14
Nov
2008
WHAT IS GOSPEL ENTERPRISES?
In the mid 1970s we saw what many of you have recognized, that some bad leadership had led most churches of Christ across the country into legalism, closed minded attitudes, and too much commitment to doctrines of our tradition. Particularly the matter of divorce and remarriage was being mishandled in a way that was ruining the lives of many individuals and impairing the health of the church.
I had studied that subject intensely for 17 years with a lot of research. The prevailing view was one that had come from the council of Trent, not from the Bible, and it could not be harmonized with the scriptures. We first tried to reason with “those who seemed to be somewhat” but were met with an unworkable attitude. They issued a disfellowship decree against me. I asked, “Wait a minute. Can’t we talk about this?” They replied, “There is nothing to talk about. You are a heretic and it is our duty to blow you away and we mean to do that.” Obviously someone had to try to do something.
So, In the spring of 1980, after 25 years of working with local congregations, I resigned a good ministerial position to begin a traveling ministry, aimed at bringing about reform, a return to the Bible standard, as far as we could achieve it. In order for folks who would help with our financial support to get income tax deduction for contributions, and in order to have the support money be free of income tax for us, we applied for and received a “non-profit” status from the IRS. That is still our status now. It was necessary to form a corporation with a name. So we formed “Gospel Enterprises.”
There are several facets of this ministry, nearly three decades old at the time of this writing. Basically it is a continuing series of efforts to contribute to the spiritual and doctrinal health of the brotherhood. The church has several things to rethink. One thing we do is personal counseling for folks who are experiencing or have experienced the trauma of divorce. We have traveled many miles to work with one couple. Another facet has been going to church leaders to present private studies, helping them to reconsider the traditional view in comparison with clear statements of scripture. We also do seminar presentations with churches and other study groups, not only on Divorce & Remarriage but also on right attitudes and on Unity. I have participated in 10 public debates, 5 of which are in print. About 4 times a year we have been making a lengthy trip to certain parts of the nation, scheduling speaking stops along the way. Each year starts with a month long trip to Florida, beginning in January.
I have written 17 books on various subjects. Most of them we published through Gospel Enterprises. By setting the type myself and not using middle men as publishers, we have been able to keep our book prices very low. The great need right now is to recover a greater reliance on the scriptures as our guide and avoid the other extreme of liberalism. We hope we can help with that. On another part of this web site we will soon have a listing of our books and materials, a description of each, and the prices. We are more concerned with getting the word out to those who need it than with making money.
God has blessed our ministry in tremendous ways, especially in the matter of opening doors of opportunity for teaching. Many leading brethren have helped us and we found that they do not have the bad attitudes we encountered in many at the first. So this work is going extremely well. Thousands of people have been helped in very meaningful ways. This is what makes it worth doing. If there is a need where you live for the services we offer, please contact us and we will work out whatever it takes to accomodate that need as soon as we can.
May God’s richest blessings grace your life. Thanks for reading this brief version of our story.
Love to all of you! Olan & Barbara Hicks
E-mail: gospelen@arkansas.net