Today -- April 5, 2007 -- brings special memories of my father, Benjamin ("Bennie") Lee Fudge. This would be his 93rd birthday . . . had he not died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 57 in February 1972. It's an amazing thought. I cannot imagine him old. Nor is it easy to think that I have already outlived him by nearly six years. His photo faces me atop my small home office desk as I type these words. He is wearing a suit and tie as he always did, even at home, until he was ready to go to bed. His expression is friendly but serious. He loved life and was full of humor but he was never … [Read more...]
ROBERT SHANK (1918-2006)
I have just learned of the passing of Robert Shank, 88, who died peacefully at his home in Mount Vernon, Missouri on October 16, 2006, ten days after suffering a debilitating stroke. His death concluded an earthly pilgrimage of humble conviction and quiet scholarship, bringing to an end more than 60 years of faithful ministry as a Christian pastor, preacher, author, lecturer and teacher. Following in the footsteps of his Baptist minister father, Shank himself began pastoring Southern Baptist churches in 1941, also serving as teacher and president of a Bible academy. The same year marked his … [Read more...]
TRAVEL BLESSINGS
October 2006 -- Sara Faye and I returned safely on Monday evening from a whirlwind driving trip of about 1,350 miles through parts of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Along the way we visited a favorite uncle, aunt and cousin of Sara Faye's in Memphis, checked on Sara Faye's old home-place in Franklin, Tenn. and visited my mother in Tupelo, Miss., where we also saw my aunt Beth Ewing and my cousin Dr. Pat Ewing and his family. The whole trip was lovely, we enjoyed the opportunity to just be together, and the colorful Autumn leaves in Middle Tennessee made us … [Read more...]
PEPPERDINE, HOSPITAL AND HOME
Last week (May 2-5, 2006) I attended the Pepperdine Bible Lectures as I have done every year but one since 1991. This year I was among an estimated 6,000 pilgrims drawn from 42 states and 22 countries to the picturesque mountainside campus of Pepperdine University, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Malibu, California. I taught two well-received classes on the purpose and duration of spiritual gifts (about which more details later). Besides 250+ classes throughout the week, there were two worship assemblies each day in the university Fieldhouse with soul-stirring congregational singing and … [Read more...]
GOSPEL OF JUDAS
As every savvy marketer knows, sensationalism sells books and attracts a television audience. The National Geographic Channel can therefore expect a host of viewers for its special program "The Gospel of Judas" set to show tonight (Sunday, April 9, 2006). "One of the most significant biblical finds of the last century," hypes the producer's website, "-- a lost gospel that could challenge what is believed about the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus." The TV special follows the translated publication three days earlier of the so-called Gospel of Judas, a codex (bound like a book rather … [Read more...]
SPIRITUAL GIFTS SEMINAR
March 2006 -- Great joy, human brokenness and divine renewal marked our seminar on gifts of the Holy Spirit last weekend in Searcy, Arkansas. Sponsored by Covenant Fellowship Church (CFC) and hosted on Saturday by First United Methodist Church (FUMC), both of Searcy, the seminar included two teaching sessions followed by a question-and-answer session on Saturday morning and a healing prayer service on Saturday evening. Attendees came from CFC and FUMC, Churches of Christ and other area churches plus visitors from other towns including several guests from Tennessee. It was a pleasure to meet … [Read more...]
LIFE NOW AND FOREVER
This final week of 2004 has seen what is perhaps the largest natural disaster in the world's history, following an earthquake under the Indian Ocean more than 740 miles long and having the force of a million atomic bombs. The quake, which jolted the earth's rotation, spawned monster waves called tsunamis which swept across the Indian Ocean, killing (says the Associated Press) more than 44,000 people in eleven countries from Thailand to Somalia. Human life is fragile and precious, in the big picture and in our individual cases. Immortality is Christ's accomplishment and the Christian's hope. … [Read more...]
PLEASANT IN ARKANSAS
Nov. 2004 -- Pleasant Street Church of Christ was the venue and the weekend just ended matched well the name. It was pleasant for the natural surroundings in Springdale, Arkansas, a family-oriented city of 58,000 adjacent to Fayetteville (home of University of Arkansas) near both Oklahoma and Missouri. It was especially pleasant for the loving church family hosting the Saturday seminar on "Surprises from a Study of Hell" and for the hospitality of minister Larry Branum and his wife Reba. The giant yellow oak in front of the church building and the 50-foot tall pecan tree in the parsonage … [Read more...]
BILL LOVE — ASLEEP IN JESUS
Bill Love, known to many gracEmail subscribers around the world, died peacefully in his bed on Friday, April 30, 2004, following about two weeks of hospitalization and hospice care at home. Bill was preaching minister at the Bering Drive Church of Christ in Houston, Texas from 1974-1996 where he was my family's preacher and dear friend from 1982 onward. Bill suffered a stroke in 1998 that left him paralyzed on one side and unable to speak or to write. He also suffered for many years from congestive heart failure. Despite these infirmities, Bill set a valiant example of courage and faith, … [Read more...]
THE DRAGON SLAYER: A REVIEW
I have just read twice and highlighted The Dragon Slayer: Reflections On the Saving of the World (2004, privately published, 202 pages, paper), the latest book from my eloquent friend Jim McGuiggan of Northern Ireland. As usual, McGuiggan devotes his considerable mind and poignant pen to the profound realities that matter most, this time the atonement for sin which Jesus Christ accomplished once for all. For centuries the Irish have been noted as gifted story-tellers and McGuiggan maintains the Hibernian reputation, as seen in this passage reminiscent of Brennan Manning: "We built a wall that … [Read more...]
