Midwestern Magazine - Issue 30

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WHY SPURGEON?

President Jason K. Allen shares his vision for the Spurgeon Library.

M I D W E S T E R N B A P T I S T T H E O L O G I C A L S E M I N A RY A N D C O L L E G E

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INTERVIEW WITH DR. CHRISTIAN T. GEORGE

Curator of the Spurgeon Library

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$7 MILLON LEAD GIFT ANNOUNCED FOR STUDENT CENTER FOR THE CHURCH

Recent articles from ftc.co

VINDICATING THE

P R I N C E of P R E A C H E R S A 21ST CENTURY HOME FOR CHARLES SPURGEON ISSUE 30

CO NTENTS

Midwestern Magazine Issue 30

AT A G L A N C E

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TIMELINE: THE LIFE OF SPURGEON

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHT

Dr. Christian T. George

24 25

IN FOCUS Emmaus Church STUDENT HIGHLIGHT

Ronni Kurtz

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

AROUND CAMPUS A review of news and events at Midwestern Seminary RESOURCES FOR THE CHURCH

A selection of articles from the For The Church resources site at ftc.co

6 Why Spurgeon?

President Jason K. Allen shares his vision for the Spurgeon Library.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

ESSAY

A LOOK BACK

10 Interview with Christian T. George, curator

18 Keeping the Faith

22 The Spurgeon Lectures with Albert Mohler

A conversation about what makes the Spurgeon Library such a special contribution to the seminary and to evangelical academia in general.

Learning from Spurgeon’s most challenging controversy.

An excerpt from the second annual Spurgeon Lectures on Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary.

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AROUND CAMPUS

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Dear Friends: Greetings from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary! As you read this edition of the Midwestern Seminary Magazine, you are doing so at a most encouraging, and even momentous, time on our campus. Indeed, the months behind us have been ones of unprecedented institutional achievement, and they have reminded us anew of God’s incredible blessing on this seminary.

Perhaps the most evident sign of God’s favor came in recent months when the Association of Theological Schools recognized Midwestern Seminary as one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America. Indeed, by the most relevant metrics, Midwestern Seminary ranks as the fastest growing seminary in North America over the past several years.

When the ATS notified me of this enrollment accomplishment and interviewed me for their press release, they asked me to what I attributed Midwestern’s growth. They peppered me with questions about enrollment management, retention rates, branding and advertising, and other programmatic elements of institutional life. I was amused by their questions, but I responded with an altogether different answer. I am convinced that Midwestern Seminary’s growth is not due to programmatic improvements but is because our convictions are robust and our mission is clear.

Midwestern Seminary is unambiguously committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. We are confessionally committed to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, and missiologically committed to serving the local church. In fact, Midwestern Seminary’s ambition is to be the premier seminary in North America serving the local church. Our vision to be For the Church has resonated broadly within the Southern Baptist Convention and beyond and is the single most determinative factor in our institutional health and recordsetting growth.

The institutional accomplishments and momentum in recent months have carried forward into the present. Throughout this magazine, you will see other signs of God’s evident blessing on Midwestern Seminary, including the announcement of a $7 million lead gift for a new student center as well as the completion and dedication of the Spurgeon Library and remodeled administrative building. These signs—and so much more—are a reminder that though our culture and our country show so many signs of moral decay, God is not done with his people.

Indeed, at Midwestern Seminary, we are determined to serve God’s people and his church, and we are confident that as we prove faithful to his church, he will continue to prove faithful to us. I invite you to Kansas City and to come see the many campus updates for yourself, take in a class, or visit with our faculty, staff or students. However, until you can be here in person, enjoy perusing this magazine to see much of what has happened at Midwestern Seminary in the season past, and some of what is before us in the season ahead. May God richly bless you in all you do for Jesus’ sake. Thank you for your ongoing support, prayers, and financial contributions.

Sincerely,

Jason K. Allen, Ph.D. President Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Readers can visit DR. JASON K. ALLEN’S BLOG at jasonkallen.com.

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EDITOR’S NOTE ISSUE 30

ADMINISTRATION Jason K. Allen PRESIDENT

Jason G. Duesing PROVOST

Charles W. Smith, Jr.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR

INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS

Gary Crutcher

VICE PRESIDENT FOR

INSTITUTIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Welcome to the Fall 2015 edition of Midwestern Magazine.

This time around we are talking all things Charles Haddon Spurgeon! The Prince of Preachers looms large over the horizon of modern evangelicalism from his place in Victorian England, and he certainly factors greatly in the influences on Midwestern Seminary’s unprecedented growth. From the addition of the Spurgeon Library to the campus to the addition of its curator, Dr. Christian George, to our growing roster of gifted scholars, from the continuation of the Spurgeon Lectures among our annual events calendar to the application of his vision to our very own, we are still learning and profiting from this great servant of God.

EDITORIAL Jared C. Wilson CHIEF EDITOR

ART Dave Wright

LAYOUT & DESIGN

Liz Stack

PHOTOGRAPHER

Special thanks to: WYATT BURY

KEVIN STRATTON PAT HUDSON

Spurgeon’s commitment to the sufficiency, authority, and infallibility of the word of God is worthy of our emulation and honor, and we continue to enjoy the historical reverberations of his ministry. You can see his commitment to gospel-centered mission reflected in the sorts of churches Midwestern Seminary pastors and partners with, and you can see his commitment to gospel-centered teaching in the kinds of resources Midwestern Seminary produces.

Yes, we are very big on the Prince of Preachers. But in the end, we understand that Spurgeon’s vitality and impact were not sourced in himself. Midwestern continues to learn a lot about what it means to be For The Church from Charles Spurgeon. But we do so, as Dr. George says, “not by looking at the man, but looking through him to Jesus Christ.”

For the glory of Christ, and, thus, For The Church,

© 2015 Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.

Jared C. Wilson Chief Editor, Midwestern Magazine Managing Editor, For The Church

5001 N. Oak Trafficway Kansas City, MO 64118 (816) 414-3700 Midwestern Seminary maintains professional and academic accreditation with two accrediting associations: The Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (HLC).

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H

ES SPU L R A RG H C EO Y N ?

W

FROM THE PRESIDENT

by D R . J A S O N K . A L L E N President, Midwestern Seminary

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

This Midwestern Magazine marks the dedication of Midwestern Seminary’s Spurgeon Library, which will house more than 6,000 books, letters, and artifacts once owned by Spurgeon.

The Spurgeon Library complements and completes Midwestern Seminary’s Charles Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching, and, combined, the two promise to strengthen Spurgeon studies, biblical preaching, the study of historical theology, and, most especially, the church as a whole.

Additionally, this past year B&H Publishers announced a major project with Spurgeon Library curator Dr. Christian George to publish more than 400 of Spurgeon’s previously unpublished sermons. In total, this set will be ten volumes and will contain some 800,000 words; half will be from Spurgeon and half will be Dr. George’s annotations.

All of this points to a broader movement within the church, an ever deepening appreciation for Spurgeon’s work, and a growing realization of his contemporary relevance. This is fitting and right, and Midwestern Seminary is thankful to be at the center of this Spurgeon revival.

Why so much current buzz about Spurgeon, and why is Midwestern Seminary happy to be ground zero for it? Because, as Carl F. H. Henry observed, C. H. Spurgeon is “one of evangelical Christianity’s immortals,” and we look to him as a ministry model as we perpetuate his legacy.

PREACHER

As a preacher, Spurgeon pastored the largest Protestant church in the world—the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London—where he preached for nearly 40 years to a congregation of some 6,000 members. Spurgeon is commonly ranked, along with George Whitefield, as one of the two greatest preachers of the English language. In 1858 he preached to a crowd numbering 23,654 at London’s Crystal Palace, and by the end of his ministry he had preached to more than 10,000,000 people without the aid of modern technologies.

ALL OF THIS POINTS TO A BROADER MOVEMENT WITHIN THE CHURCH, AN EVER DEEPENING APPRECIATION FOR SPURGEON’S WORK, AND A GROWING REALIZATION OF HIS CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE. THIS IS FITTING AND RIGHT, AND MIDWESTERN SEMINARY IS THANKFUL TO BE AT THE CENTER OF THIS SPURGEON REVIVAL.

In fact, no name is more synonymous with faithful Christian ministry than Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Providentially raised up by God, Spurgeon pastored the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England during the Victorian Era, when Great Britain spanned the globe as the world’s leading empire—thus adding to Spurgeon’s global fame and influence.

Spurgeon was a gifted pastor, author, apologist, leader, visionary, and school and ministry administrator. Yet, he was first and foremost a preacher. All of Spurgeon’s auxiliary ministries flowed from his pulpit, and his weekly sermons were transcribed and dispensed around the world. Arguably, in the history of the church,

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there is no name more rightly associated with preaching in the English-speaking world than Charles Spurgeon.

AUTHOR

As an author, Spurgeon owned an indefatigable pen. He averaged writing 500 letters per week, and by the time of his death he had penned approximately 150 books. His sermons, which he edited weekly and were shipped globally, sold over 56,000,000 copies in his lifetime. In Spurgeon’s day they were translated into more than 40 languages, and now total more than 62 hefty volumes. Additionally, Spurgeon wrote for various magazines and journals, including his Sword and Trowel.

HUMANITARIAN

As a humanitarian, Spurgeon hurled himself at the great social ills of his

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day. He founded two orphanages, a ministry for “fallen women,” was an ardent abolitionist, started a pastors’ college, and began a book distribution ministry for undersupplied pastors.

He launched clothes closets and soup kitchens, all for members and nonmembers of the Metropolitan Tabernacle alike. By the age of 50 he had started no less than 66 social ministries, all of which were designed to meet both physical and spiritual needs.

APOLOGIST

As an apologist Spurgeon ardently defended his Baptist, evangelical, and reformed convictions. He attacked hyper Calvinism and Arminianism; Campbellism and Darwinism. Most especially, Spurgeon defended the person and work of Christ and the comprehensive inspiration and infallibility of Scripture. Spurgeon’s apologetic efforts were most clearly

witnessed through the prism of the Downgrade Controversy, where he challenged and ultimately withdrew from his own Baptist Union for their equivocation over these same issues.

EVANGELIST

As an evangelist, Spurgeon relentlessly preached the gospel and consistently won sinners to Christ.

He remains an unsurpassed model for balancing the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in evangelism. In fact, one is hardpressed to find any sermon Spurgeon ever preached that does not conclude with a presentation of the cross. By the end of his ministry, Spurgeon had baptized 14,692 believers.

SPURGEON’S MYSTIQUE

Spurgeon’s ministry still owns a certain mystique. This is in part due to the fact that he was a genius. He

FROM THE PRESIDENT

“TO ME THE BIBLE IS NOT GOD, BUT IT IS GOD’S VOICE, AND I DO NOT HEAR IT WITHOUT AWE.”

The Life of Charles Spurgeon 1834

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the eldest of seventeen children, is born in Kelvedon, Essex.

1849

The fifteen year-old Spurgeon completes the 295-page handwritten essay, “Antichrist and Her Brood; Or, Popery Unmasked.”

1850

Spurgeon is converted at the Primitive Methodist Artillery Street Chapel, Colchester.

Spurgeon is baptized in the River Lark at Isleham Ferry by W.H. Cantlow.

- Charles H. Spurgeon devoured books, possessed a photographic memory, and once testified of simultaneously holding eight thoughts in his head. His enormous influence, intriguing life and times, and his many physical and emotional travails factor in as well.

Spurgeon’s mystique is also due to his unrelenting ministerial work ethic, which prompted David Livingston to ask of Spurgeon “How do you manage to do two men’s work in a single day?” Spurgeon, in reference to the Holy Spirit, replied, “You have forgotten there are two us.”

Spurgeon preaches his first sermon at a Teversham cottage near Cambridge.

1852

Spurgeon becomes pastor of Waterbeach Chapel.

1853

Spurgeon preaches for the first time at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, London, his 673rd sermon.

1856

Spurgeon marries Susannah Thompson and embarks upon a ten-day honeymoon in Paris, France.

In the Surrey Gardens Music Hall disaster, seven people are killed, 28 people are injured, and Spurgeon subsequently falls into a deep depression.

SPURGEON’S RELEVANCE

Spurgeon was a phenom who preached in the largest Protestant church in the world in the context of the most powerful city in the world, London. Yet, his ministry coursed through and beyond the expansive tentacles of the British Empire. He embodied all that is right about biblical ministry and all that the contemporary church must recover in the 21st century: biblical faithfulness, evangelistic fervor, self-sacrificial ministry, power in the pulpit, social awareness, and defense of the faith.

In reference to important statesmen, the famed French leader Charles de Gaulle once quipped, “Graveyards are full of indispensible men.” In Christ’s kingdom no one is indispensable either, but certain men are irreplaceable. Charles Spurgeon was one such man.

1857

Spurgeon preaches to 23,654 people at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, which is his largest gathering.

1861

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is opened, debt free, with a congregation of 1,200 people.

1875

Spurgeon publishes the first volume of Lectures to My Students.

1887

Spurgeon publishes his first “Down-grade” paper in The Sword and the Trowel.

1891

Spurgeon preaches his last sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Spurgeon departs for Mentone, France for the final time.

1892

Spurgeon passes away in Mentone, France.

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

The Charles Spurgeon Library A Conversation with the Curator

CHRISTIAN T. GEORGE After the completion of the Daniel Lee Chapel, perhaps the most significant structural sign of the incredible growth taking place at Midwestern Seminary, has been the building of the Charles Spurgeon Library. Occupying the renovated space where the seminary previously held chapel services, the library is a prominent feature of campus, both

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physically and spiritually, as it draws students and faculty alike interested in studying and writing in its thoughtfully-appointed atmosphere.

I recently visited with Spurgeon Library curator Dr. Christian George to find out more about what makes the Spurgeon Library such a special contribution to the seminary and to evangelical academia in general.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

JARED WILSON: We know in terms of sheer volume, the library holds a lot of material owned by Spurgeon. But what makes these items so special, aside from the fact that his hands once held them?

CHRISTIAN GEORGE: The library contains

approximately 6,000 books that Charles Spurgeon personally owned, yes, but many of these works are heavily annotated by Spurgeon himself and give us a deeper insight into his theology, spirituality, and interests.

Spurgeon’s books range in diversity from works on preaching, nature, and geography to commentaries, travelogues, novels, and even books on Victorian spiritualism. Spurgeon’s favorite books were authored by Puritans like John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, Thomas Manton, and John Owen, among others.

JW: I know the bulk of the collection wasn’t

built a little bit at a time. Tell us how the collection came to be in the possession of Midwestern Seminary.

CG: Well, in 1904, Spurgeon’s sons bestowed the bulk of their father’s library upon the care of an agent who attempted to sell the collection to a British college. The attempt was unsuccessful, and in the following year the Missouri Baptist General Association expressed interest in its acquisition. Led by J. T. M. Johnson, John E. Franklin, John Priest Greene, and J. E. Cook, the Association raised $2,500 for the purchase of the library, which sold for 50 cents per volume.

City, Missouri, by the Illinois Central Railroad before traveling some 20 miles to Liberty, Missouri, where it was presented as a gift from the Missouri Baptist Association to William Jewell College. For 100 years, the collection remained on display in the lower level of the Curry Library.

Under the supervision of Dr. J. W. Thirtle, Spurgeon’s library was packaged in 38 cases lined with waterproof canvas, loaded onto the S.S. Cuba, and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean on December 16. After arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana, the library was transported to Kansas

In a blind auction on October 10, 2006, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary purchased the library of over 6,000 volumes, many of them heavily annotated by Spurgeon. But we wanted a dedicated place to care for the books and make them accessible for research, so in

To LEARN MORE about the Spurgeon Library, visit spurgeoncenter.com

CHRISTIAN T. GEORGE

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2014, under the leadership of seminary president Dr. Jason Allen, a generous donation was given for the founding of the Spurgeon Center and renovations on the former chapel space were ultimately completed in July 2015.

Today, the Spurgeon Library contains the largest collection in the world of Spurgeon’s personally owned works and is committed to advancing Spurgeon scholarship, promoting biblical preaching, and bringing theological higher education into the service of the church.

JW: In your estimation, what is the most

interesting artifact in the library?

CG: As a microcosm of his ability to hold theologies in tension, Spurgeon kept two authors next to each other on his shelf: Methodist expositor, Adam Clarke, and Particular Baptist, John Gill. In Spurgeon’s words, “I have placed next to Gill in my library Adam Clarke, but as I have no desire to have my rest broken by wars among the authors, I have placed [Phillip] Doddridge between them.” We have re-created the proximity of these three authors in a display near the entrance of the Spurgeon Library.

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JW: Some of us around campus like to refer

to you as the “Indiana Jones” of Charles Spurgeon because of your discovery of the unpublished early sermons in the archives at Spurgeon College and your continual pursuit of Spurgeonalia for the library. Can you give us an idea of what the most significant find in the collection has been?

CG: Probably the pocket edition of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. This was Spurgeon’s favorite book outside of Scripture.

He once claimed to have read it over one hundred times in his life. Spurgeon quoted Bunyan in his sermons and writings significantly more than any other author. And I think this book is significant because it reminds us that a straight line can be drawn from Spurgeon’s exegetical impulses to those of Bunyan. Both of these great Baptist preachers captured the attention of their culture, not with sophisticated or even well-educated methods, but instead with simple, colorful language that could be understood by the common person.

JW: Okay, so I know you don’t like to think this way, but some of us do: What’s the most valuable item in the library?

ë THE SPURGEON LIBRARY Above Left: Construction underway for the Spurgeon Library.

Above Right: Christian T. George, curator of the Spurgeon Library, gives a presentation in the newly renovated space.

CG: Each book and artifact in the Spurgeon Library is valuable for the simple reason that Spurgeon owned it. However, some books solicit greater affection given that Spurgeon valued and annotated them more than others. The Psalter that Spurgeon used in the writing of his commentary on the Psalms, The Treasury of David is valuable in that it contains dozens of pages of inscriptions. Also, given the numerous times Spurgeon quoted John Calvin in his sermons and writings, Spurgeon’s copy of Calvin’s commentary on the Gospels is valuable. We are displaying the ten most valuable books in our collection on glass-covered pedestals in front of the windows on the interior walls of the library.

earliest notations is a journal of bird drawings that Charles sketched as a teenager.

JW: The place does look amazing. Aestheti-

Upon entering the Library, you will also see eight large, 6x8 foot paintings that hang around the upper periphery. These paintings offer visual snapshots of key moments in Spurgeon’s ministry – his conversion, baptism, first sermon, orphanage, Tabernacle, theological institute, among others. In the parlor, you will see a vertical portrait of Spurgeon seated in his library with his wife, Susannah, standing behind him.

These depictions were painted by Romanian artist, Petru Botezatu and are cast in the Byzantine style.

cally speaking, the library space itself is really a beautiful environment. And one thing a visitor notices right away, besides the impressive architecture and fixtures, is the incredible artwork around the library.

CG: Most people don’t realize this, but Charles Spurgeon was an artist. His son, Thomas even became a professional artist. Spurgeon often sent home letters to Susannah filled with sketches of his travels. In fact, one of Spurgeon’s

For this reason, we commissioned two artists to capture the likeness of Spurgeon and also the key moments in his life. As you enter the Spurgeon Library, you are first flanked by two life-size portraits of the preacher - a young one in the dawn of youth, and an older one in the sunset of his ministry. These paintings are depicted in the Renaissance style by Caffy Whitney, the talented wife of Dr. Donald Whitney, Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

JW: And of course the three works of art that stand out the

most as you enter the space are not paintings but pieces of furniture!

CG: Right. We have Spurgeon’s original preaching rail that W. A. Criswell obtained from Spurgeon’s College. We also have Spurgeon’s writing desk and a replica of the pulpit desk that Spurgeon preached from at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These three pieces of furniture are on prominent display, standing as a reminder that God desired to communicate his truth, not only through Spurgeon’s pulpits, but also through his pen.

JW: Before one enters the library, a visitor is greeted on the

facing wall by a rather prominent feature as well.

TODAY, THE SPURGEON LIBRARY CONTAINS THE LARGEST COLLECTION IN THE WORLD OF SPURGEON’S PERSONALLY OWNED WORKS AND IS COMMITTED TO ADVANCING SPURGEON SCHOLARSHIP, PROMOTING BIBLICAL PREACHING, AND BRINGING THEOLOGICAL HIGHER EDUCATION INTO THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH. -Christian T. George

CG: Yes, we have created a visual timeline of Spurgeon’s life and ministry that spans the entrance of the foyer. It offers a detailed chronology of Spurgeon’s life as well as a collection of cultural events that took place during his lifetime. For instance, we’ve included the founding of Kansas City in 1853 – three years after Spurgeon became a Christian. We’ve included the newspaper article from Montgomery, Alabama, that in 1859 called for a public burning of Spurgeon’s abolitionist sermons. We’ve also included an excerpt from The Kansas City Times written in February 1892, one month after Spurgeon’s death. “The death of Charles Spurgeon removes the most commanding figure in the Protestant Church.” In addition to cultural/historical facts, the timeline also displays water from the River Lark where Spurgeon was baptized, a Japanese edition of Spurgeon’s favorite book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, a personal letter from A.A. Hodge to Spurgeon, and a pulpit note that Spurgeon wrote and preached from.

JW: You’re one of only a handful of genuine Spurgeon schol-

ars in the world, so I’m curious to know if you have learned anything new from assembling this collection that you didn’t know about Spurgeon.

CG: I always tell my students that they need to fall in love with a dead theologian before they graduate – to spend their lives learning from the wisdom of the past. For J. I. Packer, it’s John Owen.

For Eric Metaxas, it’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But for me, Charles Spurgeon will always be my historical man-crush. And I’m totally unashamed to own that. But even though I’d committed my academic life and livelihood to researching him, I’ve still learned a small galaxy of things I didn’t know about Spurgeon from this collection. Still, it wasn’t so much what I’ve learned that has left its mark on me, as who I’ve come to know.

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Before coming to Midwestern, I had no idea that Spurgeon had descendants living in the United Kingdom. This past summer, I had the privilege of meeting Susannah Spurgeon, her brother Richard, and their mother and father, Hilary and David Spurgeon. David was the great, great grandson of Charles Spurgeon. As God’s providence allowed, I was with David a few months ago during the final hours and minutes of his earthly life. I was able to read Scripture to him, tell him about the Spurgeon Library, and also read portions of his ancestor’s sermons on resurrection and hope.

David loved what God was doing at Midwestern Seminary. Before his passing, he wanted to make sure that we received a personal heirloom that he had kept in his family for decades – the original doorknob that once adorned his great, great grandfather’s library door.

One way we are honoring David’s life is by displaying his doorknob in the entrance of the Spurgeon Library so that it can continue to grant access to the thousands of volumes that shaped the mind and heart of England’s greatest preacher.

JW: And this is in the hopes, I know, that his

heart and mind will shape the hearts and minds of the men and women entering the orbit of the library and Midwestern Seminary in general. What is your vision for the use of M I DW E S T E R N M A G A Z I N E

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the library and its impact on the Church?

CG: The Spurgeon Library is the fulfillment of a vision to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ for the academy, for the church, and for the glory of God through the preservation and presentation of Charles Spurgeon’s personal library.

As an extension of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s mission, the Library hosts fellowships and scholarships; extends research opportunities to visiting scholars and professors; and sponsors annual conferences, lectureships, gatherings, papers, and symposia.

At the height of the Downgrade Controversy, Spurgeon offered a farewell prophesy: “I am quite willing to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years, but the more distant future shall vindicate me.” Over a century has passed since he uttered those words. Yet today, perhaps more than ever, evangelicals continue to glean wisdom from the words and witness of “The Prince of Preachers.” Like Abel, who “still speaks, even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4), Charles Spurgeon still has something to say. Insomuch as the gospel is preached, disciples are made, students are taught, and cities are reached; and insomuch as future generations look not to Spurgeon but through Spurgeon, Helmut Thielicke’s words will ring true: “This bush from old London still burns and shows no sign of being consumed.”

ë

THE MAN AND HIS TIMES A visual timeline spans the wall facing the library, putting Spurgeon’s life and ministry in the context of historical events.

FACULTY HIGHLIGHT

MEET

CHRISTIAN T. GEORGE

“You have to get up before the devil.”

So says Christian George, Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Seminary and curator of the seminary’s new Spurgeon Library. Dr. George is referring to his almost daily routine of rising from bed somewhere between 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning to begin work on his epic project transcribing and annotating the unpublished sermons of Charles Spurgeon (to be published

by B&H). When most of us are getting up to begin our work day, George has typically already put in a full day of work on these important artifacts. Then he heads to the seminary campus to carry out his regular class duties and oversee the daily work in the Spurgeon Library.

This uncommon work ethic is just one of the unique characteristics of one of Midwestern’s more notable recent faculty hires. Dr. George is as known around campus for his martial arts skills and prowess at the ping pong table as he is for his scholarly credentials. And while he enjoys guiding students through the hallowed halls of church history, his greatest academic passion is still reserved for that Prince of Preachers.

George, whose doctoral dissertation (University of St. Andrews, Scotland) was written on the Christology of Spurgeon, charts his interest in the man back to his own guided pilgrimage through church history. “The lines that led me to Kansas

City begin with a pilgrimage that my father and I took to England when I was a teenager,” he says. “We traveled to Colchester to see where Charles Spurgeon was converted, to Iselham where he was baptized, to Waterbeach where he pastored his first church, to London where he served for 37 years as pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and to Norwood Cemetery where he is buried.

Traveling to Spurgeon Country gave me a vested interest in learning more about what God has accomplished in the life of this Victorian preacher.”

This personal passion carries over through his vision for the seminary’s Spurgeon Library, which currently houses over 6,000 books and artifacts that were either owned by or otherwise connected to Spurgeon. George expects the library will be a great resource destination for scholars, of course, but he also hopes it will serve as an epicenter of gospel-centered ministry reverberating through the generations, much like Spurgeon’s own ministry.

“As a steward of this story,” he says, “the Library is designed to foster a deeper appreciation of Spurgeon’s life and legacy by making visible the highlights of his ministry through books, letters, photographs, sermons, art, and artifacts. In attitude and architecture, the aim of the Library is to create a visual memory – a sermon in stone – that calls for reflection on what God has accomplished in the past and anticipation for what God will accomplish in the future.”

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ESSAY

K E E P I N G T H E FA I T H L e ar ning fro m Sp u r g e o n’s m os t c h al lengi n g c o nt ro ve r s y

by JASON K. ALLEN

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ESSAY

As Christians we are called to share our faith, but we are also called to keep it. Like the Apostle Paul, every believer should aspire to the epitaph, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

Perhaps no one in Baptist history better kept the faith than the illustrious Charles Spurgeon— especially as seen through the prism of the Downgrade Controversy.

The year was 1887, and Spurgeon was in the winter of life. For more than three decades, he had enjoyed singular status as the world’s most well-known preacher, but just over the horizon storm clouds gathered.

The Downgrade Controversy began slowly at first, with three anonymous letters appearing in the March, April, and June (1887) editions of the Sword & Trowel. The three letters (later revealed to be authored by Spurgeon’s friend, Robert Shindler) warned of doctrinal slippage on a downhill slope, thus a downgrade.

While the anonymous letters drew interest, the controversy did not explode until a few months later when Spurgeon directly entered the fray.

In the August 1887 issue of the Sword & Trowel, Spurgeon threw down the gauntlet in his sixpage editorial entitled, “Another Word on the Downgrade.”

At that time, Spurgeon was less than five years from his death. He was near the height of his popularity in the Baptist Union and beyond, but near the depth of his personal anguish. Physical ailments like failing kidneys and chronic gout wracked his body; depression plagued his soul. Simply put, he did not need, nor was he much poised for, the conflict he was about to

enter. Withdrawing the largest Baptist church in England from the Union would have dire consequences.

Nevertheless, Spurgeon entered his Westwood study, fountain pen in hand, and proceeded to join the battle himself by drafting for publication the six-page article.

I own the original six-page manuscript Spurgeon wrote that day in 1887. It is fascinating to review his words, penned in his hand, with his markings, alterations and emphases. It radiates the spirit of Paul and the urgency of keeping the faith. The first paragraph especially has taken on immortality: No lover of the gospel can conceal from himself the fact that the days are evil. We are willing to make a large discount from our apprehensions on the score of natural timidity, the caution of age, and the weakness produced by pain; but yet our solemn conviction is that things are much worse in many churches than they seem to be, and are rapidly tending downward. Read those newspapers which represent the Broad School of Dissent, and ask yourself, How much farther could they go? What doctrine remains to be abandoned? What other truth to be the object of contempt? A new religion has been initiated, which is no more Christianity than chalk is cheese; and this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were erected for gospel preaching. The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a confederacy with them!

SPURGEON GOES ON

The case is mournful. Certain ministers are making infidels. Avowed atheists are not a tenth

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ESSAY

as dangerous as those preachers who scatter doubt and stab at faith… Germany was made unbelieving by her preachers, and England is following in her tracks.

Most prophetically, Spurgeon argued true believers cannot be ministry affiliates with those who have compromised the faith. His words portended the schism to come. Spurgeon was a lone voice, but he was the loudest and most revered voice of all, calling for doctrinal fidelity over programmatic confederation.

Spurgeon’s “Another Word on the Downgrade” landed like a bombshell. It sent shockwaves throughout the Baptist Union and British Evangelicalism. It reverberated throughout the Protestant world.

For decades the press had attacked Spurgeon, but now he would be savaged by his own Baptist Union. Prior to the Downgrade Controversy, if the Baptist Union had a papacy, Spurgeon would’ve been the unquestioned pope. But now, his erstwhile brethren brutalized him. They charged him with pugilism, and being a schismatic. They even questioned his sanity with a whisper campaign that his physical maladies had made him mad. Graduates of Spurgeon’s College turned on him, and the leaders of the Baptist Union pilloried him.

Over the next two months, Spurgeon penned two more articles on the Downgrade in the Sword & Trowel. Then, on Oct. 28, 1887, Spurgeon wrote the General Secretary of the Baptist Union, Samuel Harris Booth, to announce his withdrawal from the Baptist Union.

ë

DOWNGRADE MANUSCRIPT Left: First page from the original sixpage manuscript Spurgeon wrote in 1887

Three months later, in January 1888, the Baptist Union Council voted to accept his withdrawal, and then, the Council of nearly 100 members voted to censure Spurgeon, with only a meager five men supporting the Prince of Preachers.

The Baptist Union adopted a compromise doctrinal statement, which was altogether too weak, neither clear nor comprehensive enough.

“REMEMBER, CHRIST’S SCHOLARS MUST STUDY UPON THEIR KNEES.” - Charles Spurgeon Though outside the Union, Spurgeon opposed the statement for its obvious deficiencies. Nonetheless, it passed overwhelmingly, by a vote of 2000–7, and can appropriately be interpreted as a second vote against Spurgeon. Most tragically, Spurgeon’s brother, James, seconded the motion to pass the compromise doctrinal statement.

Spurgeon, the “Lion in Winter,” was prophetic, if not popular. He said, “I am quite willing to be eaten of dogs for the next fifty years, but the more distant future shall vindicate me.”

Indeed, Spurgeon has been vindicated. The British Baptist Union is a shadow of its former self.

Moreover, Spurgeon’s Downgrade foreshadowed the Fundamentalist/Modernist Controversy of the 1920s and the great SBC Controversy at the end of the 20th century. Doctrinal decay always brings dire consequences.

The controversy cost Spurgeon dearly. It cost him his friendships. It cost him his reputation.

Even his own brother disowned his decision.

Yet, for Spurgeon, to remain within the Union would be tantamount to theological treason.

Less than five years later Spurgeon would die.

Against his previously stated wishes, his supporters erected a massive burial tomb in the Norwood Cemetery. Ensconced on the front of it, beneath the marble replica of his likeness, is a marble Bible, open to II Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

Indeed, Spurgeon kept the faith, and his accomplishment must be our aspiration—to keep the faith even when confronted with our own Downgrade Controversies.

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A LOOK BACK

3

Challenges to

Biblical Exposition TH E SP UR G E O N LEC T U RES WITH ALBE RT MO HLER

An excerpt from the second annual Spurgeon Lectures on Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary.

One of the things we need to recognize is that expository preaching is not the kind of preaching most people know as “normal” today, and it hasn’t been for a very long time.

And we need to recognize that the marginalizing of expositional preaching did not happen by accident! It happened as a consequence of an intentional effort to shift preaching away from the exposition of the biblical text to something else.

At one point exposition was considered the norm for Christian preaching. And if we’re looking for the most stalwart defense of this kind of preaching, we would have to go back to the Reformation where it was

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hammered out – not in the confines of a doctoral seminar on homiletics, but rather in the life and death struggle to reform the church. The Reformers defined the first mark of the church as the right preaching of the word of God. “Right preaching” is where the faith of the apostles, the faith once for all delivered to the saints, is actually found. This is where the saving gospel of Jesus Christ is actually found. It is so irreducible that without such preaching, there is no church.

But something happened between the reformation and today. The marginalization of biblical exposition began, and it began at the hands of triplets. What three isms contributed to the marginalization of biblical exposition today?

1. PIETISM

Pietism as a major movement in

church history did give some great gifts to the church in terms of an understanding of the importance of the devotional life, of the fact that what Christ intends for his church is an intimate and spiritual relationship with him, not merely an affirmation of propositional truth. But the downside to pietism was that, inevitably, it shifted the locus of Christian discipleship away from the discipleship of the mind and towards the more self-defined discipleship and spirituality of the self. Pietism became a major problem because pietism redefined preaching in terms of how it made a congregation feel.

2. REVIVALISM

Revivalism arrived a good deal after pietism, but a direct line can be drawn in many ways from the influence of the pietist to the influence of the revivalist. And like the piest, the revivalist gave many good things to

the church. For one thing, revivalism became the very clear post-Reformation affirmation of the necessity of conversion. One of the great gains of revivalism was that revivalism separated the sheep from the goat when it came to understanding whether or not preaching was to aim for the conversion of the sinner. And that’s a very important issue; we would not be here but for that affirmation.

The problem with revivalism, however, is not its focus on conversion, but that it inclined preaching towards a solitary focus on conversion, such that preaching became evangelistic and nothing else. Furthermore, revivalism tended to conform the task and the conception of preaching towards that which would bring the most immediate visible affect. This became deeply rooted in the second great awakening, becoming very much symbolized in someone like Charles Finney who actually came up with suggestions about exactly how, in revivalist preaching, the effect can be exaggerated and concentrated by preaching in a particular way to bring about a particular effect.

THE REFORMERS DEFINED THE FIRST MARK OF THE CHURCH AS THE RIGHT PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD. in all of American history. You can’t understand the American mind without understanding the incredible influence of philosophical pragmatism upon that mind. James, whose

and preacher’s interpreation and “experience” acting as authority over whatever revelation could be said to be found in the text.

philosophy of pragmatism set the stage for dramatic change in several disciplines, insisted that truth and experience were inextricably linked.

We are still facing these challenges today. Expositional preaching is still foolish in the minds of religion’s cultured despisers, even after two thousand years. It is still seen as a bad idea. And just as the challenges have not changed, the commitment of God’s faithful heralds must not change: As Paul tells his protégé in 2 Timothy 4:2, whether it seems in season or out, “Preach the word.”

3. PRAGMATISM

Pragmatism is the third challenge in this threefold assault on exposition, but it is not simply found in the contemporary marketing movement in the church, the church growth movement, and the like. Those things constitute real problems in evangelicalism, but the kind of pragmatism I’m speaking of is the actual philosophical movement known as pragmatism as represented by a philosopher like William James at Harvard University, where pragmatism became one of the very most formative philosophical influences

This shift from biblical revelation to religious experience as the starting point and critical principle for theology represented a revolution, giving rise to the reading and preaching of Scripture with the reader’s

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IN FOCUS: EMMAUS CHURCH

GOSPEL ON DISPLAY C H U R CH HIGHLIGHT:

Emmaus Church Parkville, Missouri

One of the great blessings of being a seminary that exists For The Church, is watching the culture develop of gifted and passionate men and women who exist for the church. The seminary campus is teeming with young pastors and church planters. One such planter is Josh Hedger, who serves on seminary staff as the Director of Church Planting and Partnering. In the summer of 2014, he began Emmaus Church with 16 people meeting in a living room. By the fall, their ranks had grown to 35 and by the next summer had grown to 100-plus, with most of their attendees also gathering in 6 small groups across the Kansas City metro area.

Emmaus Church currently gathers for Sunday worship currently in a renovated building above the HMS Beagle, “science store” named for the ship naturalist Charles Darwin famously boarded during his research into his theory of evolution.

It is a fitting juxtaposition, given the multicultural and pluralistic mission field. “We have a large number of internationals,” Hedger says of the community, “Partly due to [the presence of] 800 Park University

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students. It’s not uncommon to hear Arabic or Hindi spoken as you are walking through town.”

The location of Emmaus Church is not incidental to its mission.

Hedger continues: Our people are playing soccer with Arabs, hosting Christmas parties for Iraqi’s, tutoring international women, doing block parties with Sudanese, and even seeing an Islamic couple go so far as to join us in our worship gathering. God is showing off as his people are being faithful to declare

and display the gospel.”

This mission and vision has proven attractive to the gospel-centered community being cultivated at Midwestern Seminary. Hedger estimates that a third of their church is connected in some way to the seminary. Of the seven men trained in their pastoral residency in 2015, five were Midwestern students.

These students play in the worship band, serve in the Emmaus Kids ministry, and work as greeters and on the technical team.

To LEARN MORE about Emmaus Church, visit emmauskc.com.

STUDENT HIGHLIGHT

MEET

ë MEANINGFUL MEMBERSHIP Ronni Kurtz (above), Elder at Emmaus Church, signing the membership covenant in the inaugural Membership Meeting, March 8, 2015.

While Emmaus Church is certainly blessed to have such a great presence from the Midwestern Seminary community, their vision continues to be for the growth of the church through the winning of lost souls to Christ. The seminary is of course glad to supply so many men, women, and families to this mission but shares Hedger’s vision for Emmaus’ greater impact in the growing mission field of Kansas City. In the end, we all look forward to Emmaus’ continuing fruitfulness, not simply as a “win” for Midwestern, but as a greater win for Christ and for his Church.

RONNI KURTZ

If you’re inquiring around Midwestern’s campus about impressive student leaders, one of the first names you will invariably hear from anybody is that of Ronni Kurtz. At any given time of the day, you are likely to find Kurtz in the Spurgeon Library, where he serves Dr. Christian George as a research assistant, poring over the freshly discovered manuscripts of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons.

Many of these words were preached when Spurgeon was not much older than he, and Kurtz’s love for God’s word and commitment to the local church drives his painstaking analysis of the sermons day in and day out.

Kurtz says, “I am reading each of the roughly 400 sermons and asking questions like, ‘Did Spurgeon ever preach on this text again? If so, what has changed in his thinking and preaching, how has his preaching evolved from when he was 16-17 years old in comparison to his preaching at 50? How has his understanding of particular doctrines evolved over time?” The project is daunting and repetitive and big, but Kurtz is well-suited to the task. “There are days when the work gets tough and the hours become long,” he says, “but on most days I am just taken back by the fact that

my job is reading and writing about one of my heroes.”

The resonance of Spurgeon for Kurtz arises more centrally in the resonance for Kurtz of the gospel and the glory of Christ, commitments he plays out in the life of the local church as well. Even at age 23, he shows a theological intelligence and spiritual maturity well beyond his years, and he currently serves as an elder at Emmaus Church, a local church planted by Midwestern Seminary’s Director for Church Planting and Partnering, Josh Hedger.

“If I were to sum up my deepest passions in a few words,” Kurtz continues, “it would be the gospel. That might sound cliche or cheesy but there is nothing I love more than thinking about Christ and the gospel.”

This passion will certainly serve Kurtz well beyond his studies. While he serves also as a research assistant to seminary president Dr. Jason Allen, Kurtz is currently pursuing his M.Div. and plans to continue his studies afterward in pursuit of his Ph.D., desiring to eventually teach at the undergraduate or graduate level. But, he says, “I never want any pursuit of the Academy to draw me away from the local church.”

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AROUND CAMPUS

Midwestern Seminary’s SBC & the 21st Century symposium addresses significant convention issues, future

by T. PAT R I C K H U D S O N

A symposium on “The SBC & the 21st Century: Reflection, Renewal and Recommitment” set forth a range of projections for the nation’s largest evangelical body, Sept. 28-29 at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The event, which Midwestern President Jason Allen said will take place on a triennial basis, featured keynote speakers Frank S. Page, Ronnie Floyd, Thom Rainer, David Dockery, R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Paige Patterson.

Allen, who also led a main session, noted that such an event had not been held in SBC life in recent years and that the purpose of the gathering was to engage issues vital to Southern Baptist identity, heritage, and future.

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“As a seminary that exists for the church, it can be counted on that this entire project has and will emphasize Southern Baptist churches and how to strengthen them, not how to perpetuate denominational machinery,” Allen said. “This is what SBC servants must be about, and that is what this symposium is about.”

Additionally, Allen announced a partnership with B&H Academic on a book project comprised mostly of the presentations delivered at the symposium. David Platt, Danny Akin, Walter Strickland, Collin Hansen, and Justin Taylor will also contribute chapters to the book, which will hold the same title as the symposium and will be available to the general public at the SBC’s annual meeting in June 2016.

FRANK PAGE: “THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM AND THE FUTURE OF COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY”

Frank Page, the SBC Executive Committee’s Chief Executive Officer, opened the symposium with insight into the 90-year history of the Cooperative Program and the impact of the SBC’s collaborative ministry over the years.

As an asset that no other denomination possesses, Page said the CP accomplishes ministry and missions in a way that singular churches could not.

“The CP is a collaborative way of doing work that gives every church in the SBC a seat at the table,” said Page, noting that the vast majority of SBC churches possess small memberships. “When we recognize who we are, no matter how big or small, every

church can be a part of doing something bigger than themselves.”

Page foresees a bright future for collaborative ministry within the SBC. Goals he desires to see accomplished through the CP in the days ahead include 7,000 missionaries reaching the world for Christ; 15,000 new church plants across the continent; decreasing tuition and fees at all six SBC seminaries; reaching masses of lost college students through state agencies, and much more.

acknowledged that it typically rears its head in ministry amongst younger believers. The reasons, he assessed, included insufficient experience, too little knowledge, and inadequate time spent walking with God. “My hope for the future of the church is that a recovery of humility and integrity… will distinguish the body of believers clearly from the world,” Patterson added. “Above all, may such genuine piety be observed in our preaching.”

PAIGE PATTERSON: “GUARD WHAT HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO YOU: COUNSEL TO THE NEW GENERATION OF SOUTHERN BAPTISTS”

RONNIE FLOYD: “KINDLING AFRESH THE GIFT OF GOD: SPIRITUAL RENEWAL, STRATEGIC REINVENTION, AND THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION”

A list of 12 witty analogies providing perspective for the future highlighted Southwestern Seminary President, Paige Patterson’s, counsel to the next generation of Southern Baptist leaders.

Ranging from “Culture is your friend in the same way a brown bear is your buddy,” to “A Christian who has not seriously suffered is like a beautiful Rolls Royce without a motor,” Patterson imparted wisdom to the younger generation from more than five decades of ministry experience.

In his ninth point, Patterson stated, “Arrogance is as charming to God’s people, and as appealing to God, as an angry bull is to a wounded cowboy in a rodeo arena.”

Noting that while arrogance knows no age restriction, Patterson

“A fire left to itself usually goes out,” said Floyd, SBC president and pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Ark. Basing his presentation from 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Floyd noted, “If we want the power of the Spirit to be everything through us that He is within us, then we must take the initiative personally and intentionally to fan the flame of the Spirit of God.” As this takes place, Floyd stated Christians will move into seasons of spiritual renewal. He added, “This deep work of God occurring within us will alter our strategies, reinventing them to the glory of God. And yes, this needs to happen within our Southern Baptist Convention in the way we carry out our work together.”

He suggested that by holding onto old structures and systems and being

more concerned about preserving them than seeing them conform to what God is doing today, we may lose both the work of God and our present generation of Baptists.

He then covered six questions concerning challenges facing the SBC, calling the greatest one for this generation, “Knowing what we know about our past and present, as well as having the resources of churches, people, influence, reach, and dollars, how can we leverage all for the purpose of advancing the gospel in an unprecedented manner into places where the gospel has never been before regionally, statewide, nationally, and globally?”

Floyd noted the importance of the SBC being lean, nimble, and diverse as well as working toward innovation for best practices. But what really propels this innovation, he remarked, is the Lord Jesus.

ALBERT MOHLER: “SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE QUEST FOR THEOLOGICAL IDENTITY: UNAVOIDABLE QUESTIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY”

Trying to discover one’s or an entity’s identity in present times is difficult due to ever-increasing pluralism, said Mohler, who is president of Southern Seminary. However, he noted that it is a mandatory task that Southern Baptists must undertake, especially on the theological front.

With modernity and liberal theology influencing the identities of

To VIEW ALL VIDEOS of the conference’s plenary sessions, visit mbts.edu/sbc21.

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AROUND CAMPUS

Christian denominations throughout the 20th century, Mohler noted that Southern Baptists remained “at ease in Zion…” when it came to their identity. However, this would change in the 1970s, and has been the case ever since.

Southern Baptists were forced to face this question and determined that with the passing of nominal Christianity…what was left was a group of believers who understood the costliness of its adherence to faith and witness in Jesus Christ.

Mohler noted 10 questions about the future that Southern Baptists must address as they seek to understand their theological identity.

Among them were: “Will Southern Baptists embrace an identity that is more theological than tribal?” and “Will today’s generation summon and maintain the courage to minister Christ in a context of constant conflict and confrontation?”

The final question Mohler addressed originated from Jesus’ question to his disciples in Luke 18, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Southern Seminary’s president then localized that question to the denomination.

“Understanding that Jesus asked that question of his disciples means that surely he must be asking it of us,” Mohler concluded. “Our responsibility, though in one sense for the church universal through the ages, is a responsibility for our denomination and our churches at this time…May the Lord find us faithful.”

DAVID DOCKERY: “WHO ARE SOUTHERN BAPTISTS? TOWARD A TRANS-GENERATIONAL IDENTITY”

Dockery, president of Trinity International University, provided symposium attendees an in-depth

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history of Southern Baptists, dating back to the 17th century.

Acknowledging that Southern Baptist identity has changed significantly from 1845 to 2015, Dockery suggested a major shift toward recovery, or re-envisioning took place around 2005.

“The millennials came along during this particular time, and they began to see not only Southern Baptist life differently, but they saw the world differently,” he said. “What was happening around the country began to be reflected in Southern Baptist life. A true generational shift was taking place.”

As a result, Dockery stated, in 2015 the denomination is faced with many questions this new generation must explore. He noted 12 areas of constancy among Southern Baptists that this generation must “acknowledge and wrestle with as they participate in Southern Baptist life in the days to come.”

Among these were ideals such as Southern Baptists’ commitment to the convention’s model of ministry; the SBC being characterized by controversy and conflict, as well as being cooperative, confessional, compassionate, and a Great Commission

people; and as a group that understands its culture.

Looking to the future, Dockery suggested that Southern Baptists must become interconnected to other denominations and networks committed to the Great Commandment and Great Commission; become intercultural and interracial as opposed to insular; become intergenerational, finding its ultimate identity in Christ, not in particular generations.

JASON ALLEN: “TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PASTORS, MINISTERS & MISSIONARIES: SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY”

In addressing training for the next generation of SBC ministry leaders, Allen expressed that theological education, both presently and into the future, seems to be unpredictable at best. He offered an alternative, however.

“My argument is straightforward—we cannot predict the future of theological education, but we must choose to determine it.”

Historically, Allen said, the relationship between SBC churches and

their seminaries was tenuous at best because of a generalized suspicion of higher education as well as the theological controversies and liberalism that had spread throughout the faculties of these institutions.

However, Allen noted significant change has occurred since 1979 … leading to the present, where he stated that the denomination is “enjoying a golden era in theological education.”

Among his reasons for this assessment include that SBC seminaries are: more theologically conservative than they’ve been in a century; remain affordable and accessible; remain on mission toward Great Commission work, and whose faculties are notably accomplished.

Looking ahead, Allen noted the best path for the SBC is working to determine where theological education is headed. Among the areas of focus he included: maintaining confessional integrity and mission clarity, developing sustainable business models, being agile and adaptable to educational delivery systems, serving SBC churches, prioritizing the Master of Divinity degree for those headed toward the pastorate, and collabo-

ratively working together with the denomination.

Summing up his message, Allen recognized the efforts of Paul Pressler, Paige Patterson, and Adrian Rogers during the Conservative Resurgence and the effect it’s had in providing the SBC healthy seminaries. He reminded the audience, now that we have them, “We must have a determination to keep them.”

THOM RAINER: “BY THE NUMBERS: WHAT SBC DEMOGRAPHICS TELL US ABOUT OUR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE”

In the symposium’s final presentation, Rainer, the president & CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, brought a macro-view of SBC demographics “by the numbers” since its inception.

Five primary questions arose from Rainer’s research: What happened during the “Silent Era?” Are we truly an evangelistic denomination? Have we ever truly been a Sunday school denomination? Have we become a denomination of affluence as opposed to influence? and Where do we go from here?

A negative finding Rainer gleaned from his research was called, “The

Silent Era for New Churches,” and occurred from 1920-1949. Noting that new church work has long been the lifeblood of the SBC, he admitted that the trend over these three decades confounded him. Over this period, the SBC had zero new net churches; in fact, there were 159 less churches overall in 1949 than it had in 1929.

“The impact of such anemic church planting cannot be overstated,” Rainer said. “Applying those numbers to the missed opportunities of those 30 years suggests we missed the opportunity to have an additional 9,000 churches in our denomination today” – costing the convention hundreds of thousands of new baptized converts, thousands of missionaries, countless pastors and staff, and more new church plants.

Rainer said the most plausible hypothesis for the event is a combination of local churches forsaking church planting and failed trust in the Home Mission Board, but a certain answer remains elusive.

Moving forward, Rainer said his research suggests that the convention needs healthier churches which possess traits such as a strong biblical foundation, intentional evangelism efforts, focus on small group membership, and intentionality about prayer.

In addition to the plenary sessions, Allen hosted a series of panel discussions and four Midwestern Seminary academicians made presentations during breakout sessions. •

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Second annual FTC Conference at Midwestern Seminary: Church must be “pillar, buttress of truth”

by T. PAT R I C K H U D S O N

As the culture encounters a rapidly-changing society and truth becomes more-and-more relative, attendees of Midwestern Seminary’s second annual For the Church Conference, held on Aug. 31-Sept. 1 were urged to lead their churches and ministries in becoming pillars and buttresses of truth.

More than 1,000 pastors, students, and ministry leaders from across America packed into the Kansas City campus’ Daniel Lee Chapel complex to be refreshed and renewed as they attended panel discussions, workshops, and main sessions with messages by Jason Allen, Russell Moore, Darrin Patrick, H.B. Charles, Jared Wilson, and David Platt.

The conference’s theme—derived from 1 Timothy 3:15—focused on “For the Church and Truth.” Allen, Midwestern Seminary’s president, said this was fitting for such a time as this.

“In this, our second year of hosting For the Church, we desired to build upon last year’s theme: ‘Ready for the Church.’ How better than to get back to the basics of grounding ourselves in the truth of who God is

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and in the truth of His Word?

“Amidst significant cultural shifting and ever-mounting strife,

by God’s grace, we (the church) must stand as a pillar in the midst of this widespread confusion and instability,” Allen added. “Our prayer is that the conference participants will return to their ministries prepared, equipped, and with a strengthened resolve to proclaim God’s truth and to fulfill their calling within the local church.”

TRUTH AND THE CHURCH

Jason Allen kick-started the conference on Monday evening by stating, “We are about the church at this conference, which means we better be about the truth of Scripture.”

In fact, he noted, the entirety of the New Testament is concerned with proclaiming truth. Christianity consists of more than sentiments or feelings – what it is, he said, is a set of truth claims to be affirmed.

“When disemboweled of its truth claims, there is no Christianity left behind,” Allen added.

Preaching from 1 Tim. 3:14-16, Allen explained how the Apostle Paul was exhorting his young disciple, Timothy, about how the church is to order itself. First and foremost, it is to uphold and support – like a pillar – the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Allen shared three charges for ministry leaders about what this means: church leaders must vigorously protect the truth; church leaders must consistently proclaim the truth; and church leaders are called to thoroughly prepare for the truth.

Toward the latter, Allen said, “If we believe half of what we say we believe, we have to acknowledge… it is a life or death business to which we are called. We cannot sloppily go through life and ministry, dabbling in the truths of God. We are called to… prepare intellectually and theologically to be able to give that defense

for the hope that is within us.”

In concluding, Allen told of Charles Spurgeon’s faithfulness in the face of persecution during the Downgrade Controversy. He noted that 1 Tim. 4:7 is etched on Spurgeon’s tombstone, and said, “Indeed, brothers and sisters, if our church and our generation will know health and vitality, we better be ready to keep the faith ourselves.”

TRUTH AND CULTURE

Russell Moore, the president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, explained that when cultural turmoil surrounds believers, they are free to experience a sense of peace and tranquility that can only be found by trusting in God’s Word.

Speaking of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, Moore said, “The seeking—Jesus tells us—frees us from anxiety…whether that is about our future personally or about our future culturally. It also frees us

from a kind of security that is built in ourselves….You can either serve God and follow Christ or you can find your tranquility and your confidence in whatever it is that you find your security in.”

Preaching from 2 Kings 6:8-23, Moore related how the prophet Elisha was calm in the midst of the Syrian army’s attempt to wipe the Israelites from existence. In so acting, Moore noted of Elisha, “His confidence is in the truth of the Word that has been spoken, and so is ours.”

Moore, working through the text, expounded upon three points: the truth frees us to speak the Word of God; the truth frees us to see the presence of God; and the truth frees us to show the mercy of God. In his final point, Moore said that, much like the Israelite king in verse 21, fear often leads us to lash out in settling a score or to conduct battle with others who threaten our worldview.

However, because believers have victory in the truth of God’s Word, and once were in the same predicament as unbelievers, Moore queried as to why believers wouldn’t instead stand before unbelievers and share the gospel with them in grace, gentleness, kindness, and love.

Moore concluded, “If you have confidence in the power that is in the Word you are proclaiming, it enables you then to love” those who so desperately need salvation in Jesus Christ.

TRUTH AND LEADERSHIP

Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, took the stage Tuesday morning and addressed the audience on “Truth and Leadership.”

In doing so, he detailed the leadership models of two men within one passage – Acts 27.

The first, Luke, was an example of what happens when you don’t lead well. In spite of the first-hand

To VIEW ALL VIDEOS of the conference’s plenary sessions, visit m.ftc.co/ftc15video.

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account of Jesus’ ministry and witnessing all the mighty works of Jesus, Luke wilted in the face of a mighty storm. Luke lost his vision.

“Leaders are fueled by vision,” Patrick said.

“If you lose your vision, your leadership is neutered. Obviously, vision is based on God’s truth, under God’s authority and God’s Word….When you lose vision, you can’t see what God is doing. You don’t remember what God said. You are not sure of where God is taking you.”

On the other hand, in the midst of the storm, Paul didn’t allow his vision to leave. Patrick noted that the reason for Paul’s leadership during that difficult time was that he had “worshipped before the storm.”

By this, Patrick meant that the thorn in Paul’s flesh, as mentioned in 2 Cor. 12:7, had weakened and molded Paul so God’s power could be displayed through him at a later time.

Patrick added that the overarching purpose for God’s molding a ministry leader is to see people saved.

As 276 people were saved in the Acts 27 account, Patrick noted that a church leader is to take peoples’ focus off the everyday minutia of life to see something more.

“You as a leader say, ‘Raise your gaze. There is a bigger kingdom. You don’t have to focus on your small, little, pathetic life anymore. You can be caught up in something beautiful and bigger.’ Quit looking at the ship; quit focusing on the storm; God’s at work; God’s doing something. If we won’t try to save ourselves with our ingenuity, He is going to rescue us, and it will change our lives forever.”

TRUTH AND PREACHING

“More important than how you preach,” said H.B. Charles, pastor of

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Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., “is what you preach.” And the greatest need for pastors proclaiming the truth of God’s Word is to preach about the “Great Exchange.”

Basing his message on 2 Cor. 5:21, Charles used the words, sovereignty, sinlessness, substitution, and satisfaction to explain the concept of the Great Exchange, and why it is imperative that church leaders preach it.

“Here, essentially stated, is everything for sinners to be made reconciled to God,” he said.

“The message of this verse is that guilty sinners are reconciled to God through the ‘Great Exchange’ which was accomplished by God through Jesus Christ.”

The Great Exchange, Charles explained, is God’s solution to the fact that mankind has no way of reconciling their sinfulness in a way that satisfies His demand for holiness and

righteousness. In that Jesus Christ lived a perfectly sinless life, He was able to serve as a substitution for the sinfulness of mankind, and that sacrifice satisfied the wrath of a just God. In concluding, Charles noted, “This is the glorious truth we should be declaring in these critical days… As it is said, we are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. If you know what it is to be rescued by grace, may the Lord help you to be a faithful ambassador to proclaim the Great Exchange for the salvation of the world.”

TRUTH AND SHEPHERDING

Preaching to pastors and ministry leaders from Isaiah 40:9-11, Jared Wilson, who serves as director of Content Strategy & managing editor of the For the Church website at Midwestern Seminary, shared that when shepherding a congregation, the glory of Christ is one’s true mes-

sage, one’s true strength, and one’s true comfort.

“In a church culture that offers countless steps, tips, and helpful hints, one million ways to ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps,’ what is the biblical shepherd actually called to do?,” Wilson asked.

“According to the Scriptures, the only thing that works for the aims that we ought to seek is the glory of God. Nothing else works.”

He noted that true biblical shepherding doesn’t begin with leadership skills or strategies; it begins with gospel exultation and worship. Referring to the prophet in Isaiah 6, Wilson said, “You have been taken apart by the glory of Christ, and you have been put back together by the glory of Christ, and you want to have nothing to do with ministry that has nothing to do with the glory of Christ.”

In expressing the best picture of the true shepherd, Wilson said one needs to look no further than to Jesus. He concluded, “Pastors, the Lord your God loves you with an unfailing love. He will be your comfort, fulfillment, and justification.

Let the ministry dreams be shattered, if they must. Let the ministry idols be damned, because they will be.

Resolve, like Paul, to know nothing except Christ, and Him crucified.”

TRUTH AND MISSIONS

Wrapping up the conference was IMB President, David Platt, who emphasized three “connections” to the Truth and Missions as found in John 14: truth is why we participate in missions; truth is what we proclaim in missions; and Truth is who we personify in missions.

Platt challenged attendees that it is the pastor/ministry leader who sets the bar for missions in the local church.

“It is the responsibility of every pastor to fan a flame for God’s global glory in every local church,” Platt said.

“I am convinced that when pastors get a heart for global missions, it changes the entire ballgame.”

He added, “We are plagued by a rampant spectator mentality in the church that totally misses the power of the Spirit available to all of us, and I want to call you to lead your church to personify truth in missions. By that I mean, there is a God who desires the salvation of people in your community and of every people group on the planet. He wants them saved, so may our lives and churches reflect Him.

“Pastor/church leader, may truth propel you not just to participation, but leadership in mission. May truth be what you proclaim and what you lead your church to proclaim in missions, and may you and the church you lead personify the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

In addition to the main sessions, conference-goers participated in a variety of workshop sessions on Tuesday, including the topics: “Pragmatism, Legalism, and the Gospel,” led by Wilson; “Beyond Millennials: Youth Evangelism & Discipleship for the Next Generation,” led by Dave Rahn, author and administrator within Youth for Christ; “Church Planting and Revitalization in the Midwest,” led by Lane Harrison, pastor of LifePoint Church in Ozark, Mo., and Joshua Hedger, director of Church Planting & Partnering at MBTS; “The Truth: Carl Henry, Evangelicals, and the Bible,” led by Jason Duesing, provost of MBTS and Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian Theology at MBTS; and the “Women’s Workshop Track,” led

by Christine Hoover, author, pastor’s wife and mother of three, and Karen Allen, wife of Midwestern President Jason Allen. •

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Midwestern Seminary names scholar Owen Strachan to faculty as associate professor of Christian Theology, head of forthcoming center for theology and culture

by T. PAT R I C K H U D S O N

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Jason Allen announced that Owen Strachan will join the institution’s faculty on July 1, as associate professor of Christian Theology and as director of a forthcoming center for theology and culture.

Having previously served since 2010 in multiple roles at Boyce College and Southern Seminary, in Louisville, Ky., Strachan will undertake the duties of molding the next generation of God-called men and women at Midwestern Seminary.

“Dr. Strachan is one of the brightest young minds in the Southern Baptist Convention and the broader Evangelical world,” Allen said. “He is a gifted thinker and author, and we are thrilled to have him coming to Midwestern Seminary. There is no question he will further strengthen our accomplished faculty.”

Allen stated that in addition to his professorial duties, Strachan will hold the responsibility of engaging this generation’s most crucial issues in his leadership role over a soon-to-belaunched center designed to engage theology and culture.

“Dr. Strachan is both thoughtful and convictional, and he is the perfect man to lead our forthcoming center on theology and culture,” Allen said. “It will be a serious center, led by a serious man, engaging the

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most serious and urgent theological and cultural issues of our generation.

And, ultimately, the center will serve the church, comporting with Midwestern Seminary’s mission to exist for the church.”

training future leaders of God’s church.

This is life or death stuff. The blessing of the Lord is on this school, and it’s hard not to want to be a part of that.”

Strachan also elaborated on goals he’s set for his new roles at

“It is a thrill to join a surging seminary,” Strachan said. “This is a rare privilege in our time, when many schools are moving away from traditional training. I love and share the robust vision of theological education that Midwestern Seminary has so effectively promoted. There is no more important work in the world than

MBTS, saying, “This role will allow for maximal writing time, which is a calling on my life. I relish engaging the culture and believe that it is a vital part of doctrinal instruction. It’s my hope that the center for theology and culture will serve as a power plant for knowledge of the Word and the times.

“In sum, I’m fired up about

training the next generation of pastor-theologians,” he added. “The days are evil and the world is shaking under our feet, but secularism, Islam, and sexualized postmodernism are, in reality, opportunities—gospel opportunities.

I want to help train up an army of gospel Navy SEALs who do not fear the world; who laugh at Satan’s schemes; and who risk everything they have to show that Christ is all.”

The Maine native is a graduate of Bowdoin College (A.B. in History), Southern Seminary (M.Div. in Biblical & Theological Studies), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Ph.D. in Theological Studies).

In roles within the SBC and greater Evangelical sphere, Strachan serves as president of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, whose purpose is “to set forth the teachings of the Bible about the complementary differences between men and women, created equally in the image of God, because these teachings are essential for obedience to Scripture and for the health of the family and the church.” Strachan plans to maintain his role within the CBMW as he transitions to Midwestern Seminary.

He is also a contributing writer for The Gospel Coalition, a research fellow of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC, and a fellow of the Center for Pastor-Theologians.

At SBTS, Strachan was director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement, and at Boyce College, he served as chair of Gospel & Culture. Prior to his time in Louisville, Strachan was the fulltime managing director of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and associate director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at

It is a thrill to join a surging seminary. This is a rare privilege in our time, when many schools are moving away from traditional training. I love and share the robust vision of theological education that Midwestern Seminary has so effectively promoted. There is no more important work in the world than training future leaders of God’s church. This is life or death stuff.

– OWEN STRACHAN

TEDS, which is in Deerfield, Ill. A well-established writer, Strachan has published six books, including: Risky Gospel: Abandon Fear and Build Something Awesome; editor of The Pastor as Scholar, the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry

by John Piper and D.A. Carson; Jonathan Edwards, Lover of God; Jonathan Edwards on Beauty; Jonathan Edwards on the Good Life; Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity; and Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell.

In 2015, Strachan will have five

more works published: The Colson Way (Thomas Nelson); Reawakening the Evangelical Mind (Zondervan); The Pastor as Public Theologian (Baker); Designed for Joy (Crossway); and Essential Evangelicalism: The Enduring Influence of Carl F.H. Henry (Crossway).

Strachan has written academic journal articles for Themelios, Trinity Journal, Fides et Historia, Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Bulletin of Ecclesial Theology, and Theology for Ministry. Further, he has authored popular articles for The Atlantic, Washington Post, First Things, The American Spectator, The City, and Christianity Today.

He writes regularly for 9Marks, The Stream and his Patheos blog, “Thoughtlife,” which was ranked a top-100 Christian website by ChurchRelevance.com.

“Owen Strachan’s ready ability to contribute to the Midwestern faculty as a writing theologian, as well as an accomplished classroom lecturer, makes him a welcomed addition to our team of scholars and instructors,” commented Jason G. Duesing, Midwestern Seminary’s provost. “Like the Kansas City Royals, with all-stars at every spot on the field, we are having fun pursuing our gospel work with some of the greatest faculty in Evangelicalism.

“Strachan’s heart for training and shaping ‘pastor-theologians’ fits perfectly under our ‘for the Church’ banner and brings me great joy,” Duesing added. “That he also brings expertise on the great Evangelical theologian, Carl F.H. Henry, to the task of teaching theology could not come at a better time for theological education. In our day, we need the wisdom of Henry more than ever, and I am grateful Strachan can show us the way.” •

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Midwestern Seminary receives $7 million lead gift for proposed student center

by T. PAT R I C K H U D S O N

In what President Jason Allen called an answer to prayer for one of the “most significant institutional needs” since the school’s inception in 1957, Midwestern Seminary received a lead gift from an Oklahoma family for a new student center.

Allen said he could not appropriately express gratitude to God for His kind providence in uniting the seminary with Harold and Patricia Mathena, of Oklahoma City, who so generously pledged $7 million to

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Midwestern Seminary, as a lead gift toward an approximately $14 million student center. He added, “This is one of the largest gifts in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention and in the history of theological education in North America as a whole.

“This gift is an answer to over two years of prayer on my part, and, in a very real way, to Southern Baptists’ prayers since 1957 when, in our seminary’s founding documents, the Board of Trustees expressed their

desire to build a facility for student and family life as soon as possible,” Allen said.

“It is clear to me in the way God has worked throughout this process that His special favor is upon Midwestern Seminary,” Allen continued.

“And through the singular generosity of the Mathenas, in committing to this $7 million lead gift, we are able to pursue a student center here at this strategic juncture in Midwestern Seminary’s life. This new building is

“This is a remarkable story of God’s providence, wherein He kept allowing our paths to cross.”

– JASON ALLEN

an urgency given our record enrollment growth the past two years.”

For more information about Midwestern Seminary or to inquire about contributing to the student center, contact Charles Smith in the Office of Institutional Relations at ir@mbts.edu.

Allen said that after nearly a year’s worth of master planning for the campus, it became apparent that in addition to the need for faculty relocation to the heart of campus and more single student housing, that the most pressing need for Midwestern Seminary was a student center. However, without a lead gift to kick-start the effort, it would be impossible.

This is where God had already begun to move for a solution.

Through a series of events and common friendships, Allen was in-

troduced to Mr. & Mrs. Mathena.

This past year, preaching opportunities at Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and at other Oklahoma and Missouri venues enabled Allen to get to know the Mathenas more personally.

“This is a remarkable story of God’s providence, wherein He kept allowing our paths to cross,” Allen said.

The elder Mathena—who founded Mathena, Inc., an oilfield mud-gas pressure control solutions company and who has been a bi-vocational pastor/evangelist—noted that it took quite some time for he and Allen to meet in person. All along, however, conversations with his wife, family, pastor, godly advisors, and friends were planting seeds that would eventually confirm his decision to make the gift.

Speaking of the interactions he had with others before ever meeting Allen, Mathena said, “I mentioned these conversations to say that I have observed in Scripture, and in my everyday experiences, that God blesses a man, whether in ministry or in business. God’s good hand rests upon a man. I have observed that struggling churches, ministries,

For MORE INFORMATION about Midwestern Seminary or to inquire about contributing to the student center, contact Charles Smith in the Office of Institutional Relations at ir@mbts.edu

and businesses can be salvaged and turned around by a man whose heart is stayed on God.” In February, Mathena met and sat down with Allen and his wife, Karen, for the first time during a meal in Oklahoma City.

“I had the opportunity to hear what God was doing and what Dr. Allen believed that God was going to do with this great institution in equipping and preparing young men and women for ministry in the local church,” Mathena said. “God began speaking to my heart about how we could help and be a part of Jason’s vision.”

Mathena continued, saying, “Weeks and months passed and one day in July, Jason and Charles Smith (Midwestern Seminary’s vice president of Institutional Relations) came to our house and shared with us the need for a student center at Midwestern. God impressed upon us that this was something we would enjoy being a part of, and so now we are pleased to pledge a gift of $7 million toward the total cost of building the student center at Midwestern Seminary.”

The proposed student center, approximately 40,000 square feet, and will hold a gymnasium, recreation and fitness areas, cafeteria, bookstore, student commons area as well as space for additional staff or faculty offices.

In discussing a timeframe that a student center could be operational on campus, Allen said, “There is still much, much work to do, including raising the additional funds needed.

As we plan to accomplish this project debt-free, we are praying God will raise up men and women across the SBC and beyond to partner with us.” •

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STUDENT LIFE

SPRING PICNIC The Spring Picnic brought the Midwestern Seminary community together for a day of fun and fellowship. The success of events like this and others is another great hallmark of the vibrant student life and culture taking place on campus.

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For MORE CAMPUS EVENTS AND PHOTOS visit our events page at mbts.edu/events.

SPRING PICNIC

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GOSPEL-CENTERE D R E SOUR CE S

FOR THE CHURCH Rec e n t a rt ic l e s f ro m Fo r Th e C h u r ch

MO RE RES O URC ES A VA I L A B LE AT F TC . C O

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4 Qualities of a Legacy Leader

by D . A . H O R T O N

There’s something special about watching somebody finish something they started. We love attending graduations so we can watch a 4-year journey end with one walk across the stage and a handshake. At weddings we replay the couple’s fights, breakups, and makeups in our heads that all were a part of the journey that led them to an altar where they presently stand, intently gazing into each other’s eyes taking vows of permanency before God and man.

Even in watching sports we take joy in watching hours of other people competing for a prize that we’ll never earn or hold ourselves just because we appreciate the capstone of the “story” season we will have when its over.

But when it comes to ministry pastors, do we not realize that the eyes of our spouses, children and parishioners are watching us? I mean, we know they’re watching, but perhaps we’re assuming we’re not considering their intentions for watching. Sure, like with all spectators, you’ll have your hecklers that will yell things at you to get you off your game but that’s the minority of your viewing audience.

I’d like to challenge you to consider the broader audience that is actually cheering you on! The ones that pray for you when you’re up to bat in the pulpit, the ones who read through the notes they took from your sermon on Monday

while God the Holy Spirit does His work of transformation in their life.

In your moments of frustration, it’s easy to give in to the assumptions of your flesh and think that the majority of those who are looking at you are hecklers, when in reality they’re not. I’m convinced that its in those moments that God is building up legacy leaders in our city’s churches. Legacy leaders are those men for whom God provides a unique measure of grace to weather many storms in order to not only start faithfully but to finish strong.

If you are in a season of life where you are feeling weak, I pray God would encourage you by showing you His placement of these four qualities of a legacy leader in your life: 1. CONSISTENT

Many men in our cities start faithfully, but legacy leaders finish strong. They stay when others leave and endure when others abandon. God the Holy Spirit provides them with the supernatural ability to remain, because He remains in them (e.g. Romans 8:9-13).

2. COURAGEOUS

Legacy leaders stand for truth when others fall for false doctrine. Legacy leaders show courage when they stand up and speak out against heresy while lovingly shepherding the hearts of the saints God has called them to care for.

It takes courage to care for people who

initially don’t care much for God’s word.

3. CONTEXTUAL

A legacy leader observes the environment they serve in and respects it’s history. At the same time, he works to reestablish a rhythm of holiness that was once there pre-fall. This is hard work that is only accomplished when the body at-large is mobilized to live lives in harmony with God’s mission within the context of their local church.

The legacy leader models for them what this looks like.

4. CONTRITE

Perhaps the most important quality of a legacy leader is his ability to remain contrite when he is wrong. I believe that the best teachers are the ones who are teachable. When a leader receives correction and is both open and repentant it encourages those who follow him to follow his example of humility more closely than before.

We’ve all heard, “the race is not to the swift” (Ecc. 9:11) and Paul’s final words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). My prayer is that we will be able to finish our races by crossing the finish line strong in front of the audience in glory that is cheering us on (Heb. 12:1) and those on this side of eternity following in our footsteps.

Lead them well, my brothers!

D.A. HORTON, a regular contributor to For The Church, currently serves as the National Coordinator for Urban Student Missions at the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

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How To Pastor Without Losing Your Wife’s Heart

by C H R I S T I N E H O O V E R

Ministry requires ultra-marathon endurance, pacing, and energy exertion.

As a pastor’s wife, I watch people pull on my husband on Sundays and listen as he recounts his days, and I marvel at what his calling means for him and how he handles it all. However, there are days when he’s pulled over to the side of the race because he’s exhausted or discouraged, and I am reminded of just how influential I am in this race we’re running together. I help him pace himself, I cheer him on when he’s low on the fuel of faith, and I clear the path for him through my emotional and physical support.

Although he says over and over that I’m his most valuable running partner, he is equally valuable to me. His leadership in our home and marriage and the way he champions me and my own ministry helps me run beside him well.

We’re learning. There have been times when he’s run ahead of me; there have been times when I’ve not responded well to that. At times he’s been distract-

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ed and burdened and unaware that the pace has been too fast, just as there have been times when I’ve struggled to push myself in joyful sacrifice. Church planting in particular has thrown obstacles in our path that we weren’t prepared for, and our response to those obstacles has caused us to lose step with one another sometimes.

But we’re learning. My husband especially has learned the art of running full-out in ministry while also running full-out in marriage and family. Because of this--because he has been as committed to me as he has to ministry--he hasn’t lost my heart. In fact, he has it more than ever. This is why:

HE FUELS HIMSELF.

My husband fuels himself with the Word every day. He doesn’t look to secondary sources for his sustenance, sources that won’t enable him to endure with faith and joy. As his running partner, I not only feel secure in that because I know He is following

God, but also because he is ingesting heart sustenance that enables him to both pour out into others and into me and our children. By making himself available to the Holy Spirit, he keeps a soft and sensitive spirit toward me.

HE SETS A PACE THAT WE CAN BOTH RUN.

My husband has studied me. He knows my personality, my spiritual gifts, my passions, and what I can and can’t handle. He knows that I’m different than him, that he has a greater capacity for leadership, criticism, people, and activity than I do. And so he’s set our running pace where I can run with him. He doesn’t push me to do more than I can handle. He doesn’t tell me things that happen at church that aren’t healthy for me to know. He makes ministry a safe place for me to grow and serve according to my gifts, but he also encourages me to slow down and rest when I need it.

HE DRAWS MY EYES TO THE FINISH LINE.

I run hard alongside my husband, because I’ve embraced the race set before us and I want to do it well. But sometimes I get discouraged. Sometimes I need his ministry, not as a pastor but as my husband. When he sees that I need care from him and listens to those needs with a heart to help, he keeps my heart. He does this by reminding me of God’s faithfulness, by celebrating even the littlest of victories, by giving me specific feedback about how God is using me, and by bringing me back to the truth of God’s grace and love toward me.

HE KNOWS THE RACE IS EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL MORE THAN IT’S PHYSICAL.

An ultramarathon is a mental exercise of mind over matter. Ministry is an exercise of faith over sight. In order for us to endure, we must take care of our emotional, spiritual, and physical health. My husband leads us well in this by communicating clearly regarding our schedule, planning ahead for emotional connection through date nights, and setting an example in physical health.

But the most important thing he does is to remind me over and over, whether through word or deed, that his vow is to me. He knows I need to hear this.

Pastor, your wife needs to hear this too.

Are you running so hard that you’ve forgotten your running partner? If you are outpacing your wife, if you’re expecting her to endure the burdens of ministry without your attentive care, you are in danger of losing her heart and being disqualified from the race altogether. But if you care for her well?

You will never lose her heart, and she’ll be your most valuable running partner in life, love, and ministry.

CHRISTINE HOOVER, a regular contributor to For The Church, is a church planting pastor’s wife, mom to three boys, and the author of The Church Planting Wife and From Good to Grace.

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Pursuing the Right Thing in Ministry

by M AT T C H A N D L E R

I spend a good portion of my week in dialogue with other pastors from different denominations and different generations (though most are young), and our conversations range from theology to philosophy, from church growth to how to lead a staff. I enjoy these talks because I love robust discussions about things that matter.

These conversations feed my soul.

But I have to confess that I have been somewhat disturbed by something I hear “underneath” many of the questions I’m asked in these conversations. When I exited itinerant ministry to become a pastor, I left behind crowds numbering in the thousands and a financial situation that more than provided for my family to enter a small (160 member) church that cut my annual salary in half. There wasn’t one person who thought that taking the position at The Village was a smart move. In fact, several people actually sat me down and told me they thought I was being disobedient and a bad steward of the gifts that God had imparted to me. I sense this same kind of logic at work in a lot of ministry conversations, and I think it is extremely dangerous.

The truth is, I didn’t become the pastor of a church in the suburbs of Dallas because I had a grand vision for growing a dynamic, life-trans-

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forming, church-planting, gospel-preaching, God-centered church.

I took the position because, after a great deal of conversation, after much prayer and fasting, my wife and I believed it was the direction the Holy Spirit was leading us. I came to The Village because I thought that by doing so I would get to see more of God, experience more of God, know more of God, and consequently to see more of me die. In the end, He is the great end that I am after.

In 1 Timothy 4:10 Paul writes, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

I love that verse. We toil, yes. We strive, yes. But where is our hope?

What—or rather, who—is the goal? I love preaching the gospel, and I love planting churches, but I do those things because in them I feel the unbearable weight of His presence. In ministry that is focused beyond me, I feel this crushing majesty that makes me want to cry, sing, and scream all at the same time.

It seems that the goal for far too many ministers is something else altogether. The goal is growing our churches to a certain size or our platforms (pulpits, blogs, books) to a certain fame. I mean, how hollow

is that? And how scary. Just because people love Jesus and follow Him doesn’t mean that they get to grow or reach a certain level of “success” (I use that word loosely). Here are a few people who loved our great God and King and were obedient beyond the expectation of success: MOSES

Moses spends his whole life with grumbling whiners and dies without getting to walk into the Promise Land.

DAVID

David’s son Amnon rapes his own sister, leading to a rebellion against David, dethroning him for a season.

JEREMIAH

Jeremiah ends up in exile with the rest of Israel after repeatedly getting beaten for preaching what God commanded him to preach.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert.

PETER

Peter is martyred, reportedly crucified upside down.

PAUL

Paul is killed in Rome but only after he spends his life (with thorn stuck

3 Marks of a Spirit-Filled Leader

by D A R R I N PAT R I C K

in his flesh) being beaten, rejected, lost at sea, and consistently dealing with people coming in behind him and destroying what he built.

Look, if your hope is set on anything other than Him, how will you survive when it goes bad?

How will you remain passionate and vibrant when attendance falters or the baptismal waters are unstirred for long stretches?

How will you maintain doctrinal integrity or teach hard things if He isn’t the treasure? How will you worship when your wife gets sick or your son goes for a ride in an ambulance? If He is the goal, the treasure, and the pursuit, then His glory alone willl be the fuel that presses you into His goodness and grace all the more. I am not saying any of these difficult things are pleasant or enjoyable, only that if He is your goal, you will find your faith sustained.

May God bless you and keep you.

May you see that He is the one true treasure worth striving for.

And may you press on toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

MATT CHANDLER is the Lead

Teaching Pastor for The Village Church, based in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex of Texas, and President of the Acts29 Church Planting Network

If you read through the book of Acts, you will see how vital it is for the mission of the church to have Spirit-filled leaders. But most of us doubt we can lead like Peter, John, Stephen and Philip. We don’t see “signs and wonders” happening around us like they did around them. But there’s more to the Spirit’s empowering presence than what we commonly identify as “spectacular.” In fact, these three marks go against much of what we’ve come to expect from leaders.

1. THEY DEAL WITH CONFLICT DIRECTLY

If ever there was a sign that the Spirit resides within us, it is this. For many of us, our natural tendency is to avoid conflict. Some of us even try to hide behind phrases that sound spiritual, “Oh, well, I’m just showing them grace” or “We’re a loving community.” But that’s not from the Spirit. It’s not kindness, it’s cowardice. Spirit-filled leaders confront. They do it in love. They’re not jerks about it.

They’re not trying to prove a point, but they tell the truth.

2. THEY APPLY GOD’S TRUTH SPECIFICALLY

You know you are talking to a Spirit-filled leader because they point you to the Bible when you need direction and clarity. Spirit-filled leaders don’t just rely on their own experience. They always test their intuitions against Scripture.

Spirit-filled leaders say, “My authority doesn’t come from my experience, my authority comes from God through Scripture.” They don’t just consider what’s practical, expedient, or even popular when making decisions.

3. THEY SHARE LEADERS GENEROUSLY

If the church is going to multiply, leaders need to multiply. If you are a Spirit-filled leader, you’re going to influence people. You’re going to attract followers.

People will come to you to learn and grow. But at some point, they need to leave.

They need to lead somewhere else. Are you going to encourage that process or resist it? Most of us resist it because we get wrapped up in what God is doing “right here” and don’t consider what He wants to do “over there.”

If you’re a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit wants you to become a leader. The good news is He stands by ready to empower you in every situation. He wants to fill you with courage, wisdom, and generosity just like he did with Peter, John, Stephen, and Philip. Submit to His leadership and see what happens!

DARRIN PATRICK, a regular contributor to For The Church, is the Lead Pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as Vice President of the Acts29 Church Planting Network.

RESOURCES | FTC.CO

Why Knowing Your Flock is Critical to Meaningful Preaching

by J A R E D C . W I L S O N

The preacher paced the stage, staring earnestly out into the congregation.

It was time for his weekly invitation.

He asked for respondents to raise their hands. Not a single hand was raised.

But he had no way of knowing this because he was on a video screen.

I found myself at the nearest campus of this multisite church on assignment from the pastor himself, a man who had recently hired me to do some freelance research work for him. Visiting one of his many remote services was supposed to help me get a “feel” for his ministry.

It certainly did. But I couldn’t help but be struck with the feeling that this way of doing ministry couldn’t really help the preacher get a “feel” for his congregation.

I don’t know what you think about video venues or the multi-site model of church growth in general, but this experience and others has only affirmed some of the concerns I have about the disconnect between preacher and flock, a growing dilemma in all kinds of churches, big and small.

Indeed, this dilemma isn’t merely limited to multi-site, “video venue” churches.

Pastors of growing churches of all sizes will continually struggle with staying familiar with their congregations. And the temptation to become more and more isolated becomes greater as more complexity is added to an increasing church.

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And of course, it’s impossible for a preacher of even a small church to be best friends with everybody in his church, and it’s impossible for preachers of larger churches to know everybody well. But the preacher whose ministry is becoming more and more about preaching and less and less about shepherding, the preacher who is becoming less and less involved with his congregation, is actually undermining the task to which he is trying to devote more of his time! Good preaching requires up-close shepherding.

The ministry of preaching cannot be divorced from the ministry of soul care; in fact, preaching is actually an extension of soul care. There are a host of reasons why it is important for pastors who want to preach meaningfully to know their flocks as well as they can, but here are three of the most important.

1. MEANINGFUL PREACHING HAS PEOPLE’S IDOLS IN MIND.

As I travel to preach in church services and conferences, one of the first questions I usually ask the pastor who invited me is “What are your people’s idols?” I want to be able not to just drop in and “do my thing,” but to serve this pastor and his congregation by speaking as well as I can to any of the hopes and dreams he can identify within his church that are not devotionally attached to Christ as their greatest

satisfaction. Sadly, some pastors don’t know how to answer the question.

When Paul walked into Athens, he saw that the city was full of idols (Acts 17:16). That said, he didn’t simply regard this as a philosophical problem but as a spiritual problem that grieved him personally. And when he addressed it, he did so specifically, referencing their devotion to “the unknown god” (17:23).

And whenever Paul addressed specific churches in his letters, you will see that the kinds of sins and falsehoods he addressed were very specific. He didn’t speak in generalizations. He knew what was going on in these churches.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that you begin embarrassing or exposing people from the pulpit. But it does mean that you are in the thick of congregational life enough to speak in familiar terms.

Until a pastor has spent quality time with people in his congregation, the idols his preaching must combat with the gospel will be merely theoretical.

All human beings have a few universal idols in common. But communities where churches are located, congregations as a subculture themselves, and even specific cliques and demographics within congregations tend to traffic in more specific idols and patterns of sin.

Knowing firsthand your flock’s misguided financial, career, and familial hopes will help you know how to

preach. It will help you pick the right texts and the right emphases in explicating those texts. This is what makes preaching a ministry, and not simply an exercise.

2. MEANINGFUL PREACHING HAS PEOPLE’S SUFFERING IN HEART.

I can tell you firsthand that my preaching changed after I’d begun holding people’s hands while they died and hearing people’s hearts while they cried. Until you’ve heard enough people share their sins and fears and worries and wounds, your preaching can be excellent and passionate, but it will not be all that it can be—resonant.

Many preachers carry the burden of God’s Word into the pulpit, and this is a good thing. Receiving the heavy mantle of preaching hot with Christ’s glory, being burdened to proclaim the Lord’s favor in the gospel is a noble, worthy, wonderful task. But the preacher must also feel the weight of his people in that pulpit. He must ascend to preach having been in the valley with them.

His manuscript should be smudged with the tears of his people.

Knowing what sufferings afflict his people on a regular basis will keep a preacher from becoming tone-deaf to his congregation. He won’t be lighthearted in the wrong places. It will affect the kinds of illustrations he uses, the types of stories he tells, and—most importantly—the dispositions with which he handles theWord. I have seen preachers make jokes about things people in his congregation were actually struggling with. And I’ve been that preacher. We come to lift burdens, but with our careless words we end up adding to them.

Preacher, do you have a genuine heart for your people? I don’t mean “Are you

a people person?” I mean, do you know what is going on in the lives of your congregation, and does it move you, grieve you? Have you wept with those who weep? If not, your preaching over time will show it.

Think of Moses’ grief over his people sins (Exodus 32:32). Or of Paul’s abundant tears (Acts 20:31, 2 Corinthians 2:4, Philippians 3:18, 2 Timothy 1:4). Think, also, of Christ’s compassion, seeing into the hearts of the people (Matthew 9:36).

You may believe you can work these feelings up without really knowing your congregation, but it isn’t the same, especially not for them. It’s not the same for them in the same way that hearing a stirring word from a role model is not the same as hearing a stirring word from your dad. Preacher, don’t take to your text without carrying the real burdens of your people in your heart.

3. MEANINGFUL PREACHING HAS PEOPLE’S NAMES IN PRAYER.

Every faithful preacher prays over their sermon. They pray that God’s Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). They pray that people will be receptive. They pray that souls will be saved and lives will be changed. These are good prayers.

Better still is the sermon prepped and composed with prayers of John Smith and Julie Thompson and the Cunningham family on the lips of the preacher.

Better still is the sermon prayed over in pleadings for Tom Johnson’s salvation and Bill Lewis’s repentance and Mary Alice’s healing.

Paul repeatedly tells the people under his care that he is remembering them in his prayers (Ephesians 1:6, 2 Timothy 1:3, Philemon 1:4). And since he is frequently naming names, we know he

doesn’t just mean generally. And while Paul did not have one congregation to shepherd up close but rather served largely as a missionary church planter, he nevertheless worked hard to know the people he ministered to from a distance and sought to visit them as often as he could. How much more should the local church pastor develop relationships with his people! He should know their names and he should carry their names to heaven in prayer.

It is important to know who you’re preaching to. It’s important to know that Sister So-and-So doesn’t like your preaching. It’s important to know that Brother Puff-You-Up likes it too much.

It’s important to know that the man in the back with his arms folded and his brow furrowed isn’t actually mad at you—that’s just how he listens. It’s important to know that the smiling, nodding lady near the front has a tendency not to remember anything you’ve said. When you know these things, you can pray for your people in deeper, more personal, more pastoral ways. And your preaching will get better. It will be more real. It will come not just from your mind and mouth, but from your heart, your soul, your guts.

This all assumes, of course, that you are interested in this kind of preaching. If you see preaching as simply providing a “spiritual resource” for interested minds or a pep talk for the religiously inclined and not as bearing prophetic witness from the revealed Word of God to the hearts of people, then you can safely ignore all the points above.

JARED C. WILSON is the Director of Content Strategy for Midwestern Seminary, managing editor of For The Church, and author of more than ten books.

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JOHN MARK YEATS

5 QUESTIONS

1

WHY DOES MIDWESTERN SEMINARY HAVE A COLLEGE?

2

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FUSION AND ACCELERATE PROGRAMS:

Over and over again, the most formative experiences come with college preparation. We want to step into those years with the truths of the Scriptures. Whether it is a student straight out of high school who is passionate about missions or a bi-vocational pastor simply wanting more training, our college prepares leaders for the Church.

Accelerate allows a sharp student to come out of high school knowing he is called to the ministry and finish his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Divinity in only 5 years. This enables a student to get into the field as quickly as possible with little debt, lots of spiritual mentors, maximal preparation, and an opportunity to serve churches even longer than some of his peers.

Fusion is designed for the student who wants to follow Jesus, to be challenged, and reach the nations for the gospel. In cooperation with the International Mission Board, Fusion trains students on our campus in Kansas City during their first semester and then deploys them to work with an unreached people group in the spring. After the first year, students return to finish their degrees while serving in local churches and working with internationals in the community.

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DEAN, MIDWESTERN COLLEGE

twitter @JMYEATS

3

ARE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE? Absolutely. In addition to having one of the most affordable tuition rates in America, Midwestern has a number of available scholarships. Accelerate students, Fusion students, Spurgeon scholars, bivocational pastors, and numerous other groups on campus are eligible for scholarships.

Additionally, we are a Title IV school, meaning our students are eligible for federal loans or even grants.

4

IS MIDWESTERN COLLEGE ACCREDITED?

5

WHAT IS YOUR PRAYER FOR MIDWESTERN COLLEGE GRADUATES?

Midwestern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission – one of the largest accreditors in the United States. They accredit other schools in our area like the University of Missouri, Kansas State University, and Southwest Baptist University.

My prayer is that our graduates make a huge impact for the Kingdom of God through the church. I pray that every year our graduates would go out as missionaries, pastors, counselors and leaders in the workforce - all pointing people to the one truth that changes everything – Jesus Christ.

GROUNDED IN THE TRUTH. READY FOR THE WORLD.

MIDWESTERN COLLEGE IS DEDICATED TO PREPARING AND EQUIPPING THE LEADERS OF TODAY AND TOMORROW. Whether residential or studying online, our students continue to be agents of change both in the United States and around the world. The unique community environment at Midwestern College fosters spiritual, personal, and academic growth as students deepen their understanding of the Word of God and the world he created.

And with our dual degree option, students are grounded in the truth while getting ready for the marketplace.

For those joining us in Kansas City or in the virtual class room, Midwestern is the sensible option to prepare and equip for leadership today and tomorrow.

Take the next step. mbts.edu/gocollege UNDERGRADUATE

GRADUATE

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Since day one, we’ve been training leaders for the church The future of the church starts today. We want to see our city, our state, our nation, and the world reached for Jesus Christ. As we look around our city and our country, the need for gospel-saturated and theologically sound pastors and leaders is clear. Standing in the midst of America’s Heartland, we believe Midwestern Seminary and College will play a crucial role in the future of the Church.

The Legacy Fund helps us overcome the everyday challenges standing between our students and a lifetime of service to the church.

Will you stand with us?

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