"Flying 20" Church of the Month Club

UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM THE MAILBAG

Dear Tom: We have something in common, because I am a military retiree and you were a career Army Chaplain. Maybe you can identify with being assigned to remote locations, because today I live in a nice but rather isolated place with no Unity church nearby. I read my Daily Word and Unity Magazine, and I’m wondering is whether there’s any way I can support small Unity churches? Maybe I could help give a new church a flying start. Can you recommend a small church somewhere?

J.J., Newberry, SC

Dear J.J.: Good to hear from another military escapee...uh...I mean retiree. Your best way to support small ministries is by giving directly to the Association of Unity Churches International, P.O. Box 610, Lee’s Summit, MO, 64063. The AUCI website [www.unity.org ] along with the website of the Unity School of Christianity [www.unityonline.org/ ] can provide you with tons of information to keep in touch with other Unity people around the planet.

However, your words about our common military backgrounds and about giving small Unity churches a “flying start” have brought back an old memory. Not about a religious institution, but Army basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

I remember so clearly, like it was last June, even though it was the summer of 1964. We were a motley bunch--volunteers and draftees and National Guardsmen and Reservists called to active duty for training. We came as a mob of strangers and left a team of soldiers. For some young men from deeply segregated communities, this was the first time they had ever associated with people of different races and religions. And we quickly learned the only color that mattered was Army green and the only doctrine we would be tested on was military discipline. It was a young man’s sport, and I joined a basically peacetime Army, just before the conflict in Southeast Asia escalated to war.

We began the pre-training at a place called the Reception Center. They issued us new recruits our first green fatigue uniforms and handed out new canvas duffle bags which we stuffed full of Army-issue equipment. (I still have my duffle bag, somewhat battered but still functional.) And of course were all stone broke, being 18 year old kids from mostly poor families. So the Army had this policy of giving everyone a tiny advance pay--we called it the “flying ten”--just before you shipped out from the Repo-Depot to your Basic Training Company (bus trip, ten minutes). It doesn’t seem like much money today, but in 1964 ten bucks could buy all the soap and razor blades you needed and still have a few quarters left over for soft drinks, even though they wouldn’t let trainees near a soda machine for many weeks.

So, when you mentioned giving churches a “flying start” an idea flashed in my head. What if we encouraged people to send a “Flying $20” (increased for inflation) to a different small church every few months? People could find a Unity center to support through the AUCI website [ www.unity.org ], but I’m guessing some readers might like to participate directly via my Theo-Blog. So, how about we try a prosperity experiment?

Let’s recruit “Shepherd’s Flying $20 Flock” right here and now. For the next few months, I’ll suggest a small or new church to which interested people could send a small donation ($20 is only a suggestion).

Now, to keep me out of trouble with my brothers and sisters in other churches, let’s agree that everybody who participates in the “Flying 20” will make this a special love offering above-and-beyond their continued tithing in support of their home churches, OK? The goal is to stimulate prosperity thinking by double-timing (jogging) the second mile.

For our first “Flying $20” church, I nominate:

Unity Southeast
3421 East Meyer Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64132.

Unity S.E. [ www.unitysoutheast.org/ ] is a small, ethnically diverse, vibrant church in the Kansas City metro area. I’m certain Rev. Kevin Ross (affectionately known as "RevKev") would love to hear from you.

Furthermore, I invite readers to send suggestions for future Shepherd’s Flock churches by posting a reply to this blog.

And send the Theo-Blog link to all your friends and associates! Why should you suffer in solitude, when you can share the befuddlement of theology with others?