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The Fundy World Tales

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This entry is part 1 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

Setting the Story

My parents were saved (put their faith in Jesus) at the Scott Memorial Baptist Church, San Diego, California (now Shadow Mountain Community Church) in the early 1960’s. The pastor of the church was Tim LaHaye.

Prior to my parent’s salvation experience, our family attended the Lutheran and Episcopalian Church in  Bryan, Ohio. I was baptized as an infant in the Episcopalian Church.

My parents were actively involved in right-wing politics in the 1960’s. My parents were members of the John Birch Society. My mother worked in the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign.

My parent’s right-wing political ideology fit well with the right-wing religious ideology they were immersed in at Scott Memorial Baptist Church.

We moved from California in 1965, returning to Bryan ,Ohio, where our extended family was located. We began attending Fundamentalist Baptist Churches like Eastland Baptist Church and First Baptist Church.

In the late 1960’s, we moved from Bryan, and over the course of the next four or five years we moved several times. While the houses and schools were different, my parents always sought out a Fundamentalist Baptist Church for our family to attend.

In 1970, our family moved to Findlay, Ohio. For a short time our family attended Calvary Baptist Church. (My father called this the rich Baptists church.) Since we were definitely NOT rich Baptists, we left Calvary and began attending Trinity Baptist Church.

Our family attended Trinity Baptist Church for several years until my parents were divorced in 1972. After their divorce, my parents quit attending Church. Both of my parents remarried shortly after their divorce. My father married a 19 year old girl and my mother married her recently paroled first cousin.

I, however, continued to attend Trinity Baptist Church.  My father moved us to Tucson, Arizona in 1973. I returned to Findlay, Ohio in the fall of 1973, and moved in with a family in the Church. I moved back home to Bryan, Ohio in 1974.

I dropped out of High School after my 11th grade year. I moved back to Sierra Vista,Arizona and lived with my father for awhile. I then moved again, back to Bryan, Ohio, and lived with my mother and her third husband. (her second husband killed himself)

No matter where I moved, I found a local Fundamentalist Baptist Church to attend. (Sierra Vista Baptist Church, Tucson Baptist Temple, First Baptist Church)

In the fall of 1976, I moved to Pontiac, Michigan to attend Midwestern Baptist College. At the age of 14, I  had made a public profession of faith in Christ and was baptized. Later that same year I publicly confessed I believed God was calling me into the ministry. Now, at age 19, I was acting on God’s calling.

Midwestern was a fighting-fundamentalist, Sword of the Lord, King James Only, Independent Baptist College.  The college chancellor was Tom Malone. Malone was a graduate of Bob Jones College (now University). He was also pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, the Church that the students of the college were required to attend. Emmanuel was considered one of 100 largest Churches in America during the 1970’s.

The theology and methodology that I would use in the ministry over the next 25 years was cultivated at Midwestern.

In 1978, I married my college sweetheart. 8 months later, unemployed and pregnant with our first child, we left Midwestern and returned to Bryan, Ohio.

In upcoming posts I want to write a bit about my years as a pastor. Before I do that I need to back track a bit and write more extensively about the stops along the road of life that had a profound impact on my life.

  • My years at Trinity Baptist Church, Findlay Ohio (1970-74)
  • My years at Midwestern Baptist College, Pontiac Michigan (1976-79)

The Fundy World Tales Part 2

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This entry is part 2 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Trinity Baptist Church years. 1970-74

In the summer of 1970 our family moved from Deshler, Ohio to Findlay, Ohio.

My father sold vacuum cleaners for Kirby. My mother continued to be deeply involved in right-wing politics. She worked as a volunteer for George Wallace. Wallace ran as a Democratic Party candidate for President  in 1972. Our home was broken into, purportedly by someone looking for documents that were damaging to Wallace.  Our own version of Watergate.

In the spring of 1972 my parents were divorced. My mother divorced my father, A short while later my mother married her first cousin, a recent parolee from prison and my father married a 19 yr old girl with a newborn child. My sister and I lived with my father and my brother moved in with my mother.

Our family attended Church three times a week up until the time my parents divorced. When we first moved to Findlay we attended Calvary Baptist Church, a large Church associated with GARBC. (General Association of Regular Baptist Churches) We left this Church a short time later and began attending Trinity Baptist Church. My father said Calvary was the rich Baptist Church and Trinity was the poor Baptist Church. We were definitely poor, so Trinity became our Church home.

Trinity Baptist Church was a new Church that had been started by Gene Milioni in 1952. Milioni a graduate of the first class of Baptist Bible College, Springfield, MO. The Church was an Independent Baptist Church affiliated with the Baptist Bible Fellowship. Milioni would pastor the Church for 50 years, retiring in 2003.

Trinity was a growing Church, typical of Baptist Churches in the 1970’s that were believers in hyper-evangelism and the bus ministry. There were several days, special days, where the attendance exceed 1000.

After we had been at Trinity for awhile the Church added Ron Johnson as assistant pastor and Bruce Turner as youth pastor. Turner would ultimately play an influential part in my life and my call to the ministry.

We attended Church every time the doors were open. I mean EVERY time. Our family attended upwards to 200+ services a year. (Sunday School, Sunday Morning, Sunday Night, Wednesday, Youth Meeting, Youth Rally, Revivals, Bible Conference, Missions Conference)

My father was a deacon in the Church for a time. He quit being a deacon because he couldn’t quit smoking. (or so he said. I wonder…) My father went into business with a man in the Church. They started a hobby store called G and B Trains. The business folded a few years later when my father and his partner got into a dispute over money.

After my parents divorced our family quit attending Church.  I continued to attend Church just as I always had.

In the fall of 1972 I made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. At a revival meeting I went forward during the invitation and prayed the sinner’s prayer. I was baptized by immersion the following Sunday. I was 15.

Several weeks later I let the Church know I was being called to preach. Since the age of 5 my desire had been to be a preacher. Now I was on my way.

In the early months of 1973 my father announced we were moving to Tucson, Arizona. We packed up quickly, had an auction, and moved. Later I found out that creditors were after my father. Another few days and we wouldn’t have had a car to move in. They tracked my father down in Arizona and repossessed the car.

I finished high school at Rincon High School in Tucson. In the summer of 1973, homesick for Ohio, I hopped a Greyhound bus back to Ohio.  I lived for a few months with my Mom in Bryan, Ohio before moving down to Findlay.

I moved in with a young family from Trinity Baptist Church. Bob and Bonnie Bolander, along with their two little girls, took me in. They lived in rural Mt Blanchard.  I started my 11th grade school year at Riverdale High School. After a few months thing were not working out. I still wonder to this day what the reasons were. So I moved again back to Findlay,

Bruce Turner, the youth pastor at Trinity, found me a place to live with an older woman in the church, Gladys Canterbury. So that Gladys could get payment for keeping me and I could receive medical care, I was declared a ward of the court. Officially, I was a ward of the court until age 18.

I reenrolled in Findlay High School. I worked at part-time job at Bill Knapp’s restaurant. I rode my bike to school each day, got out of school at 11:30 A.M., went to work, and then rode my bike several miles home each night.

A week before the end of my 11th grade year of school I left Findlay and moved back home with my Mom. When I went to enroll at Bryan High School for my 12th grade year I was informed that Findlay High School denied me credit for the entire 11th grade year. I had missed taking my finals and I would have to retake 11th grade all over again.  I quickly became the angry redhead and informed the world that I was dropping out of school . (in 2004 I took the GED exam. I am now a High School graduate)

In upcoming posts I plan to trace back over my years at Trinity Baptist Church and detail the teachings and practices that played such a prominent part in my training as a Christian.

Stay Tuned.

The Fundy World Tales Part 3

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This entry is part 3 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Trinity Baptist Church years. 1970-74

The years I attended Trinity Baptist Church in Findlay Ohio were instrumental in defining what I would become as an adult, and later as a Baptist pastor.

After my parents divorced, Bruce Turner, the youth pastor at Trinity became a surrogate parent. I have no doubt that my life would not have turned out as well as it did if it had not been for Bruce Turner. While I am quite certain Bruce is not at all pleased at where I am in my life today, I still owe him a great deal of appreciation for all that he did for me.

As with most Independent Baptist Churches, Trinity had a large, thriving Youth Group.  The Church was large enough that the Junior High and High School students each had their own group.

On Sunday morning Bruce Turner taught the Senior High Sunday School class. Bruce taught typical Independent Baptist stuff…Get saved, and don’t do _____________.

I really don’t remember much about what Bruce taught. I do remember one Sunday where Bruce decided to talk about mini-skirts. For those of us raised in the 60’s and 70’s we’ll remember girls wore two types of dresses…mini-skirts and maxi-dresses. Most of the boys preferred the mini-skirts. :) Bruce Turner told the girls that their “skirts were so short that their cheeks were seeking on the seats.”

That’s about all I remember from Senior High Sunday School class.

After Sunday night service the Senior High students met for youth group.  This was THE place where it all happened. The camaraderie. The hook-ups. The food, fun, and fellowship. We would often go out after youth group and hang out a one of the local fast food restaurants. (there were 2 at the time)

I have nothing but fond memories of youth group. I dated a lot. I broke up a lot. I had a lot of friends. (only one of which I still have today) The youth group was the social hub of my life. Everything revolved around the youth group.

One summer the Church held what they called a Super Summer Bible Rally. An older couple and their sixteen yr old daughter named Charlotte came to the Church to hold the Bible Rally. Each night hundreds of children would pack the auditorium and be taught “the gospel.”

I worked every night of the Bible Rally. I was 16 at the time.

Did I mention the 16 yr old daughter?

Yes…I was smitten by Charlotte. She was my first love. We had a whirlwind 5 day romance and then carried on a long distance romance after that. She lived in Troy, Ohio, which was 90 miles south of Findlay.

We wrote letters and talked on the phone. It was “true love.” (in the summer camp sense)

Later in the year the church Charlotte attended was showing the film “A Thief In The Night.” I talked Bruce Turner into taking the youth group to the Troy Baptist Temple to see the film. Of course what I wanted was to see Charlotte.

After the film was over, we headed back out to the Church bus. It was time for Charlotte and I to say goodbye. Public displays of affection were considered a no-no. Bruce Turner told me “I am going to turn my back for a moment. You say goodbye.” He turned his back, we kissed, and that was the last time we would see each other. A few months later our long distance romance ended when we found real, close to home flesh and blood people to “love.” That’s what made youth group so great…an endless pool of girls. :)

A year or so ago I found a little notepad that Trinity had given out as a gift to everyone during the time I dated Charlotte. On one of the pages my friend Lori Leary had written “Bruce Loves Charlotte.” Wonderful memories.

But, underneath the surface of the happy, go lucky youth group  were kids with a lot of troubles. It was the 1970’s. There was a lot of premarital sex going on. Alcohol and drug use was common. Girls got pregnant. In spite of all the moralistic preaching and rules…kids did what kids have always done. Experiment. Test boundaries. Make bad decisions, sometimes making decisions that scarred them for the rest of their lives.

The Church did little to help those who fell into, or ran into “sin.” Get saved ,get right. That’s how most everything was handled. Kids, with lives spiraling out of control, often spiraled right out of the Church and youth group. They didn’t “fit.”

I fit. I bought  what Trinity was selling. I ate the whole enchilada. I am not a person that does anything half-way. If I am going to embrace a belief system, a way of life, then I am going to go all the way.

I didn’t smoke, drink,cuss, or chew.  I didn’t go to movies. I didn’t wear my hair long. I didn’t listen to rock music. I was a virgin on my wedding day.

I carried my Bible to school every day. I handed out tracts in school.  I wrote English papers about the Baptist Church. I challenged my biology teacher on his teaching us evolution.

I was a good Baptist boy. I ran around with kids in the youth group, and a few kids outside the youth group,  who were not as “good” as me. They drank, smoked, got laid, went to movies,etc. I considered it at test of my “goodness”, of my Christian character, to withstand my friends sinful behaviors.

I saw things that troubled me. I saw a lot of angry, temperamental Church leaders. The very same people who told us to live a certain way were having a hard time doing it themselves. Adultery was a big problem in the Church. Several Church staff members got caught up in adulterous affairs and had to resign from the Church.

One of the things that troubled me the most was a case of child abuse that regularly went on, perpetrated by a leader in the Church.  John (not his real name) was a dear friend. We spent a lot of time together.We hunted and fished. We rode our bikes all over Findlay. We were bosom buddies.

John was not a very good student. John also had a rebellious streak. He smoked. He would do things that infuriated his father.  When John got his grade card he knew he was going to be in trouble. John’s father was a strict disciplinarian and when John got bad grades, and he always did, his father beat him, and beat him, and beat him.  I still remember witnessing one of these beatings.

All of these experiences shaped my view of the world, the Church, and the family. Their influence, both good and bad, run deep in my life.

In upcoming posts I plan to continue to trace back over my years at Trinity Baptist Church and detail the teachings and practices that played such a prominent part in my training as a Christian.

Stay Tuned.

The Fundy World Tales Part 4

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This entry is part 4 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Trinity Baptist Church years. 1970-74

I attended Trinity Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio at a very crucial and foundational point in my life. It was during my time at Trinity Baptist Church that the core doctrines that would guide for the next 2o plus years were drilled into my head.

I heard preaching three times a week. I went to Sunday School and Youth group meetings.  I attended every Bible Conference, Missions Conference, Youth Rally, and Revival the Church had. I went to summer youth camp. I even skipped school so I could attend the Baptist Bible Fellowship preacher’s meeting that was held at the Church.

From listening to preaching I  began to develop what I believed. Granted, I was never presented with any alternative views. I was only given one viewpoint. As with most Baptist Churches, the preachers confused their viewpoint with God’s. When the preacher  preached you were expected to believe that he spoke for God.  He was God’s man.

What did the preacher’s at Trinity Baptist Church teach me?

They taught me the Bible was the inspired, inerrant Word of God.  The Bible was originally written by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They taught me the dictation theory of inspiration. Every word, every jot, every tittle was without error. The history and the science taught in the Bible were true, perfect in every detail. As a result the preachers taught that the universe was created in six 24 hour days and that the universe was 6, 000 years old.

The Bible that they believed was inspired and inerrant was the King James Bible.  They taught me that God had preserved his Word for English speaking people in the King James Bible. Every word, every jot, every tittle of the King James Bible was true.

From the Bible the preachers taught me the basics of the Christian faith. The soteriology taught at Trinity Baptist Church was orthodox and indistinguishable from any other Baptist Church. The essential, cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith were taught and believed.

The preachers also taught me some things that were peculiar to our brand of Christianity.

The Preachers taught me that the Baptist Church was the true Church. The  thinking went something like this: John THE Baptist baptized Jesus, which made Jesus a Baptist. The apostles were all called by Jesus so they were Baptists. The first Christian Churches were started by the apostles so they were Baptist Churches. This belief is commonly called the Landmark Baptist or Baptist Bride teaching. This belief was popularized in a little red booklet titled The Trail of Blood.

The preachers taught me that the Rapture of the Church was imminent. Jesus Christ was coming soon, it could happen today. As was typical of Churches in the 1970’s, the preachers spent a good bit of time preaching on the Rapture, the second coming, the premillennial return of Christ, the great white throne judgment, the BEMA seat judgment, etc.  Eschatological preaching was the fuel that stoked the furnace of evangelism.  Jesus is coming soon. Best be busy winning souls to Jesus.

Up to now the things I was taught by the preachers were innocuous at best. What follows was not so harmless. What follows harmed me greatly, and I deal with the consequences of it to this day.  I have spent hours in counseling trying to  overcome the damage done to me by the teaching I am about to detail.

The preachers taught me  a rules based Christianity. This is commonly called legalism. While the preachers taught salvation by grace, what I understood from their preaching was that to be a real Christian you had to follow the rules. (and virtually all forms of Christianity and religion has some legalistic influences)

The preachers were dispensationalists. They taught we were no longer under the law, we were under grace. Instead of adopting the law of the Bible the preachers made up their own. They would SAY their laws (also called standards) were from the Bible but it seemed every preacher had a different set of rules and laws.

It seemed there was a rule for everything. Dress code. Hair code. Music code. Dating code. Family code.

The preachers taught me to be judgmental, not only of myself, but of others. Everything was judged according to the rules, the standards of the Church.

I wasn’t allowed to go to dances, square dance in gym class, listen to secular music,have long hair, wear worldly clothing, date non-Baptist girls, or sing secular songs in choir. The world was evil, the flesh was evil. Only in the teachings of the Bible, only in Jesus could a person find meaning, purpose, and direction in life.

To this day the legalism I was taught at Trinity Baptist Church courses through my veins.  I hate it yet it still pops up its ugly head from time to time. Hopefully, time will bring healing.

In my next post I intend to write on my time at Midwestern Baptist College. (1976-79)

The Fundy World Tales Part 5

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This entry is part 5 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Midwestern Baptist College years 1976-79

In 1976 I decided it was time to act on my call to the ministry by enrolling in a bible college.

I was the dairy manager for the Foodland grocery store in Bryan , Ohio.  I thoroughly enjoyed my job,and I did have a brief thought of not going to Bible College, but God was calling and I knew I had to go. I told several of my friends that I was intending on going to Bible College and all I got was laughs and “Yeah, right.”

Originally I planned to attend Briarcrest Bible College in Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada. But I could not meet the financial requirement for crossing the border so I looked for a college in the U.S. to attend.

Grandpa and Grandma Tieken lived in Waterford, Michigan.  Grandpa operated an aircraft engine repair shop at the Pontiac Airport. They were devout Christian fundamentalists. They attended Sunnyvale Chapel in Waterford. (I think the Church changed its name)

Grandpa Tieken knew a preacher named Dr Tom Malone. Dr Malone was a pilot.  He also pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac and he was chancellor of Midwestern Baptist College.

Grandpa and Grandma suggested that I come and visit the Midwestern Baptist College. So in the spring of 1976 I made a trip to Pontiac, Michigan to check out Midwestern Baptist College. I was favorably impressed so I submitted an application for enrollment and I was accepted as a new student.

Tuition and room and board came to about 2, 400.00 per year. (my memory is fuzzy but that seems about right)

Since I was a high school dropout Midwestern accepted me as a provisional student. If I completed 1 year of college successfully they would then grant me regular student status.

Midwestern was a 4 year unaccredited, Independent, Fundamentalist, Premillennial Baptist College, started in 1954 by Tom Malone.(a Bob Jones University graduate) Midwestern’s primary purpose was to train preachers. Women who attended Midwestern were primarily there to look for a husband. (an Mrs. degree)

In August of 1976 I left Bryan, Ohio and moved to the Midwestern College dormitory. I was excited about the new opportunities that awaited me. Living away from home. Girls. Studying for the ministry. Girls. Sports. Girls. (did I mention girls?)

As an unaccredited College  the credits I earned at Midwestern were basically worthless, unless I wanted to transfer to another Bible College. Many young people go off to Bible Colleges every year with grand plans of getting a Christian college education. Four years later they get a degree. Ten years later they find out their degree is worthless.

As an unaccredited College, Midwestern offered no student aid. Most every student that attended Midwestern had to work a part-time or full-time job. Many young men men found jobs at local auto manufacturing plants. The auto plants paid GREAT wages. In fact the wages were so good that many young men, four years later, upon graduating from Midwestern, would not leave the good wages at the auto plant for the poverty wages of the pastorate.

I moved into the dormitory the second week of August, 1976. The dorm was a two story structure with a full basement. The women lived on the second floor and the men lived on the first floor and in the basement.

The basement was called the Pit. The south end of the first floor was called the Spiritual wing and the north end of the first floor was called the the Party wing.

I lived on the Party wing. Each dormitory room housed 3 or 4 people. In an upcoming post I plan to write about some of the characters that lived in the dorm.  I also plan to write a bit about the social climate.

After  I moved into the dorm I began working a part-time job with Kroger in Rochester Hills. I worked in the meat department. A short time later I left this job and began working a factory job. Factory jobs were plentiful. Quit one day and work somewhere else the same day. I went through a lot of jobs while at Midwestern.  I was a temperamental, arrogant young man and I didn’t have much tolerance for pushy, hard-boss bosses. They pushed and I quit.

The longest tenured job I had was working for Felice’s Market in Pontiac.  I worked in the produce and dairy department at Felice’s for over a year. The Felice’s were great people. They gave me a nice gift for my wedding and they even helped me buy a car. They were heathens but they sure were nice heathens. :)

I attended Midwestern Baptist College from August of 1976 through February of 1979.  I did not graduate. While at Midwestern I met Polly Shope. Her father, Lee.  was a graduate of Midwestern. (so was her uncle, Jim Dennis, Newark Baptist Temple)

Polly was 17 years old. I was 19. Polly was a quiet, backwards, shy girl. In other words she was the exact opposite of me. She was also very smart. Polly graduate second in her class at Oakland Christian School. She was an avid reader and a proficient typist. (which came in handy since I couldn’t type a lick)

She was also very naive, I mean really, really naive.

One of her favorite songs was Afternoon Delight by Starlight Vocal Band.  One day I gently explained to her what that song meant. She adamantly told me……..NO IT DOESN’T!! Yeah, she was that naive. 31 years of being married to yours truly has fixed the naiveté problem. :)

Polly and I married in July of 1978 between our sophomore and junior year of college. Students were not allowed to marry until after their second year of college. If you married before then you were required to withdraw from college for a year. Needless to say there was a stampede to the marriage altar after the second year. Most of the guys in the dorm married by the end of their second or third year.

Polly and I set up house in an upstairs apartment in Pontiac. We both worked and attended College fulltime. Six weeks after we were married we found out Polly was pregnant. Six months later, having lost my job, we withdrew from Midwestern and moved to the NW Ohio community of Bryan .

I plan to write a good bit more about my time at Midwestern Baptist College. This post provides an overview. In the next post I will go back and fill in the story with some depth.

The Fundy World Tales Part 6

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This entry is part 6 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Midwestern Baptist College years 1976-79

Midwestern Baptist College was started in 1954 to train Fundamentalist Baptist preachers for the ministry. Men from all walks of life came to Midwestern to train for the ministry. Since Midwestern  was a non-accredited, private religious institution students were not eligible for student aid. Most students worked full-time jobs while attending Midwestern.  There were a large number of older, married men taking classes. My father-in-law was in his mid-thirties when he attended Midwestern.

The academics at Midwestern were very substandard. Most teachers taught at an adult Sunday School class level.  In fact, some adult Sunday School classes I have taught over the years were much more challenging than many of the classes I took at Midwestern.  Many of the teachers were graduates of Midwestern.  The Bible classes were most often taught by pastors who had graduated from Midwestern. (I should note that the founder of Midwestern had a earned doctorate from Wayne State/

I wonder if it could have been otherwise. With a large number of older students, and with most students working full time jobs, a rigorous academic program would have resulted in a large number of failures.

The man who taught English  was a closet homosexual.  He was single and lived in the dorm. He and I did not get along very well. I knew what he was (remember  I was quite homophobic at the time) and we clashed repeatedly. He finally told me to stay out of his class. If I would do that he would give me a passing grade. Worked out great for me.  I got a passing grade without doing the work and I got to shoot baskets during the time for English class.

The man who taught business classes at Midwestern was a schizophrenic. Great guy. Single. Lived in the dorm. As long as he took his meds he was fine.  But, he didn’t like to take his meds.

One night he drove his car to the black section of Pontiac, got out of the car, and handed his keys to the first person he saw.  He then walked back to the dorm.  It took us a week to track down his car and retrieve it.

The man who taught Missions was a former missionary. I really enjoyed his class. Lots of stories. Very personal. He was passionate about missions and his passion infected everyone who took his class.  He only taught one year.

World History was taught by a pastor’s wife who literally read the textbook to the class. She spoke with a monotone voice. The highlight of the class was when someone would fart.

The Bible and doctrine  classes I took were all taught by pastors. Most of the classes were taught  in a devotional manner.Since the Bible was the inerrant Word of God (KJV only) we never discussed textual variants or alternative explanations or understandings of a text.  God said it and that settled it.  I learned very little bible in BIBLE college.

Biology class was the biggest joke of all. No lab. All lecture. The teacher was a racist and he spent a few classes talking about why we should only marry  our “own kind.”  The teacher was a pastor with no meaningful science training.

I have come to see that Midwestern did not exist for the purpose of giving me an education.  It existed for the purpose of indoctrinating me in the Fundamentalist, Independent Baptist faith. Difference and dissent was quashed. Troublemakers were thrown out. (also known as shipped) Academic freedom did not exist. Either a teacher taught the party line or they were fired.

The College had a library. It had very few books and most of the books it did have were castoffs from pastor’s libraries. I only used the library a handful of times.

What learning I now possess I do not owe to Midwestern.  A few years into the ministry I realized that the education I received at Midwestern was academically inferior.  I began to buy books and started the long, arduous task of learning the Bible. Over the years I ended up with a library of over 1,000 theological books. (all of which I have since sold on EBay)  More than once someone would come into my study, and upon seeing the books, ask me if I actually read all of them.  Yes, was the answer.

I know of more than a few fundamentalist pastors whose whole library would fit on two shelves. No need to read or study. The Bible is all we need.

Ignorance among Fundamentalist, Independent Baptists is far too common. Winning souls is the priority. It should come as no surprise when men trained this way teach error or become cultic in their practices.

I plan to write a good bit more about my time at Midwestern Baptist College. Stay tuned.

The Fundy World Tales Part 7

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This entry is part 7 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Midwestern Baptist College years 1976-79

I lived in the Midwestern dormitory my freshman and sophomore year. The dormitory consisted of a basement and a first and second floor. The women lived on the second floor and the men took up residence in the basement and the first floor. I lived on the first floor

The first floor of the dormitory had two sections. The dormitory lobby area separated these two sections from each other. One section of the first floor of the dormitory was called the spiritual wing and the other section was called the party wing. I lived on the party wing.

For the most part living in the dormitory was quite enjoyable and fun. Most of the guys were great to be around and there never was a dull moment. I have many fond memories of my time spent in the Midwestern dormitory.

The dormitory supervisors were Ralph and Sophie Bitner. Ralph and Sophie were graduates of Midwestern. They had no children and no experience with adolescents in a dormitory setting. The Bitner’s seemed to have little real-life experience and for the most part were quite ineffective in helping the young people that lived in the dormitory. For the most part we ignored them.

There were a lot of rules to keep. Failure to keep the rules resulted in the student being written up. Every infraction of the rules had a demerit value. When a student broke the rules their name and the infraction was written on a demerit slip that was turned into the Dean’s office. Every week a list would be posted of people who were required to appear before the disciplinary committee to answer for the demerit slips that had been turned in the previous week.

I often tell people that I made the Dean’s list quite often at Midwestern.What I don’t tell them is that it was the Dean’s disciplinary list that I was on so often.

One time I was written up for borrowing. Yes borrowing. Midwestern had a rule against borrowing. One winter day I borrowed my fiancé’s winter parka. It was a unisex parka. Evidently my roommate saw me borrow the parka and he wrote me up. I had to appear before the disciplinary committee to answer for the sin of borrowing. I tried quoting the Bible in my defense.  Matthew 5:42 says Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. The committee was not interested in what the Bible had to say. All that mattered is that I broke the rules.

Another time I was written up for breaking the six-inch rule. The six-inch rule was a rule meant to keep unmarried men and women from getting too close to each other. 6 inches is about the width of a songbook or a Bible and unmarried students were not allowed to be closer than a songbook or a Bible from each other.

I was on the college basketball team. One day during practice I slapped at a basketball and severely dislocated a finger. I was rushed to the emergency room and the doctor was able to fix the dislocation. I’m left-handed and the dislocation had occurred on my left hand.

Every male student was required to wear a tie to class. I found it very difficult to tie a tie with one hand, so one day I asked my fiancé to tie my tie for me. In doing so we broke the six-inch rule. Someone anonymously turned us in for breaking the six-inch rule and we had to appear before the disciplinary committee to answer the charges against us.

We each receive 25 demerits for breaking the six-inch rule. We were warned that if we broke the six-inch rule again we would be expelled from school. Little did they know that we have been breaking it for quite some time.

Most dormitory students lived for the weekend. Students could only date on the weekends. Double dating was required and no student could go farther away than 10 miles from the dormitory. This was called the 10 mile limit. No physical contact between students was allowed. No kissing. No holding hands. No physical contact whatsoever.

Most students tried to adhere to the rules for a while. Some, like my fiancé and I, kept the six-inch rule religiously until we went home for our first Christmas break. While home on Christmas break were allowed to act like normal young adults who were in love. We held hands, kissed, necked, and pretty much acted like any other couple mutually infatuated with each other.

Once the genie was out of the bottle it was impossible to put her back in. When we returned to Midwestern we realized we could not continue to keep the six-inch rule. So for the next 18 months we sought out couples to double date with that had the same view of the six-inch rule as we did. We had to be very careful. Choose the wrong couple to double date with and you could end up getting expelled from school.

Rules, like the six-inch rule, put the dormitory students in a position where they had to lie and cheat just to be able to act like normal young adults. Many students ended up getting campused (not allowed to leave the campus or date) or were expelled because they broke the six-inch rule.

Illicit sexual activity was quite common among dormitory students. There was always a lot of gossip about who was doing what, when and where. During the spring of my sophomore year many of us rented apartments in the Pontiac area. We were all planning to get married over the summer, and since apartments were hard to come by, we rented them as soon as we found them.

Unfortunately the apartments turned into a big temptation for some couples. They began using the apartments as a safe place for sexual activity. I could give you the names of several well-known preachers and their wives who lost their virginity at one of these apartments. Some of these preachers are now known to rail against sexual immorality. It seems they have forgotten about their own sexual immorality many years ago.

Practical jokes were a common part of the dormitory experience. I loved playing practical jokes on others.

One of my roommates was what we called a Pharisee. He loved getting other people in trouble. He loved writing people up. He was the one who wrote me up for borrowing my fiancé’s parka.

One day I saw an opportunity to get even with my roommate. I knew he was in love with a waitress that worked at a nearby diner. He would often go down to the diner and drool over her. He even gave her his phone number, and that would prove to be his undoing.

One night I talked one of the dormitory girls into calling my roommate pretending to be the girl from the diner. I told her to set up a date with my roommate. She did. I told her to make sure the date time was after curfew.

My roommate was quite excited after getting the phone call from the girl at the diner. He had no car of his own, so he borrowed someone else’s car and off to the diner he went.

Upon returning, after curfew, in a borrowed car, to the dormitory I made sure the dormitory supervisor was waiting for him. Needless to say my roommate found himself in quite a bit of trouble. Revenge was sweet!

Dormitory life for me was a two-year party. Lots of fun. Lots of camaraderie. Lots of good memories.

In retrospect I can now see how oppressive the rules were, but like the good Baptist boy that I was, I adapted to the rules and learned to manipulate the rules that I couldn’t keep. The rules made for an unnatural environment, but in spite of the rules I had a great experience living in the Midwestern dormitory.

I plan to write a good bit more about my time at Midwestern Baptist College. Stay tuned.

The Fundy World Tales Part 8

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This entry is part 8 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

The Midwestern Baptist College years 1976-79

Learning to evangelize was a key part of the training I received at Midwestern Baptist College. The Bible says that he winneth souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30)

From the chapel pulpit, in the classroom, and from the church pulpit of Emmanuel Baptist Church, the Church most students were required to attend, soulwinning was preached on a regular basis. Students were reminded of the awful horror of hell. Regular sermons were preached from Ezekiel that warned students about failing to evangelize. We were told that if we failed to evangelize a particular person and they died in their sins their blood would be on our hands.

Students were cajoled, berated, and shamed into evangelizing. Regular contests were run to see who could win the most souls. Students would fan out over the Pontiac and Detroit area in their efforts to get as many people as possible into the kingdom of God. Prizes were awarded to the students who won the most souls. It was all about numbers. Go. Go. Go. Grow. Grow. Grow.

Every freshman student was required to work on a bus route. Every Saturday morning, bright and early, bus workers would meet at the church for their weekly pep rally. There were regular bus ministry contests where the goal was to get as many riders on your bus as possible. Children were bribed with money, candy, food, toys, etc. with the hope that they would ride the bus on Sunday. Students were told that the end justified the means. Whatever it took to get the children to the church so they could hear the gospel preached was fine. Students that had improving bus rider numbers were praised while students with declining bus rider numbers were berated.

Typically I spent a good part of each Saturday trying to improve the ridership numbers on my bus. I would then get up early on Sunday morning  and head to the bus garage to pick up my bus. Typically the church buses were old, dilapidated, retired school buses. Many of the buses were unsafe. I was not required to take any training to drive a church bus. I just said “I can drive a bus” and they let me. I would dutifully drive the bus to each home where we hoped a child would get on the bus. My mood for the day was dictated by how many children rode the bus. I never wanted to be shamed over the lack of riders on my bus.

Door-to-door evangelism was also required of every student. Each week we would dutifully go out and knock on doors in the Pontiac and Detroit area. Our objective was to find unsaved people, preached to them the gospel, and try to get them to pray the sinner’s prayer. Every week we had to report how many doors we knocked on. We were graded on this effort.

One day I knocked on the door of a prospective target of my evangelistic zeal and a young woman answered the door. I began my spiel and she stopped me. She told me that she had done that three times already and that she didn’t need to do it again. I asked her if she was regularly attending church. She told me she didn’t need to, because, after all, she had already asked Jesus into her heart. This should have been a bright light warning to me but I ignored it and continued down the street in hopes of finding another soul that needed Jesus.

After my freshman year I stopped working in the bus ministry. I still did door-to-door evangelism each week. As I noted in an earlier post, I began preaching on a regular basis in a drug rehab center in Detroit. For the next year and a half the focus of my evangelistic efforts was the residents at the drug rehab center. During my time at the drug rehab center I led a number of people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

My evangelistic efforts focused on numbers. The quality of the convert was never an issue. It was all about the raw numbers. How many saved. How many baptized. Rarely did I ever stop to consider that most of the people I led to Jesus Christ didn’t attend church after they were saved. At times I was troubled by this but I was told by pastors and teachers that it was God’s business to sort all that out. My job was to just keep winning souls.

For the first 10 years of my time in the ministry I practice and followed the soulwinning techniques I was taught at Midwestern Baptist College. The results were quite impressive. Large numbers of people attended the churches I pastored. Every week someone new was professing faith in Christ. Yet, it seemed we turned a lot of people over. They would get saved, baptized, and attend church for a while, but by and large, within a year they were no longer attending the church.

Over time I learned that this was not a good way, nor a mature way, to build a church. I know of some pastors that graduated from Midwestern Baptist College years ago who are still trying to build a church the way they were taught at Midwestern. They are convinced that they are doing it the way that Jesus would have done it. Their churches tend to see large numbers of converts but little real growth in attendance. I know of some churches that boast of thousands of converts each year, yet their attendance is either static or in decline. I came to the conclusion that the methodology I was taught at Midwestern Baptist College can be best summed up as: Win them, wet them, work them, waste them. It is not uncommon for churches built on this philosophy to turn over their entire congregation every few years. This dysfunctional type of church building is practiced in thousands of churches in the United States.

It is fair to ask what the fruit of such evangelistic practices are. Midwestern Baptist College is but a shell of its former self. The church that most students were required to attend is now a church with an attendance of less than the Sunday school class I attended while I was at Midwestern in the 1970′s. (it may even be closed) Thousands of churches built on the soulwinning techniques I was taught in college are now shuttered. I can name churches that once ran thousands of people that are now closed or a fraction of their former self.

The soulwinning methodology that I was taught at Midwestern Baptist College lives on in periodicals like the Sword of the Lord. Churches associated with the Sword of the Lord continue to operate bus ministries and continue to knock on doors just like they did forty years ago. Even though the buses are empty and few people sit in the church pews they refuse to change or adapt to the times. The rigidity of their doctrine and their practice keeps them stuck in the past.

I did learn one positive thing from the evangelistic techniques that I was taught. I learned to be passionate. In my college days I was passionate about winning souls, building a church, and being faithful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That passion drove me to work tirelessly for Jesus. While I’m no longer a Christian and I am no longer passionate about winning souls, I do find that I am passionate about other things. Things that really matter, like family and the environment. So I’m grateful to Midwestern Baptist College for instilling in me a belief that some things do matter and I should be passionate about the things that do matter. The focus of my passion has changed, but the passion remains.

I plan to write a good bit more about my time at Midwestern Baptist College. Stay tuned.

The Fundy World Tales Part 9

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This entry is part 9 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

Most  of the single students at Midwestern Baptist College lived in the college dormitory. They came from independent, fundamentalist Baptist churches. In many cases the churches they came from were pastored by men who graduated from Midwestern. For all their talk about being independent, most pastors were very loyal to certain institutions and groups. Midwestern men sent their students to Midwestern and to do otherwise was considered an act of disloyalty.

Single women were housed on the top floor of the dormitory. Single men lived on the first floor and basement of the dormitory. In the middle of the first floor there was a common meeting place and kitchen. Social gatherings took place there.

We were children of the 70’s. Rock ‘n roll,free love, muskrat love, and political and social upheaval. But the key thing that  differentiated us from our counterparts in the world was that we all came from independent Baptist churches that preached against most everything that was going on in America at the time. Our pastors told us repeatedly that Satan was out to destroy us and that we had to stand against his wiles.

But, we were young. We had the typical hormonal rages of any young person. The college had (still does) strict rules against any physical contact between single members of the opposite sex. There was the six-inch rule. No single male or female was permitted within 6 inches of each other. No handholding, no putting your arm around each other, no staring dreamily into each other’s eyes. Just masturbate a lot, which was also a sin, and hope you got through it.

Couples were allowed to double date on the weekends. We were not allowed to go beyond ten miles away from the school. Evidently there was more sin to get into eleven miles away than there was ten.

Couples were not allowed to marry until after their sophomore year. If they married before their sophomore year they were required to withdraw from school and sit out at least a semester. At the end of my sophomore year over half of the young men in the dormitory married. I was one of them.

The dating rules were made to be broken. The college had set up an impossible standard for young men and women to keep. I remember several men moving into the dormitory who had recently been saved and who had prior to that had been living with a woman. Their pastor encouraged them to go to Bible college and get a good Bible education. What their pastors didn’t tell them is that there would be no more sex. More than one student couldn’t live without sex and withdrew from college.

If a couple was inclined to break the dating rules they learned very quickly who they could and could not double date with. A few couples were strict Pharisees adhering to the very letter of the law. If a couple so much as held hands with each other they would be turned in for this grievous moral infraction. Most couples broke the dating rules to some degree or another. Some couples had sexual intercourse, while most couples, like my wife and I, contented ourselves with holding hands and making out. We spent two years being afraid of being busted by the six inch rule police every time we went out on a date.

More than a few women entered Midwestern Baptist College as virgins and left deflowered. There were constant whispers about this person or that person having sex. When a dormitory student left college all of a sudden it was a sure sign that they were either being immoral or they were pregnant. (according to the dorm rumor mill)

While certainly our counterparts in the world were having more sex than us, there was enough sexual activity going on at Midwestern to make the rules a complete laughingstock.

My wife and I both were virgins when we married. I’ve often said that if we had waited much longer I doubt we would have lasted. The sexual pressure placed on us by the College rules, and our independent Baptist upbringing, was insufferable. Everything that your body said do the rules said don’t. Even the natural release of masturbation was considered a sin. It was like being on fire, with a glass of water in your hand, and not drinking it. Needless to say, most men in the dormitory whacked off. I do not know what took place on the women’s floor of the dormitory. Even today, women masturbating is seen as a much greater evil than when men do it and it certainly was more so in the 1970’s.

We were taught at Midwestern to be sexually dysfunctional, so it should come as no surprise that many of the students after they married had problems in their marriage. The only training and teaching on sexual matters we received came from the pulpit and from a well marked, dog-eared copy of the Christian sex classic, The Act of Marriage.It took my wife and I many years to break free from the sexual dysfunction we were taught. Both of us would say that the sexual relationship we have today without the God of our youth (and sex was almost treated as a threesome, husband, wife, and God) is 1000 times better.

I  want to conclude this post with a humorous story.

Midwestern Baptist College was located in Pontiac Michigan, an industrial city north of Detroit. In the 1970’s downtown Pontiac was an open cesspool. Prostitutes littered the corners and adult entertainment was readily available. Downtown Pontiac was a place were a lot of young, sexually charged dormitory men went to go,uh, ahem soulwinning.  :)

I was no different, and after much consternation, and handwringing, and fearing the damnation of my soul, I decided to go to a strip joint. Boy was it an eye-opener, in more ways than one. Up until this time I had never seen a naked woman or look at a pornographic magazine. As I was leaving the strip joint, with head hung low, I caught out of the corner of my eye a man whom I knew quite well. He was a deacon at the church I attended, at the church most all of the single Midwestern students attended. I saw him and he saw me, and we never talked about it.

The Fundy World Tales Part 10

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This entry is part 10 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

After our sophomore year at Midwestern Baptist College, my fiancé and I were married at the Newark Baptist Temple in Heath, Ohio.  After our honeymoon at the French Lick Hotel, French Lick, Indiana we returned to our apartment in Pontiac, Michigan. We enrolled in fall semester classes at Midwestern.

In late August or early September of 1979 Polly informed me that she thought she was pregnant. We had been married all of six weeks.  Back at my wife’s home Church the gossip mill ran wild.  The gossips were quite certain that Polly was pregnant BEFORE we were married. Nothing brings more glee to gossips than a preacher’s kid getting knocked up before marriage. (it makes them feel better about their own sexual escapades)  Fortunately our first child was full term, born 7 weeks before we celebrated out first wedding anniversary.

I changed jobs several times during the first few months of marriage. I had a difficult time finding work that would pay enough to support two college students and a child on the way. In late 1978 I was laid off and we began to have serious financial troubles.

I made an appointment to talk to Levy Corey. Corey worked for the College and was my homiletics teacher. I consider him one of the best preachers I have ever heard. I vividly remember his first lesson in homiletics class. “Forget everything they taught you in speech class!”

I told Levy Corey about the financial troubles we were having.  I told him we were going to have to drop out of college for a semester in hopes of getting our finances in order. He told me, “It is the will of God for you and Polly to stay in school. God will provide. If necessary borrow the money to stay in school.”

This was the worst advice to give to struggling college students. God didn’t provide but Beneficial Finance did. We borrowed money we could not repay. We were not very responsible with money to start with and being encouraged to borrow money was not what we needed to hear.

Even with borrowing money we could not keep our head above water, and in February 1978 we withdrew from Midwestern Baptist College and moved back to my home town, Bryan Ohio.

Before we left Pontiac several friends of ours took it upon themselves to come to our home and preach to us about leaving Midwestern.  They informed us that it was not the will of God for us to leave college and God would never use us if we left. The founder of Midwestern College, Dr. Tom Malone, hated quitters. He hammered us in chapel about never quitting. NEVER QUIT!  We were quitters, the lowest of the low.

Ironically, several our our friends who prophesied against went on to graduate but never served a day in the ministry. We spent over 25 years in the ministry. (yes that is a smug “take that’ poke)    In the early mid-1980’s at a Preacher’s conference,Dr. Malone publically said of me, “Bruce left college before we ruined him.”  I appreciated his words.

Polly and I packed up a small u-haul trailer, hitched it to our mid-1960’s Chevrolet Impala, and moved 2 1/2  hours southwest to Bryan, Ohio.  We moved in with my sister and her husband and a month later we rented a duplex on Hamilton St.

I was asked by Pastor Jay Stuckey, pastor of Montpelier Baptist Church in Montpelier, Ohio, to be the church’s bus pastor. I gladly accepted this unpaid position.

In the  next Fundy World Tales  I plan to write about out time at the Montpelier Baptist Church.