05 VOLUME 15 DEC-JAN 2017
A NEWS PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Unhappy
holidays?
SPEAKERS
Thabiti Anyabwile
GOSPEL AMBITION
Mark Dever
Jason Meyer
ADVANCING GOSPEL GLORY DEEP + WIDE John Piper
Zane Pratt
BETHLEHEM CONFERENCE FOR PASTORS + CHURCH LEADERS JANUARY 30–FEBRUARY 1, 2017 | MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA Register at BCSMN.edu | Special Discount Code: PCSBTS receives $30.00 off
Tony Merida Ryan Griffith Ed Welch David Mathis Jason DeRouchie Marty Machowski Joe Rigney Tim Cain Jordon Thomas Gregg Heinsch Jonathan Leeman Heather Nelson Betsy Childs Howard Megan Hill Nancy Guthrie Ron Man Keith Getty Matt Boswell Matthew Westerholm G.K. Beale Jonathan Gibson Brian Tabb
DEC-JAN 2017
SBTS at ETS 2016 Southern Seminary faculty and students presented more than 40 papers at the ETS 2016 meeting on “The Trinity.”
PUBLISHER
Steve Watters EDITOR
S. Craig Sanders COPY EDITOR
Annie Corser
10
NEWS WRITERS
Andrew J.W. Smith Mackenzie Miller Eric Harrough
Pierre: Heart dynamics Counseling professor Jeremy Pierre talks about his new book and the complexity of human experience.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Eric Rivier Jimenez ART DIRECTOR
Daniel Carroll
18
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Morgan Carter
Morgan Edwards on patiences A sermon from an 18th-century Baptist preacher offers much wisdom on the need for adding patience to faith.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Emil Handke CONTACT INFO
Phone (502) 897-4000 E-mail towers@sbts.edu Web towers.sbts.edu The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2825 Lexington Rd. Louisville, KY 40280
13
ADVERTISING INFO
Unhappy holidays?
At some point in your life, Christmas will be an acute reminder of the brokenness of creation. Learn how to grapple with grief and conflict this holiday season.
Towers, the award-winning campus publication of Southern Seminary, provides an excellent advertising opportunity for businesses and ministries. Rates available upon request by emailing towers@sbts.edu or calling (502) 897-4000. All material for the ads subject to approval. The advertiser assumes full responsibility for accuracy of the content. Dec-Jan 2017, Vol. 15, No. 5. Copyright ©2017 The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Postage paid at Louisville, Ky. POSTMASTER
Send address changes to Towers, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
06
FROM THE EDITOR
My first Christmas in seminary came just three months after I lost my dad. The first Christmas without merriment, the first
without tradition. But my family’s brokenness opened our hearts to hope and yearning, our first tangible sense of Advent. One day all things will be made new. And that longing for peace and restoration is what sustains me on Christmas nights, when I’m reminded of all that I’ve lost and all that I hope to gain. Regardless of your situation, I recognize everyone carries some fear or anxiety approaching time with family during the holidays. After one semester or
several away at seminary, a return home to family can present us with stress or grief, and to make matters worse we haven’t been there lately to help. Don’t be too eager to counsel but don’t try to escape, either. I hope this issue can offer some guidance for your own personal challenges, or those soon to come. Family is the nearest neighbor, and God has endowed us with the responsibility and adventure to love those we did not choose.
22 Chesterton’s Christmas spirit Four classic quotes on the holiday season from the “prince of paradox.”
28 3 Questions with Andy Naselli The two-time Ph.D. graduate offers his thoughts on doctoral work and his favorite Christmas memory.
Our mission is to use our time, resources, and talents to tell the Southern story in an accurate, timely, and creative manner to the glory of God.
towers
3
REPORT
Newslog What’s the Word hosts post-election roundtable
Doxology and Theology conference exhorts Reformed worship
By Annie Corser
Like Paul in Romans 11, the worship leader’s doxology should be a response to the gospel and drenched in humility, said worship pastor Matt Boswell at the third Doxology and Theology conference Nov. 3-5, held at Southern Seminary. The theme of the 2016 conference was “Worship Reformed,” which leaders said would demonstrate how the Reformation influenced the worship of the church.
By Myriah Snyder Drawing from the Five Solas of the Reformation, Boswell exhorted attendees to stand on and under the Word of God, marvel at the grace of God, cultivate their faith, trust in Christ alone, and seek the glory of God alone. Additional speakers included R. Albert Mohler Jr., Trip Lee, Scotty Smith, and Bob Kauflin. More information about Doxology and Theology’s biennial conference is available online at doxologyandtheology.com.
Christian leaders need to be equipped to engage in the hard issues of politics and the election, said leaders at the What’s the Word event, Nov. 16. Faculty, leaders, and students gathered at two tables for an open dialogue about a Christian’s response to the 2016 presidential election. ONE student leaders aided discussion with open-ended questions. Opening with a Scripture passage from Philippians 1:8-11, co-vice president for ONE, Kyle Howard, reminded students to abound in love. “When we’re thinking through what we do, how we do, how we respond to things, and seeking to apply wisdom, we’re supposed to be doing it from an overflow of love,” Howard said. “And many times, especially
when we think about the election, often one of the ways in which we violate this is when it comes to love. We begin to insisting that our way and our perspective is the only truth, is the only perspective. … We can abound in love, not insist on our own ways, not assume the worst in one another, but rather pursue love and abound in those things and in so doing, glorify Christ.” Information on ONE’s upcoming events is available at facebook.com/ONESBTS.
4 towers
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
REPORT
SBTS leads in ETS 2016 participation; Ware defines Trinity view By S. Craig Sanders Southern Seminary led all participating institutions with more than 40 paper presentations from faculty and students at the 68th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 15-17. Of those, 15 presentations dealt with topics related to the conference’s theme on the Trinity in the areas of systematic theology, biblical studies, church history, and practical theology. Bruce A. Ware, T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology, further defined his theological views in a highly anticipated session on authority and submission in the Trinity. Earlier this year, a debate on theological websites focused on the Trinitarian positions of Ware and theologian Wayne Grudem and their application to complementarian gender roles. In his presentation, “The Nature of the Father’s Priority within the Trinity,” Ware announced he had modified his positions since the controversy started. He said he now affirms the “eternal generation of the Son” as found in the Nicene Creed based on the Greek New Testament word monogenes. Ware said a new study convinced him it means “only begotten” as found in older English translations, thus lending biblical support to the Nicene Creed. Ware said, however, the Son’s begottenness further strengthens
his view that the Father acts with paternal authority and the Son responds fittingly with “joyful obedience.” Ware noted the “twin pillars” of Trinitarian orthodoxy, the equality of each member of the Godhead in divine essence and the distinctiveness of the three persons as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But he insisted that “the economic outworking,” or how God expresses Trinitarian relationships in redemption, reflects how members of the Trinity relate to each other through eternity. “If the self-revelation of God truly is exactly that, that is the self-revelation of God, and if his Father-Son relation depicted in all that we see in Scripture is in fact what it is shown to be, then it follows that the relation of authority and submission in the Trinity is indeed eternal,” Ware said.
Commenting on the theological debate in an interview, Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. commended Ware for affirming the Nicene Creed, particularly the Son’s eternal generation, which he said is “at the foundation of many of the questions that brought us to this conversation.” Speaking to a room full of faculty, alumni, and students at Southern Seminary’s late night event Nov. 16, Mohler said 25 years ago Southern was a “small band” of scholars at ETS because the majority of the faculty did not consider themselves evangelicals. But Mohler expressed gratitude for the fact that several current faculty have served as past presidents of the society and the seminary continues to lead in faculty and student presentations. ETS 2017 regional meeting Southern Seminary will host the Southeast Region ETS meeting March 17-18, 2017, on “Work, Vocation, and Human Flourishing in the Christian Tradition,” featuring Gene Veith, professor of literature at Patrick Henry College, as the plenary speaker. ETS members and seminary students can submit papers by Dec. 1. More information on the event and submission requirements is available online at events.sbts.edu.
Mullins Lectures: Preach in view of stadium of witnesses By SBTS Communications The Mullins Lectures on Preaching was held in conjunction with the fifth annual Expositors Summit at Southern, Oct. 25-27. Steven Lawson, founder and president of OnePassion Ministries, delivered the Mullins Lectures and focused on heroes of the pulpit who provide models of bold preaching for today’s ministers. In his three lectures, Lawson highlighted the gospel-centered preaching of Charles Spurgeon, the evangelistic zeal of George Whitefield, and the passion of 20th-century Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “They are a cloud of witnesses who have already run their race and have assumed their place now in the grandstands,” Lawson said. “They are cheering us on by the example of their lives. They do not witness us; they bear witness to us.” During the Expositors Summit, SBTS President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Jesus’ parables not only contain
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
judgment but “point to the grace of God in Christ for our salvation.” Using the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 and the Parable of the 10 Minas in Luke 19, Mohler highlighted the judgment and grace held within each parable. He urged preachers to keep judgment and grace present in their sermons. Also during the Expositors Summit, Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, said Christians need to grasp the essential nature of the gospel in order to be faithful preachers. Preaching from Ephesians 1, Begg said pastors must not settle for a simplistic understanding of the gospel, but instead embrace the rich complexity of its message and the countercultural nature of its effect. Audio and video of the Mullins Lectures are available online at sbts.edu/resources.
towers
5
REPORT
Augustine Honors Collegium to publish journal By SBTS Communications The Augustine Honors Collegium at Boyce College will publish the inaugural issue of an undergraduate research journal in June 2017 and is seeking submissions from college students, school leaders announced Nov. 1. The Augustine Collegiate Review is designed to present interdisciplinary conversations across broad theological, cultural, and philosophical topics from a Christian perspective and promote undergraduate research and writing. The journal will be published twice a year, and each issue will feature approximately
Christ’s kingdom above politics, says BCMD executive director Kevin Smith at SBTS chapel By Annie Corser American politics cannot destroy the kingdom of God and should not leave Christians living in fear, said Southern Baptist leader Kevin Smith during a Nov. 8 chapel message at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Whatever’s going on in the American culture around us, the Bible-believing Christian never runs around like Chicken Little,” said Smith, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. In his sermon, “Politics and the Passion of Christ,” Smith reminded Christians to take a clear stand to show their main identity and commitment is to Jesus Christ as Lord and King. Smith said his main text, John 19:1-16, shows how religious leaders in the midst of political uprising verbally claim that Caesar is their only king rather than declare allegiance to Jesus as Lord. No matter the results of this election or future elections to come, Smith said that the saints continually proclaim “that all of creation right now is sustained by the power of his Word.” “On the worst day, we have a King who reigns supreme.”
6 towers
six undergraduate student-written pieces from within and outside of Boyce College, articles requested from active scholars, and a variety of book reviews from both students and scholars. The Augustine Honors Collegium invites students to submit a paper for publishing in the inaugural issue of the Augustine Collegiate Review: An Undergraduate Research Journal. All papers should adhere to journal guidelines that can be accessed at boycecollege.com/ the-augustine-honors-collegium/.
Night of Valor: Costin promotes military chaplaincy By Eric Harrough The church and its chaplains can prepare American soldiers for the inevitability of suffering in war by pointing them to Scripture, said Maj. Gen. Dondi Costin during Night of Valor at Southern Seminary, Nov. 11. “Warriors will return from combat not the way God made them, but the way war left them,” said Costin, chief of chaplains for the United States Air Force. Costin described the trauma of war as a “bang” — the unavoidable trouble enlisted men must face. “What we ask them to do is to prepare [before] the bang, so that they can perform [after] the bang,” he said. The event was held in conjunction with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s third annual Week of Valor.
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
SALT AND LIGHT
Youth Conference
March 17-18, 2017 Boyce College | Louisville, KY R. ALBERT MOHLER JR. | DAN DUMAS | ERIC GEIGER Join us as we lead students toward the Scriptures in order to gain an understanding for their life’s highest calling: Bringing the light and the changing power of the gospel to men and women in need of reconciliation to God.
boycecollege.com/events
#RENOWNYOUTH
REVIEWS
FACU LT Y R E CO M M E N DATI O N
Book Reviews The Mestizo Augustine: A Theologian Between Two Cultures Justo L. González Review by S. Craig Sanders
(IVP Academic 2016, $24)
“To be a mestizo is to belong to two realities and at the same time not to belong to either of them,” writes historical theologian Justo L. González in his illuminating The Mestizo Augustine. Writing from his own perspective as a Cuban American, González explores how Augustine balanced the tension between “his African roots and Roman order” and subsequently how his legacy in church history grew larger because Western Christianity was embracing its own mestizaje (“mixed ancestries”). González first analyzes the role of Augustine’s background in his conversion and pastoral calling, and then discusses how his mestizaje shaped the theological controversies with Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism, and paganism. For instance, González aligns Pelagianism with a Roman social vision of the intrinsic value of individuals and Augustine’s theological defense with a North African social structure in which the chief determines the value of the individual.
God’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scripture Matthew Barrett Review by S. Craig Sanders
(Zondervan 2016, $24.99)
If you haven’t paid attention to Zondervan’s “The Five Solas Series” leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, SBTS alumnus and series editor Matthew Barrett’s God’s Word Alone is a clarion call: Evangelicals must continue the mission of Luther, Calvin, and Tyndale against renewed threats to biblical authority. In keeping with the other books in the series, Barrett provides a historical overview of the battle for biblical authority (founded on inspiration and inerrancy) during the Reformation, Enlightenment, and 20th-century liberalism; a biblical theology of Scripture showing how God has revealed himself in redemptive history and proved the truthfulness of his Word; and a systematic exploration of the attributes of Scripture, namely inspiration, inerrancy, clarity, and sufficiency. Although published third, God’s Word Alone is the place to start in this series to grasp the relevance of these Reformation doctrines.
Unlimited Grace: The Heart Chemistry That Frees from Sin and Fuels the Christian Life Bryan Chapell Review by S. Craig Sanders
(Crossway 2016, $14.99)
8 towers
What is the relationship between grace and obedience, and how do we avoid legalism on the one hand and antinomianism on the other? In Unlimited Grace, seasoned pastor and author Bryan Chapell explores how God’s grace frees us from shame and guilt and motivates our hearts to faithfulness. “Our Savior knew there is a chemistry of the devoted heart that is stronger than the math of the divided mind,” Chapell writes. “When we experience how great is his grace toward us, then our hearts unite with his. He changes our ‘want to’ so that his priorities become our greatest joy, love, and compulsion.” In three parts, Chapell provides an overview of what grace is and how it fuels our lives, encourages pastors and counselors to find grace in all of Scripture, and answers common and difficult questions about grace.
The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2016, $15) Matthew B. Crawford
“Crawford’s book will startle you about yourself — specifically, how your attention is being shaped by the external platforms that surround you. This is a great book to make you more aware of how the menu of options laid out before you in life — for communication, for vocation, for entertainment — tend to reinforce the illusion of selfdetermination while quietly directing your attention to their desired end.”
J E R E MY PI E R R E Associate professor of biblical counseling; dean of student life Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
REVIEWS
Eight Women of Faith Michael A.G. Haykin Review by Annie Corser
Eight Women of Faith represents a unique collection of biographies of inf luential women of faith between the 14th and 19th centuries. Michael A.G. Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality at Southern Seminary, sought to recognize the importance of women’s roles throughout church history. This book provides an engaging look at the lives of each woman using written texts including journal entries and letters.
These texts support the character development in each narrative creating an easy-to-read sketch of history making the biographical stories come to life. Haykin weaves his love for theology and history throughout this book. “One gets a good idea of the nature of Margaret’s mettle when Baxter tells us that at the time of his first imprisonment in 1669,” Haykin writes in his chapter on Margaret Baxter. “[According to Baxter] Margaret ‘cheerfully went with me into prison; she brought her best bed thither, and did much to remove the removable inconveniences of the prison. I think she scarce ever had a pleasanter time in her life than while she was with me there.’”
While not an all-inclusive explanation of every woman who has impacted the Christian faith, Haykin dives deeper into the lives of these eight women in order to portray them in a personal, honest way. These women include Jane Grey, Margaret Baxter, Anne Dutton, Sarah Edwards, Anne Steele, Esther Edwards Burr, Ann Judson, and Jane Austen. This personal account of history paired with short chapters is enough to satisfy readers at every level. Eight Women of Faith is a great book for readers to grow their love for history alongside a well-rounded view of women who have played a part in shaping the Christian faith.
(Crossway, 2016, $14.99)
The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life: Connecting Christ to the Human Experience Jeremy Pierre Review by Andrew J.W. Smith
he human heart is complex, and each of our responses to life circumstances indicate a deeper spiritual condition, writes Jeremy Pierre, SBTS associate professor of biblical counseling, in his new book The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life. The book was written for pastors, counselors, and anyone hoping to help others develop a spiritual awareness and sober self-ref lection. “Intuitive responses are the active emanations of a dynamic hearts,” Pierre writes. “The seemingly automatic responses that characterize people’s daily experience flow from the dynamic functions of the heart. As people grow in self-awareness, they begin to understand how their beliefs, desires, and commitments result in their knee-jerk responses to life.” Pierre, who has taught biblical counseling classes and himself has years of counseling experience, depicts the human heart as functionally three-dimensional — equally cognitive, volitional,
T
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
and affective. Human beings, created in the image of God, have hearts that are interrelatedly thinking, desiring, and willing, writes Pierre, and good counseling addresses each of these aspects. “God desig ned the hea r t ’s functions for worship: he wants people to respond to him with the complex beauty that ref lects his own,” Pierre writes. “Dynamic hearts worship God in daily life — in the way they think, the things they want, the choices they make. When people use those aspects of their heart in a way that ref lects God’s character, they are worshipping.” The heart is not only dynamic in its functional expressions, but also in its relationships — to circumstances, others, self, and ultimately, God. Each of these four relationship types are relevant to any issue felt and experienced in life, rooted fundamentally in a God-given impulse toward worship. Good counselors must ask thoughtful questions and tune into their counselees’ relationships. These two categories for heart dynamics — the three facets of heart expressions and the four trajectories of heart relationships — form a grid every counselor must be aware of when trying to read someone’s heart. It also provides a framework for healthy self-reflection. “A good counselor will listen to where
“Human experience is three-dimensional. The human heart responds cognitively, through rational processes based on knowledge and beliefs. It also responds affectively, through a framework of desires and emotions. It also responds volitionally, through a series of choices reflecting the willful commitments of the heart. These three aspects of the heart’s response are all a part of how people were designed to worship God.” people go, how they interpret the events that surround them, what they emphasize as important, what they fail to mention, and where they are most emotionally tender. In all their talk, a
counselor is looking for clues as to how their heart is responding in context,” Pierre writes. “And so, questions ought to come from a theological framework for human experience as counselors listen to how counselees’ hearts are responding cognitively, affectively, and volitionally to the various contexts around them — to God, to self, to others, and to circumstances.” (New Growth Press, 2016, $19.99)
towers
9
INTERVIEW
Heart dynamics PIERRE DISCUSSES NEW BOOK ON COUNSELING By Andrew J.W. Smith In what follows, Jeremy Pierre, SBTS professor of biblical counseling and dean of student life, talks with Towers writer Andrew J.W. Smith about his book The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
AJWS: What was your primary goal in writing this book? JP: Proverbs 20:5 says, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” That’s my purpose in this. It’s easy to hear key words like “depression” or “adultery” or “pornography” and just jump categorically in your mind to Scriptures that explicitly address the issue. Those are important aspects of how we should approach it. We should use those Scriptures. But there’s another layer to ministry that requires us to draw the heart of a person out so they understand why they are looking at pornography, why they are in this adulterous affair, or why they experience depression. So, my goal is to help pastors, counselors, and those
10 towers
who minister the Word to understand the experience of someone else. Traditionally, in evangelicalism we’re not that good at that. AJWS: You write about this idea of the dynamic heart. When did you first start to develop that concept and how would you define what that is? JP: The dynamic heart is just the multifaceted design of our response. So, we respond cognitively with thinking and belief, we respond affectively with desire and feeling, and we respond volitionally with commitment and choice. All of those aspects of the human experience are important to address when you’re helping someone. The roots of that are in my
deep-seated love for literature. And as you study literature, you learn what makes for a good novel or short story and what makes for a bad one. And it’s simply this: If it accurately captures something true of human experience, then usually we think of this as good. It’s telling us something true; it’s expanding our understanding of ourselves and of the world. At times, good literature tells us something true of God’s world as he designed it. As I was teaching literature, I began appreciating when an author can capture the motives of a person’s heart in such a way that’s believable to experience. That naturally blossomed as I studied theology and was able to see how the knowledge of God really does transform a person’s perspective on their life. It also shifts desires and values from what
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
INTERVIEW
would cause disruption and destruction in their souls to things that bring life. Then I asked the question, “Is there a relationship between the beauty I see captured by accurate descriptions of human experience and the beauty I see in the way Scripture authoritatively describes human experience? Through observing Scripture and doing a survey of anthropological terms in the Bible, these three categories sort of naturally arose. I think they do justice to the full spectrum of human experience. AJWS: What do you mean by that? What is encapsulated in the complexity of human experience? JP: For instance, if we have a one-dimensional view of what motivates people, then we can think we know the reason someone behaved in a particular way — it’s because they’re not believing the right things. So they need instruction and education, and that will result in a change of behavior. That’s too one-dimensional. We’ve all had people in our lives try to address a problem by simply trying to inform of us something they think we didn’t know. But the problem is we already knew that; we were already aware of the very truth they are bringing to us. That doesn’t mean that truth is unimportant — it’s a necessary aspect of what needs to change, but it is not sufficient. There’s a level of commitment to that truth that has to be addressed. There are values that rival the perceived value of that truth that have to be addressed. So, you can’t be flat and one-dimensional; you have to be three-dimensional in your approach. AJWS: Practically, how do you do that as a counselor? How do you apply this idea when you’re meeting with someone? JP: Basically, in two categories. This three-dimensional understanding of human experience affects the way you ask questions and the way you give advice. So, when I’m asking questions, I’m not just trying to get into how they’re analyzing a situation cognitively, I’m also not just asking about how they feel about a situation (“tell me how you’re feeling”) because then they just report “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” whatever it is. And I’m not just asking, “What choices are you making in this moment?” and “Tell me about your behaviors.” I’m asking all three of those things, and that’s what brings out their response in such a way that, when I move to advice and instruction, I’m taking the categories of Scripture and I’m landing it into instruction for their mind, I’m landing it into a challenge of the values and desires that drive them, and I’m landing it into the commitments and choices that they are called by faith to make.
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
AJWS: In a counseling setting, I imagine there are aspects of someone’s situation they’re not even aware of. When trying to unearth some of these things under the surface, what strategies might a counselor use to get at the complexities of the human heart in these situations? JP: The Bible describes us as not being fully aware of everything that motivates us. That’s not a pop psychology fact; that’s a fact of what Scripture recognizes about our own inability to have immediate access to the full depth of our experience. We have two things that diminish our self-awareness. We have our self-deceptive sinful corruption and we have the limitedness
the opportunity for greater self-awareness. You might ask them a question like, “In that fight with your wife, what do you think you were believing about her?” Oftentimes, there’s a startled look on their face. “I don’t know.” Then you tease it out. “Well, I guess I believe she’s a really critical person,” they might say. “Well, what do you think you were believing about yourself?” you’ll ask. “What were you wanting for yourself or from yourself that led to that explosion?” Again, a similarly shocked response: “I never really thought about that.” And that’s the way of drawing them to think in these categories that I think Scripture considers in a way that will at least give them insight into what needs to work in their heart.
We’ve all had people in our lives try to address a problem by simply trying to inform of us something they think we didn’t know. But the problem is we already knew that; we were already aware of the very truth they are bringing to us. of our knowledge. So, being aware of those two reasons helps in how you approach a counseling situation. We don’t assume that someone is merely being sinfully stubborn and refusing to recognize something in their heart — though that’s often the case. The more tender you get in terms of touching a nerve, the more defenses come up. But it could be just from ignorance; it could be just from a lack of thoughtfulness, and for the first time you’re that friend who’s trying to guide them into a greater level of self-awareness for the purpose of their submission to God. You do this through a series of good questions that come from this theological framework of human experience that is aware of all the cracks and corners that people tend to hide in. So, for instance, whether people realize it or not, there are always four contexts to which their heart is responding. They’re responding to the circumstances around them; they’re responding to other key relationships in their life (and those key relationships have influence on them whether they recognize it or not); they’re responding to themselves (they’re acting out from a belief that they have about themselves); and they’re always acting in relation to God. If you have those categories in your mind as a counselor and you’re beginning to ask those questions, you’re challenging to them to think on angles they are not immediately consciously thinking of at every point, and that forces
AJWS: A lot of these heart issues present themselves in certain kinds of behavior. So, when you’re counseling someone, how do you navigate that, addressing the behavioral issues that are involved? How do you navigate dealing with how those heart issues manifest themselves in behavior while also dealing with the heart itself? JP: This is why I call the methodology at the end of my book “tasks,” not “steps.” So, there are four tasks. If I said steps, that would imply a strict chronology, and it’s not always a sequence. Rather, there are tasks that you’re always doing when you’re in a room with a counselee. One of them is “reading the heart” and another is “renew” — call them to strategic change. It’s not like you do step one and then after four sessions you’re doing step four. In the case of pornography, you’re exploring their heart but you’re also immediately giving them specific strategies for removing temptation, for withdrawing from certain activities. You’re immediately helping them address their schedule: When does it happen most frequently? What situation am I in when it happens? How do I have access to this? You’re immediately calling them to change aspects of their life as an expression of faith that Jesus is going to be changing their heart through his Word.
towers
11
WANT TO MAKE AN IMPACT FOR THE KINGDOM?
Join the team at Crossings. CROSSINGS
CURRENT OPENINGS
CROSSINGS
INTERNSHIP
2017 SUMMER STAFF
FULL-TIME STAFF
Student and Kids Camp (all summer)
15-month commitment starting May 1 Openings include: Camp Programming, Communications, Hospitality, Food Service, Facilities, Executive, Guest Relations, Baptist Haiti Mission, & More.
Truth in Public (July 10-14) 1-Week Specialty Camp Adventure Camp (June 25-29) 1-Week Specialty Camp
Apply today at www.gocrossings.org
CAMPS | CONFERENCE CENTERS | MISSIONS
Facilities Manager (Jonathan Creek) Associate Property Director (Jonathan Creek) Senior Accountant (Central Office Louisville) IT Manager (Central Office Louisville)
Unhappy holidays? HOW BROKENNESS LEADS TO TRUE JOY BY ANDREW J.W. SMITH
famous oratorio, Messiah. But there was something wrong with his medication, a calibration slightly askew, and it left him weeping uncontrollably for no reason at all (“I don’t even
I HAD NEVER SEEN MY GRANDPA CRY BEFORE.
S
itting in a chair in the middle of the living room, with Handel resounding on the speakers, my remarkably intelligent and emotionally resolute grandfather should have been in his element. He loved both classical music and family, and with snow outside and grandchildren in the house, by all conventions this should have been a perfect Christmas. But grandpa was sitting by himself, and that chair was a wheelchair, and as I sat on the couch, keeping him company, what might have been idyllic in different circumstances turned heartbreaking. For more than a year, grandpa had been suffering from a debilitating brain disease — one that not only stole his independence, but cruelly limited his brilliant mind. My grandmother had placed him in the middle of the room so he could listen to the music while she finished Christmas preparations, figuring he would enjoy listening to the
14 towers
When previously happy and joyous times become marred by loss and grief, it can be difficult to grapple with Christmas. know why I’m crying,” I remember him saying). He died less than a year later, making this — along with helping carry him to the basement and pushing his wheelchair across the room before the family gift exchange later that night — one of my final memories of him. The thing that sticks with me still is just how wrong it all felt. Christmas had always been closely tied with family, and that experience is not unique to me but is shared by many American Christians. When previously happy and joyous times become marred by loss and grief, it can be difficult to grapple with Christmas. Sometimes, Christmas is not what we remember, or it is forever transformed by loss, grief, or pain. “There’s just something about the holidays,” said Jeremy P. Pierre, associate professor of biblical counseling at Southern Seminary. “Our expectations rise to the level of some mythical conception of paradise where all is at peace — all is calm, all is bright. The family is together, everyone is wearing matching pajamas, and the world works perfectly
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
well. So, the higher the expectations go, the harder the fall becomes when you actually face the reality of it.”
DEALING WITH DYSFUNCTION
Grief is not the only complication around Christmas. There’s another category of negative emotions many Christians must wrestle with during the holidays: broken families. Many Christians will visit unsaved parents or siblings and feel the weight of responsibility to evangelize them. Others will return to dysfunctional situations, in which parents or grandparents have unreasonable expectations or have a past of emotional and even physical abuse. Others still may return home to hear their parents are divorcing, or perhaps that their younger sibling has begun living in sinful patterns. As they enter such situations, Christians should be clear about their purpose, recognizing what they can and cannot do as simple ministers of grace, said Pierre. Rather than seeking to solve all their family’s
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
The gospel can absolutely fix and solve and change, but if you go in with that as your primary purpose, you are both going to annoy other people — maybe anger them — and you’re going to be really discouraged yourself. problems, believers who return home for the holidays should seek to serve. Pierre suggests praying each day during the visit, asking, “Who are you calling me to love today and in what way are you calling me to love them?” Only then should they offer a word of challenge. “Usually the main distress when students go home comes when they don’t know what to do,” Pierre said. “Your purpose is to serve and to love; your purpose is not to fix everything. The gospel can absolutely fix and solve and change, but if you go in with that as your primary purpose, you are both going to annoy other people — maybe anger them — and you’re going to be really discouraged yourself. Change is usually incremental and longterm; it is not immediate and punctuated.” Another strategy for handling dysfunction or disagreement during the holidays is to simply listen well, said Robert D. Jones, associate professor of biblical counseling. Jones recalled the famous apologist Francis Schaeffer, who said, “If I have one hour to spend with someone, I would spend 55 minutes asking questions — finding out what was troubling the individual — and then the last five minutes answering those questions.” While that is exaggerated, Jones said, it is a healthy principle. “There is nothing more God-like than being a good listener,” Jones said. “Where did the Exodus begin? It did not begin with crossing the Red Sea, it did not begin with the Ten Plagues, it did not even begin with the burning bush. It began at the end of Exodus 2, when God heard the groaning of his people and remembered the covenant. You’ve got to be
towers
15
So many of us have emotions that are just beneath the surface, and they are influencing us but we aren’t very aware of them.
a good listener, and to be a good listener you have got to ask open-ended questions, listen, and then at a certain point, share our perspective. Then, be brief but be bold.” It is not uncommon for some to feel a heavy burden of dread and anxiety as they prepare to weather their hot-headed uncle or watch their parents fight. Those experiencing such emotions should not ignore them, but instead take stock of them, taking them before the Lord, said Eric L. Johnson, Lawrence and Charlotte Hoover Professor of Pastoral Care. Johnson recommends creatively imagining how Jesus might want them to respond in a particularly difficult scenario, like an athlete visualizing specific plays in preparation for a big game. When dealing with anxiety, Christians must first become aware of what they are feeling before they subsequently surrender those feelings to God. “So many of us have emotions that are just beneath the surface, and they are influencing us but we aren’t very aware of them,” Johnson said. All humans form what Johnson called “emotion memories,” which are sometimes tied to a specific event, but often emerge from the accumulation of repeated experiences with a person or within an environment. If one grew up around parents who were always angry or easily disappointed, that person might feel the weight of those memories for no observable reason. “The difficulty with this particular class of memories is that we get the feeling of it without the knowledge of it,” Johnson said. “Of course we are responsible for the condition of our hearts, but we also become wiser when we take into account that there are dynamics that are part of living in a fallen world. Some of these emotion memories developed in us before we were a Christian — even before we were 10 years old. And what God wants us to do is not merely shove them down, but rather to be honest about them and take them to the Lord.”
16 towers
‘A LITTLE MORE WHOLE’
One of the basic sources of confusion for many during the holidays is the stark contrast between the “Christmas spirit” they think they should have and the abject sadness they feel. Perhaps it comes from a weariness with the consumerism and commercialization of the holiday, or maybe from an emptiness left in their souls because of death, disease, or dysfunction in their family. We feel guilty for feeling sad. “The ideal for wholeness and perfection is built into us from creation, but there’s also a part of our fallenness that wants to live in illusion as an escape from the reality of a fallen world,” Johnson said. “So, I think one question is to ask ourselves is: To what degree is this a created longing and to what degree it is an illusory, fallen escape? So much of Christmas in our world is just escapism of the worst sort. “But there’s something beautiful about a longing for wholeness and perfection that I think the Christmas spirit — at its best — is an echo
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
of. So when we encounter the reality of this world, there is a legitimate gap that I think beckons for sorrow and grieving. The Lord understands that better than any of us and wants us to share that with him and work through that, so we all become a little more whole.” That wholeness simply does not come from Christmas carols, warm fireplaces, and Santa Claus iconography. It comes from a deep, sober awareness of the reality of a fallen world and a full-hearted confidence in God’s purposes. Those negative emotions are not a burden; they are an invitation to true joy. “If your view of the Christian life can actually embrace pain as a platform of worship,” Pierre said, “then all of the sudden, Christmas can become this profound experience — not of a happy, simplistic joy, but of a joy that ripples into the complexity of grief. It becomes a heartier worship; it becomes a more full-bodied way of acknowledging the goodness of God, the gift of his Son who came in order to bring life to a world in darkness. That is deeper than if everything in your life up to that point had gone well, and Christmas was only associated with presents and gingerbread cookies.”
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
TWO YEARS AFTER MY GRANDPA D I E D, my family again went to
grandma’s house for Christmas. We sat in the same basement and again exchanged gifts. One of my aunts gave each family a gray homemade coffee table book, filled with pictures of my grandpa. I will never forget the almost peaceful stillness that came over everyone in the room as they flipped through it, the memories of his difficult last few months of life fading in light of the rich, bittersweet memories of his roaring laughter and his sharp mind. I remember my sister putting her head on my shoulder. We were all crying.
towers
17
HISTORY HIGHLIGHT
HISTORY HIGHLIGHT
Morgan Edwards on the necessity of patience Transcribed by Adam Winters EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2012, the SBTS Archives acquired 21 volumes of manuscripts handwritten by Morgan Edwards (1722 – 1795), notable Baptist preacher and
religious historian. Transcribed here are excerpts from his sermon “Add to your faith — patience” (2 Peter 1:5– 6) preached on Oct. 10, 1756:
hen Christians are bid to add patience to their faith, it is taken for granted, that faith may exist without that patience. The apostle observed some among those he wrote to who had, held, and professed the faith, and yet were deficient in patience. And a little observation on Christians of the present age shows (that) not only faith may be actually does stand destitute of this necessary endowment. It is also taken for granted here that adding patience to faith is necessary; so necessary that to have faith and not to have patience is (in effect) to have nothing to purpose. They therefore whose province it is to watch over you in the Lord, cannot be faithful if they know and believe this, and yet do not urge the exhortation add to your faith — patience. … Christians considered merely as men have all the need of patience that other men have and men considered as Christians have more need. And therefore Christ
W
18 towers
and his apostles have made patience a more considerable topic of both their ministry and writings; few things are by them mentioned oftener, and recommended and inculcated more industriously. What patience is, you all know: it is the bearing of evils with resignation and calmness. The bearing of evils whether they be pains, sickness, persecution, or poverty, or delays of our wishes, or disappointments of our expectations or the like; it stands opposed to fretfulness … or a turbulent and boisterous temper and conduct. This is the storm; and patience is the calm. … Patience supposes evils, for they alone furnish us with opportunities of showing it; persons that are not affected with any evils may be calm, serene and even; but this is not patience; nor is it in the power of such to exercise it. He alone is patient who bears evils calmly and serenely, and if he does not exercise such a temper at such times and in such circumstances
he has no patience at all; for (as I said before) a serene temper without trails is not patience. … Deferring and delaying our hopes and wishes are other trials of patience, and how common is it in the trials for men to show that they are not endowed with any. When God or man defers what excites our strong hopes we too often grow angry by resolve to wait no longer. When our warm wishes are not granted us when we would have them how often do we take yet a distaste, and have no patience to wait longer. … This was once the fault of Jonah: “And it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and said, ‘I do well to be angry even unto death.’” … The difficulty and tediousness of working out our own salvation try our patience; and some stand the proof: they neither desist nor slacken their application, that they know it then to be a thing for life. But great many have no patience to persevere and so they give over all their duties and
efforts, and become as they were before such as neglect so great salvation. … Does God make bodily sickness and pains the trials of your patience? He does one time or another to every man. And will you not consider them as trials, and tests? The crisis when you must be declared patient or impatient? And will you act so as yet God must pronounce you impatient then? I hope not, what inducements can you have to be peevish murmuring and querulous? Will impatience heal your sickness? Will it assuage your pains? No, but the contrary. Fretting increases the sickness, impatience inflames the pains and makes them more poignant; By impatience then we do ourselves a double prejudice. … Again, do our sickness and pains come by chance? Does sickness come forth of the dust and pains spring out of the ground? Or do they not rather proceed from God? Does he not lay them upon us out of love to us? And does he not intend our good by them? Yes surely our
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
HISTORY HIGHLIGHT
faith tells us so, and we profess to believe all this. Should we not then yield to his wholesome discipline? Resign to his will and be dumb before him? If our faith teaches us this doctrine, and yet we are impatient we do manifestly deny faith by our practice, and become infidels. … The usefulness of afflictions is frequently taught in Scripture, and our own observations afford proofs of that truth. … They do more than all of preaching they heard before could do and surely this is another reason for patience under sickness and pains. “It is good for me to be afflicted,” saith David, “before I went astray, but now I keep Thy law.” “Our afflictions tho’ grievous for the present,” saith Paul, “work for us an eternal weight of glory.” Therefore, my brethren, be patient when proved by any kind of affliction. … Are thy warm wishes and strong desires deferred and delayed? And do these make thee impatient and distracted? Remember that God sees reason for refusing thee thy wishes or delaying them. Were God to give
us all we desire of him, and when we would have them, our very wishes would be our destruction as they were the destruction of the Jews (Num. 11:38). Earthly parents know that their children cry for things that would greatly hurt them. And for that reason they refuse them what they cry for; so it is with regard to our heavenly parent. Shall we then be impatient when he denies us any thing, or refuses to give what we ask till he sees proper? Especially since we are assured that he refuses us nothing that will be good for us; nor defers our hopes for a moment if it be a proper time to grant. … An impatient Christian is a contradiction for if we are Christians who hold the Christian faith we must be patient, because yet faith requires it, and gives sufficient grounds for it. If we are not patient then have we not yet faith and consequently are not Christians. Let an impatient man assert continually that he has the Christian faith, he only asserts one thing in words and denies the same thing in his actions. May I not then hope
as you all are jealous of reputation for being Christians and not Deists, Jews, or heathens. May I then hope that you will regard the advice in the text and hence
forth give all diligence to add to your faith — patience; and more especially for the connexion that patience hath with your eternal salvation.
SPACIOUS APARTMENT ON A SECOND FLOOR 9 MINUTES AWAY FROM SOUTHERN 2B/2B + WASHER/DRYER $950/MONTH
FELIPE CASTRO
502-298-4666
“ Do the work of an
evangelist ” 2 Timothy 4:5
REACH EVANGELISM CONFERENCE
MARCH 27 & 28, 2017
Severns Valley Baptist Church 1100 Ring Road, Elizabethtown, KY www.kybaptist.org/reach Powered by:
SOUTHERN STORY
SOUTHERN STORY
Llambés siblings find second home at Boyce College By Mackenzie Miller oving from their family’s missionary work in Latin A merica to Louisville, Kentucky, the three Llambés siblings have f lourished together at the same school. As children of a Cuban father and Colombian mother, Sarah, Charles, and Bianca Llambés were born and spent the early years of their lives in Miami, Florida — a melting pot of cultures. When they were young, their parents moved to the Dominican Republic, where they served as missionaries for a decade through the International Mission Board. The family translated for medical clinics, planned Vacation Bible Schools for Haitian and Dominican church plants, and planted churches. “It was a whole new adventure. We left by faith,” said Sarah, the oldest. “We sold everything we had and didn’t look back. We learned to trust and be dependent on God daily. The Lord really confirmed our calling during that time.” Their parents, Carlos and Liliana, are enrolled in online master’s classes through Southern’s Hispanic Initiatives and have since moved to Mexico City for missions work. Carlos and Liliana recently spent a furlough in Louisville, reuniting with their children who one-by-one made their way to Boyce College. Sarah, 22, arrived at Boyce in 2014. The only one of her siblings away from home at the time, Sarah struggled with loneliness but said she was encouraged by those in her hall who sought to make her feel at home. Charles, 20, followed Sarah to Boyce in 2015 to study Worship and Pastoral Studies, planning to improve musically while learning to serve as a music pastor. Bianca, 19, said living with her siblings made Boyce attractive, and she became a student in the fall of 2015. She and Sarah are both majoring in Music and Worship Studies. All three agree that Boyce College provides a small and homey environment and
M
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
worked alongside him on the worship team at Sojourn Community Church. “Dr. Joslin has been a great friend to me and has always been near in helping me work through theological issues in which I seek clarity,” Charles said. The siblings are all members of Sojourn Midtown and each one says the church has become a mission-minded family to each of them, seeking to reach out and invite the lost — regardless of ethnicity, class, or gender. “Sojourn has always been a safe place where I can be myself and express myself freely without being judged for my heritage or the color of my skin,” Charles said. “I am forever grateful for the way Sojourn has cared for me.” The Llambés siblings are also involved with the music and research teams at Sojourn. They have been able to bring much of what they have learned at Boyce to their ministry at Sojourn, and have grown significantly through their church relationships, Sarah said. “Sojourn Music been a huge blessing both spiritually and musically,” she said. “The brothers and sisters that we get to serve alongside of are some of the most talented people I’ve ever met. But most importantly they’re some of the most faithful to the service of Christ. Even though the Lord has gifted them in their craft there is also a very evident sense of humility.” After graduating from Boyce, Bianca and Sarah plan to remain in Louisville and continue serving at Sojourn. Charles plans on earning his MBA before returning to Southern Seminary and earning his M.Div. In addition, parents Carlos and Liliana recently joined Sojourn and established Louisville as their new home base. “Because we moved around so much our lives have consisted of treasuring people and not location,” Sarah said. “I miss my friends and family most, but I love that, in Louisville, we have been able to acquire the same kinds of deep, caring friendships.”
Charles, Carlos, Liliana, Bianca, and Sarah Llambés
charges them with a passion for the gospel. “We have a desire to learn more about the gospel and apply it in music,” Bianca said. From working in Dorm Meeting Band and Lexington Road — two of the worship teams at Boyce — to serving as an assistant residential advisor, all three have been heavily involved in the student life department. All three siblings have worked closely with Scott Connell, assistant professor of music and worship leadership, as students in the music department. Connell and his wife, Mary, have not only invested in their musical abilities, but have cared deeply for their souls and their lives, they said. “Dr. Connell cares for his students, and not just in an academic way,” Sarah said. “He really wants to know how you are doing. He cares for us, prays for us, and encourages us. Every music major I know agrees.” The siblings have also developed a relationship with Barry Joslin, associate professor of Christian theology at Boyce. The three not only sat under Joslin’s teaching, but have also
towers
21
QUOTES
QUOTES
Chesterton’s Christmas Spirit By SBTS Communications EDITOR’S NOTE: The 20th-century writer G.K. Chesterton was an accomplished literary figure who wrote more than a hundred books and influenced the likes of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. But the “prince of paradox” loved the message of Christmas, and channeled Charles Dickens in defending the holiday’s timelessness and purpose.
Any one thinking of the Holy Child as born in December would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that Christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate.
“The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why.”
Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox: that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.
G.K. Chesterton Ornament The American Chesterton Society, $19.95
“There were three things prefigured and promised by the gifts in the cave of Bethlehem concerning the Child who received them: that He should be crowned like a King; that He should be worshipped like a God; and that He should die like a man.” 22 towers
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
Nestled on the historic campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville’s charming Crescent Hill community, the Legacy offers classic style with modern amenities, a warm and friendly staff, high-tech capabilities, and a unique and convenient location.
Legacy Hotel & Conferences offers visitors beautifully appointed guest rooms and dynamic meeting and banquet space — only minutes from downtown and the airport, with complimentary parking and wi-fi.
2825 Lexington Road Louisville, KY 40280 For reservations and information: www.legacyhotellouisville.com (502) 736-0600 legacy_hotel LegacyHotelatSBTS
Receive our friends and family rate starting at $79.99
COMMUNITY
PHOTO ESSAY
It was finally fall AFTER
an extended season of warm weather in
Louisville, fall finally arrived on Southern’s campus in early November. The beautiful transformation of the leaves surrounding our stately buildings is a moment worth capturing, but one that wouldn’t last long before the approaching winter season in December and January.
24 towers
Dec-Jan 2017 towers.sbts.edu
COMMUNITY
towers.sbts.edu Dec-Jan 2017
towers
25
COMMUNITY DECEMBER
Dec–Jan 2017 SEMINARY CLINIC HOURS
Staff, students, and their immediate family members are provided a health maintenance program through the clinic, located on the second floor of the campus center, Honeycutt 213. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. More information and price listings are found on the clinic website, sbts.edu/clinic.
01 TH U R S DAY
SBTS Graduation Rehearsal 1:30 p.m.?
02 F R I DAY
SBTS Graduation 10 a.m. / Alumni Chapel A Southern Christmas 6:30 p.m. McCall Pavilion/Heritage Hall Boyce basketball 7 p.m.
JA N UA RY
1
19
S U N DAY
TH U R S DAY
New Year’s Day
Boyce basketball 7 p.m.
2
20
M O N DAY
F R I DAY
PDS Seminars ›
Boyce Orientation Boyce basketball 7 p.m.
9
23
M O N DAY
EdD Seminars ›
M O N DAY
Boyce basketball 7 p.m.
MORNING CHILDCARE
Parents can drop off their children at the Health and Rec Center (second floor of Honeycutt) for morning childcare up to three days per week, 9 a.m. – noon, per federal law. The cost is $10 per child, ages 6 weeks – 10 years. Childcare will be closed Nov. 23-25. HOURS FOR THE ATTIC
05 M O N DAY
SBTS Winter Term Begins
06 TU E S DAY
Due to the renovation of Fuller Hall, The Attic will be closing on Friday, Nov. 11. It will reopen with a new and improved space down the hallway in early Sept. 2017. Watch for news of a grand reopening. Christmas items will be available for shoppers in late October. The Attic regrets that it will be unable to accept donations from Nov. 4 to mid-August 2017.
Boyce basketball 6 p.m.
SBTS LIST
Christmas Eve
10 SATU R DAY
Boyce basketball 2 p.m.
13
24
F R I DAY
‹ PDS Seminars
TU E S DAY
GRS and FTS Courses ›
14
27
SATU R DAY
‹ EdD Seminars
F R I DAY
SBTS Orientation ‹ GRS and FTS Courses
16 M O N DAY
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Boyce basketball 3 p.m.
24
28 SATU R DAY
Boyce basketball 2 p.m.
SATU R DAY
SBTS Student Life, Campus Technology, and Communications are excited to bring you SBTS List, which allows students and student spouses within the seminary community to market items and services in a safe environment. Think Craigslist, but exclusive to the SBTS community. You must have either a student or faculty/staff email address or be the spouse of a student in order to create a profile and buy/sell items on SBTS List. Register at sbtslist.com.
25 S U N DAY
COUNTRYBROOK A PA R T M E N T S
Best Value in the East End
Christmas Day
27 TU E S DAY
Cross Conference (Indianapolis, IN) ›
30 F R I DAY
‹ Cross Conference
1 BEDROOM F R O M $699 2 BEDROOM F R O M $799
31 SATU R DAY
New Year’s Eve
3 BEDROOM F R O M $939 W&D hookup available, Prices subject to change.
$0 deposit special ( W I T H A P P R O V E D C O N D I T I O N S ) W E W I L L WA I V E T H E A P P L I C AT I O N F E E W I T H T H I S A D ! ( $ 3 9 VA L U E )
6-18 month leases available! C o n v e n i e n t l o c a t i o n b y We s t p o r t V i l l a g e Enjoy our sparkling pool! We a r e s m a l l - p e t f r i e n d l y !
(502) 425-9636
www.mybestapt.com • countrybrook@mybestapt.com
Celebrate
favorite things With 35% off Select Items
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID L & D
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2825 Lexington Road · Louisville, KY 40280
Questions with
ANDY NASELLI Assistant professor of New Testament and theology at Bethlehem Baptist College & Seminary
1
2
3
What advice would you give to students considering doctoral studies, but unsure whether they should pursue them?
You have written about memorizing whole books of the Bible. What book would you recommend a Christian start with?
Do you have a favorite Christmas memory or tradition?
THINK THROUGH DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS SUCH AS THESE:
1. What do you want to do with a Ph.D.? Would a different degree be more prudent? 2. What school do you want to attend for a Ph.D.? Why? How will earning a Ph.D. under certain professors prepare you for what you think God has called you to do? 3. If you are married, what does your spouse want to do? 4. What do you think your gifts are? If you are married, what does your spouse think your gifts are? What do other mature Christians who know you very well identify as your gifts? 5. How will you pay for this?
PERHAPS SOMETHING SMALLER like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 (~17 minutes) or Paul’s letters to the Philippians (~14 minutes) or Colossians (~13 minutes).
MY FAVORITE MEMORY is Christmas Day 1998. I was a college freshman, and about two weeks earlier I had learned that my youngest brother, Michael, had Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer. I was in a fog. On Christmas Day, I picked a book off my bookshelf that one of my professors recommended. I didn’t know anything about the author. The book is called The Pleasures of God, and the author is John Piper. I read it cover to cover that day. I had never heard anything like it: God will most satisfy us when we know why God himself most satisfies God. I don’t know the precise day I became a Christian, but I know the day I became a joyful Calvinist.