The cover art of this issue also illustrates the theme Come Follow Me. The lead article is a continuation of the interview of Graham Pulkingham.
Graham begins by dealing with barriers to giving oneself to community. He describes a housewife whose whole life is bound up in her husband. As he finds fulfillment in community, she may feel threatened and left out. This section seems somewhat anachronistic to me. Community life was difficult for most of us. I think it was particularly difficult for married couples; more so for those with children. Linda and I certainly had tough times and yet, we really loved the life (as did our children.) Graham goes on to discuss the loss of our independence and autonomy in making life decisions. This is the real difficult issue. We never really solved this; it was always a source of tension -- and contention.
As Graham's interview is completed, Gary Bell starts a new article about how we should react in the face of opposition. He states that in the book of Acts opposition was not seen as a sign that ministry should be stopped but they prayed for more strength to continue the mission in the face of that opposition.
Of course Tim's McFoone speaks for himself.
Gary completes his article with several more examples of how the church reacted in the face of persecution.
Elizabeth Fisher gives some of her thoughts as she reflected on W. H Auden's "In Praise of Limestone." I remember Elizabeth; I can picture her, but I can't remember much about her. If anyone has more information, add that to the comments.
First Baptist Church of Chula Vista (Fifth and E) and the Ministering Community always had an interest in world missions. We were also involved in mission. This letter is by Dale Hunter. Dale and his wife Beverly were in Bogota, Columbia for an extended time (two years?) They were working with Sam and Elizabeth Ballesteros and others from our community. When Dale and Bev returned they were a part of our community and active in the church until around 1990. Dale was the chairman of our board during the major renovation of the church. Bev was principal of our Elementary School. Their marriage didn't survive. Bev lives in Northern CA. Dale passed away a couple of years ago.
Another of "our" missionary couples was Bill and Darlene Macpherson. They didn't really come from 5th and E. They were already serving as medical missionaries in Zaire when they became connected to us through Ken's ministry. They did stay with us periodically. Their son Billy lived with us at Westby Household for a while.
The next two pages sum things up. There is a report of the good news associated with our witness and the results of the Billy Graham Crusade. Then there is "In the Family." This is always interesting to those of us who were there.
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