A few years ago I lost a good friend. He would often call me late at night to discuss various concerns and our mutual interests. He was a world renounced scholar, an English professor, and he also published several books as is required of professors, one of which was the most important book in his academic area. I also am a night person, so his evening calls were welcome. On one of the last calls, he related that he had to have open-heart surgery but would not accept a blood transfusion, a choice that created problems.

We are all familiar with the Christian creation story. A 312-page book I read recently by Dr. Stephen T. Blume tells the secular creation story. He did such a good job that I summarized it in this newspaper column as follows:

Methodism began in 18th-century Britain by Anglican priest John Wesley (1703–1791). A group of students, including John and Charles Wesley plus George Whitefield, met at Oxford University to methodically study the Bible and practice living a moral and holy life. To more effectively take the gospel to the common people, John Wesley adopted what were then unconventional practices, including open-air preaching. He also formed small classes in which his followers were inculcated with intensive moral accountability in their personal lives.

Much has been in the news about the crime problem. Having worked inside the walls of the largest walled prison in America, I have given a lot of thought about crime. One problem is, many inmates are unredeemable. Murderers sometimes murder other inmates and robbers sometimes rob other inmates.

I was born in Providence Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. My home was Detroit until the family moved to a Detroit suburb when I started school.  Those days, gone forever, are fondly remembered. Our house was a large duplex on a street lined with duplexes (a home for two families), each with small yards and little space between each house. All we needed to mow our postage-stamp lawn was a manual push mower. After graduating high school, most of us found a job in a local auto factory or in retail sales until marriage.

A few weeks ago, I preached at both the Sunday School and the Sunday worship service at Solid Rock Community Church in West Unity, Ohio. I was at the church about three years ago and noted one striking change: The attendance doubled from about 150 to 320. As I am very interested in church growth, I asked several people “What was your secret?” The answer they gave was the lead pastor, Robert Rodríguez, who I was told, goes well beyond the call of duty in his community outreach activities, working with local schools and other churches.

The now-infamous Scopes ‘Evolution’ Trial took place in Dayton, Tennessee, to challenge the law that prohibited teaching human evolution as fact in public schools. The trial occurred in the summer of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.  Apart from Jesus’s trial before Pilate, the Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ is probably the best-known legal confrontation in history. The law was supported by famous Christian attorney William Jennings Bryan and opposed by the famous agnostic ACLU attorney Clarence Darrow.

I was told this recently by the pastor. One of the elders at his church wanted me to do a creation sermon. To decide if this topic was appropriate, the elders and the pastor had a meeting. The pastor explained his view, which was as follows:

The fact is, the theory of evolution is not a theory, but a proven fact which is supported by the universal scientific consensus.  Except for a few ignorant creationists, every scientist on Earth accepts the fact of evolution, including the evolution of humans from our common ape ancestor.

One major  interest of mine is to understand why some churches are strong, growing, and, in other words, have a successful ministry. A few months ago, I taught Sunday school at the Christian Fellowship Church in Holland, Ohio. As my GPS directed me to the church on Pilliod Road, I was sure I put in the wrong address. I was in a residential part of the city with several large, stately houses when the GPS announced, “You have now arrived at your destination.”