The Overflow
Church recreation?
Someone sent us a church bulletin from the Clinton (Oklahoma) Church of Christ a few months ago; this particular bulletin gave a financial report of the expenditures from the church treasury for the previous month. Among the items listed we found this: "To Municipal Swimming Pool (for refreshments) $60.00." Now, you figure that one out.
How to point them
Brother N. W. Allphin from Tahoka, Texas, sends us this one: "Then there were the two young Mormon elders making their rounds in a backwoods area. They knocked at a door, and an old lady opened the door, peered out over her glasses, and said, 'Who air ye? And what do ye want?' One answered, 'We are ministers.' The old lady fixed him with an unblinking stare, "Preachers, eh? Well, this ain't no meetin' house, and we don't need no preachin'.' The young man replied, 'We didn't mean to preach; we just want to leave some tracts.' 'Suits me fine,' said the matriarch of the backwoods, 'jist leave them in the dust out there with the heels a pin'tin' towards the house'."
Scriptural work of deacons
Many congregations seem not to know what deacons are for. But one Oklahoma City church found a real "Biblical" job for some deacons a few weeks ago. They had a Sunday afternoon service, and their bulletin announced, "Following the service light refreshments will be served by the deacons." Does anybody find any fault with the deacons "serving tables"? Ha. And do you suppose they put on aprons — and maybe exchanged a few recipes for those delicious canapes?
Saloons and churches
The Methodist Board of Temperance recently issued a statement declaring that "The number of establishments in the United States licensed to sell beer, wine, or liquor exceeds by more than 131,000 the total of all churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other places of religious worship." There are 306,893 places of worship, as compared with 437,933 purveyors of alcoholic beverages.
Christian influence
And that reminds us of the Florida school teacher (and preacher) who has urged one of his younger preaching brethren to cultivate the habit of hoisting a mug of beer with the boys now and then and lubricating his tonsils — for the sake of his "Christian influence", so the non-Christians he is trying to win to Christ will not think of him as a "holy Joe" and a Pharisee. Hm-m-m, seems to us we've been nauseated by that bit of sophistry from the priests of Rome too many years to remember. The only thing strange about it now is that it now is that it came from a gospel (?) preacher.
"They said it couldn't be done"
The editor and some writers of the Gospel Advocate contend that elders, functioning as elders, CAN NOT provide and oversee a home for orphan children or widows for whom the congregation has a responsibility. "They say it can't be done" — but thousands of faithful congregations right here in America are doing it! Elders of these churches, acting as elders, are making the necessary provisions and arrangements to care for the church's needy.
Schedule
Contrary to previous plans to "ease off a bit", the editor finds himself committed to the heaviest schedule of travel and meetings in 1959 of any year of his life. Subject to a few minor changes and adjustments, it goes like this: January, Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas; February, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, and Willits, California; March, Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Tampa, Florida; April, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Winchester, Ohio; May, Newbern, Newport, and Concord, North Carolina; June, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Apache, Oklahoma; July, Brea and Ventura, California; August, El Cerrito, Alameda, and East San Jose, California; September, Seattle and Renton, Washington, and Kansas City, Missouri; October, McAlester, Oklahoma, and Florence, Alabama; November, Canada; December, Mulvane, Kansas, and per haps one other short meeting just before Christmas And just a few weeks ago a brother asked the editor if he were a 'regular" preacher, and if he "held down" a local church!
Add another one
And from Hiram Hutto in Birmingham comes this name of a church which is located in south Birmingham: 'The Independent Holiness Christian Sun-Rising Spiritual Baptist Church."
High finance
The way the various "church orphan homes" put out their financial reports makes it practically impossible for even the best trained accountant to know very much about their true financial status. For instance, a case in point, the Tipton Orphan Home financial report a while back listed a "contribution" of $250.00 made to the Tipton home as coming from "Lubbock Children's Home." How come it that one "orphan home" feels free to make a "contribution" to another orphan home? The $250.00 item was not a contribution from the Broadway Church (which operates the Lubbock Children's Home) for the very same report listed a $60.00 contribution to Tipton as coming from the "Broadway Church of Christ, Lubbock, Texas."
Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette
Many independent researchers finally established the fact that there is an absolute correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The tars and nicotines were the irritants. The frightened tobacco manufacturers came out with "filtered" cigarettes, which are supposed to filter out some of the tars and nicotines. The delighted smokers seized on to the new "filtered" product with immense satisfaction, finding that they could now smoke nearly twice as many cigarettes as before without substantially increasing their intake of tars and nicotines. So the merry race went on; tobacco sales in 1958 were the highest in the nation's history. And so also was the incidence of lung cancer.
Showing them up
The Herald of Truth, radio and television association of Abilene, Texas, must have caused the United Christian Missionary Society promoters to squirm with humiliation. After one hundred years of operation, and drawing from more than 2,000,000 members, the vast UCMS had to be content to do all its work, both benevolent and evangelistic, on a paltry budget of $3,000,000.00 — while the H. O. T. brethren were requesting $1,400,000.00 the second year of their existence!