December 1994

• For something special / p4 • The God of holy reversal / p7 • Wanda's gift / p9 • Ch ristmas is God's open ha nd / p10

DECEMBER

FIRST WORDS

1994

from the editor

I

'M ALWAYS AMUSED when people are offended for not receiving an "appropriate" gift at Christmastime from someone who apparently should feel obligated to provide one. As if receiving a gift is a courtesy they deserve.

But doesn't such an attitude contradict the very defmition of "gift"? To my mind, a gift is special precisely because it isn't deserved. Getting what we deserve is merely compensation. If I have a Christmas wish list for Mennonite Brethren this year, it is that we might more fully grasp the unmerited favor with which God looks upon us.

That in itself would be a gift that would keep on giving-a profound sense of gratitude within us that would result in profound generosity toward others.

If any thread ties this Christmas issue together, it might be this idea of gifts. I believe you'll be moved by JoAnn Brandt's short story, challenged by the insights of Kenneth Gibble, inspired by Rose Buschman's experience, and encouraged by Gaylord Goertzen's observations about this giving God of ours. Each story involves a gift of one kind of another. Connie and I offer them to you as gifts from us.

Blessed Christmas to you all.

COMING

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Pagel

-JANUARY 6, 1995-The 125th birthday of the Menno-

nite Brethren Church. _ JANUARY 8-15-"Week of Prayer" emphasis for all U.S. Mennonite Brethren churches, sponsored the Board of Church Ministries. _ FEBRUARY 23-25, 1995-Annual joint board meetings of the U.S. Conference boards, Dinuba, Calif.

_ MARCH 25-28, 1995-Estes '95, the quadrennial national youth convention, Estes Park, Colo. _ JULY 6-9, 1995-60th convention of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, Fresno, Calif.

Page 9

QUOTABLE • The secularized mind is terrorized by mysteries.

Thus it makes lists, labels people, assigns roles, and solves problems. But a solved life is a reduced life.

These tightly buttoned-up people never take great faith risks or make convincing love talk. They deny or ignore the mysteries and diminish human existence to what can be managed, controlled and fixed.-EuGENE H. PETERSON IN LEADERSHIP, FALL '94 2·

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DECEMBER

1994 THE CHRISTIAN

VOLUME 57, NUMBER 12

FEATURES - Theme: Christmas 4 For something special The gift of a quarter from Miss Harp bought more than good memories. A short story for Christmas. BY JOANN BRANDT

7 The God of holy reversal Mary's song in Luke celebrates the steadfast hope and faith that the God who turns things upside down is still at work with us and among us. BY KENNETH L. GIBBLE

9 Wanda's gift A small one-dollar gift from a needy young student contained the power to change a life: love. BY ROSE F. BUSCHMAN

10 Christmas is God's open hand When God opened his hand at Christmas and gave up his only son, his hand was open and empty. Now he holds it out to us.

BY GAYLORD GOERTZEN

DEPARTMENTS What readers say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Ph'lip Side ..... . ...... . ... . ........ by Philip Wiebe 14 • Happy holidaze

Inquiring Minds . . .................. by Marvin Hein 16 • Interpreting the Bible • Acting out forgiveness

Musings . ..... . ..................... by Jim Holm 17 • Time for an attitude check

Pilgrimage .............. . . by Ricky Huebert-Sanchez 18 • Who will care for this baby?

Bodylife............................. . ...... . . . 20 • Pacific District celebrates a college 20

ASSISTANT EDITOR Connie Faber

BOARD OF COMMUNICATIONS: Ron Braun (chair), Noelle Dickinson, Jeanie Klaassen, Herb Schroeder, Kathy Heinrichs Wiest MANDATE: THE CHRISTIAN LEADER (ISSN 0009· 5149), organ of the u.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, is published monthly by the u.S. Conference Board of Communications, 315 S. Lincoln, Hillsboro, KS 67063 . The Christian Leader seeks to inform Mennonite Brethren members and churches of the events, activities, decisions, and issues of their denomination, and to instruct, inspire and initiate dialog so that they will aspire to be faithful disciples of Christ as understood in the evangelical! Anabaptist theological tradition.

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions of our writers and advertisers are their own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Christian Leader, the Board of Communications or the Mennonite Brethren Church. The editors invite free-lance article submissions, but ask that each submission be accompanied with a SASE. The editors reserve the right to edit, condense or refuse all copy submitted for publication; anonymous contributions will not be published.

READER PARTICIPATION: The editors encourage readers to interact with our articles through letters to the editor and essays to Forum, our op-ed column.

Letters for What Readers Say must include the author's name and address. Forum is open to members or attenders of Mennonite Brethren churches.

Essays to Forum can address any issue of relevance and interest to the faith and life of the Mennonite Brethren Church. The essay should be no longer than 800 words and should include the home church, occupation and a clear photo of the writer.

COMMUNICATION: All correspondence should be addressed to The Christian Leader, Box V, Hillsboro, KS 67063 . Phone: (316) 947-5543 . Fax: (316) 9473266.

ADVERTISING: Clearinghouse ads should be submitted in writing. Cost: $.25 per word. Send no advance payments. For display-ad rates, contact the editor.

• Central District grapples with Native American ministry 23 • An interview with Tabor College's new president 26 • BCM appoints the first board of Mission USA 28 • Profile of two hispanic church planters 28 • MB Bible teachers gather in Fresno 28 • MEDA earns high marks 29

1994 Index... . . .. .......... . .... . . . .. . . ... . . "

EDITOR Don Ratzlaff

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Rates: $16 for one year, $30 for two years, and $42 for three years ($20, $38 and $54 in Canada); $1.50 per copy.

ADDRESS CHANGES: Send both old and new address to Circulation Secretary, Box V, Hillsboro, KS 67063 . Allow up to one month for transition .

34

ART CREDITS: Cover and pages 4, 7, 9 10 and 36, Dynamic Graphics, Inc.; page 19, MBM/S photo by Craig Hallman; pages 20-25, Leader photos by Don Ratzlaff; pages 26-27, Leader photos by Steve Skjold; page 28, Carla Reimer.

MEMBERSHIP: The Christian Leader is a member of the Evangelical Press Association and Meetinghouse, an association of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ editors.

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POSTMASTER: Send Form 3579 to The Christian Leader, Box V, Hillsboro, KS 67063 . Se cond-class postage paid at Hillsboro, Kansas .

DECEMBER

994

3

go/{ gOmething gpeCia~ A story for Christmas

By JoAnn Brandt

quickly nudged the front door closed with my shoulder, hoping to keep the icy wind from pushing in. I slipped off my parka and slung it over the back of the couch and slumped into my chair by the fire.

"Any luck?" my wife asked as she came from the kitchen with two mugs of hot cocoa.

"No." I took one mug; the warm porcelain felt good on my cold hands. With one finger, I pushed a large marshmallow under the chocolate foam until it bobbed up smooth and shiny.

"Did you show the picture of her?"

"Yes." "No one has seen her or talked to her or knows where ... ?"

"No. No one, nothing-nothing."

My wife sighed and slowly lowered herself to the cushions on the floor between me and the fIreplace. I paused for a moment and then asked, "What was in the mail today? Anything worth my attention?"

"Hmm-a few Christmas cards, a letter from your sister-oh, and this one. It's addressed to you alone, and it's postmarked from St. George. It looks rather personal, so I thought you had better open it."

I set my mug on the hearth as my wife handed me the letter, she watched as I ran my fmgers over the shaky script on the envelope.

"Well, open it. " I slid my fmger under the flap and carefully opened the envelope. I reached in and pulled out a single, folded, yellow piece of stationery. As I opened the sheet, a quarter slid from the crease and landed on my 4·THE

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lap, making a ping sound as it glanced off of my belt buckle. Slowly my eyes traced the words that were written by the same trembling hand that had addressed the envelope: DEAR ROBERT, FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, MERRY CHRISTMAS, MAYREEN HARP.

"Robert?" A hand gently touched my knee.

I handed the note to my wife, and after a quick glance, she lowered the paper and looked at me, eyebrows raised.

I picked up the coin and grasped it tightly in my right hand. It seemed the harder I squeezed the coin, the more clearly the memories emerged, until each image stood precise and vivid in my mind.

"The Christmas when I was 12 years old-let's see, that would have been 1945-we lived in St. George, you remember-my father was the pastor of a small churchabout 25 families was all. The town was isolated out there and relied on the mining companies for survival.

The coal train seemed to be the only major link to the rest of the country."

My wife watched my hand working the coin.

"During that summer, my mother said she wanted to go home to Chicago for Christmas. Laura was 6 years old and had never seen any of the grandparents. Mother said Grandma and Grandpa Baxter had come to St. George when I was 3, but of

CHRISTMAS

course I didn't remember them. My father had already been keeping the accounts of a small grocery store in town, besides working for the church. But he was able to arrange the family's train passage to Chicago in exchange for working nights doing bookkeeping for one of the mining companies."

I stood up and put the quarter in my pants pocket and rubbed the coin from the outside of my pants with the palm of my hand. I tossed two logs on the fIre and glanced at my wife. I could see the flames of the fIre reflected in her glasses. I stood with my back to the ftre and stuffed my right hand back into my pocket, feeling for the coin.

"Every cent my parents could scrape together was put away for that trip. Mother had been carefully saving old bread wrappers and used waxed paper to wrap food in for us to eat while we traveled. Bread slices were counted out and butter was measured, pickles were rolled up in used tinfoil, and a handful of cookies went into an old coffee can. We had nothing to spare."

The gentle hand on my leg urged me on.

"The day we left St. George, we had to walk half a mile to the coal train to catch our ride. There was only one train car that was not for coal, and it was already nearly full of company employees heading out of town for the holidays. Father found a place for Mother, Laura and me to sit, but he had to stand. Just before the train started to move, my school teacher, Mayreen Harp, stepped in the car. Every bit of seating space was taken, so Miss Harp had to stand right in front of the door next to my father. She told Father she was going to Salt Lake City to spend Christmas with her sister. The ride between St. George and Salt Lake took more than 10 hours back then, so Miss Harp and I took turns standing by the door. " I took the quarter out of my pocket and rubbed it between my thumb and forefInger. I took a step back to my chair and eased myself into the soft folds, keeping my eyes on the coin.

"When we parted company in Salt Lake, Miss Harp pressed a quarter in my hand and whispered in my ear, 'Robert Baxter, you use this for some-

thing special.' Twenty-fIve cents was the most money I had ever had at one time."

I laid the coin on my knee, centering it on the crease of my trousers. I stole another look at my wife; her eyes rested on the quarter.

"For the next night and day, I kept my hand on that quarter. I dreamed of all the special things I could buy with it to surprise my family-a magazine for Mother, maybe a newspaper for Father, gum for Laura and me. So many things.

cA

lOg shifted, sending twinkling sparks up the chimney. "We had a three-hour stop over in Omaha; we were actually going to transfer to a regular passenger train. You should have seen that train depot-people everywhere! That was wartime, remember?

"Servicemen were trying to get home for the holidays.

The wall across from the ticket windows had been turned into a message board; it was tacked full of all sorts of papers-Need ride to Cheyenne, will help pay gas. One even offered a tire in trade for a ride to Kansas City. Some advertised a place to stay the night, phone numbers-all sorts of things. Seemed nearly everyone stopped for a quick look at that wall. " I picked up the coin and flipped it with my thumb, catching the quarter before it reached my lap. I placed it on my other knee.

"Father found a place for all of us to sit on a bench against a wall close by the telephones. He shoved our bags under the bench, making sure our dwindling food satchel was close at hand. Through the lines of people waiting to use the phones, I could intermittently glimpse the message wall. I watched one girl read almost the whole wall, must have taken her 30 minutes. Suddenly, she snatched a yellow paper from the board, folded it, and stuffed it in her coat pocket. She shifted her way through the people and ended up standing next to me by the end of our bench. She looked only a handful of years older than me, but not much taller. She untied the strings of her handbag and rummaged through her purse, came up empty-handed, and tied it shut again. Then she took out that yellow paper, stared at it, folded it again and pushed it back in her pocket."

I took the piece of silver from my knee and slid it into my shirt pocket. I rubbed the outside of the pocket with my hand. Crossing my ankles, I settled a little lower in my chair, keeping my hand over the coin.

"I needed to use the restroom, so Father asked the young lady if she would sit next to Laura and Mother and keep our places. Father and I made our way through the lines of people and around a comer by the food counter.

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It was then that I saw exactly what I wanted to do with my quarter. There was a sign: HOT COCOA, FIVE CENTS. I had it all planned out: After we finished our buttered sandwiches, I'd excuse myself and go buy the cocoa and casually return with the special treats. I didn't think Laura had ever tasted cocoa with marshmallows."

I saw a smile tug at the comers of my wife's mouth, and then watched as she lifted her Suddenly, I could mug and gently eased a sweet marshmallow to her lips. no longer bear the "When we returned to our bench, the girl had emptied her fire of the coin. I handbag in her lap and was meticuflung open my lously putting each item back in her hand; the quarter purse-a piece of a mirror, a broken comb, dirty Kleenex-she had a little clanked on the coin bag that she peeked into twice before she snapped it shut and put coffee table ... it away. She pulled the strings of her purse shut and once again took out that yellow paper, unfolded it, looked at it, creased it again and slipped it back into her pocket. She saw us then and started to stand, but Father told her he was tired of sitting and wanted to stand a while longer. He asked her if she'd save his place a little bit longer."

The coin began to feel a little warm in my shirt pocket, so I poked it up with my finger and held it loosely in my left hand. My wife sat quietly, gazing at the coin.

"Mother pulled out the lunch bag and passed sandwiches to Laura and me. Then quite calmly, Mother announced she had packed an extra sandwich and asked the girl if she wanted it. I knew that wasn't true-we had nothing extra to share. But 1 handed the sandwich to the girl without saying anything. She thanked Mother and then quickly ate the bread. She even licked her finger and rubbed it over the waxed paper to pick up any loose crumbs. I watched as my parents shared a sandwich. I just knew that my cocoa surprise would be perfect."

The quarter made my hand feel unusually warm; I moved it to my right hand, yet 1 could still feel the coin's heat.

"Once again the girl took out the yellow paper from her pocket, unfolded it, placed it on her lap, and began searching through her purse. This time I was able to get a good look at the secret, yellow paper."

My wife nodded slightly and leaned a fraction closer towards me.

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"In big, black scrawling letters 1 read: NORMA JEAN FELTS, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU'VE DONE, WE LOVE YOU! CALL HOME. But the girl saw me read her paper and quickly crumpled it and stuffed it in her purse."

The warmth from the coin radiated to the ends of my fingertips. 1 squeezed the silver tight in my hand, wanting to smother the heat.

"The girl shoved her purse on the bench between her and me and then leaned her head on the bench end and closed her eyes."

tJ1

e heat in my hand became almost unbearable.

"I can't explain what made me do it, but I reached in my pocket, found my treasure and quickly slipped it in her handbag. About half an hour later, as Father was digging out our bags from under the bench, the girl opened her eyes and straightened a bit. Once more she opened her purse and poked around inside of it with her hand."

By now the coin was so hot in my hand that 1 felt its searing pain reaching up my arm.

"She suddenly bolted straight up. Stood, gaping into the mouth of her handbag. She stood there a good half minute without moving. Then she slowly reached in her purse again and pulled out my quarter. She clutched it to her breast for a few seconds, reached back for the crumpled yellow paper, and disappeared among the lines of people waiting to use the phones."

Suddenly, I could no longer bear the fire of the coin. I flung open my hand; the quarter clanked on the coffee table, sending a riveting echo through the room. I rubbed my aching hand on my knee, eyeing my wife carefully.

Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were flushed. In one swift move, she was on her feet.

"Robert, get a stack of paper and some marking pens.

I'll heat more cocoa."

1 scooped up the cool silver coin and slid it in my pocket as 1 hastened to my desk. A minute later, with steady hand, 1 printed in bold, black letters: KARISjOY BAXTER, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU'VE DONE, WE LOVE YOU! CALL HOME.

rt2

JoAnn Brandt teaches high school English in Dinuba, Calif. She is a member of the Dinuba MB Church.

CHRISTMAS

byKENNETH L. GIBBLE

What in our world needs to be turned upside down? hy is Christmas the most beloved of holidays? The cyrricalansvve~of

course, is that it's all the partying that goes on, along vvith the buying and gift-giving that pumps up the economy. But the real ansvver to vvhy Christmas is so treasured lies in the song of Mary.

Nearly everyone knows that a young woman named Mary was the mother of a child bom in Bethlehem, a child named]esus. What more do we know about Mary's role in the Christmas story? In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel, we leam that Mary is a young virgin who lives in Nazareth and is engaged to a man named]oseph.

Visited by a heavenly messenger named Gabriel, Mary hears she will bear a child who will be called "the Son of the Most High."

We follow Mary on a visit to her cousin Eliza· beth, who is also pregnant. When Elizabeth sees Mary, she greets her with the words: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

Mary responds to her cousin's greeting with a song of praise. Her song has become known as DECEMBER

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The God who turns things upside down seeks to intrude not only into the corridors of social and economic power, but into the secret chambers of each human heart as well.

the Magnificat: "My soul magnifies the Lord." Some of the most beautiful Christmas music written over the cen· turies uses the words of the Magnificat for its text. It begins with Mary praising God: "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

Why does Mary rejoice?

She tells us: "For God has looked with favor upon the lowliness of his servant." Mary acknowledges her lowly status.

What a shocking surprise that God would choose a peasant woman like her to bear the Savior of the world! Surely one might have expected a woman of royal blood to be chosen for such an important role.

But then Mary remembers the nature of this God of Israel. She recites how God has acted in the past, how God has: • scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

• brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; • filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

What a surprising God this is - a God who turns things upside down; a God who takes the side of the poor and oppressed, who sabotages the power brokers, who subverts those who flaunt their wealth and privileged status. The God Mary praises in her song is, above all else, a God of holy reversal.

Which is to say that, even before Jesus is born, we get an important clue to his messiahship. We will not be surprised that his birth will take place among humble beasts, that the only ones who attend his birth are lowly shepherds, that he will grow up to be friends of the poor and outcast, that he will tell his followers that servanthood is the mark of true greatness, that his death will be one of utter shame and degradation.

All this is foreshadowed in Mary's song. But it is a song of praise, because Mary knows that God constantly engages in holy reversal to bring salvation to the world God loves so much.

Mary's song shows us why Christmas is treasured, not only by Christians, but by people of all faiths . Mary's song celebrates the steadfast hope and faith that the God who turns things upside down is still at work with us and among us. The birth of the Christ child reminds us that all the powers that conspire against us have been and will be overcome. God is at work to overthrow a-THE

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the oppressor, to set captives free, to comfort those who mourn, to satisfy those who hunger and thirst for justice.

What in our world needs to be turned upside down? Is it the ominous trend in our country of the wealthiest getting an ever-growing part of the economic pie, while the poorest poor suffer? Yes. What needs to be reversed? Is it the power of our country's gun lobbies that make possible the highest homicide rate in the world? Yes. Is it liquor advertisers who spend millions to convince young people that drinking alcohol is essential to being carefree and "With it"? Yes. Is it the epidemic of ethnic and racial hatred in Europe, the Middle East, and our own country, hatred that spawns violence and war?

Yes, yes, yes.

All this is but a small sampling of the powers enthroned in our day that we must pray God will bring down. And we must pray that God will empower us to help it happen. We join with Mary in praising the God who, in Christ, shows that ultimately the powers of evil will be overthrown, that, in the words of Longfellow's Christmas poem: "The wrong shall fail, the right prevail."

Finally, there is one thing more about this holy reversal we must consider, and it is this: What in your and my life does God need to reverse? The God who turns things upside down seeks to intrude not only into the corridors of social and economic power, but into the secret chambers of each human heart as well.

What in your life and mine needs holy reversal? Is it fear? Is it self-centeredness? Is it bitterness from something in the past? Is it a hurtful habit? Is it unhealthy low self-esteem? Is it pride?

During this holy season, take some time to ask yourself this question: If God will give me one gift of holy reversal this Christmas, what will it be? What in my life needs to be turned upside down?

And when you have answered this question, ask the God of holy reversal to give you that gift.

Kenneth L. Gibble, a frequent contributor to the Leader, is a pastor and free-lance writer from Arlington, Va.

CHRISTMAS

BY ROSE F. BUSCHMAN

Wanda's gift She was qUiet and poorly dressed. She had no friends. She said, uThis is for you." And her eyes sparkled as never before. t is a small Christmas tree decoration-a three inch satin boot stuffed with polyfil fiber and trimmed with silver threaded lace.

It has a silver ribbon attached to one of the corners so it can be hung on a Christmas tree. On the back is a small gold foil sticker which has "Made in China" printed on it in black letters. You can buy one like it at Wal-mart for a dollar.

I've had it for six years now. It has never hung on my Christmas tree. I've never packed it away with the other decorations. I don't want it to lie forgotten in a box in a downstairs closet for most of the year. Instead, this shiny satin decoration is a permanent part of my home office work space. I keep it visible so that I am daily reminded of how special it is to me. Even when we packed up most of our stuff and left it in storage while we spent three years in Morocco, the small white boot went with me.

I remember the day Wanda came to me and handed me a small package wrapped in crumpled Christmas paper and tied with a reused red ribbon. It was cold that December recess as I stood near the door with my hands in my pockets and shivered, watching those children who were brave enough to be outside on the playground. With eyes that sparkled as I had never seen them sparkle before, she excitedly exclaimed, "This is for you." With one hand I took the package and with the other I hugged her. Together, we stood in that cold wind and hung onto each other.

Wanda was in the ftfth grade that year. I was one of the ftfth grade teachers. The students in her class came to me for Science one hour each day while my students went to her

homeroom teacher for social tudies. Wanda was very quiet in my class. She didn't have any friends. Poorly dressed, often with unwashed face and hands and uncombed hair, she reeked of neglect. Worse still, some of us teachers suspected that she was also the victim of sexual abuse but we could never prove it. Occasionally the other children made fun of her but mostly they just ignored her.

Sometimes when it was my tum to do recess duty she would come and sit on the cement steps with me while I watched the children play. She didn't have much to say so we often just exchanged a few casual phrases that didn't mean too much.

Once, though, she told me of the house they couldn't buy because her parents didn't have enough money for a down payment. They had spent that money on a trip so now there would be no house. That's all she would say. I wondered what the rest of the story was, but I never found out.

The contrast between the white, shiny, clean Christmas decoration and the dirty, unkempt little ftfth grader was staggering. The love with which it was offered to me was humbling.

This small one dollar gift is a constant reminder to me that, as a teacher, I am at times privileged to touch a child in a special way. And sometimes, a child can touch me in return.

There have been other gifts from other students but none has had as powerful an effect on me as this one.

I often wonder what has happened to Wanda. God knows. I don't. When I see the satin boot, now with some dust streaks on it from sitting on my book shelf for so long, I say a little prayer for her. "God, please bless Wanda wherever she is, keep her safe and help her to ftnd her way to you." fi2

Rose Buschman teaches in the Garden City, Kan., public school system. She is a member of the Garden Valley MB Church.

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door, his mother knew from the look on his face that he r.~~ was stealing again. .~~-::;~ "Bobby, what did you ",/~~~,-,~ ~~ steal?" ~;::0~ "Nothing, mother " I/' ,,;::-~'>-__-:'f.' nothing!" %r&h1?..:::s,~~ ~: ._-",-",. ,,=.

"Bobby, show me!" r;~/~-C::::S &z.~~ He held out a pack of ~~~ci'~ gum and hung his head in ~'/= ~.s.~ :.%""s.:,-,:;()~~, shame. ~ . .%~7..(' _.~ • ~:::::;;>.c~t"I love you, Bobby," srud . ~~>' his mother. "I don't want to \~ . ,&~~7~ hurt you, but you must learn " . ;~~~'9., not to steal. Go get the needle, . . "~~F~ Bobby got the needle and ~~> \! handed it to his mother. She held ~~~""=~> it over the kerosene lamp. ~J~,S"'" "Bobby, give me your hand," she said as she held out her hand. Bobby's hand was shaking as she took hold of it. The point of the needle was now glowing red-hot.

Bobby's mother held the needle high over his hand and said, "Bobby, this is to teach you to never steal again."

Bobby winced as he watched the needle plunging toward his open hand. But in the last instant, his mother let go of his hand and moved her hand over his. The red hot needle plunged into her hand, Bobby heard the needle sizzle; he smelled the burning flesh.

"No, Mother, no!" he screamed. "Not your hand! You didn't steal, I did! Why did you do it?"

With tears in her eyes, his mother said, "It's because I love you and I want you to know that Jesus died for your sins. He took the punishment you deserved, just as I did."

With tears running down his cheeks, he threw his arms around his mother'S neck and said, "Mother, I love you and I will never ever steal again." And he never did, for that night Bobby accepted Jesus as his Savior.

A red-hot needle, and an open hand-that's Christmas. ~~

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mas in Matthew and ...-:;;~;:\ .' <~:~~:~~." .•.

Luke-after all, they are ~~.. the Gospels that record ,~-.:f);Ji?7·' .. the birth of Jesus. But Christmas f~!~~~~ ~ is everywhere in God's Word, If ~ Z::.",· ~'fSw · l ,~~:~5S~ you look for it, you'll be amazed ,"/L~ .. ::.~ by what you fmd-and what you v ::~"" ' learn. For instance, can you find ~i~~'::~ .y ;."R,:?«:1 a better Christmas passage than '~:>7':::.~;>,C~ .., ,, -,./ '7.'1 Ci'" Romans 8:32? "He who did not /X~i!Z -q spare his own Son, but gave him ":;;{~'>?~ up for us all-how will he not also, ~:._7t?i,.~'1., along with Him, graciously give us all '1fl,2~~b;'·s.~\ things?" ,:q;~;;;p~~:, This Christmas passage reminds me (~;.A"~t.:1;£ft.r1 of a story I heard when I was a boy. I <,. (;~1j {, don't know if it's true or not, but it :1-~-;f impressed me so much I still remember it 40 years later.

Bobby, 10 years old, lived with his mother. His father had died when he was a baby; his mother had done her best to raise him in a Christian home. But Bobby was a thief.

Sometimes he stole candy, sometimes gum or a small toy.

His mother was heartbroken. She did not want her son to be a thief. In agony she poured out her heart in prayer and asked God for a way to teach Bobby not to steal. The answer came, "Bobby," she said one day, "you have to learn not to steal. This will help you learn." She took a large needle out of her sewing box and held the sharp point against Bobby's hand, "The next time you steal something, Bobby, I am going to heat this needle red-hot and plunge it into your hand to remind you not to steal."

Bobby knew his mother was serious and for several months Bobby did not steal. Then one day he was late coming home from school and when he walked in the 10 • THE

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At Christmas, God opened his hand and let go of his son. be unappreciated and misunderstood. God even knows "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us what it's like to have an unfaithful spouse. God knows and all ... " At Christmas God sent his son, Jesus, into the understands all of our hurts and pains, and in love he world-not to spare him, but to watch and do nothing as opens his hand to help us. the red-hot needle of the world's sin was plunged into his In our times of need, God, our loving heavenly Father, son's very heart! holds out his empty hand and says, "Let me take your bur· I'll never forget our Christmas two years ago. It was dens. Let me hold your worries and your cares. Let me during that season that our oldest daughter was married. I hold what you cannot hold. Cast all of your cares upon remember being out of step as I walked her down the me!" aisle. When the pastor asked, "Who gives Erica to be marBecause God's hand is open and empty, we can let go ried to Shane?" I answered, "Her mother and I!" And then of things, and even people, and place them in his hand.

I let go. I gave her up. Oh, it was a joyful occasion. I had While in graduate school in San Antonio, Texas, my the special joy of officiating at my daughter's wedding and wife and I attended a small Baptist church where we our family gained a fme son-in-law. Yet it was hard to let go became involved in a young couple's Sunday school class. and give her up.

Cassie, a woman in the class, had a 3-year-old Whether it's to marriage, to go away son who was plagued by headaches. The boy to college, or to adult life on their own, would cry and cry because of the pain. His it is difficult to give up our children. God mother took him first to one doctor, then riecause God's the Father let go of Jesus-not to be maranother. The doctors could not seem to pinhand is open and ried but to die. Not to go to college, but point what was wrong. The headaches not to go to the cross. Not to life on his own, only continued, but became worse. The empty, we can let mother's fears increased. A trip to yet another but to death on the cross. It wasn't easy for God to open his hand and give Jesus doctor only brought more tests and greater go of things, up! But God didn't hold back. God fear. Her son was eventually hospitalized. opened his hand and let go at Christmas.

Doctors suspected a brain tumor. The young and even people, Think of the pain and agony God mother was beside herself with worry. Not and place them in must have felt as he opened his hand able to stand it any longer, in desperation she and let go of Jesus. Imagine what it must turned to the Lord. "Lord, here's my son. I his hand. have been like for God to refuse his can't handle this. I give him to you." son's request, "Father, if it be possible, She described how an incredible peace let this cup pass from me." Think of the agony God must flooded her spirit. When she let go of her son, she felt a have felt as his son hung on the cross and cried, "My God, release she had never known before. "That's when I knew My God, why have you forsaken me?" Imagine how hard it Christianity was real," she said. was for God to turn his back on his son and not even Sometimes we do aU we can for our children, our famianswer. ly, our loved ones and even ourselves, but nothing seems Think how God must have felt as he watched his only to help. All we can do is say, "Lord, I give him up, I give son die, forsaken and alone. It was as though a huge redher up. Here, Lord!" hot needle was plunged through his heart-a red-hot neeThat's when the Lord picks up our burden, takes hold dle-the size of the cross. God spared not his own son. of our hand and says, "My child, I love you. I'll take your That's Christmas. burden and bear it for you. No matter what you're going But that's only part of Christmas. "He who did not through, my child, I'll never let go of your hand!" spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he "Fear not, for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I not also, along with ijesus], graciously give us all things?" am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. Yes, I "Graciously give us all things." That's also Christmas. will, most certainly, uphold you with my righteous right When God opened his hand and gave Jesus up, his hand hand" (Is. 41 :10). was open and empty. Now he holds it out to us. God This is Christmas! opened his hand to give us the free gift of etemallife. But that is not the only gift God gave when he opened his hand at Christmas. God also gave us the gift of his help. God opened his hand at Christmas so he could take hold of our hand and help us when we need him the most.

God knows what it's like to let someone we love suffer in pain. He knows what it's like to lose a son or daughter, a husband or a wife in death. He knows what it's like to have children rebel and go their own way. He knows what it's Gaylord Goertzen is pastor of the Ebenfeld like to be scorned and rejected. He knows how it feels to MB Church near Hillsboro, Kan. DE CE MBER

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-----I11h 1---1Love is a core issue Thank you for taking the risk of writing "Attack Mode?" (November).

Your words are timely and to the pOint.

In the first sentence of your editorial you called this "growing tendency to respond-by-attack" a "side issue." I encourage you to write again on the subject and refer to it as a core issue.

For Jesus instructed his followers in John 13:35: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (NRSV).

This love is shown through tangible acts of kindness toward others, as in listening to and forgiving them.

Five aspects of listening have increased my ability to refrain from attack and better understand others: attending to them, acknowledging what they say, inviting them to say more, summarizing what I heard them say, and asking them questions to gain more information about what they've said. From what I read in the Christian Leader, you are already putting these things into practice.

Thank you for your helpful encouragement to me and to your readers.

to me just for me? Or should I share them with someone? But who? How? Where?

My local church has just recently learned two of my songs for congregational singing. But the reality is that they won't be able to use everything I write. Other songwriters in the congregation are in the same situation.

I would like to see a place where we can send recordings and/or sheet music of our songs, and so make them available to all the Mennonite churches. It could be called "The Mennonite Music Library." I'm aware this is a big dream that would take a great deal of organization and work, but I'm sure Clarence Hiebert and Christine Longhurst can attest to the fact that dreams do come true.

One of the "Praise ProftIes" in the same issue said composers have received little encouragement or motivation to write. Maybe knowing they had a place to send their finished pieces would provide some of the motivation needed. Then maybe we could all start naming more than one or two Mennonite Brethren who are contributing songs for worship today.

Mark Isaac, pastor Parkside MB Church Tulsa, Okla.

We have songwriters Where are the Mennonite Brethren songwriters (November)? Everywhere, I'm sure. But if they're anything like me, they feel the frustration of not knowing what to do with their songs. Where do I go? Who wants to hear them? Does the Lord give them

Laura Wiebe-Ramirez Fresno, Calif.

Too sophisticated?

In your "First words" and also your editorial, you talk about the loss of denominational loyalty (November). If it is repeated enough, maybe it will be a reality.

We have traveled through several midwestern states and find this to be a Mennonite Brethren problem. We

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found a number of Mennonite churches who display their denominational affiliation and have consequently visited a number of Baptist churches.

They sing the old hymns and few choruses.

Two of the churches had an altar call and one was going to have revival meetings. Have you ever heard of such a thing in this age? It seems the Mennonite Brethren have reached a degree of sophistication so that this is no longer needed. Just preach a social gospel and they will come. Don't preach an evangelistic message or someone might be offended.

I certainly agree with the letter from Jerry Ingrim Jr. (November) .

Maybe we need to get away from what the "experts" are saying and get back to the old-time gospel and the saving grace ofJesus Christ.

MaroinKoop Fresno, Calif.

Feminism and atonement We were pleased to read Frances Hiebert's article, "The latest feminist outrage" (October). It pointed out the various forms of "Sophia" heresy and their influence. However, we believe her explanation of the atonement falls short of the biblical and historical doctrine regarding atonement.

The Bible uses a rich array of ideas we call atonement, reconciliation or peace with God; but the context consistently explains these primarily as a result of the death of Christ. In the moral economy established by God, sin results in death and death for sin is required by the justice of the God who hates sin. To satisfy this justice, God, showing his love and grace for us, gave his son to die in our place.

This provided expiation for our sin, expiation appropriated by faith.

The death of Christ is therefore not simply the meaningless act of a perverted God, but rather has meaning both in the justice and the love of God. It is a dilution of the doctrine of the expiatory work of Christ in his death to say that Christ came simply to "show humanity how to repent and live in a reconciled relationship with

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God." Christ's death provided the substance and the basis by which we are enabled to stand before God. We believe that this is the understanding of atonement historically held by Anabaptists and evangelicals.

Dennis and Roxanne Cates Amarillo, Texas (l:n With the affirmation of Mission USA still fresh in our minds we shoot ourselves in the foot. Conference subsidy has provided forum for someone to promote a depersonalized God and to muse about our supposed errors in understanding atonement.

If we are going to guide people on the road to maturity, then these most fundamental of doctrines must of necessity be settled and frrmly established. The editor challenged readers to "be provoked" by the article and so we were: some to doubt, some to confusion and some to dismay. Were there any who were provoked to love and good deeds?

The Leader is the most prominent source of information our people receive about Mennonite Brethren beliefs. Dabbling in confused theology may seem like a stimulating intellectual exercise to a few, but for most it's a signal we haven't a clue where we stand.

While God doesn't have a physical body, much less a male body, maleness is nevertheless an inherent part of his nature. Names and pronouns are not here because sin produced a patriarchy which produced the Scriptures. They are there because God put them there, they teach us about his divine personhood.

Jesus Christ laid his life down of his own accord, he made himself nothing, willingly. Our salvation is not the by-product of a dysfunctional triune relationship. We were chosen in him since before the creation of the world.

What abusive father would exalt his son to the very highest place, give him a name above all others, and seat him at his own right hand in majesty?

One day throngs of the redeemed, both men and women, will lay their crowns before the throne shouting, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Is that not glorious? Is that not inclusive? Is anyone confused?

Indeed our world is hurting. But thanks be to God, there is good news!

SAY

The Father is gracious and compassionate. The Son is our redeemer and advocate. He showed us how to live abundantly in this world and he continually intercedes for us so that we will do exactly that. The Holy Spirit, he indwells and reveals the deep things of God. Men and women, boys and girls, receive and rejoice! Let us proclaim it, not challenge it. Stop doubting and believe.

Steven R. Toews, pastor Greenhaven Neighborhood Church Sacramento, Calif. (l:n Fran Hiebert's article on feminism and God raised some legitimate issues we Christians need to be able to answer. Hiebert recognizes the errors of designating God as male and accusing God of killing his son. I would like to elaborate a bit.

Trying to make God human is something we humans come by easily.

We are always trying to give human qualities to objects. We'll say "My car has been misbehaving" or "My computer just doesn't understand me."

Somehow, personalizing an object makes it easier for us to understand.

But trying to attribute "goddess" qualities to God is like trying to confine and define an infinite God. You can't make God over! God already said, "I

AM WHO I AM" (Ex. 3:14).

Unfortunately, God said that God cannot be understood in human terms. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Is. 55:8). We have to try to understand God for who God is and that is an interesting exercise!

Begin with an irony: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27) How is God male and female?

God is not male or female. We don't have a term for what you call it when something is more than male plus female, nor a pronoun that exactly characterizes it right. God intended marriage to show us how, when a man and a woman are blended into one, we are more complete, more than male plus female.

But it was with a rush of joy in the middle of a long night, nursing a new baby, when I realized that our relationships with our children exactly

mirror (in his image) God's relationship to us. God is the ultimate parent!

God is as tender and devoted as the best of mothers. God is as firm and strong as the best of fathers. God nurses us, wipes our noses and behinds, and cleans up after us. He teaches, guides, advises, disciplines, protects and provides for us.

God is neither male nor female.

God is more than both. Recognize God for who God is, or at least try to understand God on God's own terms.

I find it really interesting that Jesus is clearly male and that his church is clearly female. How many men in the church will understand that anxious, bridal anticipation of his coming, readying and purifying themselves to devote their lives to just one man?

God has honored women with a special position to understand!

And wisdom is not God. Wisdom is what we humans get when we fear God; it is tied with knowledge and discipline (prov. 1:7). Perhaps wisdom is given the feminine pronoun in Proverbs because wisdom is gentle and tender, and teaches us how to behave when physical strength is not present. You can't get wisdom by worshiping it. You get wisdom by asking God for it Gas. 1:5) and having wisdom doesn't make you God. Above all, don't dress God up into either a male or female image! For that is idolatry.

Molly Crocker Ferndale, Wash.

AMennonite way of life?

I found the article "Mennonite food?" (October) disturbing and disrespectful. Certainly the word "Mennonite" first means a theology. I respect the fact that the author returned to his faith because of what his denomination believes. But he does not need to make fun of the fact that being Mennonite can also mean a way of life.

We all know that our grandparents who came from Russia and other parts of Europe lived in tight communities and developed their own food. If there is "Jewish food" and "Amish food," why can't there be "Mennonite food"?

If we have forgotten and do not know anymore about the traditions, customs and the foods that our ancestors had, then that is our loss.

Cornelia Ball Arlington, Va. DECEMBER

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Happy holidaze

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AST LABOR DAY it occurred to me that I must be holiday impaired. Like most good Americans, I realize Labor Day was established to honor something about which I am clueless; but I do know I'm supposed to commemorate Labor Day by not laboring. There's my problem. If Labor Day is a day off from labor, why do I always make it so laborious?

Perhaps it's due to positioning; there Labor Day perches on top of September, when I'm invariably nowhere near the bottom of my Summer Projects list. So the day becomes an exhausting attempt to chase down home and yard improvements that have somehow gotten away from me. Tuesday morning I'm glad to drag back to work to take a day off from my day off.

I seem to have trouble locating the spirit of other holidays too. Every Memorial Day, my wife and I honor the memory of those gone before by taking a long weekend of solemn waterskiing and sober hot-tubbing. On the Fourth of July, we celebrate the founding of our great land by trying to burn it all down with frreworks. On New Year's Day it's always the same old thing: My standing resolution to eat less and exercise more sinks in a quagmire of cheese dip and college football.

Then there are your high-minded holidays.

On Easter, I've been known to celebrate Christ's resurrection by burying myself in enough church services and musical productions to render me comatose. Every Thanksgiving, I show my appreciation for God's bounty by attempting to gobble the entire bounty in one sitting, resulting in that annual Thanksgiving gripe: "I can't believe I ate the whooole thing!"

Come Christmas, we tend to commemorate Christ's humble birth by giving extravagant gifts to each other. Strange. Not that Christmas isn't worthy of hearty celebration and extravagant giving, after the fashion of angels, shepherds, and magi. But that's the point: after the fashion. The original partying and gift-giving were directed exclusively toward Christ and his coming kingdom. And it didn't happen on a single star-studded night, like in our yearly Christmas pageants, but over a period of time.

Every year I carp about the commercial Christmas hype starting two months before the fact, but Luke informs us the original celebration began nine months earlier.

Elizabeth: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!" (1:42).

Mary: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (1 :46-47).

Months later, upon the birth of John the Baptist, the party continued.

Zechariah: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David" (1:68-69).

After more months came the Big Event: Angel: "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" (2:10-11).

Heavenly Host: "Glory to God in the highest, and an earth peace to men on whom his favor rests" (2:14).

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen (2:20).

Eight days later, at Jesus's circumcision, partyers were still popping in: Simeon: "My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people" (2:30-31).

After more months yet, at Joseph and Mary's house, folks were still dropping off presents: Magi: "They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh" (Mt. 2:11).

All told then, the frrst Christmas party lasted a year, at least. Maybe today's relentless retailers have the right idea after all. Or maybe they don't.

Retailers tend to be considerably less interested in Christ and his coming kingdom than customers and their coming cash.

Not that I'm much different. On the whole my holiday doings are decidedly materialistic: decorations, dinners, gifts, gatherings, programs, performances, and so on. Yeah, sure, I try to toss a tribute or two at the "real meaning" of the season, but my trinkets seem tacky compared to the frrst celebrants' bright gifts of blessing and glory and praise, joy and peace and worship.

We toss these terms arounq in our holiday plays and cards and songs and such, but sometimes I wonder if we've really got a grip on them.

How can we? Trying to get into a "Christmas spirit" sounds suspiciously like my attempts to do all my labor on Labor Day. No way.

If I'm not in the spirit already, Christmas isn't $2 going to get me there.

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Retailers tend

to be considerably less interested in Christ and his coming kingdom than customers and their coming cash.

Philip Wiebe lives in Salem, Ore.

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How can I trust my interpretation of Scripture when people sincerely study it and come up with such different interpretations?

(KANSAS)

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The best of us-the most spiritual or the most educated or the most spiritually gifted-has no faultless hold on interpreting the Bible. Not one of us becomes so godly that we can no longer err in determining what the Scriptures mean. The person most consistently faithful to the Word of God can nevertheless interpret a passage incorrectly.

While the Scriptures were not available to New Testament persons in the same way they are to us, it is instructive to remember that the apostle Peter somehow "didn't get it" when it came to the matter of accepting Gentiles. So Paul, in Galatians, says he confronted Peter "in front of them all" (2 : 14). Peter didn't get everything straight in spite of being very close to Jesus.

History also reminds us that the best of God's giants can be wrong.

We are indebted to Martin Luther for calling the church back to God and to the doctrine of justification by faith , not works. But Luther could also be wrong. He was wrong enough to believe that at times you should kill other Christians. We Anabaptists took the brunt of his mistaken zeal for God. But Mennonites can be wrong too.

The one overriding factor that persuaded Menno Simons in the 16th century to cast his lot with Anabaptists in a leadership role was the mistaken zeal of the Mennonite Muensterites (they weren't yet called Mennonites) who somehow saw in the Scriptures a scheme for making the "New Jerusalem " a city in Europe with Anabaptists in charge.

The ftrst answer to the inquiry then is this: You can't trust your own private interpretation of the Scripture.

Insisting that you have the final answer to biblical questions is the sure way to heresy. Remember those who have created the most havoc in the name of God recently . David 16

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Koresh and Jim Jones were men who knew exactly what the Bible said _ And they alone were the sole judges of biblical correctness. Even their spiritual communities could not critique nor examine their beliefs_ We have a wonderful tradition as Anabaptists. Our forebears met around an open Bible. Why? Because they didn't trust anyone person's view of Scripture. They compared. They debated.

They prayed for light and wisdom.

Heresy cropped up among them at times, but no one person created their theology.

The view that every individual is his own expositor, without need for others to critique him or her, is a relatively recent notion and is not scripturaL It is the community of faith that interprets. Even those communities must compare with other communities and their beliefs_ The task of interpretation and seeking truth never ends. For one thing, the task is never ftnished because the world changes and calls for added interpretations. Moreover, we never become so wise that we know truth in its completeness. If you're not certain you're right, rejoice! The greatest danger is to be certain you can't be wrong.

Q

When I know intellectually what my biblical response to forgiveness and loving people ought to be, but I can 't change my attitudes and actiOns, what should I do? (KANSAS)

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The questioner is essentially asking, how do I get my thinking, feelings and actions on the same track? We all know the problem. I recall how, when we lived in California during a ftve-month sabbatical in 1975, our youngest daughter (and we as parents, no doubt) struggled with prejudice against other races. Having been nurtured in the quietness of a homogeneous community in Kansas, she wasn't prepared for her ftrst day L E A D E R

Do you have a question about a Bible passage, doctrine, conference policy, or other spiritual issue?

Send it to "Inquiring Minds, " c/o Marvin Hein, 4812 E. Butler, Fresno, CA 93727. in fust grade in Los Angeles. It shattered most of the nonprejudice we had tried to teach our daughter. At the close of the school day, with paper in hand to show mother and dad what she had done that day, a fellow student of another color grabbed the paper, stomped it into the dirt.

Our daughter stood there in fear and amazement. Welcome to a different world!

I confess that my feelings have not always caught up with what my mind tells me is right. So the inquiry is a good one. What do you do when the Bible says: "Love your enemies," and you can't? What's the remedy?

A professor-friend put it this way: "We say: 'Don't act until you feel.'

Jesus said: 'Do what is right and in time your feelings will catch up with your action. '" In other words, Jesus urged us to act out love, not hate, toward our enemies regardless of how we feel about them. Can you do that?

The carnal Christian most likely cannot, but a person sensitive to what God wants can.

I first read the words of Louis H. Evans 50 years ago. He had some suggestions for getting mind, feelings and actions on the same track_ He said the secret begins with acknowledging the trouble is deep within us. We can't remedy this matter by ourselves. We need God's Spirit. But he went on to say that God needs us in the remedy.

So practice love and praise, or whatever it is you don 't feel like doing .

Pray for those who are mean to you, Evans said, because it is spiritually impossible to go on hating someone for whom you pray regularly and sincerely. Start a campaign for love. i2

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BY JIM

HOLM

Time for an attitude check

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EORGE BARNA is the current doyen of religious information gathering, the George Gallup of the evangelical world.

Barna researches the opinions and ideas of people of faith and nonfaith across the United States, and then tells us what we and people like us think. In November 1994, Barna spoke to a group of Christians engaged in fund-raising. His topic was current attitudes in American culture.

His insights make stimulating conversation. Barna identified several issues that affect church and culture in the USA: • The rejection of absolute truth vs. the ascendancy of moral relativism. While this is nothing new, it remains disturbing. It is a mark of the post-Christian age in which we live. Recently a teacher in a Christian high school told me her students understand clearly what the Bible says about the conduct of believers. Yet, in making ethical deciSions, those students would place the Bible alongside other things, such as the attitudes of their peers, or their own feelings, in determining what they would do. In other words, Scripture did not receive any special consideration in decision-making. The Bible was considered, but it was no more important than other things.

• The demise of Christian orthodoxy vs. the rise of synthetic spirituality. Let's fact it: Almost everybody searches for spiritual beliefs, but few get excited about traditional Christianity.

Not for one moment am I suggesting that traditional Christianity is foolish or a waste of time, but it doesn't appear to many people to contain satisfactory answers to life's questions.

Synthetic spirituality is a belief system fashioned by my own construction. It is building a kind of "god" I would like to believe in, if I had my choice. Such a "god" is very popular. Consider the current raving about angel worship.

Angels are popular because we can make them anything we like.

• Ineffective confrontational evangelism vs. Socratic evangelism. Put simply, people like to engage in dialogue about faith, they like to have their questions answered rather than respond to a memorized gospel presentation.

This doesn't mean that door-to-door evangelism using little booklets is finished, but it is losing popularity. As one who has done a fair amount of door-to-door witnessing, I welcome the change.

It seems consistent with the New Testament model of faith-sharing.

• Academic education for clergy vs.

practical training for church leaders. Seminary education is being revamped. A recent issue of Christianity Today revealed startling differences between what seminary professors and church lay people see as the top priorities for pastors. The professors said theological knowledge should be a pastor's main concern, while the lay people listed spirituality first, and theological knowledge fifth. This is important, and it suggests we oUght to see a change in seminary education .

• Cultural transmission by written tradition vs. cultural transmission by audiovisual tradition. We are no longer a nation of readers and writers (with the exception of graffiti). Tragic as this seems to those of us who read or write, or both, we have to recognize that the generation on the Internet is full of visual learners. We'll have to adapt our style of communicating the ancient truth.

• Effective leadership in family, church, business and government vs the repulsion of strong leaders. No surprise here either. But, sadly, the church also experiences this phenomenon. I have both witnessed and felt the rejection of attempts at leadership by Mennonite Brethren pastors and lay leaders. Even though churches want a pastor who is called by God to a pOSition of leadership, they resist when that person tries to lead.

Frankly, I don't like every trend that Barna reports. In fact, I hope some of them can be reversed. But we do need to understand the kind of world in which we live. This is how it is, even in the small, rural communities which many of us inhabit. This is America today.

One thing more, sort of an aside, yet germane to the issue. Many Mennonite Brethren were heartened by the recent election results.

Like lots of you, I too voted for change. But know this: The future of America will not be ultimately decided by which political party is in power, but rather by the kind of culture in which we live.

What is needed today, as always, and perhaps more than ever, is, in the words of former TIME magazine correspondent David Aikman, "... a kind of awakening or revival that has such a dramatic effect that politics is merely an outflow of it."

Aikman says the lives of Christians must reflect a serious cultural difference from the rest of pagan society. Simply stated, we must now live like disciples of Christ.

Have we got that? Then let's begin.

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Who will care for this baby?

BY RICKY HUEBERT-SANCHEZ AS TOLD TO GARY HARDAWAY

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T WAS LOVE at first sight. The moment my wife, Karen, looked in the eyes of that helpless, needy 8-month-old baby in that hospital in Bangkok, she was completely captivated. An instant bond, like motherhood, sprang into being.

"Ricky, you've got to see this baby," she told me later. The baby, whom we nicknamed Joy, had never been out of the hospital. Nor had she had much attention or love . Her motor skills lagged far behind other children her age. She couldn't sit or crawl or use her hands with any coordination.

Karen , who was adopted by her parents, asked, "Who's going to take care of this baby?"

We had come to Thailand for discipleship training with Youth with a Mission. Part of our assignment was visiting hospitals to pray with and encourage patients . In February 1994, Karen had found "Joy" in the children's ward.

Through a translator, we learned a few isolated facts about her. Apparently abandoned, the little girl had parents in a village some distance away. They had never visited or showed any interest in her since her birth.

Did God want us to adopt? We decided to exRicky and Karen HuebertSanchez: Captivated by Joy.

plore the possibility. The hospital ined our caucasian faces, they whissocial workers, however, were reluc- pered among themselves, wondering tant to talk to us about adopting this who we were and why we had come particular child . They offered us all the way to their village. They pointanother, a 5-month-old girl who was ed out the thatched-roofed hut where available, but our hearts were already the baby's parents lived, though neiwrapped up in Joy's future and well- ther was home. The mother was out cutting sugar cane, and the father had being.

After a couple of weeks of pursuing hired out as a laborer. It was early information with government offi- afternoon, and they were not expectcials-including immigration-we came ed back until sunset.

At this point the Lord seemed to to the conclusion it might be simpler and easier to contact the parents and interVene . Within a short time the perhaps get their permission to adopt. mother came home unexpectedly. We We obtained the address from the discovered she had not abandoned her hospital, and, with an interpreter, set daughter at all. With tears, she told how the family had been unable to out to meet Joy's mother and father.

We caught a ride with a big truck pay the hospital bill, and the hospital which carried us a long way out from had not allowed her to take the child the city. At a drop-off point, we away. Nor did she and her husband caught a taxi into a beautiful moun- have money to travel to visit the child.

We were floored to realize that she tainous jungle area and, after miles of twisting, slippery, muddy longed to be reunited with her daughroad, came to our ter, longed to take her home and raise destination: a her in their home, just like any caring village of mother would.

Our translator, who was also quite about 50 people who lived an evangelist, wasted no time sharing in a few prim- Jesus Christ with this women. He brought out his Bible and read many itive shelters.

Our arrival passages, proclaiming the good news created quite of Jesus Christ . After a couple of a stir. Every- hours, we were interrupted by anothone came to er wonderful surprise: the husband see us. As the came in a few hours earlier than people exam- planned. He too was overjoyed to hear news of his daughter.

We decided then and there to take them back to Bangkok to visit their baby. As we made the long journey back, Karen and I realized our

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dream of adopting Joy was not going to be fulfilled. She had parents who loved her, a family to whom she rightfully belonged. Bouncing along the road, we shed a few tears as we had to give up one who had become so precious to us.

At the hospital, when we all came to the children's ward, the staff seemed rather nervous and embarrassed, possibly because we had found out that they had been holding the baby hostage. After a joyous reunion, and some heart-to-heart negotiations, the hospital administration decided to waive the entire bill.

When they released Joy, they even threw in two free large containers of milk. .

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with us. She attended the church service that morning, staying in the back of the room, walking to and fro with the child in her arms, trying to listen as I preached through an interpreter.

When I gave an altar call, she raised her hand to indicate a desire to accept Jesus.

That day she said she understood the message and wanted to follow Jesus. We spent much of the day explaining, teaching, preparing her for return to the village. There are Bibles and Christian literature available there.

The next day, shortly before we left for the airport, we had the joy of seeing her reading the Bible to her 10year-old who was with her.

Now we're going back to Thailand as MB Missions/Services vocational missionaries to teach in a mission school.

We will soon see how the family is doing. We hope to start a church in that village and possibly other villages too. Our encounter with Joy has led us on a spiritual adventure we could not have arranged ourselves. i2

n Bangkok, the church we were working with welcomed the poor village couple with tremendous love.

In addition to providing lodging and food, the church people bought a crib, donated clothes for the parents and gave them two huge duffel bags of baby clothes.

The pastor and his wife went out of their way to show them that Jesus Ricky and Karen Huebert-Sanchez, cared about their situation. The moth- members of Butler Avenue MB er got to attend a prayer meeting at Church in Fresno, Calif, are now church and seemed moved by the vocational missionaries with MBM/S. presence of the Lord there, They graduated from Fresno Pacific As the time come near for us to College and have served with several return to the States, Karen wrestled short-term missions. In summer with continuing pain in her soul. At 1993, they led the MBM/S-sponsored times she cried out, "Lord, you broke Youth Mission International team in my heart to reunite a mother and her Maracaibo, Venezuela. In early 1994 baby. That's not fair." God seemed to the couple ministered for three answer, "Do you really trust me or months in Thailand with Youth with a Mission. They have now accepted a not?"

The day before we left was a Sun- teaching assignment in a mission day. With fmancial help, the mother school in Thailand. Gary Hardaway and child were able to make the trip is secretary for communication and to the city for one last time together public relations for MBM/S.

At til1'leS she cried out, ((Lord, you broke Iny heart to reunite a Inother and her baby. That's notfair. )) God see1ned to anSl{)el~ "Do you real!:)! trust rne or not?))

ROLE: Responsible to the president for consensus-building leadership in accomplishing the educational mission of the college as expressed in the Fresno Pacific College Idea and in the mission statements of the educational programs of the college.

DUllES: Provides intellectual and academic leadership of the educational program, which includes instructional and academic support functions, and the student development program. Articulates the academic mission of the institution internally and externally and is an advocate for faculty within institutional governance. Member of the President's Cabinet, chair of Academic Cabinet, and staff liaison to the Academic Commission of the Board of Trustees. Responsible for budget preparation and budget management of the educational programs, and for faculty personnel functions, including recruitment, evaluation, policies and their implementation, faculty salary determination and contracts.

QuAUFlCATIONS:

• Earned doctorate • Commitment to integration of Christian faith and learning in the liberal arts tradition and in graduate and nondegree adult education • Demonstrated excellence as a teachel' in a college or university setiing • Administrative experience • Clear understanding of and commitment to the theological distinctives and mission of the college, including its foundation in the Anabaptist Believers Church tradition • Evidence of scholarly achievement • Ability to effectively represent the institution to its various constituencies COLLEGE DESCRJP110N: Fresno PacifiC College is an evangelical liberal arts college sponsored by the Mennonite Brethren Church. The college offers the associate of arts, bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees. Undergraduates number about 800 and graduate students, 800. The college is accredited as a senior college by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Fresno Pacific is known for its academic excellence, strong sense of campus community and Christian commitment. All employees of the college must be able to support the theological orientation of the college and express a personal Christian commitment.

STAR11NG DATE: July 1, 1995

SALARY: Near the mean for type and size of institution. Health, life and LTD insurance, TlAA!CREF retirement options, four weeks vacation, moving expenses, tuition waivers.

APPuCATlON: Send letter of application to:

Sue Kliewer, Personnel Director, Fresno Pacific College, 1717 South Chestnut, Fresno, CA 93702 Review of applications will begin 1/ 15/ 95 .

Review will continue until position is filled .

Fresno Pacific College provides equal opportunity for employment without regard for race, color, national origin, sex, age , or handicap. Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.

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Answering a call to celebrate previous fiscal year, a recent $1 million land gift that gave the school a banner headline in the Fresno Bee, and several years of recognition in U.S. News & World Report as one of the best regional colleges around.

The weekend focused more on the "remembering" aspect of the "Remembering, Reaching" theme.

"Remembering is more fun than reaching," noted Harold Enns, PDC chair, in his convention-opening address on Thursday. Enns used a former athlete he had coached at FPC 30 years ago as a metaphor to describe the efforts of the district to grow a college through the years. "George," drafted by Enns as a last-miriute entry in the two-mile run, won a dual track meet for the school simply by plodding his way to the finish line and winning the third-place point in a three-man field.

Enns recalled several of the early struggles of FPC and the faith of leaders to plod ahead, believing in God's guidance. Because of God's faithfulness, he said, "we shouldn't be surprised that our George-like efforts pro-

duced good results. " And yet, as the weekend theme suggested, the school and its supporters made it clear that while the past has been good, the future holds promise for bigger and better.

"We truly do worship a God of miracles," said Richard Kriegbaum, FPC preSident, as he addressed the crowd at the Thursday night celebration.

"Nothing is too great for our God. No dream is impossible."

In addition to Kriegbaum ' s concluding message, the evening included a parade of national flags representing the homelands of FPC students and alumni , music from a variety of college groups, historical reflections about the past from school historian Joel Wiebe, the unveiling of portraits of the school's seven presidents, and a three-part video about the school's past challenges.

In addition to Kriegbaum, former presidents R.M. Baerg, Arthur Wiebe and Edmund Janzen offered brief comments about their tenures. Bob Ewert spoke on behalf of alumni and Hilary Brown represented the current FPC

Richard Kriegbaum, FPC president, watches as his wife, Elona, unveils his presidential portrait during the school's 50th anniversary celebration. The portraits of the seven presidents were permanently hung the following day in McDonald Hall. Three past presidents participated in the program: R.M. Baerg, Arthur Wiebe and Edmund Janzen.

Clarence Hiebert, interim president of Tabor College, throws another shovelful of dirt on the newly planted red oak seedling, a gift from FPC's sister school in Kansas. Hiebert noted the "intertwined loyalties" of the two institutions: nearly 80 present and past FPC faculty had attended Tabor at some point.

• Pacific District delegates bask in the achievement of their school's 50th birthday

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OMETIMES YOU just have to party. That was the case at this fall's Pacific District Conference convention, held Nov. 10-12 in Fresno, Calif. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the district-owned school, Fresno Pacific College.

Though delegates tended to other business too, the FPC bash took center stage this year. A series of commemorative events was climaxed in a two-hour gala celebration in the FPC Special Events Center on Thursday night.

In truth, this party celebrated more than reaching a milestone on the calendar. Delegates and friends formally acknowledged a "coming of age" for the institution . Not only was the school still going after 50 years, it was going very, very well. The evidence was convincing: near-capacity enrollment, a large operating surplus the

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LEFT: District minister Henry Dick introduces a brief testimonial from Pablo Castillo, pastor of the Templo La Plaz congregation in Orosi, calif.

Castillo reported that 12 men had made recent decisions to follow Christ following a congregational commitment to fasting and prayer. RIGHT: Jose Natal, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Encuentro in Shafter, calif., mans the translation booth during a business session. Simultaneous translation was offered in Spanish and Russian. This past year, the district added its 10th worship language: Japanese.

student body. Clarence Hiebert, iJ.lter-

Menonitas in Hillsboro, Ore.; Iglesia

im president of Tabor College in Hills-

La Senda Antigua in North Hollywood,

boro, Kan., was on hand to extend greetings. The following day, Hiebert helped plant a red oak seedling on the campus as an anniversary gift from FPC's sister school.

The FPC board and administration had a chance to outline some of the "reaching" they intend for the near future during their PDC stockholders meeting on Friday afternoon. Chief among them, in regard to facilities, is the proposed $7.5 million student commons project. The multi phase proposal includes a student services center, a new dining hall and a chapel-auditorium. Kriegbaum reported that within a few months, the college should have sufficient cash in hand to clear the proposed construction area. The first phase of construction will not begin until the cost of it has been covered in pledges and half the cash is in hand.

Calif.; Primera Iglesia Hispana Ebenezer in Portland, Ore.; and Russian Church of Spokane (Wash.).

During the annual home missions banquet on Friday night, church planter Fred Leonard reported that the Mountain View Community Church in Clovis, Calif., which held

its first public worship service in May, has been averaging 160 in attendance this fall, with almost weekly conversions.

The Board of Home Missions (BHM), though, won't be launching new projects in the coming year-at least not within their existing budget.

Faced with projected income shortages, the board was forced to cut the

Four churches added When delegates weren't celebrating the growth of the school, they were celebrating the growth of the district. Four more congregations were formally added this year, raising the total of PDC indigenous and emerging churches to 76. Those joining were: Iglesia Cristiana Hermanos

The choir from the Slavic Evangelical Missionary Church in Fresno sings a Russian-language number for the delegation. The district welcomed its 10th Slavic congregation into the fold.

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Vern Heidebrecht, pastor of Northview Community Church, a fast-growing church plant in Abbotsford, B.C., was the guest speaker at the home missions banquet. Heidebrecht challenged his listeners to build transforming churches through small groups and creative use of facilities and other resources.

$42,000 it had budgeted for new projects.

One new project is possible, however, if the board can raise sufficient funds through fts new above-budget revenue option called "Church Planting Associates." BHM has its eye on Selma, Calif., as the site for an Englishspeaking hispanic church. According to Don Enns, director of church planting, an anonymous donor has already

pledged $15,000 toward the project.

If the proposed Selma church takes root, the board would like to see it begin a ministry to Spanish-speakers in the future.

In addition to its new projects line, the BHM also cut $11,000 it had originally proposed for project development, public relations and leadership development. Other cutbacks included $5,000 from the Board of Youth Ministries budget and $10,000 from a proposal for the PDC to participate in the multiagency video center being developed on the FPC campus. The revised expense budget approved for 1994-95 totaled $224,000, a reduction of almost 21 percent from the previous year.

Delegates approved a recommendation from the Coordinating Council to hold seven regional rallies next fall instead of meeting in convention. The plan, offered as a one-year experiment, is similar to the one adopted a year ago by the Southern District. The PDC rallies would begin Oct. 1, 1995, in Washington State and continue southward on successive Sundays, ending in Bakersfield, Calif., .Nov. 12.

The rallies will include some business, but will focus on reporting, challenge and celebration.

A second Coordinating Council recommendation met with more resistance. Included in a series of relatively routine constitutional bylaw changes

FPC's four living presidents were on hand for the weekend: from left, Edmund Janzen, Richard Kriegbaum, Arthur Wiebe and R.M. Baerg. The school's other three presidents, now deceased, were Sam Goossen, G.W. Peters and B.J. Braun.

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was a proposal to change the name of the Coordinating Board to "Executive Board" and to give it "all the powers and authority to act on behalf of the Conference membership during the interim between sessions of the Conference."

Harold Enns, who heads the council composed of board chairs and conference executives, said the change was necessary so significant decisions, such as purchasing property for new church plants, could be made in a more timely fashion. Some delegates, though, felt it wasn't necessary or helpful to grant the council such explicit authority.

After an amendment to remove the clause failed, the package of bylaw changes was approved with some dissenting votes.

In other matters: • The Hispanic Assembly and Council reported that their annual rally drew around 800 participants to Bakersfield, Calif., last May. • Delegates approved a recommendation to change the name of the Board of Reference and Council (BORAC) to Board of Faith and Life.

• The Board of Youth Ministries reported that 140 youth and sponsors attended "Youth Quake '94," the first regional event planned for Mennonite Brethren junior highers. The gathering was held on the FPC campus. The board also awarded more than 350 scholarships this year to help high school youth participate in churchrelated mission trips.

• District minister Henry Dick reported 36 pastoral staff changes or additions in the churches during the past year; BORAC approved 21 licensing applications for church workers.

• BORAC commended two documents for congregational use: "Dealing Redemptively with Sexual Moral Indiscretion Among Church Leaders," prepared by the U.S. Conference; also, "AIDS Policy Formation Guidelines."

• The Women's MiSSionary Service raised $11,875 this year for home missions and MB Biblical Seminary and FPC student scholarships.

• The Board of Christian Education announced their strategic goal for the year ahead to be "Meaningful Relationships and Ministries through Small Groups."-Don Ratzlaff

BODYLIFE

Confrontation at the crossroads • Central District delegates back off from decision to close its Native churches

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ELEGATES TO this year's Central District Conference, held Oct. 28-30, discovered that the crossroads of change can lead to one of three ends: consent, casualties or compromise. Tugged and stretched on several levels regarding their ministry to Native Americans, they fmally opted for compromise.

At the center of an extended debate were recommendations from the district's Church Planting Committee (CPC) to close the two Mennonite Brethren mission churches on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and to rethink mission strategy there for the future.

Perhaps it was fitting that this year's convention was held in Rapid City, S.D., itself a crossroads of cultures and perspectives. The gateway to monuments honoring two traditions, native (Crazy Horse) and newcomer (Mount Rushmore), the state's second largest city is less than two

hours' drive from Pine Ridge .

Rapid City is also home to the host congregation, Bible Fellowship Church, which stands as a monument of sorts to church-planting success in the district. In its 16 years, it has become the second largest church in the district. (See sidebar.)

Though the discussion of CPC's recommendations took on cultural and racial tones at points, the real crossroads concerned mission strategy. Following a year-long evaluation of the two works, the CPC noted that "due to a variety of reasons" neither church had become self-supporting and likely would not become so in the foreseeable future with the current mission philosophy.

The evaluation, which included two visits to the reservation and numerous contacts with CPC, was conducted by Dan Kelly of Nanaimo, B.C. Kelly had been recommended for the assignment by MB Missions/Services . A member of a Mennonite Brethren congregation in Kelowna, B.c., Kelly had had mission experience and conducted reviews of other Native ministries.

Without offering specifics, the CPC

Rapid City church grew from flood to fellowship

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F COMPASSIONATE Mennonites hadn't been "Reaching to a Broken World" 22 years ago, the Central District Conference likely wouldn't have had cause to gather in Rapid City for their annual convention this fall.

Seeds which led to the growth of the host congregation, Bible Fellowship Church, were planted in 1972 after a flood ravaged Rapid City. The deluge destroyed hundreds of homes and killed more than 200 people. When Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers responded to the need, several families were reached for Christ and a youth work was begun.

In August 1978 Dale and Marilyn Wiebe officially began a church-planting effort in the city through smallgroup Bible studies and extensive door-to-door evangelism and publiCity. The original church building was dedicated in 1980.

Waldo Wiebe, former Central District minister, fol-

Carol Coomes, one of three Native women to address the CPC recommendations, asked the conference to keep the Pine Ridge churches open with the help of younger workers.

lowed as pastor from 1981-83 and continues in a supportive role today. In July 1983, Dick and Elvira Nickel began their present ministry. Tom and Amy Cartney joined the staff in youth ministries in June 1994.

The future of the congregation was in doubt during the early 1980s. But under the Nickels' ministry, which has emphasized counseling, music and practical Bible teaching, the church has grown rapidly in recent years.

Today it is the second largest church in the district, with 221 members and an average Sunday moming attendance of 266.

The facilities have been enlarged twice. The first addition, a foyer with two large classrooms, was dedicated in 1989. The second addition, a worship and activity center of almost 9,000 square feet , was dedicated during the Oct. 30 Sunday morning service following the convention.

In addition to serving its own members and attenders, the facilities accommodate Rapid City Christian High School, a fully accredited high school with 136 students.-from the SentineL the CDC newsletter DEC E M B E R

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report stated, "In spite of our wellintentioned efforts, we have failed in utilizing various fundamental principles of missiology and have not adapted and changed our methods and approach rapidly enough to adapt to the culture, racial issues, and the various other needs of the people. As a result, the American Native people have not taken ownership of the ministry and have at times viewed the works with indifference and irrelevance."

CPC's recommendations included affirmation for long-time workers Ted and Mamie Standing Elk at Lakota Gospel Church in Porcupine, and Earl and Alice Hedlund at Gospel Fellowship Church in Pine Ridge. But they also called for bringing "a dignified closure" to both works-Porcupine by Feb. 28, 1995, and Pine Ridge by Aug. 31, 1995. The Standing Elks and Hedlunds would both receive the equivalent of six months' pay as a "ministry bonus," plus receive a love offering from the other district churches. The recommendations also empowered the CPC and Trustees Committee to negotiate the ownership of church property with tribal leaders.

A key element to the recommendations was a commitment from CPC to explore the possibility of "rebirthing a new type of ministry as some point in time with a new methodology and focus."

Garvie Schmidt, chair of the CPC, tried to soften the edges of the written statement by adding "at times" and "not always" to references to past strategy failures and the lack of Native ownership. He also said the CPC is planning other project reviews; the review of the Pine Ridge churches was "not an isolated situation." The fact that both workers were of retirement age contributed to the timing of the decision.

Extended and emotional debate Schmidt's qualifiers, though, did not satisfy everyone. For the rest of the morning session and most of the afternoon session, the recommendation was debated vigorously from the floor. The discussion included long, impassioned and sometimes pointed statements from two Native women.

They particularly criticized the evaluation process, citing a lack of consultation with church members.

"Every time a Native American is born, you are born with a question mark," said one of the women, Myrna Whiteface Youngbear. "You don't own yourself. Someone else is making your decisions for you. " Schmidt and the CPC listened quietly to the two statements and did not elaborate on their fmdings or respond publicly to specific accusations. At one point Dennis Webber, a CPC member from Minot, N.D., did say

that CPC had communicated its recommendations to the workers well aheaQ of the convention and "had left with the impression that the leaders would tell others so there would be no surprise."

But process wasn't the only issue.

Several delegates focused on the great spiritual and physical needs on the reservation and tied it to the convention theme, "Reaching to a broken world." One delegate, a schoolteacher from Rapid City, reminded delegates that Shannon County, located in the heart of the reservation, is the poorest county in the United States. "If we take away our support," he said, "we don't know the ramifications."

Still other delegates said it was shortsighted to close the churches so abruptly. "If we were closing any other church, we'd do it over two to three years, not in six months," said Curtis Hoyt of Rapid City.

Some, like Carol Coomes of the Pine Ridge congregation, encouraged the CPC to keep the churches open and find younger workers to replace those who would be retiring.

Despite assurances from CPC, some delegates, like Ed Eytzen of Delft, Minn., weren't convinced the district would remain committed to the needs of the reservation once the two churches were closed. "We will forget about them and never come back, " he said. "We can't just look at numbers

LEFT: Elizabeth Tieszen (far left), MBM/S missionary who served as translator, joins hands with a women's ensemble from the new hispanic church planting work in Omaha, Neb. The women sang several songs in Spanish during the home missions rally. RIGHT: Garvie Schmidt leads the delegation of leaders formally welcoming the hispanic group as a new district church. Pastor Walter Preza stands at the far right.

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Whether satisfied by the compromise or weary from the emotional drain of the previous day, the delegation passed the new recommendations with Ii ttle discussion -71-8 regarding Porcupine and 72-6 regarding Pine Ridge.

Alice Hedlund (standing) and her husband, Earl (seated to her right), led a workshop on ministering to Native Americans. Delegates could choose between workshops on several topics. One option included a tour of urban ministries that modeled the convention theme.

(of church members) . We have to look at souls."

Meanwhile, several delegates spoke in favor of the direction the CPC was heading. "We are not looking at a closure, but at a transition," said Myron Vetter of Gettysburg, S.D. "Maybe it's a forced transition, but it's a direction we need to go. ' Daryl Toews of Lustre, Mont., noting the convention theme, said, "The time is right. The compassionate thing is to allow these groups to run their own churches."

"Does ministry have to stop because the money stops?" asked Sam Freshwater of Bismarck, N.D. "It may make ministry more difficult, but if we've done our job it shouldn't stop."

Revised strategy The issue was left unresolved on Friday. The following morning, the delegation was stirred by a presentation by guest speaker Henry Schmidt, president of the MB Biblical Seminary, and then greeted with a revised recommendation from CPC. Speaking on the convention theme, Henry Schmidt urged delegates to respond to Jesus as Zacchaeus did: to leave the security of being a spectator

and follow Jesus into hands-on ministry. He touched on the Pine Ridge recommendations, saying the issue wasn't abandonment. Rather, it was committing the church to more meaningful and effective involvement with Native Americans . He warned that when people respond to cultural groups primarily out of guilt, they usually err in one of two ways: by giving too much money and fostering a welfare-like dependency among the people they want to help, or by giving nothing.

Following the message, Garvie Schmidt and the CPC returned to the stage with revised recommendations regarding Porcupine and Pine Ridge.

The revisions would: allow both congregations to continue as Mennonite Brethren churches with a transition from CPC supervision to local control

by Aug. 31, 1995; continue district funding of those ministries through August 1995; give Standing Elk and Hedlund a ministry bonus of $7,800 after that date; and encourage district churches to receive a love offering for the two workers and split the proceeds between them. The revised strategy did not include a "rebirthing" intention from cpc.

Omaha developments Between business sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, the CPC had an opportunity to showcase some of their other church-planting efforts. The annual Home Missions Rally on Friday night featured expanding ministry opportunities in the Omaha, Neb., area: • Pastor Leonard Reimer and members of the Millard Bible Church reported numerical and financial growth since moving into their new facility in southwest suburban Omaha.

• Peter John Thomas, pastor of the Faith Bible Church in inner-city Omaha, used the story of Jesus's healing of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5 to describe Faith's efforts to reach hurting people in the inner City.

• Pastor Walter Preza talked about the new church-planting effort among the 35,000 hispanics living in Omaha.

Several members of Iglesia Agua Viva, which is averaging 30 people at Sunday services, sang Spanish songs and gave their testimonies. The congregation was formally received as an emerging church.

• The delegation was introduced to Norm Thiessen, who recently joined the faculty of Grace University in Omaha. Thiessen, who has been involved in church-planting projects in the Pacific District Conference, has expressed interest in working with a new project in the Omaha area, possibly Gretna.

An offering for home missions raised $1,844.

Before adjourning the convention, delegates approved an operating budget of $191,800 for the coming year, an increase of almost $10,000 from the previous year. The Board of Trustees reported that giving from the churches decreased by 8 percent from the previous year to $123,201.

Plans call for next year's convention to be held on the Tabor College campus in Hillsboro, Kan.-Don Ratzlaff DEC E M B E R

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Tabor's new prexy: 'I'm an incurable believer in the Christian college' • David Brandt to begin assignment Feb. 1

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N OUR PREVIOUS ISSUE, we reported the appointment of David Brandt as

the next president of Tabor College. Brandt will begin his tenure at Tabor Feb. I; he comes with more than 20 years experience in Christian higher education. He was dean and vice president of academic affairs at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., before accepting his current position as provost at Bethel College in St. Pau4 Minn. The Leader editors recently interviewed Brandt about his new assignment Following are excerpts from that interview. junior in high school, I was unhappy to go there. But I met this woman who was an MB. She became my wife.

Melva went to Tabor for one year.

Having married into an MB family, the Mennonite Brethren became much closer to me.

LEADER: Tell us about your personal and spiritual pilgrimage. What connections do you have with the Mennonite Brethren?

BRANDT: I grew up in an Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) home.

My dad was a pastor and a business person in Steinbach, Man. The town had a variety of Mennonite churches, including Mennonite Brethren. I had lots of school friends who were Mennonite Brethren. My maternal grandfather was a Mennonite Brethren from Saskatchewan and his brothers were Tabor people.

When I was in high school, my father sold his business and became a full-time pastor. He took the EMB church in Mountain Lake, Minn. As a 26

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LEADER: What kind of impressions did you have of the Mennonite Brethren as you got to know them?

BRANDT: I discovered that for all practical purposes the MB Church held beliefs that I bought into and agreed with . As a young person I wasn't always sure about this Mennonite stuff. It took going away from this small Mennonite place for me to begin appreciating what it was I had grown up with and what this theology really meant. I discovered it had really "taken.» I had not only become a Christian, but a Mennonite Christian.

The tenants of Anabaptist theology are really very important to me.

I'm looking forward to coming to this Mennonite Brethren environment.

We Anabaptists have a lot to contribute and I'd like to be part of that.

LEADER: You were a finalist for the Tabor presidency seven years ago, but decided to withdraw. What has Changed-for you or for Taborthat prompted you to accept the job this time around?

BRANDT: It wasn 't clear to me seven years ago that I wanted to be a college president. That's become clearer. So that's one thing.

Second, at that time I wasn't ready to leave Messiah. It turns out I left shortly afterward anyway. But that LEA D E R

wasn't an obvious decision to me at the time I was talking to Tabor.

My decision about Tabor never felt terribly good to me. Usually when I make decisions, I move on. But this one came back to haunt me time after time. It's a decision I was never able to leave .

LEADER: What is it about Tabor that attracts you?

BRANDT: I'm a long-time fan of Christian higher education. I could give you a speech on that one, but I'll keep it short.

A lot of things are wrong with the American church, but if you look around the world you could probably argue that the Christian church in America has survived the 20th century remarkably well. You might ask why.

Well, the Christian college has made a lot of difference. The American church is still vibrant in part because we have not left the church to the clergy. Lay involvement in American churches is terribly important. Walk into most any church that you would call Christian, and you will find the product of our Christian schools working in a variety of capacities.

I'm an absolute incurable believer in the Christian college. It really works. It changes people. So I am coming to Tabor in part to keep on doing what I've been doing for a long time-Christian higher education.

LEADER: How do you see the Christian college and the church relating to each other?

BRANDT: I think the college and the church, in general, have not worked as well as they could. I have a dream of bringing college and church together to be mutual servants of each other. I would like to work at this business of how the college and the church together promote the kingdom.

LEADER: Do you have any specific ideas how Tabor College should relate to the Mennonite Brethren denomination?

BRANDT: Without knowing very well how they function now, I don't want to be presumptuous. But, for example, I would love to bring together on campus Mennonite Brethren pas-

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to do that.

Similarly, I wish the church would recognize that the students who come to the college are the same ones they had trouble with at home.

It's that kind of vulnerability that probably would allow us to trust each other.

tors or lay leaders and say: "A lot of things in our society need to be addressed. Let's sit down together and talk about them. Let's learn how to talk with each other because how can anyone person have the total answer?"

By the same token, colleges can get real snippety and arrogant with their churches. They can say: "We're elite.

We know how this education stuff works. We have all the answers"without listening to church people.

That's equally dangerous.

I'd like to establish an environment that's conducive to a conversation between the church and the college.

Maybe that already happens for the Mennonite Brethren and Tabor, but I'd love to be a part of that.

LEADER: How can individual churches best be involved in the governing process at Tabor?

BRANDT: Governance is tough.

Anytime you have a church that owns a college, you have potential for problem in governance. How do you keep it from catering to people who have single agendas, or don't want to see the big picture, or really want indoctrination rather than education?

I'll begin by saying there is no perfect governance structure-or if there is, I haven't encountered it yet. But governance becomes irrelevant when there is an appropriate level of trust.

If we could work toward trust and understanding, I suspect governance would almost take care of itself.

LEADER: How do you build trust between church and college?

BRANDT: Trust is built only when you become vulnerable with each other. I don't know of any other way.

That means you've got to tell the church when you fail as well as when you succeed. Of course, we don't like

LEADER: What kind of leadership style do you bring to the presidency?

BRANDT: I've come to some interesting conclusions lately that, if you'd known me over the long haul, would be quite shocking. In short: I've concluded that process is almost everything.

I'm not sure I like that, but I think it's true. When I listen to someone complain about something, I might say, "Now wait a minute, that wasn't a bad decision ." They almost always respond, "Well, OK, the decision was right, but it's the way it was done."

Process is what always gets nailed.

So I want to pay a lot of attention to process. I hope to listen carefully. But there is no way one person, even if it's the president, can solve all the problems.

I hope Tabor will be known as a place that addresses and solves problems together. I think Tabor has a lot of expertise. There are good folks there. The president'S job is to facilitate those good people.

BRANDT: I know American higher education is changing. Increasingly people of all ages go to school. So I'm interested in Tabor's new (degreecompletion) effort in Wichita.

Another thing that may sound trivial is the matter of learning. The issue on campus isn't teaching, it's learning.

I'd like to make Tabor a place where the most important thing is student learning. Much of that already happens, but we need to consciously address issues of student learning at every turn of the road.

This notion that we historically have come to call "the integration of faith with learning and life" really drives me. It's a never-ending process.

It's something we must be engaged in all the time. Faculty, staff and administration, along with students, need to be continually paying attention to how we bring the Christian faith and the whole academic enterprise together.

It's an exciting process but you've got to pay attention to it. It doesn't happen by itself. Someone has to have the impetus and be pushing it all the time. I hope to provide some of that push.

LEADER: Will you use a similar strategy of listening as you set a direction for Tabor for the next five to lOyears?

BRANDT: I really believe it would be a mistake to come in and lay down seven goals and say here's where we're going to go. I hope very much to spend some time listening. I hope to get some sense for Tabor, for its culture and history, which you don't ever get until you're there.

LEADER: What kind of student I'm quite ready to admit I have will Tabor be producing in the next ideas, and I will share them. But I five to 10 years if you've made your don't feel much like imposing them. I imprint on the institution? would hope we will have a listening BRANDT: I'd like to see Tabor proand talking process. But I don't want duce a student who will be deeply it to take forever. I don't think we can committed to servanthood. I wish stuafford that. dents would leave Tabor loving Jesus a whole lot. I hope they leave loving LEADER: That being true, do you other people, too, and have learned have some general interests that you the skills and have the education to want to probe regarding goals, bring those loves together. If we could changes and direction for Tabor? do that, I'd be real happy.

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APPOINTMENTS

OUTREACH

Premier board selected for Mission USA

Hispanic planters see U.S. as tough but important field

• BCM appoints a mix of clergy and laity

• Montes, Zabala team up to start Mennonite churches

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A FTER MANY years of experience 1"\.as Mennonite church planters, Juan Montes and Emilio Zabala have no illusions about their line of work.

"It is hard because you begin with zero," Montes says . "You have no building. You wonder how you will share your vision for a church. You have to trust that the Lord will help you."

Montes recalls how in his fIrst years as a church planter in the United States, his family lived in one room and had to shower at a local restaurant. Today he is thankful to have two part-time jobs, working as a pastor at Iglesia Hermanos Menonitas, the Mennonite Brethren church in Parlier, Calif., and at Iglesia Vida Nueva, a dual Mennonite Conference/General Conference Mennonite mission church in Reedley, Calif.

"Church planting is one of the hardest things you can do. You have to make sure you are called ," says Zabala, a graduate of Fresno Pacific College. "When you have a commitment to Jesus, you don't feel as alone. " Although both men have spent considerable time planting churches in their native country of Venezuela, they both feel called to work with hispanic Mennonite churches in North America.

During the 1980s, Montes helped plant seven churches in Venezuela with the support of the Eastern Mennonite Missions. In 1990, he moved with his family to the Los Angeles area, where he had accepted a position as the pastor of Cristos es la Respuesta, a Mennonite Brethren congregation in Arleta.

But after spending some time in Los Angeles, Montes and his wife, Carmen, decided the city was no place to raise their children. They accepted an invitation to work with the Parlier

HE FIRST Mission USA board has been selected and will begin the monumental task of creating the structure and focus for energizing church planting and renewal for the U.S. Conference.

The U.S. Board of Church Ministries (BCM) announced the names of the lO-member board Nov. 21 , climaxing a four-month process of discernment and interviewing.

BCM's choices represent a mix of clergy/laity and male/ female: • Chuck Buller, pastor of Neighborhood Church, Visalia, Calif., has agreed to be chair of the board; • Neil DeFehr, North Fresno MB Church, Fresno, Calif., is in private business; • Loretta Jost, Henderson (Neb.) MB Church, is a partner in the family agribusiness operation; • Clarice Rempel is office secretary for the Buhler (Kan.) MB Church; • Mike Schuil, Reedley (Calif.)

MB Church, sells real estate; • Tim Sullivan is pastor of Parkview Church, Hillsboro, Kan. Three of the remaining four members were appointed by their respective district home missions boards; the fourth was appointed

by MB Missions/ Services: • Steve Schroeder, pastor of Community Bible Fellows hip , Bellingham, Wash., representing the Pacific District; • Clint Seibel, pastor of Belleview Acres Church, Littleton , Colo. , representing the Southern District; • Jim Weems, pastor of Grace Bible Church, Gettysburg, S.D., representing the Central District; • Ernie Friesen, retired pastor from Wichita, Kan., representing the board of MBM/S. 28·

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Montes (left) and Zabala: "Church planting is one of the hardest things you can do."

Mennonite Brethren congregation.

"Jesus called me and my family here, " Montes says. "There are millions of hispanics in California. Many of them lack education and resources.

They need to come to Christ. " Zabala saw the needs of the hispan· ic community while a student at FPC and the pastor at Iglesia Hermanos Menonitas in 1989.

"We have a lot of work to do in Venezuela, but there we have many leaders," Zabala says. "In the United States there are few leaders who experience the call to work with the hispanic population.

"I have traveled in many countries in Latin America," he adds. "But I think people are tired of religion in the United States more than anywhere. So many churches in the United States are dying. I want to form a strong foundation so the church will never die."

Because of his convictions, Zabala and his wife, Vilma, moved to Reedley in June with the goal of planting a Mennonite church there and in Sanger. Zabala currently works with Montes in the Reedley church plant, paying close attention to what Montes does to draw people into his church.

Montes stresses the importance of

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developing strong relationships within the church through cell groups.

Once a week, he teaches the cell group leaders how they can be better disciples of Christ.

"The cell groups not only help a church grow in numbers, but also spiritually," says Montes, who has worked with cell groups for more than 12 years. "They open a little door for people to come to church.

"The doctrine for Mennonites is based on the Bible," he adds. "What I preach in church is that people need to recognize the relevance of God ....

We need to take every opportunity to be a witness for God. I'm very happy when someone wants to come to Jesus ."-Carla Reimer, GCMC news service

ACADEMIA

I

MB Bible teachers gather for insights • Seminary hosts first U.S. and Canadian consultation

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HAT HAPPENS when top Mennonite Brethren Bible scholars all put their thinking caps on in one place at one time to consider issues surrounding biblical interpretation?

What happens most is encouragement, excitement and insight, reports Elmer Martens, coordinator of just such a gathering.

For the ftrst time in the history of the denomination, teachers of Bible from eight Mennonite Brethren high

schools and post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States met for a conference on teaching and appropriating biblical texts. More than 20 people attended the three-day consultation Oct. 20-22 hosted by the MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif.

The specific purpose of the consultation, according to seminary representatives Martens and Ken Peters, was to work on ways to apply and give contemporary significance to biblical texts. An additional purpose was to learn from one another about teaching the Scripture and to build theological cohesion in the denomination. The seminary's Bible department had been planning the event for two years.

In the end, the consultation participants agreed on basic methods of biblical interpretation, but debated whether a text has a single or multiple meanings. Lively discussion turned on questions of authorial intent, whether the meaning of a text was found within a text, or somehow around the text, report Martens and Peters.

The consultation revolved around ftve hour-long presentations. Presentation were made by Gordon Matties of Concord College, Winnipeg, Man., Tim Geddert and Allen Guenther of MBBS, Katrina Poetker of Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and Hugo ZorrilIa of Fresno Pacific College.

Each of those five presentations were followed by prepared responses in turn by Lynn Jost and Harold Dyck representing Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., John Vooys of Columbia Bible College in Clearbrook, B.C., Faith Wiebe, MBBS senior; and Laura Schmidt of FPC. The presentations and responses will be published in the

Participants in the first gathering of Bible teachers from Mennonite Brethren high schools and post-secondary schools in Canada and the United States.

spring 1995 issue of Direction.

James McClendon, author and distinguished scholar in residence at Fuller Theological Seminary, was the invited observer. His role was to provide summary remarks and reflections as a scholar from outside the denomination.

A travel pool eased the financial burden of those coming from a distance. In addition to the schools already mentioned, representatives from three Christian high schools participated: Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, B.C., Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, and Immanuel High School in Reedley, Calif. (MBBS)

ORGANIZATIONS

Study gives MEDA high evaluation • Modesty may be MEDA's biggest shortcoming

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ENNONITE Economic Development Associates received high marks in a recent Canadian study commissioned to determine the effectiveness of MEDA's structure, governance and overseas programs.

The study was commissioned by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) as part of its regular review of organizations it supports. CIDA engaged Universalia, a Montreal-based consulting firm, to conduct the study. Over a four-month period, evaluators interviewed MEDA staff, met with members and the board of directors, and visited programs in Nicaragua and Bolivia.

"Effective development organization ... a good investment for Canadian taxpayers ... too modest in reporting its accomplishments," are phrases used

by Universalia in its ftnal report. The report recommends that CIDA regard MEDA as a "funding priority."

Evaluators concluded that MEDA is "an entrepreneurial organization that embraces growth and change" and is "well suited" to respond to rapidly changing economic and political environments.

MEDA was also commended for the DEC E M B E R

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emphasis and concern it places on well-planned programs. MEDA's micro-credit methodology (providing loans rather than grants) and its emphasis on training "are important characteristics that distinguish MEDA from other NGOs working in microenterprise development," stated the final report.

Suggested areas for improvement included staff coordination among the various offices and divisions and clarity on how MEDA's environment policy is applied. The evaluators also observed that while 50 to 60 percent of MEDA's overseas clients are women, women are under-represented in decision making positions. The

report noted that only three of 25 board members are women.

The study also found the organization to be "too modest" about its performance. "While MEDA's modesty is a positive characteristic, it needs to fmd ways to keep its key stockholders .. . better informed of its accomplishments."

The evaluators were interested in MEDA's efforts to strengthen local institutions in the countries where it works. They noted that both staff and MEDA members, when discussing the effectiveness of MEDA programs overseas, typically refer to the impact on individual clients and their families.

The evaluators preferred more empha-

sis on the local institutions which MEDA strives to create and support.

Allen Sauder, MEDA's director of international operations, says the encouragement to continue developing the institutional side of MEDA is a good reminder. He adds that MEDA does have a strong institutional thrust but that cooperatives, credit unions and producer associations don ' t emerge overnight or in keeping with preconceived plans.

MEDA is a 3,000-member North American inter-Mennonite organization with a two-prong thrust of using business-oriented methods to help the poor and promoting a Christian perspective in the work place. (MEDA)

. NEWS BRIEFS • PUBLISHED: Retired Mennonite Brethren missionary Sally Schroeder Isaac has written a book about her 30 years of radio work to German-speaking people around the world . In addition to her own story, Somp Seed Fell on Good Ground tells the story of Germans whose lives were touched by radio HCJB, broadcast from Quito, Ecuador. The book is published by Windflower Publications of Canada.

(Windflower) • LINKAGES: Every Mennonite and Brethren in Christ health and human services institution in the United States is invited to join Mennonite Health Services in an expanded business plan, according to Carl L. Good, executive director of Mennonite Health Services."An expanded network will help MHS members work together to maintain an Anabaptist focus in a competitive and gradmented health care environment," Good says. The expansion was approved by the MHS board in early October. Larry Nikkel, MHS director of members services and a member of Hesston (Kan .) MB Church, notes that in addition to the 16 current members, 100 Mennonite health and human service institutions are

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eligible for membership. "Most of these institutions are in rural areas and face growing competition from urban forprofit health centers," Nikkel says. "Working together-for the greatest stability and impact is becoming a necessity." (MHS)

• ILLNESS: The future of the Mennonite Central Committee storytelling tour featuring long-time workers Elfrieda and Peter Dyck is uncertain just two months into the yearlong tour. Elfrieda suffered a serious stroke in early November while in Coaldale, Alta.

MCC then canceled the Dyck's trip to British Columbia, the final portion of their Canadian tour, and put on hold the United States portion scheduled to begin in February. The couple set out Sept. 1 to tell today's MCC story to church groups throughout Canada and the United States. The storytelling tour is part of MCC's 75th anniversary celebrations.

(MCC) • INDEPENDENT: DOOR, an acronym for Denver Opportunity for Outreach and Reflection, is graduating from the Mennonite Central Committee family into an independent organization. For nine years

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DOOR has been a joint shortterm service program of MCC and Mennonite Urban Ministries of Denver. Now the DOOR advisory committee of Mennonite Urban Ministries is assuming full responsibility for the program. The committee, made up of members of Denver's seven Mennonite churches, has appointed Glenn Balzer as DOOR's new director. Balzer formerly served on the staff of Belleview Acres (MB) Church in Littleton, Colo. The DOOR program has grown steadily since its inception in 1986, with 303 participants this past summer. Churches from many denominations are attracted to the program .

Mennonite congregations make up about 30 to 35 percent of the participants. (MCC)

• RESPONDING: Mennonite Disaster Service has opened a project office in Liberty, Texas, and is seeking volunteers to help clean up and repair homes following midOctober flooding . MDS anticipates spending three to five months in Liberty to help restore some of the almost 1,700 homes in the county damaged or destroyed by the flood . People with carpentry skills are needed to help replace drywall and flooring;

other general helpers are needed for cleanup and to assist carpenters. Interested volunteers should contact MDS Liberty project at P.O. Box 10290, Liberty, TX 77575; telephone (409) 336-8057; fax (409) 3367402. (MCC)

• REOPENING: Mennonite Central Committee has reopened an office in Beirut, Lebanon, after an eight-year absence during which time MCC's work in Lebanon was directed from Jordan and Cyprus. Over the past eight years MCC supported agricultural projects in Lebanon with the supervision of local staff.

One of the first things MCC worker Joan Barkman did when she returned to open the MCC office was visit with farmers assisted by MCC projects. The cooperative representatives told Barkman MCC was "the only organization that stayed with us all these years ."

They indicated that even the smallest projects encouraged and motivated the discouraged farmers. "When I told them that many people who give to MCC are small and struggling farmers like them, their faces lit up and one said, 'That is why we have felt this kinship with the Mennonites.'"

(MCC)

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• CHURCH NOTES •

Baptism/Membership

HENDERSON, Neb.-Lee and Martha Friesen, Lisa Quiring and Stephanie Koonce were received into membership on Oct. 23.

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. (Summit)-Gary McLallen Jr. was baptized Oct. 2 at Prairie Lee Lake. The worship service included com· munion and was followed by a picnic.

REEDLEY, Calif.-Viola Will was welcomed into membership Oct. 23 .... Mitch Arretch€:, David Dorian, Jennifer Dorian, Shushanek DOrian, Jeremy Duek, Joshua Grauman and Jerad Mendel were baptized and received into membership Nov. 13. Alfred and Dolores Friesen were also welcomed as new memo bers.

HAYS, Kan. (North Oak)-Tim and Penny Davis and Pat and lisa Coyle were received as new members recently. J .B. Burkholder, Penny Davis, Nicole Ediger, Gabriel Jatnison, Jessie Jatnison, Angela Kempf, Maggie Lan· ning and June Yang were recently baptized.

TULSA, Okla. (parkside)-Chris Schaefer was baptized and received as a member Nov. 13.

WEATHERFORD, Okla. (Pine Acres)Bradley Kliewer, Kasey Kliewer, Chelsea Rouse and Stefanie Sawatzky were baptized Nov. 6.

SALEM, Ore. (Kingwood Bible)-New memo bers received recently were Tim and Sharon Andersen, Dan and Pat Myers, Tracy Rose and Matt Torres .

• Fellowship SALEM, Ore. (Kingwood Bible)-The church hosted a worship service Oct. 9 involving the seven evangelical churches of West Salem.

About 290 people attended .... Kingwood hosted the Dallas MB Church for a joint musi· cal service. The program also induded a humorous interview between the two pas· tors, Gordon Bergman of Kingwood and Ken Braun of Dallas.

WICHITA, Kan. (First)-A Thanksgiving cele· bration held Nov. 20 featured a turkey din· ner, missions offering and a dramatic presen· tation called "The Story of the Kingdom. " ENID, Okla.-The church hosted a 13·state regional Mennonite Disaster Service meeting Nov. 4·5.

TOPEKA, Kan.-The congregation celebrat· ed "Heritage Sunday" Nov. 13 by focusing on their diverse backgrounds and common her· itage in Christ. Families were invited to dress in their national attire and display mementos pertaining to their fatnily history.

YALE, S.D. (Bethel)-"Pheasant Hunt Sunday" on Oct . 16 featured "Preach" Robison of Albertville, Ala., as the guest speaker. A spe· cial welcome was made to all pheasant hunters worshiping with the congregation.

The Innocent, a 23-minute video drana, asks who is responsible for violence and suffering caused by war. It is based on a true story of a lao woman killed eight years after the conflict in Southeast Asia.

She is just one of thousands who have died from coming in contact with unexploded anti-personnel weapons.

The video and accompanying study guide provoke thoughtful dialogue on peace-related issues. For free loan or purchase contact:

Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Central Committee and MCC U.S. 21 Soulh 121h Street. PO Box 500, Akron, PA 17501 ·0500 (717)859·1151 (717)859·3889 Mennonna Central CommHtee Cenada 134 Plaza Drive. Winnipeg, MB R3T 5K9 (204) 261 · 6381

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MANHATfAN, Kan.-"Homecoming Day" events Sept. 25 included a celebration of the final payment on the church's meeting place.

A historical survey of the congregation was also part of the service.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(Rosedale Bible)Arnold and Salome Funk celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Aug. 20. Their children hosted a buffet dinner for family and friends.

LITTLETON, Colo. (Belleview Acres)Andrew Gallagher began serving as pastoral assistant in youth and recreation, and ElJynne Wiebe as Christian education and children's ministries director, Nov. 15.

• Celebrations

BUIll.ER, Kan.-A Nov. 26 praise service and reception marked the 50th wedding anniversary of Waldo and Minnie Siebert. The event was hosted by their children and grandchildren.

CORDELL, Okla. (Bible)-Scott and Julie Rink were installed as the pastoral couple on Nov. 6.

•

FRESNO, Calif. (North)-Youth Nite on Nov. 6 featured music, testimonies, drama and a slide show from the youth group's missions trip to Baja. The MBY served dessert following the service to raise funds for Estes '95.

HENDERSON, Neb.-The family of John and Gertrude Martens placed flowers in the sanctuary Oct. 16 in honor of the Martenses' 60th wedding anniversary.

SHAFfER, Calif.-Ruben and Aganetha Sperling were honored with a reception Oct. 22 in recognition of their 50th wedding anniversary.

REEDLEY, Calif.-Flowers were placed in the sanctuary Oct. 23 in honor of Ernest and Lorene Nikkel's 60th wedding anniversary.

A MOVE TO

ARIZONA? Call or write for free information packet "Pastor Ed Toews does what he says"

** !'\EN·" MEADE REALTY

Toll free: 1-800-658-5951 19232 R.H. Johnson Blvd.

Sun City West, AZ. 85357

Workers

CLINTON, Okla.-Dewayn Isaac, former pastor of the Ebenezer MB Church near Doland, S.D., began serving the Clinton Mennonite Church as pastor in October.

FAIRVIEW, Okla.-Lyle Cunningham was installed as pastor during the Nov. 6 morning service. Following the service , the MBY served lunch. Following the evening service, Cunningham and his wife, Ruth Ann, were guests at a reception and grocery shower.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Lincoln Glen)-Travis Reimer was installed as pastor Nov. 20 as part of the church's "Grand Celebration, " which also included the annual Harvest Thanksgiving dinner. Reimer and his wife, LOiS, were welcomed to their new role with an open house and grocery shower Nov. 6.

• Youth

HESSTON, Kan.-The high school students prepared the Oct. 23 morning worship service. It included a children's feature , music, testimonies and a message by Brett Buhrman and Marcus King.

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (Garden Valley)-The senior high youth invited the youth from Ulysses and Cimarron Mennonite Brethren churches for an all-night lock-in held Oct. 15.

•

Proclamation

HENDERSON, Neb.-Gary Hardaway, MB Missions/ Services secretary for communications and public relations, and Youth Mission International participants were the guest speakers on Harvest Missions Sunday held Nov. 6.

BRIDGEWATER, S.D. (Salem)-Clarence Hiebert, interim president at Tabor College, and his wife, Ferne, former MB Missions/ Services administrator, were the featured speakers at the Harvest Mission Festival held Oct. 16.

"I can't think of anything I'd rather do, than help students become the best teachers they can possibly be."

Come with us DOWN UNDER

Dr. Sharon Zenger Professor of Education and published author

John E. and Anne Friesen October 5-31, 1995

~

DTaE'or

~e ChdIl·.,.........

educatlan 400 _ _

HIIoboro, KS 6706). rm

1 -800-TABOR-99 32-

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In Australia In New Zealand Sydney South Island Canberra North Island Melbourne Much More For your free color brochure, write or call: 4980 E. Heaton Avenue #10 Fresno, CA 93727 (209) 456-1067

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1970-1995 - 25 YEARS OF1RAVEL EXPERIENCE You can trust your travel to 25 years 0/ experience.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Heritage)-Harvest Sunday, held Nov. 20, featured Marty Frisk of International Ministries as guest speaker.

MADERA, Calif. (Bible)-Mennonite Brethren missionaries James and Lois Wiebe (Brazil) and Galen and Linda Wiest (Colombia) were featured at the Thanksgiving/Missions Conference held Nov. 20. mLLSBORO, Kan. (Parkview)-The annual missions conference, held Nov. 12-13, featured Galen and Linda Wiest, former missionaries to Bogota, Colombia. .s2

CLEARINGHOUSE

Join us/or a tour in 19951

Jamaica in January Jamaica January Journey Jamaica Family Business Tulip Time in Holland

January 13-20 January 20-27 January 27-February 3 April 18 to May 1

Lands of the Bible Vienna: Music & Culture European Health Care Europeao Anabaptist Heritage European PAX England/Scotland

May 10-23 May 30 -June 13 July 3-18 July 5-21 July 10-26 August 9-24

Mexico Australia/New Zealand

November 15-30 Feb. 18 - Mar. 12 '96

Wilmer &Janet Martin Sam & Helen Lapp Henry Landes & Leonard Geiser Henry Landes. Pieter & Martha Gotwals Postma John & Naomi Lederach Wilbur Maust Joseph G. Landis &Aldred Neufeldt John Ruth & Ruth Jantzi Cal Redekop & Henry D. Landes Wihner Martin & Mary Rittenhouse Schwartzentruber Cal Redekop Henry & Jane Landes

For more information, please write: POSITION AVA IL AB LE RESUMES AND LETTERS of application are now being accepted for the position of director of development for Palm Village Retirement Community. Palm Village functions as a continuing care retirement community in Reedley, Calif. It serves about 300 residents and their families through independent living, residential care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation .

Palm Village is sponsored by five area Mennonite Brethren churches. Applicants should have a familiarity with central California fund-development strategies, including planned giving, and the Palm Village constituency. Please send resumes and letters to David K. Reimer. Executive Director. Palm Village Retirement Community, P.O. Box 1028, Reedley, CA 93654.

People Lost People II Groups Christian Ed you could be just the person for the job Please send a brief resume' and references to: Neighborhood Church 2800 W. Walnut Visalia, CA 93277 c/o Chuck Buller, Sr. Pastor

TOUR MAGINATION 22 King Street South, Suite 401 Waterloo, ON N2J 1N8 (Reg. #1567624)

1011 Cathill Road Sellersville, PA 18960

or call: 1-800-565-0451 (U.S. & Canada)

CAUSES, NOT JUST CRUISES Retired or near retirement age and looking for a ministry opportunity? We invite you to join a splendid and uncommon cause. Answer a "Macedonian call" to "come over and help us."

Nestled in the Alleghany hills of Maryland and serving the tri-state region of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland, are Penn Alps and the Spruce Forest Artisan Village and related non-profit service oranganizations. All creatively put incarnational flesh and blood to human lives economically, socially, culturally and spiritually. An uncommon cause: living, working, doing business and offering a peace witness to the beat of a different drummer.

We operate a craft store marketing goods for hundreds of artisans in a kind of self-help micro-enterprise, a restaurant connected to a historic stage coach stop, a village comprised of historical houses providing places for artisans to ply their weaving, qUilting, pottery, wood working, stained glass, and basket weaving, and a peace center in the historic Miller House. Thousands of travellers pass through the campus and become involved in the unique and timely witness.

We also feature early American festivals on location and in Springs, Pa., and are restoring a historic school and the 1797 Stantons' grist mill. We sponsor a summer music series, support publishing the Casselman Chronicle and in numerous other ways attempt to provide a meaningful presence in the warp and woof of the region. But we march to a different drummer and therefore need the help of Christian like-minded people.

We invite you to join us for extended periods of time: 4 months, 9 months, one, two or more years. We provide lodging, meals, some expense money and in a few areas, depending on the term and the work, some remuneration. Motor homes are welcome with hook-ups provided.

Carpenters, clerks, computer specialists, researchers, story writers, supervisors, hosts for the restaurant and Peace Center, program coordinators, persons interested in promotions and tour guiding, village managers, grounds and maintenance, sales personnel, baking, cooking and food supervisors, grant writers and restoration fundraising helpers are needed. We'll even get you into things you thought you could never do!

Encounter immense pleasure in it all.

This may be the most uncommon cause you'll ever enjoy.

Please contact Jack Dueck at Penn Alps and Spruce Forest Artisan Village, Rt. 2, Box 5, Grantsville, Md., 21536. Ph. 301·895-5985/Fax 301·895-5942

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HE FOLLOWING IS an alphabetical index of the major articles and events recorded in the Christian Leader in 1994. The notations following each entry indicate the volume number. issue number and page number. For example. the volume number for 1994 is 57. the ne'" numbers in the first entry below indicate the fifth issue of the year and that the article is on page 17 of that issue. Following the article index is an index of authors who have written major articles during the past 12 months.

BODYUFE A 'power' struggle in Denver. 57:5:17 About ordination. we hereby agree .... 57:5:18 Alive and mostly well in L.A .. 57:2:23 And they shall be called .... 57:5: 19 Answering a call to celebrate (PDC convention).57:12:20 Apparent heart attack ends life and service of MBM/S worker Jim Arthur. 57:10:23 Awkward moments color Canadian convention. 57:8:25 Back on the fund-raising trail again (Peter Funk). 57: 11 :24 BCM to recommend a phaseout of the MBBS subsidy guarantee. 57:3:23 Bethel provost named Tabor College president. 57:11 :22 BFL on women: A confession about process. a call to 'respectful solidarity: 57:2:24 BFL: Use and abuse of authority. 57:1:22 Bible study nurtures Thai Christians. 57:7:29 Buy a pig. feed a family. 57:2:26 Cancer claims education leader (Roy Just).

57:5:21 Center of transformation experiences a transformation of its own. 57:10:24 Confrontation at the crossroads. 57:12:23 Curriculum series takes shape with 'incubator' worik. 57:9:22 Dates. sites sat for '95 convention. 57:5:24 Districts set for annual rallies. 57: 10:22 Doland church completes ministry. 57:10:27 Doland church to close doors. 57:6:33 East Wichita Fellowship will end ministry after 10 years of effort. 57:7:30 Ediger reSigns as chair of BFL. 57:3:25 Enrollment points to optimism. 57:11 :22 Europeans meet for faith gathering. 57:7:28 Faber named Leader assistant editor.

57:9:22 Fall injures SOC minister. 57:5:20 First steps on a long journey toward hope.

57:5:22 FPC given biggest deferred gift. 57:3:24 Geddert to lead MBBS B.C. program. 57:8:24 Hispanic planters see U.S. as tough but important field . 57:12:28 Hope for victims of family violence. 57:2:27 Humanitarian aid won't solve crisis (Zaire).

57:2:26 Hymnal slated for January '95 debut. 57:2:25 Immigrant church baptizes nine. 57:3:26 India now has double trouble: Maverick general council attempts leadership couP. 57:3:23 Intermenno trip attracts three MBs. 57:11 :28 Katie Wiebe resigns as Rejoice! editor.

57:6:33 Lee Balzer to conclude Tabor College presidency at the end of July. 57:7:25 MB Bible teachers gather for inSights.

57:12:29 MBBS appoints Olfert as Canadian fundraiser. 57:3:25 MBBS board adds staff. program. 57:6:33 MBM/S: A time for 'rightsizing: 57:6:30 MBM/S: budget challenge. 57:9:21 MBM/S looks to Thailand and beyond.

57:11 :25 MBM/S proposes program cuts. 57:5:20 MBM/S retools for Dyck sabbatical. 57:7:27 MCC not likely to meet giving goal. 57:7:29 MCC: Have money. will serve. by Rich Preheim. 57:4:22 MCC. Zaire church aid refugees . 57:9:20 Mennonite Brethren. Brethren in Christ: a case of 'casual hand-holding: 57:7:26

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Moving from 'Vision' to 'Mission: 57:3:22 MWC proposes global fund to share resources. 57:9:24 Near tragedy reveals God's power. 57:8:25 New leadership for resourcing . 57:2:25 New pastors' event postponed until '96.

57:11 :28 New rules will not affect China worik. 57:4:23 North American boards grapple with funding challenges and vision. 57:11 :24 Paraguayan pastor shot. recovering. 57:5:24 Peace Sunday '95 to focus on crime in the community. 57:11 :27 Physician joins Pine Ridge team. 57:3:25 Pioneer missionary to Colombia dies at 92.

57:10:26 Plans gelling for Estes '95 convention.

57:11:26 Pointing the direction for change .... 57:3:22 Premier board selected for Mission USA. 57:12:28 Prieb to lead Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission.

57:3:25 Rapid City church grew from flood to fellowship. 57:12:23 Restorative justice is meeting focus. 57:4:24 Retiring after 30 years of change. growth in Brazil (James and Lois Wiebe). 57:6:30 Servants in Hungary (Leonard and Luella Heinrichs). 57:1:22 Slavic church dedicates meetinghouse.

57:9:24 Smuggling Bibles into China is illegal and unnecessary. says ABS board member.

57:4:24 Staking a claim on the USA (Colorado Springs '94). by Don Ratzlaff and Deborah Penner. 57:8:16 Still knee deep in flood damage. 57:2:23 Study gives MEDA high evaluation. 57:12:29 Sunday/Monday tie is MEDA theme.

57:10:27 Surgery adds to hope for recovery. 57:9:24 Tabor's new prexy: 'I'm an incurable believer in the Christian college' (Interview with David Brandt). 57:12:26 The good news: MBM/S giving is up; the bad news: total income is down. 57:9:21 Trio participates in MCC orientation. 57:11 :28 Tshimika to guide MBM/S in Africa. 57:7:28 Typhoid epidemic in Zaire prompts call for assistance. 57:8:25 Weakened roof trusses prompt Tabor chapel closing. 57:3:24 Woriking together like a family. 57:2:22 Vancouver. Wash .• church celebrates new meetinghouse. 57:9:24 Visitors savor the flavor of Fairview. 57:5:23 World assembly may prove costly. 57:9:23 YMI to offer summer-long missions option for high school teens. groups. 57: 11 :26 Youth join U-SERV team in Mexico. 57:5:21 Zairian MBs join effort to assist Rwandan refugees. 57:10:26

DEATHS Adrian. Martha Louise. 57:4:25 Baker. Beverly Marcelle. 57:8:27 Bartel. Allen. 57:6:34 Bartel. Minnie. 57:1 :24 Bayless. Charles Wendell. 57:7:32 Becker. Bertha. 57:6:34 Becker. Regina M .. 57:9:28 Bergen. Arnold F.• 57: 11 :32 Bergen. Wesley Femando. 57:6:35 Bergman. Viola Anna Penner. 57:9;28 Beuchler. Bennie. 57:7:32

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Boldt. Anna M .. 57:9:28 Brown. Josaph. 57:2:28 Buller. Sarah. 57:3:28 Buller. Walter. 57:3:28 Classen. Peter A .• 57:6:35 Collins. Anna Fay Quiring. 57:10:29 Dick. Justina. 57:6:35 Dyck. Lydia. 57:1 :24 Drebert. Mabel. 57:6:35 Ediger. Agatha Wiens. 57:11 :32 Ediger. Albert W .• 57:6:35 Enns. Dick, 57:4:26 Ewald. Esther Epp. 57: 11 :32 Ewert. Sue. 57:6:35 Fadenrecht. Helen. 57:6:35 Flaming. Emma Grace. 57:8:27 Friesen. Ben. 57:3:29 Friesen. Bertha. 57:3:29 Friesen. Helena Klassen, 57:6:35 Friesen. Herbert Flaming. 57:7:32 Friesen. Jacob Peter. 57:7:32 Gaede. Agnes. 57:4:26 Goertzen. Anna Rosa. 57:8:27 Goertzen, Clarence Meno. 57:3:29 Goertzen. Mildred Gustafson. 57:8:27 Gossen. John. 57:1:24 Hagen. Allen Lee. 57:3:29 Harder. Edwin F., 57:9:28 Heffel. Lavine. 57:11 :32 Hinz. Alvin C .. 57:3:29 Hoffman. Anna. 57:3:29 Holzworth. Lydia. 57:8:27 Horch. Esther. 57:3:29 Isaak. Anna Katherine. 57: 11 :32 Janzen, Anna. 57:4:26 Janzen, David Aaron. 57:3:29 Johnson. Georgina. 57:7:32 Jost, John B .• 57:3:29 Just. Jake. 57:2:28 Just. Roy. 57:7:32 Klassen. Rose Hiebert. 57:7:32 Kliewer. Henrietta. 57:2:28 Kliewer. Henry D .• 57:7:32 Knaupp. Elmer E.. 57:7:32 Knaupp. Ivy. 57:1:24 Kroeker. Jacob E .• 57:2:28 Lautt. Edwin. 57:2:28 Martens. William J .• 57:7:32 Mierau. Justina. 57:7:32 Nikkel. Cleo Earl "Bill," 57:8:28 Ollenburger. Edwin Charles. 57:3:29 Patzkowsky. Raymond F.• 57:7:32 Penner. Mary. 57:2:28 Penner. Paul Milton. 57:2:28 Preheim. Arden. 57:8:28 Ragland. Leoa "Carmon," 57:8:28 Ratzlaff. Ben. 57:2:28 Ratzlaff. Leta Kehn, 57:8:28 Reddig. Florence. 57:2:28 Regier. Anne Goertzen . 57:11 :33 Regier. Lydia Klaassen. 57:8:29 Reimer. Elizabeth Franz. 57:8:29 Reimer. Menno F.• 57:3:29 Sawatzky. Selma Olga Grunau. 57:8:29 Schmidt. Linda Mae Enns. 57:8:29 Schroeder, Dan L., 57:9:28 Schroeder, Harold. 57: 1:24 Schultz. Ernest. 57:11 :33 Siemens. Lena "Helen," 57:4:26 Stahl. Daniel George. 57: 10:29 Stobbe. Marie E .• 57:9:29 Suderman, Annie, 57:1 :24 Suderman. Leonard J .• 57:9:29 Suderman, Olga Balzer. 57:3:29 Tessman. Daniel. 57:11 :33 Thesman. Ruben V .• 57:1 :24 Thiessen, Alvina Penner. 57:3:29 Thiessen. Sam. 57:10:29 Tieszen. Helen H .• 57:9:29 Toews, Roland. 57:3:29 Voth. Martha Stelling. 57:9:29 Wall. George P., 57:4:26 Warikentin. Marie Janzen. 57:9:29 Wedel. Palmer J .• 57:11 :33 Wieler. Minnie. 57:4:26 Wiebe. Elias. 57: 11 :33

x Wiebe. Elma. 57:2:28 Wiebe. Emma Friesen. 57:9:29 Wiens. Sarah Berg. 57:3:30 Wiens. Jacob F., 57:11 :33 Willems. Mary. 57:2:28 Willems. Peter B .• 57:3:30

EDITORfALS A resource for the future. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:11:36 Attack mode? by Don Ratzlaff. 57: 11 :36 Breaking through the crust. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:8:32 Floccinaucinihiolipilification. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:10:32 Free to die. free to live. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:3:32 Friendly or friend-like, by Don Ratzlaff.

57:7:36 Help for the struggle. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:2:32 Journey toward holy ground. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:5:28 The mystery of 'the gospel: by Don Ratzlaff.

57:4:28 Our grieving God. by Don Ratzlaff. 57:9:32 Our biennial bonus quiz. by Don Ratzlaff.

57:6:36 Peace: An idea for the ·90s. by Katie Funk Wiebe. 57:t:28 EDUCATION A minister of management (Ray Bystrom). by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:6:26 Aiming for a centered life (AI Dueck). by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:4: 18 An intensity for work or play (Tim Geddert).

by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:5:14 No ivory tower outlook (Elmer Martens). by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:1:18 Personal, practical and pastoral (Delores Friesen). by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:2:18 Scholar with a warm heart (John E, Toews).

by Kathy Heinrichs Wiest. 57:3:18 FEATURES A few signs of Promisa (Keepers). by Don Ratzlaff. 57:7:20 A love chapter. 57:2:9 A pig for a pig: A peacemaking story for families. by Katie Funk Wiebe. 57:1:12 An ounce of prevention. 57:5:9 Chain-letter religion. by Kenneth L. Gibble.

57:4:11 Christmas is God's open hand. by Gaylord Goertzen. 57:12:10 Closing the tiack door. by Henry J . Schmidt.

57:2:6 Dear Sara: A pastor's wish for his daughter,

by Chuck Goertz. 57:3:12 Faith doesn't take the interstate. by Philip Wiebe. 57:8:4 For something special: A story for Christmas.

by JoAnn Brandt. 57:12:4 Forgiveness is the road to healing. by Wilma Deriksan. 57:4:4 Forty ways to love your pastor. by Roland and Lois Reimer. 57:3:10 Guilt and shame ...the good and the bad. by Jeffrey M. Anschultz. 57:10:8 Identity: Sunday school teacher. by Katie Funk Wiebe. 57:9:4 Is your church child-abuser safe? 57:5:8 Kid wars: Settling disputes between children.

by Suzanne J. Hale. 57: 1:4 Living or leaving the faith? by Lee Balzer.

57:2:12 Managing a 'modern-day miracle,' by Don Ratzlaff. 57:7:5 MBs in CIS burdened by a history of suffering. 57:7:15 Mennonite Brethren music-making. by Randy Klassen. 57:11 :11 Missing steps, by Wilma Derksen. 57:4:7 No labels. please: Teaching kids to value the

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worth of persons, by Jeffrey M. Anschutz, 57:1:7 On the precipice (1994 U.S. convention preview), 57:6:4 Pilgrimage from the death penalty, by R.J. Thesman, 57:4:8 Pressure in the pulpit, by Ray Bystrom, 57:3:4 Reflections of a Sunday school teacher, by Stanley A. Clark, 57:9:8 Removing the stain, by Wilma Derksen, 57:4:6 Sabbath rest and revolution, by Kenneth L. Gibble, 57:8:10 Safe homes, safe hearts, by Kim Suderman, 57:5:4 Sanctuary is more than a building, by Ron Penner, 57:5:7 Slavics fear the game isn't over yet in the CIS, 57:7:13 Spirit makes the difference, by Marlin E. Thomas, 57:2:4 Teaching tolerance, 57:1:8 Testing the trenches (Leader pastor survey), 57:3:7 The gift of spiritual friends, by Tom Steward, 57:9:10 The God of holy reversal, by Kenneth L. Gibble, 57:12:7 The latest feminist outrage, by Frances F. Hiebert, 57:10:11 The questing life, by Gary Hardway, 57:10:4 The Word on capital punishment, 57:4:9 To be single minded, by Nancy Siemens, 57:8:7 Twenty ways to teach peace in the home, by J. Lome Peachey, 57:1:9 Wanda's gift, by Rose F. Buschman, 57:12:9 Why I left the church, by Marilyn D. Brendan, 57:2:10 Worshiping with our Slavic family, by Don Ratzlaff,57:7:10

994

PILGRIMAGE Comfort in the midst of fear, by Mark Kistler, 57:8:14 Leaming to walk by faith, by Ricky Huebert· Sanchez (as told to Gary Hardaway), 57:12:18 POETRY The Cry, by Jean Janzen, 57:12:36 MUSINGS, by Jim Holm A matter of comparisons, 57:11 :21 A new Revelation, 57:6:28 From sea to sea, 57:8:15 Launching a new era?, 57:1:21 More than horse sense, 57:9:17 Prejudice, inside and out, 57:3:31 Questions of vision, 57:2:29 Reflections on a people, 57:5:16 Retreat will not save us, 57:4:21 The leaving, 57:10:19 Time for an aMude check, 57:12:17 Was it God's punishment?, 57:7:19 PH'LlP SIDE, by Philip Wiebe A toast to knowledge, 57:5:12 Christianity that isn't, 57:9:20 Faithfulness 101, 57:8: 13 Happy holidaze, 57:12:14 Help for a dazed dad, 57:1:17 High (comedy) finance, 57:2:17 Media rites, 57:10:20 Now for the good news, 57:11:18 Questions of commitment, 57:3:16 Quizzical fitness, 57:7:17 Something about nothing, 57:6:24 Time for spring cleaning, 57:4:16

FORUM

INDEX OF AUTHORS

I fasted from Rush Umbaugh, by Brad Kunkel,57:1:14 Mennonite food? by Brad Kunkel, 57:10:14 Nothing asked, a lot gained, by Fronny Ritter, 57:4:14 Why I go to prayer meeting, by Wilmer Thiessen, 57:2:16

Anschutz, Jeffrey M. No labels, please: teaching kids to value the worth of persons, 57:1:7 Gui~ and shame ...the good and the bad, 57:10:8 Balzer, Lee Our kids: Are they living or leaving the faith?, 57:2:12 Brandt, JoAnn For Something special: A story for Christmas, 57:12:4 Brendan, Marilyn D. Why I left the church , 57:2:10 Buschman, Rose Wanda's gift, 57:12:9 Bystrom, Ray Pressure in the pulpit, 57:3:4 Clark, Stanley A. Reflections of a Sunday schoolteacher, 57:9:8 Derksen, Wilma Forgiveness is the road to healing, 57:4:4 Missing steps, 57:4:7 Removing the stain, 57:4:6 Gibble, Kenneth L. Chain·letter religion, 57:4:11 Sabbath rest and revolution, 57:8:10 The God of holy reversal, 57:12:7 Goertz, Chuck Dear Sara: A pastor's wish for his daughter, 57:3:12 Goertzen, Gaylord Christmas is God's open hand, 57:12:10 Hale, Suzanne J. Kid wars: Settling disputes between children, 57: 1:4 Hardaway, Gary The questing life, 57:10:4 Hiebert, Frances, F The latest feminist outrage , 57:10:11 Kistler, Mark

INQUIRING MINDS by Marvin Hein (Topics) Anti·abortion strategies: 57:4:20 Anti·Christian government: 57:8:12 Armenian view of free will: 57:3:20 Bible inconsistencies: 57:7:18 Biblical response to forgiveness: 57:12:16 Binding and loosing: 57:7:18 Cremation for Christians: 57:10:18 Critical issues: 57:2:20 Denominational name change: 57:10:18 Family vs. church?: 57:8:12 Giving records: 57:6:25 Inequities in the world: 57:9:18 Internationalization of the MB Church: 57:9:18 Interpretation of Scripture: 57:12:16 Military intervention: 57:5:13 Pastoral candidating: 57:1 :20 Pessimism about world affairs: 57:3:20 Praying for those who suffer: 57:11 :20 "Professional" fund raisers for church institutions: 57:5: 13 The final accounting: 57:11 :20 The "John 3:16" guy: 57:4:20 Women in leadership in the church worldwide: 57:1 :20 Women's groups: 57:6:25 PEOPLE Leaming to walk by faith (Herbert Kliewer).

by Mary Beth Neal. 57:10:21

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Comfort in the midst of fear (Pilgrimage), 57:8:14 Klassen, Randy Mennonite Brethren music·making, 57:11:11 Kunkel, Brad I fasted from Rush Umbaugh (Forum), 57:1:14 Peachey, J. Lorne Twenty ways to teach peace in the home, 57:1:9 Penner, Deborah Staking a claim on the USA (Colorado Springs '94), 57:8:16 Penner, Ron Sanctuary is more than a building, 57:5:7 Preheim, Rich MCC: Have money, will serve, 57:4:22 Ratzlaff, Don A few signs of Promise (Keepers), 57:7:20 Managing a 'modern·day miracle; 57:7:5 Slavics fear the game isn't over yet in the CIS, 57:7:13 Staking a claim on the USA (Colorado Springs '94),57:8:16 Worshiping with our Slavic family, 57:7:10 Reimer, Roland and Lois Forty ways to love your pastor, 57:3:10 Ritter, Fronny Nothing asked, a lot gained (Forum), 57:4:14 Steward, Tom The gift of spiritual friends , 57:9:10 Thesman, R.J. Pilgrimage from the death penalty, 57:4:8 Thiessen, Wilmer Why I go to prayer meeting, 57:2:16 Thomas, Marlin E. Spirit makes the difference, 57:2:4

Schmidt, Henry J. Closing the backdoor, 57:2:6 Siemens, Nancy To be single minded, 57:8:7 Suderman, Kim Safe homes, safe hearts, 57:5:4 Wiebe, Katie Funk A pig for a pig: A peacemaking story for families, 57:1:12 Identity: Sunday schoolteacher, 57:9:4 Wiebe, Philip Faith doesn't take the interstate, 57:8:4 Wiest, Kathy Heinrichs A minister of management (Ray Bystrom), 57:6:26 Aiming for a centered Iffe (AI Dueck), 57:4:18 An intensity for work or play (Tim Geddert), 57:5:14 No ivory tower outlook (Elmer Martens), 57:1:18 Personal, practical and pastoral (Delores Friesen), 57:2:18 Scholar with a warm heart (John E. Toews), 57:3:18

STORIES YOU WON'T FORGET Here are two dozen engaging stories that explore our Mennonite practice of mutual aid.

Life is more complex than it used to be. Are we in danger of losing our sense of caring? Or do we need to adapt the principle of burden-sharing to new situations?

The authors have collected true stories from Mennonites' experiences. Enjoy these well-told, deeply-moving stories. And reflect on your own experiences.

These stories unveil wonderful moments when the church has functioned smoothly as ointment for healing. But they also recognize times when the church contributed to the pain of its members. Among the stories are• Growing from Grief • Disabled by Conflict, United by Fire • Uprooted by Divorce • From Military to Mennonite • Losing My Husband • Accepted by Strangers • (Plus 18 more engaging stories) This book is excellent as a gift to friends who want to know more about the Mennonites.

It is also stimulating for small groups and Sunday School classes.

Shared Burdens, by Sue V. Schlabach iii Olen A. Roth 185 pages· paperback· $6.95 Published in cooperation with Sharing Programs (A teacher's guide for using this book as a six-session study is available for $1.00.)

Available at Provident Bookstores and many other bookstores.

To order by phone, call the publisher (Oood Books) at 800/762-717 \.

From Canada, call 717/768-7171 (collect). Visa and Mastercard accepted.

DECEMBER

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CHRISTMAS

THE CRY The valley holds its breath, waiting for the word to be spoken again, that utterance which penetrates old walls. The trees hear it first, bare and ready. Then, at last, our own ears, through the din of ourselves-the Baby's cry, ringing the word of need and blessing.

And something within us stirs to answera hidden stream, or a stone that hasn't breathed before.

-Jean Janzen

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