By Tom McAnally
I share my own personal experience of having individuals stand in the pathway of my life to question, challenge, encourage me:
*— college president stopping me on campus asking what I was going to do after graduation and discouraging me from accepting a full scholarship in journalism at University of Oklahoma. He said I needed to leave Oklahoma and develop a broader world view.
*— director of communications for Oklahoma/New Mexico for whom I worked during my senior year at OCU recommending Syracuse and then calling me near graduation to tell me about a job opening in Nebraska.
One time I was with a youth group. I shared with them how frightening it was for Charlotte and me to move from Oklahoma to Syracuse to attend the Newhouse School of Communications. We spent our first night in a place where nobody knew us.
We had taken a huge leap of faith. We had limited money, so the cost of a motel alone added to that anxiety. I admitted that we sat on the bed and cried. In telling that story I choked up a bit. To my surprise, one of the young persons walked across the room to the pizza table and brought me a couple of napkins to wipe tears. Wow! That empathetic young woman, Piper, certainly made an impression on me.
As we look at so many faith movements and the decline in church membership and participation, I especially liked your statement on page 76: “Persons who come to faith through fear may be loyal followers —but not true believers. We do not love one another because of our fears. We do not avoid “hell” because we fear God. We do good because we are loved unconditionally by God.” Having spent most of my life in the South, I see the numerical success of churches built on the fear of hell. I grow weary of folks who can quote and worship scripture and know every step in the journey of Paul but who are mean as snakes!!