rom Us:
We are pleased to announce some new features in this, our first issue of 1992. We first want to welcome Wes Callihan aboard as yet another contributing editor. His column will be entitled Poetics, and will seek to provide a detailed analysis of culture from a thoroughly biblical vantage point.
Another addition is this page; we were hearing from enough of you to warrant adding space for your letters, which you can see below. Because this is our first month to publish letters, we have left out the names of our correspondents. But after this point, you may all consider yourselves forewarned. In the near future, we will begin including the names of those who write in. And for those who write two or three page critiques, we will try to find a paragraph which sums up your point, and publish that.
There is also a new feature called Ex Libris. Each issue we hope to have two or three book reviews which we trust will be informative. And the last new feature is called The Cave of Adullam, which supplies you with examples of some current humanistic flapdoodle, along with our comments.
From You:
When I received your May appeal letter I had just started receiving Credenda/Agenda. I decided not to respond until I had a better idea about where you were coming from. Well, it looks terrific and I am ready to cast my lot with you . . . Credenda/Agenda now ranks up there with Banner of Truth and First Things as publications I look forward to receiving each month . . .
I want to thank you for sending Credenda/Agenda. I find it interesting and refreshing. For example, the article in the recent issue by Chris Schlect was refreshing indeed. This kind of biblical honesty is not very common today . . .
Please discuss "infant election" in one of the next Credendas.
Editor's reply: Okay. Coming up.
Thank you for including me in the mailing list of those who receive your publication entitled Credenda/Agenda. I have greatly appreciated the first two copies which I have received . . . the articles in which you are giving a critique of youth ministries have been most helpful. I am distributing them to my fellow elders in order to put in their hands materials which they may use in discussing these things with people who visit with us and are struck with the fact that we do not have a "children's church" and the other trappings of youth ministries. May every blessing of the Triune God rest upon your labors. Be assured that there are some of us out here who do appreciate those labors and find them most helpful.
. . . While your editorial staff has expanded, your viewpoint seems to have grown much more myopic, your tone belligerent and self-righteously assured. You can understand, of course, that this troubles me somewhat . . . Finally, let me encourage you to not take yourselves too seriously . . . Please don't take this letter as an attack or an invective against your publication. I would be honored to continue to receive your newsletter, as I find it often thought-provoking and informative. I simply wanted to bring my concern to your attention in hopes that you can prove my fears unfounded. May God continue to richly bless you and your ministry.
Editor's reply: We thank you for your concern. The temptation to self-righteousness is common to all Christians who are concerned about the authority of truth. So please pray for us. As for
the concern about taking ourselves too seriously, we do have the advantage of knowing one another. That helps a
lot.
. . . Would you be willing to put a small note in Credenda/Agenda indicating that Fire on the Mountain is a Biblical, non-profit, non-denominational, Christian newsletter that seeks to establish and demonstrate God's sovereignty in all areas of personal and national life? The address is Box 143, Cedar Bluff, VA 24609. Subscriptions are free, although donations are appreciated . . .
[Chris Schlect's articles on youth ministry] . . . consist mostly on generalizations, and assertions that lack precise, if any, documentation. Mr. Schlect seems to be preaching to the converted, who need no convincing. If I were a participant in some of your "think tank" discussions, I might be among the "converted." But I am not among them, and I do need convincing . . .
Chris Schlect replies: Our readers, so it seems to us, tend to share our basic theological convictions. Thus, our aim is not so much to change our readers' minds as it is to stimulate new applications of shared convictions. We could publish scrupulous documentation and detailed exegesis to defend this view of youth ministry, but it would not fit within our space limitations and current mission. But if any readers are interested in our sources, please write.
