CALL TO SERVE - NEW BOOK FOCUSES ON MEDICAL MISSIONARY'S SERVICE IN NIGERIA

Holland — .A new book produced by the A.C. Van Raalte Institute at Hope College provides insights into the foreign-mission experience through the writings and correspondence of long-time medical missionary Tena A. Huizenga.
The book, “Aunt Tena, Called to Serve: Journals and Letters of Tena A. Huizenga, Missionary Nurse to Nigeria,” focuses on Huizenga’s service in remote Lupwe, Nigeria, through the Christian Reformed Church from 1937 to 1954. The volume has been published by the William B. Eerdmans Company of Grand Rapids, and Cambridge, United Kingdom, as part of the Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America.
“This intensely human volume guides us through 17 memorable years of Nigerian mission history,” said Eugene Rubingh, former executive secretary of Christian Reformed World Missions. “Drawn from Tena Huizenga’s own letters, the events are sketched through the lens of joy and tears, of small victories and unimaginable obstacles. Both candor and love transform mundane facts into a warm and lively account of a life poured out for God.”
The book’s managing editor is Dr. Jacob E. Nyenhuis, who is director of the A.C. Van Raalte Institute and provost emeritus and professor emeritus of classics at Hope. Serving as co-editors were Robert P. Swierenga, who is the A.C. Van Raalte Research Professor at the Van Raalte Institute and professor of history emeritus at Kent State University, and Lauren M. Berka, a 2008 Hope graduate who was a student research assistant at the institute and is now a graduate fellow in history at Arizona State University.
“Aunt Tena, Called to Serve” tells its story primarily through Huizenga’s correspondence with family and friends, but also through journals and articles that she wrote. The 976-page book also includes chapters by historian Harry Boonstra that provide biographical and historical context concerning Huizenga and her service as well as the Christian Reformed Church’s support of missions in Nigeria.
Born in 1907, Tena Huizenga grew up in Dutch-American West Chicago. She continued to work as a nurse after leaving the mission field for health reasons in 1954. She died in 1978 at age 70.
The book’s title reflects the Nigerians’ practice of calling all female missionaries “Aunt,” but the designation also applies more literally. The book was commissioned by Huizenga’s nephew, Peter H. Huizenga of Oak Brook, Ill. Peter H. Huizenga’s father, Petro (Peter), was Tena Huizenga’s younger brother, and was a regular correspondent during her mission years. In fact, nearly 300 pages feature Petro Huizenga’s letters to his sister.
Nyenhuis noted that Petro Huizenga’s letters not only demonstrate the strength and importance of familial bonds across time and distance, but also provide insights into the character of life back in the Huizengas’ Chicagoland neighborhood.


“The extensive letters from Tena’s brother Pete offer marvelous insights into the Dutch Reformed subculture of Chicago’s West Side,” he said. “Because his scavenger company later evolved into Waste Management Inc., those letters are especially valuable. Pete’s winsome descriptions and witty dialogue with his sister add a Chicago flavor to this book.”


Tena’s nephew Peter H. Huizenga is a member of the college’s board of trustees and chairman of Huizenga Capital Management. He and his mother Elizabeth had provided a major endowment gift to establish the Van Raalte Institute, which opened in 1994, and he has remained active in supporting the institute’s work in the years since.


Copies of “Aunt Tena, Called to Serve” are available for $49 at the college’s Hope-Geneva Bookstore. The bookstore is on the ground level of the DeWitt Center, which is located at 141 E. 12th St., and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. as well as until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

'WALKING BIBLE' MATLOCK GETS PEOPLE'S ATTENTION WITH AMAZING MEMORY

Ask Charles Matlock to recite a random Bible passage, and he'll think for a second before delivering the verses as if reading from the book.
Because of his photographic memory, Matlock, 59, has been able to memorize most of Christianity's holy book.
He is known as the "Walking Bible of West Tennessee." The Savannah native can recite whole books or chapters by request.
"I started when I was very young, sharing about Jesus Christ whenever I could," he said. "Memorizing the Bible is a great opportunity to know Christ and share him with others."
His favorite T-shirt has 26 Bible verses listed, each one beginning with a different letter from the alphabet. He even has the order of those verses memorized.
During an interview Aug. 14 on WTNE 97.7 FM, Matlock recited John 1:1-10 and other passages host Tom Mapes suggested.
Matlock has no cell phone or computer. He's traveled around most of the South and spends little time at his home in Hardin County. He visits churches, nursing homes and street corners, just hoping to share the gospel, he said.
"I just want to try to bring someone to Christ," he said.
Jim Essary, owner of Lexington Chevrolet, first met Matlock when the traveling evangelist visited the car lot. Matlock has prayed for the car business and his family several times, Essary said.
"I've known him several years," he said. "He's a very unique individual. ... He can quote Scripture, and I don't believe any pastor in the world can quote like he can."
Matlock's an intelligent man, Essary said.
"He could've made a lot more money in his life doing something else with his talents," he said. "He's very humble and survives off of the donations people give him. I'm very impressed with his knowledge of the Bible. He's got a good spirit. It makes you feel good when he's around."
For more than 44 years, Matlock has been evangelizing, at the encouragement of his parents, Matlock said.
"I started studying the gospel when I was 12 years old, along with my homework," he said. "I used to sit and learn spelling words. I thought, 'If I can memorize my homework, I can memorize scripture.'"
The first passage Matlock memorized was John 1:1-5. From there, he moved on to other well-known passages to cover the entire Bible. His favorite verse is Romans 8:31.
"I want a relationship with Jesus more than just reading and memorizing verses," he said.
After high school, Matlock began traveling and preaching wherever churches invited him to speak. Today, he averages about one or two churches a month.
Matlock would stand on street corners - something he says he can't do anymore because he's usually asked to leave.
"We're always going to have the sphere of Satan fighting against us," he said. "Whether I'm out, no matter where I am, I see people come to Christ. You have to be real out there for God. You have to come as close as you can to know him."
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EVANGELICAL FILM MAKER DAN MERCHANT EXPLORES THE CHRISTIAN DIVIDE IN HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY SET TO RELEASE ON SEPT 25TH

Even though he was always taught that religion and politics shouldn’t be discussed in polite company, Dan Merchant decided someone needed to start the conversation.
In his documentary-style film “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers,” which hits theaters nationwide on Sept. 25, Merchant marches around the country asking everyone he meets why what he calls the “Gospel of Love” is dividing the nation.
Wearing a painter-suit covered in bumper stickers that illustrate every side of the “Christian issue,” Merchant travels the country asking tough questions. What Merchant really wants to know: How are Christians supposed to act, and how are they really acting?
In short, does following Jesus mean loving others or being right?
“The goal is to try and understand,” Merchant said during a phone interview from Seattle. “Am I the only person asking these questions?”
The film has been circulating on DVD for at least a year and has attracted a loyal underground fan base. Now Merchant hopes the nationwide theater release will help spread the film’s message.
An evangelical Christian with a background in the entertainment field, Merchant was inspired to explore American Christianity after traveling to Ethiopia and meeting Christians there who sounded and acted nothing like the Christians back home.
“There’s one voice that reminds me of Jesus,” Merchant said, comparing Christian voices on American TV to those in small Ethiopian huts. “And it’s the voice in the hut.”
So he set off to figure out if he was the only one concerned about how U.S. Christians are perceived. By interviewing a broad range of people — including churchgoers, atheists, politicians, scholars, Katrina victims and drag queens dressed as nuns — Merchant looks for everyone to find their voice in this dialogue.
Merchant’s camera captures a diversity of opinions, because it seems that everybody has something to say. “Everyone has a dog in this fight,” Merchant says at the beginning of his film.
What worries Merchant, however, is that everyone seems to be talking at the same time.
Merchant begins his film with coverage from a recent clash in San Francisco between the Christian youth campaign BattleCry and the “more colorful” figures from the city’s liberal population.
The resulting shouting match is exactly the kind of discourse that Merchant wants to address.
“Outrage is way more exciting than humility,” he says.
If everyone is talking over everyone else, where do we begin a civil conversation? Merchant starts with the Rev. Tony Campolo, a progressive-minded evangelical professor at Pennsylvania’s Eastern University. Campolo quotes St. Augustine as having said, “The Church is a whore, and she is my mother.”
“Are you talking about unfaithfulness? You’re talking about the church,” Campolo says in the film. “Unfaithful bride of Christ. Failing to live up to its marriage vows to the Lord. It’s a whore. But she’s also my mother. I wouldn’t be a Christian today … if it wasn’t for this thing called ‘the church.’ For all of its flaws … it has still been that which is kept alive, the gospel story, down through the ages.”
Merchant uses that image to grab the attention of Christians and non-Christians alike. The church may not be perfect, but for believers it still holds the truth. But what is the truth anymore?
In his bumper sticker get-up, Merchant patrols the streets of Times Square and nationwide asking people what Christians are known for versus what Jesus is known for. Big surprise: the answers are often quite different.
By using cartoons such as a Frankenstein Jesus to represent the disjointed body of Christ and Monty Python-style celebrity images spouting loaded comments on faith in America, Merchant eases the tension of an otherwise weighty subject. But he does not forget how important and schismatic the Christian/non-Christian clash really is.
After seriously considering issues where the secular world and the Christian world often butt heads — same-sex marriage, abortion, the “Hollywood agenda,” poverty, war, pornography and consumerism — the film takes a more hopeful turn.
From volunteers washing the feet of homeless people to a confessional booth at a Gay Pride event where people are invited in to hear Merchant’s own confessions, the film offers a glimpse into a kinder, gentler America. Those images and stories, which Merchant cites as the most important, suggest that we are all one in our humanity.
“Life and people are complicated, compassion should be given and not earned,” Merchant offers at the end of the film. And dialogue should never be cut off, he said, because everybody has a piece of the “rest of the story.”

KIDA TRAINING THEIR BRAINS FOR THE FIRST NATIONAL BIBLE BEE IN WASHINGTON

Jason Epps has cerebral palsy but has the attitude of a marathon runner. What others see as a disability, Jason views as a challenge.
This summer, instead of training on the track, he's flexing his brain. Along with 16,000 other youngsters across the country, Jason is preparing for a chance to compete at the first National Bible Bee in Washington.
"The way I look at it, it's just a way for me to get stronger," says the 16-year-old Freedom High School junior.
Jason's mom, Christine, agrees. "He has a lot of goals in mind, and he doesn't let anything stop him," she says. "If he were just a regular kid running around, then he wouldn't have the impact on people like he does."
The Bible Bee will begin with local contests Sept. 12. The children, ages 7 to 18, will compete in either a primary, junior or senior age group. The testing style is similar to Scripps National Spelling Bee, but instead of being quizzed on spelling "conscientious," contestants hone up on biblical knowledge. The Bible Bee includes a written exam. (For sample questions, visit www.biblebee.org.)
There will be 100 finalists from each age group in the national competition. It will be held Nov. 5 and 6 in Washington.
The Bible Bee, sponsored by the Shelby Kennedy Foundation, is awarding more than $260,000 in prize money, with $100,000 given to the first-place winner in the 15 to 18 age group.
Jason says that participating in the bee is a chance to grow his faith. Whether he wins or not, going to nationals "would just be a wonderful experience," he says. "I just think that no matter what happens, this has been a great experience because I've learned tools that I would never have known otherwise."
Still, Jason admits, with a smile, that any help he can get with paying for college would be nice. It's easy to forget that Jason uses a wheelchair. The honors student already has three colleges he's considering.
"I'm just torn because part of me wants to go to Duke for seminary," he says, adding that he leaves tough decisions to the Almighty. "Personally, if God says 'go here,' who am I to debate with him?"
Preparing with songs and games
For now, Jason, along with other youths, is preparing for the Bible Bee. The practices hardly seem like work. Each session consists of songs and games.
Blake Lambson, 11, has memorized numerous verses this summer. He struggles to pick a favorite. "I like all of 'em," he says. The sixth-grader at Burns Middle School does not anticipate competing beyond the local level.
But if he did make it to the nationals? "It'd be pretty awesome, and I'd be really nervous," he says.
Jodie Gregory of Brandon takes her children, 11-year-old triplets and a 12-year-old, to practice sessions at Bell Shoals Baptist Church. She considers the Bible Bee a great parenting tool.
"I want my kids to have a moral compass to help them make decisions in their life," she says. "I think that the Bible is a really good compass."
Jill Cravens, chairwoman of the Lutz Bible Bee group, has three boys, ages 6, 9, and 11, participating in the Lutz competition. Cravens says she always struggled memorizing verses, and she's impressed by the children's dedication.
"The children are truly capable of doing much more than we ever thought they could do," she says. "Instead of one verse monthly, the kids are learning two or three a day."
Doreen Reyson, a mother of seven, is chairwoman for the Brandon area Bible Bee. Her daughter Rachel, 12, wears a nametag heavy with multicolored beads.
"Each bead means a certain thing that we've memorized," Rachel says. In her quest to earn beads, Rachel has delved into the lives of biblical characters. Her favorite? "Joseph," she says, "because he had a lot of struggles in his life, and yet he still held on to God, kept going."
One verse at a time
With the Sept. 12 contest looming, Reyson stresses the need for volunteer proctors. To ensure fairness, "we need people who are not related to the kids," she says.
Unable to volunteer? Reyson says donations are appreciated and help cover the cost of test materials and utilities for use of building space. Although Bell Shoals has given the group free use of two rooms, Reyson wants to reimburse the church for some expenses. Also, she has asked every family with a participating child to raise $100 toward the cause.
That money will offset expenses and go into a kitty for children who make it to the national competition to help pay for travel and hotel costs.
Are any Tampa children contenders for prize money? With 16,000 participating across the country, Reyson says, it's hard to predict. But these kids aren't cutthroat competitive, they're simply having fun learning the Bible.
"Just the reward of having it in our hearts and the treasure of that has been the biggest focus," she says. "Whether they just memorized one Scripture or if they memorized all 300, they're going to walk away as a winner."

GANESHA TEMPLE IN QUEENS FORMS A CHOIR , A HINDU RARITY

With less than an hour to go before the newly formed Hindu temple choir would make its debut, there was time for only a few final run-throughs of the hymn that had been prepared.
“Don’t rush!” implored the conductor, Michael Sample, as the singers surged ahead of the accompanying keyboard’s programmed beat.
About 50 singers had gathered on Sunday morning in the senior center across the street from the Ganesha Temple, operated by the Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, Queens. They would be performing on the busiest day of the temple calendar — the first day of the festival dedicated to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god.
Ganesha is revered as the remover of obstacles, and his festival is considered an auspicious time to begin new endeavors, not least an experiment in adapting an old religion for a new land. And of the singers, most of whom grew up in India, none had ever heard of a Hindu choir before.
“For us as Indians to learn a whole new thing is wonderful,” said Raji Samant, a member of the choir who runs a bookkeeping business in the city. She said she was drawn by the choir’s novelty.
Choirs are virtually unheard of in temples in India because worshipers tend not to cohere into anything resembling an attentive congregation, said Vasudha Narayanan, a professor of religion and the director of the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions at the University of Florida.
“People come and go as they please within the temple hours, and it’s more individual prayers,” she said in a telephone interview.
While there are numerous musical traditions that have sprung from Hinduism, they tend to favor solos and improvisation, in keeping with the individualistic and free-flowing nature of Hindu worship, Professor Narayanan said.
She sees the choir as a “gentle process of Americanization” — a kind of adaptation of Hindu traditions to be more “recognizable” to the children of Hindu immigrants and the broader American public.
In Queens, there was a little skepticism at first, said Uma Mysorekar, the president of the temple, one of the largest and oldest Hindu temples in the country. “In the beginning people were a little bit upset with this word ‘choir,’ ” she said. “ ‘Choir — what is this?’ It’s not generally used among Hindus; it’s connected to a Christian choir.”
Resistance quickly faded as Chandrika Tandon, the choir’s founder, who grew up in South India, communicated the joy she had encountered in the gospel choirs of Harlem and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Nearly 200 people showed up after fliers advertising auditions were posted in the temple and on its Web site in March.
On Sunday, after a final pep talk from Ms. Tandon, the singers, men dressed in kurtas — collarless cotton tunics — in varying shades of cream, and women swathed in embroidered fabrics of deep maroon, padded across Bowne Street in their socks or bare feet and joined the devotees pouring into the temple.
The choir stood crowded into a corner at the rear of the temple near the door, a sea of devotees’ backs between them and the temple’s holiest space, the ornate chamber that houses an image of Ganesha.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the keyboard’s beat came to life, soon joined by the tabla and harmonium. The choir launched into song: “Om! Ganesha Sharanam!” the choristers sang, in praise of the deity.
Some devotees turned to look over their shoulders. A few began clapping in time. Others started mouthing along to the words. Not everyone was rapt: some continued their conversations, and two bare-chested priests standing nearby chatted and joked.
Nine minutes after they began, the choristers came to a sudden climax with a final “Sharanam Ganesha!”
There swiftly followed another sound rarely heard in the temple: applause. But not for long. Dr. Mysorekar, the temple president, hushed it as soon as she could. “In this temple, the Lord has supremacy,” she explained afterward.
The audience response was politely approving. “I was not expecting it at all,” said Navin Mithal, a retired flight engineer. But he said he liked it: “I was singing along inside me.”
A priest came over and said he had never heard anything like it, in a good way. Then came a clamoring of bells, drums and a woodwind as a palanquin bearing another garlanded image of Ganesha was lifted high.
Devotees rushed to their feet, some heading for the palanquin’s procession, others for a corner of the temple for private prayer, others still for the exit.
The brief experiment in unison was over for now. The familiar disorder was restored.
With one song already under its belt, the choir will resume rehearsals of another work — a medley of “America the Beautiful” and “Vande Mataram” (“Bow to Thee, Mother”), India’s national song. Its ultimate plan is to become a temple fixture. “First,” Ms. Tandon said, “we need to expand our repertoire.”