11,000.00 from the Outreach budget the past two years. So I say THANKS to Dr. Craig Barnes for going to Bosnia in 1996 and coming back to build a Balkan's missions fire in the hearts of some of our members.  At that time I was serving on the Middle East Outreach Committee, but had served my three years. This included leading a Team to the Bethlehem Bible College and spending a total of over 14 months working in the Holy Land with Palestinian Christians and Moslems in Hebron. When I read the following on the bulletin each Sunday, Dr. Barnes is speaking right to me:  THANKS for the Short‑Term Mission Committee for providing needed scholarships for those who desired to participate in an Outreach project, but would have to have financial assistance from the church and others.  THANKS for major contributions from the Women's Association; the Business and Professional Women Guild; and our many wonderful supporters in SKIFF.  THANKS to the Alternative Gifts at Christmas Markets (AGCM) for support for the Children's English Reading Clubs (We now have 13 in Croatia and Bosnia, three in Palestine and one in China) and the warm clothing the AGCM has provided for nine different orphanages and churches in Croatia and hundreds of refugees we serve in the Balkans, and the FREE breakfasts the AGCM has furnished for the refugee children in public schools in the Gorski kotar area and the hundreds of  refugees we serve in Croatia .  THANKS to the National Presbyterian School for the hundreds and hundreds of new pieces of clothing we could take to the orphanages when they changed their logo.  Saying THANKS to all of the individuals who have been supporting our work each year with gifts ranging from a few dollars to gifts of $100.00, $200.00, $500.00, $1,000.00, up to one member who has loaned the $30,000.00 necessary to purchase a second building across the street from the Hope Center in Fuzine, Gorski kotar, Croatia , would take a series of books the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica to THANK each one. Always have wanted to write a book. Money has been only a small, but significant, support of the work which we have done in Croatia .  THANKS for those of you who have provided tools and equipment in the early years of our renovation work at the Hope Center in Fuzine, Croatia .  THANKS for the tons of yarn and crochet thread you have shared with the refugee women for the past five years.  THANKS for the several thousand Beanie Babies you have given for us to take to the children we serve in the orphanages, refugee centers, and schools over the past three years.  THANKS for the Bibles, books, pictures, craft materials, coloring books and crayons, paste, scissors, pencils, magic markers, notebooks and paper, and on . . and on . . and on! Enough to fill many foot‑lockers and boxes for each trip the past five years.  THANKS for the computers you have given for our son Doug to upgrade and enable us to take to individuals, the Hope Center, organizations and schools. We have taken 22 since we started two years ago, with 13 of them now in the Primary School in Fuzine.  Most important of all, THANKS for keeping our committee; those of us who have traveled thousands of miles across the oceans, for His watch care while we were working, always in your prayers.  Our THANKS this past summer for Guy Jarratt, who served as the Team Coordinator of the daily PRAISE and PRAYER e‑mails we sent each day and THANKS to Virginia Barney and the 5:00 o'clock prayer group who met in the parlor each Wednesday to ask God to be our constant companion.  THANKS to the Teams who have gone each year. There would have been nothing without YOU! This is a small picture of what has happened since 1997.  Rev. Lynne Faris was the Co-Leader with me on the first team of seven from National in 1997. Amy Beard, Diane Britz, Greg Gochnour, Laud Pitts, Scott Serich, and me. We lived in ROS, the Refugee Center, in Fuzine, with around 70 refugees from Bosnia , and worked on building the rooms on the top floor of the Hope Center building. I had the privilege of serving as the Co‑Chair and Coordinator of Construction for the Team. We came back with strong recommendations to return in 1998.  We had the privilege of partnering with seven from the University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington, Amy Beard's mother from Phoenix, Arizona, and one representative from the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California.  In 1998, four from University Presbyterian again partnered with us, and the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church sent nine members. Lynne led the Team, I again served as Co‑Leader and Trip Coordinator, and Edythe served as Co‑Leader with Lynne.  National was also represented by Stephan Chase, Jewel Cripe, Karen Longman, Nick Mueller, Joan Seamon, and Scott Serich returned for the second year. We lived in the rooms we built last year, although we had only one usable bathroom on the top floor. The leadership of the Hope Center put us in that room. Edythe and I shared it with 20 others.  This is also when we organized the first Community Party, to which nearly 200 local

 residents responded to our invitations.  We also established the first Children's English Reading Club (CERC) in the Primary School and began a very close and exciting relationship with Stanka Loncaric, the Principal, and to The Honorable Ela Korica, Mayor of Fuzine. Again, the Team recommended we return in 1999.  We again had an exceptional Team in 1999, the largest Team so far. Lynne went back for the third time and again served as the Spiritual Leader. Edythe served as her Co‑Leader and I served as Co-Leader and Trip Coordinator.  In addition Jewel Cripe returned for the second year, Joseph Fickus, Scott Foster, Alison Gammage, Sarah Howes, Elizabeth (Beth) Lloyd, Charlene Price, Rada and Robert Spencer, and Richard (Dick) Tingley also represented National.  We also had Joannah Cook from a Methodist school. John Anderson, Jessica Hocker, Tony Lanera, and Louine Vermeil were from University Presbyterian, Arlene and George Ussery, joining their son and daughter‑in‑law, Nate and Ali Ussery (Two year volunteers at the Hope Center), and two Croatia volunteers from the Baptist Church in Rijeka and the Seminary in Osijek, our dear friends, Danijela and Ruben Secen.  We did two different things. Construction work on the Hope Center had progressed to the point that there was little to be done. John Anderson and Robert Spencer did some finishing of the ceiling in the reception area.  Part of the Team, under the leadership of Beth Lloyd, Lynne Faris, Scott Foster, Charlene Price, Dick Tingley, and George Ussery, built a rock wall at the end of the Hope Center, brought in good soil, and planted small trees, shrubs, perennials and annual flowers.  During the time I was in Croatia in the spring working with the Life and Hope Center staffs, Mrs. Stanka Loncaric, Primary School Principal, came and talked with me about the problems she and the families faced in the school and community with the children when they were out of school for the summer.  There were no such things as summer camps, or provision of any activities for the children. Could we do some thing for her school children?  I came back and reported this to our committee. We agreed to see what could be worked out. Jewel Cripe accepted the responsibility of planning a type of Vacation Bible School. She agreed to work with the younger children and we asked Arlene Ussery to plan for the older children.  We had arranged to have Danijela and Ruben Secen to help us, so they were assigned to assist.  We had hoped to use the public school facility, however, the local Catholic Priest took exception to this. He went to the Minister of Education in Zagreb and got a ruling that Protestants could not teach the Bible in the school facility of a community with a predominantly Catholic majority.  Fuzine is totally Catholic and there is not a Protestant church within 25 miles. We had to limit participation to the Hope Center. Thus, we could only use the Hope Center and there were only 48 chairs in the dining room. Jewel and her Team members filled every chair with younger children inside the Hope Center.  I came back and reported this to our committee. We agreed to see what could be worked out. Jewel Cripe accepted the responsibility of planning a type of Vacation Bible School. She agreed to work with the younger children and we asked Arlene Ussery to plan for the older children. We had arranged to have Danijela and Ruben Secen to help us, so they were assigned to assist.  We had hoped to use the public school facility, however, the local Catholic Priest took exception to this. He went to the Minister of Education in Zagreb and got a ruling that Protestants could not teach the Bible in the school facility of a community with a predominantly Catholic majority.  Fuzine is totally Catholic and there is not a Protestant church within 25 miles. We had to limit participation to the Hope Center.  Thus, we could only use the Hope Center and there were only 48 chairs in the dining room. Jewel and her Team members filled every chair with younger children inside the Hope Center.  Fortunately we had good weather, and Arlene used the small park behind the Hope Center. It was also filled to maximum capacity.  We again planned a Community Party and this year we had close to 400 people present. Following our experiment with the children, and as Nate and Ali Ussery were still there, they planned week‑end activities at the Hope Center for the children and youth of the community.  Stanka observed what we were doing and asked if we could expand it the next year. We came back, discussed it at the committee meetings several times and came up with the idea of a Children's Festival, combining English as a Second Language and a Vacation Bible School.  The year 2000 was something else. We had a total of 443 participants. Lynne could not return this summer, so Edythe and I were appointed as Co‑Leaders.  National had the following Team members: Alice Bae, Jewel Cripe for the third year, Elizabeth (Beth) Lloyd for the second year, Emmett Mittlebeeler, Sara Schimmer, Andrew Varnum, Michael Varnum, and their mother Dr. Sharon Wolchik.  We partnered with The Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church of Houston, Texas. Jim Teall, Minister of Youth and Young Adults brought a total of 15 with him.  This included: Gavin Clark Bill Cockrell, Dave Code, Brian Frank, Steve Hampton, Tamara Harris, Ashley Lukens, Sue and Joe Dean Phipps, Joan and A. J. Phipps, Sally Roach, Kittredge Stephenson, Linda Thomas, Missions Coordinator for Memorial Drive, and Anne Witham.  University Presbyterian sent Dan Hiddleson, Anita Lee, and her son Derek Sarabery.  We had the following Croatian Team members: Tea Deak Franjo Delac, Sanela Hadzic, Srecko Ilisinovic, his twin sons, Mihael and Robert, Marjana Gorupic, Estera Perkovic, Danijela and Ruben Secen, both with us last year, Milena Smolovic, Irena Tosic, and Oleksandr Zin.  We planned a two session day. English as a Second Language would be from 9:00 to 12:15 each day, with classes in the school facility.The Vacation Bible School would be conducted from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.  In January of 2000, Mrs. Loncaric had indicated she thought she could get permission for us to use the school for the VBS, however, we learned when we got there in June that the local Catholic Priest still had objections to our use of the school.  Like last year, he still insisted that Protestants could not teach the Bible in the school facility of a community with a predominantly Catholic majority. I am happy to say we did get to use the school in 2001, but he asked for no spoken prayers.  Thus, we had to change and use the Hope Center and had to limit participation. This caused some very real problems for some of us, thinking we would conduct the VBS for all the children of Gorski kotar.  We also learned we did not have an adequate number of teachers, nor teaching materials. We did enroll 176 children and 32 older youth and adults. We were also asked to expand the number of schools in 2001.  The Community Festival, to which we invited the parents, siblings, and friends to the final festivities, was held both at the Hope Center and the Fuzine Municipal Hall.  We served refreshments at the Hope Center and then went to the Municipal Hall for the program. All 10 classes made a presentation from the stage.  Mrs. Loncaric made presentations to each of the Team Members and Rev. Stevo Dereta spoke to a crowd of around 500, plus the children.  Lynne Faris again led the HOPE CENTER 2001 Team. Edythe and I again served as Co‑Leaders. The Team members from National included the following: Cesar Cantzales, Jewel Cripe for the fourth year, Anne Freeman, Ginny Jarratt, Toni Lewis, Catherine Montgomery, Shirley Souryal, Michael Varnum, Marian Wagener, Dr. Sharon Wolchik, and Fan (Agus) Tjong Wong.  We had three from The University Presbyterian Church. These included Bill Gross, Mary Ann Hagen, and Daniel MacLeod.Our Croatian Team members included: Ana Brncic, Sandra Car‑Deak for the second year, Srecko Ilisinovic and his twin sons Mihael and Robert, Branka Kosanovic, Jelena Lendel, Ana and Irena Matacin, Marija Milevoj, Natasa Mozgon, and Milena Smolovic.  We had been asked to include all 10 schools in the Gorski kotar area this summer. Believing we could get enough American Team members, our committee planned such a program. We had expanded to a three‑week, two‑session program.  Edythe and I went a week early to assist in the orientation and training of the Croatian Team members. For the first time, we had also allocated a full day for preparation, following the Team arrival on June 30.  We all went to church on Sunday, spent Monday getting to know each other, and most of all, preparing to use English as a Second Language with the children.  There would be two sessions a day, from 9:00 a.m. to noon for the first group, and 3:00 p.m. to 5:45 for the second. Edythe had the supply room all set up in the school, so they could see all of the available teaching materials.  The second Team members for the Vacation Bible School would arrive on the 10"' of July, spend the next day in preparations, and begin the VBS program on the12th, same hours, and concluding on the 18th of July.  The Community Festival was held on the 19th of July in the Municipal Hall. Various children's groups made presentations. There were over 600 people present in addition to the children. We ended up with 443 children, and invitations from five other schools to have Children's Festivals in their schools and communities.  We had to face many problems. We were not able to follow through on the plans for the second garden, due to problems beyond our control. Plans to conduct the VBS in the Hope Center building, Municipal Hall, and school had to be changed because of traffic concerns for the safety of the children. All of this happened after we got there. Even though we

 spent nearly $3,000.00 for additional teaching materials and equipment, we still were not satisfied with what was needed to care for so many children.  On Thursday, July 19, the Team spent from 10:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. in reflections and evaluations. Copies of the eight pages, single spaced report have been distributed to the Outreach Office, the Mission Council, and each member of the Team and Balkan Committee.  Copies are also available upon request by anyone interested in learning more about using English as a Second Language, or Vacation Bible School in an Outreach program  As I announced at the Balkan Committee on Sunday, September 9, 2001, 1 will be completing my leadership as Chair of the Balkan Committee on December 31, 2001 in compliance with the policy of the Session to limit committee memberships to three years and Chair to two.  We are asking some of you to pray about accepting appointment as Chair and Co‑Chair of the committee. Please pray about it.  Edythe and I are committed to two things. First will be to get back in touch with our five children and their spouses, our 14 grandchildren and soon to be one great grandchild. We have severely limited our time with family for the past eight years. We begin trying to catch up with family beginning September 25th and we hope to make contact will all by the end of the year.  After the first of the year, Edythe and I will be working on the preparation of a manual or book based on our experiences of the past eight years.  One of the primary objectives will be to create and put together the necessary materials for a two‑week Outreach project anywhere in the world.  I will also be returning to Croatia after the first of the year for a few weeks to see where we may go with the other requested Children's Festivals and to work with the University of Reijka Department of English in assisting with the training of local Croatian people to help with the proposed programs.  We request your prayers and we will probably be calling on many of you to assist in this project.  I THANK everyone of you on the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and the 2001 Teams from NATIONAL, for the opportunity to have worked with you on a Team or on the committee. It has been the highlight of my life.  Jack  Balkan Committee Meeting, September 9, 2001.  Members Present: Cesar Cantzales, Jewel Cripe, Edythe Fellows, Dr, Jack B. Fellows, Anne R. Freeman, Bobby Houser, Mike Houser, Ginny Jarratt, Charlene Price, Sara Schimmer,   Tatiana Strajnic, and Marian Wagener,  Guests Present ‑ Not Members of the Committee:  Barbara Hudson, Representing Lynne Faris, Guy Jarratt, served the HOPE CENTER 2001 Team and Committee with the Daily PRAISE and PRAYER e‑mail Report to Friends. Visitors were Miley Frost, Member of the Africa Committee and Richard Tingley, Chair of the Awareness Committee.  

  

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	The Free Offer of Mercy  "HO! Every one who thirst, come to the waters; and you who have no  money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your wages on what does not satisfy?  LISTEN carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in  abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.  BEHOLD, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and  commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One; for He has glorified you."  Isaiah 55:1-5  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Sixty-Nine  Getting Ready to Move to Bolivar  



	From the Pen of Edythe  I wrote all this shortly after we moved back to Bolivar, so some of it may sound a little funny in 2008. Anyway, here goes . . . 2004 was a very   busy year. We had taken a long time in deciding if we should make the move from Maryland to Missouri, mostly because of our ages.  Deciding what to keep and what to discard took months. Getting rid of the junk; trimming the trees we had neglected for several years while leading mission trips for our church; Jack helping Doug with extensive remodeling of the house; yard sale after yard sale; and finally putting the house in the hands of a realtor took longer.  Yet, sometimes still wondering from time to time as to why we were contemplating such a move at our ages, we finally knew why it was OK to go when the realtor, a devote Christian, made us an "as is" offer for much more than we paid for it 25 years ago . . . "no more work on the house or in the yard . . do not drive another nail" she said, "just pack what we want, give the rest away, call the mover and set the date. Anything you do not want, leave it, we will dispose of it."  Thus, September 18, 2004 became the target moving date. That date came sooner than we wanted, but we were on our way. We have been here for two months. We are happily getting very comfortable with the life style we have found here.  The first week here we went to the court house and registered to vote, changed banks from Maryland, got new car insurance, had the car inspected for Missouri title and tags, signed up for water and trash pickup, power and telephones, found a family doctor and dentist, and arranged for my first infusion with the doctor in Springfield . . . all in just half a day.  It has been remarkable. There were never any lines or waiting rooms wherein we had to wait for ages in Maryland. We usually just walk in here and take care of our business. We even found the furniture we needed here in Bolivar. We have rented a 1,400 square foot three-bedroom unit in a new triplex that has a normal sized yard and little grass to mow or big spruce trees to trim like in Maryland.  We have been enjoying the services at the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield. This is actually the church of Jack's paternal grandparents. We go to the 8:30 a.m. traditional service and the sanctuary is filled to capacity.  The pastor has a unique style in that he does not stand behind the pulpit when preaching, but stands just in front of the Communion Table. This past Sunday, the prelude was composed of organ, flute and cello . . it was beautiful. The anthem was something else! It was "Come. Ye Thankful People, Come" and was composed of Brass, Chancel, Middle School, and Youth Choirs. It was magnificent!!!!!!  We continue to stay busy. Jack just spent a week and a half writing 902 letters to alumni of SBU who were here while Coach Orlin Stewart was coach. SBU is asking alumni to make a contribution to honor him with the dedication of a new basketball locker room in the beautiful new multi-million dollar Jane and Ken Meyer Wellness and Sports Center just being completed here on campus.  I am well and enjoying a more relaxed style here in Bolivar. I am only a half-hour from my sister Flo Davis in Springfield and I plan to visit her at least once or twice a week. Cress Davis passed away two years ago and Flo has Macular Degeneration that makes it difficult for her to read or walk. She is now in a senior retirement facility.  We have just found out her son Greg has been diagnosed with cancer. He begins chemo soon. We would appreciate your prayers for him. The day after Thanksgiving we went to Flo's daughter's (Randi) home in Springfield for a wonderful family dinner.  Last week on the way to Shawnee, Oklahoma for our 60th Oklahoma Baptist University Homecoming, we stopped in Claremore, OK. to visit my oldest sister Frances.  Of course, I keep my phone busy with calls to friends, and sons in Washington, D. C., Columbia, SC, Traverse City, MI, Boulder, CO, and daughter in Lander, WY.  I think I will just go bother Jack and tell him I have talked with all the children, and with our oldest granddaughters in Savannah (Lisa) and Lawrenceville (Kim), GA. to find out how our two little great grand-daughters were getting along and the progress on the new great-grandson we will welcome next month, thanks to Kim and Adam Davidson.  We went to the annual Thanksgiving meal last Friday at the Bolivar Senior Center. There was a little over 200 in attendance . . . cost us $2.25 each.  There is also a Health and Fitness complex just behind the Senior Center operated by our Citizens Memorial Hospital. It is filled with every piece of sports and health equipment you would ever want, plus a water therapy pool, and all is FREE to those over 60 who live in Bolivar.  We are slowly getting involved in it, and have plans to begin a three-times a week schedule after the first of the year. This will be a much-needed first for both of us.  We have been invited to join Dr. Pat Taylor, President of SBU, and some more of his friends and supporters to spend December 3-5 for Christmas Memories 2004 at the Chateau on the Lake in Branson, MO.  We will see the Grand Palace Christmas Spectacular Friday night and take in two other shows on Saturday, plus making a visit to the Winter Wonderland in Silver Dollar City. We have visited this in years past and it always fun to walk through the shops and take in all the Christmas decorations and gift opportunities . . . and of course, to stop for funnel cake and a cup of coffee. Sunday morning we will worship by the lake, then home.  We have also been invited each year since and enjoyed the fellowship with Dr. Taylor and First Lady Judy Taylor, members of the faculty, trustees, and friends for 2005, 2006, and will be joining the group again this year from November 30 through December 2, 2007.  We are very happy here and are looking to a Blessed Christmas and a challenging New Year. We pray the very best for you in the coming year.  

  

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	"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues."  I Corinthians 12:27-28  

  

Chapter Seventy  The Purchase of Property 



	From the Pen of Edythe  While we were at Homecoming in 2002, and after we received the invitation from Dr. Taylor to return to the Bolivar and become involved in the SBU student mission program, we decided to stay on for a few more days and take a good look at Bolivar.  Jack and I did not get much sleep for the next two or three days . . . "Dear God what do you want us to do?" Day and until late night, we had to take a good look at what we might be giving up, if we left the Washington, D. C. area and looking at the other side, what would we be gaining by getting out of the rush, rush of Washington by coming to Bolivar?  Having lived in the Washington, D. C. area for over 32 years, moving to Bolivar would require some radical changes in our lives. In the heart of the Capital, with the operations of the government where we could actually be aware of the world-wide manipulations of the House of Representatives and Senate   in their providing leadership for the world.  We had access to all the Smithsonian Institution displays, the Kennedy Center, and contacts in the Embassy's where we had worked in our mission activities, even invitations to the White House for Christmas, as our son was responsible to Vice-President Gore, working out of the Office of Budget and Management, we got to tag along . . . and above all our home was paid for and our house was situated on an oversize lot . . . with beautiful tall trees, a rope swing hanging from the limb of one of the two great oak trees . . . flower beds everywhere and three gardens to keep us well supplied in the spring and summer. Do we really want to leave all this?  Then we thought about what we might be doing. SBU has nearly 2,000 resident students living on campus in Bolivar. On an average some 150 to 200 students raise their own support and become an Outreach missionary for two weeks every year. The Missions and Ministries Department seemed to be well organized and they were thinking of moving out into a campaign to raise an Endowment Fund of at least a $1,000,000.00, so that if a student wanted to go on an Outreach mission trip, the earnings of the Endowment Fund would be there if they wished to apply for a grant to make up the difference of what was the cost for their desired trip.  Near the end of the second day, we made up our minds. It seems we both felt that moving to Bolivar and the association with the faculty and staff, to say nothing about the students, would probably be worth the move.  The thing we had to think about now was where we would like to live when we finally got around to disposing of accumulations of about 65 years and moving Bolivar. The next morning early we were on our way to talk with a Realtor.  We spent the whole day in and out of the SUV of a very good sales-lady, but we should have known that we could not decide anything on such a short notice. Besides that, it could end up being two years before we could get moved to Bolivar. We just could not make up our minds. We asked her to keep us in mind, and if anything exciting turned up, to get in touch. She never called back!  We got home and began a series of yard sales that I thought would never end. We contacted a friend that was a Realtor   and asked if she would help us sell our home. Her husband was in the construction business and she said they would like to have our house, particularly because of the location and the size of our lot.  They offered us an "as-is" contract, which meant all we had to do was get the things we wanted to take with us and hit the road. Believe it or not, we got over four times more than what we had paid for it. We were not taking much furniture, as we planned to furnish our new home with new furniture. All the bedrooms and dining room and a lot of other pieces of furniture, we gave to Goodwill.  We called the mover and he arranged to pick our stuff up, but it would take from two to three weeks before he could start toward Missouri. This fitted our plans perfectly, as at this time we had not found a place to live, but felt it would not be a problem.  In August 2004 we finally finished up all the loose ends on the East Coast and in September we came back to the little town Jack had first enjoyed as a student in 1937. We planned to stay in a motel until we found a place to rent. This would give us time to get adjusted and give us ample time to see what the housing situation was like now in Bolivar.  We had seen the large sign from the highway advertising apartments for sale and rent so we gave them a call and a Mr. A. J. Ellis answered and we made an appointment for the next morning. The next morning we started our search. We told Mr. Ellis we were only going to rent until we could find what we might like to buy.  We looked at several things he had available, but nothing turned us on fire. In the course of our exploring Bolivar, we had seen several new duplexes on a newly paved street near his sign and we asked about them.  He said he did not think we would be interested in the duplex, but they were just finishing a tri-plex at the end of the street and he would like for us to take a look at it. The tri-plex was composed of a three-bedroom unit and two two-bedroom units. We took a look-at it just as they had finished laying the carpet throughout the entire unit, except for the kitchen and baths.  We asked when he thought they would be ready to rent and he said he thought it would be available in about a week, maybe a little less. We told him we would think about it and would let him know that evening,  We asked if we could get his permission to stay in the unit for a while and see if we thought we could manage to get all we had to fit in it. We would need one complete room for the computer complex Jack uses in conjunction with Life Center International and he will have to decide if he can work everything into the available space.  We spent nearly three hours trying to make the decision and finally we thought we could probably make it work. We called Mr. Ellis we would like to rent for a year. He seemed to be pleased that we would take the apartment. We signed the Contract and went back to the motel tired by pleased with our decision.  The next day we went on a furniture shopping trip. Fortunately, there was a small locally owned store here in Bolivar and before long we had purchased a bedroom suite, several chests of drawers, that we could get delivered in two or three days. We could soon move out of the motel.  We called the mover and told him he could come any time . . . we had found a place to live. Two weeks later they arrived. We had also rented a 10" X 20" storage unit about a mile from the house. We would store the things that were not important to our well-being, and unload what we needed at the unit we were renting. The movers got busy and five hours they were unloaded and on their way.  We added a beautiful tall oak piece of c0mputer furniture that would be perfect for me, while Jack was busy for days getting my computer installed in my new desk and getting his complex computer system up and running. He was running behind in some of the 501 (c) (3) Life Center International-America, Inc. paper work done that had piled up during the time of our move.  So for seven months we enjoyed the experiences of setting up house keeping in a new building and making the transition from the Washington, D. C. area to Bolivar. Then one day someone knocked at the door and we found Mr. Ellis there and he said he had something he would like to talk with us about.  It did not take him long to tell us what he wanted to talk about. He said "why are you renting, when you could be making $1,250.00 a month by collecting the rent from the other two units. In other words, I have a deal I think you cannot turn down. He gave us a copy of the appraisal for the new tri-plex and then told us we could buy it for about $30,000 less that the appraisal price.  Mr. Ellis was a partner with another young man and they wanted to build a 95 rental apartment facility and needed some additional capital and this is why they were selling as much of their rental property as possible. He said "think about and let me know. Both of the other two units in the tri-plex are rented to two very nice couples."  Shocked, we said we would read the appraisal and check with our bank, but we had not planned on making this kind of a move . . . sounded good, but we would have to pray about it and check more with our bank and insurance company . . . and we would let him know.  We did pray about it. At our age it did not make sense to do this with a conventional loan of 30 years, yet I could tell that Jack was giving careful thought to what it could mean to our estate.  We continued to pray and talk about the pros and cons. What to do? Fortunately, we could make a substantial down payment, that would pay out in 10 years, so we decided we would be adding several hundred dollars a month to our estate and it made sense to take this new step in home owning.  We are now paying monthly rent to the new owners . . . ourselves . . . and collecting the rent from the couples in the other two units.  

	

Chapter Seventy-One  Selection of a Church 



	From the Pen of Edythe  When you have made the choice of the place where you wish to live, you look for three things:   church, schools and medical facilities.  We were surprised to find such complete and adequate medical facilities for our needs here in Bolivar and also for many towns in this area.  You might think we should probably take a look at the First Baptist Church here in Bolivar, as we are serving as volunteers with the Southwest Baptist University here in Bolivar in establishing an Endowment Fund for SBU Missions, but we have not been active in a Baptist Church for twenty-five years or more and we have been active members of The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C.since 1993.  When searching for a church we found there were no Presbyterian churches in Bolivar.  That started us thinking "what do we do" but the memory we have of a church in Springfield, Missouri where Jack's grandparents and aunts had attended quickly came to mind.  Going to their church, which was the First and Calvary Presbyterian in Springfield, Missouri would mean a round trip of near 70 miles for us.  We had to keep gas prices in mind since they had climbed so high. The next thought was how far did we travel when we lived in Maryland and attended a church in the District and found that there was not a great deal of difference.  We attended the church and found much of the service was the same as we had at National.  However the church membership of 2400 is much larger and the facility is enormous and yet there is adequate parking places for those attending the many activities of the church.  However, we learned the pastor had just resigned five weeks before we went to worship for the first time, but would still be the Senior Pastor for another two months. As we left the church that morning, and were shaking hands with the pastor, Jack said we were new to the church and disappointed that we would not get to know him better.  Then Jack told Gary we had been worshipping at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. and they had just called another Pastor and we had enjoyed the ministry of an Interim Pastor and we would like to recommend that the First and Calvary Church take a look at his résumé and we could supply some tapes of his sermons.  Hardly before Jack finished saying that, Gary responded, almost in fun, that he was not interested; he had resigned and would be leaving in a short time. He said we should talk with Rev. Alf Halverson, the Executive Pastor.  Jack had been working with Dr. Tom Erickson, the Interim Pastor for The National Presbyterian Church, in attempting to get a book of unusual sermons printed. This is why he had the résumé and tapes.  Dr. Erickson, had served wonderfully as the Interim Pastor for The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C., so it did not take long for Jack to give this information to Alf to pass along to those who would be responsible for the search   for an Interim   Pastor.  We e-mailed and got approval from Dr.  Erickson that we could present his résumé and tapes of sermons to the committee since he was free to serve at this time.  It brought great joy to us when the church chose to   call Dr. Erickson as the Interim Pastor.  It was our privilege of listening to his outstanding messages for two more years.  Since our interests are in mission work we inquired about the various places that First and Calvary now provides financial support and what of future plans.  Jack was impressed with the activities and interested in becoming part of this committee and together with Alf and Tom, Jack was appointed as a Member-at-Large   of the Mission Committee.  Accepting this committee membership meant a late afternoon and early evening trip each month to Springfield.  This is not prohibitive but the return night travel is on a road called "the bloody highway 13" whose name tells it's own story.  Jack accepted this responsibility and was soon busy in helping with present and future plans.  One of the first things they asked him to do, was to prepare a policy statement and document to send to any person or organization desiring to have financial support from First and Calvary. After about a year, he was made Chairman of the International section of the committee.  We have had the privilege of listening to the sermons, and sharing the personal friendship with Tom and Carol Erickson for nearly four years counting the time he served at The National Presbyterian Church, but we also knew it was time to let him go and welcome a new Senior Pastor.We lost him about three months ago, when our church extended a call to Dr. Greg Seckman and while we will miss Dr. Erickson, we are glad to finally have a pastor we can call our own.  We have had another loss when Rev. Halverson announced he had received a call from the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Before he left First and Calvary, he asked Jack if he could bring his name to the attention of the search committee that recommends the officers to become a Deacon or Elder, suggesting he would like to see Jack ordained as an Elder and serve with the Session.  Dr, Seckman came to us from the First Presbyterian Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a church in which we were already very well acquainted, as it was the church of one of my best friends, one with whom I had worked with for over 20 years. Jack has met with him several times and is pleased with the response the church has given him. Dr. Seckman has followed through on the suggestion that Jack be appointed as an Elder and sent the following in a letter to Jack on September 18, 2007:  "Dear Jack,  The members of the 2007 Church wide Nominating Committee and I want to let you know just much we appreciate your willingness to serve our church as an Elder . . . . . sincerely yours, Greg."  Jack was Ordained and Installed as an Elder on January 6, 2008 and will serve for three years. He will be one of three Elders representing the Session on the Mission Committee . . . he is off on another journey for the Lord and yet I wonder at this decision, as he is 89 years old at the time I am writing this and is carrying heavy negative health baggage as a Type II Diabetic and a recently diagnosed and radiation treatment for a very rare cancer.  The six weeks, daily radiation treatment on Monday through Friday seems to have been successful, and we are praying to that end . . . that he is cured! The doctors seem to be very pleased up to this time, however, the radiology has taken a great toll on his stamina and endurance, but he is still pushing me to get the sections written for our cooperative effort in writing the story of our lives and he is spending as much time at the computer editing what I write and completing the many sections that only he can write. He is on a mission to use our experiences to challenge other retired people to consider something that will benefit humanity.  

	

Chapter Seventy-Two  New Relationship with First and Calvary  



	From the Pen of Jack  For nearly fourteen years our lives were solidly tied in with the mission programs and activities of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. and during these years we had the privilege of serving under two interim pastors for two years each and one senior pastor for a little over nine years.  All three were fully dedicated to the Cause of Christ to the ends of the earth and led us as members to follow their examples. Their Holy Spirit ministries set examples for the rest of us in the congregation. It certainly did for me and Edythe.  In the previous chapter Edythe wrote about our search for a church and how we got involved with First and Calvary Presbyterian Church, the home church of my paternal grandparents and two aunts. She also told of our close relationship with Tom and Carol Erickson.  One day, as we were leaving the church and as usual telling Tom how much we enjoyed his message of the day, he said he needed to talk with me about something very important for me and for the church. We had a chance later in the week to stop in at the church to talk with him.  He was concerned with how much we had to share with First and Calvary and he thought he had a place of important service for me as a member of the Mission Committee. He also thought there might also be some support for our Life Center International through the committee. I agreed to serve on the Mission Committee.  After a few months I could detect some interest in what we had done in the past with our Life Center International-America, Inc. by a few members of the committee.  One of them, who went with us on the Turkey trip in March of 2006, told me she would like for me to seek support from the committee and she would back me if I decided to ask First and Calvary for financial support. She had seen some of the financial reports I had made to National and was impressed by the way National supported us financially. After a lot of prayer and discussion with Edythe, we decided to make the following proposal:  PROPOSAL REQUESTING SUPPORT FOR  Life Center International-America, Inc  Federal ID: 52-2133815  2855 South Orchard Avenue  Bolivar, MO, 656134-7106  November 13, 2006  Mission Committee  First and Calvary Presbyterian Church  820 Cherry Street  Springfield, MO  To Whom It May Concern:  When we moved to Bolivar in September 2004 we decided to continue   doing the work of Life Center out of our house. This worked fine for a while. However, our program has expanded to the point my wife and I live in what is more an office than a home.  When we returned to Bolivar, at the request of the President of Southwest Baptist College to assist in raising funds for student wishing to go on short-term mission trips, we opted to purchase a brand new tri-plex and have been living in one of the three bedroom units and renting the other two.  Because of five others seeking new "partnerships" we felt we needed to rent office space, but found that rents were much more than what we were getting from one of our tri-plex rental units. The present couple have been with us for over a year, while they are having a new home built. Their unit will be vacant at the end of the month.  We do not have any paid staff and no officer or board member receives any remuneration. Ours is a total volunteer effort.We have established a budget of $1,800 a month. We will receive approximately $200 a month from each of three (3) "partners" we now serve. However, all three were having support problems and my wife and I have been contributing $1,000 a month for the past 27 months from our savings, but our board has officially told each of the "partners" Life Center will have to start retaining the $200 a month from their support group beginning January 1, 2007.  This is primarily because we have been able to develop a much wider mailing list and support group for each partner. This will leave us a little   short; by about $2,500.00 for the year. One of our Bolivar board members is contributing $1,000.00 every three months.  We are willing to continue to contribute $1,000 a month personally and we are requesting the Mission Committee to support us with a grant of $2,500.00 to make up the difference in meeting our budgetary needs for 2007.  They approved our request for assistance.  We told the committee we would like to have two members of First and Calvary to replace two of the six East Coast board members whose terms are expiring December 31, 2007. We have already replaced them with 13 people in Bolivar.  Dr. Jack B. Fellows, President  Life Center International-America, Inc.  

  

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	Before the Cross of Jesus  Before the cross of Jesus our lives are judged today;  the meaning of our eager strife is tested by His way.  Across our restless living, the light streams from His cross,  and by its clear, revealing beams we measure gain and loss.  The hopes that lead us onward, the fears that hold us back,  our will to dare great things for God, the courage that we lack,  the faith we keep in goodness, our love, as low or pure,  on all, the judgment of the cross falls steady, clear, and sure.  We humbly, in our striving, O God, we face its test;  we crave the power to do your will with him who did it best;  on us let now the healing of His great Spirit fall,  and make us brave and full of joy to answer to His call.  Ferdinand Q. Blanchard, 1929  

  

Chapter Seventy-Three  Appointed to First & Calvary Mission Committee  



	From the Pen of Jack  Edythe has already told you about our search for and selection of a church. We have also shared our joy with you about what it has meant to us concerning the Interim Pastor we enjoyed at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington,   D. C.  and then we got to hear Dr. Erickson for almost another two years at the First of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Missouri.  Shortly after the Missions Pastor resigned at First and Calvary, Dr. Erickson also took over as the person responsible for giving guidance to the Missions Committee. As we greeted Tom after services shortly after he assumed his duties as Interim Pastor, he asked why I was not serving on the Mission Committee, as I had done at National.  I had a good answer for him when I said, "I haven't been asked" and he laughed and said "yes you have, as of right now" and I asked him when did the committee meet?  He introduce me at the next meeting and took some time in telling the committee members some of the things he had heard from National's Mission Director about the 13 or 14 years we had given leadership to the mission programs of National and that he felt I had much to contribute to First and Calvary.  The Chair of the Mission Committee asked me to share some of my thoughts with the committee. The first thing that passed through my mind was the copy of the Mission Activities the Educational Director had already given to me, and I said, "shortly after we united with First and Calvary, I asked how I could find out what the mission giving wasand someone gave me a copy of the Mission Outreach booklet and I was amazed at what you all ask the church to approve for mission work."  If memory serves me right it was just a little under $500,000.00 . . . half a million . . . and I thought I would like to be a part of the mission giving of this church. I felt very honored when Dr. Erickson asked if I would like to serve on the Mission Committee.  It has been two years now since we began our work with the Mission Committee and it has been a real pleasure to have been able to blend in with people that share the same concern for the people at home and to the ends of the earth.  January 1, 2008, I will take me place as an ordained Elder of the church and will officially begin my first three year appointment to the Mission Committee. Hopefully I will be able to help formulate the future of missions with our church.  In the course of a few meetings, I learned that the church did not have a formal policy in responding to people or organizations requesting assistance. At that point Dr. Erickson asked if I had not had something to do with preparing a policy while I was at National and I said I did and at point the chair asked if I would share a copy with the committee and I said I would be happy to e-mail a copy to each member of the committee.  The next chapter contains a copy of the policy I e-mailed to the committee.  

  

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	Jesus Shall Reign  Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run;  His kingdom spread from shore to shore,  till moons shall wax and wane no more  To Him shall endless prayer be made, and endless praises crown  His head; His name like sweet perfume shall rise  with every morning sacrifice.  People and realms of every tongue dwell on His love with sweetest  song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early  blessings on His name.  Blessings abound where'er he reigns; the prisoners leap  to lose their chains, the weary find eternal rest  and all who suffer want are blessed.  Let all the people rise and bring their  special honors to our King; angels descend with songs again  And earth repeat the loud . . . Amen.  

	

Chapter Seventy-Four  Approved Form for Those Requesting Funds  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  I learned shortly after I was added to the Mission Committee that they did not have a procedure for making grants when organization came to them for financial support. At that time, Dr. Tom Erickson, was serving as the liaison between the Missions Committee and the Session.  Knowing of the work I had done on the Mission Council at National in Washington, D. C., he asked if I would share the document I had developed at National with the committee at First and Calvary. I introduced it at the meeting of the committee in February, with the understanding it would be discussed at the next committee meeting.  Following the discussion at the First and Calvary Mission Committee meeting on March 13, 2007, I was asked to send a copy to each member of the committee as soon as possible. I indicated it would be sent as an attachment to a Word document.  I e-mailed a copy to each member of the committee and asked each one to please let me know via the e-mail address below if they were successful in opening the attachment or if they   had trouble, to let me know and I would mail them a hard copy.  I also suggested that we use the following: File name: 2007 A Copy of the Official Policy for Financial Support and this way all the members of the committee will be using the same file name in our Word documents.  In case you had trouble opening or transmitting it in the future you may send the e-mail address required in section number five (5) of the policy statement: "e-mail address of your program/project leader(s)" to me and I will send them a copy of the required document and can then forward a copy of their application to each member of the committee.  If the applicant does not have computer access, or has trouble opening a Word document, via an attachment to an e-mail, and requests a hard copy, I assured the committee I would be happy to mail them a copy. A copy of the approved document to send those seeking financial assistance from our church follows on the next page:  First and Calvary Presbyterian Church  820 Cherry Street  Springfield, Missouri 65806 USA  Phone: + 417 862-5068       Fax: + 417 862 9948  E-mail: jbfellows@windstream.net  File name: 2007 - A Copy of the F&C Official Policy for Support  

  

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	Please answer in detail  1. The official name of the organization seeking financial assistance.  2. When were you organized?  3. Is your organization a 501 © ( 3), as recognized by the USA Internal Revenue Service? If "yes", what is your Federal ID number?  Are you recognized in your state as a tax-exempt and charitable organization? If so, please include the numbers for each.  Is your organization a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) or similar entity?  4. Do you have a Board of Directors? If so, how many and how selected? Term of office . . . appointed to number of years, term length or unlimited? Are the appointments staggered?  How often does the board meet?  Please list the names and addresses, telephone, fax numbers, e-mail addresses of each board member.  Please include their professional and/or academic status and church relationship. Have they officially approved this program/project?  5.  Name, address, line and cell phones, fax (if available) and e-mail address of your program/project leader(s). Please indicate the leader(s) church affiliation(s).  6. Please describe the purpose(s) of your program or project.  Is it a one-time program or project?  Or, if it is on-going . . . what is the proposed length of time?  What is the time-table for the beginning of the program or project? In what ways will this benefit First and Calvary?  Are there ways our members may be used or involved?  7. Please send a copy of your proposed budget?  8. What are the financial commitment(s) of your organization to the  program or project?  Are you seeking assistance from others beside us? If so, please submit names and addresses, and what percentage of the budget will each contribute?  9. What are you seeking from us? What percentage is this of your total budget?  10. Will we receive periodic (how often) and final reports?  Go Bless!     Grace, then Peace!  Dr. Jack B. Fellows, Committee Member-at-Large  Approved by the F&C   Mission Committee – March 13, 2007  

  

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	The Sufficiency of God  God, of your goodness give me Yourself;  for you are sufficient for me.  I cannot properly ask anything less,  too be worthy of You.  If I were to ask less,  I should always be in want.  In You alone do I have all.  Julian of Norwich, 15th century  * * * * * * * * * * * *  

  

	"When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  John 8:12  

  

Chapter Seventy-Five  Ordained as Elder at First and Calvary 



	From the Pen of Edythe  It has been interesting to follow the path of Jack that leads us to his ordination as an Elder on the first Sunday of January 2008.  I remember well the decisions he had to make when we were still active at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. concerning accepting the responsibilities of leadership with the Session.  From 1994 until we left the East Coast in 2005 to return to the campus of Southwest Baptist University to assist in the Endowment for Missions campaign, Jack was overseas for a great deal of time.  In three of these years he spent over six months each year working with the leadership of the Hope Center and the development of the ROM program. When he was approached by National about becoming an Elder, he had to say "no" as he was gone so much of the time.  The time has come now when he can say "yes" when requested to accept   becoming an elder at the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield; the church of his paternal grandparents and two aunts.  He wishes to share something about the church where he hopes to be able to serve for the next three years. He has asked me to include some of the things about First and Calvary. First is their:  Mission Statement  We are called to be compassionate witnesses to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We gather for worship to be prepared to share our faith and care for those in need inside and outside our walls. Here people of all ages are encouraged to grow in their understanding of God's word through study, to discover their spiritual gifts, and to offer those gifts in active ministry to the glory of God.  Role of   the Elder  All ministry in the church is a gift from Jesus Christ.  Members and officers alike serve mutually under the mandate of Christ who is the chief minister of all.  His ministry is the basis of all ministries; the standard for all offices is the pattern of the one who came "not to be served but to serve."5  To serve as an elder in the Presbyterian church is to participate in the leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ.  Two essential beliefs are to work here:  1) Christ is the head of the church and the only one to whom we owe complete and final allegiance; 2) Christ has granted us certain responsibilities for ministry and has organized his church in such a way as to acknowledge the biblical principle of the "priesthood of all believers."  That means that leadership and responsibilities are spread throughout the congregation and not just held by a few individuals at the top.  "Together with ministers of Word and Sacrament, they exercise leadership, government, and discipline and have responsibilities for the life of a particular church as well as the church at large."  Elders are "called" to serve by the congregation.  The members of the church have discerned that these individuals have demonstrated by their life in the church those attributes and characteristics which are necessary for leadership within the church.  Among those qualities, "Elders should be persons of faith, dedication, and good judgment. Their manner of life should be a demonstration of the Christian gospel, both within the church and in the world."  Those called may not see that in themselves, and may wonder why they were chosen; but those who have identified them have seen God's work within their lives.  Ordination confirms the discernment of God's will by the action of the church.  Each elder brings unique gifts to role for which they've been called.  We know this is true because the Bible has taught us that, "There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same lord; there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one."  God's Holy Spirit has given as blessing unique gifts and temperament to each one called; consequently mutual respect and forbearance are essential for the health of the working leadership body.  To ignore these qualities or to treat another without respect is to ignore God's Spirit working in our midst.  An elder is a spiritual leader.  To be sure, there are many things which elders do which may not on the surface appear to be that "spiritual."  The routine and mundane matters of budgets and broken water pipes, reports, and recruiting volunteers may not seem to have much to do with "faith, hope, and love;" but all of these tasks are important to the health of the church.  And all of these tasks should be handled with a spirit of service and faith and prayer.  This is a great responsibility and can seem of formidable task.  On writer observed:  "As I see it, the level of commitment in a congregation will not rise above that of the set apart leaders.  The sense of community and care for one another will not rise above that of the board.  The stewardship practices will not rise above those of the council.  The prayer life; the capacity to reflect biblically and theologically; the hope and excitement for the future of the church will not rise above that of the Session."9  History of First and Calvary.  For over seventy years, First & Calvary has maintained a reputation locally and nationally as a vital community of faith. One of the largest Presbyterian Churches in Missouri from its beginning, the church has played an important role in Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly affairs. It is particularly noted for support of church missions and was of great concern when we began considering making this our church home.  In American church history, it is regrettably common for congregations to split. It is uncommon for two congregations to merge. First & Calvary Presbyterian Church was born when the congregations of First Presbyterian Church and Calvary Presbyterian Church merged.  Worldwide economic developments in the 1920s and 1930s heavily influenced the merger. The old First Presbyterian Church, encouraged by the boom of the 1920s, began constructing its new building in 1928.  Then in October of 1929, when the new church was more than half completed, the American stock market crash occurred. The congregation soon found themselves in the midst of a depression with a beautiful new church building and a debt of $85,000. Old Calvary Church had a church building that could be sold for cash, plus a fine young pastor. Thus the merger and the birth of First & Calvary Presbyterian Church.  Since the beginning, the congregation has been blessed with outstanding pastoral leadership. Four individuals who have served in succession as senior pastor – Arthur McClung (1930-1962), Bill Everheart (1962-1971), Jack Hart (1972-1990), and Gary Stratman (1990-2005),   Greg Seckman (2007-present) – have contributed significantly to the congregation, the community, and to the denomination. Many associate and assistant pastors have added much to the church's growth and development.  There have been more significant events in the life of the church than can be described here. A wonderful book about the rich history of the church, written in 1987 by Duane Meyer and V. Marie Arnold, chronicles many of these events and milestones in colorful detail.  It is available in the church library and makes for fascinating reading. A few of the most notable events are:  1930 First & Calvary Presbyterian Church established October 1.  1937 Publication of First & Calvary Review began.  1946 Indebtedness for construction of church retired. Deed of Trust burned by the church youth.  1952 The new education wing was completed and used for the first time.  1952 The church began holding two worship services on Sunday mornings.  1960 The church sanctuary was air conditioned.  1961 The church gym was remodeled for fellowship and dining.  1962 Men's Prayer Breakfasts began.  1963 The first women were elected as elders and deacons.  1965 The mosaic of St. Paul was installed in the Sanctuary.  1979 A new Austin pipe organ was installed in the Sanctuary.  1983 The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern Church) and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. ( Northern Church) merge to form the Presbyterian Church ( U.S.A. ) First & Calvary continues to grow in faith, strength, members, and dedication to its mission.  

	

Chapter Seventy-Six  We Take a University Team to the Holy Land  



	From the Pen of Jack  It was our pleasure to be asked by Rev. Brian Jacobson, University Minister for First and Calvary to plan and lead a Pilgrimage for University Students last year. We had students from Missouri State University, Drury University of Springfield, MO and Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. First and Calvary Missions invested nearly $15,000 in support of students and the projects they came up with in planning the trip. We are listing our travel schedule, but we were not able to keep it as follows, due to weather delays and calculations. We will give a more detailed description of the trip in another section.  YOUTH and YOUNG ADULTS PILGRIMAGE to the HOLY LAND  June 1- 17, 2006 - Our Pilgrimage Guide - - The Holy Spirit  Thursday, June 1, 2006: (Be at airport at 9:00 a.m.) Depart Springfield, MO on Delta Airlines # 5040 at 11:25 a.m. to Cincinnati, OH, transfer to Delta # 1246 to Newark, NJ, transfer to Continental # 90 for Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv, Israel .  Friday, June 2, 1006: Arrive on Continental Airlines flight # 90 at 4:15 p.m. Transfer to 7 Arches Hotel for dinner, devotions, and overnight.  Saturday, June 3, 2006: After breakfast, we will look down on Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and walk down to the Garden of Gethsemane and worship with the 2000/3000 year old olive threes. Next, we will transfer to the Western (Wailing) Wall; visit Al Haram Al Sahreef, the Al Asqa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Next we will visit the Garden Tomb for a worship service. Return to the 7 Arches Hotel for dinner, speaker and overnight.  Sunday, June 4, 2006: Worship

 at the East Jerusalem Baptist Church with Rev. Alex Awad. Sami Awad and his crew will prepare a cookout for the Team. Later we will enter through the Damascus Gate and walk through the Old City markets to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Back to the BBC, dinner, and Bishara – History of the BBC.  Monday, June 5, 2006: Full work day at the BBC. After dinner, we will  visit the House of Hope for the Blind and Mentally Retarded and listen to Mrs. David tell of the history of this institution. Devotions and overnight.  Tuesday, June 6, 2006: Half work day at the BBC. Lunch at the college and then visit the Church of the Nativity in the heart of Bethlehem, next to the Shepherd's Field and Grotto, and a quick visit to the Hosh Olive Wood Factory. Next we will visit the office of the Bethlehem Municipality and meet the Mayor.  Followed by a visit to the Holy Land Trust for Sami Awad to tell about the work of the HLT. Following dinner we will have time to get acquainted with several of the BBC students in a sharing and fellowship M&M time. Salim Munyer has been invited to tell us about his reconciliation program for Arabs and Jews.  Wednesday, June 7, 2006: Full work day at   BBC. Distribute food gifts to needy families. Lunch at the college.  Meet with the SOS Village Director and learn about the work they do in the West Bank. Dinner and Speaker, followed by devotions and rest time.  Thursday, June 8, 2006: Half work day. Visit the Diheishie Refugee Camp, take food boxes and M&M's for the children in the streets. Lunch at the college. Next will be a visit to the small Presbyterian Church a few blocks from the BBC for a party and sharing of M&M's with the children, followed by a visit to the olive wood factory of Issa Musleh.  Friday, June 9, 2006: While this is scheduled as a full work day, it is also Commencement time at the College and we have been invited to attend the festivities. The evening will be spent with rejoicing and fellowship with the BBC students, faculty and staff.  Saturday, June 10, 2006: Travel to Hebron and meet with Nayef Hashlamoun, Director, Al WATAN Center and have lunch there. Then visit the Abraham Mosque, meet with member of the Christian PEACE Makers Team and possibly a visit to another Refugee Camp and give out candy to the children. Following this, we will return to the Al WATAN Center for a party with the children. Return to the 7 Arches Hotel for dinner and overnight.  Sunday, June 11, 2006: Worship at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Jerusalem. Go through the St. Steven Gate to enter the Old City and stop by Nora Kort's training center and Orthodox Society for the Relief of the Sick and visit her shop next door for light refreshments. Next we will visit the Pool of Bethesda, walk the Via Dolorosa, and visit the Upper Room (Last Supper site?). Possibly visits with Joseph Shulam, a Messianic Jew, and/or Rabbi Ron Kronish, with the Interreiligious Council in Israel , or Rabbi Milgrom. Dinner at the 7 Archers, devotions and overnight.  Monday, June 12, 2006: Travel by the Good Samaritan Inn on the way to Jericho. Lunch here. Visit Qumran and hear the story of the recover of the Dead Sea Scrolls of Isaiah and take a dip in the Dead Sea (this is optional). Return to the hotel for dinner, a speaker, devotions and overnight.  Tuesday, June 13, 2006: Drive to Bir Zeit to visit the Catholic Church where National Presbyterian Church has worked since 1994, possibly meet with children of the community and distribute more of the M&M's. After lunch, drive to the Jordan River Baptismal Pool and on to Tiberius for dinner, devotions and overnight.  Wednesday, June 14, 2006: Visit the Mount of the Beatitudes, Tabgha, and worship on the boat as we travel on the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, St. Peter's Memorial. Lunch on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and return to the hotel for time to swim and have personal/group devotions, dinner, devotions and overnight.  Thursday, June 15, 2006: Drive to Cana, then to Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation, Mary's Well, St. Joseph's Carpentry Shop. Next we will visit Abuna Elias Chacour and the high school, college and university in Ibillin, that now provides educational opportunities for   over 4,000 students.  Friday, June 16, 2006: Drive to Megiddo, then to Caesarea, Jaffa for some free time there. At 8:30 p.m., we will drive to Ben Gurion airport for departure on Continental Airlines flight # 91 and return to Newark, Cincinnati and Springfield, arriving at 10:46 a.m. on Saturday, June17, 2006. We were not able to keep the above schedule due to weather delays in which we missed the first two sections of our air travel. We will talk about the rearranged schedule a little later on in this journal.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

	

Chapter Seventy-Seven  The Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem  



	From the Pen of Jack  While the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church University students were on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2006, we were invited to visit the Holy Land Trust that has been established by a good friend of mine, Sami Awad and I asked him to write us a description of the HLT and the following is what he sent me:  The Holy Land Trust (HLT) is a Palestinian not-for-profit organization established in 1998 in Bethlehem with the aim of strengthening, encouraging and improving the Palestinian community through working with children, families, youth, and the non-governmental organization (NGO) community.  This goal is achieved on three levels: the creation of comprehensive community awareness programs, working on local and international advocacy initiatives, and building local and international networks and partnerships.  Holy Land Trust promotes and supports the Palestinian community in its struggle on two fronts: achieving political independence through supporting the Palestinian community in developing nonviolent resistance approaches towards ending the occupation; and assisting it in building an independent Palestine that is founded on the principles of nonviolence, democracy, respect for human rights, and peaceful means of resolving conflicts.  In addition, HLT works to build deeper and broader international understanding regarding the situation in the Holy Land in order to strengthen the capacity of all those working for achieving positive change in this region. HLT believes in the important role the international community plays in achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.  Holy Land Trust programs are uniquely founded on historical, political and religious experiences and events that have taken place in the Holy Land and have shaped human history; experiences that are a strong part of Palestinian culture and tradition as well. HLT activities are implemented through three major programs:    Peace and Reconciliation    Travel and Encounter    Palestine News Network (PNN)  All of the HLT staff and board members are from the local community and face the same difficulties and challenges as the rest of the Palestinian population. Hence, they are knowledgeable of and are directly affected by the struggles that all Palestinians experience in their day-to-day lives, including curfews, home demolitions, travel restrictions, land confiscations, injury and loss of life.  In addition, several international and local volunteers assist with HLT programs, organizing events and helping with the various projects HLT is undertaking at any given time.  Holy Land Trust affiliations and partnerships:    Registered as a Palestinian NGO by the Palestinian Ministry of  Interior: registration #: BL-408-C.    Endorsed by the Middle East Council of Churches.    Affiliate organization of Nonviolence International.    The Middle East Fellowship, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, is proud to  serve as Holy Land Trust's U.S. support office.  For More information you may visit our web-site:  www.holylandtrust.org  Having worked with Sami Awad and having used his organization to plan the University Student trip to the Holy Land in 2006, if when you are reading this section that you or your pastor is thinking of making a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, you should give the HLT a call and let them make all the arrangements for your trip.  I can also assure you that you will get the very BEST prices for coaches, hotels, meals, entries into places that charge admission; and their guides are the best in the Holy Land. We have used the Holy Land Trust in arranging for our Pilgrimages for several years. I would also like to suggest that if you would like to know more about the conflict of the Arab and the Jew, that you consider becoming involved in the three programs they offer above.  

	

	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

	

Chapter Seventy-Eight  The Workings of the Lord with "Musalaha"  

	

	From the Pen of Dr. Salim Munayer  It is with heart-felt love that we have for Dr. Salim Munayer, one of the dearest Christian Palestinian friends we have in the Middle East, as he continues to try to being Arabs and Jews together in the Holy Land and in all of the Middle East. We include his February 28, 2008 letter to us.  

  

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	February 28, 2008  Dear Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows,  Greetings from Jerusalem! We are slowly starting to warm up, coming out of an unusually cold winter, (with snow!) Now spring is on its way, and with it, growth. Much has happened since our last update, so we wanted to let you read in greater detail about one of the Musalaha events that took place recently, and also ask for your prayer for our upcoming activities. Without your prayer and support, none of our work would be possible, so we ask that you share with us in our reconciliation endeavor, and praise God for his continual blessings.  May God keep you all well,  Salim J. Munayer  Musalaha Director  

  

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	The Limits of Love  We are all guilty of collective punishment. This is a serious allegation, as collective punishment is condemned by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and classified as a war crime. Yet we are all complicit in it, either consciously or subconsciously, and all guilty of causing the dangerous consequences that it results in.  In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the term 'collective punishment' is used quite frequently, so it is important to define it clearly. Collective punishment means punishing a whole group of people, for the actions of some of the members of the group, regardless of whether or not they are responsible for the offense. In a recent Haaretz article, Bradley Burston noted how both Israelis and Palestinians make use of collective punishment, and how the innocent residents of Gaza, and of cities like Sderot, are the ones who suffer as a result of it.  For the majority of Gazans, living confined in squalid conditions, often without food, water, heating, and ever fearful of Israeli military strikes, it is clear that they are suffering because of the actions of others, such as Hamas attacks against Israel that they had no part in. Their situation was recently made far worse by the Israeli closure, or siege, that even further limited their access to the bare essentials needed to survive.  For Israelis living in Sderot, and other cities that lie within firing range of Gaza, the situation is not much better. They are daily harassed by rockets launched at them indiscriminately, which causes untold physical, psychological, and financial damage. They live paralyzed by fear, many of them are unable to work, children are kept from school, and the sound of the warning sirens (and the sprint to the bomb shelter that it entails) has become a part of their daily routine.  Many have moved from Sderot, either because of the security risk, or because they can no longer find work and support their families, as many factories and businesses have left the city. All this they suffer from Palestinian attacks, not because they are directly responsible for what the people of Gaza suffer, but because they are the closest, most convenient target.  However the blame for this situation lies not only on the shoulders of Hamas, or the Israeli army, but also on the shoulders of the victims. For, as Burston wrote, "Collective punishment is abhorrent. It is morally reprehensible. It is functionally self-defeating. It destroys the moral fiber of those who order it, practice it, countenance it, turn a blind eye to it. This may explain why the victims of collective punishment may find themselves resorting to its use."[1]  Indeed, many on the Israeli side ask 'Why should we provide food and electricity to the very people attacking us?' On the Palestinian side many claim, 'All Israelis are guilty, because they are all soldiers at one time or another.' These sorts of statements, (in addition to being factually incorrect) justify collective punishment, and serve to dehumanize the 'Other' side.  We forget that we are actually talking about real people just like us, because it is easier to group them all together, label them as 'Israelis' or 'Palestinians', and blame them all for our misfortune. When we adopt this attitude, we are guilty of collective punishment. "Crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity. The victims of crimes against humanity never "had it coming to them" as we might persuade ourselves to believe."[2]  We are all capable of this, especially when we feel hurt or threatened. Even people who profess humanistic love for mankind can fall into this cycle of pain and reaction, where we are dehumanized, and then we dehumanize others. The reason for this is that we as humans are unable to love perfectly, incapable of demonstrating what Henri Nouwen calls 'God's first love.' This love is "unconditional and unlimited" unlike our very conditional, and limited "broken and very fragile" second love. In spite of our protestations to the contrary, along with our human love, "there is always the chance of rejection, withdrawal, punishment, blackmail, violence, and even hatred." This is because of the "darkness that never completely leaves the human heart." [3]  Try as we may, we cannot love with God's perfect, first love, because in order to do so means displaying all of the characteristics of love described in I Corinthians 13:4-7, all of the time. No one is always patient, kind, humble, etc. Only God is able love this selflessly. This fact, however, does not excuse complacency. True, our love is "only a broken reflection of the first love", but thankfully, "the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows."[4]  If we strive towards this perfect first love, we can see its influence on our lives. Only by tapping into God's love are we able to reverse the trend of dehumanization, because it forces us to see each other as God sees us: as humans.  In the beginning of February this year, Musalaha took a group of about 30 Palestinian and Israeli youth leaders to the Dead Sea in Jordan, for a youth leader's training, and reconciliation conference. The youth leadership training was taught by Yoel Goldberg, an Israeli, who used his extensive experience as a youth leader to make his message clear.  The focus was on communication skills as a leader, the holistic nature of youth work (dealing with the spiritual, but also the physical, mental, and social issues that the youth face), and understanding the enormity of the task, and the responsibility that comes along with it. He also lectured on the structure of the church, and where the youth group and youth leader should fit within this structure. The discussion, networking, and idea-sharing that went on throughout the conference was very beneficial to all the youth leaders, and the fellowship made it fun.  The reconciliation training was led by George Filmon, a Palestinian Israeli with significant experience in both youth work, and reconciliation activities. His teaching was on the Stages of Reconciliation, and he sought to bring the group past the first stage where people are just getting to know each other and building trust, to the second stage where the discussion of real issues and the voicing of real grievances takes place.  One of the activities that was meant to bring about these discussions and issues was taken directly from the news headlines, and demonstrated well, the process of dehumanization that accompanies collective punishment.  The activity was a mock hearing, before the United Nations, from the perspective of two families in shockingly similar circumstances. One was an Israeli family from Sderot, a husband, wife, and child, and the other a Palestinian family from Gaza, also consisting of a husband, wife, and child. These parts were acted out by 6 of the Israeli and Palestinian participants.  The twist was that the rest of the Palestinian participants were given the task of representing the Israeli family before the U.N. Likewise the Israeli participants had to present the case of the Palestinian family. In order to do so, both groups had to talk with the family they were assigned to represent, and to ask probing questions, in order to really and truly understand their situation.  This led to some intense discussions, and some tense moments, as opposing political opinions rose to the surface, thinly covered up by the theatrical, fictional nature of the exercise. For instance, both groups began their questioning by, in essence, questioning the legitimacy of the families connection with where they live. Both the family from Gaza and from Sderot had to 'prove' that they had lived in Gaza, and Sderot for a long time, and had not recently arrived.  This mutual scrutiny, and the symmetry of the situation that both families faced, seemed a fitting summery of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.  But it was remarkable to see that as much as they questioned each other, they also began to understand each other, and seemed instinctively to know what the solution to the problem would be. Hearing from the other side about their suffering had a big effect on everyone involved in this activity, because it gave them a face, a name, and a friend to identify with the faceless, nameless mass of 'Israelis' or 'Palestinians'. They began to see each other as humans, thus reversing the dehumanization process.  When asked about the activity, a Palestinian participant simply stated "I was in their place, I understood." For one of the Israelis it was a very thought-provoking exercise, and she claimed, "I never thought about the closure (the Israeli closure of the Gaza strip), or the daily life of those living under it. Now I had a chance to think about it." The need to partake of God's love was clear for them. Another Palestinian participant said it was sad to see the "suffering on both sides" which was "far from God's will."  Finally, an Israeli participant stated "We look for someone to blame, but this situation will continue until both sides turn to God." This is true, specifically, turning to God's love that alone enables us to see each other as people, and avoid physical and/or subconscious collective punishment, and the dehumanization that it entails.  This conference certainly did not solve the conflict, or even truly reflect the complexities of the situation. But it did bring together these participants, and gave them a glimpse of the reconciliation that is possible when we can see each other as people, rather than as enemies, and try to understand each other's situations. This is only possible with God's first love, for our human attempts at it will always fail. Luckily, we are offered this chance, for "Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving him are the same thing…And when we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other

 than bring healing, reconciliation, new life, and hope wherever we go."[5]  Written by Joshua Korn  Musalaha Publishing Manager  

  

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	[1] Burston, Bradley, The Qassam Rocket as Collective Punishment, (January 28, 2008) Haaretz.com, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944986.html  [2] Burston, The Qassam Rocket as Collective Punishment  [3] Nouwen, Henri J. M., In the Name of Jesus, Reflections of Christian Leadership, (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989) pg. 39-40  [4] Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, pg. 40  [5] Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, pg. 41  

  

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	Upcoming Musalaha Events  Women's Conference – Aqaba, Jordan  In March, 27-31, 2008, all the women's groups will meet again, in Aqaba Jordan for further training in reconciliation. This conference will be a follow-up on the last meeting, which dealt with hindrances, and will cover overcoming hindrances to reconciliation.  The teaching will be done by Israeli and Palestinian women from the groups. Please pray for safety in travel, and that the women will be able to come, leaving aside their busy lives filled with work, families, children and more, and be able to focus on this chance for true reconciliation.  Youth Desert Trip – Arava, Israel  In April, 21-24, 2008, Musalaha will take a team of around 40 Israeli and Palestinian youth to the desert for a time of spiritual renewal, relationship building, and reconciliation activities. This annual trip is highly anticipated by the youth who have heard about it from their peers, and is always a great success, filled with fun (camel rides, hikes, etc), praise, and meaningful reconciliation activities. Please pray for safety for these youth and their leaders, and that God will bring them together as a united group, ready to influence their communities in a positive way, and give Him all the praise.  Leaders Reconciliation Workshop  Since November 2007, Musalaha has been conducting a monthly leaders reconciliation workshop in Talitha Kumi, Beit Jala. It is a course designed for leaders and potential leaders of Musalaha actives, to further their knowledge of the theoretical, theological, and philosophical dynamics behind the reconciliation process.  Please pray that God will continue to bless this course, and that the leaders will be encouraged and strengthened through it.  

  

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	If after reading this article from Dr. Munayer, you would like to assist in the financial support of his Musalaha Ministry - - - reconciling the Arab and the Jew - - - you may do so by making out a check to:  Life Center International, Inc. and mailing it to Global Ambassadors, Post Office Box 353, Bolivar, Missouri 65613-0353.  Your gifts are fully recognized as a tax exempt contribution to an IRS   non-profit 501 (c) (3) fully tax-exempt  organization of the United States of America .  

  

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	Reaching Forward  Paul said: I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, and so, some how, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already  been made perfect, but I press to take hold of that for which  Christ Jesus took hold of me.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining to win the  Prize for which God has called me heavenward in  Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:10-14  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Seventy-Nine  Community Involvements  



	From the Pen of Edythe  When Jack came into my life in 1938, I never dreamed he would be so devoted when asked to support something that was part of his dream for involvement; that he simply could not say "no" when asked to be involved is something for which he cared deeply.  I have searched back through the years we have been married and I cannot remember a time when he was asked to do something "different"  . . . something "special" either for his family, his church, or an organization, that he did not accept the request.  Even before we retired, he was always more of a "yes" man when called upon to join in an effort to serve others. I believe he is the most devoted "server" I have ever read about by the way he does go all out in helping someone in need.  As we have been working on this manuscript, it has been with the hope and prayer that it will be a real challenge to anyone fortunate to receive a copy. My job for the past several weeks has been to proof what Jack has written and what of mine he has typed and it has been like living the past all over again.  I have no problem is saying "no" to a request that is beyond my capabilities or desires and so I will refer mostly to the things Jack has committed to since our retirement.  One thing about him, when I say "no" for something in which he is interested, he never blames me for saying  "no" . . . another example of our 120 % marriage partnership.  I know it took us nearly two years to get our house in order so we could make the move to Bolivar and accept Dr. Taylor's invitation to return to SBU and serve the Lord in raising Endowment funds for Missions.  It is funny, I think that Jack was ready to move back to Bolivar almost as soon as he was asked. He started talking about it as soon as we got back to Maryland. I was a little slower in wanting to make the move . . . age and physical conditions being vital factors.  That is not to say I was not that interested in coming to Bolivar, my responses are just not as fast as Jack's. I am not going to do a recap on what has already been put in chapter form in the manuscript.  I have just one suggestion. When you read about our involvements in the community, know that what we have done, and are doing, is really not all that "different" or "special."  Anyone that is looking for a way to retire can use our suggestions as a guide. Just open your eyes and ears and you can easily find a place or person that is in need of your volunteer attention.  

  

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	In the Garden  I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; and the  voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of Son of God discloses.  And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me  I am His own, and the joy we share, as we tarry there,  none other has ever known.  He speaks and the sound of His voice is so sweet, the birds hush their  singing, and the melody that He gave to me within my heart is ringing.  And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me  I am His own, and the joy we share, as we tarry there,  none other has ever known.  I'd stay in the garden with Him, though the night around me be falling,  But He bids me go; through the voice of woe His voice to me is  calling.  And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me  I am His own, and the joy we share, as we tarry there,  none other has ever known.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

 

Chapter Eighty  Polk County Senior Center and Exercise Center  

  

	From the Pen of Edythe  Shortly after we moved in and started trying to learn more about the community that is now our home community, I went to get my library card, and enquired as to what was available for seniors and the librarian laughed and said "you are only one building away from one of the finest Senior Centers in the state of Missouri.  She said they serve lunch every day Monday through Friday for only $2.25 for anyone 60 years old and over. You can get a monthly menu at the front desk. There is also an exercise center just behind it that is sponsored by the Memorial Citizens Healthcare (Hospital)" and it is FREE for anyone over the age of 60.  As I was just told next door . . . why not? . . . I left the library and stopped in at the Senior Center and got acquainted with the lady at the desk and she told me about what the center could offer seniors. She gave me a copy of the menus for the month and I was surprised. Wait until I tell Jack about what I have found to make it easier to provide some lunches from time to time.  We also learned that the center sponsors a "Bus and Branson show" every month for 50 people that would like to take in the show-place of the world. Cost is only $50 and that covers transportation and a show.  They also offer free assistance each year at income tax time. They have Bingo once a week and have a room for billiards. There is a place you can work on jig-saw puzzles, and a small reception area with a nice sofa and not too old magazines.  About a week later we learned they had the best dinner of the week . . . baked chicken on Thursdays, that is better than you can get at Colonel Sanders, with mashed potatoes and gravy, a vegetable, usually excellently seasoned green beans, a home-baked dinner roll, an excellent desert and a small container of 2% or chocolate or buttermilk . . . you can buy a second milk or iced tea for twenty-cents. Occasionally they have a very nice salad bar in addition to the regular meal. I still wonder how they keep the price so low. They have three paid kitchen workers.  When we first learned about the center, the lunch price was $2.25, however about six months later, the board voted for an increase of .25 . . . but how they can provide their excellent meals for as little as $2.50 makes me wonder how they do it.  They do have two other ways to raise money. People are encouraged to make a tax-deductible contribution of $5.00 a month and you can get your name put on a large white board that everyone can see. There are from 50 to 75 members that do this each month. Jack and I do it by the year, not by the month . . . sixty dollars for each of us.  The other way is that they have several events each year. These include chili suppers, spaghetti suppers . . . special events in February, Thanksgiving and Christmas . . . and there is always a bake sale with each one, with the cakes and pies all donated.  These did not generate a lot of money, as the womenwere in the habit of buying all the ingredients for the suppers. One day Jack spoke to the Director and asked why they did not ask the local markets . . . Woods SuperMarket and Wal-mart to make a contribution or provide a gift card with which the women could purchase what they needed.  Jack was going to regret asking the question . . . he was asked to join the Board of Directors of the center, and knowing his volunteer spirit, he was not going to say "no" the request. You will read about it in the next section.  Now I want to tell you something about the Senior Exercise Center we found here in Bolivar. It is as modern as you could wish for . . . six tread mills, seven or eight bike and pedal pieces of equipment, a rowing machine, upper torso development apparatus, hand weights and they are just now in 2007 in a campaign to raise $30,000 for additional equipment and build a new smaller exercise room.  The Director said that if each of the 500 senior members will contribute about $50 apiece, it can be done. There went another $100 from our bank account . . . we are both members . . . gladly . . . and I do not have any question but what enough will be given so that these additions can be added for Polk County seniors.  We are very fortunate to have the Senior Exercise Center for a personal reason. The section on Diabetes will tell you how important the center was going to be for Jack.  

	

Chapter Eighty-One  2005 Senior Center Festival  

	

	From the Pen of Jack  As I think Edythe has told you that I was invited to become a member of the Board of Directors for the Polk County Senior Center. After sitting quietly and listening to the eight women board members, the other male member and I finally decided we had enough of going over the same things every month, but never arriving at a decision.  I suggested to him that the next time he had an opportunity at a board meeting, to tell the ladies that one of my strong points in retirement is fund-raising . . . that I am president of a fund-raising organization.  One of the board members, remembering that I was there at their invitation said that she had heard that I did some fund-raising and did I have any suggestions.  I asked if they had ever had a Festival prior to Christmas where they invited local crafts people to come and sell the things they make for Christmas. No . . . they never had one and she said they had no idea exactly how to get started in it.  I suggested that they get the board all together at the next meeting and let me take a picture of the board. I agreed to write a story and take it and the picture to the Bolivar paper and ask them to run the picture and story as soon as they could.  I took the picture, printed it and took it and the story to the local newspaper and they agreed to run the story. The main line being . . . are you a crafts-person . . . do you make things that would be good to sell at   Christmas and that people would want to buy . . . do you have $10 to rent a table at the Senior Center . . . if the answers were all yes, we asked them if they would like to have a table, along with 39 other craft-persons, to call the Senior Center and ask for them to send an application and for them to include $10 when you returned the application.  I found out that the women had never been to the local markets seeking donations,   so I had to do it.  Wal-Mart has a policy that you have to make your request a month or two before you need it. The manger was a member of the Bolivar Rotary Club, as I am, and I asked him for a $100 gift card we could use to purchase supplies we needed for the lunch time. We got it.  I did the same thing with the Woods Supermarket and they did the same thing. The women were amazed when I took them $200 to buy the meat, cheese, bread, chips, etc. and told them the local Coco Cola Company was donating 24 cases of 12 cans each for the Festival and I challenged the women to get lots of pies and cakes for their bake sale.  Before long we had all the tables rented. Now it was time for me to put my skills of getting gifts to work and see what we could get from the local merchants. We planned to secure lots of door prizes, so this meant that I had to get busy making contacts with the owners or managers.  My goal was to get 12 door prizes from each of 12 fast food places and if we did that, the next step was to sell the people 12 lottery tickets for $5.00 when they came into the center. We achieved this goal of the 12.  We had the PA announcer call out 12 numbers every 30 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and do the same thing with any other type of store in Bolivar that was willing to give us 12 door prizes. The first year we had six of these that "rented" a table at the Festival that also gave us door-prizes, so the announcer had to call out a few more numbers.  I also had to go to the home or business of each of those renting a table, get them to set up a display in their home, business or organization so I could come and take a color picture of their display. After getting the pictures printed, I made an appointment with the editor of the local newspaper, showed them the pictures and ask for them to consider giving us a full page in color the Friday before the Festival on Saturday. It worked out . . . they did a masterful job by making it the front page of the second section . . . and believe it or not, it was in full color.  I printed 5000 flyers, took most of them to the center, delivered lots of them to churches. Mailed 25 copies to each person renting a table asking them to give them out to their friends. We also made a nice display for each of the fast food places and the others that had rented tables and took it to them, asking that they mount it in a place where most of the people coming in could see it. The newspaper printed a full page in color on Friday before the Festival. The day of the Festival came and it was a bright sunshiny day and we had a long line out front waiting to get in at 9:00 a.m. We had several woman at different tables near the entrance and they started selling the raffle tickets . . . 12 for $5.00.  Nearly all of the people renting tables were pleased with the response and said they would be back next year if we had another Festival.  The first Festival was a success. We made $2,000 and the women said we will have to do it again next year.  

  

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	I Will Sing the Wondrous Story  I will sing the wondrous story, of the Christ who died for me,  how He left His home in glory, for the Cross of Calvary.  Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story, of the Christ who died for me;  I'll sing it with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.  I was lost but Jesus found me, found the sheep that went astray,  threw His loving arms around me, drew me back into His way.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  I was bruised but Jesus healed me, drew me back into His way; Sight  was gone and fears possessed me, but he freed me from them all.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  Day of darkness still come o'er me, sorrow's paths I often tread,  But the Savior still is with me; by His hand I'm safely led.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  Frances H. Rowley,   1886  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Eighty-Two  2006 Senior Festival and Silent Auction  



	From the Pen of Edythe  Jack decided there were other things that the center could do to increase the profit, so he added a Silent Auction for the 2006 Festival.  He did everything you read about in the section for the 2005 Festival. Everything he did then, he did for the 2006 Festival. However, it was easier to get people to "rent" the tables this year, although we had raised the price to $15 for each table. We rented all of them.  We added a second room and this is where we had the silent auction and it took eight, eight foot folding tables to hold all the things to be auctioned and we also had eight craft persons selling their things.  This took a lot more time to get everything ready by adding the auction. Jack spent five weeks either on the road rounding up gifts the merchants provided; the 15 fast food places where we received 12 door prizes; taking pictures and getting more "gift" cards from the local merchants. Two more food stores gave us "gift" cards for this Festival.  He later found he had traveled 749 miles in the five weeks getting the gifts from the merchants and in this same time he was at the computer printing the five forms we had to have for each of the items included in the Silent Auction and there were 101 items to be auctioned from 82 local businesses in Bolivar.  The newspaper did the same thing they did last year. We had a color spread on the front page of the Friday second section on the day before the Festival. The weather was a little colder and was very windy. It tore up the eight foot sign the local sign company had donated.  The crowds were greater than last year. More things were sold and everyone seemed to have a good time. Most of the ones with the craft tables said that they sold much more than last year. Four of the six service tables said they register nearly twice as many as last year.  I guess I would have to say the 2006 Festival and Silent Auction was a success, but it sure took a lot out of Jack to only take in $6,000, even if this was the most that any event had ever raised for the center.  

	

Chapter Eighty-Three  Bolivar Rotary Club  



	From the Pen of Jack  Nearly fifty years ago while I was teaching at Indiana University, I was sponsored by the Rector of the Episcopal Church in Bloomington, Indiana, for membership in the Bloomington Rotary Club.  Before long, I was convinced that it was one of the most worthwhile organization in the world in the activities in which they were engaged around the world.  I had a perfect attendance for the nearly 10 years that we lived in Bloomington. When I took the position of the National Training Director for Goodwill Industries of America, Inc. in Washington, D. C.,  I kept up my interest and shortly thereafter became a member of Rotary Club in Washington, D. C.  When we moved Bolivar, I think it was only natural for me to accept the invitation from one of the SBU staff to let him become my sponsor. For year three years I have maintained a perfect attendance record with the Bolivar club and am sold on the principles Rotary requires for membership.  Our Rotary Club in now engaged in a project to build a park in honor of one of the founding members of the Bolivar Club, and I have the privilege of serving on the fund-raising committee.  We have just enjoyed a dinner sponsored by one of the outstanding couples of Bolivar. Over 100 guests were invited to the home where a lovely dinner was served, paid for and cooked by the hostess.  The dinner was to help raise funds for the John Playter Rotary Park that will serve the entire community. Guest paid $50 each and together with a large gift of $15,000, a grand total of $23,000 was raised for the park. The goal is $200,000.The family giving the $15,000 has elected to sponsor the special area of tribute to John Playter, in honor of his surviving the Bataan Death March and 2 ½ years as a prisoner of war and his more than 50 years of service through Rotary, his church, and other organizations.  The tribute will also include Playter's forgiveness of his captors 50 years after his escape to freedom, after his escape to freedom, which came after American torpedoes sank a Japanese freighter in which he and many other POW's of War were being transported.  Though injured by the friendly fire and weakened by disease and deprivations during captivity, he managed to swim more than 2 ½ miles to shore land freedom.  Things like the above are what make Rotary the organization it is today. I am going to include some of the history of Rotary, in the hope that if you are reading this book and are not affiliated with a service organization in your community, you would give a look at the Rotary Club.  The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of "rotating" meetings among members' offices.  Rotary's popularity spread, and within a decade, clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York to Winnipeg, Canada . By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary International name a year later.  As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members' professional and social interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above Self.  By 1925, Rotary had grown to 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members. The organization's distinguished reputation attracted presidents, prime ministers, and a host of other luminaries to its ranks — among them author Thomas Mann, diplomat Carlos P. Romulo, humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, and composer Jean Sibelius.  The Four-Way Test  In 1932, Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor created The Four-Way Test, a code of  ethics adopted by Rotary 11 years later. The test, which has been translated into more than 100 languages, asks the following questions:  Of the things we think, say or do  1.    Is it the TRUTH?  2.    Is it FAIR to all concerned?  3.    Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?  4.    Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? Rotary and World War II  During World War II, many clubs were forced to disband, while others stepped up their service efforts to provide emergency relief to victims of the war.  In 1942, looking ahead to the postwar era, Rotarians called for a conference to promote international educational and cultural exchanges. This event inspired the founding of UNESCO.  In 1945, 49 Rotary club members served in 29 delegations to the UN Charter Conference. Rotary still actively participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and covering the United Nations in its publications.  "Few there are who do not recognize the good work which is done by Rotary clubs throughout the free world," former Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain once declared.  As it approached the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet society's changing needs, expanding its service efforts to address such pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy, world hunger, and children at risk.  In 1989, the organization voted to admit women into clubs worldwide and now claims more than 145,000 female members in its ranks.  After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The first Russian Rotary club was chartered in 1990, and the organization underwent a growth spurt for the next several years.  More than a century after Paul Harris and his colleagues chartered the club that eventually led to Rotary International, Rotarians continue to take pride in their history. In honor of that first club, Rotarians have preserved its original meeting place, Room 711 in Chicago's Unity Building, by re-creating the office as it existed in 1905. For several years, the Paul Harris 711 Club maintained the room as a shrine for visiting Rotarians.  In 1989, when the building was scheduled to be demolished, the club carefully dismantled the office and salvaged the interior, including doors and radiators. In 1993, the RI Board of Directors set aside a permanent home for the restored Room 711 on the 16th floor of RI World Headquarters in nearby Evanston.  Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.  There are over 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.  As signified by the motto Service Above Self, Rotary's main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.  Did you know that more than 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years if the world fails to eradicate polio, so this has become an ongoing project for the organization.  In a visit to Washington, D. C. several years ago, you could have embarked on a virtual tour of "Whatever Happened to Polio?" an exhibit of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History that chronicles the history of the disease and efforts to eradicate it.  The exhibit is now on permanent display at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.  

  

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	"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear,' I will help you."  Isaiah 41:13  

	

Chapter Eighty-Four  Polk County Senior Property Tax Campaign  



	From the Pen of Jack  After the two years of hard work in promoting the 2005 Festival and the 2006 Festival and Silent Auction and not making any more than we did for the center, I thought there had to be a better way to make more for the center than the two Festivals. Granted we made more money than they had ever made before, but it was just not worth the effort. I tried something else; developing a campaign to get the property tax proposal on the ballet for the Polk County August 2006 election.  It was not difficult to get the Board of Directors of the Senior Center to agree that the property tax approach was a good suggestion. With their approval, we began the campaign. There are over 500 members of the Senior Center and we asked them to serve as "official" representatives of the campaign.  Along with the help of the local newspaper, we developed a half page ad, a copy of which is on the next page. This was then reduced to an letter size copy and we printed 5,000 copies and asked the 500 members to each take 10 and encourage their friends and neighbors to vote "Yes" on the ballet.  Inasmuch as the proposed tax campaign would also benefit the seven other agencies in Polk County that serve those over 60 years of age and gave each of them a large stack of the promotional flyer and suggested that they and their clients also support the tax, as their agency could then apply for support from what would be around $120,000.00 a year. This also worked out very nicely, as the agency leadership knew that they would be getting financial support from the tax fund.  Next we knew we would have to "sell" the three men on the County Commission with the idea of putting this before the public. Several of us went to talk with them and explained how great the need was in Polk County for support of the age 60 and over population and they agreed not to fight the issue of getting it on the ballot. On the following page is a copy of the ad we prepared for the paper here in Bolivar and the paper in Humansville, at a cost of $365.00 each:  Included in the ad, with their pictures and a verbal presentation to get the voters out, was the State Representative from our District, our State Senator and the Mayor of Bolivar.  Again, I printed several thousand of this flyer; gave them to anyone that would agree to distribute them and scattered the rest all over the county.  I am happy to report that the efforts of our board, the support of the 500 members of the Senior Center and the hundreds of local people over 60 in the other county agencies, and no County Commissioners   opposition, a   majority of the voters voted in favor of the property tax amendment in August of 2006.  We will be getting at least $120,000.00 each year, and more each year as the property tax level kept increasing, for seniors as long as the tax is not voted out.  The next step was to get seven people who would be willing to spend the time and energy necessary to provide the leadership on the Board of Directors to provide the   administration of the tax fund.  Mrs. Barbara Carson, the Director of the Senior Center, called and asked if I would be willing to serve on the Polk County Senior Citizens Services Tax Fund Board of Directors and she encouraged me to send a resume to the Commissioners.  The following is a copy of what I sent to the them:  Jack B. Fellows  2855 South Orchard Avenue  Bolivar, MO 65613-7106  To Whom It May Concern:  I was asked by Barbara Carson if I would be willing to serve on the   Board of Directors for the Polk County Senior Citizens Services Tax Fund Board of Directors, if the Commissioners were to appoint me and I said I would be honored to serve.  Following are some of my qualifications, as I am a retired businessman and free to serve at the pleasure of the Commission:  1.                I served as Chair of the Polk County Senior Citizens Service Fund Planning Committee in the development of the campaign that received the favorable vote on August 8 to approve the tax proposal.  2.                I serve on the Board of Directors of the Bolivar Senior Center and am active in the CMH Senior Exercise Center fitness program on a three times a week basis.  3.                I am active in my church, serving on the Senior Adult Services Council. I am a member of the Bolivar Rotary Club and the Bolivar Chamber of Commerce.  4.                I have served in the American Red Cross Shoppers program for over 22 years. This includes taking food orders over the telephone from the senior home bound and handicapped personnel and either shopping for them and delivering food on a weekly basis to their homes, or taking them to the store to do their own shopping. I would like to see this done in our county.  5.                One added advantage the Commission may wish to take into consideration is that I am President of a non-profit organization that raises money for Christian mission programs and in this connection use the QuickBook Pro accounting system.  As the Fund is a new program, if I were selected as a board member, I would especially like to be considered for one of the seven slots for appointment to the Board of Directors of the Polk County Senior Citizens Services Tax Fund.  I also encouraged seven or eight others in the community that I thought would make good board members to do the same thing. I was pleased with the final board of six others that seemed to be most concerned for the seniors in our county were recommended to the Commissioners and wewere approved and took the Oath of Service in September of 1996.  The Board of Directors elected me as Treasurer and I am happy to report that we have had a great first year in providing much greater support for the needs of seniors in our county. The only thing I disliked, was that I would have to resign from the Polk County Senior Center.  The one thing I am sure about, is that it has not taken near the time and energy to help administer the Polk County Property Tax Fund this past year, as it did to conduct the Festivals at the Senior Center each year.  The satisfaction of what our board is able to do, is substantiated by what we did just this past month. The Polk County Health Center Director reported that she had requests from over 100 people still needing the Shingles Vaccine that they could not fill. They were out of the Vaccines.  I encouraged the Director to come back to our Tax Board with the request for support. She was happy to hear this and immediately sent us a request for $7,267.50,   for enough to care for these 100 seniors and I am happy to report that on October 22, 2007, our board approved her request and the check was mailed to her in early November.  Now the 100 will receive the help they need.  In addition to the Polk County Health Center, we have also increased the possibility of support for the following:  Bolivar Salvation Army  Humansville Senior Center  OACAC – Polk County Community Center  Polk County Council on Aging  Polk County Senior Center  

  

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	Grant Me, O Lord  Grant me, O Lord to know what I ought to know,  to love what I ought to love,  to praise what delights You most,  to value what is precious in your sight,  to hate what is offensive to You.  Do not allow me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant persons, but to discern with true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Your will.  Thomas a Kempis, 15th century  

  

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	To Be Like Jesus  Lord Jesus . . .  by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit, purge our eyes to discern  and contemplate You until we attain to see as You see,  judge as You judge, choose as you choose;  and having sought and found You  to behold You forever and ever.  We ask this for Your name's sake.  Christina Rossetti, 19th century  

  

Chapter Eighty-Five  Fund Raising for Habitat for Humanity  



	From the Pen of Jack  I have never been involved with Habitat for Humanity until just a few months ago when I was asked if I would help raise funds to build a house in Morrisville, a nearby village about 10 miles from Bolivar.  One of our Life Center International-America, Inc. board members is also on the Board of Directors of the Habitat Affiliate here in Bolivar. He asked me if I had time to help them with their new project. I should have said no, but I have trouble in saying no to people that are involved in projects that are Christian and helping people.  I found out that they have a few more than 500 names in Morrisville and Bolivar and they are hoping to raise $60,000. We are in the process right now in getting the specifications for the three-bedroom house they are wanting to build. We got the specs and this past week we got out 540 letters to people we trust will support the efforts of this marvelous organization.  Instead of just asking donors to give money, we are going to use the technique of getting people involved in the project by buying certain items like doors, windows, bundles of shingles, water heater, washer and dryer, sheets of drywall, one 50 pound box of nails, anything and every thing that will be needed in the construction of the house, etc.  When the project is completed, we will prepare a Honor Roll plaque listing the names of those who have helped purchase all the items needed in the construction of the house and place it in the Habitat room Southwest Baptist University permits us to use in the Student Center.  There was no trouble in finding a rich history of this organization, as I found about 500,000 references when I hit Google and typed in Habitat International. I am including this in the hope that if you are reading about how you can be "different" . . . "special", you might decided to check to see if your community has an Affiliate Habitat that you can contact, or if you might want to become a member of your local Habitat of Humanity and you can do this online. What follows, is what I found when I clicked Habitat International on Google.  What is Habitat for Humanity International?  In September 1976, Millard and Linda Fuller called together a group of supporters to discuss the future of their dream. Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) as an organization was born at this meeting. The eight years that followed, vividly described in Millard Fuller's book, Love in the Mortar Joints, proved that the vision of a housing ministry was workable. Faith, hard work and direction set HFHI on its successful course.  Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian Housing ministry. HFHI seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.  Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.  Habitat has built more than 225,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1,000,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.  HFHI was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller, along with his wife, Linda.  In 1984, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn took their first Habitat work trip, the Jimmy Carter Work Project, to New York City. Their personal involvement in Habitat's ministry brought the organization national visibility and sparked interest in Habitat's work across the nation. HFH International   experienced a dramatic increase in the number of new affiliates around the country.  How does it work?  Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses. Habitat is not a "giveaway" program. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours   of their own labor . . . "sweat equity" . . . into building their Habitat house, and the houses of others.  What Does a Habitat House Cost?  Throughout the world, the cost of houses varies from as little as $800 in some developing countries to an average of nearly $60,000 in the United States .  The houses are built with no profit added and no interest charged. Construction is financed by a revolving Fund for Humanity set up by the local Affiliate.  The fund's money would come from the new homeowners' house payments, donations and no-interest loans provided by supporters and money earned by fund-raising activities. The monies in the Fund for Humanity is used to build more houses.  What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers. And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their over-abundance.  The Fund for Humanity will meet both of these needs. Money for the fund will come from shared gifts by those who feel they have more than they need and from non-interest bearing loans from those who cannot afford to make a gift but who do want to provide working capital for the disinherited.  The fund will give away no money. It is not a handout.  

  

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	Give Us Steadfast Hearts  

	

		Give us, O Lord . . . Steadfast hearts, which no unworthy thought  can drag downwards;  unconquered hearts, which no tribulation can wear out;  upright hearts, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.  Bestow upon us also, O Lord God,  understanding to know You,  diligence to seek You,  wisdom to find you,  and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you,  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thomas a Kempis, 15th century  

	

	SECTION THREE  Featuring Our Work With SBU Missions  From the Pen of Jack  For several years we have been urged to share the experiences of a life of service for the Lord Jesus Christ, but we never seemed to find the time to get it started. However, as you will read in the next two chapters, you will understand why you may be able some day to read about how God has blessed us in our dedication to bringing people to a personal relationship with God, through His Son.  We had originally included just two sections. The first began in Chapter One on page 6 and goes through to page 142 and is a "quickie" revue of the things that happened to us as we were preparing our lives for service. This would continue until I finished my doctorate and Edythe finished her Master's of Religious Education and I was offered a full Professorship of Christian Education at the Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas.  Section Two was to cover our ministries from that point on, but we were not satisfied and decided to break it down into two sections. This would include everything we did up until October 11, 2002.  This is when I received the Life Service Award from the Alumni Association of Southwest Baptist University at Homecoming and Dr. C. Pat Taylor asked Edythe and me to return to the campus to serve as volunteers for the Endowment for Missions campaign for which they were just in the planning stages.  Section Three will feature Southwest Baptist University. Our entire lives have been focused on service by the mentorship of the faculty and staff of SWBC (SBU) while we were here on campus.  Our purpose now in including much of the following materials is in the hope that parents of children making plans for leaving the nest and looking for the tools to help them achieve success will bring SBU to their attention.  SBU is one of the finest universities in the world.  However, next we wish to share two personal problems with you . . . things that have caused us to have to make changes in our lives.  

	

Chapter Eighty-Six  Jack Tested as a Type II Diabetic  



	From the Pen of Edythe  On May 12, 2005 Jack was scheduled for another complete physical examination and when they evaluated all of the results of the blood tests they found that he was a Type II Diabetic . . . the first major physical problem Jack ever had as an adult. The only medicine he had ever taken was one 325mg aspirin every other day! Now he faced something more challenging . . . how to control it. However, he was familiar with the problem, as his mother was also diabetic and was advanced to the point she had to be on insulin.  Our family doctor scheduled an appointment with the CMH hospital Diabetic Educational Specialist and Jack got both good and bad news. The good news was it could be controlled with diet and exercise; no additional medicines for Jack.  The bad news was that the Krispy Crème doughnuts, Mr. Goodbars, chocolate milk shakes, pecan and coconut cream pies, even Tootsie rolls, etc. were going to be things of the past.  At least he enjoyed these things for over half a century . . . now he can only use his memory banks to remind him how good all of them were. Fortunately, the diabetic services companies provide a much larger supply of sweets that are made without sugar added.  He opted for the exercise and diet. We signed up for three times a week at the Senior Center right before lunch for an hour, and this meant we would be eating lunch there for three times a week.  We would learn later that the Dietician made some bad choices in his menu; it was too restricted according to our family doctor.  For breakfast he could have four servings of carbohydrates, 0-1 serving of meat and two fat servings, no limit of free vegetables or other free foot. For lunch he could again have four servings of carbohydrates, with an increase to three servings of meat and three servings of fat.  For the evening meal he could have three servings of carbohydrates, meat and fat. There were no restriction of free foods for either lunch and the evening meal and only free food for snacks before going to bed. One of the funniest items listed in his food catalog was that he was told he could have one donut once a week . . . as long as it was three and a half inches wide. At this time Jack weighed 220 pounds.  From May to November 18, 2005 he had lost close to 60 pounds and the doctor was getting concerned about the weight loss. He ultimately decided the Diabetic Specialist would have to increase his diet and she did, but only slightly and he kept on losing weight.  When he got down to 138 pounds, the doctor took him away from the specialist and told him to get to eating more foods and especially those that would add pounds. As of the 18th of October 2007 he is back up to 158 pounds and will be trying to keep it at that weight from now on.  There was one good thing to come out of his weight loss . . . the football team at SBU got over $3,500.00 in very good quality suits and other garments . . . and Jack had to go all out in getting a wardrobe that would fit, fortunately he did not try to replace all the $3,500 wardrobe.  There is one thing wherein I am very proud of him. I have watched him get out the One Touch Diabetic test kit every other day for nearly three years, puncture a finger and record the level of from 90 to 130 before breakfast and one to two hours later do the same thing again.  He has gone over that only three times since May of 2005 and gone over the after meal test of below 180 only once in the same time. The next test two days later would be before and after lunch and two days later he would text before and after the evening meal.  This month of March 2008 he has not gone over the "130 before meal test" one time, nor has he gone over the "after meal test of 180" a single time.  He recently had to show his Diabetic record notebook to his cancer doctor and he remarked he had never seen anyone before who was such a record keeper.  Jack has shot himself every other day for 120 weeks and this means he has tested his sugar level 360 times since that fateful day in May 2005.  It is interesting; I have never heard him say "why" . . .  he always seems to be a "what's next" guy and he continues with the work he loves best, the challenge of Matthew   28:19-20. It is a delight to see how his mind works when he is working on a mission project . . . a Senior Center Festival . . . a chapter for our book . . . a plan to help Habitat secure financial support, etc.  

	

Chapter Eighty-Seven  My Bout with Cancer  



	From the Pen of Jack  I begin this section with the possible recommendation that you need to be very careful when you ask for something when you pray . . . you may find that when you get it, you may find it a little difficult to accept.  About twenty years ago, after our five children were gone from the nest and had established homes and families of their own, I was reading the newspaper and came across an article concerning cancer.  The premise was that out of every seven people in the United States , one would develop some kind of cancer. I took a quick look at our five children and my wife . . . together we made a block of seven.  In my devotions the next morning I suggested to the Lord that if any one of our family group of seven might be touched by cancer, "let it be me." It appears my prayer was heard. I do need to even ask "why" now, as I asked for it and am learning to live with it.  As I had written near the beginning of this manuscript: It is 2:22 p.m., June 22, 2007, and I have just learned from Dr. Leo Shunyakov, MD, a Russian doctor serving as head of the Medical Oncology/Hematology Central Care Cancer at Citizens Memorial Healthcare hospital here in Bolivar; is that the biopsy of the growth removed from my right arm pit on June 2, 2007 indicated I have a very rare cancer called Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma.  One of the first things Dr. Shunyakov ordered was a P.E.T. scan. He said this was a positron emission tomography, and he said he ordered it because I would be introduced to a medical imaging technique that can search for cancer anywhere in the body, can diagnose Alzheimer's disease years before symptoms occur or prove that bypass surgery would benefit a damaged heart.  P.E.T. scan's can tell you whether a tumor is benign or malignant and can show you if a malignant tumor has spread. It was recommended that I search their website and learn how P.E.T. scan   is changing the way doctors manage medical care for some of today's most devastating medical conditions.  According to the things I could find on the internet, I am apparently only the 30th person known to have this type of Sarcoma and I was being asked to be included in a special international study in the hope they would find something in my case, that would enlarge the understanding of how to treat this type of cancer.  I accepted the suggestion from "Dr. Leo" and I pray that they may find something from my diagnosis, treatment and extensive medical care that will help someone else coping with this cancer.  There is a research organization known as The National Oncologic P.E.T. Registry (NOPR) which is a collaboration of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), the American College of Radiology (ACR), and the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), to ensure access to Medicare reimbursement for certain types of positron emission tomography (P.E.T.) scans.  There are only 10 types of cancer Medicare will cover and Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma is one of them. We are grateful for this, as our understanding is that the cost is in the neighborhood of $4,000.00 to $5,000.00 and NORP is willing to pay Medicare for this cost, as it will guarantee they will be getting a full accounting of the treatment, and ultimate result of the treatment, with the cooperating patient and his or her doctor.  The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) was developed in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposal to expand coverage for positron emission tomography with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (P.E.T.) to include cancers and indications not presently eligible for Medicare reimbursement.  Medicare reimbursement for these cancers can now be obtained if the patient's referring physician and the provider submit data to a clinical registry to assess the impact of P.E.T. on cancer patient management. The NOPR is implementing this registry for CMS. The NOPR is sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging and managed by the American College of Radiology through the American College of Radiology/Imaging. The NOPR receives input from, and is endorsed by the ACR, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and the Society for Nuclear Medicine.  There are only 25 people registered as having Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma,that are also involved with the NOPR research project. I was able to get a considerable amount of information from NOPR, but for the most part the reports are not too encouraging.  One person lived only one week, another seven weeks, another lived two months and two lived for four months, one each for five and 6 months, three lived for 9 months, one each for 10, 12, 16, and 20 months. On the positive side, the following lived for one, four, five and six years. Seven were free of the cancer one year, two for a year and a half, one each for four, five, and six years.  Now for a closer look at what is happening to me in the treatment of the cancer. The Citizens Memorial Healthcare organization is currently putting the finishing touches on a new cancer medical treatment center, so not having the services here in Bolivar, it was recommended that I go to the Hulston Cancer Center, a part of the Cox system, in Springfield, Missouri.  My doctor there is Michael A. Albritton, M.D., the head of Radiation Oncology of the Ozarks, Inc. and I found out that in their study of the results of my P.E.T. scan, they had determined that the possiblilypossibility for "cure" was good, but I would have to endure a rather lengthy series of radiology treatments because the P.E.T. scan had revealed several spots that had to be treated, but none were in any serious places that would be requiring the six-weeks of radiation.  Dr. Albritton prescribed a six week series of radiation treatment for me. Treatment will vary case by case. They did the first simulation on July 2nd to give me an idea of what the treatment required and I was to report back on July 6 to begin the six weeks of treatment.  However when I got there on the 6th, I learned they wanted to do the simulation the second time . . . as they were not entirely sure of the places where they wanted to "hit" with the radiation and they wanted to make sure they had all the places the P.E.T. scan had indicated should be treated.  July 7, 2007 began a new experience for me. I would have to drive from Bolivar to Springfield to keep an 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday for the six weeks of appointments. The treatments only took fifteen minutes and I did not notice any pain or discomfort and this kept on for the first two weeks, but then I began to sense some changes . . . still no pain, but I could tell that something was taking place in my body.  As the treatments continued I began to feel much more exhausted. Longer walks caused more fatigue, but still no pain. Also scheduled in my treatment plan was a weekly conference with Dr. Albritton. His first question when he came into the room was if I had any pain.  On the third week of completed treatments, as he looked at the condition of my back and under arm, he gave me two ointments that should be rubbed on where the surgery had been performed and in the deepening red area of the radiology treatments each day. This would also continue for nearly two months after the treatments were finished.  Today, January 23, 2008, after nearly five months of treatment and recovery, I become very exhausted after any exercise or long walks and the weakness has made it necessary for me to use a cane to assure I do not fall. I had been asked in one of the early interviews if I had any arthritic pain and I said no pain, but you can see from some of my fingers that I do have some arthritis in my hands.  Three weeks later I woke up one morning with my left thumb on fire. I could not lift anything with it and could not get any remedy for it, even though I had been taking some over-the-counter pain killers.  When I told Dr. Albritton about this he said to switch to another stronger one and take two a day. I can still feel pain twitches in my left thumb and wrist, but nothing like it was before . . . unless I spend too much time at the computer writing my part   of the story of our lives.  In my recent meeting with Dr. Leo here in Bolivar, he wanted to know the same things that Dr. Albritton did, as he is my primary doctor in the reports that have to go to The National Oncologic P.E.T. Registry (NOPR) concerning the treatment of my cancer and periodic reports as to progress or developing weaknesses or definite negative results.  He also asked if I had seen any changes in my Type II Diabetes or eyesight? I told him I had lost a good deal of my distance sight and he ordered an eye examination by Dr. Caleb R. Sawyer, at the Bolivar Eye Specialty Center here in Bolivar. After Dr. Sawyer had finished, he indicated my prior prescriptions had been affected by either my diabetic problems or the results of the radiation and he indicated the distance glasses would have to be changed.  The diagnoses by Dr. Sawyer also indicated that I was developing slight macular degeneration, but it might be ten (10) years before it would become a serious problem. However, in an attempt to control it, he has prescribed a product developed by Bausch & Lomb, called PreserVision containing a drug called Lutein. He told me to take one in the morning and another before going to bed from now on.  I still have time, but limited with the strength, to water the planters of flowers we have placed all over our front and side yards in the little gardens we built around the eight trees we planted when we purchased the property three years ago . . . the only difference is that now I carry a folding chair and enjoy a needed seated rest period as I water the 15 of the 17 inch brown planters that are filled with gorgeous blooming geraniums plus a soaking of the growing shade trees. Pulling 100

 feet hose is not as easy as it used to be.  Three months after the radiation, I left the house at 6:00 a.m. as I do each Saturday, to do the weekly shopping. Here I do not need the cane, as usually some lazy or forgetful person has left an empty grocery cart close by where I park and I use that as my "substitute" cane. I do not seem quite as tired when I get home, as I did for some time after the treatments were ended, but I do have to rest for two or three   hours in my LazyBoy recliner . . . thinking about my slowly growing orchids . . . wondering what I can do to speed up the growth of the plant and the opening of new blossoms.  Oh, I forgot; they are teaching me patience!  Dr. Leo had told me I was going to lose a lot of my mobility and strength and was he ever right! At the same time he said I would learn the real meaning of patience before this was all over and I will write about his statement a little later.  When Sunday rolls around and we arise at 6:00 a.m. and get ready to go to church for the 8:30 a.m. service in Springfield. We have not missed a Sunday since I began my treatments in July and it is just now a few days before we will again celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. I serve on the Mission Committee of our church and must attend the evening meeting at 6:30 p.m. once a month on the second Tuesday. I will be ordained on January 6, 2008 to serve as an Elder for three years. This meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month.  I do not know if you remember one of the things I said to Dr. Shunyakov in my first visit to his office to learn the results of the biopsy, so I repeat it here for another thing that may tell you   where I am at this stage in my battle with cancer. By God's grace, we believe I will be one of those who can say "survivor" and will hopefully encourage anyone else in their "bout with cancer" to have faith and work hard at surviving. This has not been a very easy time . . . We still have lots of work to do with Life Center International.  As I said in the beginning of this manuscript, I agreed to turn my life over to Dr. Shunyakov for his study and treatment, if he would do his best to keep me alive long enough to finally do what friends and associates have urged us to do for years . . . for Edythe and me to put our life stories on paper to serve as a challenge to others to live life to their maximum abilities in serving God and others.  At that point we did not have page "one" written. In the past three months we have written 343 pages and still are adding some things we continue to remember. Hopefully after the New Year will have a little more time to finish what we started following the series of radiation treatments. I do not know how many people have asked me how I am handling this new chapter in my life and I tell them if they are inclined to pray to please put me on their prayer list . . . I want to stay with my "bride" of 69 years for as long as possible.  I still have a lot of things to do as President of Life Center International- America, Inc., as I do all the accounting work and write the "thank you" letters to people, churches and organizations sending support for our partners in Bethlehem, Croatia, the Philippines, and six here in the United States. Sitting at the computer is probably not as tiring as watering the flowers. However, when you think you might help someone else live as full a life as we have . . . the words seem to come a little easier as Edythe and I work on the record of our lives.  I have never been overly blessed with patience, but since I began the struggle in handling my cancer, my love for flowers has taken a new turn. About a year ago I bought Edythe a beautiful dark purple orchid and placed it in an eastern window in our living room. It had two bloom stalks, with one full blossom already open and 12 more buds of different sizes that would ultimately open, until at one time we had a total of 13 huge purple orchids in full bloom.  My problem with patience was overcome by the beauty of this orchid. It was hard to believe, but there was at least one bloom on the stems for over seven months. It has been cared for over the past four months and we now have two new bloom stalks growing slowly to bring us more pleasure for several months.  The patience comes in as you try to "hurry up" the natural process of the blossoms unfolding. All this gives me the strength to know my body is trying to the same thing as the orchid.  Since the first one I purchased, we now have 13 orchids in the windows of two of our rooms. Four are in the living room. Nine have finished their blooming cycle and five of these have now sprouted new bloom stalks.  You may think it is weird to carefully feed them once a month and water three times a week for things that grow rather slowly, but my patience level seems to help me overcome the anxiety that is rather natural when you have to face a life-threatening situation. I say "good morning" each day when I pause to look at their beauty and "rest well" as I turn off the lights prior to retiring.  And I have to admit that there are still things I would like to do, but it is up to the One who let me live on the day of my birth, as you can see in "A God Given Baby" and has kept me here for 89 and a half years.  Let me suggest that you go back and read it again. As I look back at a "different" . . . a "special" . . . wonderfully filled life, I always have to stop a minute and say "thank you Lord" for making me what I am! It has been a real struggle to try to renew my energy level from the level I was on July 22, 2007 to today, January 27, 2008.  To be perfectly honest, there were several times in the five months following the six weeks of intensive radiation, when my "faith" in the "cure" seemed to be on a downward track. Yet, these have been wonderful times, really, as Edythe has made up for it, with expressed whispers . . . fight it, Jack, fight it!  

  

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	Father . . . Forgive  Afflictions, though they seem severe, are oft in mercy sent,  They stopped the prodigal's career and caused him to repent.  What have I gained by sin, he said, but hunger, shame, and fear?  My father's house abounds with bread, while I am starving here.  I'll go and tell him what I've done, fall down before his face,  Not worthy to be called his son, I'll ask a servant's place.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Eighty-Eight  SWBC/SBU – Then and Now  



	From the Pen of Jack  Abner S. Ingman and James R. Maupin founded South West Baptist College in 1878 in Lebanon. Missouri. In 1879 the state of Missouri chartered the school and it moved to Bolivar.  The college went through many financial difficulties and in 1908 a fire destroyed the only building on the campus.  The college remained closed from 1908-1913 until Missouri Baptists and area supporters helped it open again as a two-year junior college. In 1964 it became a four year liberal arts college and in 1981 Southwest Baptist College was renamed Southwest Baptist University.  In 1995 SBU agreed with St. John's Schoolof Nursing, a traditionally Catholic institution, to form St. John's School of Nursing of Southwest Baptist University, which is located in Springfield, Missouri. Southwest Baptist University is a Christ-centered, caring academic community preparing students to be servant-leaders in a global society.  Southwest Baptist University fulfills its mission with specific care to guard its Christian distinctives and Baptist heritage as it demonstrates continuous improvement, enlarges its ministry through consistent growth in student enrollment, retention, and ethnic and racial diversity, markets the institution and its mission regionally and nationally, fosters an environment of open communication and service to others, and cares for employees through competitive compensation and benefits packages.  In fulfilling the University's mission and vision through its strategic planning process, Southwest Baptist University is committed to the following core values: Christian Distinctiveness, Baptist Heritage, Compassion and Care for SBU Family, Academic Excellence, Social and Spiritual Development, Personal Wellness.  Southwest Baptist University's academic departments include the:  College of Business and Computer Science, Courts Redford College of Theology and Ministry, Lewis E. Schollian College of Education and Social Sciences, Geneva Casebolt College of Music, Arts and Letters,   College of Science and Mathematics, St. John's College of Nursing and Health Services  Southwest Baptist University athletic teams include: Men's Sports: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country/Track, Football, Golf and Tennis Women's Sports: Basketball, Cross Country/Track, Soccer, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball Academic and Professional Organizations Accounting Club, Association for Computing Machinery, Chi Sigma Theta, English Club, Gamma Alpha Theta, Nursing Club, Phi Beta Lambda, SIFE, Behavioural Sciences Club, Psi Chi, Delta Epsilon Chi, Missouri Gamma Alpha Chi, Missouri Sigma Pi Kappa Delta, College Republicans, Cultural Awareness Network (C.A.N.), Habitat for Humanity, Christian Service Organization, Crosslight (women's musical ensemble), Discipleship teams, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Fellowship of Christian Recreators, Higher Ground, Revival teams, SBU missions, Small group ministry and T.E.A.M. (Theatrical Evangelism and Missions.)   SBU is an evangelical Christian university with roots stemming from a long standing Baptist heritage. Since 1878, this legacy continues to grow with our everlasting belief that all people are to be treated with respect since they have been created in the image of God.  Our institution is committed to helping students grow mentally and spiritually and encourages students to integrate knowledge, character and faith into their daily lives.  We also want to share a little about the University Missions and Ministries Center and several awards SBU has received . . . Awards well deserved in the light of the comprehensive mission programs sponsored by the university.  University Missions History  For more than twenty-five years, Southwest Baptist University has been involved in a strategic program for the purpose of equipping and training students in the area of missions.  Long before SBU had formally developed the mission statement of being a "Christ-centered, caring academic community preparing students to be servant leaders in a global society", the SBU mission program was promoting spiritual growth, ministry skills, and character development through the volunteer efforts of those who held a passion for University missions.  In 1980, a missions program was born on the SBU campus entitled CAMEO (Church-planting and Mission Evangelism Outreach), encouraging students to become volunteers on short-term mission projects. CAMEO's objective was 3-fold:  1. Promote spiritual growth through quality leadership, team fellowship, and individual commitment.  2. Teach ministry skills, which enabled volunteers to effectively reach others with the gospel message. Ministry skills typically centered around recreation, Backyard Bible Clubs, and survey work with a strong emphasis placed on skills in direct evangelism. The ultimate goal was to teach skills, which were transferable from the mission field to everyday life.  3. Encourage character development in personal lives through team work, family life, and strong commitment required of CAMEO volunteers.  The CAMEO program began as an independent university work. All team members – students, faculty/staff, and volunteers raised their own money for mission support. Those funds were raised through supporters who believed in what SBU was doing in missions and evangelism.  Early in the CAMEO mission program, support was raised by the CAMEO volunteer director, who submitted letters of support to various individuals, organizations, and churches, who were direct contacts of mission team members.  The support letters were accompanied with an attached letter written personally from the SBU president, Dr. Charles Chaney, emphasizing the impact of missions on the lives of SBU students and encouraging financial support to sponsor SBU mission endeavors.  As an increased interest in missions grew, an effort to centrally locate and unify the total SBU missions emphasis was created in the development of the Department of University Missions in August of 1985. The Mission 's Office was created to serve the SBU family by:  Informing the SBU family of mission news and opportunities.  Enlisting members of the SBU family to serve in mission assignments.  Equip mission volunteers with skills vital to their endeavors.  Emphasize evangelism as the primary focus for mission service.  Since those early years of implementing CAMEO missions, the University Mission's Office has literally sent thousands of students around the world. Serving as career missionaries, journeyman, church planters, pastors, educators, and in a variety of other ministries, the impact of SBU missions is felt around the globe.  In the Fall of 1989 William Taylor, former Director of the University Missions & Ministries Center, had a vision to move the Center from the Mabee Chapel Foyer into the Student Union. He simultaneously began raising funds for the cost of the project, and with a matching donation from the University was able to open the Center three years later. In 1992 the Center was dedicated by Pastor Phil Hunter and opened in the space it currently occupies.  The SBU mission's program has expanded its mission and ministry opportunities since those early years. We continue to send teams who minister through VBS, survey work, service projects, etc. Yet the vision of SBU opportunities has broadened.  Expanding on the early ministry of CAMEO missions, which primarily focused on sending teams to North America and Central America , the Missions Office is now sending three fourths of its number of teams to the most unreached populations of people groups around the world…the 10/40 window.  Currently, in 2007-2008, student teams are involved in church planting movements, prayerwalking for the purpose of breaking down spiritual strongholds, and taking the gospel to the unreached people groups of the 10/40 window.  The Missions Office has built upon the founding principles set forth through CAMEO missions, and yet has expanded its vision and purpose while strategically fulfilling the current SBU mission statement.  Author, Diana Gallamore Director of University Missions  

  

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	SBU Missions Ranked First in Nation  by Sharina Smith  School pride is often in proportion to the number of athletic championship trophies or scholars achieving academic accolades, but in addition to these earthly honors, Southwest Baptist University recently received a prestigious award that has eternal value.  SBU is first among the colleges and universities throughout the nation that the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board (NAMB) recently honored for the number of student missionaries mobilized during 2005.  The NAMB's recognition and presentation was made during the chapel service on Wednesday, May 10, in the Mabee Chapel at SBU. A luncheon followed the service to honor students who served in 2005 and those who are planning to serve in 2006.  Mr. Don King, Student Mission Mobilizer from the North American Mission Board, presented the NAMB award to the SBU Missions team and acknowledged their extraordinary efforts:  "It is for your commitment in reaching North America for Christ that the NAMB recognizes Southwest Baptist University for ranking first in the country in mobilizing student missionaries in 2005. We are thankful for the willingness of individuals like: Kurt Caddy, Dianna Gallamore, Kelly Rehm, Nicky Ward, Deanna Collins, and Taby Lane who make this possible. Their work, which is all-too-often behind the scenes, impacts lives on the front-line in the spiritual battle taking place across the country and around the world.  "We are thankful for the willingness of students who, in response to God's calling and gifting, leave their comfort zones and cross cultural, geographic or other barriers to proclaim the Gospel and live out a Christian witness in obedience to the Great Commission.  "Under the auspices and direction of NAMB, 119 colleges and universities mobilized more than 1,700 student missionaries to serve four weeks or more in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico last year. This resulted in 12,651 opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From those, we were able to record 1,567 professions of faith."  During the special chapel service, SBU President C. Pat Taylor shared his   thoughts with the students about missions at SBU:  "We challenge everyone here to go on a mission project. The world needs what you have to offer. It is an educational opportunity to learn from another culture. I know of no other university that sends out as many mission teams as we do."  Among the awards given, two were specifically given to members of the SBU family. Graduating senior Landee Nevills received the annual Global Ambassador Award for her specific leadership and involvement with missions at SBU.  During her time at SBU, Nevills spent her semester abroad studying in Taiwan and sponsored a mission trip to Thailand . Nevills told the crowd gathered in Mabee Chapel that she was grateful for her award, "it is humbling to get an award just for going out and loving people." Nevills also received the SBU Life Beautiful Award upon her graduation in May.  Kurt Caddy received the Faculty Global Ambassador Award for his hard work, support, and service for missions at SBU. Caddy has served at SBU since 1997. Caddy went to college at Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge Ark, and majored in Pastoral ministries with a minor in Psychology and Greek. He received his M. Div. with an emphasis in missions from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ken.  He has worked with the Greene County Baptist Association as an NAMB church planter apprentice and has traveled as a team leader to many countries including, Morocco, Nicaragua, East Asia, Nepal, Alaska and New Mexico. He and his wife, Laura, will lead a student mission trip to Alaska this summer.  The Global Ambassador Awards are new at SBU. The award is made possible by an Endowment given by Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows, class of 1940. The award is given to those who have made a significant contribution in missions.  After the award presentations, Mr. King spoke to the assembly about the attitude and realities of missions in North America: "Three out of four North Americans have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  The spiritual needs across our nation can seem overwhelming. But we're not evangelizing. We pass people by in the mall or on the street and we assume they will come to us or stumble into church on their own.  "The lost view Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, pious persons. The Christian life is seen as irrelevant and unnecessary. The spiritually dead are watching all of us — not just clergy and missionaries.  They are seeing our priorities and they see what we do on Friday and Saturday nights. They see our emails and steamy gossip passed around.  "I'm ready to see revival in North America. Our nation needs a movement of God so big that only God can take the credit. Our Vision at the North American Mission Board is this:  Where everyone in North America has the opportunity to respond to the gospel." After Mr. King's presentation, Caddy commissioned student ministry teams, which will be serving this summer in Detroit, Thailand , Turkey , Central Asia, India , and Alaska.  SBU students and faculty will lead these teams in expanding the kingdom in North America and around the world. Everywhere they go, the SBU mission teams will tell Jesus' story and hope to change our world.  SBU Students Win Second NAMB Missions Award  BOLIVAR—For the second consecutive year, Southwest Baptist University (SBU) has won the Courts Redford Award for Excellence in Student Missionary Deployment by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  A presentation was made May 8, 2007 to the university missions office during the SBU Board of Trustees luncheon.  "We feel like over the years (a total of 26 years with a formal missions program at SBU) that we've been sending mission teams, we've been able to create an atmosphere of missions here on campus," said Diana Gallamore, director of university missions. "It makes it easy for students to respond."  Since 2005 extending into the summer of 2007, students have either gone or will go to the following countries or regions: Guatemala, east Asia, Philippines, west Africa, Vanuatu, eastern Turkey, Swaziland, Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Germany, and Senegal.  They also have gone or will go to New Orleans, New York City, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, Canton, Miss., and Alaska. "It's the students who are really receiving this award, because they're going," she said. "We're just providing the way to mobilize them to the field.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  " . . . And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Matthew 16:18-19  

  

Chapter Eighty-Nine  SBU – Life Service Award in 2002  



	From the Pen of Edythe  Every college and university has a program that honors their alumni and Southwest Baptist University is no different that all the rest . . . except to the person who is receiving the honor . . . and this year at SBU, it is my husband that is receiving this honor . . . and I am very proud that he has been chosen . . . and, I lost no time in telling the Alumni office we would be attending the SBU 2002 Homecoming.  However, we were somewhat surprised when we got the invitation to come to Homecoming, along with the announcement that they wanted to award the Life Service Award to Jack. The surprise is natural, as we have lived on the east coast for over 32 years and the distance from Maryland to Missouri has made it difficult for us at attend very many Homecoming.  We came and were treated like royalty. We were furnished a nice place to stay while we were on campus. We found a very nice "goodie" basket of sweets and treats . . . including some fruit awaiting our enjoyment. Then, we drove around the campus looking at all that was here now and looking for something that might reflect on our time on campus in 1939/40.  The only thing still standing was the Administration building, and we were told it was scheduled for demolition in the new future, and the girl's dormitory . . . now housing male students.  Hoffman Hall where Jack lived when he started school in 1937 had been destroyed by fire and was now a used car lot. The two story frame house where we rented the top apartment was gone, and an apartment complex had replaced it . . . and the campus with multiple buildings . . .  Wow! . . . a football stadium, and Fitness and Wellness building under construction and six hardtop tennis courts . . . Jack told me when he was on the tennis team, they only had two clay courts, with a good supply of gravel and rocks, right up against the Administration building on the Shufflebalm campus. We thought we would have to stay an extra day or two, just to catch up on what SWBC had become.  Then the day and time came for the ceremonies in the spacious chapel/ auditorium. Jack was looking forward to wearing the cap and gown he wore in 1948 when he was awarded his Doctor of Religious Education degree from Southwestern Seminary and when he was teaching at the Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas, back in the late forties and early 50's. I enjoyed sitting there watching Dr. Taylor hand the Life Service Award recognition certificate to Jack . . . and as before . . . I was very proud!  After the ceremonies were concluded and we went outside for the picture taking time, and standing together with Dr. Taylor, I was surprised to hear him say he wanted to talk with Jack before we left to go home. He said he wanted to see both of us in this office when it was convenient. I had no idea what that was all about.  We made the appointment, kept it, and listened as Dr. Taylor told us what SBU was doing in the area of student missions. He also said he had heard about our involvements with our church in Washington, D. C. and he would for us to consider coming back to the campus to be involved with Kurt Caddy in the Missions and Ministries office of SBU.  Another WOW! I have written in another section of our life story about what we went through as we struggled daily in prayer seeking guidance as we thought through his request. It took a year and a half of prayer and looking at our future to finally seriously consider his request. The pro's finally outweighed the con's and we called Dr. Taylor to tell him we would accept his invitation to be involved in SBU missions.  We felt God was in the acceptance of his request, so we told him we would be honored to do anything we could to help the university that got us started in our unusual type of ministries, and would make plans to move to Bolivar sometime in the next two years.  Not long after we made the move to Bolivar, we read what Dr. Taylor had written in an article in the SBULife about our coming on campus and we accepted his challenge. His subject was "Celebrating our Missions Program," and this is what he said:  "This year SBU celebrates the 25th anniversary of the beginning of our University Missions program. In 1980 the CAMEO program, which stood for Church-planting and Missions Evangelism   Outreach, was created to encourage students to volunteer for short-term mission projects.  The CAMEO program was the forerunner of our current University Missions and Ministry program.  During the past 25 years, we have sent thousands of students to do short-term mission projects all over the world, and our missions programs continue to grow.  We also have created an intercultural studies major in The Courts Redford College of Theology and Church Vocations. We will continue to emphasize this major as a great opportunity for our students to prepare for a variety of ways to do missions.  We have asked Dr. Jack Fellows and his wife Edythe, to provide the leadership for this 25th anniversary celebration. Dr. Fellows graduated from SWBC in 1940 and Edythe attended SWBC for three semesters.  They have had a long and successful career in ministry, doing missions across the world, and recently relocated to Bolivar. As a part of this celebration, we also begin a mini-fundraising (Endowment) campaign, which will be a part of the next capital campaign to raise $1,000,00.00 to endow our missions program.  Southwest Baptist University always has been a Great Commission University. We have been committed to missions throughout all of our 127-year history, even though prior to 1980 we did not have a formal mission program.  We always have had a significant number of graduates become career missionaries. During the past century, the sun has never set on SBU, because our alumni have served as missionaries all over the world. We always have had a close connection with the Southern Baptist mission boards.  We also have a history of bringing missionaries to speak on campus; and interestingly, it was one of those missionaries who gave us our mascot in the 1920's when he visited campus with a binturanga, a   tree dwelling Asian civet also known as a "bearcat." To tell you the truth, the real "bearcat" doesn't look very frightening. But, although they are usually very tame, binturongs can be aggressive when they are cornered. If they get real angry, they can give a very powerful bite, and they had been known to leap five feet into the air to attack other animals.The next time you yell "Go Bearcats" remember the binturanga that visited campus is a direct result of our commitment to missions. It is our goal that our University will continue to take Jesus' last words here on Earth seriously.  The commandment to go to all the nations is a part of our heritage and will continue to be a big part of our future. SBU always will be committed to fulfilling the Great Commission."  C. Pat Taylor  Our coming on campus has taken another step to fulfilling what we hoped might happen when we moved back to Bolivar to assist in furthering SBU's mission dreams.  We have also been asked to be associated with the university in the next step of a Mini-Campaign to raise an Endowment Fund of a $1,000,000.00 to assist the missions programs by providing a system of scholarship aid for students wishing to take part in an SBU sponsored mission trip.  

  

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	Renewing our "Snowball 120% Marriage"  Edythe shared this with Dr. Taylor: In June of 2006 when Jack and I took the university group from the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, MO, we visited young Pastor Hani in Cana, Upper Galilee.  Also serving as Co-Leader was Rev. Brian Jacobson and his wife Courtney. They had agreed that we could visit our friend Hani, a young man Jack had worked with at the Bethlehem Bible College. When he had finished his training at the Bethlehem Bible College, he accepted the pastorate in Cana. He also asked Jack to speak in his church during his 1995 and 1996 visits to the Holy Land.  As you probably know, Cana is noted as the place where Jesus turned the water into wine at the marriage feast. Today, It is also noted as a place where you can visit one of three churches and the minister will assist you in celebrating the renewing of the marriage vows.  Hani asked the four of us if we would like to renew our wedding vows and we quickly agreed to do this.  It was a very spiritual and moving experience and when Jack and I renewed our vows of August 6, 1939, Hani gave us a small bottle of wine produced in Cana and we have it in full view in our home and it reminds us daily of our 120% marriage partnership.  

  

  Chapter Ninety  Jesus Calls . . . SBU Goes  

  

	From the Pen of Edythe and Jack  One thing that sets Southwest Baptist University apart from all other schools and universities, is the fact that "hearing the call" and "accepting the challenge," results in nearly 10% of the student body responding every year by raising the necessary funds, accepting the comprehensive training program, and preparing mind, body and soul to accept the challenge of Matthew 28:19-20 . . . and GOES!  We could hardly understand at first why Dr. Taylor invited us to return to SBU and assist in helping to raise financial support for missions, mostly due to our ages, but it has been an interesting three years. Now we know . . . SBU is a "different" . . . "special" . . . University!  Part of our enjoyment has been as we have seen the inspired leadership Kurt Caddy provides as Director of Missions and Ministries . . . of Diane Gallamore and her leadership as Director of the SBU mission programs . . . Kelly Rehm and the creative talent he brings both in the leadership of teams and in the creations of materials that point to the mission of SBU throughout the world,   nor would we forget to thank the members of the supportive staff and volunteers.  It reminds us of how much came from the sharing of the five loaves and a few fish, when Jesus blessed them and then fed the thousands.  It has been our privilege of personal association with the leadership of several colleges, universities and seminaries. Yet, being on the inside has made it a little easier to appreciate their ability to provide leadership to so many different departments and interests of the university family.  We have included a copy of the presentation Dr. Taylor made with his "Reflections on a Decade Past" that reflects why we have enjoyed the volunteer working relationship we have with him.  Following this will be a copy of how SBU has been named as one of the best . . . ranks in the first top three with least student debt load, and an example of us as "witnessing to diverse people." Our lives are richer due to this special opportunity.  

	

Chapter Ninety-One  President Taylor's Perspectives  



	Reflections on a Decade Past  Dr. C. Pat Taylor, President  How can it be possible that I have been at SBU for ten years? It seems like just yesterday that I gave my first chapel address and shared my dream for Southwest Baptist University to be outstanding in academics and distinctively Christian.  It is hard to believe that I began my work here in the twentieth century when most of our freshmen were just beginning third grade?  As I reflect back on my ten years as President of Southwest Baptist University, I want to give God the glory for the accomplishments of this great University.  He truly has blessed SBU with faculty passionate about integrating Christian faith in the classroom, a staff committed to serving our students, an executive cabinet and trustees dedicated to administrative excellence, and students who are willing to learn and prepare for God's calling.  I never have been so excited about the future of this University as I am today. My dream in 1996, for Southwest Baptist University to continue as a scholarly community that is recognized as distinctively Christian, continues to be fulfilled. And now comes today's challenge . . . in a world that increasingly denies Christ and Christian values, how do we continue the vision of evangelical Christian higher education?  I began the presidency of SBU during the fall of 1996 full of dreams for this University, many of which have been fulfilled. I begin my eleventh academic year as president of SBU with a challenge to our entire University family including alumni and friends.  We must pray that God will grant us the passion to continue our mission to be a Christ-centered academic community preparing students to be servant leaders in a global society.  As I reflect on the past ten years, I have learned that the world provides our students with many distractions from their academic pursuits and from adhering to Christian values. In fact, the world provides opportunities for all Christians to waver from our commitment to do the right thing, at the right time, and in the right manner.  During Welcome Week this year, I challenged our students to consider what I call the "Ministry of Presence." I encouraged them to be aware of their presence as they begin to exercise their freedom to make appropriate decisions about not only what they do, but where they go.  They must be aware that each choice has its consequences. Where they choose to go makes a defense, and their presence can make or break their ministry opportunities in life.  Ten years ago I began my work here with a dream. I begin this academic years with a call to prayer. My wife, Judy, and I pray daily that our students will make good decisions. I ask you to pray daily that we all will make good decisions here at SBU.  Please pray that all of us treat each other with dignity and respect every day. Pray that we support each other in fully developing the intellectual gifts that God has given us.  Pray that each one of us who has contact with students models the love and service of Christ to them. Pray that we are good stewards of the many resources given to us in support of Christian higher education. Pray that we never forget an informed Christian with a sweet spirit can change the world.  We truly have been blessed at SBU. I pray that you have been blessed by your time as a student or employee or other connection to the University. Today's world needs the kind of servant leaders we prepare.  My vision for the future of SBU is that we reflect on where we have been, not just in the past ten years, but in the 128 years of our history, and that we remain firm in our founders commitment to hold the banner high as a Christian institution.  If we prayerfully commit to remaining distinctively Christian, I believe God will continue to shower blessings on SBU and give us strength and courage to meet the challenges of our day. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve at SBU, and I look forward to the years to come."  "And now there these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  I Corinthians 13:13  

	

Chapter Ninety-Two  Southwest Baptist University  Named One of America 's BEST  



	SBU has been named one of America 's Best Christian Colleges for the 11th consecutive year and one of America 's Best College Buys for the 12th consecutive year.  Darren Crowder, SBU's Director of Admissions, said, "We are delighted to be recognized for our dedication to excellence and to providing families with a Christian higher education experience that is ranking among the most affordable universities in the region and in the nation."  Crowder said the criteria for the recognitions are set by the consulting firm of Institutional Research and Evaluation, Inc., and schools must submit reports each year to qualify. The criteria are listed below.  America 's 100 Best College Buys identifies those colleges and universities that:  ·        are accredited, four-year institutions offering bachelor degrees.  ·        offer full residential facilities including residence halls and dining services.  ·        had their most recent entering freshman class reporting a high school grade point average (GPA) and SAT/ACT score equal to or above the national average for entering college freshman.  ·        Have an out-of-state attendance for three quarters or two semesters below the national cost of tuition, fees, room and board or not exceeding the national average cost by more than ten percent.  America 's Best Christian Colleges identifies those colleges and universities that:  ·        are accredited, four-year institutions offering bachelor degrees.  ·        offer full residential facilities including residence halls and dining services.  ·        had their most recent entering freshman class reporting a high school grade point average (GPA) and SAT/ACT score equal to or above the national average for entering college freshman.  ·        are affiliated with a recognized Christian denomination, or claim current or historical association with, or interdenominational institution providing an educational experience incorporating basic Christian principles and beliefs into the instructional curriculum and/or social environment.  According to their annual report, "Institutional Research & Evaluation, Inc. is an independent research and consulting organization specializing in the recruiting and retention of students for institutions of higher education.  Consistent with it's mission, and as a guide by which institutions may be compared, each year IT&E, Inc. identifies the American colleges and universities providing students the very best opportunities in higher education.  No college or university paid to be included in these reports. Schools are included solely on the basis of merit." For more information, call the SBU office of admissions at 800-526-5859  or 417-328-1810 or visit the website at www.SBUniv.edu.  

  

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Chapter Ninety-Three  Least Student Debt Load  



	U.S. News & World Report Ranks  SBU in Top Three of Midwest Master's Universities  U. S. News & World Report ranked SBU in the top three of Master's Universities in the Midwest for "Least Student Debt Load" in their 2007 America's Best Colleges issue, according to Dr. Janet Juhlin, Director of Institutional Effectiveness at SBU.  At a time when SBU has just finished enrolling a record freshman class and is enjoying the start of the school year with a balanced budget from the previous year, the U. S, News & World Report rankings are more good news for our institution," said SBU President Dr. C. Pat Taylor. We have had a great year and this marks the beginning of another great year for SBU.  The ranking is timely, as SBU admissions representatives are traveling around the country with the message that we offer a great value for an excellent academic education that has a rich tradition of integrating the Christian faith in the classroom," said Dr. Taylor.  The word is starting to spread that SBU is a worthy investment for our future Christian leaders. This past year we have celebrated numerous successes in all our colleges from business and computers to mathematics and science to communications, including our Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team's capture of its 22nd consecutive regional championship.  SBU's missions program have received national recognition from the North American Mission Board as number ONE among the 119 colleges  sending missionaries out from North America.  Dr. Taylor said.  "The initial cost of an education is not nearly as important as the amount of money a student owes upon graduation," said Dr. David Whitlock, Associate Provost, and Professor and Dean of the College of Business and Computer Science. "When SBU graduates are accurately compared against regional and national trends, our graduates have comparable debt loads to those attending 'Tuition Free' work colleges. There is not a terrible difference of debt load among our graduates and those attending tuition-free colleges. That is big news!"  We offer a place where bright students can thrive in a caring, Christ-Centered community without the burden of an enormous debt load upon graduation. If students and their parents will look at the tuition and fees across the Midwest and around the country for academic institutions with our caliber of faculty and graduates, they will be pleasantly surprised at the great value we are offering at SBU," said Dr. Stephanie Miller, Vice President of Enrollment Management at SBU.  

  

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	Reaching Forward  Paul said: I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, and so, some how, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already  been made perfect, but I press to take hold of that for which  Christ Jesus took hold of me.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining to win the  Prize for which God has called me heavenward in  Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:10-14  

  

Chapter Ninety-Four  Witnessing to Diverse People  



	Compassion Guided Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows  Written by Sharina Smith, SBU Director of Marketing and Communications and the one who gave us permission to include the following article from the Spring 2007 issue of SBULife and the others we included just prior to this article.  



	Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows (Class of 1940) have lived a life dedicated to spreading the Good News, and during their many mission trips, they have witnessed to diverse groups of people including Jews, Palestinians Muslims and Christians of other races and nationalities.  Dr. Fellows said of his travels; I have witnessed to Hamas leaders. I have taught conversational English to Arab Muslim English teachers, using things about Jesus I found in their Quran and also from sections in our New Testament, when they asked me to do it.  When I spoke before each group, at the beginning I told them that I was a Christian and that would be the last time they would hear me say that, unless they desired to know more about my faith. When asked, I tell people that I have no way to prove there will be everlasting life and I just accept it by faith.  Compassion for those of different faiths has guided Dr. and Mrs. Fellows on the mission field. Jack said he spoke to a Rotary Club in Jerusalem and I did tell them I had accepted the Messiah, even if they had not. After I had finished speaking I was thanked for not condemning them. Dr. and Mrs. Fellows have logged many miles in following God's commandment to share the Gospel. They are an inspiration to others to "go and tell," and Dr. Fellows' catalog of their destinations proves very lengthy.  I would like to have included more stories of the many places in the world where I have had the privilege of witnessing to the Lord Jesus Christ, but space does not permit.  One was in a cave off the coast of China for three days, with a small group of Chinese Christians, while on a visit to Taiwan (Taipei); in two churches in Seoul and one in Pusan in Korea, and three churches in Japan that included Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  In the five years we was serving in the Balkans, we had the opportunity to witness in the following communities: Fuzine, Karlovac, Osijek, Selce, Zagreb, and Vukovar in Croatia; in Bosnia at Bana Luka, Sarajevo and Zenica; in Kosovo, Montenegro, and other places in the former Yugoslavia. While working and traveling, I also spoke in churches in Germany , Great Britain , Scotland , Switzerland and Wales .  Sharina said: "Because of their passion for Missions, Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows are on the planning team for the Endowment for Missions at SBU. They and others will be calling on your generosity during the next Endowment campaign." Having been closely involved with campus life for the past three year we are impressed with the quality of today's students.  You cannot go wrong in supporting   this new Endowment program. However, if after reading about SBU you would like to make a leadership gift before the public campaign begins, please contact Dr. C. Pat Taylor or Dr. Stan Norman at 800-526-5859."  

  

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	"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.  For you will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth in shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands, instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up; and instead of the nettle, the myrtle will come up; and it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."  Isaiah 55:6-15  

  

Chapter Ninety-Five  SBU Edwin Lightfoot Alumni Award  



	From the Pen of Jack  Edwin (Eddie) Lightfoot enrolled at South West Baptist College the same year as I did and was on the tennis team, along with Robert Reed, my Hoffman Hall room-mate, Dwain Goodman, and myself.  We did not have the state-of-art tennis complex that Southwest Baptist University has today. There were two very rough rocky tennis courts,   almost up against the south wall of the administration building. You had to be good to play on the rough court.  Eddie was not a very tall person, but he stood "tall" in his support of SWBC. He never missed a basketball game at home or away and when he was graduated, he went on to become a dentist, and set up a practice in Kansas and became a very successful dentist.  He never lost his love for SWBC and any time there was a special financial need, most of us that knew and worked with Eddie knew that we would soon be getting a plea for money and sure enough, I always ended up getting a fiery challenge to support this or that. Sometimes, I did . . . sometime I did not, as family needs of five children had a way of draining our bank account.  Eddie's wife's name is the same as my wife, Edythe, but she spelled it Edith. Eddie's enthusiasm for SWBC must have rubbed off on Edith, as she became an avid supporter in her own right. When Eddie passed away, she got to thinking about how she could make the name Edwin Lightfoot live on at SBU.  She discussed the needs of SBU in 1986/87 with the Alumni Director and they came up with the idea of establishing the Edwin Lightfoot Award, to be given to one outstanding alumnus each year during Homecoming.  The first recipient was Eddie's tennis team member and probably best friend, Dwain Goodman of Kansas City Missouri. It has been my privilege to be the twentieth person to join the ranks of the exclusive "Edwin Lightfoot Award" club and in my acceptance remarks, that was also printed in the alumni program booklet, and presented in chapel for homecoming, were as follows:  "This is truly one of the best days of my life . . . to have been selected by the SBU Alumni Association Board of Directors to receive the SBU Edwin Lightfoot award for 2007. . . especially in the light that I served with Eddie, along with my Hoffman Hall room-mate Dwayne Goodman, whom I think is here today and who was the first recipient of the Lightfoot Award twenty years ago.  We three, along with Robert Reed, were on the 1939 and 1940 Varsity Tennis Teams and we spent many a set in practice during those two years on the two horrible clay courts, containing lots of rocks, next to the Administration Building on the old Shufflebalm Campus . . . an area that would sit easily on the Robert W. Plaster football field today.  It was 70 years ago this month that I enrolled at SWBC.  I want to take you on a short trip down memory lane to visit three of those with special recognitions on the campus today that are responsible for my standing in front of you today to receive this award.  First stop will be in front of the Courts Redford College of Theology and Ministries in the Jim Mellers Center. When you go inside you can see what a million and a half dollars can do to an older building.  Dr. Taylor, President of SBU wanted that building to stand out as the latest example of the modern art of an electronically equipment classroom, yet not just as a building, but as a testimony to the one man that brought South West Baptist College through the famine years of 1927-1935. I will let you know who this was in just a few minutes . . . read on!  I had been asked to come early by Howard Olive, the President of the BSU Council, in that he wanted me to also serve on the BSU Council and as a result I got involved with college activities earlier than other incoming Freshmen.  I was also able to organize a campaign for the college class election and was elected President of the Freshman Class. This automatically added a by-weekly meeting with Dr. Courts Redford, the President I referred to a few minutes ago, and he spent about half of the time helping me make decisions that affected the student body and the other half developing myself personally as a Christian leader.  Not too many have had that privilege. This man was a Giant of a Christian . . . and I must say . . . a friend of students . . . and my ideal of exactly what a mentor should be.  Probably the one person I would have to select as my early personal mentor is Professor Titus W. Beasley. I lived in Hoffman Hall where Professor Beasley was both manager and mentor. I spent many, many an hour in a rocking chair in his home/office/library/quarters on the lower level.  Again, as President of the Freshman Class and an officer on the BSU Council, Professor Beasley gave me excellent advise on how to live a Christian life on an everyday basis that is still a part of my daily life.  It would be difficult to categorize the third person. You can read about him on the plaque as you leave the Plaster Football Stadium . . . "Orlin B. Stewart, 1907-1984 . . . my coach!  Coach Stewart's involvements with SBU began as a student. Later he served as Professor of Physical Education; Chairman of the Department of PE; Director of Athletics; Coach of Basketball, Track and Tennis. Coach "Stew" was a Christian gentleman, devoted husband, loving father, good friend and counselor."  The "one" man who filled all these functions listed above, that needs a total of ___ to handle the athletic programs at SBU in 2008, was "the" man who helped shape what has been called "different" and "special" by so many with whom I have come contact through the years.  You can also see where he was honored by my wife and myself by reading the stone just outside the fifth of the six new tennis courts . . . "Given to the glory of God and the memory of Orlin B. Stewart . . . Coach . . . Mentor . . . Friend"         Edythe and Jack B. Fellows.  Prior to enrolling at SWBC, I was privileged to go to the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly and we made a side trip to Mt. Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River. Today you can drive to the top and park within a few hundred feet of the tower. But in 1934 you had to travel on a dirt road to the foot of the mountain and physically climb a winding rustic path from the valley to the top.  I had won the challenge to be one of the first to reach the top. As I stood looking down at the three tiny busses, a few cars, and even tinier people, there were several still standing by the bus and I could see climbers at spots all the way down. Some were still climbing, while several small groups were resting at different levels along the trail. A perfect picture of how we react to a challenge.  You can devote every effort to get to the top of your profession or vocation or you can still just be getting off of the bus when it is time to move on. As I was one of the first two to reach the top of Mt. Mitchell, I have often wondered how high in life some of those still standing at the side of the bus have made it with their lives.  Later on that same week, our leaders scheduled a sunrise service on another smaller mountain called Mt. Kitasuma, just off the campus of the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly.  Prior to sunrise, with a small flashlight and a bottle of water, I began the climb that would set a goal that would help to determine my future.  Reaching the top. I stood looking at the changing colors of the sky, I again felt a stirring in my soul and I felt a need to again commit my life to Christian service . . . and at the same time I had the conviction that I would have to prepare for this service in a Christian atmosphere.  Still standing, watching the sun add it's beauty to the mountains, I was not absolutely sure just where I would go to college, but at that time it looked like it would be SWBC; when or how this might happen,  I was not sure, but I pledged to have my doctorate by the time I was 30 years old. I was only 17 at the time . . . 13 years to fulfill my pledge should be just about right.  On May 7, 1948 I received my Doctorate in Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, wearing the same cap and gown I wear today .  . . and on July 22, 1948 I celebrated my 30th birthday. THANK YOU, SBU!"  

  

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	"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always   to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:19-20  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Ninety-Six  The SBU Global Ambassador Award  



	From the Pen of Jack  Shortly after we arrived back on campus and was talking one day with Dr. Taylor, I told him Edythe and I were talking about establishing a   Foundation missions gift that would permit the awarding of up to five or six awards a year He said to go ahead and design it and we will make you and Edythe the first two alumni to receive it.What we designed would use a 12 inch globe on a pedestal, mounted on an attractive   12" X 15" solid walnut rectangle base. Behind the pedestal would be a 1" X 4" brass plate with the following engraved statement: SBU Global Ambassador Awards are made possible by a grant from Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows. Class of 1940. It would have two raised beveled walnut two inch by four inch and on one would be the picture of two hands, one white and the other black, near the front of the walnut base. On the other side would have the same size riser, and engraved on this would be the following:  Dr. Jack and Edythe Fellows  "Missions Is Our Life"  Appointed Our  SBU Global Ambassadors  Dr. C. Pat Taylor  June 5, 2004  We are pleased to have seen 14 Global Awards granted to outstanding SWBC/SBU mission graduates since the first award was made to Edythe and me in 2004. The income from our Endowment will guarantee five or six Global Awards each year. Two or three will be awarded in May, during Student Mission Commission Day, and the others will be awarded during Homecoming each year.  

	

Chapter Ninety-Seven  Short-Term Mission Projects  Southwest Baptist University Missions  



	We thought you might be interested in learning about the short-term mission trips of SBU from 2001 to 2008. It is a real privilege to include the fact that there have been 123 trips in the last eight years. 1,584 students and leaders have served on SBU Mission teams.  We are going to include each of these eight trips and while you may think this is taking a lot of space, we believe it is important for you to see exactly where the Mission   teams have served.  We take deep pride in what our SBU Alma Mater is doing for the Lord Jesus Christ through the student mission programs. We recognize Mr. Kurt Caddy, Director of Missions and Ministries . . . Dianna Gallamore, Director of Missions . . . and Kelly Rehn . . . all three with whom we have been working since we returned to Bolivar and SBU.  We thought you might be interested in learning about the Mission trips of SBU from 2001 to 2008. It is a real privilege to include the fact that there have been 123 trips in the last seven years. 1,584 students and leaders have served on SBU Mission teams.  We are going to include each trip and while you may think this is taking a lot of space, we believe it is important for you to see exactly where the Mission   teams have served.  We take deep pride is what our SBU Alma Mater is doing for the Lord Jesus Christ through the student Missions programs.  There were 193 participants in 2001 that went to the following: Atlanta, Georgia; Balkans; Cambodia; Chicago, Illinois; China; Daytona Beach, Florida; Egypt; Houston, Texas; India; Jamaica; Nepal; Peru; Russia; and South Africa.  There were 176 participants in 2002 that went to the following: Balkans; Chicago, Illinois; China; Egypt; England; Guatemala; Houston, Texas; Nepal; Nicaragua; Oklahoma; Peru; Philadelphia; Pennsylvania; Peru; Russia; and West Africa.  There were 176 participants in 2003 that went to the following: Cambodia; Chicago, Illinois; Egypt; England; France; Guatemala; Houston, Texas; India; Malaysia; Nepal; Nicaragua; Peru; Russia; South Africa; and South Padre, Texas.  There were 204 participants in 2004 that went to the following: Belarus; East Asia; England; Greece; Guatemala; Houston, Texas; India; Nepal; Russia; San Diego/Mexico; Senegal; South Padre, Texas; Springfield, Missouri; and Turkey.  There were 173 participants in 2005 that went to the following: Cambodia; Egypt; Europe; France; Guatemala; Houston, Texas; India; Kansas; Mexico; Morocco; New York; San Diego/Mexico; Senegal; Thailand; and Turkey.  There were 202 participants in 2006 that went to the following: Alaska, Brazil , Canada , Canton, Mississippi, Chile , Dearborn, Michigan, Guatemala , Houston, Texas, India , Panama City, Florida, Philippines , Senegal , Swaziland , Thailand , Turkey and Zambia .  There were 219 participants in 2007 that went to the following: Alaska; Brazil; Canton, Mississippi; Dearborn, Michigan; Egypt; Germany; Guatemala; Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philippines; Russia; Saint Louis, Missouri; Senegal; Swaziland; Thailand; Turkey; Utah; and Vanuatu.  Schedule for 2008 includes 241 participants going to: Brazil, Detroit, Michigan, East Africa, East Asia, Eastern Turkey, El Salvador, Guatemala, Houston, Texas, Miami, Florida, Middle East, New York City, New York, Peru, Philippines, Salt Lake City, Utah, Thailand, Tucson, Arizona, Zambia  The bottom line we want to leave with you, is that we have been told that probably this many more would have gone . . . IF they had the money.  Our prayer is that your "The Gift Will Never Die" will make this possible . . . until the end of time! Read about it beginning on the next page.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter Ninety-Eight  SBU Missions Goes to the Local Community  



	Program Presented to the Bolivar Rotary Club  March 31, 2008  Presented by Diana Gallamore, Director of SBU Missions  Good evening.  Thank you for the opportunity for me to come tonight to share about the Southwest Baptist University Missions Department.  For many years, SBU has been involved in a strategic program for the purpose of equipping and training students in the area of missions.  In 2005, SBU Missions celebrated 25 years of having a formal program directed to involving students in missions all around the world.  Missions have been a part of the campus since its early years, but in 1980 the University Missions program began, and in 25 years it has grown significantly.  As a campus, SBU's mission or purpose statement states:  Southwest Baptist University is a Christ-centered, caring academic community preparing students to be servant-leaders in a global society.  Our missions department takes this statement seriously and we feel we are an integral part of carrying out the SBU statement as we involve our students in missions.  What better way to display a Christ-centered focus, and show compassion to the world, and equip students to be servant leaders, as well as educate them culturally and expose them to life outside their own communities, than for them to take a short-term mission?  Often, when we speak of a mission team, we automatically think of a group of individuals going to assist a church, or agency, or individuals and building a facility or remodeling a building.  Those types of missions are impacting and often a blessing to those on the field, as well as those who have served.  We had a group of students that were organized last year and assisted in cleanup after the ice storm.  Those are types of ministries that can come together quickly and make a major impact on the community they serve.  Yet, University Missions offers many other types of opportunities for its students, literally carrying out groundbreaking ministry in some areas on the mission field.  We have contacts who are using our teams to come in and do ethnographic research, which is starting from the very beginnings of discovering who lives in remote locations, assessing their physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs, and then strategizing with those on the field as to how to meet those needs in the future.  We have teams who are mountain biking/trekking through the mountains of Asia to drop off literature or radios to individuals who may never hear the gospel.  We have teams who are serving the homeless, and the orphanages of the world; while others are connecting with their own generation in internet café's and malls, striving to meet them on a personal level and minister to their needs.  Let me take this opportunity to share with you some of the areas where we are sending students, some of the numbers of teams, as well as the number of individuals who have gone on mission.  Since the year 2000 and by the completion of this year, 2008, we will have mobilized 1,584 staff, students, and others to be a part of a short-term mission, which can be from one to four weeks. These individuals have served in 123 cities and countries in an 8 year time span.  Just this year alone, 240 students will raise almost $450,000 to travel to 17 different locations.  These areas are places like India, Zambia, Brazil, Guatemala, Thailand, the Philippines, East Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Nepal, yet are also within our own country, traveling to the inner city of Houston and Miami, working with Haitian and Hispanic churches/communities, ministering in major cities like Detroit, and Tucson, AZ, as well as working with different people groups in New York City, a city that is now 60-65% foreign or the children of foreign born individuals.  One key area of the world SBU desires to focus upon is what we call the "10/40 window". This is the area of the world between latitudes 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere, covering North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.  This area contains most of the world's areas of greatest physical and spiritual needs, most of the world's least reached peoples and most of the governments that oppose Christianity. It contains two-thirds of the world's population. And more than 95% of the world's unreached people.  It is the area outlining the heartlands of the major non-Christian religions of the world; Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Taoism. This area contains approximately 80% of the poorest of the world's poor, with humanity's lowest standards of living. These areas are often the most difficult areas to get into and serve . . . these areas are not always the safest areas, yet the need is great.  We take safety/security of our students seriously, but we are also on the cutting edge of missions in the world.  Teams minister for many different purposes, but all for sharing the truth of the gospel to those who are open.  Various platforms exist for the teams to minister.  For example, in the Philippines , team members are invited into college classrooms to teach English, while in Cambodia , they may teach health/hygiene to elementary schools.  In some of the Africa nations, our teams may work alongside those who have been affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Just this past December, students traveled to East Asia over Christmas, (not just their Christmas break), but gave up spending time over Christmas to engage with their peers in Asia to share the true meaning of Christmas.  What an amazing opportunity and experience they had . . . taking a key season and giving of themselves and impacting a different cultural for Christ.  Working on a college campus, I continue to be excited when I observe this generation.  College students want to make a difference.  They are eager to explore this world and impact people in a positive way.  They are willing to give of themselves and their time to touch the lives of many.  They want to be a part of something worthwhile and something that makes a difference.  This is a key time in their life for them to be involved and travel, prior to their graduating and getting into the work force.  We desire to give them that opportunity. Being involved with these teams, we see the difference the teams are making with the people they work alongside.  A definite impact is being made on the mission field.  Some might say the cost of the individuals to go for such a short time is too costly . . . yet that depends on how you view it and from whose eyes you see it.  We had a team recently in the Philippines, and we worked with a contact there in the villages and schools and his statement to our team was this: "The work your team has accomplished in two weeks would have taken me more than a year to have completed . . . and you have just given me six more months of follow-up to carry out.  And, quite honestly, I probably would not have made these contacts, because a Short-term Mission tends to draw attention and draws people to the team when they are not always drawn naturally to those living on the field.  Recently, the North American Mission Board, recognized the impact that SBU Missions is making.  Our department has received an award for the past two years now that recognizes our college Mission's Department as being #1 in the nation for sending student missionaries . . . this is just in North America alone . . . to cities like San Diego, inner-city Chicago, New Orleans and Mississippi during the tragedies that struck there; yet even local areas, such as Springfield, and St. Louis.  To be really honest, this was an award that came easily . . . because we have students who want to serve and make a difference.  This is simply recognition that they are responding and doing it well, and we are giving them the mode operation to do so.  Students are also drawn to SBU due to their opportunity to serve with a University Mission while here on campus.  Another thing that sets our campus apart from other campuses and agencies, is the requirements we have for the mission itself.  Students must go through an interview process for the mission they are interested in, be willing to raise their own support for the mission, and then be willing to train for 13 weeks prior to departing for the mission.  Our teams serve during December/January breaks, spring break for one week, and then during the summer.  Prior to the students going, they meet with their team leader and team to prepare for their mission.  Not just logistically preparing, although they may need to prepare for their particular ministry of teaching, or serving . . . but also to build team community, to become culturally aware, and to grow   spiritually.  Due to this training and mission, we get to see the impact of the students personally.  We see students deal with difficult issues in their lives; we get to see the growth and maturity that comes in giving of themselves, rather than always thinking of themselves.  We watch as students become the servant leaders that SBU desires to shape.  We watch students raise their own support and overcome the fear that often holds them back from even going on mission.  Often students who are a part of missions, also become more interested in their communities, their jobs and the people they must relate to in their lives.  University Missions also has a vision to impact the future.  Key areas we desire to serve: We want to continue building upon the solid program that exists, and continue to increase our locations, our number of teams, our number of participants, as well as maintain the partnerships we have already established.  We have a desire to become a Regional Training Center for Short-term Missions, to help serve existing churches, agencies, and individuals, training them in the task of global evangelism.  We are currently working on the establishment of an Endowment of

 Missions program that will assist in providing resources for these purposes; such as providing for vision/discovery trips, taking care of ongoing operating expenses, and training excellent teams, as well as provide scholarships for students who desire to be a part of a mission.  We would love to see our campus integrate missions into every department on campus.  We have a vision to see each field of study use their specific areas to serve as platforms to share the gospel globally.  Often, the perception, that someone must be a pastor or a minister to go on a mission . . . but any skill that an individual has, can be used on the mission field.  Computer skills are needed; medical expertise is a great need; teachers, carpenters, farmers ( Cambodia ), well-drillers! (team to El Salvador this spring . . . all can be used on the mission field.  Who can go on mission?  Obviously, our first desire is for our SBU students and sometimes our team numbers are limited on how many can go on mission.  Yet, other times, we have availability for others to be a part of these mission opportunities.  People in our community are invited to serve alongside, and possibly lead an SBU mission.  As you can tell, we are excited about what is happening in the University Missions Department at SBU and I am grateful to Dr. Fellows for having asked me to tell you about our missions program. We are also very grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Fellows for their concerns and support and the leadership they are giving in this much needed expansion of our missions Endowment.  You will read about their concept of the "The Gift That Will Never Die." beginning on the next page.  

	

Chapter Ninety-Nine  "The Gift That Will Never Die"  



	Edythe and Dr. Jack Fellows, SWBC (SBU) Class of 1940  Out of our devotions and prayer life has come what we hope will be a challenge to individuals, churches, businesses, and organizations, in our capacity as two of the volunteer planners and expediters of the SBU Endowment for Missions campaign.  It is really only a simple, yet soul-stirring, question: "How would you like for your name . . . your church . . . your organization,   your business . . . to still be recognized 100 years from now . . . even   for 500 years?"  Actually, it could just as easily be asked as if you would like to have it remembered for all eternity.  We call it "The Gift That Will Never Die" and here is how it works:  If you give $1,000,000.00 to the SBU Endowment for Missions Fund, it will bear your name, or the name of your church . . . organization . . . or business, and it will be invested in perpetuity.  Based on the SBU Endowment spending policy, the annual income for the Missions and Ministries Department of SBU would be $50,000.00. This would provide assistance for a student to elect to be a participant in one or more of the short-term mission projects at home or abroad.  It is also possible for an student wishing to becoming involved in the  SBU Intercultural Studies (ICS)and needing financial assistance to provide all or part of the $6,000.00 needed for the semester abroad in their senior year at SBU.  A student enrolled in the Nursing (ASN) and Intercultural Studies (ICS) at the St. John's College of Nursing –  Southwest Baptist University, might also secure a scholarship to spend the summer and fall semester with a church medical mission project . . . even something like the internationally recognized Doctors with Borders program  We believe "The Gift That Will Never Die" concept is a gift from God!  In addition to scholarships for students, the Foundation might grow to the point a new Professorship might be endowed . . . a new Missions program might be added to the curriculum . . . who knows how God might lead!  With the above gift, this means that of SBU students wanting to go on one of the SBU Mission trips, but lacking the funds, 50 students could apply for $1,000.00 each . . . or 100 could apply for $500.00 . . . or 200 could apply for   $250.00 . . . each scholarship would be designated as coming from the donor of this Endowment Fund . . . that could be yours.  Over the span of 20 years, $1,000,000.00 would have come to SBU for student scholarships . . . matching your original $1,000,000.00 "Gift That Will Never Die" . . . and during the passing of 100 years; $5,000,000.00 would have been made available for SBU students . . . or possibly by this time enough income might have come in that students would no longer have to depend on family and friends to make a SBU mission trip possible, but simply apply for a SBU Global Missions Scholarship from your "Gift that Will Never Die" in the SBU Endowment for Missions Fund.  You say you cannot give a million dollars, but you . . . your church . . . your organization . . . your business . . . can make a contribution of a half million . . . This will generate $25,000.00 s year . . . $1,000.00 each for 25 students . . . $500.00 for 50 . . . $250.00 for a hundred students, etc.  Cut that figure down to $100,000.00. This will mean that the gain will provide five scholarships of $1,000.00 . . . $500.00 for 10 students . . . $250.00 for 20 students, and you will still be recognized 100 years from now . . . even a 1000 years into the future, you . . . your church . . . organization . . . or business will be   known as a supporter of "The Gift That Will Never Die" at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, USA!  Let's take a look as some other figures . . . the earnings from a gift of $50,000.00 would mean that 5 students might apply for $500.00 each or 10 will each receive $250.00 . . . 100 SBU students could receive $25.00 each that would help them join the ranks of students who take the Great Commission seriously.  $25,000.00 gifts will provide $1,250.00 for mission causes each year forever, if wisely invested. $10,000.00 would produce $500.00 a year . . . five would get $100.00 or 10 would receive $50.00. From a gift of $10,000.00, five would receive $1,000; 10 would add $500.00 to their trip cost . . . . . on and on and on . . . forever!  Yes, a yield of $50.00 a year, from a gift of $1,000.00, will mean two students can receive $25.00 each . . . and you can carry the multiplication of the gift of $1,000.00 as we have done before, so that after 10 years, your Endowment of SBU Missions income will have matched the $1,000.00 you originally contributed   . . . just on a smaller scale. "The Gift That Will Never Die" will continue to help SBU students take that step out into the world to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. With this Endowment for Missions program, no student would ever be left behind at the airport, as his classmates get on the plane. Wisely invested you will join others in an ongoing program wherein "The Gift Will Never Die" and students will continue to serve through SBU Missions. However, there are two more SBU mission programs we want to share with you. One is called the "Intercultural Services" program that takes a student to a one semester assignment to serve in another culture or country.  SBU Student Teams in the ICS Program that Follows  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  INTERCULTURAL STUDIES SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY  Southwest Baptist University offers the Intercultural Studies B.A. degree program (ICS) and has pioneered in offering a six-month semester abroad field experience.  This degree purposes to prepare students intentionally for a cross-cultural ministry.  These symbols illustrate the preparation process: 	     Bible & Theology                   Discipleship                   Skills                       Cross-cultural Ministry  At the very minimum, ICS majors will:  Ø      Become servant leaders, knowing who they are and how to serve others instead of themselves,  Ø      Appreciate and adapt to cultures different from their own,  Ø      Learn in the context of relationships to speak a foreign language,  Ø      Read from the history, strategies, mistakes, and successes of previous cross-cultural workers,  Ø      Study the worldviews of the major world religions,  Ø      Communicate the gospel cross-culturally, especially in story form,  Ø      Research a people group and develop an evangelism strategy for that group,  Ø      Develop a secular or market skill as a platform for cross-cultural ministry.  The motivation and passion of the ICS major is that the nations would worship and serve God through Jesus Christ.  This major is only for those serious about servant-hood and cross-cultural ministry.  Our ICS graduates will assume roles in at least four areas of professional service:  ü      Appointment with sending agencies as cross-cultural evangelists, disciplers, translators, etc.  ü      Secular international platforms, such as, ESL teachers, community development advocates, education consultants, sports directors, business leaders, etc.,  ü      Cross-cultural ministers among North America's ethnic communities or urban poor,  ü      Church staff and college ministries which train and mobilize others to serve cross-culturally. ICS DEGREE REQUIREMENTS  In addition to courses required for General Education and SBU Graduation, the ICS major offers three groups of courses:  1.  The INTERCULTURAL STUDIES CORE (32 credit hours) emphasizes cultural understanding, personal growth, cross-cultural communication, and theological truth.  ·         ICS 2013 Cultural and Global Awareness  ·         BIB 2093 Method of Biblical Interpretation  ·         ICS 2911 Cross-cultural Service Project  ·         ICS 3033 World Christian Foundations  ·         PHI 4023 World Religions  ·         ICS 3073 Storying and Discipling  ·         ICS 3043 Spiritual Prep for Service  ·         ICS 4121 International Platforms  ·         Elective from Bible or Phil. of Religion  ·         Christian Doctrine or Church History  ·         Elective from ICS, Bible, Philosophy or Theology  ·          ICS 3053 Survival Abroad  2.     The SEMESTER ABROAD (16 credit hours) immerses the student in language, culture, cross-cultural service and research projects. The Semester Abroad is six months (June to December) and will occur in the student's senior year.  Cost for this incredible experience is about $5,200 plus the regular SBU tuition. Students must take a good laptop computer.  If the ICS student is married, spouse and family must participate in this overseas experience as well.  3.        ·         ICS 2118 Barefoot Language Learning places the student in a month-long homestay with a national family, where he/ she learns language and culture within these social relationships.  ·         ICS 2911 Cross-Cultural Service Project and ICS 4982 Apprenticeship Practicum engages the student in projects such as ESL or sports under the direction of a career cross-cultural worker.  ·         ICS 4082 Ethnography and Strategy will lead the student to research a people group.  ·         BIB 4063 Intercultural Theologizing examines how cultures interpret the Bible differently.  3.  The MARKET SKILL PLATFORM (at least 15 credit hours) equips the student with a secular market skill.  Having such a skill may help the student enter a restrictive country, and having such a skill will always be useful in cross-cultural service.  The least-intensive Platforms (requiring as little as 15 credit hours) are: Business Management, Computer Science, Education, English as a Second Language, Health Care, Sports Management, Social Work, and a Customized Platform.  However what is most recommended is that the student

 take a second Major or a Minor in some discipline outside Theology and Ministry (such as Art, Music, Education, Biology, Theater, Sociology, Communication, Business), which then satisfies this Market Skill requirement.  FACULTY:   The ICS major is part of the Redford College of Theology and Ministry, which has a reputation for excellent academics and conservative theology.  Dr. Rodney Reeves is the Dean.  Dr. Jim Frost and Dr. Kelly Malone are the ICS faculty.  ICS majors will also have courses with other Redford College faculty as well as with the University faculty.  Two-week classes are also offered with experienced adjunct faculty, such as, "Islamic Studies", "Children of the World at Risk", and "Global Health."  Students have  opportunity to build relationships outside of class with faculty through the Fall ICS Retreat and various fellowships.  MINOR IN INTERCULTURAL STUDIES (22 credits)  Students, interested in cross-cultural ministry but who major in another academic discipline, may still complete a Minor in Intercultural Studies.  The Minor includes most of the ICS Core but does not include the six month Semester Abroad.  ·         ICS 2013 Cultural and Global Awareness  ·         BIB 2093 Methods of Biblical Interpretation  ·         ICS 2911 Cross-cultural Service Project ICS  ·         3033 World Christian Foundations  ·         PHI 4023 World Religions  ·         ICS 3073 Storying and Discipling Cross-culturally  ·         Two electives from Bible, Theology, Philosophy or Intercultural Studies.  See www.sbuniv.edu/ics for other ICS information, including student overseas journals.  For enrollment or information, contact Admissions, Southwest Baptist University, 1600 University, Bolivar, MO 65613, at 1-800-526-5859, www.SBUniv.edu , or email admitme@SBUniv.edu.  Southwest Baptist University is a Christ-centered, caring academic community preparing students to be servant leaders in a global society.  

  

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  EXPLANATION TO FIELD SUPERVISORS SIX MONTH SEMESTER ABROAD  INTERCULTURAL STUDIES SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY  2-08  This Explanation is for field supervisors around the world who will mentor and work with our Intercultural Studies majors in their six-month Semester Abroad.  This document explains the program and the field supervisor's responsibilities. It is written for security-sensitive areas. The document is continually in process, and the newest revisions are in bold.  THANK YOU, field supervisors, for your willingness to mentor our students.  Your investment will contribute to the Kingdom for many years.  -Dr. Jim Frost, Faculty Director of SBU Intercultural Studies Six Month Semester Abroad  A. SUMMARY OF THE SBU INTERCULTURAL STUDIES PROGRAM.  Our research for this program included interviewing perhaps 200 cross-cultural workers around the world and asking,  "If you could create an Intercultural Studies program for a B.A. degree, what would it look like?"  Their unanimous first response was, "Get them over there for a long period of time, at least six months."  Others said that the students needed some secular market skill.  Others emphasized strong theology, practical discipleship, and learning the language.  The program we offer is summarized this way:  At the very minimum, ICS majors will:  Ø        Become servant leaders, knowing who they are and how to serve others instead of themselves,  Ø        Appreciate and adapt to cultures different from their own,  Ø        Learn in the context of relationships to speak a foreign language,  Ø        Read the history, strategies, mistakes, and successes of previous cross-cultural workers,  Ø        Study the worldviews of the major world religions,  Ø        Communicate the gospel cross-culturally, especially in story form,  Ø        Research a people group and develop a reaching strategy for that group,  Ø        Develop a secular or market skill as a platform for cross-cultural ministry.  The motivation and passion of the ICS major is that the nations would  worship and serve God  and Jesus Christ. This major is only for those serious about servant-hood and cross-cultural ministry.  Students will do their six month Semester Abroad during their senior year and will have completed these ICS Core courses:  Cultural and Global Awareness, Methods of Bible Interpretations, an international service project, World Cultural Foundations, World Religions, Storying and Discipling or Indigenous Cultural   Fellowship, Spiritual Preparation for Cross-Cultural Service, Survival Abroad, International Platforms, and three (3) electives from Bible, Theology or ICS.  Our students also complete courses in a secular Market Skill Platform, such as ESL, social work, health care, art, music, computer science, etc.  Most of our students double major or at least minor in one of these disciplines in addition to their Intercultural Studies major.  Hopefully they will be able to utilize their platform skills in their six months abroad.  The third group of courses is the SIX MONTHS Semester Abroad (16 credits).  This includes: (1) Barefoot Language Learning (8 credits) in which the student lives with a national family or at least is totally immersed in culture for one month.  During these four weeks, the student takes language classes if possible and emphasizes conversation within social relationships and more.  (2) Apprenticeship Practicum (3 credits) will place the student in a practical service project for five months under the direction of a career cross-cultural worker [more below].  (3) Ethnography and Strategy (2 credits) will lead the student to research a people group and develop a theoretical plan how to evaluate that people [more below].  (4) Intercultural Theologizing (3 credits) emphasizes how cultures interpret the Bible differently and how we westerners can learn from their insight [more below].  B.  SIX MONTH SEMESTER ABROAD SPECIFICS.  The Semester Abroad is six months (usually June to December) and will occur in the student's senior year.  For this incredible cross-cultural experience, the student will pay (or raise funds) according to the budget below.  If the ICS student is married, spouse and family must participate in this overseas, life-changing field experience together.  Some students may complete their Semester Abroad through an IMB program called Hands On.  However field supervisors must approve the full six months on the field and be aware of the additional language and academic requirements which are not parts of Hands On.  The student is responsible for any additional costs for these components.  Every student will be partnered with at least one other ICS student of the same gender or with his/her spouse.  This team will negotiate their overseas location with their preferred sending agency [usually IMB] and with the Faculty Director of the Semester Abroad program.  The proposed field supervisor must agree to the requirements in this Explanation document and give confirmation to the Faculty Director.  In the months before arrival, the student team and field supervisor will hopefully communicate often.  Cultural immersion usually lowers the amount of money needed by our students.  We want our students to IDENTIFY WITH THE PEOPLE BY LIVING AMONG THE PEOPLE AND EATING LOCAL FOOD EVERY DAY.  This increases immensely their building of relationships with the people. Notice in the budget below the distinction between Stateside costs and Field costs.  Since the student partners will live together after their home-stay, the lodging allotment will be twice the amount below.  Airfare                                                       $       1,700  Immunizations                                                      200  Security Training                                                            220  Emergency Fund or Possible Midterm Meeting   200  Travel Insurance                                                   340  Total for STATESIDE COSTS                                   2,660  Visas                                                                       200  Lodging (for each team member)                      1,200  ($200 per month)  Local Transportation                                           200  Food (local diet)                                                     900  ($5 per day)  Language Teacher                                                          500  Extra                                                                               340  Plus Extra if Destination requires it, (such as  extra immunizations, food, and lodging)               _______  Total for FIELD COSTS                                           $ 3,340+  Therefore each student's cost is $6,000.  These funds will be deposited into the University ICS account from which Stateside expenses will be paid, and then the remaining funds will be dispersed to each student for field costs.  The full $6,000 is the responsibility of each student regardless how much his/her actual expenses are on the field.  The students in a Hands On program will have modified total costs.  Field costs for visas, lodging, food, etc. will be paid directly by the student who must then keep receipts and expenditure records in order to reconcile financially with University accounting.  It must be remembered that this money technically belongs to the University, and it must be accounted for according to tax-deductible laws.  In most destinations, each student should have a debit card which can access his/her stateside bank account from an ATM machine on the field.  Emergency funds can be deposited into this account if necessary.  Each student will receive B+ security training by Fort Sherman Academy, which is similar to the training given to most IMB career personnel.  C. BAREFOOT LANGUAGE LEARNING (ICS 2118).  The emphasis is conversation in social relationships.  This methodology was popularized by Don Larson in Guidelines for Barefoot Language Learning and Drs. Brewster in LANGUAGE ACQUISITION MADE PRACTICAL (LAMP).  Soon after our students arrive, they will live (perhaps separately) with a national family, or perhaps with university students for at least four weeks.  They will also take language classes during these weeks. Optional language study might include a language school, language tutor, university class, etc.  These initial weeks are for immersion in learning of language and culture and should be among the people where they'll work for the remaining five months.  The home stay will hopefully be an experience of bonding with the culture at its most potential moment.  So the student needs to be engaged with the family, not just living in the home.  Perhaps there will need to be an initial orientation time, but the goal is for the students not to be with expatriates.  Field supervisors, please help the student enter this phase with humor and fun!  The first goal for them is to build relationships with the target people while immersed in their culture.  If the host family/student speaks English, hopefully most of their communication will be in the local language. Students are discouraged from speaking English or even hearing English CD's during these weeks [though some situations will demand their using English some].  Students should call home within the first three days, but for the month of immersion, there should be minimal contact with home [a weekly phone call and a weekly email]. The one exception is their daily journaling in English.  The goal of these early weeks is radical language and culture immersion.  During these four weeks, the student should spend 3+ hours in language class daily and then 3+ hours with multiple people practicing what was learned in class.  Sometimes it is best for the language teacher to have academic credentials, but often the best tutors will have no training yet lots of

 patience.  At least 120 hours will be given to language learning in this first month, that is, 6+ hours each day for 20 days.  [Normally 100 hours of instruction are required for 8 credit units.]  The language to be learned should be the heart language of the target group, rather than a trade language or second language. The ideal learning is not only to learn vocabulary and grammar, but also to acquire the accent and intonation of a native speaker.  Bad habits and accents learned early can be almost impossible to correct later.  Thus learning language from social relations is the means for "speaking like a native."  Students should NOT stay as guests in the home of a family for the full six months.  To be roommates with other college students might be OK, but to be continually a guest in someone else's home for six months has proven to be difficult.  When students have their own apartment or quarters, they are also able to have guests and develop more impacting relationships.  Supervisors of course need to help with these lodging arrangements.  Concerning corporate worship, students are encouraged to participate in native language services or English services or both.  Each student will have funds to pay for initial language classes and for the home stay.  It is also recommended that students have occasional language lessons after the initial home stay month, depending on the student's funds.  In the 2ndor 3rd month, the language instructor should give the student a MIDTERM LANGUAGE EVALUATION.  In the final month, there should be a FINAL LANGUAGE EVALUATION.  These evaluations should correspond to the competency levels of the K-Post Topics And Skills For Evaluating Student Achievement.  The first four levels are described below.  However, the language instructor should NOT teach only these evaluated topics.  A student's ability to discuss these topics should be representative of their ability to discuss other similar topics as well.  Level One:  Simple greetings and social exchanges  Telling about yourself in simple statements  Telling about your immediate family in simple statements  Describing common things around you and persons you see or  meet  Exchanging information with nationals about your and their  family  Talking about common forms of transportation in your  community  Talking about common foods, meals, snacks, and items to  purchase in your community  Able to give a simple testimony about who you are in Christ  Level Two:  Talking about what friends talk about when they get together  Talking about what believers talk about when they get together  Talking about cities and regions of your host community  Talking about how friends talk and act like they are family  Talking about how relatives take care of each other in your  community  Talking about what it takes to hire and have a house girl/boy  Able to bargain for simple everyday food and other common  items in the markets  Able to talk a little bit about why you are in their community and what you hope to do  Level Three:  Talking about what role status plays in your community  Talking about how time is thought about and applied in  scheduling---being on time, etc  Talking about what it takes to be a good neighbor in your \  community  Talking about how a foreigner who is a   "believer" is received in  your community  Talking about the religions in your community and a bit of their  history  Talking about what is the normal family grouping and system in  your community  Talking about colors and symbols in your community or country  Talking about appropriate times and reasons to give and receive  gifts in your community  Talking about children and discipline in the home---when do they  start school, etc ?  Talking about how birthdays, funerals, and other life passages are  celebrated or dealt with there  Talking about what are good manners at the table or when eating  out and ordering/paying for food  Talking about hospitality and greeting visitors in the home  Talking about how to classify and deal with new acquaintances  Talking about persons vocations and occupations and their titles  Level Four:  Talking about how a smile or frown are perceived by a local  Talking about appropriate and inappropriate ways to display  anger or dissatisfaction  Talking about what are the values for locals to help them "get  ahead" in life  Talking about in more detail what you are doing in their  community  Talking about the current economic or political situation in your  country in an appropriate way  Talking about how locals spend their "free" or vacation time  Talking about the socially and culturally acceptable ways to say  "no" or to refuse to do something   GRADING: A student's failure to master language proficiency equal to Level One earns the grade of "D" or "F."  To master fully language competency equal to Level One earns the grade of "C."    To master language competency equal to Level Two earns the grade of "B."  To master language competency equal to Level Three earns the grade of "A."  If the language is considered particularly more difficult than other languages, grading will be proportional and will include the student's continued efforts.  It is understood that these language proficiencies for only six months are somewhat higher than are expected by other cross-cultural programs.  D. APPRENTICESHIP SUPERVISION AND SERVICE PROJECT  (ICS 4982 and ICS 2911).  After the initial home stay and language-immersion month, the student begins a practical service project under the direction of a career cross-cultural field supervisor.  Possible service projects are as varied as local needs allow.  The service project should be discussed and determined in the initial choosing of a location and supervisor. These might include recreation/sports, ESL, health care, internet café, business, community development, women's groups, education, etc., and hopefully will consider the student's training in his/her platform courses.  The supervisor is asked to mentor the student and to meet with the student weekly.  Hopefully the student will learn by seeing ministry modeled and by participating in what the mentor is actually overseeing.  Supervisors should not assign these students to pioneer new ministries without directly overseeing and even participating in that work.  The supervisor's involvement is crucially needed.  The student is expected to learn the history and culture of the people and to tell the good news in appropriate ways, and the supervisor is encouraged to help in this learning.  [If the requesting supervisor simply cannot give direct supervision, it is far better that we place the student somewhere else.]  It is imperative for students to have actual service projects, rather than just loosely building relations and hanging out with locals.  Service projects give structure and legitimacy for building relationships and learning language. They also keep students occupied and active, rather than bored and homesick.  Supervisors are encouraged to deal with the student's character development.  Students need correction and encouragement in terms of servant hood, humility, flexibility, willingness to learn, and cultural sensitivity.  Supervisors must also be aware that the student will have ongoing reading and academic work with the University.  Probably a good goal for a service project would be 10-20 hours weekly (including preparation time).  Remaining time will allow the student time for academic responsibilities.  E. ETHNOGRAPHY AND STRATEGY COURSE (ICS 4082).  The student will research a people group and develop a theoretical plan concerning how to view that people based on their culture and worldview.  The field supervisor should give direction concerning what people group should be researched, which hopefully will aid the supervisor and aid the student in reaching out to this people.  The target group might be a smaller sociological segment of the larger group.  Significant to ethnography is a study and understanding of the society's culture and worldview.  Exploring the Land by Shane Bennett and Kim Felder (Caleb Project, 1995) is the student's guide for observing the culture and drawing conclusions concerning the culture's worldview.  The end objective is to write a formal research paper and project a strategy to reach that people group.  This paper is due at the end of the six months, and a copy of this paper will, of course, be given to the supervisor.  Because of the student's limited knowledge of the language, it would be helpful to have a translator for some of the interviews in order really to understand what are the peoples' cultural ways and feelings.  It would be helpful if the supervisor could help in securing a translator for these interviews.  F. INTERCULTURAL THEOLOGIZING.  Dr. Kelly Malone is the professor of this course, which is to help the student become aware that different cultures interpret our Book in different ways and in fact to learn from those interpretations. The field supervisor is not officially involved with this course, but is welcome to assist with the field research and add to the student's understanding.  Some reading is required while on the field.  G.  POSSIBLE EVALUATION FORM.  At midterm and at the conclusion of six months, the Field Supervisor evaluates each student.  This form may assist.  Name of Student;    Name of Supervisor;    Midterm or Final Evaluation.  Comment, at least briefly, concerning the student in these categories:  1.    Servant hood and humility  2.    Flexibility and willingness to learn  3.    Cultural sensitivity (dress, food, customs, security, etc.)  4.    Language learning  5.    Relationships with nationals  6.    Ability and effort to share the gospel cross-culturally  7.    Relationships with expatriate colleagues  8.    Are there problems and concerns about the student?  9.  

   What more should this student have known before arriving?  10.                       Other concerns about the student or the program?  For further information:   Dr. Jim Frost, Professor of Intercultural Studies and Director of Semester Abroad program, jfrost@sbuniv.edu, Southwest Baptist University, 1600 University, Bolivar, MO 65613, phone 417.328.1763.   The ICS website is www.sbuniv.edu/ics and contains student journal updates from their Semester Abroad.  FIELD SUPERVISORS SIGN-OFF  Because this overseas program is part of our ICS students' academic work (16 credit hours) and because the student's success is highly dependent on his/her field supervisor, we must have assurance from each supervisor that this document has been fully read and that the supervisor understands and agrees to accomplish the mentoring tasks described herein.  Please email this statement to Jim Frost   jfrost@sbuniv.edu.  THANK YOU!  I ___________ have carefully read and understand this Explanation Paper, and I accept the mentoring responsibilities of a field supervisor for ___________ and ____________.  And if, after agreeing to serve as the student's supervisor, you leave the field or cannot fulfill this task, please contact the student and the sending agency to report that the student must be assigned another supervisor.  Summary of Specific Tasks Needed from Field Supervisors:  1.    Email a statement to Jim Frost   jfrost@sbuniv.edu that you have fully read this Explanation paper and that you will accomplish your task of mentoring the students assigned to you.  We cannot send our students to work under you without this assurance from you.  2.    If you are with the IMB, complete paperwork for the IMB project number.  3.    February - May.  Communicate through emails with your students concerning yourself, the proposed service project (ESL, etc), your unique location, visas, dates, and immunizations.  Please be involved in helping prepare the student for coming to your people and to your world.  4.    March- April.  Secure home stays and language teacher/ tutor for the student's month of intensive language learning.  Communicate with family and teacher concerning the program goals.  5.    May or June.  Arrange to meet student at airport, to give necessary orientation, and to locate student in home stay. Check on the student and family occasionally during the home stay to make sure all is OK.  6.    After Home-stay.  Supervisor needs to assist the students' move into appropriate apartment/ dorm/ house for 5 months together.  Students begin individual or combined service project under direction of field supervisor.  7.    July- December.  Mentor student weekly to evaluate and plan student's continuing service project, culture experience, and character development.  Please email me (jfrost@sbuniv.edu) if there are any problems.  8.    Early September.  Complete a mid-term evaluation of the student's work, attitude and relationships.  9.    September - November.  Help the student to research a particular people group.  Give aid as is needed, but do not do the research for the student.  10.           At student's departure, four evaluations are requested:  a.    Final Evaluation from the Language Teacher (with a grade of A, B, C, D, F).  The Field Supervisor can also comment on the ability of the student in learning the language.  b.   Evaluation Report from Field Supervisor concerning the student's Ethnography and Strategy research, the student's diligence in this effort, and the practical helpfulness of the student's final report.  The student must give a copy of the report to the Field Supervisor as well  as the Director of Semester Abroad.  c.     Final Report from Field Supervisor concerning the student's Service Project and Apprenticeship.  This will measure how the student performed service and also includes the student's character qualities of servant hood, humility, flexibility, willingness to learn, and cultural sensitivity (See above form)  d.   A brief evaluation of the SBU Semester Abroad program from the Field Supervisor concerning its effectiveness and how it can be improved.  

  

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  The Challenge that Faces SBU  INTERCULTURAL STUDIES (ICS)  

  

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  We continue to be amazed at the concept of missions that is incorporated in the life of Southwest Baptist University. Having worked with the Department of Missions and Ministries and the Intercultural Studies section of SBU missions has provided a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the number of SBU students accepting the call of the Lord Jesus Christ to follow Him to the ends of the earth. On Wednesday, April 2, 2008 in a meeting with Dean Jennifer Wilson of the St. John's/SBU College of Nursing and Health Services, we learned about a program providing training to a total of 588 students preparing to become a nurse. This is a joint effort of the Springfield St. John's Hospital and Southwest Baptist University and we have included information concerning this program in the following pages.  

  

Chapter One Hundred



	ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE OF NURSING (ASN)  SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY (ISC)  ASSOCIATE OF NURSING  APPLICATION PROCESS CHECKLIST  For SBU admission ‑ Required of all applicants‑  Step 1. Attend information meeting/meet with admissions.  Step 2. Complete SBU‑Springfield application ($30).  Step 3. Request official* transcripts be sent from all colleges/universities attended; High School or GED transcript needed if less than 30 hours of college credit have been completed.  *Note: Official transcripts must be sent directly from the school to the admissions office. Transcripts that are faxed or hand‑carried will not be accepted.  Step 4. Verify receipt of application and transcripts with the admissions office.  Step 5. Meet with academic advisor (for course plan/registration).  For ASN admission consideration ‑ In addition to steps 1‑5  Step 6. Complete ASN application (no fee).  Step 7. Complete HESI admission test (fee) with acceptable scores.  Deadlines:  In order for your application to the ASN nursing program to be  considered, your file must be complete by the deadline date:  Fall (August) ‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑ January 30 of same year  Spring (January) ‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑ August 15 of previous year  Names and information to remember:  kcampbell@sbuniv.edu  Laurel Becker, Admissions Assistant, 417‑820‑5032  lbecker@sbuniv.edu  Lee Weeks, Students Services/Financial Aid, 417‑820‑5047  lweeks@sbuniv.edu  REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE  COLLEGE OF NURSING (ASN):  College of Nursing Requirements  Ø                 All applicants must have a minimum GPA of 2.5, a grade of "C" or better in all required courses (see list below), and an ACT score of 22 composite with a score of 24 in science reasoning, and 22 in math.  Ø                 If ACT math/science scores not met, or high school math/science courses not recent, the foundational courses below will be recommended:  • MAT 0123 Intermediate Algebra  • BIO 1004 General Biology  Ø                 Prerequisite courses to be completed or in progress by time of application:  ·  BIO 2204 Anatomy & Physiology 1 (5 years)  ·  BIO 3304 Anatomy &.Physiology 11 (5 years)  ·  CHE 1104 Chemistry  List of required general education courses for the ASN Pro‑gram:  Courses can be completed before or during the ASN program.  Must have "C" or better in these courses when you apply.  PSY 1013 General Psychology  ENG 1113 English Composition I  PSY 3063 Human Growth & Development  BIB 1013 Old Testament History  BIO 2213 Introduction to Microbiology  BIB 1023 New Testament History  BIO 2243 Nutrition  CIS 1103 Intro to Computing  We do take transfer credits. Please check out this website: www.SBUniv.edu/Academicinformation/Coursetransferequivalencies  How do I know if I qualify for financial aid?  You must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). PLEASE FILE YOUR FAFSA ONLINE at www.fafsa.ed.gov. SBU Title IV Code is 002502.  

	

Chapter One Hundred One  



	A Glimpse of the Fellows Family History  From the Pen of Jack  This total story would not be complete without a little background on the parents. My mother finished the eighth grade in school and my dad completed the seventh grade.  Both were very creative. Mother created lovely hats for the ladies of Springfield and added things of beauty in every room of the house. Flowers grew in many areas of the yard, planted and cared for by both parents.  Dad built a small greenhouse of the south side of our house and had a passion for flowers and plants that would ultimately lead to the development of a lifespan as a landscape architect. He also built a crystal radio set for me and wired our house to provide power to light the Christmas trees for my twelfth Christmas. My father was the perfect guiding light for a child with lots of health problems.  Dad started his work career as a "call boy" for the Frisco Railroad at a salary of 13 cents an hour. In the world before electronic transmissions or in many instances even before widespread installations of telephones, he would ride a bike to the houses of the engineer, brakeman, conductor, etc. and remind them of their work schedule.  Not too long after his marriage and my birth, he bought five acres on East High Street in Springfield and not long after this he built a lean-to type of greenhouse/hothouse on the south side of the large two story frame house.  From this he began to get unusual plants from the Missouri Agriculture Department and experiment with them.  After a few years on East High Street, he bought several acres on what is now known as South Waverly, just at the entrance of the National and Hazelwood cemeteries, and established Fellows Nursery and Landscaping. He was soon the person being called upon to landscape major business and commercial firms purchasing properties needing beautification, as well as residential homes and public properties. He also provided maintenance services for some of the more influential    residents on Springfield. One was a Mr. Hutchison, the Vice President of the Frisco Railroad. When Dad was there one day, he asked why the Frisco Railroad did not beautify their passenger stations and the tracks of the system with flowers.  He was asked many questions and they were quickly answered. The result was that Mr. Hutchison suggested he go to the main office of Frisco in St. Louis and talk with Mr. Kern, the President of Frisco. He immediately went to St. Louis, talked with Mr. Kern and came back to Springfield as the Frisco Florist in 1927.  Following is an article that appeared in an official Frisco magazine: "Don B. Fellows, Chief Clerk in the Storekeepers Office of the St. Louis-San Francisco at Springfield, Missouri has been appointed Frisco Florist, to direct an extensive program for the beautification of station grounds and properties.  A plan of furnishing section foreman, agents and others of the Frisco with flowers, bulbs and seeds to be used in planting flower gardens on the railroad properties was established on a small scale in 1927, with Mr. Fellows in charge and in addition to his regular duties. The idea became so popular that Mr. Fellows has been given full charge of station beautifications. More than 23,000 plants and bulbs, including cannon, dahlia, gladioli, elephant ears, were planted by employees at approximately 400 locations in 1927.  The first stations around which flowers will be planted in 1928 will be those in Columbus, Mississippi, Aliceville, Alabama, Demopolis and Linden, all of which are on the extension from Aberdeen, Mississippi, south to Kimbrough, Alabama. He would continue his work with Frisco until the 1929 depression would end his career as the Frisco Florist and he would go into business for himself to become the leading landscape artist of the Ozarks."  The affinity he had for growing and living things was also placed in my genes. We are just completing a yard improvement and beautification   program, by adding attractive red concrete borders around the seven trees we planted in 2004 when we purchased the tri-plex at South Orchard and Morgan and building two flower beds at each end of the tri-plex that will include several new evergreens and shrubs.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter One Hundred Two



	The Hammack Family - Edythe's Early Years  From the Pen of Edythe  I was born in Missouri but I am also part "Arkie" and part "Okie" since I lived one block from Oklahoma and one mile from Arkansas.  A stone pillar shows the three states joining at the corners.  Southwest City may be a very small town but it was one that offered "good life" experiences for me and my friends.  The church was our "second home" since so much time was spent attending services and participating in its many activities.  This is where I learned so much in how to prepare for leadership.  We had many Bible programs and it was through the Baptist Young People Union that I became familiar with procedures and all aspects of organization.  Now I want to tell you a little about my family and my church. My father moved to Southwest City, MO as a young man and found the Baptist Church had been neglected for so long it needed complete attention from the community.  He was instrumental in making repairs and helping to locate a minister that would be the pastor and then he served as Sunday School Superintendent for 35 years.  That tells you that "going to church" was as important as any thing else in our lives.  Several years after the death of my father's first wife Elnore, he married my mother Calla Avis Smith, who cared for his three children who were at home, Emmett, Marjorie and Frances.   His other two sons, Russell had gone to work in the oil fields in Texas and Hubert to the Oklahoma oil fields.  Later Emmett joined Russell to work with him in Texas.  A good part of our book deals with what Jack and I have done, so I want to add a little more about the Hammack family. Most all of the family worked at one time or another at Nichols Bros. Grocery and Hardware store. My sister Flo married Cress Davis, and has a family of four children which she was responsible for raising, since her husband drove a Kraft eighteen wheeler and was only home short periods of time. Her husband passed away several years ago and she now lives in an Assisted Living Center in Springfield.  My younger sister Beverly was graduated from SWBC in Bolivar, and then went on to Oklahoma Baptist University, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. When she was graduated there, she went on to get a Master's Degree in Social Services at Loyola University in New Orleans and worked for many years with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. She is retired and now lives in Conyers. Georgia .  All the children completed their schooling and eventually Marjorie received her teaching certification and became a school teacher in one of the schools in Oklahoma that also included some Indian children, along with the children living in the Southwest City area. Frances married soon after graduating from high school. Her husband has also passed away and she is living in Chandler, Oklahoma.  My mother and dad had been married about two years when mother started adding her own children to the family group, she would add three of her own daughters. My sister Flo, me and my younger sister Beverly, a family of six children for which mother had to care.  I was in the third grade when the teacher was explaining the relationship of family members and used our family to explain what step-brothers/sisters meant. Our family was so close knit that only then did I realize that I had step-sisters and step-brothers.  Being the youngest for many years I did not learn much about cooking since my job was to clean the table and dry the dishes.  I later learned to regret that I had not taken time to learn more about cooking!!!!  After discussions with our pastor I felt that I wanted to be a member of this church "home" and was baptized at the age of 8.  The baptism took place in Honey Creek, our play place of many years known as the "swimming hole".  Southwest City was the "trading post" for the folks from all over the county.  Being on the Oklahoma lines brought many Indians in for supplies.  My father learned to speak much of their language and was a good person to help the older ones, but with good schooling. English became the language of all.  The merchants would have a drawing each month to entice the folks to come and shop.  It was fun to be the one chosen to climb on the back of the truck and pull out the winning numbers. I also worked in the Wilson Drug Store after school and weekends. One of the things I could always look for on weekends, was a visit by Jack to enjoy another of my "Fellows" milkshakes . . . of course this always showed up on the order for ice cream the following week.  One of the many memories we have of our daddy was when he would tell us stories of his earlier days in SWC. One favorite we could hear over and over was about a Conestoga wagon coming through on the way West.   A family had a young baby who had just died and daddy buried the baby at the SWC cemetery.  Later when we asked questions as to where the grave was he said there were now so many new stones and graves that he could not point to the place.  We would have put flowers on her grave had we known.  Living in a mall town makes the entire community feel that we are "family" since we know all the folks. Crime was not a problem, so we were free as children to go to Honey Creek and spend most of the day swimming and playing with friends.  Our mother seldom worried about where we were but one day a very bad storm was brewing with such blackness, and we were not home. Mother started to leave the house hunting for us, when she saw us coming up the road.  Even as a small child I was excited when a well was dug and when the water tower erected which provided running water in our homes.  It took time for us to get used to the odor of sulfur in our water supply after having such wonderful water from our own well.  To have an indoor bathroom was a dream.  To provide more excitement, the city fathers erected poles all over our community to handle the power lines bringing us light in all our homes instead gas lamps. The boys all wanted to be a lineman so they could climb the poles!  Our home was just across a small wooden bridge from the school and I could wait till I heard the bell ring and then I would run like the wind so I could make it to class on time.  All of the Hammack children graduated from the Southwest City public schools and it was many years before the name of Hammack was no longer on the school roll.  Our parents seldom looked at our grade cards  . . . only long enough to sign them.  That may sound bad, but it was not that they did not care, rather we were expected to do our best and make good grades.  When my father wanted to discipline you it was done with a quiet forceful voice.  He never ever yelled at one of us.  He spanked me one time because he told me I could not go upstairs but I started up any way . . . only once! We never thought about talking back to our teachers or to our parents.  My father instilled in me that I should always call an adult or one in high position as Mr., Miss, etc. which in time caused me to called the President and Vice-President   where I worked as Executive Secretary to the President, Mr. Kucharski and Mr. Williams even though I was almost old enough to be their mother.  To others they were John and Mike.  Dr. Chester McClure was the pastor of the Baptist Church in 1938 and invited a young man named Jack Fellows to come and lead a youth revival.  It was amazing to me to see a young man interested in religious work. It did not take long to see that we were very interested in each other and after many visits and time together we became engaged at Christmas time and married in August of 1939.  Therein begins a long story of life together.  We started life together working in churches and attending SWBC.  I never dreamed that I would some day be able to go to college but that became a reality.  It was wonderful to have contact with the faculty in this small college; since they provided so many suggestions and offered help to struggling new students.  One of the houses we shared with Chester and Edith Ware was so cold we had to wear galoshes!  There were many flat tires and other hindrances as we all served various churches in the county every weekend.  After graduation from SWBC we went to Jack's parents to work in the greenhouse and garden to get enough money to go to OBU.  His father did not think I was a good helper because when he asked me to go get fertilizer (which is a gray color) and I mistakenly brought him cement (also gray color) for his plants! This became a family joke for as long as they were with us.  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter One Hundred Three  Miracles of Jesus  

  

	Taken from the International New Version



		Matthew 	  Mark 	  Luke 	  John  Water Turned to Wine 	  	  	  	  Jn 2:1‑11  Healings 	  Mt 4:23‑24 	  Mk 1:32‑34 	  	   Healing of a Leper 	  Mt 8:1‑ 4 	  Mk 1:40‑ 42 	  Lk 5:12‑13 	   Healing of a Roman Centurion's Servant 	  Mt 8:5‑13 	  	  Lk 7:1‑10 	   Healing of Peter's Mother‑in‑law 	  Mt 8:14‑15 	  Mk 1:29‑31 	  Lk 4:38‑39 	   Calming of the Storm at Sea 	  Mt 8:23‑27 	  Mk 4:35‑ 41 	  Lk 8:22‑25 	   Healing of the Wild. Men of Gadara 	  Mt 8:28‑34 	  Mk 5:1‑15 	  Lk 8:26‑35 	   Healing of a Paralytic 	  Mt 9:1‑7 	  Mk 2:1‑12 	  Lk 5:18‑25 	   Healing of a Woman with a Hemorrhage 	  Mt 9:20‑22 	  Mk 5:25‑29 	  Lk 8:43‑48 	   Raising of Jarius' Daughter 	  Mt 9:23‑25 	  Mk 5:22‑ 42 	  Lk 8:41‑56 	   Healing of Two Blind Man 	  Mt 9:2-31 	  	  	   Healing of a Demon‑ possessed Man 	  Mt 8:32‑33 	  	  	   Healing of a Man with a Shriveled Hand 	  Mt 12:10‑13 	  Mk 31‑5 	  Lk 6:6‑10 	   Feeding of 5,000 People 	  Mt 14:15‑21 	  Mk 6:35‑ 44 	  Lk 9:12‑17 	  Jn 6:1‑13  Walking on the Sea 	  Mt 14:22‑25 	  Mk 6:47‑51 	  	  Jn 6:16‑21  Healing of the Daughter 	  Mt 15:21‑28 	  Mk 7:24‑30 	  	   Feeding of 4,000 people 	  Mt 15:32‑38 	  Mk 8:1‑9 	  	   Healing of a Boy with Seizures 	  Mt 17:14‑18 	  Mk 9:14‑29 	  Lk 9:37‑ 43 	   Healing of Two Blind Men at Jericho 	  Mt 20:30‑34 	  	  	   Healing of a Man with an Unclean Spirit 	  	  Mk 1:23‑26 	  Lk 4:33‑35 	   Healing of a Deaf, Speechless Man 	  	  Mk 7:31‑37 	  	   Healing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida 	  	  Mk 8:22‑26 	  	   Healing of Blind Bartimaeus 	  	  Mk 10:46‑52 	  Lk 18:35‑ 43 	   A Miraculous Catch of Fish 	  	  	  Lk 5:4‑11 	  Jn 21:1‑11  Raising of a Widow's Son 	  	  	  Lk 7:11‑15 	   Healing of an Infirm Woman 	  	  	  Lk 13:11‑13 	   Healing of a Man with the Dropsy 	  	  	  Lk 14:1- 4 	   Healing of Ten Lepers 	  	  	  Lk 17:11‑19 	   Healing of Malchus' Ear 	  	  	  Lk 22:50‑51 	  Jn 18:3‑11  Healing of Official's Son 	  	  	  	  Jn 4:46‑54  Healing of a Lame Man at Bethesda 	  	  	  	  Jn 5:1‑9  Healing of a Blind Man 	  	  	  	  Jn 9:1‑12  Raising of Lazarus 	  	  	  	  Jn 11:38- 44  

  

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	Paul said to the Believers in Ephesus: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother . . . which is the first commandment with a promise . . . that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."  Ephesians 6:1-2  

  

Chapter One Hundred Four  Parables of Jesus



	Parable Text  Lamp Under Bowl 	  Mt 5:14‑15; Mk 4:21‑22; Lk 8:16, 11:33  Builders 	  Mt 7:24‑27; Lk 6:47‑ 49  New Cloth on Old Coat 	  Mt 9:16; Mk 2:21; Lk 5:36  New Wine in Old Skins 	  Mt 9:17; Mk 2:22; Lk 5:37‑38  Sower and Soils 	  Mt 13:3‑8, 18‑23; Mk 4:3‑8; 14‑20; Lk 8:5‑8, 11‑15  Weeds and Wheat 	  Mt 13:24‑30, 36- 43  Mustard Seed 	  Mt 13:31‑32; Mk 4:30‑32; Lk 13:18‑19  Yeast 	  Mt 13:33; Lk 13:20‑21  Hidden Treasure 	  Mt 13:44  Valuable Pearl 	  Mt 13:45‑56  Net 	  Mt 13:47‑50  Owner of a House 	  Mt 13:52  Lost Sheep 	  Mt 18:12‑14; Lk 15:4‑7  Unmerciful Servant 	  Mt 18:23‑34  Vineyard Workers 	  Mt 20:1‑16  Two Sons 	  Mt 21:28‑32  Tenants 	  Mt 21:33‑44; Mk 12:1 ‑11; Lk 20:9‑18  Wedding Banquet 	  Mt 22:2‑14  Fig Tree 	  Mt 24:32‑35; Mk 13:28‑29; Lk 21:29‑31  Faithful and Wise Servant 	  Mt 24:45‑51; Lk 12:42‑ 48  Ten Virgins 	  Mt 25:1‑13  Talents 	  Mt 25:14‑30; Lk 19:12‑27  Sheep and Goats 	  Mt 25:31‑ 46  Growing Seed 	  Mk 4:26‑29  Watchful Servants 	  Mk 13:35‑37; Lk 12:35‑ 40  Moneylender 	  Lk 7:41‑ 43  Good Samaritan 	  Lk 10:30‑37  Friend in Need 	  Lk 11:5‑8  Rich Fool 	  Lk 12:16‑21  Unfruitful Fig Tree 	  Lk 13:6‑9  Low Seat at Feast 	  Lk 14:7‑14  Great Banquet 	  Lk 14:16‑24  Cost of Discipleship 	  Lk 14:28‑33  Lost Coin 	  Lk 15:8‑10  Prodigal Son 	  Lk 15:11‑32  Shrewd Manager 	  Lk 16:1‑8  Rich Man & Lazarus 	  Lk 16:19‑31  Master and Servant 	  Lk 17:7‑10  Persistent Widow 	  Lk 18:2‑8  Pharisee and Tax Collector 	  Lk 18:10‑14  

  

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	A Prayer for Quietness of Heart  Give me, O Lord,  That quietness of heart that makes the most of labor and of rest.  Save me from passionate excitement, petulant fretfulness, and idle  fear, keeping in the restful presence of Your love.  Teach me to be alert and wise in all responsibilities, without hurry and  without neglect. Tame and rule my tongue,  that I may not transgress Your law of Love.  When others censure, may I seek your image in others,  judging with charity, as one who shall be judged..  Banish envy and hatred from my thoughts.  Help me to be content amid the strife of tongues.  With my unspoken thought. When anxious cares threaten my  peace, help me to run to You, that I may find my rest  and be made strong for calm endurance and valiant service. Amen.  W. Lewis of Milan  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter One Hundred Five  Scriptures to Guide and Help 

 

	Isaiah 40 	  When things look blue.  Psalm 139 	  When tempted to do wrong.  Psalm 46 	  If you are facing a crisis.  Psalm 23 	  When you are discouraged.  Psalm 103 & 104; Job 38‑40 	  If you are bored.  Psalm 37 	  When business is poor.  Psalm 27 	  When you are lonely or fearful.  Psalm 107 	  When you are anxious for dear ones.  Luke 19 	  When you plan your budget.  Romans 12 	  To live successfully with your fellowmen.  Psalm 91 	  If you are sick or in pain.  Psalm 121 	  When you leave home for labor or travel.  Matthew 11:28‑30 or Romans 8:31‑39 	  When you are very weary.  2 Timothy 3 	  When everything seems to be going from bad to worse.  Matthew 6 	  The best investment is described.  Deuteronomy 8 	  Does God figure in our national life?  1 Corinthians 13 	  When your friends seem to go back on you.  John 14 	  For inward peace.  Joshua I 	  When you have been placed in a position of great responsibility.  1 Corinthians 15 or Revelation 21 	  If you have been bereaved.  Hebrews 11 	  For a stirring record of what trust in God can do.  Luke 15 & 16 	  If you are satisfied with being well‑to‑do.  Romans 8 	  If you have experienced severe losses.  Ephesians 	  If you are having to put up a stiff fight.  1 John 1, John 3:1‑21, Isaiah 53, Psalm 51 	  When you have sinned.  1 Kings 8; Psalms 42 & 51; Luke11:1‑3, 18:1‑14: John 17; Ephesians 3 	  For the way of prayer.  John 11, 17, 20; 2 Corinthians 4, 5, Revelation 21 	  If you have a fear of death.  

  

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	Just a Closer Walk with Thee  I an weak, but Thou are strong; Jesus keep me from all wrong;  I'll be satisfied as long, as I   walk, let me walk close to Thee.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  Through this world of toil and snares, if I falter, Lord, who cares?  Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord,  none but Thee.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  When my feeble life is o'er, time for me will be no more,  Guide me gently, safely o'er to Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.  Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea,  daily walking close to Thee; let it be, dear Lord, let it be.  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

Chapter One Hundred Six  Epilog  



	From the Pen of Jack  Several have asked me why we have included the following in so many places in our life story:  C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  Several years before we decided to return to our home state of Missouri to be involved with the Southwest Baptist University in their campaign to raise an Endowment fund to help support their many mission endeavors, we had purchased a copy of an attractive unframed picture that showed somewhat of a snowy background, with what appeared to have some footprints through the snow. At the bottom of the picture was the above caption.  At our ages, we thought this might be an appropriate challenge as we started out on such a new venture with the Lord. We do not use this as a filler in the book . . . we feel it has some significance in what we are doing in these latter years of our lives . . . and we pray it may be a challenge to our readers . . . "to leave a trail" for someone else to follow.  After we got to Bolivar we decided to have the picture framed and it is now mounted just above our entertainment center and it serves as a challenge as we sit in our Lazy Boy recliners to watch the morning news and I wonder just where I can leave a trail today that will lead someone to find a loving God through the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are going to end this story of our life with two dates. Both are on page two . . . This one first . . . "It is 2:22 p.m., June 22, 2007, and I have just learned from Dr. Leo Shunyakov, MD, that the biopsy of the growth removed from my right arm pit on June 2, 2007 indicated I have a very rare cancer called Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma." We also learned that there were only 29 other international cases of this cancer known in current medical history.  We are going to include a small portion of what we learned from Dr. Leo that turned our lives upside down with what we found on the internet concerning this Sarcoma. It, too, is found on page two:  "Of those included in the research study, one died after one week, one after seven weeks, two within four months, one died after each of the following months: five, six, eight, nine, 10, 12 and 18 months. The six still alive with the cancer were from six months to four years and two were free of the disease for a year and a half and one for six years. Of the four not included in the research, one died after 2 months, one was reported free of the cancer for six months, another for nine months and one was still alive after a year and a half."  Being human, I must admit that this knowledge was frightening and caused me to take a very close look at what this might mean to me and Edythe. The word "cancer" has all the trimmings of probably one of the few words that can quickly change a person's life. There was the chance it might change ours.  Actually I have been fighting two battles: Cancer and Type II Diabetes. Accepting diet and exercise instead of medical control, I had lost a little under 80 pounds and the six weeks of five day radiation treatments left me with little stamina and a drastic change of what I had been able to do every day.  As I think you may remember, Edythe had written she had never heard me express a "why, Lord?" . . . only "what's next Lord?" And the first thing we both did when we learned of the cancer was to alert our family and friends to our need of their prayers. We have friends with e-mail capabilities all over the world where we have served the Lord.We asked for their prayerful remembrances.  We were not sure how things were working out, as I had found several small growths on my neck, right chest, left arm pit, etc. and this caused some concern. I also cannot not exert much activity; even walking to the mail box or going to the grocery store, without having to rest for two to three hours after each expenditure of energy.  I could not exercise on the treadmill for more than 10 minutes without have to rest for 15 to 20 minutes . . . some times it has been for several hours . . . and this is not what I am used to being able to do.  As I was not scheduled for my three month exam until late next month, I called to ask if I could have an early appointment so Dr. Leo could take a look at these growths and to figure out why I was still losing weight . . . down from the original 220 to the current 140 pounds. Well, again I seemed to have renewed my assurance that prayer is a powerful medicine. It has paid off.  Now the second date. Yesterday, April 10, 2008, at 9:42 a.m., following a thorough examination and the taking of more blood samples,   Dr. Leo said "I find no evidence that your Sarcoma has spread. The little growths are simply your body trying to eliminate non-cancerous poisons that are a product of our exposure to toxic items in our daily life.  Your weight loss is due to the need for you to eat more fish . . . proteins . . . use quality olive oil in your food productions . . . go back to using the Megestrol Acetate the Diabetes specialist urged you to stop taking it and begin taking some B12 vitamins and keep trying to improve your exercise, etc. . . .  at this point you seemed to be cured. Come back in three months."  Looking back at the unusual things that happened to us has been lots of fun, but also could have caused an upheaval in our daily lives . . . the seven months I spent in Korea has always been a mystery as to why it fell my lot to produce the two motion pictures for the Department of Defense . . . until we found out that that the Chaplains were praying for someone to come and record their service to the military and humanitarian work the military did in the Eighth Army in Korea.  We look back to the accident in the North Carolina mountains that caused me to have to drop out of the field of recreation and crafts and the need for us to give up the Monte Vista Hotel as the headquarters for our recreation and leisure training headquarters. Yet, this permitted us to actually expand our service in this field in our graduate work at Indiana University and the educational program of the Bloomington, Indiana school system.  As we remember the work with the young men that had dropped out of the public school system as soon as they turned 16 and the skills we were able to open up for them, we also remember that our home was destroyed by fire, due to the carelessness of one of the trainees smoking in the area in our home where the guys could rest a little after a hard morning at work. It made us think it might be time to move on to the next chapter of our lives.  Our plans for an unusual educational program for the cultural deprived students in Washington, D.C. to get them back with their peer group in public school, came to an end when we had to give up our property in Maryland because the Public School System was so slow in fulfilling their legal contract to make their monthly payments on time. This caused the Riggs National Bank to foreclose on our delinquent loans and file a legal claim that cost us our property.  So Send I You . . . by Grace Made Strong  So send I you . . . by Grace made strong to triumph o'er hosts of hell,  o'er darkness, death, and sin, My name to bear and in that name  to conquer . . . so send I you, My victory to win.  So send I you . . . to take to souls in bondage the Word of truth that sets  the captive free, to break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fetters  so send I you, to bring the lost to me.  So send I you . . . my strength in weakness, my joy in grief, my perfect  peace in pain, to prove my power, my Grace, my promised  presence, so send I you, eternal fruit to gain.  So send I you . . . to bear my cross with patience,  and then one day with . . .  joy to lay it down, to hear my voice.  "Well done, my faithful servant . . .  come share my throne . . .  my kingdom and my crown!"  As the Father has sent Me, so send I you . . .  through our efforts to the glory of Christ.  And when all is done, may we be in the wings  And He in the spotlight, taking center stage and . . .  I am still in the wings.  

  

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	"Let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of Believers."  Galatians 6:9-10  

  

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	C ~ O ~ U ~ R ~ A ~ G ~ E  "Do not follow where the path may lead . . .  Go instead where there is no path and . . . leave a trail."  

  

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	Those Who Love and Those Who Labor  Those who love and those who labor  follow in the way of Christ;  thus the first disciples found Him,  thus the gift of love sufficed.  Jesus says to those who seek Him.  I will never pass you by;  raise the stone and you shall find me;  cleave the wood, and there am I.  Where the many work together;  they with Christ himself abide,  but the lonely workers also  find Him ever at their side.  Lo, the Prince of comfort welfare  dwells within the market strife,  lo, the bread of heaven is broken  in the sacrament of life.  Let the seeker never falter  till the truth is found afar  with the wisdom of the ages  underneath a giant star,  With the richest and the poorest,  of the sum of things possessed,  like a child at first to wonder,  like a king at last to rest.  Greffrey Dearmer, 1926  

  

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	"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."  Psalms 19:14  

  

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	Beneath the Cross of Jesus  Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand . . .  the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land,  a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,  from the burning of the noon-tide heat, and the burden of  the day.  Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see  the very dying form of One who suffered there for me;  and from my smitten heart with tears two wonders I confess . . .  the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.  I take, O cross thy shadow for my abiding place;  I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face,  content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss,  my sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.  "The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.  He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's does both"  James A. Michener  

  

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	Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art---Thou my best thought by day or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.  Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word, I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord, Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, high King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.  High King of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.  Mary E. Byrne, 1905  Paul said to Timothy "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight . . .  I have finished the race . . .  I have kept the faith!  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord. the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day . . . and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."  2 Timothy 4:6-8  

  

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	Make Room Within my Heart"  "Make room within my heart, O God, that you form in me the image you  have shown in Christ, my very life to be.  Inspire my thought, O lofty One, to reach the highest plane.  that I may know the mind of Christ, and him as greatest gain.  Direct my will, O King of kings, subject it to your own,  that every impulse, action, word may make your kingdom known. Effect my prayer, great Trinity, eternal Three-in-One, combine each part of me to praise the Father, Spirit, Son."