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My grandfather’s voice cracked as he spoke, and I leaned closer better to hear. It was 1969 with my brother and best friend, Sonny, being deployed to Vietnam. Grandfather had been telling me of life at home when Sonny’s and my father joined the Merchant Marines and survived four years in the North Atlantic and … Continue reading
The missionaries Cyrus and Ethel Dawsey were charged in 1915 with implanting Methodism in the sugarcane, coffee, cattle region of the westward interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. With a toddler, a newborn, and three more children yet to come, the couple settled in Birigui, today a town of 120,000 people but in … Continue reading
In 1916, my grandparents Cyrus and Ethel Dawsey accepted a missionary appointment to the city of Birigui in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. My father, Cyrus Jr., was born there in 1921. Among the family’s close friends were the family Figueira with their six children. In my father’s telling, all of the Figueira girls … Continue reading
Maybe you have noticed, as I have, that small acts can bear fruit, as the Bible claims, thirty and sixty and a hundred-fold. This is a story about my grandfather, Cyrus B. Dawsey (1886-1976), who became a missionary to South America and bishop in the Methodist Church. The main event occurred in 1906 when Grandfather … Continue reading
By the late twentieth century, the Methodist University in Piracicaba had an enrollment of over 10,000 students and was reputed to be one of the best private universities in South America. The school was founded on September 11, 1881, by a missionary from Louisville, Kentucky, Martha Watts, who based her work on the Christian belief … Continue reading
// books and reviews Released fall 2023. Handbook for the Christian Faith: Essential Beliefs and Practices for Twenty-first Century American Methodists and Like-minded Protestants. A Book about Extraordinary People is available in hardback, paperback, kindle, and eBook from Wipf and Stock, Cascade Imprint. Is religion disappearing from American life? Less than 50 percent of Americans now hold … Continue reading
Sermon: Emory & Henry Baccalaureate May 5, 2023 Text: Mark 12:28–31. One of the scribes came up to Jesus and asked, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with … Continue reading
Sermon: Emory UMC April 23, 2023* Text: John 14:27. Thank you for the privilege of speaking to you about the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “Peace I leave you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither … Continue reading
Students and friends have asked for my opinion about the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. What does the religion professor have to say? Did the conservative majority on the court overthrow forty-nine years of precedent to in effect adopt a religious ruling? The subject elicits strong passions. When abortions occur, families much prefer … Continue reading
Speech delivered at the Council of Georgist Organizations, Baltimore, August 2018 I am a person who came to Henry George because of and through my Christian heritage. And I thought it might me helpful to some here to recount the path I took, because it just might be that some of you find yourselves on … Continue reading
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