I have edited The Informer, the bulletin for the Shelbyville Road church of Christ in Indianapolis, for forty-five years. I began to write articles regularly for the bulletin on June 8, 1980 (Vol. 33; No. 30). When I first came to work with the church, the church had a regular secretary, Nadene Welch. She was brother W. L. Totty’s and the church’s secretary since 1948. When Lois and I first moved to Indianapolis, we had made an offer on a house, but the closing date did not come until about six weeks later. Brother and sister Ben Kemp graciously let us stay with them until we moved into our house.
I told sister Kemp I did not know what to do with a secretary. Brother Totty had dictated all his letters and articles to Nadene. Sister Kemp would ask me every day when I got home, “Did you dictate a letter today?” I would tell her, “No.” She then would tell me, “Now, tomorrow, I want you to dictate a letter.” I probably dictated only a few letters or articles to Nadene when I started out. In the many years we labored together, I would write my articles in a long hand. It took two legal sheets of paper to make an article. In 1990, my mother loaned me interest-free money to buy my first computer for $1,800.00. I was making payments to her. I had paid all but $500.00 when she was diagnosed with cancer. Then, she wrote on the back page of our agreement: “Cancelled and Paid in Full. 9-26-92. Ettie J. McWhorter.” No one encouraged me more as a gospel preacher than my dear godly mother. I reverence her memory.
It had been my practice to write/type my articles on Thursdays and look them over on Fridays before we printed them. Nadene was an excellent proofreader and a good student of English. She was a great help, a fearless fighter for truth. She and I could argue about matters and still be friends. Contrary to some individuals, one can argue with some, and they “stove up” and refuse to speak to you. They must live sad lives. On one occasion, Nadene and I were arguing about something. I do not know what it was, but I told her, “I’ve never met anybody as stubborn as you.” She looked at me and said, “I have.” Brother Guy N. Woods said of Nadene: “…Sister Nadene Welch, one of the most efficient and skilled church secretaries in the brotherhood, has served in this capacity for twenty-three years” (Gospel Advocate, February 11, 1971). For years, Nadene would type brother Woods’ yearly preaching appointments. She finally “laid down the shovel” after sixty-eight years as the church secretary.
This is the 78th volume of The Informer. There are fifty numbers in each volume. I have tried to write at least forty out of the fifty numbers in each volume. Without taking the time to count, I estimate that I have written over 17,500 articles for The Informer. Some of these articles were to expose false teachers (Romans 16:17-18). Some articles were to alert the brethren of churches that had gone astray. These alerts caused some preachers and churches to remove us from their mailing lists and asked us to remove them. We have always tried to comply, never wanting to go where we were not wanted. However, Nadene told me that a brother in Christ years ago had asked brother Totty to take him off the mailing list because he was attacking anti-ism. In an oversight, Brother Totty failed to remove the brother’s name. Later, the brother wrote brother Totty and thanked him for keeping him on the mailing list and helping him see the truth. I wrote one brother up, and he and his elders came to see me and one of my elders, brother Ben Kemp. After the meeting, the brother refused to shake my hand. I am sure some articles were suitable for starting fires.
I have written some strong, hard-hitting articles. Have I made some mistakes? Have I sinned against some? Yes. However, I have always confessed my sin and asked for forgiveness when corrected. When I did wrong in writing, I tried to correct it in writing. John wrote, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8–10). This passage applies to writing as well. I have written some things I wished I had not written; I have written some things I wish I had pressed more. I have tried to be relevant in my writing. Overall, I have done my best. Angels can do no better, though no doubt they do more. Emerson said:
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Out upon your guarded lips! Sew them up with packthread, do. Else if you would be a man speak what you think today in words as hard as cannon balls, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts every thing you said today. Ah, then, exclaim the aged ladies, you shall be sure to be misunderstood! Misunderstood! It is a right fool’s word. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
No one was more controversial than Jesus Christ. He unsheathed his sword on the banks of the Jordan and never put it up. Bales said, “No one will be a controversialist of any kind who does not have a clear appreciation of the value of the truth, and of his own responsibility in maintaining and propagating it” (Christian, Contend For Thy Cause, p. 15). George Salmon wrote, “I fear it will be a long time before men are so philosophic as to misunderstand that a man is not your enemy because he tries to correct errors in your opinions [views], and that the more important the subject the greater the service he will render you if he makes you change your false opinion [view] for a true one” (The Infallibility of the Church, p.5).
I have tried to be balanced in my writing. Some articles have been on the church—her identity, worship, organization, and work. Some on the Bible—texts and translations. Some have touched on the home; others on Christian living. I have written on issues of the day—whether in or out of the church. As Pilate said, “What I have written I have written.” To my own Master, I stand or fall.
I am thankful for letters of criticism and notes of encouragement over the years. I hope they have made me better. I am especially grateful to the Shelbyville Road congregation. I owe a debt of gratitude to the living and those who have passed on who have supported my efforts.
May God bless all as we go forward with a new editor.
–Ben F. Vick, Jr.