If you lead a seminary and Eddie Fox is one of your graduates, you have reason to be very, very proud.


Who is Eddie Fox and why do I say that?

He is a widely published and highly respected pastor, author, and leader who since 1992 has been the Executive Director of the World Methodist Evangelism Institute.  His 1986 book Faith Sharing (co-written with George Morris) was instrumental in my own call to enter seminary.

And speaking of seminary, Fox is a 1962 graduate of Candler School of Theology, the divinity school within Emory University.  While there, Fox graduated first in his class.

With all those accomplishments, then, it seems logical and proper that Candler would honor Fox with its Distinguished Alumni Award, right?  So in August, the seminary did just that.

Not so fast.

Fox's selection has created a furor on the Emory campus.  Is it because of some shady ethical dealings in his background?  No.

Is it because of a morals charge that has arisen?  No.

Is it because he has clergy hoof & mouth disease (can't preach & won't visit)?  Nope.

It's because Eddie Fox stands with 2,000 years of Christian teaching in affirming celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in heterosexual marriage.  Meaning: he believes that homosexual intercourse is not God's design for humanity. 
 
And for many on the Candler campus, that's the one belief that can't be tolerated.

 Zebulun Treloar, a Masters of Divinity student at the school, wrote an open letter to Fox that included these words:

“I have to stand in opposition to your being awarded an alumni award because of [your] views [on homosexuality]. This is also why I cannot be a part of a church that does not give full inclusion to people of all sexual orientation and gender identities.”

In addition, Candler alum Josh Noblitt,  a minister of social justice at Saint Mark United Methodist Church, put it this way:

“It’s hard for me to want to lift up someone who engages in exclusionary rhetoric . . . Eddie Fox does not seem to represent the values of Emory University.”

And finally, the Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) announced on Twitter that its steering committee approved a motion opposing the award and recommended that Fox's award be rescinded


You can read the story in the Emory Wheel here.

Now:  Eddie Fox is not a hatemonger.  He's an exegete.  He's not a Wesleyan Fred Phelps.  He's a United Methodist Pastor.  Both his demeanor and his conversation are saturated with what we commonly call grace.

And not insignificantly, his view remains the official stand of the United Methodist Church when it comes to human sexuality.

But isn't it interesting?  Those who would change Christian sexual doctrine for the sake of tolerance are so openly intolerant?

From my view, the story has a satisfying ending:  Jan Love, the Dean at Candler, decided to continue with Fox's award despite the opposition.  In her words:

“Candler’s task is to continue to facilitate an open, vibrant community of conversation created with people who hold stark and different perspectives. And then we come together and call it Christian conversation . . . After careful consideration, I have decided to confer the award on the Rev. Fox. His love of Candler runs deep [and his] characteristics were among the reasons he was recommended for this award and why I believe he should receive it.”

I've been on a Jars Of Clay binge recently.

Ever since I changed my morning routine away from talk radio and into music while driving to work, Jars Of Clay have been my artists of choice.


We've done a couple of their tunes as worship specials recently, including "Faith Of A Child" during Home Based and then "Inland" to close Sunday's message for the X-Ray series.

The band has been around and making subtly superb music ever since 1994 when it released its breakthrough debut album.  That particular disc was best known for "Flood," a song that received airplay on both contemporary Christian and alternative rock stations.

So here they are:  my Top Five Jars Of Clay songs.

5.  Flood & Love Song For A Savior.  Yes, I'm cheating and getting two songs for the price of one.  But the two are the joint centerpieces of that aforementioned debut album.  And though the songs have very different sonic tones, both are terrific pieces of acoustic rock.  One ministry regret: why didn't I think to have our band play Flood when I preached on drunk, nekkid Noah at the end of The Storm Before The Calm? And one artistic regret:  Jars Of Clay has allowed Love Song For A Savior to be used on ads for the Christian Mingle dating site.



4.  Headphones.  A beautiful description of marital discord.  If that sounds incongruous, it is.  But it's still gorgeous.


3.  Sunny Days.  The anti-Headphones.  Buoyant, bubbly, brilliant. The optimism in the lyric merges with a bounce in the melody to create a song that is infectious.


2.  Work & Oh My God.  I'm cheating again!  These two tracks hold the Good Monsters album together in the same way Flood & Love Song For A Savior do the debut.  Work is rocked out & radio friendly; Oh My God is haunting & heart breaking. 



1.  Inland.  Am I falling victim to "newer is better"?  Or loving a song just because Chris Macedo positively nailed it this past Sunday?  I don't think so.  Inland hypnotized me the first time I heard it -- in concert at Amos' South End this summer.  And every time I play it during the ride to work (see above), it just gets better and better.

 

It really was an extraordinarily full weekend at Good Shepherd with a Friday evening event for rising 6th graders, a Saturday Serve Day at the Charlotte Rescue Mission as well as a Russian-tinged banquet with our Moscow missionaries, Jon & Sonnet Barr, and then culminating on Sunday evening with the launch of BigHouse, ClubHouse, and fall LifeGroups.  Whew!

Yet tucked in between those higher profile events was a pilot project that I believe has some staying power:  a Home Based K-Club.

For months, a number of us have wondered what it would be like to extend Good Shepherd's children's ministry beyond the doors of the church and into the neighborhoods of Steele Creek, Lake Wylie, and Fort Mill.

So we located a pair of high impact volunteers who offered up their homes for an after-school, neighborhood-based bible study (K-Club), resourced them to throw a fabulous kid-friendly party to which they invited the whole subdivision (with the hope that the party would spur sign ups for the subsequent K-Club), and then sat back and watched God do his work.

So we gave the hosts a one-of-a-kind yard sign:


They invited the neighborhood, kids and adults:






And what's a party without a jumping bubble?




The results were, frankly, staggering:  55 people showed up including adults, most of them not connected to Good Shepherd, and 22 children signed up for the ensuing & ongoing Home K-Club.

And that's just piloting in one subdivision.

Seems like a good way to relocate kids and adults into the Body Of Christ.

You can always find out more at www.facebook.com/goodshepherdkids

In addition to Week #2 of the X-Ray series -- a message I'll be bringing called Dislocation -- we have three other major events happening this weekend.

First, our Student Ministry BigHouse makes its return on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.:


You can find out more here.

Second, our ClubHouse program for 4th and 5th graders also launches on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.:


You can find out more here.

And moms and dads:  when you deliver your kids to these Sunday evening ministries, there's no better time to get connected to LifeGroup, the linchpin of our inviting all people strategy.  Come to the LifeGroup Launch which begins Sunday at 5:00 p.m. (See how it's all connected?)


To pre-register for that launch event, click here. 

Here's how Tom Petty might describe the whole thing: