Vol. 39, No. 6    

Note: The following questions have been gathered from emails to EMOS' executive director, Charles W. Martin. This is the first issue of the Bulletin to actually focus on EMOS. The title, "Ministry with Integrity," comes from a Southern Baptist pastor's description of EMOS.

Question: Why all the books? What exactly is it that EMOS  does?
CWM: The library is related to what EMOS offers, specifically, research assistance to church leaders and believers around the world; the publication of the Bulletin of Evangelical Ministries; the development, preparation, and teaching of Bible studies and seminars; the quarterly book mailing; the discount book ministry; and preaching. Also, the library itself is accessible as a resource to persons involved in biblical and theological research. However, EMOS' library is not a lending library - it is non-circulating.
 
Basically, what we do is offer research assistance, teach-ing, and preaching based on extensive study and reflection. Most studies that are taught are prepared over a period of about three years. During that time we consult with resource people and experts in their fields, gather books and other resources not already in our library, and begin to put together seminars like Studies in Jonah and Old Testament Theology. Usually our teaching notes to these studies are made available to others who utilize them as they choose.

Question: But why so many books? Do you really need this many books to teach the Bible?
CWM: One does not need a graduate degree to teach the Bible, nor to read and digest scores of books on, say, Old Testament theology, to teach a study on Old Testament theology. However, scholarship and research have an important role to play, even in the teaching of a Sunday School class or a series of mid-week Bible studies. When I was preparing to teach the biblical book of Romans, I followed our usual basic research steps: I read and studied every commentary I could find, worked through the Greek text, and read everything else I could find that was in one way or another related to Romans.
The commentaries on the Greek text were particularly helpful. However, I noticed that few of the authors went out of their way to say anything about the historical and theological debate of how key verses in Romans have been translated into English. Although many of our English study Bibles today have marginal notes on the critical (Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek) text of the Bible, regrettably, there is much they leave out that is, I believe, of critical importance.
 

If we failed to make any real effort to be thorough in our preparation and research, there is much we would miss, and therefore those who participate in our studies would miss. Reading both broadly and deeply gives us the opportunity to not only gain a more balanced and informed perspective, but to avoid all kinds of errors, including interpretive errors and errors of logic and reason. For example, we routinely find that writers misquote or take out of context the person they are quoting. A church father like Irenaeus, or a historic figure like James Arminius, may appear to be quoted at length in a book, but when you check the primary source you find the historian or writer is using a select portion of what someone like Arminius has written in order to persuade the reader, among other things, that the book he is reading is correctly interpreting Arminius.

Question: Is this "taking out of context" intentional?
CWM: Intentionality is not the issue. It is quite natural for a writer to want to illustrate his reading of someone like Arminius is correct, and he understands most every facet of the person's thinking. But, just as a lawyer in a courtroom or trial context seeks not to permit the jury to hear certain facts that may dissuade them against his argument for his client, a writer may not give a fair and full (objective) hearing to an ancient writer. In other words, as in any debate, you can count on both sides presenting evidence to support their opinion, which may be more opinion than actual fact.

Question: Haven't I heard you say that a person can be a dynamic speaker, or writer, and yet not be telling the whole or complete truth?
CWM: That's right, just as a boring and unexciting speaker may be right on target in terms of his teaching, interpretation, or argument. This is a problem we as humans have always faced. Many Old Testament scholars believe some of the false prophets in the Old Testament may have been very dynamic and charis-matic speakers, while some of the true prophets of God were not nearly as exciting to hear. In the New Testament, Paul was careful to preach the gospel to the Corinthians and others in what might be termed a less than "dynamic" manner (see 1 Cor. 2:1-5). He went out of his way to say that in his preaching he did not seek to be, humanly speaking, "persuasive." Rather, he relied totally on the Holy Spirit to do his persuading, so that the faith of the Corinthians did not rest "in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:5, RSV).

Question: In your teaching and preaching, are there some books and tools upon which you depend more than others?
CWM: Yes, very much so. Of course, the Bible, in various translations, is the primary resource. After that, I use various exhaustive concordances and lexicons. One of the most helpful "tools" for me has been the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (United Bible Societies, 1988, 1989), especially in working through the Hebrew or Greek text.
In research, once you move beyond the Bible and basic biblical tools, there are certain key primary resources. Of course, much depends on the field in which you are doing research. For example, we have been involved for some time now in preparing a study on world religions. The primary resources in such a study are, of course, the "sacred texts" of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. Secondary resources include a wide variety of dictionaries and specialty dictionaries, as well as books by Buddhists explaining their faith or religion for the general reader.
 
Question: That brings me back to all the books in the EMOS library. Wouldn't it be easier just to pick up a book written by an evangelical Christian on world religions and teach from that?
CWM: Yes, it would be much easier, but it would tend to be, from our perspective, very predictable, and limited in the sense of not providing key details, that is, depth and breadth. Further, most of those who seek our assistance with research are not looking for a Sunday-School-type of presentation.

Question: What's wrong with a Sunday-School-type of presentation?
CWM: It depends on what the student is seeking and satisfied with. I have many colleagues who teach the entire book of Romans or Isaiah over a period of a few weeks, or during a quarter at Sunday School. If we were limited to that time frame, we would simply do an "overview" or "survey" study. But our preference is to work through a biblical book at a slower and more in-depth pace.

Question: Would you say the difference EMOS offers is like that between elementary school and college classes?
CWM: No, progression has a role to play. There are things I can't teach certain people because they are not ready for them. While your comparison is perhaps somewhat valid, at the same time you must realize there are elementary schools and there are elementary schools, and there are colleges and there are colleges, because of what the teachers seek to do with and for their students. Some college classes are not much more than high-school-level classes. Some elementary school teachers find ways to motivate their students to read and explore well beyond the material covered in class, while a college professor may not even have a required text, much less require reading from six or seven collateral texts. There are elementary preparatory schools that teach the ancient Greek and Roman classics, while there are colleges that don't offer a single course on them. When we are developing a study, generally we want to challenge students, whether they are seekers or believers. We try to avoid rehashing what they have already heard or know, and seek to introduce them to practical concepts or principles that will help them develop and mature as seekers or believers.

Question: I'm sorry, but I still don't see the point in doing all the research and preparation you do before preaching and teaching?
CWM: Being involved in research, almost every day I am learning something I did not know before or gaining a new or deeper perspective on something. The most basic rule of interpreting the Bible is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture (itself). However, in order to do that, whenever we touch down in one passage or another, we must be conscious of the larger whole that lies before us in relationship to the text in question - things we may assume we know and understand, but we actually don't; and how that passage and what it contains relates to the larger whole of the rest of Scripture. Solid research helps in this area.  

Of course, there are all sorts of study Bibles, books, and software tools available today to help us be more analytical in our study of Scripture. But the fact is, for every reference an editor or team of editors includes in the margins of our Bibles beside a text, there are at least ten or twenty others that they chose not to include, or perhaps did not even think of including. This is why a Bible concordance is such a valuable tool. It is also why, ideally, most of us need time to reflect on a passage, the longer the better. It is also why I am motivated to read someone's book or commentary who has spent several decades studying a particular book of the Bible. I want to know what they have discovered through the Holy Spirit in the time they have spent studying Genesis, Isaiah, Mark, or Hebrews; or a specific doctrine, a particular biblical character, etc. That's the reason for the library.

Question: But surely you don't suggest that every pastor or Sunday School teacher prepare the way you do?
CWM: No. But, one tends to get out of his or her study what he is willing to put into it. I am not saying that lengthy preparation in primary resources necessarily results in a good sermon or a solid study, because one may have a poor research method and limited resources. But, if you gave me a choice in terms of reading an author who has spent ten years reading and studying Genesis and one who has purchased a popular com-mentary on Genesis and is going to speak from his reading of that, I would gravitate toward the former, even though the latter person may be an entertaining and dynamic speaker.

Question: You often refer to "primary" and "secondary" resources. I'm not sure I understand the difference.
CWM: "Primary" sources are original, unmediated docu-ments, such as the writings of the church fathers, a the Greek text of the New Testament. "Secondary" sources are those that comment on and cite primary sources, such as a book written on or about the church fathers, or a discussion of the Greek text.

Question: It would seem to me that you could quickly make a pastor envious, with EMOS' library, your academic background, and the like.
CWM: I deal with people every day who are more gifted and skilled than I am. They are only a few steps from a million-volume academic library in one institution or another, and their academic backgrounds contain multiple graduate degrees. But their schedules don't give them the time to engage in research, unless they take a sabbatical. Often much the same is true for pastors, missionaries, and Sunday School teachers. I'm basically a researcher. Through EMOS I try to share what we have in terms of a library, and for those who don't have time to engage in research, we do our best to share and make that available as well. Through EMOS, we also seek to work with pastors, missiona-ries, and others in the church, strengthening their hand, their ministries. We do not ask them to financially support us, or necessarily even make reference to EMOS. We seek to be team players, not star players. The pastors and missionaries I know are not envious of what we do here at EMOS.

Question: That brings up the fact that EMOS is a faith ministry - a ministry that relies on faith alone rather than faith and fund-raising. Could EMOS' stance on fund-raising be inter-preted negatively or totally misunderstood?
CWM: Sure. Most of those who served in or started faith-based ministries, like J. Hudson Taylor, were viewed as being somewhat peculiar, to say the least. Indeed, in Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret (Hendrickson, 2008), we are told Taylor believed in prayer, so much so that men could be moved, "through God, by prayer alone" to give. Interestingly, the author of the book, Hudson Taylor's second son, Dr. Howard Taylor (1862-1946), said, "There may have been some lack of judgment, perhaps some going to extremes, but how wonderfully God understood and met him!" (17). I, and those I know who serve through faith-based ministries, would rather err on the side of going too far in trusting God, than going too far in trusting in what we can do and bring about (in the flesh), and giving God the credit for that. So many believers today fail to distinguish between the Spirit and the flesh that they believe "God helps those who help them-selves" is found somewhere in the Bible.

Question: Would you say that reading is your hobby?
CWM: No. It is something I enjoy and must do, but I would not refer to it as a hobby. Technically, a "hobby" is a pursuit outside one's regular occupation, usually something engaged in for relaxation or other benefits. Reading doesn't always relax me.

Question: So what are your hobbies? In the past you have listed certain "interests."
CWM: I know the listing to which you are referring. Actually, the term used was "avocations," which is "a sub-ordinate occupation pursued in addition to one's vocation." Those "avocations" were originally listed back in the early 1980s as archaeology, linguistics, social psychology, human development, and educational psychology.

Question: Have they changed since then?  
CWM: At the time, those were listed primarily because they were areas or fields involved in my graduate studies. However, basically, they have not changed as also being special interests. For example, I greatly enjoyed a recent issue of The Bible Translator which focused on translating the Bible into sign languages. In a sense, that task combines linguistics, social psychology, and educational psychology, and it could be argued it also touches upon human development.

Question: What about archaeology?
CWM: It remains one of my "avocations." I was a charter subscriber of and still subscribe to the Biblical Archaeology Review, although I don't always agree with some of the content. Within the larger field of archaeology, my "interests" tend to be underwater or marine archaeology, the ancient city of Jerusalem, and in particular, the Temple Mount. However, I am interested also in the Crusader sites in the Holy Land, as well as archae-ological work outside the Holy Land.

Question: What about digging ditches as a hobby?
CWM: I hadn't thought of that. It is true, I have always like to shovel dirt, and I do "enjoy" it, but I view it chiefly as a form of exercise rather than a "hobby."

Question: Would you ever consider returning to the pastorate?
CWM: Yes, if I was sure God wanted that. However, with my visual limitations (no night driving), and the stress that would be involved in pouring myself into both a pastorate and EMOS, both of which are "jobs" that demand all you can give to them, my returning to any church staff position is probably not likely.

Question: EMOS' Patrons represent a wide variety of denominations and theological traditions. Do you believe that, in any way, is related to your own "denominational pilgrimage"? CWM: Maybe, I really don't know. In my "denominational pilgrimage," as you call it, I served in the United Methodist Church and the Southern Baptist Convention as a pastor, youth worker, teacher, and, for a short time, I was involved in directing leadership training in a church. I am now serving as a teaching elder in a Christian Church (Stone-Campbell movement). In terms of my academic background and my denominational associations, all but one of the schools I attended are non-denominational, the exception being Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, which is under the Evangelical Free Church. The theo-logical traditions associated with the other schools were Wesleyan, Reformed, and Baptist. In terms of my "family heritage," we have ties to Scottish Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Lutherans.

Question: That is what I am talking about. Don't you think that kind of background and heritage have resulted in your having what might be termed a more "balanced" theology?
CWM: I suppose that is possible. However, I would like to think I have always given priority to what the Bible teaches more so than any theological tradition. I believe Scripture has a "balance" to it that supercedes every theological tradition. No Christian tradition has a corner on God's truth, much less God.
 
Question: You may choose not to answer this, but can EMOS be termed a successful ministry when (1) you subsidize a third of its budget, (2) work without a salary, (3) have to personally cover expenses not in the budget, and (4) have not met the annual budget more often than you have met it?
CWM: You are not the first to raise those questions. I have suggested we are caught up today in what many term the "success syndrome." Two major components of that are numbers and money. While numbers and money may indicate God's blessing in many instances, that is not always the case, the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses being two cases in point, unless one wants to argue God blesses cultic groups whose teachings are heretical.
When it comes to ministry, numbers and funding can be misleading. For example, Jeremiah preached faithfully the Word of God for about forty years. But did anyone believe? Was anyone's life transformed? Unless there is something that we are not told, no one responded, no one listened. The same thing applies to every other prophet in the Old Testament, with the exception of Jonah.
However, they were all God's prophets, proclaiming His word. Biblically, we are called to be faithful, not necessarily "success-ful," however you want to define "success." Further, in light of what we read about in the lives of the Old Testament prophets, we tend to have a rather narrow, cultural definition of success.
 
Being faithful is more primary in Scripture than viewing one's ministry as "successful" by today's standards. We are called to be faithful to God's calling, even to the point of allowing Him to determine our degree of success or failure. Are we willing to "fail" for God? Isaiah and Jeremiah were. But many believers today go out of their way to argue God never allows failure in any sense. Apparently they have not read all of Isaiah 6 or other key portions of the Bible. Again, we need to be careful how we define God's will, in this case, His definition of "success" in a particular cultural or social context.

Question: I have heard you say that it is well that you had little or no idea what kind of ministry to which God was calling you. What did you mean by that? Do you enjoy EMOS?
CWM: When I have said that I meant I never imagined that a significant amount of my time would be spent in reading and research. When I was growing up, and throughout most of my teen years, I was an outdoor and sports-oriented person. Because I had spent a decade in competitive swimming, ran track, and played football, both my family and I assumed my vocation in life would probably be something in recreation.  Therefore, when God called me to ministry, while still in high school, there was a certain amount of astonishment.
In that context, I was advised my calling was, specifically, to the pastorate. I was not willing to rule out the pastorate, but I was not as sure as my advisors. In college, the "ministry" to which I was called was yet something of a mystery to me. I knew I was going to be in school quite some time. Then, when I met a teaching minister, that clarified some things, but I was well into graduate school before the idea of working through a para-church ministry presented itself.
 
As far as "enjoying" EMOS, it has its rewards, although I have never met anyone who, once they understood what I did and the context, was willing to take my place. I suspect it is not so much the reading and research that frightens people, or the academic preparation, but as you mentioned, the fact that there is no salary "package," no parsonage, etc. Perhaps that's why people assume we are independently wealthy.

Question: So, what part of EMOS was it "well you did not know about" when you were seeking to understand what it was God was calling you to do?
CWM: The research and writing. As I said, I was an outdoor and sports-oriented person. I did love to read. But I never saw myself as being someone who would be able to sit behind a desk or at a computer, day after day and month after month, for hours and hours each day. Even now, when a resource person advises me of how many books and journal articles I will need to read, and what I will need to do in order to teach on a particular book of the Bible, or on some biblical topic or doctrine, it is often overwhelming. Although I love to read, I know when I am starting a new study that I will eventually teach or developing something someone else will later teach, that the books piled on my desk or in the book truck in my office are probably just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and as the months and years go by, the research bibliography we have initially developed will significantly increase in length.

Question: Can't you simply limit the research?
CWM: Once you read five or six books on a subject, it seems like for every one book you read, you discover at least two or three more you need to read that you didn't originally plan to read, or had not known about. Sure, we could limit our research and preparation to the original bibliography, but we want what we do to be up-to-date and somewhat comprehensive. However, there is a sense in which, when we get closer to the completion or target date for a project, we do limit the content of what will go into that study. However, after two to three years on a project, we get so involved in it, that even after it has been taught or packed up and mailed, we continue to purchase new resources directly related to that project. Quite often, when we do that, we end up teaching something like Studies in Ezekiel again, but much of the content has been modified. Some studies have been taught three or four times over the years, but the notes have been thoroughly revised and updated each time. Question: What has happened to Studies in the Song of Songs? CWM: In two words, Hebrew poetry; but also the existence of so many disappointing interpretive works and a budget deficit. When we got behind in meeting the budget in 2007, many of the key resources we had initially ordered were postponed, and others were all but impossible to obtain. Now, in mid-2008, we have all but a few of those resources, and expect the project, like a few others over the years, will span four years and be ready in the spring of 2009.

Question: Do you have any regrets that your house has become EMOS' library?  
CWM: No. When we returned to Sylvania, we thought about renting a building for our offices and the library. That didn't work out, mainly because I needed to be at home for the children. When people initially visit EMOS, particularly pastors, they usually ask about what Becky thinks of all this. The fact is, most of what we have was Becky's idea. She was willing for my office to be in the front den when that was the only family room in the house. I was not. So we closed in the carport. That was in June 1980. It's interesting to me that many people tend to think Becky has to "put up with" the library. Her response to that is, "They don't know me."

Question: Has any church said they would be willing to house EMOS' library?
CWM: Not that I recall. Actually, the library is such that it would probably be a burden on most churches in this area, and very few congregations would be willing and/or able to budget what it would take to keep the library up-to-date.

Question: Is it true EMOS is willing to purchase titles that a specific doctoral student would need for his or her research?
CWM: Yes, within reason, and if we can work it out within our budget limitations. We have long done this for those group study leaders, Sunday School teachers, pastors, and others who use the library. In some cases, a student, who is also a pastor, will come in only once or twice in the process of writing a paper or a dissertation. In such cases, we prefer to have several weeks notice, especially if one or more specific titles are needed which are not already in the library.

Question: How do I go about sending in a research request?
CWM: EMOS has a two-page form we prefer you to fill out. However, we accept requests without the form, especially from those for whom English is a second language. The main idea of the form is to help narrow and restrict the research topic.