IRA NORTH

*I have always admired the great Ira North. He led the way in building the largest church of Christ in the world in his day. The Madison Church of Christ. He was known as a man who loved the Lord and who loved people. Another great man and dear friend of mine was the beloved Guy N. Woods. The picture attached to this article shows brother North and brother Woods as they assumed the editorship of the Gospel Advocate. God bless the memory of these truly great men. These were two of the greatest preachers of the gospel of the 20th century United States. *Allen Ashlock

Ira North
By Avon North

He has been called flamboyant, show-off, "Fiery Irey," "Mr. Enthusiasm," liberal, " The great North star from the East" and many other names, some complimentary and some not-so-complimentary. To me the real Ira North can best be described as man of compassion, lover of the very young. the very old, the poor and down-trodden, and homeless children.

There is no better way to train up a child than by example. Ira was born into a poor but compassionate family. Although they were poor his parents were always willing to share with those less fortunate. Even after their financial situation was much better, they still held to this attitude.
When Ira was about 4 years old, his paternal grandfather became unable to live alone and care for himself. There were no nursing homes at that time. Ira's family believed strongly in the saying that an old tree cannot survive being transplanted into fresh soil. It would soon wither and die. They did not move him from his home but moved in with him.

He was a beloved old preacher of 50 years. His 4-year-old grandson loved to sit on his knee and hear him tell how wonderful it was to preach the Gospel. The serendipity was the desire that was instilled in this little boy to preach the Gospel, a desire which stayed with him all of his life until his death at 62.

Soon after the death of his grandfather, Ira's maternal grandmother became unable to care for herself. The Norths again moved their little family to grandmother's home to care for her. Every morning she would have Ira get in bed with her and rub her back. She said he was "the best back-rubber in the world." These were precious memories, and he never lost his love and compassion for the very old.
At the time Ira started to school, Lawrence County owned a poor farm. It was a place provided for the poorest of the poor supported by the county. It was located in the same school district as Ira's family, so the children from the county farm attended the same school. The school had no cafeteria, so all the kids carried their lunches to school. Soon after Ira started to school. his mother realized that Ira was not eating his lunch - he was giving it to the County Farm kids. She didn't fuss at him; she lust fixed more food each day for him to share. During his college days he shared his suits with a preacher friend who did not have a suit to wear when he went to preach. One incident happened in Baton Rouge. La., during Ira's graduate school days. I was in the hospital with a new baby. I had stored enough food to provide for Ira and my two little boys until Grandma could get there, but I had not provided for the hungry stranger who came by. Ira gave him the last quart of milk in the refrigerator, not even thinking that his own little boys might get hungry before morning. Needless to say, they survived, and Grandma came the next day.

So we carne to our preaching years at Madison. I truly believe that God had a plan for a great demonstration to be established that would be an example for the church everywhere to follow. I believe that He selected the right location, the right leadership, the right people, and He raised up the right preacher to lead them and help them to make it all happen. It seems to me that Ira was being prepared for this work since he was a very young child.

Always in the back off his mind was a complete facility for the homeless, aged and poor. One Sunday morning early in his ministry at Madison, he called a little 8-year-old boy to the stage to stand with him. He announced to the audience, “This is Eddie. He is going to the reform school tomorrow. He hasn't broken any law. His only problem is that nobody wants him. and the only place that he can go is to a correction institution.”

Ira noticed an older man in the audience whisper something to his wife and she nodded her head. Then the man raised his hand and said. “Look no further. Brother North. Birdie and I will give Eddie a home until Madison can build one.” Ira said, “God bless you. Brother Perry and Birdie. You now have you a boy.” Later Birdie related to us that the first night when she tucked him into bed he said, “I ain't had no mama to kiss me good night.”

Eddie was our first child in our child-care demonstration that surpassed 1,000 children several years ago. So Madison was in the child-care business - one of Ira's dreams come true!
About the time that little Eddie appeared on the scene. Madison was practically given a 42-acre plot of land located about one mile from the church building. Eventually, seven cottages were built for neglected children.

Later, on the same site, a retirement village with 24 private apartments for the aged was constructed. Just before he died Ira shoveled the first shovel of dirt to break ground for the new villa for people who can no longer cook and keep an apartment. This facility cares for 24 people - Ira's dream of a lifetime had come true. The child-care cottages are called Happy Acres. The apartment complex is called the Golden Age Village, and the villa is called the Christian Care Villa.

Ira's ministry Madison pioneered the cottage-type homes for children. Each nice, four-bedroom brick home is located on a two acre lot that houses a mama, daddy and six children. To make it as near like a normal home as possible, the dad works for a living and the mom cares for the home and the children. This plan for child care was acclaimed as the "way to do it" by the Tennessee state welfare department, making it easier to be accepted by the powers that be in the state as well as the church. The welfare department could furnish a child's physical needs, but they could not give a child the warm, compassionate love and care that we could with our plan.

By 1973 there were more than 60 homes in this country supported by churches of Christ. This program has grown into an adoption agency, foster home care and a home for abused wives with three social workers, a full-time family life counselor, and a student intern working on an advanced degree in social work. A collection is taken in the Bible school classes each Sunday: this the only source of support for this program. May God forgive us if we have misused any gifts that we have had at our disposal.

Ira frequently related the incident about the "Church What Helps People." One afternoon he was in the office after everyone else was gone. There was a timid knock at his outside door. He went to the door and there stood two frightened little girls.
“Mister, is this the church what helps people." they asked.
"Well, I'll declare!" Ira quickly replied. "There are 750 churches in this town and you have found the right one! What can I do for you?”
"Our daddy's sick and we are hungry," they said.
"Well, we'll fix that. Come with me."
He took them to the food room and found the door locked.
"Well, what do you know - somebody forgot and locked the door.
"He picked up a hammer and broke the lock and sent the little girls home with their arms filled with sacks of food. Before leaving them he invited them to Bible school the next Sunday.
Ira's concern for the people in the slums of the inner city was reflected in the following quote from a sermon: "What have the religious people, what have the churches done for the poor of the inner city? What has Christendom done? I'll tell you what we have done. For all practical purposes - nothing. When the poor move in. we move out. We don't want to get our hands dirty. And so in the inner city they live on. They live in unspeakable poverty in some cases. Oh, how those little children need to know about Jesus! How they need to feel the hand of someone clean who cares. But what have we done'? We've moved out and we've worshiped in our big, fine buildings with wall-to-wall carpets and air conditioners and ridden in our nice cars and lived in our nice homes and wrung our hands and said, 'Oh, those terrible people down in the slums!' We haven't lifted a finger to help them."
Ira did do something to help them. He was instrumental in getting the Nashville Inner City Ministry started by using his influence with the powers that be to get permission to use one of the inner city school auditoriums each Sunday morning to worship. There are about 400 people who worship there each Sunday. They now own a fleet of 40 buses and bus 1200 people each Monday and Tuesday nights to area churches for a Bible class. They have seven people who work full time and hundreds of volunteers. This ministry is an example and is training people from other cities to begin a ministry in their own area. There are eight young men going to Lipscomb on a scholarship from a fund established in honor of Marshall Keeble. The Inner City is marching and I feel that Ira's early encouragement has helped to bring this about.

Even on his deathbed Ira was thinking and concerned about the little children. He had received so many notes and get-well wishes from little children who assured him that they prayed for him at every meal and at bedtime. He was concerned that they might think that God didn't answer their prayers. So he requested that Jim Bill explain to the little children at the funeral that God answers our prayers His way and not our way.
When Ira died I lost my best friend, but It was wonderful to share 43 years, four children and 11 grandchildren with such a friend!

 --Gospel Advocate, Nov. 1990, VOL. CXXXII, NO 11