The Nashville Seminar

By Don Reece

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     (Editor's Note. In the latter part of last November, Campus Evangelism sponsored a meeting for college and university students. This article appears rather late to be news, but it will record the impressions of a brother who attended).

     I have just returned from one of the most soul-thrilling experiences of my life -- the Campus Evangelism Seminar conducted at Nashville over the Thanksgiving Day weekend! The theme was "We Would See Jesus," and from the opening song, "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus," to Roy Osborne's speech on "Jesus the Man," (the last session I was able to attend), this was the overshadowing emphasis -- to hold up Christ for all to see and to exalt him as Savior and Lord.

     Three things were repeatedly emphasized in the speeches: (1) Man's sinfulness before God and his utter inability to pay (Matt. 18:21-27) and the need for his reliance for salvation on the grace of God as offered in Christ through faith and baptism in him. As Prentice A. Meador said, "To preach faith, repentance, confession, and baptism, apart from Christ is futile; when preached together they become the power of God unto salvation." (2) The call for man's response to this grace to be expressed in a consecrated, Spirit-filled life, and the recreation of the life that has been marred by sin, into the likeness and image of God, by the power of the gospel and the indwelling Spirit.

     This point was especially emphasized by John Allen Chalk in a speech, "Jesus in Me." In this excellent address, he discussed "the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive" (John 7:38, 39); the new birth of the water and of the Spirit (John 3:5, 6; Eph. 2:4; Rom. 6:3-5; and Col. 2:11-14); the power of God at work in the believer (Gal. 4:6; Eph. 3:16-21; 1 John 4:4; 2 Cor. 1:22; Gal. 5:22, 23; and Romans 8:26, 27); and the recreation of the divine image (Eph. 4:23; 2 Peter 1:3, 4). On this point it might be well to note in passing, in view of some of the wild charges that have been leveled against Campus Evangelism in some circles, that the doctrine of the direct operation of the Holy Spirit was not taught, condoned, or even hinted at in any of these speeches, nor in any private discussion group of which I was a part.

     (3) The third point which stood out in all of the speeches was the worth and dignity of every man, and the need to present Christ to every man in a way, and in terms which he can understand and will accept. The need to relate to the world around us rather than to try to isolate ourselves behind cloistered walls was stressed. On this point, Andrew Hairston said, "If you think that in the coming decades you are going to hide away somewhere on one of our Christian College campuses, or isolate yourself somewhere in a little cubby-hole, you're in for a rude awakening."

     This idea, that the church needs to relate to our present cosmopolitan society, on the college campuses and every-

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where else, and to confront it with the claims of Jesus, was perhaps best summed up by one of the speakers in a quotation from George MacLeod. (See preface to "God is for Real, Man," by Carl Burke). "I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek...and at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because this is where he died. And that is what he died about. And this is where churchmen ought to be, and what churchmen ought to be about."

     The seminar was fully integrated. It was sponsored by the Burke Road Church of Pasadena, Texas, and the Schrader Lane Church of Nashville, and Christians of both races were represented, on the speaking staff and in the audience. I went to Nashville convinced that the segregation that has existed in the churches of Christ was wrong because it had worked to the detriment of the black brethren by shutting them off from full participation in the life of the brotherhood, and that, in so doing, it made them poorer. After hearing Brother Foutz and Brother Hairston, I came away convinced that, however detrimental it may have been to them, it has been even more so to us. We are the ones who are poorer for having shut ourselves off in the past from the contributions they could have made to our spiritual growth and development.

     The young people who participated were about the most dedicated and committed that I have seen, at least since I left Freed-Hardeman College in 1959. In many ways I believe they outshone us especially in their ability to grapple with and think through the problems faced by the Christian young person in our present complex and secularly-oriented society. On the second day, when we broke up into twenty groups for discussion, one group was given the question, "What is wrong with pre-marital sex?" If this question had been handed to many of us in our college days, we would probably have floundered around with it, and come back with something like, "Well, I guess it's wrong because the Bible says it's wrong." Not so these young people.

     They gave this one reason, but they also went beneath the surface to ask why, and came back with some good cold, hard, commonsense reasons which they could take back to their respective campuses and use in discussions with the present generation of sophisticated collegians. After talking with them and observing what they are doing, I was convinced that Reuel Lemmons hit the nail on the head when he said in Firm Foundation, after attending the Dallas Seminar, that if these young people aren't watched they will likely evangelize every college campus in sight!

     This is the bright side. On another side the picture is not that bright. In order to function as it should Campus Evangelism needs more financial support. Brethren, after seeing what they are doing, I am convinced it is a good work and worthy of the support of every Christian and congregation, financially able to supply it. The mailing address is Campus Evangelism, Box 3367, Pasadena, Texas 77501.

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     Don Reece can be addressed at Route 3, Radford, Virginia 24141, and we are sure he would welcome your letters about his article.