rothers and Sisters in Christ. As previously mentioned at our last two meetings, the Western Hills Church of Christ Unity Committee has transitioned the responsibility of planning and overseeing these Quarterly Dialogues to the Greater Austin Area Stone-Campbell Steering Committee. The people I am about to introduce to you have a heart and a desire to see the reconciliation of God's people and I commend them to you as I introduce them at this time:
(List is updated from time to time)

Dan Richards - Deceased - (Co-Chair) Elder: Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Austin TX
Roger McCown - Minister: Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ, Austin, TX
Bill Powell - Elder: Georgetown Church of Christ, Georgetown, TX
Barry Smith - Elder: Round Rock Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Round Rock, TX
Phil Kight - Deacon: Southwest Christian Church, Austin, TX
Mark Weinert - Student/Small Groups Minister: Southwest Christian Church, Austin TX
Bert Crowson - Ret Elder: University Avenue Church of Christ, Austin TX
Carl Noble - Deacon: University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Austin, TX
Rev. Julie Wood - Associate Minister: University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Austin, TX
Terri Haecker - Unity Committee: Western Hills Church of Christ, Austin TX
B.J. Pierce - (Chair) - University Ave Church of Christ, Austin, TX
Jeff Bailey - Unity Coordinator: Westover Hills Church of Christ, Austin TX
Roger Carey - (Publications & website) - Westover Hills Church of Christ, Austin TX

The Steering Committee is not closed, nor limited. If you have a heart for the Unity of God's people and would like to work side by side with us in planning these functions and other cooperative efforts, please see any of those who have been introduced or myself after the meeting.

As we are completing our 4th meeting, two major questions arise, What are we trying to accomplish and Where do we go from Here?

What we are simply trying to accomplish is meeting our Lord's expectation in John 17 for the Unity of Believers so that the World may believe. Does this mean that we all have to think alike, look alike and act alike? Should we vigorously address the issues that have brought about division since the followers of Alexander Campbell joined union with the followers of Barton Stone on New Years Day 1832 at the old Christian Church on Hill Street in Lexington KY. I will assure you now that since 1832 the most brilliant minds in our Movement have addressed those same issues trying to bring Christian Unity through Uniformity of Worship Practices and Doctrinal Stances. With enough books and wisdom documented since 1832 to more than fill this room, why are we still polarized and sectarian in our understanding of Christian Unity?

What I do know is that more than 95% of the differences that have divided us since our 1832 inception deal not with violation of explicit command but of our interpretations of the liberty or non-liberty within the Silence of the Scriptures.

Will there be a time for the heirs of the Greater Austin Area Stone Campbell Movement to address those differences. The answer is yes. The Steering Committee is well aware that some differences need to eventually be addressed and they will be in time, but they will not be addressed in the same beligerant or hostile manner they have been in decades past. For the time being, the Steering Committee believes that after 100 years of disparagement and family polarization, we simply need to get know each other again and for the next several meetings that will be our objective.

In closing, I would like to share with you two quick stories of what we are trying to accomplish. On July 2-4, 1938 the 75th and final reunion of the veterans of the Battle of Gettyburg took place at that hallowed site. At that time there were still approximately 5,000 of those aged veterans from that battle still alive. The average age of those who had fought with such ferocity in that life or death struggle some 75 years earlier was 94. The U.S. Army and Federal Government hosted this annual reunion providing Tents and Services and carefully planned the events…but they separated the Northern Veterans from the Southern Veterans. In the Government's conventional wisdom, the Northern Veterans were all encamped together approximately 1-1/2 miles from the Southern Veterans Encampment. After 75 years the U.S. Army and the Federal Government were afraid that emotions still ran high and wanted to keep both camps out of shooting distance of each other. Lord knows the calamity that could be brought about by brawling 94 year old men!

On the final day of the event, July 4th, 1938 after three days of being restrained from each other, the old combatants would once again face their despised foes at the final re-enactment of Pickett's Charge by the actual participants of that historic battle. The old wheat-field was lined with the aged veterans. Those who could still carry those old heavy 54 caliber muskets were allowed to do so. As the U.S. Army nervously went up and down the lines of both sides, they checked to make sure that none of those weapons were loaded and bayonets were removed. Finally at the appointed time, the trumpet sounded and those old Southern Rebels let out their bone-chilling rebel yell as they puttered across the abbreviated distance. As the two opposing lines started to converge, the Federal Government held their breath over the pending catastrophic outcome of these two old foes once again facing each other. However, something totally unexpected happened. One after another, on both sides dropped their weapons, broke ranks and made their way across the remaining field crying like babies and hugging on each other, walking off that old battlefield with their arms around each other. You see before they were foes, they were simply brothers with differences. Now they were like children who saw much value in love and reconciliation!

In the same line of thought, at the beginning of the 20th century, one of the most beloved ministers and Teachers in the Stone-Campbell Heritage was T.B. Larimore. T.B.'s love for the Church was uncompromising. As Brother after Brother started taking sides and making disparagement about those who disagreed with them, T.B. just kept on loving his Brothers and Sisters in Christ refusing to take sides. When pressed by every side on where he stood on the issues, T.B. responded with, "I think I will sit on the issues and stand up for Jesus!" When pressed again on justifying fellowship with those whom he did not necessarily agree with, he responded in 1916 with "I will not make a condition of fellowship that has not been made a condition of salvation."

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as we leave this place today, let us not make conditions of fellowship that have not been made conditions of salvation!

B.J. Pierece is Unity Chairman for the Greater Austin Area Stone/Campbell Steering Committee, Chairman of the Western Hills Church of Christ Unity Committee, and a Stone-Campbell Movement Historian.