The Contemporary God Issue

In Memory of the late G.K. Chesterton

No matter what you say, you cannot evade the God issue.
It is much more than crying in church and using up tissue.
Even the modern secularists and professing atheists are not exempt.
It is true! The God issue is not only for those who worship in church,
But for those, as well, who focus on God in contempt.
Both sides have leaders who are emotionally and intellectually involved,
As persons who have a calling; as ones who have been sent.
Both seem to be addicted with the God as an issue to be solved.
Some tend to camouflage their interest in God by faulting believers.
Yet, if there's no God, why are we concerned about God's non-achievers.
If you had no interest in their case, why are you giving them space?
A teacher from our past used to say,
Whether we like it or not we will talk about God today.
For some the subject is cheery; for others it is weary.
But the God issue is involved and can't be easily solved,
Whether we talk about pigs or the binomial theory,
We are still talking about the active Creator of all.
Now if Christianity be a fragment of metaphysical nonsense,
Invented by a few misled people with a false sense of call.
Then, of course, defending it will simply mean talking "spin,"
Metaphysical nonsense over and over again.
But if Christianity should happen to be true,
Then defending the Faith will mean talking,
About anything or everything, exciting and new.
Some issues can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is false,
But nothing can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is true.
Therefore, talking about God is not living with irrelevant views of the past.
The worship of idols, not being grounded in reality, does not last.
But contemporary persons of faith look at life from a whole different view.
In talking about and with God, they are climaxing the past into something new.
Because the prophet says, "The revealed God from the past is still with us,
Because the Word of all creation and redemption comes to us,
Not totally from experiences from the past, but also from out of the future too".

Faith Story - Chang Pharm

It was March 15, 1981. It was the anniversary of the Chang Pharm family's coming from Vietnam to make their home in the United States. The celebration was taking place with their extended family in America, Trinity Church. One year before, on March 23rd, Chang and his wife and children and relatives arrived in Knoxville, a total family of twelve.

It all started two years before when Azalea Grissom called her pastor. The pastor went over to her home to find that she was watching a news documentary of the "Boat People" from Vietnam. Hundreds were fleeing Vietnam in small boats. Some, who were rescued, somehow were making it to refugee camps, and were now waiting for someone through a refugee service to bring them to a new home. Many of them were being placed with Christian families in the United States. Mrs. Grissom asked her pastor, "Would you work with me to bring a family to our community?"

Within six weeks some strong leaders organized to sponsor a family. Carolyn Fuller, a new member of the church, found her voice, calling for the church's help. The social concerns committee, led by Gail Vanderver and Beverly Reed, worked with the family life committee to create a Trinity Refuge Committee. When the members of the Pharm family arrived, a fully furnished four bedroom home was ready for them. The children were placed in public schools. Some men of the Church made sure all the adults of the Pharm family had income producing jobs. Within three months, the members of the Pharm family were enrolled in a Confirmation Class for Church Membership, led by the pastor and an interpreter.

One year after their arrival, twelve members of the Pharm family were baptized and became full members of Trinity United Methodist Church. Chang, the leader of the family stood at the altar of the Church and said, "We appreciate all you have done for the Pharm family. When we arrived here we had no home. We had left all we had when we fled the Communists. But when we arrived you had a beautiful home for us. We had no income, but within a week after we arrived you had jobs for us. We had no place to train our children, but you put our children in school and provided transportation for them. We had no family here to support us in a strange land, but you became our family. We have been so pleased how you loved us from the very beginning. We did not understand your faith, but you prepared a class every Wednesday night to teach us from the Word of God, and today we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and been baptized and joined this family. Thank you for teaching us the Word of God. Thank you for the special freedom you have in America to teach the Word of God. Please pray for other members of our family who have lost their freedom in Vietnam."

A leading member said, "Pastor Curt, you know that I have not always agreed with you in your bringing in so many new people. It has made many of us who have a long history in this church very uncomfortable. But what we are experiencing today, I truly affirm. I am so proud today to be a member of this Church whose people have truly discovered what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about."

POEM - "The Advent Gift"

Both darkness and conflict are always present,
but they never over-shadow the great Advent,
Displayed for us when God sent His Word;
when a new born Baby's cry was heard.
God provided for His special One an emcee,
by sending a chosen voice from the Hebrew Klan.
The voice came through a witness named John the Baptist,
Who was the Child's special agent man.
A second John introduced the Christ Child as the eternal Word,
Who reveals our value through His amazing insight.
Through Him we learn we can live victoriously and joyfully,
even when we can not see the future in our blackest night.
Through Him we overcome our strife and terrible loneliness,
being healed of our fears, coming from our paralyzing fright.
From the two Johns we learn to trust in Jesus, God's only Son.
Whom we discover as the eternal everlasting Light.
From Jesus' life we hear God's assuring Word.
As He reveals to us the Creator as seen and heard.
Also through His life of compassion and care,
there is a mighty Presence of which we become aware.
In the Birth, the Cross, the Empty Tomb and Pentecost
God comes into our lives with prime time accent.
Then we begin to understand the Great Advent,
happening when angels sang at the first Christmas event.

New Book Featured in Newspaper

My new book "Into All The World" was featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Saturday, November 15, 2008. The on-line article also includes an audio clip of my interview with the journalist. To read the article and/or listen to the interview, click on this link.

Faith Story - George Whitefield

Recently I was reading from a book, "Great Iron Wheel Examined" by William Brownlow, editor of Brownlow's Whig, published in 1856. In his book he gives some history that might be of interest to those related to the great state of Georgia.

"The settlement of a colony between the rivers Savannah and Alatamaha, was meditated in England in 1732, for the accommodation of poor people of Great Britain and Ireland, and for the further security of Carolina. Humane and wealthy men suggested a plan of transporting a number of poor families to this part of America, free of expense. For this purpose they applied to the king, George II, and obtained from him letters patent, bearing date June 9th, 1732, for legally carrying into execution their project. They called the new province 'Georgia', in honor of the king...A corporation of 21 persons was constituted by the name of 'The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia.' In November, 1732, 116 settlers embarked for the place that became known as Georgia, conveyed thither free of expense, and furnished with every thing requisite for building, and cultivating the soil. James Oglethorpe, one of the Trustees, and an active promoter of the enterprise, embarked as the head of these settlers, and they arrive at Charlestown...early the next year. It was the sixth of February, 1736, that a young man, named John Wesley, an minister of the Church of England, later known as the founder of Methodism, set foot in Georgia to begin his ministry as a pastor to the new settlers." He served in Georgia for nearly two years before returning to England.

One of the most influential preachers to spread the Christian faith in Georgia was George Whitefield, also known as George Whitfield, (December 16, 1714 - September 30, 1770), a Church of England itinerant minister, who helped spread the Great Awakening... He was a very influential figure in the establishment of Methodism. He was famous for his preaching in America which was a significant part of an 18th century movement of Christian revivals, sometimes called "The Great Awakening."

As a student Whitefield was a part of the 'Holy Club' at Oxford University with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. He had earlier become the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford when the Wesley brothers graduated. He was the best known and the most written about Methodist when he adopted the practice of Hywel Harris of preaching in the open-air at Hanham's Mount, near Kingswood. In 1738, before going to America, where he became parish priest of Savannah, Georgia, he introduced John Wesley to preaching in the open-air. After a short stay as a pastor in Georgia he resumed his open-air evangelistic activities in both England and America.

When Whitefield was only 25, he led the way for the care of children with the establishment of an orphanage in the newly-founded colony of Georgia. Whitefield called the orphanage Bethesda, which means "House of Mercy", for he hoped many acts of mercy would take place there. Many students of history name the leaders of Methodism, especially George Whitefield, as a significant influence on the compassion of the contemporary Georgia residents for extraordinary care for children.

Faith Story - Tex Evans

Tex Evans was a wonderful story teller. He said that when he was a young preacher he had an opportunity to visit the mission field in India. He preached in one of the mission churches for a week. He was the guest with one the Indian families. Like most of the members of the church they were poor. Surviving was a full time job. There were several children in the family. He had a great time, getting to know them. One of them was a young teenage daughter, who was eager for him to tell Bible stories and stories about farming in America.

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One of the stories he told was about how his mother put her family in the chicken business. His mother cooked on a kichen wood stove. Above the stove was an enclosed place, called a warmer. The warmer had several purposes. After you cooked the meal, you could put some of the food in the warmer so that it would be ready when a member of the family came home after everyone else had already finished supper. One of her favorite ways of using the warmer was to put in an old cigar box a few chicken eggs. The heat from the stove kept the eggs just warm even to make them hatch. When the baby chicks starting hatching, there would be a new one or two every day until about a dozen hatched. As they hatched she would take them out of the box and place them in a larger box with chicken feed and water. When they got big enough she would put them out with the rest of the grown chicken in their chicken house. Soon they would be laying eggs too.

When the week was over and it was time to move on, Tex Evans took from his pocket a silver half dollar. He handed it to the young girl and said, "I want you to go to the store and buy a dozen eggs. Then come back and put them in a small box over your mother's stove. Do what my mother used to do after they hatch. This half dollar can turn into many dollars if you will follow my mother's example.

Tex shared with us at Trinity Church what he found when he visited the same community in India again, twenty years later. The young girl now was a grown woman with a family of her own. She no longer lived in poverty. She was the owner of a chicken processing plant. By faith, she had learned the lesson of Jesus' story of the mustard seed (Matthew 17:20). Not only was her family prosperious, but so was her church and her community. Her favorite charitable service was to share Jesus' stories with children and to give away silver half dollars.

Why I have written "Into All The World"

Curtis Schofield, a retired pastor, has written a book, "Into All The World", including fifty inspiring mission stories. Many of the stories are related to volunteer in mission service projects, which were sponsored by churches in local communities and in international situations. The book has the following possibilities:

• A gift to yourself to be used for your own inspiration.
• A gift to a pastor for sermon preparation illustrations.
• A planning tool for the leaders of a local church mission committee.
• A gift to a friend, who is interested in exploring what it means to be called to be a missionary.
• A resource for those who are interested in reading inspiring stories to serve as a guide for the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost.

Copies of this book can be ordered from Amazon.com or by calling
Book Surge (843)579-0000, ext. 5120, for $12.99 each.

About the Author

Family: Curtis R. Schofield has been married to Clara Slater Schofield since 1961. They have two children: Stephen is a pastor in the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church, and Philip is a civil engineer in Dalton, Georgia.

Education: Dr. Schofield is a graduate of Hiwassee College, Tennessee Wesleyan College, and Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

In addition to the Master of Divinity Degree, Dr. Schofield has earned from Emory University a terminal degree, The Doctorate in Sacred Theology with an emphasis on pastoral care.

Professional: Dr. Schofield has been a member of the clergy of Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1961. For most of his ministry he served as pastor of churches in the Knoxville and the Chattanooga areas of East Tennessee and North Georgia.

Dr. Schofield served as the founding director of Contact of Chattanooga, a Christian telephone counseling ministry, and as

President of Hiwassee College(1984-1988) and as Vice President of the Foundation for Evangelism at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. From January 1994-June 1997 Dr. Schofield served as senior pastor of Hixson UMC, one of the largest churches in the Holston Conference. For the next four and one half years(January 1998-June 2002) Dr. Schofield served as the Vice President of Development for The Mission Society for United Methodists, with offices in Norcross, Georgia, sponsoring over 200 missionaries in over 30 countries.

Associations: Dr. Schofield is a general evangelist with the National Association of Evangelists of the United Methodist Church. He has been elected six times as a delegate from Holston Conference to the Jurisdictional Conference. He has served as the chair of the communication committee on the SEJ Council of Ministries, and has served as the chair of the volunteer in missions committee on the Holston Conference Council on Ministries.

Dr. Schofield has received professional training in development from the National Planned Giving Institute. The late Dr. Robert Sharpe was his primary instructor. While serving as a college president, and as Vice President of The Foundation for Evangelism, and as a Vice President of The Mission Society, Dr. Schofield has been active in the United Methodist professional development organizations for the general church and for the Southeastern Jurisdiction.

In 2002 Dr. Schofield, along with 23 pastors representing all jurisdictions of The United Methodist Church, became part of first class of The Intentional Growth Center at Lake Junaluska to be professionally trained as consultants and interim pastors. The purpose of the training was to provide leadership to help churches in transition. As a retired minister Dr. Schofield works with the district superintendent of the Chattanooga District as a consultant with selected churches. He is also working with the Foundation for Evangelism as a volunteer Regional Director. He is also a volunteer member of the advisory board of Agrimissions with The Mission Society.

Hobbies: Curtis and Clara live in Dogwood Hills Estates, Flat Rock, Alabama, where Curtis enjoys playing golf, the game he learned while he worked as a young caddie on LaFollette Golf Course in East Tennessee many years ago. He enjoys writing poetry. Recently he received the Editor's Choice Award and had one of his poems, "God Has Plans for You and Me," selected to be printed in Forever Spoken by The International Library of Poetry. He and Clara enjoy raising a small herd of cattle, and they it is a special enjoyment for them to study and visit historic places. They consider spending creative time with their five grandchildren a gift from God.