Many times when I write about these days in community I discuss the mechanics of our life together, or who was saying (or doing) what to whom, but this misses the heart of what we were about. Ken touches on the heart of community in this article. God was the center of everything. It was all about him. Everything else, the mechanics, the healings and even the relationships were really secondary to our relationship with God. I find this a touching article because it not only exposes this truth, but it exposes Ken's heart. Ken was a kind man who loved the Lord -- but he did not often reveal himself; this article does just that.
I find this little article about the ministry at Beale AFB quite interesting. Of course, part of that is a reiteration about the wideness of Ken Pagaard's ministry. On the other hand, I appreciate the fact that Ken was free to minister everywhere. He could minister to missionaries, to the people of the mission field, to seminaries, hospitals, pastors, laymen and women and to Mennonites and to the Military. In this sense he was a man for all seasons.
Clay Ford gives us a beautiful article about the faithfulness of God. It actually begins on the previous page. He begins by quoting the end of the third chapter of the prophet Habbakuk. This is sort of an obscure passage, but it was often quoted in these days. It was a favorite of Ken. I heard it so much that it is still one of my favorite passages even to this day. I have also heard Clay preach from this passage in recent years. Certainly each of us believe the truth of the passage -- but it spoke to those of us in community in a special way. In our life together things really didn't always go well -- but we could look to this promise and say with conviction that we really trusted in the Lord -- no matter what.
Tim Pagaard continues the temptations of McFoone.
Larry gives a defense for knowing "nothing" but Christ. He discusses how our curiosity can lead us away from the centrality of a life dedicated to Jesus. He differentiates those things that are forbidden and those that may be permissible -- yet not helpful for this life. I think that this was always a struggle of those of us in community. In many ways we had really withdrawn from the world. Yet, we lived in and around it every day. We were not really isolated. We just tried to isolate ourselves to some extent. In the context of community in the 70s this was an interesting article.
The article by Richard Hensgen is very early in the days of his writing. I think that I wrote a lot of truth here. I know that there was a secondary purpose to my writing this article; I had a very difficult time with people who refused to do things; "I'm waiting on the Lord," "He hasn't revealed his will to me yet," "I haven't been trained in that." I believed in doing, in taking our responsibility seriously. All of these excuses could have been true, but they were still excuses to do nothing.
Obviously there was a sub-theme in this issue of temptation. Here Larry gives a book review of Mumford's book on temptation. There is nothing earth shaking in "In the Family", but this is where one can find out what was happening with individuals in the community.
This article on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage is important. It stands alone and is well worth reading. In my opinion, it is as valid today as it was at the time. I have generally adhered to the principles set forth here throughout my ministry with only minor changes. An example of minor change; the waiting period of five years is not understood to be a legalistic time frame by me. I do want people to spend some time on their individual life healing after divorce.
The Musical "If My People" was a major ministry of several of the local churches.
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