ABILENE—Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, will deliver the annual T.B. Maston Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University, April 5-6.

“The Power of Narrative in Character Formation” is the theme of this year’s lecture series, established to honor T.B. Maston, a pioneer Christian ethicist and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and sponsored by Logsdon Seminary’s Maston Chair of Christian Ethics.

The first lecture, “Shaped by the Story:  Living in the Grasp of the Narrative,” will be presented April 5 at 7 p.m. in Logsdon Chapel, located on the southeast corner of the Hardin-Simmons campus.

The second lecture, “Trust the Story:  Growing in the Grace of the Narrative,” will be April 6 at 9:30 a.m. in Behrens Auditorium, located in the center of HSU campus.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Brian McLaren, a leader in the "emergent church" movement who roiled evangelical waters in 2004 with his book A Generous Orthodoxy, is at it again.

In his previous book, McLaren argued that instead of focusing on differences with others, Christians should celebrate strengths of many traditions and communicate a "generous orthodoxy" that is driven by love and defined by "missional" intent.

Brian McLaren

Critics say McLaren's new book, A New Kind of Christianity, goes even further, denying fundamentals of the Christian faith. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., recently devoted an entire hour-long chapel service to a panel discussion panning the book.

"It's rare that we take just one book like this and take it on as a cause for our conversation, but there seems to be some urgency to discuss this, because there is a sense in which this book, if anything, does deliver on its title," said seminary President Albert Mohler. "It is a new kind of Christianity. He obviously, as author, means to imply something that is new and improved."

Mohler, who was also critical of A Generous Orthodoxy, described McLaren's new book as a "straightforward rejection … of the Christian meta-narrative."

"It is a new kind of Christianity that is no Christianity at all," added Jim Hamilton, associate professor of biblical theology. "It is a wholesale rejection of the gospel." 

While new in that it approaches theology from a post-modern perspective, the panelists said McLaren's book in many ways merely rehashes ideas from theological liberalism, a 19th century movement that attempted to accommodate modern thinking and developments into the Christian faith. The Southern Baptist Convention roundly rejected that notion in the late 20th century, purging seminaries of professors perceived to be "liberals" and replacing them with "inerrantist" faculty members adopting a more fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible.

"I would suggest the title of this book ought to be An Old Kind of Apostasy rather than a New Kind of Christianity," quipped Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology. "I have known Brian McLaren for many years as a wolf in sheep's clothing, but I think in this book he took the sheep's clothing off."

Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christianity" is published by HarperOne.

McLaren, an author, speaker, pastor well known for innovation and activism, wrote March 26 on his blog that the Southern Seminary panel "does a great job of reflecting the views of SBTS." He said a March 26 story on National Public Radio "does a much better job of conveying my actual views by including a lengthy excerpt from the book."

McLaren told NPR he is rethinking many of Christianity's core doctrines, including the purpose of Christ's resurrection.

"The view of the cross that I was given growing up, in a sense, has a God who needs blood in order to be appeased," McLaren said. "If this God doesn't see blood, God can't forgive."

McLaren said the idea that Christ died as a substitute for sinners — a view known in theology books as penal substitutionary atonement — isn't the only way to understand the cross.

"God revealed in Christ crucified shows us a vision of God that identifies with the victim rather than the perpetrator, identifies with the one suffering rather than the one inflicting suffering," he said.

Similarly, McLaren said, the notion that Christians are going to heaven and everyone else is doomed might have rung true for earlier generations, but it is harder to swallow in today's pluralistic society.

"A young evangelical, Roman Catholic [or] mainline Protestant growing up in America today, if he goes to college, his roommate might be Hindu," he said. "His roommate might be Muslim. His roommate might be Buddhist or atheist. So, suddenly the 'other' is sleeping across the room."

Hamilton said McLaren's view grows out of a rejection of a literalistic interpretation of the Bible and viewing the various books of the Old and New Testaments as a progressive revelation instead of every part being equally true.

"Once he rejects the Creator and embraces evolution, now human beings are no longer morally obligated to this God," Hamilton said. "And this God shows a careless disregard for human life when he visits any kind of judgment against human beings, because there hasn't been this Fall and they aren't morally obligated to begin with, so there's really no need for a cross or an atonement."

"It is a point-by-point rejection of the whole narrative," Hamilton said, "and then what he proposes in its place doesn't need Christianity."

Mohler said reading book twice, to be sure he fully understood what McLaren was saying, "was an exercise I really needed to go through."

"I cannot , however, celebrate that the book exists, because I fear for those who do not know the story," he continued. "They don't know the gospel, and this is exactly what Paul warns against. It is a false gospel."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Tough economic times may result in stronger, healthier and smarter churches and Christian ministries, according to Dan Busby, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

In times of economic stress, contributors prioritize giving. So, local congregations and programs that provide “safety-net” assistance for people in need generally have been most successful in attracting or retaining donors, Busby noted,

In fact, the Salvation Army recently reported Americans gave a record $139 million last Christmas to its Red Kettle Campaign, which provides more than 28 million Americans with food, shelter and substance abuse treatment.

Anecdotal evidence indicates many individual congregations have fared better than most parachurch ministries during months of recession, Busby added.

And just as tight dollars force contributors to make hard choices, economic stress also should prompt churches and Christian ministries to set priorities.

“Those that are able to redirect their focus may come out healthier than if the recession had not occurred,” he said. “Churches and ministries should focus on their core mission.”

When times are good, ministries tend to create new programs and expend energy promoting them, he noted. But when times get tough, smart ministries focus on their central purpose.

Congregations and related Christian ministries can prepare for hard times by “building margin into ministry,” Busby urged, rather than operating on a razor-thin edge.

Desperate times can lead trusting people to desperate acts, and churches in financial trouble should beware of fraudulent perpetrators of get-rich-quick scams, he recommended.

“It’s human nature to want the best deal and the best return on one’s investment. But so many times, people don’t learn from history. If it looks too good to be true, assume that it is,” he said.

In a tight economy, churches should take special precautions against embezzlement and fraud, Busby advised.

“As Christians, we often let our guard down. We’re the most trusting people. Too often, we don’t institute internal controls, segregation of duties and other basic business principles at church that we know make sense anywhere else,” he said.

While many churches spend time and money on security systems to protect themselves, they fail to put in place simple checks and balances and internal control mechanisms to guard against misuse of funds, he noted.

“Most funds that disappear from the church coffers disappear after the offering is safely in the bank account,” Busby said.

Common-sense business practices protect churches from losing their credibility, he added. When financial scandals hit a church, dollars lost to the church budget represent the least important loss, he stressed.

“The negative impact on the kingdom of God is hard to measure, as people get disenchanted with the local church,” he said.

Bike Out Hunger ride planned. Texas Baptists have planned a 445-mile bicycle ride to raise money for the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger and to raise awareness about how Texans can be involved in fighting hunger and making the state food-secure by 2015. The April 19-24 Bike Out Hunger event begins at First Baptist Church in Ballinger and concludes at The Fellowship of San Antonio. Riders are welcome to participate for the entire trek or for just one leg of the journey. To find out more or to pledge a donation for a specific rider, visit http://texasbaptists.com/bikeout/.

Ethics lectures at HPU focus on professor’s legacy. Howard Payne University’s Currie-Strickland Distinguished Lectures in Christian Ethics will focus on the ethical teachings of the late Nat Tracy, a member of Howard Payne’s Bible faculty from 1950 to 1975. The event will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 14 on the HPU campus in Brownwood. Featured speakers are three of Tracy’s former students—Gary Manning, professor of religion at Wayland Baptist University; Robert Williams, founding director of the Encouragers ministry in Dallas; and Bill Fowler, assistant professor of Christian Studies at HPU. Manning will speak on “The Character of God as the Basis for Christian Ethics,” Williams will speak on “The Ethical Mission of Christ’s Church,” and Fowler will speak on “The Servant Church and the Whole Gospel.”

Hendrick named great workplace again. Hendrick Health System in Abilene was recognized as one of only six organizations worldwide to be honored with the 2010 Gallup Great Workplace Award for the fourth year in a row. The Gallup Great Workplace Award is based on results of Gallup’s survey of employees and a best-practices portfolio summarizing the steps the organization has taken to increase workforce engagement. To be eligible, organizations must have a sample size of at least 1,000 employees with at least 80 percent of employees responding to the survey. Applicants’ results are compared across a Gallup workplace research database comprised of millions of work teams in more than 120 countries. A panel of workplace experts assesses the applicants’ results to select the winners.

HSU expands rare Bible collection. Hardin-Simmons University alumni Doyle and Inez Kelley of Houston donated to the university a rare Coverdale Bible from 1537—the first English-language Bible small enough for personal use—and a dozen other historically important Bibles dating from 1538 to 1751. The Kelley collection arrived just one year after Charles and Roena Tandy of Dallas entrusted their rare Bible collection to Hardin-Simmons. 

Family endows scholarship at Wayland. The family of Joanne Clark Davis and her son, Mark, created the Davis Memorial Endowed Scholarship in their memory at Wayland Baptist University. The scholarship is to be given to a junior or senior major or minor in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, with preference for a history major or minor, with at least a 3.2 grade point average. Graduate students in the school also are eligible.

JUNCTION – First Baptist Church is trying to share the gospel with every home in Junction by distributing 1,200 Texas Hope 2010 multimedia gospel compact discs.

The church has divided up the city and is canvassing its streets, offering people the CDs. It is part of the congregation’s participation in Texas Hope 2010, an initiative of Texas Baptists to share the gospel with every Texan.

Church members have visited about 85 percent of the city’s homes, according to Pastor Ken Bolton, and the congregation hopes to visit every house by the end of the next 90 days. Most people have been receptive to the CDs, tracts and information about the church.

The church has bathed the effort in prayer, the pastor said.

“It’s been a good experience, a blessing for the people doing it,” Bolton said.

For more information about Texas Hope 2010, visit www.texashope2010.com. 

The story goes that Jesus and Satan had argued for days about who was more tech-savvy, and God grew sick of the bickering. He told them he would judge a two-hour task set. They e-mailed, e-mailed with attachments, downloaded and created spreadsheets, labels, charts and graphs.

Flash went the lightning. Boom went the thunder. Crash went the computers.

When the electricity came back on, Jesus began printing files. Satan cursed and screamed: “It’s gone! All my work is gone. How come he has all his work?”

God shrugged and said, “Jesus saves.”

That joke made the rounds recently on the Internet. What would Jesus think?

Such quips surely would rate a chuckle, said Robert Darden, associate professor of journalism at Baylor University and author of the book Jesus Laughed: The Redemptive Power of Humor.

“If we agree that Jesus was human and fully divine, he must have had a sense of humor,” Darden said. “I’ve never met a human who didn’t have a sense of humor.”

From Scripture, he said, we know Jesus wept at least once—when he learned that his friend Lazarus died—and got angry at least once, at the dishonest moneychangers at the temple.

“I think he could be silly when he wanted to be, angry when he needed to be and everything in between,” Darden said.

But scholars rarely suggest that Jesus used thigh-slapping jests in his ministry.

“Even when they do, their claims are frequently overstated,” said Bruce Longenecker, a Baylor professor of religion, who wrote the article “A Humorous Jesus? Orality, Structure and Characterisation in Luke 14:15-24, and Beyond,” published in Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches in 2008.

Those who compile anthologies of humor bypass Jesus and his followers—and with good reason, he said. Texts about them deal with life-and-death matters.

Yes, Jesus told riddles and used wordplay, made points with hyperbole and irony—often at the expense of pompous Pharisees, which would have amused those who were not fond of the religious leaders.

“But it is clear that they are not classics of comedy from one of the greatest wits of all time,” Longenecker wrote. “They simply embody biting criticism by way of ridicule.”

Robert Darden

Some speculate that the humor may be lost because the context has changed in the modern world. Readers might not “get” inside jokes. And writers in gospel times did not use “LOLs” and emoticons.

Then again, perhaps the debate continues because humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Consider whether—or how much—these parables of Jesus bear the marks of divine comedy:

• About judging: Jesus suggested the critic should get the log out of his eye before being obsessed with a speck of dust in someone else’s.

• About religious types who nitpicked at others while glossing over their own faults: Jesus asked why they strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel.

• About investments: A parable by Jesus tells of a manager who gave three servants money to handle on behalf of their master. Two invested and made money; the third one hoarded and was scolded.

• About the temple tax: When Peter told Jesus that religious leaders questioned whether Jesus paid the tax, Jesus told him to reel in a fish and check its mouth. In it was enough money to pay both Jesus’ and Peter’s tax.

From Darden’s standpoint, the coin-in-the-mouth fish tale is particularly funny. He’s certain observers would have laughed in amazement.

“By using something silly like a fish to make a serious statement, Jesus makes every moment a teaching moment,” he said.

English novelist/playwright Dorothy L. Sayers suggested in 1946 that “if we did not know all his retorts by heart, if we had not taken the sting out of them by incessant repetition in the accents of the pulpit … we should reckon him among the greatest wits of all time.”

In his book The Humor of Christ, the late theologian Elton Trueblood examined numerous Gospel passages to make the case that Jesus used hyperbole “in a way that Hebrews would have thought hilarious,” said Brett Younger, associate professor of preaching at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta.

Brett Younger

“I don’t think Jesus was a stand-up comedian, but I think he used humor to make a point, and exaggeration was humorous,” Younger said. “He doesn’t do a lot of it, but it’s significant.”

Scholars, pastors and theologians aren’t the only ones who weigh in on the matter. In Longenecker’s article, he noted the pop group King Missile suggested that, “if he wanted to, ‘Jesus could have been funnier than any comedian you could think of,’ the reason being that ‘Jesus was way cool.’”

A search of the Internet reveals the matter has captured the attention of bloggers. On http://open.salon.com, various artists’ conceptions of a laughing Jesus have been posted. A blogger called theglasscharacter suggests the artistic notion of a comic Christ is partly due to artists of the hippie era, who wanted to portray a human, real Jesus and so depicted him as a fun-loving individual.

Amid the speculation about whether Jesus was funny, Younger suggests, “I think there’s probably some value in looking at the New Testament for humor, but the far more important issue is joy—Jesus saying he had come that his joy may be in us and our joy might be complete.

“Joy is deeper than humor,” he said. “The Apostle Paul wrote about joy most when he was in prison, when he wrote to the Philippians. If there’s a theme in the book of Philippians, it’s joy in the midst of suffering. We think happiness is when suffering ends, but there’s a kind of laughter not far from tears.”

SAN ANTONIO—Baptist Child & Family Services has launched Operation JAVA—Juveniles Advancing through Vocational Attainment.

The one-of-a-kind program provides at-risk teens with innovative on-the-job training opportunities that aim to deter juvenile crime.

Guadalupe Street Coffee, the coffee house ministry BCFS sponsors in West San Antonio, serves as the base of operations for Operation JAVA, a partnership between BCFS’ juvenile justice program and the Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department.

“It is so important that we provide kids, especially troubled kids, with meaningful options so they have good choices available to them. Combining the skills learned at the coffee house with one-on-one mentors is another example of the innovative, on-the-ground interventions that make BCFS such a valuable partner for our agency,” said David Reilly, Bexar County chief juvenile probation officer. 

“It is programs like this that make a difference not only in a young person’s life, but in the community as well. And when that happens, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Operation JAVA teaches youth hands-on lessons in business operations, such as running inventory, learning customer service and basic accounting through jobs at the coffee house.

The program also provides professional development training such as resume writing, job interview skills and personal money management in order to prepare youth for the real world.

“Youth who have gotten into trouble with the law are often written off before they are given the chance to prove themselves,” said Cindi Garcia, BCFS executive director of community-based services.

“BCFS’ Operation JAVA will not only offer teens the opportunity to build a practical skill set, but they’ll also develop long-term mentoring relationships that will keep them on-track and out of trouble as they enter the real world.”

West Side middle school students who hang out at the coffee house also will benefit from building relationships with students who have “been there and done that,” learning about the consequences of negative decision making.

Guadalupe Street Coffee is a community development project operated by BCFS’ inner-city program. Located in the heart of San Antonio’s West Side—where less than three percent of homes have a computer—the coffee shop provides college readiness and cultural arts programs for local youth aimed at increasing school retention and enhancing students’ likelihood of graduation.

IRVINE, Calif. (RNS) — A biologist and former Dominican priest who has attempted to reconcile religion and science has won this year's Templeton Prize — an honor awarded to scholars who study how science and religion intersect.

Francisco J. Ayala is a professor of both biology and philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, where he has been a leading critic of creationism as an erroneous attempt to blend faith and science.

Francisco J. Ayala

But neither do the two realms contradict each other, said Ayala on March 25 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, where he was announced the award's winner. At $1.5 million, the Templeton prize is the world's largest annual award given to an individual.

“If they are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters,” Ayala said.

Whereas science concerns the natural world, religion concerns the meaning and purpose of the world and of human life, added the 76-year-old molecular biologist.

Ayala’s scientific research centers on molecular biology and includes finding cures for diseases such as malaria; he earned a 2001 National Medal of Science from former President George W. Bush.

Ayala has also been a passionate defender of the theory of evolution, writing several books on the topic, and appearing as a witness in an Arkansas court case on teaching creationism in public schools in 1981. The court eventually ruled that creationism lacks scientific merit and was an unconstitutional entanglement of church and state.

In announcing the award, John M. Templeton, Jr., the president and chairman of the John Templeton Foundation, said Ayala’s “clear voice in matters of science and faith” echoes “the Foundation’s belief that evolution of the mind and truly open-minded inquiry can lead to real spiritual progress in the world.”

In an interview, Ayala said he was “surprised and astonished” at winning the award. “It’s such an unexpected gift,” he said.

Ayala, a native of Spain, was ordained a Dominican priest in 1960 and like others of his generation was influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who argued humanity and the planet were undergoing an ongoing evolution. Ayala left the priesthood soon after his ordination to study genetics.

Ayala said he does not consider himself a “Catholic scientist,” but rather a scientist who is interested in spiritual questions. Still, he said his relations with the Catholic Church remain cordial, noting the church’s supportive intellectual tradition of scientific inquiry.

In his remarks March 25, Ayala, now a naturalized American citizen, drew upon a well-known painting of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to make a point about how to relate science and religion.

“Scientific knowledge, like the description of the size, materials, and geometry of [Picasso’s] ‘Guernica,’ is satisfying and useful,” he said, “but once science has its say, there remains much about reality that is of interest: questions of value, meaning, and purpose that are beyond science’s scope.”

The Templeton Prize was created by the late John Templeton, an investor and philanthropist who died in 2008. Ayala will be presented the award on May 5 by Prince Philip at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.

SAN ANGELO—The secret to being humorous is same as most things in life, Bill Thorn believes—take what God has entrusted to you, work hard to polish it and be the individual you were created to be.

Thorn has spoken at about 200 events per year since his retirement 25 years ago, so he bases that advice on experience.

“There’s a difference between humor and comedy. I don’t do comedy. I don’t make faces or things like that,” he said. “Humor, I believe, is an intellectual game. You have to think. If you don’t think, you’re going to miss humor.

“I don’t tell jokes. I don’t tell stories where Peter said something to So-and-So. There’s too much other stuff to talk about.”

Instead, Thorn—a past president of Dallas Baptist University—tells stories from real life.

“The funniest things that ever happen are what a child says to you. … People come up with the nuttiest stuff, and to me, that’s humor. Most of my illustrations are things that happened in my ministry or to the giants of the past—and I knew most of them,” he said.

As an example, he recalled a time as a pastor when he looked over the list of prospective church committee assignments and saw that the town mortician had been selected chairman of the hospital visitation committee.

“Nobody wants the mortician to come see them in the hospital, but that’s what they had, along with a guy on building and grounds who had grass growing up in the windows of his house,” he said with a laugh.

Much of humor is not about what is said, but how it is said, Thorn added.

“You need the ability to paint a picture with your words. A story has to be in you and the way you tell it has to be a secret,” he said. Never try to tell a story just like you heard it, but tell it with your own intonations and way of speaking, Thorn suggested.

“I believe timing is the secret of any story, and you get that from the people. They give you the signal. … Any person who really achieves things over the years is the person who know how to read the people whose faces are in front of him, whether it’s good or bad,” he said.

Not that he always possessed that skill, he acknowledged. Thorn recalled his first banquet speech many years ago came at the request of then Baylor University President W.R. White.

Thorn summed up the evening simply: “It was a mess.”

A month later, White called him with a second engagement. Thorn told him, ‘You can’t imagine how bad it was.”

“Yes I can,” White told him. “I was there.”

“But he saw something I did not see, and that was the beginning,” Thorn recalled.

While he knows he is invited to entertain, Thorn works to do a bit more with his speeches. He wants his humorous speeches—like his sermons—to have content that will help people.

While his public speaking dates back several decades, Thorn insists he is not extroverted, and it remains difficult for him.

“Although I speak all the time, I never get up but that it’s a struggle,” Thorn said.

Nevertheless, he continues to speak around the state and nation. But he has a few rules he lives by when it comes to his public speaking career.

“I don’t advertise. If you’ve been in the ministry as long as I have and nobody wants you, you get the message pretty straight,” Thorn said.

Neither does he set fees. If asked, he tells people who invite him to speak to do whatever they usually do for guest speakers. About 25 percent of his engagements don’t cover his expenses.

But his skill and longevity keep him busy. This month, he will speak at the National Antique Car Convention, and next month he will speak to 113 county judges.

His popularity as a speaker began more than 60 years ago, he said, when he spoke at a Brotherhood convention.

After his speech, Pat Zondervan approached him and told him that if he would put that speech into a book, he would publish it. The book was titled A Bit of Honey. Six decades and four printings later, people still bring the book to Thorn to be signed.

Thorn insists he just does what comes naturally.

“Humor is tender. You can’t force humor. The worst thing in the world is for a fellow to try and can’t do it. It has to be spontaneous. It has to be natural,” he said.

The best humorists are effective communicators—just like the best preachers, he noted. If God has called someone to be a pastor, he has given that person the ability to communicate.

“God called you, get up and use what he gave you. Keep working at it and keep getting better. After a while, if you use what he gave you, you’re going to be unique, which is what God had in mind when he called you, not that you would be like some other guy.

“Find what’s natural to you and then develop it; then you become unique. You become what God intended.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Humor doesn’t show up on any spiritual practice list. But Richard Olson hopes to make that happen.

“Humor is a very important spiritual practice, especially for those under stress and turmoil,” he said.

Listing the description the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People of Faith advocates, Olson believes humor fits the criteria for a spiritual practice.

“It involves us in God’s activity, comes to us from the past, and we will shape its future,” he said. “It’s thoughtful, is done in the church and in public. It shapes people, has good purposes and comes to focus in worship.”

And he points out that the Valparaiso Project includes “singing our lives” on its practice list. “It strikes me that if singing is a spiritual practice, humor should be included. Laughter participates in joy and in love. It renews the soul, something particularly needed for people in danger of losing those things,” he said.

Humor and laughter benefit people at all levels—physical, psychological and spiritual. Spiritually, humor touches joy, hope and love.

“I see each as interactive. … Humor can revive and rekindle hope and joy. It softens conflicts and helps build community,” he added.

Olson, distinguished professor of pastoral theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has just completed a book tentatively titled Laughter in a Time of Turmoil. It provides practical steps to using humor as a spiritual practice as an individual and in community.

“I caution readers to adopt some of the steps but not to force humor just for humor’s sake,” he said.

Individuals should first examine and develop a theological perspective of humor. Then, develop an appreciation for the humor of others, even for just attempts at humor, Olson said.

Each person should find his or her own voice, spend time with humorous people, journal humorous events or develop a humor collection, and try out ideas “humorologists”—comedians and others who teach people how to use humor—recommend.

One key to the practice is to work on sensitivity and timing. “Learn to discern when laughter is fitting in the midst of trouble or pain,” he explained.

“There is a lot of humor, particularly male humor, that’s heckling. For example, something like ‘Jack, you old horse thief,’ is appropriate in one setting—when you know Jack and you have a history—but inappropriate in others.”

He also encourages people to “go deeper into story and become story.” Storytelling is an art form that often contains humor, either blatant or subtle. Individuals can tap into the story they are living for humor they need or as ministry to others.

“Find, ponder, reflect and share stories that deeply connect to you. Then don’t worry about whether there is any laughter when you tell it,” he said. “Story carries itself and has a hidden gentle humor within.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP)—Singer-songwriter Don McLean’s 1970s hit record “American Pie” mourned the 1959 plane crash that killed rock-and-roll pioneers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper as “the day the music died.” For a generation of humor-loving Baptists, Nov. 23, 1982, marked a similar loss.

Grady Nutt

Grady Nutt, a Baptist minister who attained national fame as the “Prime Minister of Humor” in 1979 as a regular cast member of the popular television series “Hee Haw,” was at the pinnacle of his career when he died in a plane crash after a speaking engagement in Alabama at age 48.

Nutt was a pillar of Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., then the unofficial mother church of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his alma mater and where he worked for a time as director of alumni affairs and assistant to the president. For many alumni who passed through there between his entry into the entertainment field in 1969 and his untimely death, Nutt was the gold standard for Christian comedy.

Speaking to 9,000 youth at a Baptist youth conference at a theme park in Hot Springs, Ark., just weeks before his death, Nutt introduced himself as an authority on young people.

“I’ve tried to be one most of my life,” he quipped.

Nutt described asking once why Methodist kids were allowed to go to dances, while Baptist kids were not. The response, he said, was that once the Methodist kids started going to dances the next step was “the bushes,” a euphemism for necking. The Baptist kids, he explained, just went straight to the bushes.

On a more serious note, Nutt advised young people to love others unconditionally. “Jesus never told one person what they had to do the earn God’s love,” he said. “The healthiest thing that ever happens in a church happens when youth in a church become open to other young people.”

Nutt’s homespun storytelling style earned accolades including the Grady Nutt Humor Award presented in his honor by the Gospel Music Association, the Grady Nutt Endowment Fund at the University of Louisville and the Grady Nutt Collection of his works at Southern Seminary.

In his 1979 memoir, Nutt described his life’s journey with the joy of humor as “So, Good, So Far.”

“And I can hardly wait for the next turn in the road,” he concluded.

An unofficial reference page dedicated to Nutt is on the Internet at http://www.the-cartoonist.com/Nutt/Nutt.html.

Something that strikes one person as funny—even something heard at church—may seem inappropriate to another. How can believers strike a balance as they use humor and laughter in ministry?

Individuals need to understand the human experiences that humor tries to relate, Day Lane believes. Lane is completing an integrated doctor of philosophy degree in religious studies and sociology.

“The difficulty in one person deciding how to weed the proper from the improper is that people experience and interpret humor from different vantage points. Humor that is hilariously funny to Aunt Sally is horribly offensive to Uncle Ben,” Lane said.

That particularly applies to religious humor—hilarious to some and almost blasphemous to others.

While serving as a pastor and director of missions, cartoonist Joe McKeever has seen “Christian” humor hurt others.

“At a state convention, a speaker told an awful joke on his daughter who was ‘dumb, dumb, dumb. She is so dumb that… .’ At the end of a joke that fell flat, he said, ‘I’m just teasing,’” McKeever said.

“I found myself hurting for that pastor. He did a truly foolish thing in making his daughter the butt of his humor, and then to top it off, did a lousy job of telling the joke. Where I was sitting, everyone around me wanted to crawl under the pew, it was so embarrassing.”

How can Christians use humor, even with the possibility of being misunderstood? Follow Jesus’ example, Christian humorists recommend.

“Personally, my basic standard as a comedian is this: I am a Christian first and a comic second,” noted Chonda Pierce, a comedian for about 15 years and current president of the Christian Comedy Association. “When I put my relationship with God in the right priority, then he will convict, convince and convey to me what is improper or not.

“We are carnal creatures, navigating through a fallen world. … If we were perfectly honest, most comics would have to admit that they have used jokes, premises, punch lines and stories that came from a place of sarcasm in an effort to get back at (someone) or to express pain.”

Lane, who has taught sociology of religion courses at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, believes humor should reflect the same concerns Jesus addressed. Christians should ask themselves: Is the humor healing? Is the humor loving? Is the humor performed at the expense of vulnerable people?

“These questions are not easily answered, because in cases where humor is performed as a social critique, the humor might not appear to be loving or considerate of others,” Lane explained. “But this was part of Jesus’ concern, too, not to intentionally hurt people but to, on several occasions, articulate a scathing critique of social structures that harm the masses and benefit a select few.”

Sometimes substituting a group with which the believer associates puts the comedic intent into perspective.

“When I was a young girl … I recited a collection of Polish jokes I had heard during recess at school,” Lane related.

Her father listened politely, laughing at the appropriate places. Then, she recalled, he gently explained: “When we poke fun at people who have a different label than we do, say Polish as opposed to American, we are really poking fun at qualities we all share as humans. So, if we are going to make fun of a whole group of people, how about we make fun of a group we belong to?”

“He paused for a moment, then with a sparkle in his eye, he said, ‘I know! Let’s tell Baptist jokes!’ From that point on, most ethnic and religious jokes told around the dinner table converted easily to Baptist jokes—except for those jokes including a rabbi, a priest and a Baptist preacher.”