Dear Readers:

    I've just read my copy (the un-requested copy sent to me at the church building) of When Geese Fly South! by Paul Benjamin. The book starts out telling of a Preacher/Christian worker (Paul Benjamin) who is so embroiled and embattled by the financial affairs of his ministry and church buildings, dealing with the banks and government institutions, that he came close to bankruptcy. I could see his plight for a little while but after more reading I noticed some of the details of his financial affairs were missing. It wasn't apparent right away. I couldn't seem to put my finger on it. He seemed to skip over the parts like what decision on his part caused the banks to look at his affairs the way they did? It finally dawned on me that he seemed to be trying to get something for practically nothing. He was taking on loans, especially on the church building, that weren't conventional loans. Either they were balloon notes or they were loans with Mandatory Oversight by the bank because of lack of either credit or enough down payment or both. He did not tell us these things plainly but were deduced because of what he wrote. I know the world (and the denominations) treat the church poorly and with malice. We need to keep away from the appearance of evil. This is a book of more what not to do than it is what happened to him. You just have to read between the lines to find out what not to do because he doesn't tell the whole story of the decisions that lead to the troubles.

    Before we read very far along he says plainly that he participated in the interdenominational (my word) evangelistic effort called Key 73. I may have taken part in it also but I was a Presbyterian at that time, back in 1973. I have come out of the Presbyterian Church since then with no bitterness on my part. Later on in the book he added that he not only took part in it he played a larger roll in it. He says on page 89 of his book that he "was deeply involved in a new cooperative evangelistic effort called Key 73." Lets back up for a minute. He seems to attribute (pages 88-89) his involvement in Key 73 to the denominational preachers that came to Lincoln Christian Seminary like, in his words "…Dr. Clovis G. Chappell, the world-renowned Methodist Minister." He says of Key 73; "Key 73 gave me the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the finest leaders in the world." He and Dr. Theodore Raedeke, a Lutheran preacher, held "Key 73 Workshops all over the nation." He went on to describe further activity in this and other interdenominational events. His actions were enough to make my blood boil. One comment stands out as taking the cake and makes the clear statement; we have a bonafide (real) split in our brotherhood. In his words again from page 91, "Although I received some flak from our brotherhood for participating with the "denominations," for the most part, our churches were receptive to the idea." The churches of Christ/Christian churches were receptive to the idea of participating with the denominations?? He didn't ask the people I know if they were receptive. On page 93 of his book he calls the denominational leaders that participated with him, "just brothers and sisters in the Lord, who wanted to see the Great Commission fulfilled."
  Now I know why the brotherhood and I had been warned about Paul Benjamin. With Paul's assistance, through his group The National Church Growth Research Center, the Lincoln