December 26 - Veteran minister pens book for Christians to enjoy wine

Jerry Butler's ministry had him meeting with megachurch giants Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and traveling abroad to develop global missionary strategies in Europe, Africa and other continents.

While his mind is full of book ideas from his multidecade career, he's chosen the lightest, least complicated subject for his first undertaking: How Christians can enjoy wine.

“Wine & Spirit,” released in November by L'Edge Press in North Carolina, is described as a guiltless guide for this age-old recreation. However, it also underscores how the once-pervasive mindset among Protestant evangelicals has softened when it comes to responsible drinking.

He notes the cups of wine in the Last Supper. How Martin Luther was once given a beer and wine cellar and otherwise showed no shame in his open consumption of alcohol. And Dom Pérignon, the father of champagne and a Benedictine monk, made the bubbly himself at his monastery campus.

“My basic thesis is that wine is a gift of God to enjoy, and unquestionably, the principle of moderation is pervasive through that,” he said. “But the conservative-fundamentalist mindset was that if it can be abused, it shouldn't be used. We apply it to alcohol but not to other things like money and greed.”

“This is really just a light subject about something you enjoy in the context of friends and fellowship,” he said. “I don't think Christianity is about lists of don'ts. I think it's more about relationships and permission to enjoy life.”