The following e-mail was received from Rusty Owen on 6/30/02.
Randy,
Thanks very much for the email, and I enjoyed shooting sporting clays with you guys yesterday.
In spite of a little rain, it was fun and I enjoyed meeting the group. It might have been you that told me that the group originated at Great Hills Baptist, and had expanded to other churches, including Hill Country Bible Church. My wife has been attending Hill Country, and most Sundays, I go with her. However, I am a "cradle" Episcopalian and am a member of St. Luke's on the Lake Episcopal Church. I go to the early service at my church and then go to HCBC with Sue. I would be glad to be added to your distribution list, but I did want to run one thing by you. I read your statement of faith, and I am in complete agreement with essentially every element of it. On item VII, however, there is reference to the "inerrancy" of the Bible, and mine and my church's view might be a little bit at variance with your group's views. This is not an issue with me, but it might be with you. If it is, no hard feelings. I enjoyed getting to know you.
Rusty Owen
P.s. Oh by the way, my name is Rusty Owen, not Rowen. My email address is rowen1@austin.rr.com, but the "r" is for Rusty.
I sent the following reply:
Rusty,
Thanks for reading our Statement of Faith. Our Bylaws regarding membership require men who have expressed a desire to be a member to complete a membership application and to pay a membership due. The last part of that application states "I have read and will uphold the FCS Statement of Faith and Bylaws regarding Conduct and will conduct myself as a Christian sportsman on FCS outings." If you are able to sign that you agree to that we would love to have you as a member. If you are unable to sign that agreement we would still welcome you on any and all FCS outings as a guest. As I explained to you on Saturday, we have men in many different churches and are a non-denominational organization. The Statement of Faith was established when the Club was founded and we have never had cause to amend it. Club members are able to make proposals for additions or changes to the Statement of Faith, Bylaws, and Calendar. If you were to join we certainly could revisit the inerrancy issue but to be totally honest Baptists still have the highest representation in the Club and the odds would be against a change. I'm sorry for goofing up your last name and I'll fix it soon. I have added you to my distribution list and hope to shoot with you again.
Randy