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 This
is written in Iowa, where I am preaching for a small church of
two men and eight or ten women. Grinnell is a beautiful little
town, with a college. Some hard-working young man could come
here and render a real service in the Lord’s cause, as he
increased his own education.
Living
is no problem. We went to a near-by woods-lot yesterday and
gathered enough mushrooms for a delicious meal — and I am
still alive. (It is NOT like eating athlete’s foot; this is a
different kind of fungus.)
Since
Feb. 24, I have preached in Highlands, Tex., Flagstaff, Ariz.,
Venice, and San Diego. Calif., Phoenix, Scottsdale, and
Prescott, Ariz., Kansas City, Mo., and a single sermon in
Tucumcari, N.M.
From
Grinnell, Iowa we go to Indiana for a short “break”; then to
meetings in Vanduser, and Blodgett, Mo., Pine Bluff, Ark., and
then home to Burnet, Tex. for four weeks.
Next
series of meetings takes us to Brady, and Cooper, Tex.,
Florence, Ala., Booneville, Miss., Holly Grove, Ark., Seligman,
and other north Ariz. communities. May take time out for an elk
hunt; then continue meetings in Phoenix, and Yuma, Ariz.,
Fresno, and Santa Clara, Calif., Marion, Md., and Gainesville,
Orlando
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and Eau Gallie, Florida. Should be back in Burnet,
Tex. by middle of December. I believe I counted 37 Sundays away
from home this year. Anyhow, that is the schedule several of you
have requested. I just hope I will have the strength to “keep”
it.
Can’t
think of a better place to insert a short note on “church
hopping” — the gentle art of sliding out from under
obligations (when they are going to need money) or
avoiding discipline (when they get fed up with one’s
ungodly ways), or, perhaps most often, just “pick up and go”
to another congregation when they won’t play by our
rules.
If
there is a “scriptural” issue, and all efforts to correct
fail; one may be forced, for conscience’ sake, to worship
elsewhere. But it is a strange conscience indeed that accepts an
equal or more glaring error in the second church. Many times the
“issues” are made scapegoat for some childish and personal
“crow”.
Church
Hopping often indicates one does not know how to get along with
others, or with himself. It is a cover for cowardice, an
unwillingness to accept responsibility. Real “churchhoppers”
are soon known in a city; and God was not fooled, even at first.
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