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A very nice article by John Pierce featuring Ed on the cover and Trudy on page 35...but whaddo I know about this business?

Congratulations to Ed and Trudy and their church. It's a very good piece.

Sorry, but I just couldn't contain myself with the "shouting!!!"

Baptists Today is printed and mailed in Athens, Ga., so William gets his copy ahead of the rest of us. Rumor has it that William often stops by and snatches a copy off the press since it's vital to his sermon prep. I'll try to verify that when in Athens this week for my daughter's orientation at UGA, the one school I told her she could not attend.

Great sense of humor, Johnnie!!!! Love it and sorry to hear you now have a Bulldog in the family!

Graduating Emory required me to adopt GT as my sports school. Funnier story: My brother sweated bullets and took an extra year to gracuate UGA after starting at Georgia State. He has 3 children and now lives outside Birmingham----all of whom pull for Auburn!!!!!

Now, that's REALLY funny

I will await my slowly arriving print copy. Look forward to reading it.

Is there a copy of the article on the internet? I went to the BT site, but couldn't find it.

Thanks,

Tim

Very good issue this month w/ Bible Study too by Tony Cartledge.

You can always - $20 print, $15 for digital for year subscription. Worth the investment.

Last issue featured an article by Mark Wingfield critiquing CBF missions strategy a bit. This month featured response columns by Steve Vernon and Jack Glasgow. You won't get that anywhere else on the web.

I subscribe--it's just slow reaching the hinterlands.

Ed: Baptist Today was running a special at the CBF Assembly. You paid the $10.00 flat rate shipping and they would send 50 copies of either or both the June and July editions. So we ordered 50 of each and they where on the front porch when we got home this evening. We hope to get our church to subscribe.

And I want to thank John for the story and pictures. I shared a stack of back copies with the folk at the BFN spring meeting and and several, have expressed an interest.

If we don't buy it, then it will become extinct!

I like the recent improvements and the perspective it gives us. Blessings on those who produce this wonderful journal!

Tell us how you do the pics on this blog site!!!

I'm somewhat blog illiterate on the finer points of adding pictures.

If you just hit the Upload Attachment file a search box comes up and you can directly upload a photo or PDF file from your computer.

Thanks guys!!! I will try it in the near future.

Most interesting to know about Howard. My dad worked with Dr. Martin Luthur King, SR. as he tried to work with the Fulton County (Atlanta) Juvenile Court as the first Chaplain the HMB appointed to that new work which he pioneered. Dad's concept was to visit with the children and talk with them about any spiritual matters. He would find out what church they attended and contact the pastor with an encouragement to help his family.

In the case where there was no chuch affiliation, he found out if there was one they preferred. If their religion was a blank on church, then he informed the closest Baptist church of the need. With black churches he was getting nowhere so he asked for Dr. King's help in encouraging black pastors to deal with the problems of Juvenile crime.

Dad's approach was to view a child's legal issues as a sign the entire family was broken and in need of mentoring. He was asking any church to get a family to adopt the troubled family and befriend them. About 80% of the children were black males and if the family could not be involved, then he asked some man to become a Big Brother type of influence.

I did the same kind of work with the Wake County (Raleigh) Court. It was a special ministry whose goal was to help families and to encourage young offenders to get their life on a track which would not result in adult criminals stuck in their ways of crime. I found in Raleigh that the black ministers were almost impossible to find. Many had unlisted phone numbers. The UMC Headquarters were most helpful to me with their black churches. Also the AME and National Baptist organizations were helpful. We ultimately invited all ministers of the churches to meet with the Judge and Probation Staff to found a "Ministers Day in Court" group of volunteer Chaplains.

The Judge was an active layman in the Raleigh FBC and welcomed the help. They were overloaded with cases and the Probation Officers could do little more than deal with the children and their parents on a superficial basis. With the Pastors present in the courtroom every day the Judge invited any family and child who wanted to talk to use a private room beside the court room as a place to talk. Much of the problem of communication had to do with the confidentiality of Juvenile Crime so that few knew through the media how great the problem was. When Pastors came to know the great need, they started involving their members encouraging them to be Sponsors.

With this good relationship with a fine black minister, you might consider addressing the Juvenile Crime situation of your area. Broken families are the key to the issue. Helping them find a better family way of living leads to solving a major problem growing even worse since the late-60's where I was involved. Now, with the use of young children in what is called "Human Trafficking" there is a horrible use of children as sex objects. A recent meeting I attended showed a video which made it clear that Juvenile Crime has taken on a sexual side even more deeply hidden than petty theft and school absense. It needs ministry and the courts are struggling to protect children these days from being used when they are arrested as "child prostitutes." More times than not, it is a lifestyle not of their choosing!

My copy finally arrived on 7/18. Don't know where it had been traveling. The article is great. I am glad to say that I know those folks! Great tribute to what you, Ed and Trudy, are attempting in the Northeast. May there be more like you two in such ministries.

Trudy makes the front page where it really counts, Baptists Today's website:





I am aware, of course, that Trudy may not wish to be front page. I have folks in my church who would shoot me if I ever put their picture up on the bulletin board or screen.