I think we lose our kids at graduation (see this story for reference). We make a big deal of them through high school and graduation, then we drop them. There is no place for them until they are a young family. Somehow, we need to continue to make them feel a part of the body through those transitional years.

Peggy Pirkle | Midlothian, Texas

Your articles on the decline of membership among Churches of Christ prompted this note. Central Church of Christ in Johnson City, Tenn., has had an approximate doubling of membership and attendance since I returned to Johnson City in 1993. The difference is quite apparent to me.

My wife and I traveled quite often during summers until recently and visited many congregations. Most ministers are preachers, whereas the one at the Central church is a teacher. There is a significant difference.

Roger M. Clites | Johnson City, Tenn.

Mark Hamilton's column on the value of Bible scholarship says that study "can be an act of reverence toward God," yet the one-volume commentary which he edited, ("The Transforming Word," ACU Press) denies the Mosaic authorshop of Deuteronomy, which Jesus affirmed (Matthew 19:1-9) and rejects the unity of Isaiah, which the New Testament clearly accepted (John 12:36-40).

It is difficult to understand how it can be an act of reverence toward God to reject what he taught through the Word that he inspired.

Alan Highers | Henderson, Tenn.