Who said, “In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. How we have blemished and scarred the body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful, in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

Whenever the early church entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being ‘outside agitators.’ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were called to obey God, not man.

Small in number, they were big in commitment. By their effort and example, they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this 36 years ago . . .but it could have been today.