Our Life Together Vol. 4 Nr. 40 October 14, 1976

The picture from the Sistine Chapel will be the prime illustration for Gary's article which starts on the next page.

 I remember this article from long ago. I have always appreciated it. I am not in any way a visual artist, but even those who do music or writing can appreciate where Gary is coming from. I should have said at the start that this is, of course, written by Gary Bell. He was not only one of the leaders of Abbacraft, but he was really the man behind Our Life Together. He was and is a very talented man.

I love his metaphor of God with the blank canvas before him as he begins his painting of the universe. This is a good way of beginning to understand creation without being bound to a literalistic seven 24 hour day creation taking place some 6,000 years ago. 

In his second paragraph on this page he discusses the painting of a beautiful picture and then adding the scripture to it. Gary is still at it. His postings on Face Book of  This Day in Belize captures this idea so beautifully. If you are unfamiliar with this, friend Gary -- his postings are must reading for me each day.

The Lewis/Marx article brings back some memories as I think of discussions concerning this. As the article says, read it carefully.

As usual, McFoone presents a real truth. Strive to understand and love the person -- then sow the seed -- then let the Holy Spirit do his work.

In the last issue, Larry Clark wrote an open letter to Calvin Miller. Here we have his gracious response.

This is the mission statement of Abbacraft. It certainly stands on its own. It was a great ministry in its time.

Boy does this catalog of prints bring back memories! I see some of Gary's work -- some of Brenda -- there is Cathy. Great memories.

More memories. I, like most of our members, had a lot of these bookmarks.

I see that these are 1976 prices!

Joyce has appeared in these pages many times. Joyce was a clever, intelligent woman. She brought many insightful ideas and wrote them well. I like her use of the Velveteen Rabbit. This story was used a lot during the community days. 

Clay Ford and I were partners in the Here's Life, Chula Vista campaign. Clay was a real evangelist (still is), I'm a good nuts and bolts assistant.

What a clever little piece this is by Linda Coale. She is another one that wrote many clever pieces for OLT. We were blessed with so many artistic people.

Bob Westbrook was a young Navy man -- or was he out by then? He became a member of the community and was with us for several years. Where is he now? I think that he was in the Burger's household.

In the good news section I see the arrival of Bruce Blankenheim. It was not that many years later that he was killed in an accident. He was a cousin(?) of Mona Pagard. I was the one that went with him to get him registered in the Adult High School. I liked young Bruce.

Dan and Sharon Stolebarger are now married, still are -- and currently in Israel. They are also very interesting to follow on FB.

Don't forget the Children's Fall Festival -- adults too -- a Halloween alternative.

Our Life Together Vol. 4 Nr. 39 October 5, 1976

I find this to be an interesting cover. Of course, it illustrates the lead article by Ken Pagard (He hadn't changed it to the Danish spelling yet.) All of those statements speak to virtues in our American culture, yet all of them can hold us back in our spiritual growth.

Ken's article is unusually short for him. Yet it speaks eloquently to the issue. It is our pride that can keep us from submitting to God. I know that I grew up with the idea that I wanted to be a self-made man. It wasn't until I realized that I wasn't doing a very good job at it that I could relax, submit to God and be made new.

I will talk more about Gary and Georgia at  page 5 where Gary's article concludes.

Once again, McFoone illustrates a great truth. Both of the issues illustrated were points of discussion among the elders. We were not very Baptistic in our practice of communion. We celebrated communion at least every week and sometimes every day. This was a very meaningful time for most of us, but the possibility of it just becoming something routine was very real. We were also a church full of huggers -- McFoone nails it.

I have not read many of the books by Calvin Miller. He is an interesting writer. He doesn't write like a theologian, Bible scholar or preacher; his works are fiction and poetry. I actually met him at the 1000 Pines camp at a Ministers Retreat either in the late 80's or early 90's. I found him quite interesting. Larry gives a good review of our Ministering Community.

I must confess that I had completely forgotten the Eleanor Burger worked in (managed?) the book store owned by the McCullochs. The books she recommended are certainly dated but I also enjoyed being in the store. It was a nice, relaxing place.

Remember, we didn't celebrate Halloween. It was the Fall Festival. It was always a lot of fun.

I remember so well when Jacque and Linda started the sewing ministry. This has always been at the heart of Linda. She loved to sew in those days -- and especially baby and children's clothes. I remember shopping at Sid's Yardage with Linda after returning from Westpac -- he told me how grateful he was for my financial support. Linda still has a heart for the babies and children. Now it is quilts that she makes. She heads up a quilting ministry at Bay View Baptist Church. 

The article by Gary is a neat article about love. He neatly ties in marital love and the love that bound us together in community. Gary and Georgia are still married and serving as missionaries in Belize. If any of you are on Face Book, be sure to Friend Gary so that you can see his This Day in Belize -- it is well worth it. I should also note that the OLT's that I am uploaded are a result of Gary's collection of them. I am in possession of that collection (Gary -- I have it when you want it -- I am taking good care of it.)

I really don't know who wrote all of the information on the next couple of pages on World Hunger, the Biblical Imperative and what we should do about it, but I do find it interesting, because I don't think that much has changed in all of these years. I do remember that for years we fasted every Friday evening for dinner and gave the money to world hunger relief.

Larry's article concludes on this page. Then we have In the Family. One item of interest is that in this article we have the birth of April Wetzel -- this week she posted on Face Book that she was celebrating her 19th wedding anniversary. Where does the time go.

For many years we really had no formal rules for membership other than a profession of faith followed by baptism. We began to see membership as something deeper than merely attending church, so we developed a system of rules for membership. Later I was one of the teachers of the Basic Principles class.

At this point, I had never met Bill Zuspan, but I came to know him in the 90's. He moved to California and became the pastor of the American Baptist Church in Rancho Bernardo. Small world.

Our team camped out in the basement of Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City.

The issue closes with the write of an oral prophecy. There is also a poem by Dawn Schmid. She wrote pretty regularly for OLT.