God's Tenth

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord.

--Leviticus 27:30

The Rev. Park T. Rushford was not pleased with his new charge, the Waldron Baptist Church, even though it was set in the midst of some of the best farm land in Indiana's fertile Shelby County, about 35 miles southeast of Indianapolis. The building was old and dilapidated when Rushford moved there in 1945, and the congregation was slipping away. The $15,000 that had been raised for a new building was nowhere near enough.

Young Pastor Rushford put his hope in the old practice of tithing, with which the Northern Baptist Convention has recently had much success. He began by setting his farmer congregation an example. Out of his own salary of $2,000 a year, he returned $200 to the church. Over & over again in his sermons he reminded his flock that tithing was the Christian standard. "We are what we are because God created us," he said, "and for our love for the Lord, tithing should only be the minimum of what you do."

Farmer Ralph Waldo Moore pondered these words for the best part of two years, as he mended his fences, planted and reaped his crops. Then one day he walked into the Waldron State Bank and handed over to Cashier Virgil Roberts a check for $580. "This is for the church, Virgil," he said. "I want to start tithing."

The ball had been set rolling. Farm prices were riding high, and other farmers began to tithe. This week Pastor Rushford preached his first sermon in a bright new church, complete with a modern kitchen, social room, children's department, and a 60-ft. spire. The church cost $100,000; of this, $60,000 is already in the bank, and the remaining $40,000 is scheduled to be paid off within five years.

The building of the new church has been a shot in the arm for the congregation: the past year has shown a 100% increase in attendance of young adults, and church attendance has increased 25%. Besides their tithes and contributions, Shelby County farmers cooperatively grew $1,100 worth of soybeans for the church last year on a 42-acre plot of rented land.

Looking out over his 332 acres of prosperous farm land last week, 54-year-old

Ralph Moore tried to explain how he felt about tithing. "I studied it out and figured I couldn't do anything more important ... I began to realize that the church is our only hope. I got to thinking that if all the nations had a little more Christianity, we might be able to avoid World War III. I got to thinking that if all members tithed, there wouldn't be any more financial difficulties in our churches. Then our churches would become strong, and a strong church would be our future. I got to thinking that if we didn't have a future, what a terrible thing it would be.

"So I decided that I should give a tenth of my earnings."

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