My Friday April 29 religion column for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill., is titled: "Dad taught lesson of respecting all women."
Indeed, my dad taught me valuable lessons about honoring women. On more than one occasion I heard my dad apologize to my mother in front of all five children. The women who worked for him respected him and felt like he always treated them well. In the church to this day, dad is glad to be taught by men or women.
Near the end of my column I wrote:
"Thanks to my dad, my strong mother and my talented wife, my conviction increasingly is that properly understood the Bible teaches that women as well as men have received spiritual gifts in all areas including leadership and teaching. In a biblically functioning community, ministry should be based on gifts not on gender.
"Without saying it in precisely those words, and without even knowing it, my dad is partially responsible for those convictions."
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