At the Milepost
W. Carl Ketcherside
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We have now reached the close of another year, and we shall make use of that fact to lean upon this milestone and chat informally with the beloved friends who make up our family of readers. The family circle is larger than it has ever been before, and we have been privileged to welcome a number of new names this year. For this we are grateful to the Father of us all.
Our expenses have climbed ever higher, and it costs much more than a dollar per year to send out each paper. Some of the brethren, good businessmen, have urged us to raise the price to two dollars. They tell us that we would not lose a single subscriber who really reads the paper. Perhaps they are right, but we shall keep it at one dollar. I cannot keep from thinking of the young men and women in college who can use that extra dollar for a meal in the cafeteria.
We are again ending the season with all of our bills paid. This is made possible because each month, our brothers and sisters who act as volunteer rope-holders send in what they can spare to help us. Many of them are sick and tired of turning their money over to the institutional church to build up a sectarian image, while damning all other honest believers. And whether the amount they send is large or small, Nell and I put it all in the fund to send forth the good news of peace on this old earth to men of good will. In thirty years we have never taken a cent of this money to spend on ourselves.
I suspect that I am a little peculiar for this age. I have never set a fee or specified an amount for my services. I simply go if I can and if I think it will be to His glory. I trust Him to work it out. Not too many months back I went to the west coast at the earnest solicitation of brethren who thought my presence would lend strength to a meeting. I spoke three times to large crowds and conducted two very lengthy question sessions. The check they handed me was exactly $75.00 less
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One thing that helps, I guess, is that we are old enough now that we can see that there are a lot of things that money cannot buy, so we have deliberately ordered our lives along simple lines. We do not even have a television set. This represents no prejudice against television, but we live very busy lives, working many hours each day. When I am at home, which is not too much, we have more than we can do, and when I am away Nell bears the burden of it all. I have no secretary. I answer all of the letters with my own hand. But you can see that our personal overhead is not too great.
That is enough about personal matters except to say that it always thrills us when any of our readers take time to sit down and write us about their views, their families, their problems and their work. We like to hear about your children and grandchildren. Most of all I am always glad to hear from the college kids. A great many of them are terrific thinkers and I learn a lot from them. I have never seen such frankness and honesty as they exhibit in our day. I am not at all frightened because they think for themselves. I would be sorry if they did not. They are a real challenge to me!
Perhaps we'd better talk a little about our future. Our series next year will be entitled "Commandoes for Christ." We would like, if our God wills, to deal very realistically with the problem of how we can bring the weight of spiritual armament to bear upon the real enemy at our gates today. Many of our methods belong to a time when we were a frontier people or a rural society. To continue to use them in the hope that they will again become effective is like shooting a blunderbuss at a nuclear bomb.
There must come a complete revolution in our concept of ministry, and in our relationship to structures and centers of influence. We can no longer flatter ourselves that we are winning the war. We become more of a minority with each tick of the clock. All of us are resistant to change and this is especially true when we confuse what we have concocted with what God has created. So some of what I will write will not be popular. It will be written in a prophetic strain and prophets are not always welcomed with open arms. But that is all right, for we will love those who disagree as much as we do those who concur with us.
We may be looked at askance because it is our aim to present an occasional article from a brother who is "different." We will print such articles not because we agree with them, but precisely because we do not. If conditions warrant we may express our views in connection with such articles. We hold that honest dissent is wholesome. It should be encouraged rather than stifled. This does not mean that we will publish diatribes sent in by those who have a partisan or factional axe to grind, but we want to give room for those who differ with us to be heard in the family circle once in awhile.
Those of our readers whose blood pressure will not allow them to read after those who differ can always ask for their subscription price to be returned. We will cheerfully refund it with no questions asked. There are still some who think that the editor should be the supreme judge of all the earth and throw out everything that does not repeat the party slogans. Our position is that none of us have all of the answers and we ought to listen to one another. We are not editing an orthodox party organ and we have no vested interests to protect. When you have nothing to lose but your soul you can afford to be more adventure-
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I think it is very difficult for most of the brethren to realize that we are not running a journal for either the "liberal" or "conservative" restoration establishment. We are not the official spokesmen for any school of thought, or for any school that doesn't think! The fact is that no one among our brethren can really define "a liberal" any more. They have used the term to apply to everyone from one end of our sectarian spectrum to another. One man's liberal is another man's conservative.
If I have learned anything, it is that, according to our partisan jargon, one is not a liberal or conservative because of where he stands, but because of where you stand as you look at him. A person who is left of one is right of another. So it is a little silly to stand around and exchange meaningless epithets. It would be an interesting experiment to get all of our folks together and ask them to draw up a document listing all of the views that make one a liberal. I think a good working definition for a lot of them is, "A liberal is one who knows more than I do about a subject, a conservative is one who knows less."
I have said all of this to lead up to the statement that I will allow each man to stand upon his own merits. I will judge what he says each time by God's word, as I understand it, but I will not condemn it ahead of time because someone has placed him in a partisan stereotype. I no longer fit any pigeonhole, and I shall not cram others into one.
Forgive me for saying that to me there is really nothing more stale than the fare regularly dished up in some of the brotherhood journals that I read. In some of them there is not one thing said which touches life as we have to live it. Our good brethren are going around and around on the partisan treadmill, answering questions no one is asking. Many of the "sound" brethren in all of our factions are frightfully out of touch with life. They are unfortunately consecrated to the ignoble task of perpetuating prejudice and patching up partisan parapets in a world that is coming unglued and falling to staves. It is a sad commentary that most of the world beyond the Texas border does not even know that "the fastest growing church" is in town. And there is a fairly good sized chunk of the world outside of the Lone Star state.
I am not saying that Mission Messenger is a shining example of relevant journalism. I have no illusions about it and recognize that ours is a feeble attempt to face up realistically to some of our problems. But there is one thing this paper will not become and that is a narrow exclusivistic propaganda piece for any party. We will not use it to promote hatred against any of God's dear children.
When I write like this, I always get a few letters from brethren who are experts in the field of communication, and who express the thought that such articles as this are "countrified" rather than dignified. I suspect that they are right. But my heart is in the country while my feet pound city pavements. And I would rather visit than write. Since I cannot see all of you personally I do trust that God will bless all of you and give you strength to serve. I also pray that the series of articles for 1969 will help us all to walk honestly before our God.
One way that you could help us tremendously is to purchase a copy of "God's Community," the bound volume containing all of the issues for this year. The book will be ready by March 1, and you can reserve as many copies as you'd like, payable upon delivery, at $2.49 each. After March 1, the price will be $2.95 each. Your response this year may determine whether there will be other such books in the future. If God has blessed you until you can afford it, would you order several copies and pass them along to friends? The articles this year are worth preserving.
If you did not get a copy of "Apples of Gold" last year, we will make you a proposition. Send us five dollars and ask for a copy of both "Apples of Gold" and
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Thank you for allowing us to visit awhile at the milepost and may you have a wonderful and glorious experience in Him in the year ahead.