Koop and Tenth

Here is another exerpt from Koop:

It was Erna Goulding, a valued friend and a nurse at Children's Hospital, who sensed that I was searching for spiritual meaning. One evening, as Betty and I left our apartment to attend the musical program that attracted many to the First Baptist Church in center city Philadelphia, Erna sugggested we walk a block beyond the Baptist Church and go to the evening service of the Tenth Presbyterian Church. She thought I would appreciate the intellectual approach to Christianity offered by its minister, Donal Grey Barnhouse. But we did not take her suggestion.

The next Sunday, however,I finished grand rounds early, and I found my feet taking me to the Tenth Presbyterian Church, just a few blocks north of the hospital. I entered the back door and quietly slipped up to the balcony. I was just going to observe. I liked what I saw, and I was fascinated by what I heard. I saw the congregation respond willingly and generously to social needs; this was no empty religion. I heard teaching from one of the most learned men I ever knew, a true scholar who also possessed a gift of illustrating the complexity - and simplicity - of Christian doctrine by remarkable and incised stories and similes. I was interested enough to go back the next Sunday morning. And then just a few hours later I returned for the evening service. I did that each Sunday for two years, and except when I was out of town I never missed a morning or evening service... After about seven mounths, I realized that I had become a participant and not just an observer; what made sense to that congregation made sense to me as well.

(Dr. Koop then gives a full gospel presentation.)