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Scribbled Scriptures form the foundation

Members hunt for their favorite Bible verses to write on the floor of the bay area's biggest church.

By BILL COATS
Published May 29, 2005

LUTZ - Ricky Dudley spent two hours on the Internet trying to decide. He could choose one Bible passage - a single promise from God - and write it next to his signature, where it will stay unchanged for decades to come. Which one?

"There are over 7,000 promises in the word of God," said Dudley's pastor, the Rev. Ken Whitten of Idlewild Baptist Church. "So we're not going to run out of promises."

Thanks to Whitten, hundreds of members of Tampa Bay's biggest church have been making the same choice this month. Many used an Internet list linked from Idlewild's Web site. This weekend is the deadline, although the church plans to accommodate stragglers.

They are taking Sharpies to the masonry floor of Idlewild's new sanctuary to write down their chosen promises just before a carpeting crew covers it up. So when Idlewild moves into the building in September, worshipers literally will be Standing on the Promises, as a popular 120-year-old hymn suggests.

Dudley, 40, of Seminole Heights, finally settled on Proverbs 3:5-6. It reads, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Dorothy Goldie wrote down the same verse. She has treasured it for 65 years, since she asked God in Keyport, N.J., for a Christian mate. The next year, her future husband walked into the church.

Now retired in Northdale, Jim and Dorothy Goldie wrote their verses together last week on the steps leading to the pulpit.

Jim chose Isaiah 44:3, which hooked him with the sentence, "I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants."

The Goldies have two children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. "It's just kind of a nice assurance," he said.

Rachel Diza of Town 'N Country wrote Isaiah 41:10 halfway down an entrance aisle. It includes, "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Diza, 36, explained, "It tells me God holds me in his hand and I am secure in him."

Whitten got the idea for the written promises from the pastor of Kirby Woods Baptist Church in Memphis. That church also has a new building with scribbled Scriptures under the carpet.

As Idlewild dedicates one of Florida's largest church buildings, Whitten plans to remind his 8,000 members that God's promises form a firmer foundation than anything of concrete and steel.

Whitten planned this weekend to write his own, Isaiah 55:11, on the floor next to the pulpit. The passage promises that God's word "shall not return unto me void."

Norm Childers, who manages tours of the new facilities, said he plans to photograph everybody's writings before the carpet goes down and compile the photos in a binder.

Nevertheless, several members took pains to remember where theirs were.

Dudley, a Peoples Gas technician, aligned his spot with the dead center of the stage, on the second step from the top. Diza picked an aisle leading from a welcome center.

John Beehler finished writing 2 Timothy 1:7 in another aisle, then paced it off 42 feet from the back wall.

The passage reads, "For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Beehler, 46, of Clearwater, said he recited that passage playing basketball for New Jersey's Bridgeton High School, standing at the foul line in opponents' gyms with the crowd roaring for him to miss.

"I would say it in sudden-death playoffs in golf tournaments, when your hair was standing on end," he said.

Beehler said the passage is an answer to fear.

"It says, "Bring it on.' "

-Bill Coats can be reached at 813 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 28, 2005, 10:00:23]