The director of the Pepperdine University Bible Lectures asked Douglas Jacoby and me to speak at the lectures in May 2009. Following that, I received word from Dr. John Wilson and Dr. Stuart Love that they would like to do an entire issue of Leaven, the Pepperdine religion department’s quarterly journal, on the International Churches of Christ.
Their idea was to have some of our leaders reflect on several areas of focus among our family of churches and to share our convictions along with lessons that we have learned through some of the mistakes we have made. Their feeling was that few of their readers in Churches of Christ and Christian Churches really understood our movement.
We were most grateful for this opportunity and seven of us began working on articles. The issue was released in July. It opens with comments by Stuart Love and John Wilson along with an historical overview of the movement. The Statement of Shared Beliefs that forms the foundation of our cooperation efforts is then featured, followed by these articles:
1. View of and Use of the Scriptures – Gordon Ferguson
2. Jesus: Christ and Lord – Tom A. Jones
3. The New Birth: the Dynamics of Conversion – Steve Staten
4. The Church: the "One Another" Fellowship - Steve Brown
5. The Great Commandment and the Great Commission --Roger Lamb
6. Biblical Leadership. – Wyndham Shaw
7. Leadership among Women – Jeanie Shaw
The Leaven staff has forwarded us some of the comments they have received to the issue. This one was particularly encouraging as well as interesting:
I just want to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed reading "International Churches of Christ." I read it cover to cover, and also followed up by going on line to get even more information. As a "mainline" C of C member all my life, I've wanted to know more about this movement and its history. It's obvious that we can learn something from them in their fervor to live out the Great Commission.
While on line, I read a biography of Kip McKean, written by one of his current followers, and it was interesting to see his side of the story, but I'm drawn to the writers in LEAVEN, who I believe are reporting a more balanced picture of the events that led up to McKean's dismissal and the restructuring of their group. My prayers are with them. Thank you for gathering these writers together to inform those of us who read LEAVEN.
The issue can be ordered for $5 by contacting Subscription Manager Tiffany Ferguson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.?subject=Leaven%20issue%20on%20the%20International%20Churches%20of%20Christ">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.