Reading The Bulletins
News From Here And There
E. C. Koltenbah has moved from Dearborn, Michigan to work with a new congregation in Evansville, Indiana. Many years ago he and his wife left the Christian Church to take their stand with the truth. He is still standing today in opposition to the same errors that forced him to leave digression, but he says that many churches of Christ are doing things today the Christian Church would not do when he left them. The end is not yet .... Oswald Wilson is the preacher for the Walnut Avenue church in Canton, Ohio. He also serves the church as one of the elders. The church recently withdrew fellowship from four people. Walnut Avenue is a good church .. . . Carl Shetter has moved from 'Nashville to Signal Mountain, Tennessee . . . . Stanley J. A. McInnery has moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, from Dayton, Ohio . . . . Jesse Brookshire is soon to move from Morton, Texas, to Ontario, California . .. Dale Smith, Box 9, Janesville, Wisconsin, has been publishing the Wisconsin Reapers Report once every three months. It is a very neat publication and contains a report from all the churches in Wisconsin. It is very interesting and a copy will be sent on request. With the next issue several other preachers will help with the publication. During the past three months thirty-three persons were baptized into Christ in that state .. . . The church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Robert Atkinson is the preacher, has started construction on their new church building which will cost around $50,000.00. First Federal Savings agreed to loan them $42,500.00 but then refused to give the loan until after the building is finished with architect's approval. Hence, they were faced with the task of borrowing money elsewhere until construction was finished. "Every lending source in the town was approached without success . . . So the preacher went to Mobile (Alabama) and met with two congregations there . . the Plateau church agreed to lend us $15,000 for the period of construction ... the Church Street congregation ... agreed to lend us $10,000, interest free ... the church in Natchez is considering lending us the remaining $5.000 needed ...." So the construction is underway .... Billy Graham, Incorporated has been putting on a big campaign in Louisville, Kentucky. The churches there in their usual effective, but independent, way have sought to expose the effort for what it really is. They have put ads in the newspapers and have challenged Graham for public discussion. In the bulletins they have given attention to this error. Earl Fly, of the Valley Station church, has written a tract — "Concerning Billy Graham's Campaign" — which has been mailed into thousands of homes. They have dealt with this effort to deceive the souls in the way it deserves. It is good to know that some churches yet believe in "contending for the faith" and have the courage to expose error. Incidentally, Fly's tract may be secured on request. Write to: Church of Christ, Dixie Highway at Fox Avenue, Valley Station, Kentucky . . . . James C. Jones is with the church in 'Lynchburg, Ohio . . . . The
Hillsboro church in Nashville now has three morning periods of worship; at 8:30, 9:45, and 11. As far as I know this is the first church to adopt this plan .. "Brother H. M. Phillips has done it again! He has probably had a part in starting more new congregations in Davidson County than any other person. Among those which he has helped start are Rosebank, Joywood, Eastland, Wingate; and Franklin Road. His latest effort is at Montague, between Jackson Park and Madison. Brother Phillips states that every new work he has helped to start has been opposed by someone who thought it was untimely or inexpedient." — Franklin Road Bulletin, Nashville, Tennessee.
"The following letters are self-explanatory. A garbled edition of the Tant-Harper Debate was published by the Christian Chronicle in which they left out some of Tant's material and inserted extra material for Harper. This was done over Tant's repeated protests. Those who bought this book should get Tant's supplement to go with it.
September 4, 1956 Mr. James W. Nichols,
Chronicle Publishing 'Co., P. O. Box 1158,
Abilene, Texas Dear Brother Nichols:
I can no longer go along with the policies of your company and do not wish to purchase your services further. I am paid up to February, 1959. Please cancel my subscription and refund the unused balance of my subscription payment.
Yours respectfully, J. Edward Nowlin.
Dear Sir:
The complete correspondence you sent to Chronicle Publishing Company, Inc., is enclosed. Chronicle Publishing 'Company, Inc., is now bankrupt and I have been appointed Receiver. The case is No. 2033 in Bankruptcy' and is in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Abilene Division.
All of the Chronicle Publishing 'Company's operations have ceased. As Receiver I am taking a few orders for - printing. In the event you desire to file a claim, it should be filed with: Judge Glenn Smith, Referee in Bankruptcy, 405 United States Court House, Fort Worth 2, Texas.
Very truly yours, Henry Hart,
Receiver.
— Newsletter, West End Church, Atlanta, Georgia
The Jerusalem Church Grew
The Jerusalem church attended to its own affairs. It did not try to run the government, nor the clubs and educational institutions. It preached the gospel to sinners, and looked after the needs of its members. The members needed teaching — they received the needed teaching. Their poor needed help — help was given them.
The amazing growth of the church was not due to government favors, for government was against them. It does not seem that the church had any members of great worldly prominence. If they had any great wealth, no record is made of it. They preached the gospel and lived it. Their preaching was not nullified by the conduct of ungodly members.
The Jerusalem church had no high-pressure schemes by which they collected the funds of a "Great Brotherhood" for the preaching of the gospel. They had no publicity outside Jerusalem. Each individual loved the Lord and fulfilled his duty in teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. Jerusalem was evangelized, Judea was evangelized, then Samaria and all the world. The Jerusalem church grew. She followed the Lord's plan. The Lord's plan is adequate. It worked then, it will work now. Can we do better than Jerusalem?
— Jesse M. Kelley
Obituary
What a joy it would be to read the following obituary:
"I Can't" died last week. He had long been a member of the church in Port Arthur, but was never faithful. "Brother Compromise" was the only one available to direct the funeral services. Services were held in the parlor of the "Maybe Tomorrow" Funeral Home. Attending as pallbearers were "Neglect," "Indifference," "Never Try, and "Get-Somebody-Else," all relatives of the deceased. The body was buried in the "Never Done" Cemetery.
— Bill Crews, Port Arthur, Texas
Chronicle In Bankruptcy
We are informed that the Chronicle Publishing Company of Abilene, Texas, is in involuntary bankruptcy with assets of approximately $100,000 and debts of about $460,000 — of which some is owed to us. We are sorry. — George W. DeHoff, Christian Magazine