New babe in Christ: ‘This is the most important day in my life’
Our family, before Keaton’s baptism
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Eight years ago, I had the privilege of baptizing my son Brady, then 8 years old.
It was a Saturday night — Sept. 8, 2001 — three days before a date that became infamous in our nation. Our home congregation was moving into a brand-new building that Sunday morning, and the new baptistery wasn’t fully heated. But Brady was ready to accept Christ. And he did:
After much reading and studying of the Bible and discussion with his parents, Brady came to the conclusion that he had sinned. My son, whose wisdom exceeds his age, decided he needed to profess Jesus Christ as his savior and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
In one of the greatest moments of my life, I walked into the baptistery with him and immersed him.
Last night, Brady stepped back into that same baptistery — this time to immerse his brother, Keaton, 12. The YouTube video below tells the story better than I ever could.
Let’s just say that Tamie and I are proud parents today. Even prouder than normal.
– Bobby
Churches of Christ: dropping ‘isolationist view’ and working with other faiths?
In many ways, Nashville, Tenn. — sometimes called the buckle of the Bible Belt — is Church of Christ country, as The Christian Chronicle has reported.
Davidson County, home of Music City, has 100 Churches of Christ with about 35,000 adherents (men, women and children in the pews), according to the 2009 edition of Churches of Christ in the United States. Among all religious groups, Davidson County’s Church of Christ population ranks second only to the 100,000 or so Southern Baptists, according to the 2007 Chronicle story I referenced earlier.
So when Nashville’s major daily newspaper, The Tennessean, runs a banner Page 1 story on Sunday reporting that Churches of Christ are dropping their “isolationist view” and working with other faiths, it’s probably a pretty big deal:
Since the late 1800s, Churches of Christ, one of Tennessee’s largest faith groups, have believed their approach to church — singing without instruments in worship, interpreting the Bible literally, taking Communion weekly and banning women from church leadership — was God’s way.
That meant they kept mostly to themselves, shunned other Christians and did not participate in interfaith projects for the community.
In recent years, congregations like Otter Creek have adopted a more progressive view of their faith. They’ve added instruments to church services on Sunday nights and during the week. And they’ve begun cooperating with other faith groups, especially on charitable projects.
(Doug) Sanders and others say this approach is faithful to their traditions and to the Bible. But critics say churches like Otter Creek have replaced real Christianity with a watered-down version.
The story was written by Bob Smietana, The Tennessean’s religion editor, a Facebook friend of mine who did a Blog Q&A with me last month.
Readers of the Chronicle are aware of the issues tackled by Bob, including the move by some progressive congregations to add instrumental worship services and the “identity crisis” that some believe our fellowship is experiencing.
Bob wraps up his piece by quoting Rubel Shelly:
Rubel Shelly, former minister at Woodmont Hills and now president of Rochester College in Michigan, believes Churches of Christ will have to adapt in the future or lose their effectiveness. “The notion that people in the 21st century are going to find their identity in a particular denomination is getting more and more unlikely,” he said.
“The issue increasingly is: Do you believe in God or not? And if you believe in God, do you believe in God as he is represented in Jesus or as he is present in Allah or in Buddhism?
“If we ever had the luxury of being divided at every nuance of belief, we are losing it in this culture.”
Shelly’s quotes reminded me of what Max Lucado told me during a 2004 interview for The Associated Press:
“It just seems like we’re in kind of a post-denominational society that those differences are not as important to people as they used to be,” Lucado said. “Now, the big issue isn’t so much Methodist or Baptist, but Jesus or Buddha.”
I am interested in your reactions to Bob’s story:
• Are Churches of Christ dropping an isolationist view? Does the term “isolationist” even fit our fellowship? Does being “in the world but not of the world” mean, by its very nature, a sort of isolationism?
• Are congregations such as Otter Creek reflective of what’s happening in our fellowship overall, or are most Churches of Christ retaining long-held doctrinal views on issues such as a cappella singing?
• Are Shelly and Lucado right when they speak of a post-denominational world where differences in Christian belief are not as important as whether one supports Christ or Buddha?
Trust me, I know how emotional discussions on such topics can be, so I ask that you pray before hitting the comment button and do your best to engage in a respectful, Christ-like dialogue.
– Bobby
Coffee shop slayings hit close to home for church
BOBBY ROSS JR. | The Christian Chronicle
TACOMA, WASH. – On a recent reporting trip to the Pacific Northwest, I was blessed to worship with the Lakeview Church of Christ on a Sunday night.
About 35 miles south of Seattle, the Lakeview church is a 450-member congregation not far from the Fort Lewis Army post and McChord Air Force Base.
My main reason for visiting Lakeview was to interview couples involved with the church’s military outreach ministry. That story will appear in print and online soon.
But while at Lakeview, I enjoyed meeting minister Glenn Newton and learning about the congregation’s inspirational response to a terrible tragedy.
Read my full column on The Christian Chronicle Web site.
Blog Q&A: Julia Duin, The Washington Times
This is the third in an occasional series of interviews with respected journalists who write about faith and religion — both for the secular media and the church press.
I’m so excited that the third interviewee is another of the nation’s premier religion writers: Julia Duin of The Washington Times. Read some of her recent stories here.
(Previously interviewed were Bob Smietana of The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville and Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Read Bob’s interview here and Ann’s interview here.)
Name: Julia Duin
Bio: Julia is The Washington Times’ religion editor. She has a master’s degree in religion from Trinity School for Ministry (an Episcopal seminary) and has covered the beat for three decades. Before coming to The Washington Times, she worked for five newspapers, including a stint as a religion writer for the Houston Chronicle and a year as city editor at the Daily Times in Farmington, N.M.
She has published five books. One of them, “Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do about it,” was reviewed in The Christian Chronicle. She has won many regional and national awards for her writing and has been nominated twice by the Times for a Pulitzer. She has covered events ranging from the election of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome and sex-selective abortions in India to the huge popularity of Christian colleges in the United States and a “new sanctuary” movement in mainline Protestant churches involving aid to illegal immigrants. She has learned seven foreign languages to aid in researching her stories.
BR: Tell me a bit about your personal faith and religious background.
Julia Duin: Grew up Episcopalian but became born again at age 16 through a combination of reading Catherine Marshall’s book “Beyond Ourselves” (which showed me that folks raised in mainline Protestant churches like me still needed to personally accept Christ) and attendance at Young Life, an evangelical club for high schoolers. That decision really did change my life. I segued into the charismatic two years later at the age of 18. Have stayed in the evangelical/charismatic/Episcopal/Anglican grouping ever since although I like attending Assemblies of God churches for their unapologetic theology on the Holy Spirit which they refuse to change even though it’s no longer fashionable.
BR: How does your faith contribute, if at all, to your professional endeavors? Do you consider what you do a ministry? Why or why not?
Julia Duin: “I don’t consider my work as much a ministry as do a lot of people who read my stuff. People keep on telling me how tough it is to find journalists who report on what I do (for instance I do a lot on religious persecution around the world which a lot of reporters ignore) or who have my point of view. For instance, I just came out with what will be the best book I ever write: “Days of Fire and Glory: The Rise and Fall of a Charismatic Community.” It was 20 years in the writing and it took everything I had to write it, i.e., spending four years in true poverty. The people who read it are so surprised to find someone who journalistically assesses the charismatic movement and one of its greatest leaders and accepts the basic idea of it while criticizing some of the corrupt people therein. The fact that I actually believe not only the Nicene Creed but in the spiritual gifts really surprises people who rarely find a reporter who accepts the idea of moral absolutes and the supernatural.”
BR: What would be the headline and lead paragraph on your life story?
Julia Duin: “Hmm..at this point: ‘She finished her race.’ The sub-head would be ‘and it was a tough go.’ Lead paragraph…. ‘When Julia Duin converted to evangelical Christianity in her teens, she thought her life would follow her mother’s template: College, marrying a great guy, a few years of a career, then life as a stay-at-home mom while writing the Great American Novel. Reality was far different. The college part worked out fine but Prince Charming never arrived. A lifelong career as a reporter for five newspapers proved tougher and rockier than she would have liked. She did produce books, but it took much longer to write and sell them than she’d bargained for. She also produced a child — via adoption, that’s true — and what began as a decision criticized widely by her family and friends turned out to be one of the best life choices she ever made.“
BR: How familiar are you with Churches of Christ? What is your perception of this fellowship of 13,000 non-instrumental congregations in the U.S.? What questions do you have about Churches of Christ?
Julia Duin: “I encountered them while in college in Oregon but since then, I never run across a CoC congregation nor do they ever make news. Sorry.”
(Note to Julia: I’d humbly suggest that the 1.6 million adherents of Churches of Christ nationwide do make news, whether or not secular journalists choose to cover it. I will grant that covering Churches of Christ requires a journalist to attempt to understand a fellowship of autonomous congregations with no central denominational headquarters or annual convention to produce ready-made headlines. The Fairfax Church of Christ and the East Capitol Street Church of Christ in the D.C. area are interesting congregations that you might check out sometime. Anyway, my apologies for digressing …)
BR: You have the microphone. What else would you like to say?
Julia Duin: “I’ve had my share of reverses in life and if there’s anything I’d like to pass on, it’s learn how to make your misfortunes work for you. I had a horrible church experience 10 years ago and ended up walking out for about six years. I used all the insights from that unpleasant experience to build the “Quitting Church” book which is the bestselling of all my works so far. I used the misery of singleness as the basis for my first book about sexuality and singleness. If you can make money from your suffering – why not?“
Please leave a comment to thank Julia for her interview and offer any questions or reflections of your own.
— Bobby
Blog Q&A: Bob Smietana, The Tennessean
This is the second in an occasional series of interviews with respected journalists who write about faith and religion — both for the secular media and the church press.
I’m so excited that the second interviewee is another of the nation’s premier religion writers: Bob Smietana of The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. Read some of his recent stories here.
(The series kicked off with Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Read that interview here.)
Name: Bob Smietana
Bio: Bob is the religion writer for The Tennessean in Nashville, a contributing editor for Christianity Today and a longtime religion freelance writer whose stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune as well as national religious magazines such as Christian Century, Sojourners and U.S. Catholic.
For nine years, he was features editor of The Covenant Companion, the national magazine of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Bob is the co-author of three books, including Good Intentions: Nine Dicey Social & Economic Issues Viewed through the Eyes of Faith.
He has a bachelor’s in religion from North Park University in Chicago and a master’s in writing from National-Louis University, with additional graduate studies in religion reporting at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
He lives south of Nashville with his wife and their three children.
BR: Tell me a bit about your personal faith and religious background.
Bob Smietana: “I was baptized Catholic, but my family dropped out of church when I was in middle school. As I kid, I used to ride off on my bike and hide when my dad said it was time to go to church and come back when it was too late to go.
“Eventually I came to my senses, about the time my family joined the Evangelical Covenant Church in my hometown, where — to my surprise, people liked each other. And my Lord, how they could sing. I was hooked. Been a Covenanter since for about 30 years now — which means I’ve got one foot in the liturgical world and one foot in the evangelical world.”
BR: How does your faith contribute, if at all, to your professional endeavors? Do you consider what you do a ministry? Why or why not?
Bob Smietana: “Good question. Not a ministry but certainly a calling. My job is not to convert people or tell them what I think God wants them to hear. It’s to tell the truth about what people do and say and how religion effects their lives.
On how faith contributes to my profession, let me borrow a line from Terry Anderson, the former Associated Press bureau chief. Early on in my career, I got to interview him and asked about faith and his work.
Here’s what he said:
“I don’t think there is any conflict between being a journalist and being a Christian. Both are involved with truth. And sometimes they cut against each other, but mostly they work together. There is nothing unchristian about finding and telling the truth, is there? However, it is impossible to be a Christian and a bad journalist. If you mislead, distort, treat the subjects of your story with contempt or disregard, exploit people in pain, which is what a bad journalist does, you are not a very good Christian, are you?”
BR: What would be the headline and lead paragraph on your life story?
Bob Smietana: “Ask me in a few years. I’ve got a lot left to do.“
BR: How familiar are you with Churches of Christ? What is your perception of this fellowship of 13,000 non-instrumental congregations in the U.S.? What questions do you have about Churches of Christ?
Bob Smietana: “I’m a lot more familiar with them now that I live in the South. When I lived in the Midwest and East Coast, all I knew is that there were these folks who didn’t use instruments in church.
“I may call you and ask some questions. Seems to me that the Churches of Christ are evolving, from a separatist movement closer to the rest of the evangelical movement.“
BR: You have the microphone. What else would you like to say?
Bob Smietana: “A couple things. When you show up to work in a newsroom, no one hands out a liberal agenda, contrary to popular belief. We’re just not that organized. Also, journalists don’t like bullies, in general. When anyone — an elected official, teacher, church leaders — acts like a bully, journalists are apt to write about it.
“Last, as a person who loves both Jesus and journalism, I’m concerned that Christians are losing their curiosity and their ability to listen. When I report a story, I try to go in with my eyes and ears open to see what is happening — rather than coming in with a preconceived notion of what’s happening. Otherwise, I might miss something important.
“Too many Christian people, and Christians writers, seem to see and hear only what they want to hear. They see their enemies in the worst light. That’s a pity. We can’t love our neighbors if we believe or spread lies about them.
“OK, end of sermon.”
Please leave a comment to thank Bob for his interview and offer any questions or reflections of your own.
— Bobby
O Canada!: Churches of Christ north of the U.S. border
Church planters Amy and Aaron Etheridge at the Metrotown mall in Burnaby, British Columbia, just outside Vancouver.
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I’m in Vancouver, British Columbia, this weekend completing my final training for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Oh, you didn’t know that I’m a world-class figure skater!?
I must have failed to mention that. 
Actually …
I’m working on the next part of The Christian Chronicle’s series on Churches of Christ in Canada. With the Olympics starting next month, it seemed like a perfect time to spotlight British Columbia.
I’m staying with Jim and Carolyn Hawkins, pioneering British Columbia church members who first came to Canada a half-century ago. Jim refers to himself as “The Old Guy of the West,” and I enjoyed picking his brain for a few hours last night about churches in western Canada.
I met this morning with area ministers and elders at the South Burnaby church, including Kirk Ruch, Milton Diaz, Larry Hoff, Mel McClure and John Clelland. John attended White’s Ferry Road School of Biblical Studies with my dad back in the 1970s.
This afternoon, I hung out with Amy and Aaron Etheridge, Harding graduates and Kairos church planters. I first met Amy and Aaron a few years ago at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures and mentioned their ministry feeding teenagers at a homeless shelter in a column on hunger.
Aaron and Amy make fantastic tour guides: They drove me all over Vancouver and showed me Olympic Village and other sites soon to gain worldwide attention.
A fun day!
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• • •
I blogged last summer about my previous Canada adventures.
If you haven’t read them yet, check out my stories from Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
— Bobby
Support in time of need: ‘You fear the worst and pray for the best’
By Bobby Ross Jr.
The first clue that something was wrong should have hit me when I walked in church that Sunday morning and saw a uniformed police officer standing in the foyer.
But since I was out of state — in Texas to spend the Christmas holidays with my family — my reporter instincts didn’t cause me to stop and immediately start asking questions.
When my wife, Tamie, and I dropped off our son Keaton, 4, at his Bible class, he didn’t want to stay because his cousin Nicholas, 4, wasn’t there yet.
Tamie decided to wait with Keaton until Nicholas and his mom, Angela, my brother Scott’s wife, arrived.
A minute later, my obviously shaken sister, Christy, stopped me in the hallway.
“Where’s Scott?” she demanded to know.
“Why?” I asked.
“Angela’s been in a crash,” Christy said in a frazzled voice. “They’re taking Nicholas away in an ambulance.”
At that point, your heart drops.
You fear the worst and pray for the best.
Suddenly, thoughts of brightly colored Christmas packages and mouth-watering chocolate pies take a back seat to life itself.
Scott had driven separately because he had an errand to run before services.
I found him in his Bible class and waved for him to come outside. When he didn’t respond quickly enough, I grabbed him by the shirt collar and helped him to the door.
The officer gave Scott the address of the crash, and we raced that direction.
As we approached the scene, we first saw the flashing lights, then the ambulances and, finally, the smashed vehicles.
Both were totaled.
“Please, God, let them be all right,” I prayed silently, trying to remain calm for Scott’s sake.
He abruptly pulled his pickup into the grass beside the road, and we ran toward the ambulances.
The paramedics were treating Angela, who was lying on a stretcher. She was alert and not hurt badly.
But Nicholas was already inside an ambulance, breathing tubes attached to his face.
Fortunately, his injuries were minor, as well. The medical professionals were taking him to the hospital mainly as a precaution.
What a relief!
Within minutes, an elder and another man from Scott’s church showed up at the scene to offer prayer and support.
Several more people from the church joined us at the emergency room. Some even beat us there.
Long after I forget about the wreck, I will remember all those fellow Christians — those friends in Christ and friends in life — who made it a point to be there when my brother and his family needed them most.
This column was originally published Jan. 5, 2002, during my time as religion editor at The Oklahoman.
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Your turn: What times can you remember when your fellow Christians were there for you in your time of need?
— Bobby
Anchor for his soul: My interview with Lester Holt
NEW YORK – For the longest time, Lester Holt would finish the Sunday edition of NBC’s “Today” show at 9 a.m., just when services began at the Manhattan Church of Christ.
When the elders moved the start time to 9:30, no one was happier than Holt.
“I don’t know if it was a personal favor to me, but it really has helped,” a chuckling Holt told The Christian Chronicle in an interview at the “Today” studios. “For a long time, I’d get off at 9, and then I’d have to bugaloo over there and get there about the third or fourth song before communion.
“I was the guy kind of sneaking in. Now, I have a little more time.”
My interview with Lester Holt is now online. Check it out.
Faith and flicks: Christian films gain a following
John Lee Hancock, left, writer and director of “The Blind Side,” discusses the film at a screening at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. At right is Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine. (photo courtesy of Craig Detweiler)
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In a previous post, I gushed over The Blind Side, which I have seen three times.
In my latest Inside Story column in the The Christian Chronicle, I tackle the trend of films with Christian themes enjoying success at the box office:
“We’re increasingly seeing films that affirm rather than denigrate faith,” said Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
In researching this column, I ventured out to a Milwaukee area movie theater with Keith Brumley, minister of the Northtown Church of Christ in Milwaukee; his wife, Margaret; and another couple from the church, Tim and Regina Anderson.
We had a great time. Unfortunately, I ran out of space to describe just how big a bucket of buttered popcorn that I ate.
— Bobby
A match made in heaven, if ever there was one
Grandma and Papa with seven of their great-grandchildren during our annual extended family vacation in Tennessee last summer.
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I’m a sucker for romantic comedies such as Sweet Home Alabama, The Philadelphia Story, Sleepless in Seattle and even a few films without geographic names.
I’ve read more than my fair share of novels by Nicholas Sparks: If you’re not familiar with him, more often than that, somebody falls in love and lives happily ever after.
The 1,500-plus songs in my iTunes library include Peter Cetera’s Glory of Love, Steven Curtis Chapman’s Cinderella, Peaches & Herb’s Reunited, Alabama’s Forever’s As Far As I’ll Go and even the theme from Love Boat.
All of which is to say — besides the fact that my “man card” may be in serious jeopardy — that I love a good love story.
No movie, novel or iTune can compare, however, to the real-life love story that I witnessed for the first 42 years of my life.
Lloyd and Margaret Ross — my grandparents — were married for nearly 69 years, until Grandma’s death Dec. 20 at age 85.
In a column in The Christian Chronicle in 2006, I wrote:
Papa and Grandma both grew up poor in single-parent households during the Great Depression. Papa’s father died when he was 8 months old, while Grandma was 12 when her dad died.
My grandfather, Lloyd Lee Ross, was 22 and my grandmother, Margaret Magdaline House, barely 16 when they married on Feb. 5, 1941. Papa hocked his shotgun for less than $5 to pay for the marriage certificate.
Last week, sitting in his living room in Huntingdon, Tenn., trying to stay strong and certain that his precious angel has received her eternal reward, Papa acknowledged that he “lied” on the marriage certificate because Grandma wasn’t yet 18.
“I know God forgave me,” my 91-year-old grandfather told me, “because this marriage was arranged up in heaven.”
Tears in my eyes, I could only nod in agreement.
I wish I had the words — then and now — to say more. But I don’t. At least not yet.
Thank you, God, for blessing my life with these two incredible people. And please, God, be with Papa and give him strength and comfort during this difficult time.
— Bobby
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