Pepperdine Bible Lectures: Friday - Last Day
Hello all:
I’m writing from the Firestone Fieldhouse, waiting for the evening Songfest and Keynote Lecture.
Today has been an interesting day. I went to the last session of Rick Atchley and Bob Russell’s lecture on being Together Again. It was again, a great session. That lecture has been completely packed all three days, and gives me great hope that we will be “Together Again.”
I want to take a moment to note a phenomenon that Greg has talked about on his blog, and that was addressed during the Stone-Campbell Symposium. While there has been much talk of unity between the Churches of Christ and Independent Christian Churches, there has been little to none that included the Disciples. Those lectures that did mention the Disciples of Christ were fairly negative in nature. There were no mentions of the ICOC, either. I understand why this is…and its even a knee jerk reaction for me to not talk positively about the Disciples. I am trying to change, however, and I believe that our brothers and sisters that are interesting in unity need to as well. Highlighting brothers such as Newell Williams, a Disciples Historian and President at Brite Divinity School, and ministries such as Disciples Heritage Fellowship are good starting points for these discussions.
Anyway…back to the Lectureship. I missed Rubel Shelly’s last session, I had a last minute homework deadline that I had to make. But, I’m sure it was good.
The most exciting lecture I attended today was “3 Churches 3 Miles Apart….with the Same DNA (How we Discovered our Common Roots). Two pulpit ministers and a worship minister were present to talk about these churches. One from Churches of Christ, one from Independent Christian Churches, and one from Disciples of Christ. The most interesting this was that the Church of Christ minister was a former Catholic, the Independent Christian Church worship leader was originally from Churches of Christ….and the Disciples of Christ pulpit minister was originally from Independent Christian Churches, went to Pepperdine, joined the Churches of Christ, and is now (reluctantly) a Disciples minister (long story). These three congregations, all near Pepperdine, recently had a joint worship service and are getting to know each other better. It was a very interesting and exciting lecture.
I also went and listened to Dr. Paul Pollard, professor of Greek at Harding, speaking about the culture surrounding the Johannine letters. That guy knows how to make a history/scripture lesson interesting, and he is definatly a scholar.
The songfest is about to start, then a keynote address by Don Mclaughlin, and then I’ll attend one more lecture. I fly out of LAX at 6:00am. It has been a fun experience, I’ve learned, I’ve grown I think, and I’m glad I came. I would encourage all of you to attend next year, or attend the various unity events such as the North American Christian Convention that is going to be happening soon.
-Clarke
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May 8th, 2006 at 10:23
“…I’ve learned, I’ve grown I think, and I’m glad I came.”
Watch that thinking part. That will get you in trouble in this fellowship.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed Pepperdine. I hope I can make it out there sometime.
May 9th, 2006 at 8:34
Great to hear of your thoughts and experiences at Tulsa. I wrote one of the blurbs in the front of Rick and Bob’s book “Together Again.” I also got to be a keynote speaker at the Michigan Christian Convention last month. Our congregation “crosses the keyboard divide” frequently and joins in works with local Christian Churches.
That said, the reason not much is said about the Disciples of Christ is that they are in unity discussions — and have been for years — with the United Church of Christ, perhaps the most liberal of all denominations with the lone exception of the Unitarian Universalists. Those talks break down from time to time but then are started again.
Those who are part of the Renewal movement in the Disciples are much more amenable to speaking with us and we are very happy to speak to them. God has left Himself a remnant in the DoC. I pray that they will either be able to turn their fellowship around or, failing that, that we will be kind enough to them that they will come and worship with us.