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 President
of the H. E. Butt Foundation and Vice Chairman of one of the
nation's largest privately held grocery companies, Howard
Butt founded the internationally known Texas Hill Country
retreat center, Laity Lodge. A unique oasis of spiritual vitality,
Laity Lodge serves congregations, pastors, writers, business
and professionals, as well as others interested in lay leadership.
He was the speaker for one of the early Presidential Prayer
Breakfasts, for President Eisenhower. President Kennedy named
him to the nation's first Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.
With Billy Graham, he launched the Layman's Leadership Institutes.
He organized the North American Congress of the Laity in Los
Angeles, whose Honorary Chairman was President Ford. His writings
made him one of the nation's earliest contemporary advocates
of servant leadership.
Since his student days at Baylor University, Waco, Texas,
continuing as a businessman, now as a foundation executive—for
fifty years as a layman—he has been a widely heeded spokesman
for spiritual renewal.
In his work at the Foundation, he carries on the vision of
his parents by providing a free camping experience to more
than 20,000 people each year. At Laity Lodge, Howard carries
out his vision of "the priesthood of all believers"
in a setting dedicated to relational theology. The Laity Lodge
Youth Camp is an outgrowth of that vision, perhaps best summed
up by the mission statement of the Foundation: "Renewal
of society through the renewal of the Church; Church renewal
through renewal of the family; family renewal through renewed
individuals." This mission statement is at the heart
of Howard's book, Renewing America's Soul.
Frederick Buechner said of Laity Lodge, "It is a bit
like the land of Oz - some come looking for courage, some
a new heart, some a new mind, and many seeking the goal Dorothy
had - finding home." As a novelist, Buechner captures
the emotional appeal of Laity Lodge. The intellectual appeal
is perhaps best summed up by Professor Dale Bruner, who wrote:
"Billy
Graham goes wider than anyone else in Christendom.
Does anyone go deeper than Howard Butt's Laity Lodge?
I don't think so; I really don't think so."
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Laity Lodge grew out of Howard's choice to limit his outside
speaking engagements. Partly to be with his growing family,
and partly to recognize his own human limitations, he chose
to narrow his ministry rather than broaden it.
Howard Butt is a man familiar with therapeutic suffering.
He reveals to us how to deal positively with our personal
struggles. He is a unique individual who turned away from
the seductive power of the national scene to focus his ministry
more locally and provide a model for relational theology
in the remote Hill Country of Texas.
He did not deny his suffering, rather he embraced it. He
found hope out of depression and summoned the courage to delve
deeper into his understanding of The Scripture and The Church.
Now, after forty years of building this camp, this retreat
center, these programs dedicated to an authentic expression
of Christian faith, this think-tank for societal renewal,
he is ready once again to carve a niche in our national psyche
by offering guidance for our spiritual and psychological renewal.
Today in America, individuals are feeling . . .
- alone: it seems more difficult to make friends, the world
is smaller but less personal; there's voice mail, email,
the World Wide Web; our time is filled with work at office
and work at home; there's little communication on a personal
level.
- like helpless/potential victims, overwhelmed by crime,
job layoffs, uncertainties.
- insecure: we're worried about holding onto jobs/our financial
futures.
On a national/societal level, people are:
- frustrated by "leaders" who are divisive and
not reconciling.
- angry: there are inadequate services, from medical to
crime control.
- helpless, looking for strong leadership.
In Renewing America's Soul, Howard Butt reaches out
to a hurting, divided nation and gives us hope.
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