9074 Towers 01-04-10.1.indd - The Southern Baptist Theological

Towers
A N E W S P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E S O U T H 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
Volume 8, Number 7
news.sbts.edu
4
January
2010
Country Brook
Apartments
Best Value in the East End
1 Bedroom $489
$539 w/W&D hookup
2 Bedroom $589
$629 w/W&D hookup
3 Bedroom $689
$729 w/W&D hookup
Prices subject to change without notice.
Zero Dollar Deposit Special
(with excellent application score, fee $39).
At Country Brook Apartments,
We Love Our Students.
All prices apply to a 12-month lease.
We are located in the 7900 block of Westport Road.
502-425-9636
www.MybestApt.com • [email protected]
The Adopting for Life
Conference at
Southern Seminary
February 26-27, 2010 Register online at:
www.sbts.edu/events
Russell D. Moore
2
TOWERS
David Platt
Justin Taylor
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
IN THIS ISSUE
4
The temptations
and impeccability of
Christ: A proposal
by Bruce Ware, professor of
Christian theology at Southern
and out-going president of the
Evangelical Theological Society.
9
Professor profile:
Tom Nettles
10
Clarence Walker:
possibly “the most
important Southern
Baptist ... you’ve
never heard of”
by Hershael York, Victor and
Louise Lester Professor of Christian Preaching at Southern.
12
History Highlight
John A. Broadus at Yale.
14-15
Graduation coverage:
A photo collage and stories on
Dr. Mohler’s address and SBTS
grad Steven Chambers.
16
3 questions with
John Frame
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
True womanhood: Conversations with
Carolyn McCulley and Dorothy Patterson
Carolyn McCulley on
feminism’s impact on
the church and the
current generation and
an alternative, biblical,
approach to womanhood
By Courtney Reissig
Carolyn McCulley is the author of two
books, “Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith
in a Feminist World” (Moody Publishers, 2008)
and “Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting
God with a Hope Deferred” (Crossway, 2004).
McCulley also maintains a blog, Radical Womanhood, is a frequent conference speaker and
is a contributor to “Sex and the Supremacy of
Christ,” edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor
(Crossway, 2005).
Where are you from and what is
your current vocation?
I grew up in the Washington, D.C., area as a
military brat. I studied broadcast journalism at
the University of Maryland and I am fortunate
to still be working in media years later. I also
received a certification in women’s studies
from the University of Maryland, which was
part of the reason I eventually wrote “Radical
Womanhood.”
Dorothy Patterson
on raising up
complementarian women
and the true nature of
homemaking
By Jeff Robinson
Dorothy Patterson has been
one of the leading complementarian female writers and
speakers among evangelicals
for many years. She is the
author of “A Woman Seeking
God” among several other
books. She also co-edited the
Women’s Evangelical Commentary on the New Testament and is editing the second
volume on the Old Testament.
Patterson is the wife of
Paige Patterson, president of
What is the premise
of your book, “Radical
Womanhood?”
The subtitle is “Feminine
Faith in a Feminist World.” It’s
the book I wish I had received as
a new believer. I didn’t become a
Christian until I was 30, though
my mother did raise me in the
church. I went to mass, but I didn’t
have ears for the Gospel until the
Lord sovereignly regenerated me
as an adult.
Until that time, I lived like a
Cosmopolitan feminist – not too
politically active, but absorbing all the feminist messages of
women’s media. So when I became
a Christian and joined a Biblebelieving, biblical-manhood-andwomanhood-preaching church,
you can bet I was confused! I
wanted someone to explain to me
the feminist assumptions I had,
where they came from and why
they contrasted with Scripture.
Though I found many useful books along
the way, I never found one just like this one: a
mixture of history, Bible teaching and narrative
stories of women who found God to be faithful to His Word, presented in non-academic,
accessible language.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Fort Worth, Texas. She serves as professor of
theology in women’s studies at the seminary.
You travel and speak a lot at
schools and churches around
evangelicalism. What major genderrelated issues do you see on the
horizon right now?
One big issue that is
always with us is, “What is
the authority of Scripture?”
You have two polar opposite
positions: egalitarianism and
complementarianism. Both
claim that they are standing under Scripture and that
they are doing exactly what
Scripture says. Now, when you
start debates, you can narrow
that down very quickly, but
that’s the broad response. So a
basic ongoing issue is: “Does
Dorothy Patterson
Carolyn McCulley
The premise, therefore, is that if women
understand the profound change in our culture
that can be traced back to the founding of
our nation, they will be better equipped to
understand the purposes of God’s design. To be
a truly biblical woman in our modern world is
the radical act, in my opinion.
See Carolyn McCulley Q&A, page 6.
the Bible mean what it says and are we going to
follow it?” That has always been the big issue.
It seems that we always need more
female complementarian writers and
scholars on gender issues. How can
we encourage women to be studying
and writing about gender issues?
We need to get past the notion that women
are incapable of learning certain things and
that we really don’t need these extra things for
women. Paul said we should learn, and I take
that very seriously. I think the key is for women
to get a vision for the importance of learning
because we have to teach women. We need
women teaching women. We need it in every
discipline, and we need it across the board
because the women of this nation, whether
they are single or married, they have in their
DNA this matter of maternal nurturing. That’s
in the DNA of a woman.
That’s why you find so many women in
See Dorothy Patterson Q&A, page 6.
TOWERS
3
TOWERS
Towers is published every two to
three weeks, except during the
summer and January terms, by
the Office of Communications
of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280.
Staff
Executive Editor:
Dan DeWitt
Managing Editor:
Garrett E. Wishall
Dir. of News and Information:
Jeff Robinson
Director of
Communication Projects:
Jared Hallal
Lead Designer:
David Yeiser
Design/Layout:
John Rogers
Copy Editors:
Emily Griffin
Elizabeth Mejia
Gabi Henry
Photographer:
Devin Maddox
Contact Information
Phone: (502) 897-4310
Fax: (502) 897-4880
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: news.sbts.edu
Advertising Information
Towers, the award-winning campus publication of The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary,
provides an excellent advertising
opportunity for businesses and
ministries. Rates for ads are available upon request, by emailing
[email protected] or calling 8974310. All material for the ads is
subject to approval. The advertiser assumes full responsibility
for the accuracy of the content.
To Submit Insight Articles
To submit Insight articles,
email [email protected].
January 4, 2010, Vol. 8, No. 7.
Copyright ©2010 The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary.
Postage paid at Louisville, KY.
Postmaster: Send address changes
to Towers, 2825 Lexington Road,
Louisville, KY 40280, or e-mail
[email protected].
4
towers
issue insight
The temptations and impeccability of Christ: A proposal
Editor’s note: Below is an excerpt
from the presidential address Bruce
Ware delivered at the 61st annual
meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society last November in New
Orleans. Titled “The Man Christ Jesus,”
the paper is part of a book by Ware
forthcoming from Crossway, “The Man
Christ Jesus: Reflections on the Significance of the Humanity of Christ.”
------------------For some time now, I have considered another possible way of dealing
with the issue of the temptations of
Christ and His impeccability, one that
flows from a strong sense in which
Christ should be understood to have
lived His life of sinless obedience as a
man, anointed and empowered by the
Spirit, to live His life and carry out His
calling, obedient to the end. Essentially this proposal runs as follows:
Jesus was genuinely impeccable owing
to the fact that in the incarnation it
was none other than the immutable
and eternally holy Second Person of
the Trinity who joined to himself a
full human nature.
Nonetheless this impeccability of
His person did not render His temptations inauthentic or His struggles
disingenuous. How so? Jesus resisted
these temptations and in every way
obeyed His Father, not by recourse
to His divine nature but through the
resources provided to Him in His full
humanity. Having given a summary
of this proposal, allow me to develop
it just a bit.
First, we begin by affirming what
is in some ways both the clearest and
most important truth in the whole of
this discussion, viz., that Christ in fact
did not sin. Scripture here is abundantly clear:
• 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made
Christ who knew no sin to be sin for
us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him;”
• Hebrews 4:15, “Christ was tempted
in every way as we are yet without
sin;”
• 1 Peter 2:21&ff (with a quotation
from Is 53:9), “you have been called
for this purpose, since Christ suffered
also suffered for you, leaving you an
example that you should follow in His
steps, who committed no sin, nor was
any deceit found in His mouth;”
• 1 John 3:5, “You know that He
appeared in order to take away sins;
and in Him there is no sin.”
Second, the impeccability of
Bruce Ware
Professor of
Christian Theology
Southern Seminary
Christ is a reasonable inference from
Scripture’s teaching about who the
incarnate Christ is, and an inference so clear and compelling that it
is unreasonable to imagine Jesus not
considering this inference thereby
knowing the truth of His own impeccability. I agree here with Shedd who
argued that if Christ could sin, in
this hypothetical act of sin “the guilt
would not be confined to the human
nature” but the divine nature also
would be stained. Since this cannot
occur to the immutably holy divine
nature, once the union of human
and divine natures has occurred, the
human nature is rendered impeccable
by virtue of its union to the impeccable divine nature.
Third, and most important for
the position I am here arguing, the
impeccability of Christ by virtue of
His impeccable divine nature united
to His human nature, has nothing
directly to do with how He resisted
temptation and how it was that He
did not sin. Yes, Christ was impeccable, but His impeccability is quite
literally irrelevant to explaining His
sinlessness.
The common evangelical intuition
seems to be this: if the reason Christ
could not sin is that He is God, then
the reason Christ did not sin must
likewise be that He is God. My proposal denies this symmetry and insists
that the questions of why Christ
could not sin and why he did not sin
require, instead, remarkably different
answers.
To understand better the distinction here invoked between why
something could not occur and why it
did not occur, consider this example:
Imagine a swimmer who wanted to
attempt breaking the world’s record
for the longest continuous swim
(which, I’ve read, is something over
70 miles). As this swimmer trains,
besides his daily swims of 5 to 10
miles, he includes weekly swims of
greater distance. On some of the
longer swims of 30 and 40 miles, he
notices that his muscles can begin
to tighten and cramp a bit, and he
becomes worried that in attempting
to break the world record, his muscles
may cramp severely and he could then
drown.
So, he consults with friends, and
they decide to arrange for a boat to
follow along behind the swimmer 20
or 30 feet back, close enough to pick
him up should any serious problem
arise, but far enough away so as
not to interfere in any way with the
attempted historic swim itself.
On the appointed day, conditions
being just right, the swimmer dives
in and begins his attempt at breaking the world record. As he swims,
all the while the boat follows along
comfortably behind ready to pick
up the swimmer, if needed. But no
help is needed; with determination
and resolve, the swimmer relentlessly
swims, and swims and swims, and in
due time, he succeeds in breaking the
world record.
Now, consider two questions: 1)
why is it that in this record-breaking
event the swimmer could not have
drowned? Answer: the boat was there
all the while, ready to rescue him if
needed. But 2) why is it the swimmer did not drown? Answer: he kept
swimming! Notice that the answer to
the second question has nothing at all
to do with the boat, i.e., it has nothing
to do with the answer to the first question. In fact, if you gave the answer of
“the boat” to question 2, the swimmer would be both astonished and
dismayed. It simply is not true that the
swimmer did not drown because the
boat was there. The boat, quite literally, had absolutely nothing to do with
why the swimmer did not drown.
Furthermore, although the swimmer knew full well that he could not
drown due to the boat following along
behind him, that knowledge had
nothing to do with why he did not
drown, since he also knew that if he
ever relied on the boat his mission of
breaking the world record would be
forfeited. So although he knew that he
could not drown due to the boat, he
also knew that he could only accomplish his goal by swimming as if there
were no boat there at all.
As one considers again the temptations of Christ, it seems that one can
rightly hold that the theanthropic
Jesus could not sin because He was
God. But this does not necessarily
answer the question of why He did
not sin. And in fact, the answer Scripture suggests to us is this: Jesus did
not sin, not because he relied on the
supernatural power of his own divine
nature or because his divine nature
overpowered his human nature keeping him from sinning, but it rather is
because he utilized all of the resources
given to him in his humanity.
He loved and meditated on God’s
Word (consider the significance here
of Psalm 1 being the first and opening
psalm, pointing obviously to Christ),
He prayed to his Father, He trusted
in the wisdom and rightness of His
Father’s will and Word, and, very significantly, He relied on the supernatural power of the Spirit upon Him, to
strengthen Him to do all that He was
called upon to do.
Jesus lived his life in reliance on
the Spirit so that His resistance to
temptation and His obedience to the
will of the Father took place through,
and not apart from, the empowerment provided Him as the second
Adam, the seed of Abraham, the son
of David. Furthermore, could Christ
have known that as the theanthropic
Savior He was genuinely impeccable
yet knowing this, could He nonetheless be genuinely tempted?
Clearly the answer is yes, since
he also knew that His mission was to
obey where Adam failed, to live his
life as the perfectly obedient man,
through the power of the Spirit. He
knew that to rely on “the boat,” i.e. on
his own divine nature, would be to
forfeit the mission on which he was
sent. Hence, he had to fight temptation as a man, in dependence on his
Father and by the power of the Spirit,
and so he did, amazingly, completely
without ever once yielding to any
temptation.
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
issue insight
The Kindle experience — a personal report
Books are a major part of my daily life. As I
write this, I am surrounded by many thousands
of books, each with its own feel, appearance
and meaning. Many of these books have played
crucial roles in my thinking and understanding. Even as Christianity requires a certain level
of literacy for its transmission and understanding, the book (whether scroll or codex) is
rightly cherished by Christ’s people.
As a technology, books have survived the
test of time. They do not need batteries, they
hold up well with a minimum of maintenance,
and, unlike a computer, they never crash.
Books are almost perfect as a combination of
design and purpose. Who could ask for more?
I do. The printed book is superior to almost
every imaginable technology in any number of
respects, but not in all. The digital revolution
has reached the world of books, and things are
forever changed. I was an early adopter of the
Kindle, Amazon.com’s almost iconic electronic
reader. I purchased a few books and intended
the Kindle to operate as a supplement to my
library of printed books. I did not expect to
spend much time with it, but I saw the advantage of instantly-available books that could be
carried in my briefcase by the hundreds.
I cannot imagine that the Kindle (or any
similar technology) will replace the printed
R. Albert Mohler Jr.
President
Southern Seminary
book in affection or aspiration, but it has
already become a means of transcending the
material barrier when it comes to books.
I started with the original Kindle, then
switched to the Kindle 2, and upgraded to the
Kindle DX.
I eagerly recommend the Kindle DX as the
state-of-the-art Kindle. Amazon now also offers
a Kindle that can be used to purchase books
internationally. Some thoughts:
1. Do not think of the Kindle as replacing the book. Bury that thought. Bury it deep.
Then go and hold a favorite book in your hand.
Enjoy. Then pile 50 of your favorite books and
carry them with you all day, through airports,
onto airplanes, checking into hotels, sitting in
meetings, reading in bed at night. You get the
point. You sit (gloriously) in a library. You take
a Kindle in your briefcase.
2. Yes, you really can read books with this
thing. The experience is not identical to reading a printed book, but it is very satisfactory for
most books, magazines and newspapers. The
screen technology makes the Kindle look much
like a printed book with type on a page. You
will gain a feel for reading on the Kindle quite
quickly.
3. The ability to purchase and receive books
almost instantaneously is nothing short of
amazing. I recently needed a couple of books
for an article I was urgently writing in a New
York City hotel room at 2 a.m. No worries.
I had both books on my Kindle within five
minutes.
4. My Kindle holds dozens of theological
classics, Bible translations and seminal works of
theology, history and philosophy. It also holds a
great deal of literature, including novels. I also
have dozens of biographies, books on current
events and books by favorite authors on my
Kindle.
5. I purchase and read some books on the
Kindle, knowing full well that I probably do
not want to maintain them in my permanent
library collection. The Kindle is glad to hold
them for me. You can often request a sample
chapter to see if you want to purchase the book.
I generally find myself hooked.
6. I really like the ability of the Kindle DX
to receive and display PDF files and the ability
of all Kindles to receive my own files as books.
I can send a manuscript to my Kindle by email
and it is there for the reading whenever I need
it. That is extremely helpful.
Will the Kindle and its digital competitors
replace the printed book? I think not. Indeed I
hope not. I think most of us will reserve a special pride of place for printed books. Think not
of replacement, but of supplement. Amazon.
com CEO Jeff Bazos recently told The New
York Times Magazine: “For every 100 copies
of a physical book we sell, where we have the
Kindle edition, we will sell 48 copies of the
Kindle edition.”
That stunning figure tells the story.
issue insight
Innovation and the doctrine of justification
Lord-willing, I will graduate in May with
a master of divinity in the School of Theology
at Southern Seminary. During my time here,
I have been exposed to a lot of thinkers and
ideas, and I have been struck by how some
scholars are infatuated with novelty.
It is understandable in some ways: I am all
for fresh ideas. But there are many very old
ideas that need no reformulation. The doctrine
of justification is one of them.
The doctrine of justification has become one
of the most contested doctrines in evangelical
theology. Evangelicals used to be known for a
robust belief in forensic justification: that sinners are declared to be in the right before God
through faith in Jesus Christ. Now however,
confusion abounds. One can think of the New
Perspective, the Federal Vision, Evangelicals
& Catholics Together, denials of imputation,
denials of faith alone as the sole ground of
justification on the final day and a thousand
nuances within each of these.
With all the dissenting voices, seminary
students can lose confidence in their own
understanding of justification. The thinking
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
goes, “James Dunn has spent a whole lot more
time in his Greek New Testament than I have.
And Ed Sanders knows first century history
much better than I. And of course, who can
resist N.T. Wright’s big picture theology?”
Blake White
Master of Divinity Student
Southern Seminary
I want to encourage every pastor, missionary, biblical counselor and campus worker to
master the precious doctrine of justification.
Historically it is been bound up with the Gospel itself. Now it has become popular to define
the Gospel in terms that are much more cosmic, and less individualistic. So Bishop Wright
describes the Gospel simply as “the proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”1
Of course that is part of the Gospel, and of
course the Gospel is cosmic in its scope, but
it is also ruggedly individual. Some of these
writers are masters of the “false dichotomy,” as
Ligon Duncan puts it. Yes, let’s proclaim the
new creation. Yes, let’s push social justice. Yes,
let’s teach the unification of Jew and Gentile
in Christ. But let us never do these things at
the expense of the individual. People matter,
and therefore the individual standing of each
person before a holy God matters.
It is clear that the Apostle Paul thought
justification was bound up with the Gospel.
Before expounding on justification in Galatians, he says that anyone who preaches a different Gospel is accursed (1:8-9). In Galatians
3:8, Paul writes, “And the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham,
saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’”
(ESV). In Romans 1:16-17, Paul writes that the
righteousness (same root word as justify) of
God is revealed in the Gospel. So master and
be mastered by justification and you will master
and be mastered by the Gospel.
How can we do this? My best advice
would be to study the Bible. Become deeply
familiar with Romans and Galatians. Take
exegesis classes. I just finished Tom Schreiner’s
Galatians class and more than once thought to
myself, “Martin Luther knew his Greek New
Testament well.”
The Bible is our final authority. After gaining a firm handle on the New Testament teaching on justification, one would be helped by
the following books by our own faculty: Brian
Vickers’ “Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness;”
Schreiner’s “The Law and Its Fulfillment,” and
relevant sections in his Pauline and New Testament theologies, and Mark Seifrid’s monograph, “Christ, Our Righteousness.” Two other
helpful resources are Stephen Westerholm’s
“Perspectives Old and New on Paul,” and John
Piper’s “The Future of Justification.”
So brothers and sisters, learn this doctrine
well. Teach it, preach it, live it and plead with sinners, knowing that our only hope and their only
hope for a right standing with God is through
faith in Jesus Christ: to Him be the glory.
N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 133.
1
TOWERS
5
Carolyn McCulley Q&A
Continued from Page 3.
What is the biggest impact of
feminism that you have seen in the
church?
There are so many effects that it would be
hard to narrow it to just one. “Radical Womanhood” examines the impact on relationships
between men and women, on motherhood, on
female sexuality, on the home and more.
But I would say the most serious impact has
been the undermining of scriptural authority. The very first document issued by selfidentified feminists in the United States was the
Declaration of Sentiments, issued in 1848 at
the Seneca Falls Convention. In it these women
(and a few men) named a number of offensive
elements of current society, among them the
church. It stated:
“The history of mankind is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations on the part
of man toward woman, having in direct object
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
her. … He allows her in Church as well as State,
but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic
authority for her exclusion from the ministry,
and, with some exceptions, from any public
participation in the affairs of the Church.”
Therefore, it’s not surprising that the final
resolution of this declaration included a
demand “for the overthrow of the monopoly
of the pulpit.” The majority of feminist leaders
since then, including one of the founders of the
Seneca Falls Convention, have gutted scriptural
authority or rejected it all together in pursuit of
more pagan beliefs.
How has feminism affected the next
generation of men and women?
By next, I assume you mean the rising generation. One of the most profound ways it has
affected young adults is in the presentation of
what is normative. Most of the young women I
speak to have no idea about what happened in
“I think the most important
thing for people in ministry to
understand is that the seeds of
feminism lie in all of our hearts.
Apart from the grace of God, we are
each rebels before God’s authority.
Feminism is just another expression
of that indwelling rebellion.”
— Carolyn McCulley
the feminist movement. They don’t know there
were three waves (the second wave was the
women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and
1970s, but that’s not the only one), and because
of that, they are unaware of the third wave that
affects them now.
The third wave began in the 1990s as a
rejection of the victim ideology of the second
wave, which did briefly align with evangelicals in the anti-pornography movement. The
daughters of second-wavers rejected this
mentality and instead embraced a “proporn, pro-sex” ideology that has created the
hyper-aggressive female sexuality that we live
amongst today. Because it’s not a politically visible movement, many people are unaware of it,
but not of its effects.
Third-wave feminism has contributed to
the pornographication of our culture, from the
immodesty of women’s fashions and behavior,
to the celebration of women’s immorality in
shows like Sex and the City and Girls Gone
Wild, and so on. It is also decidedly anti-family
and pro-pansexuality.
This affects both young men and women in
widespread ways, from the hook-up culture to
gender identity confusion.
What do people training for ministry
need to be aware of when they are
helping people think biblically about
manhood and womanhood?
I think it is helpful to know how we got to
where we are in our culture and to be able to
explain that to others. Of course, the Word
of God is all that is necessary to convict and
convert people. But for those who oppose the
authority of Scripture on this topic, I believe
it is quite illuminating for them to understand
the motivations behind certain aspects of the
feminist movement.
To be able to explain, for example, Margaret Sanger’s embrace of eugenics, her racism,
her harsh attitude toward children and her
lethal philosophies that are part of Planned
Parenthood’s legacy as their founder can open
iMPARt
Dorothy Patterson Q&A
Continued from Page 3.
helping and teaching professions who have that
gift, and we need to encourage women in whatever they are doing, whether it’s homemaking,
as I am doing, or something else, because they
will be molding the next generation whether
it’s raising their own child or teaching in a
classroom. It may be in a church setting or a
community setting or a neighborhood setting.
As evangelicals, we need to make training for
women available.
What do you say to those who
dismiss a great number of women
by saying, ‘Oh, they’re just stay-athome moms?’
I’m going to write on the homemaker next
year because I’ve been told that since I travel
with my husband and do all these things,
6
TOWERS
someone’s eyes to the motives behind this proabortion business.
To be able to
understand the
deep impact of
Social Darwinism
and the Industrial
Revolution on
our concept of the
home can be helpful to someone
who accepts the
20th century’s sea
change of the
home once being a
place of productivity and now being a place of consumption. To
know that helps women, especially, to understand why the home — or the private sphere,
as I like to refer to it — is so important in the
biblical framework.
But I think the most important thing for
people in ministry to understand is that the
seeds of feminism lie in all of our hearts.
Apart from the grace of God, we are each
rebels before God’s authority. Feminism is just
another expression of that indwelling rebellion.
Therefore, our enemies are not the fleshand-blood feminists, but the enemies listed in
Scripture – our sin; our worldly, flesh-driven
lusts; and our spiritual adversary. We must
condemn the ideas but be merciful to those in
captivity to them. I am appalled by Margaret
Sanger’s ideas and life, but if the Lord had not
revealed Himself to me, I would be walking in
lock-step with her philosophies.
2010
February 5-6, 2010
that I’m not a homemaker. But I do these
things to support my husband because I am
a homemaker. Every homemaker is a helper,
every homemaker is different, and that’s a
vision we’ve lost. I think we need to see that
homemaking is a professional pursuit in that
you need to prepare for it and give yourself
to it with all your energy and all your creativity and with all your commitment. And you
must bring to it all the preparation you can
because it is an overwhelming task. It’s not just
keeping the home. It’s helping your husband,
it’s rearing your children, it’s doing volunteer
work. We’ve lost a lot of our volunteer workers
because we’ve denigrated homemaking to the
point that every woman thinks she has to have
a paid job. This is true in churches, schools and
communities.
The Gospel in the Family:
Parenting the Hope of God
Featuring Randy Stinson
Bullitt Lick Baptist Church
2975 Hwy 44 West
Shepherdsville, Kentucky 40165
$6 per ticket ($10 per couple), meals included
To REGISTER call 502-543-2483
For more information, visit
www.bullittlickbaptist.org
R ES OU RCE:
Access Towers online
Past issues of Towers may be accessed online at Southern’s resources tab.
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/category/towers/
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
SBTS exhibits strong presence at annual ETS meeting
By Jeff Robinson
Attendees of the 61st annual national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society Nov.
17-20, 2009, in New Orleans did not have to
look far to see substantial traces of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s scholarly
work.
At the year’s largest gathering of evangelical
scholars, theologians and ministers, Southern
Seminary faculty members and students presented 27 papers in the daily sessions, including the presidential address by Bruce A. Ware,
ETS president for 2009. Ware, who serves
as professor of theology at Southern, is the
seminary’s first-ever faculty member to serve in
ETS’s highest office.
During a reception for Ware following his
presidential address, Southern President R.
Albert Mohler Jr. said the seminary’s impact
upon ETS continues to increase each year.
“To pick up that ETS program and see the
net weight of contributors to ETS that goes
beyond professors to student and alumni is
deeply encouraging,” Mohler said. “Then, there
is the fact that Bruce Ware, one of our own,
was elected president of ETS and concluded
his term with a brilliant and faithful, not only
mind-stretching, but soul-enriching presidential address.”
Nineteen papers were presented by faculty
members, including Mohler, Theology School
Dean Russell D. Moore and numerous other
professors, many of whom chaired individual
ETS sessions or panels. Southern’s involvement
was broad and included a number of diverse
topics including systematic and biblical theology, history, ethics, culture and biblical studies.
Eight students presented papers and the ETS
presentation roster was also dotted with SBTS
alumni.
“As a faculty member at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and president of ETS,
it was deeply gratifying to observe the many
papers read at this year’s 61st annual meeting
by Southern faculty colleagues and doctoral
students,” Ware said
“Excellent scholarship and theological
leadership are both crucial to the ETS, and it
encourages my heart to see Southern Seminary’s influence in the ongoing growth and
development of this important Society.”
Ware delivered his presidential address on
“The Man Christ Jesus,” which included an
unforgettable illustration on the sinlessness and
impeccability of Jesus (see page 4). Though He
Bruce Ware ... concluded
his term (as ETS president) with a
brilliant and faithful, not only
mind-stretching, but soul-enriching
presidential address.
— R. Albert Mohler Jr.
was both God as well as man, Jesus’ inability to
sin, His impeccability, had nothing to do with
the fact that He is also God, Ware said. Instead,
Christ resisted sin by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
“Jesus lived His life in reliance on the Spirit
so that His resistance to temptation and His
obedience to the will of the Father took place
through, and not apart from, the empower-
ment provided Him as the second Adam, the
seed of Abraham, the son of David,” Ware said
in the address.
“Recall again Peter’s claim that God
anointed Jesus ‘with the Holy Spirit and with
power,’ and that he went about doing good (the
moral life and obedience of Christ) as well as
healing all who are oppressed by the devil (the
miracles he performed), ‘for God was with
Him’ (Acts 10:38).
“Although He was God, and although He
was impeccable as the God-man, nevertheless He did not resist temptation and obey the
Father by His divine nature but by the power of
the Spirit who indwelt Him. … He knew that
to rely on … His own divine nature, would be
to forfeit the mission on which He was sent.
Hence, He had to fight temptation as a man, in
dependence on His Father and by the power of
the Spirit, and so He did, amazingly, completely
without ever once yielding to any temptation.”
Ware’s address was an excerpt from a
forthcoming book, “The Man Christ Jesus:
Reflections on the Significance of the Humanity of Christ,” due out from Crossway later
this year.
Paige Patterson on major influences in his life; young leaders in the SBC
By Jeff Robinson
Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth,
Texas, was one of the key figures in the Conservative Resurgence of the Southern Baptist
Convention in the 1970s and 80s. Earlier in this
decade, he served as president of the Southern
Baptist Convention and is the author of many
books and articles. Towers caught up with him
at the 61st annual meeting of the Evangelical
Theological Society in New Orleans.
Who have been your major ministerial
influences?
Paige Patterson: My major hero was my
father, T.A. Patterson, who was for many years
a pastor and then executive director for the
Baptist General Convention of Texas.
So, my father was a major influence, but
also Wayne Ward, who is a cousin by marriage
and taught at Southern Seminary for many
years. Even though I don’t agree with Dr. Ward
on a good many things, he was very much
involved in helping me to become a student.
Also, there were some evangelists, Angel Martinez and some others that influenced me during
those days.
And oddly enough, and it would surprise
a lot of people, Clark Pinnock was a major
influence with me. He came to New Orleans
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
Seminary while I was there. He taught me to
love philosophy because I had always thought
philosophy was a four-letter word and I was
your typical redneck preacher in that regard, so
Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary. Photo from Southwestern.
he taught me to love that. Of course, I am sad
over where Pinnock has ended up, but he was a
very formative substantive influence in my life.
Are you encouraged by what you see
happening in the SBC with the rise of young
leaders who love good theology and want to
build on the doctrines of biblical inspiration
and inerrancy?
Patterson: At the risk of sounding like a
Barthian, I would say yes and no. Generally
speaking, though I am not very Calvinistic
soteriologically, I am very Calvinistic when
it comes to the doctrine of the providence of
God, and so I have no lack of confidence in
what God is up to. Whether Baptists want to
be a part of that is a question always of course.
There are influences I am concerned about.
I am concerned about the degree to which
some seem to want to let culture trump the
Bible and that is a very great concern I have
right now in Southern Baptist life. On the
other hand, when I look at our six seminaries
and realize that only 30 years ago we probably
had only 10 to 12 inerrantists teaching in all
six seminaries and now, as far as I know, we
don’t have a seminary where everybody is not a
biblical inerrantists and at least trying to follow
the authority of Scripture, then I would say the
future is pretty bright.
What would you like to see younger
Southern Baptists take away from the
Anabaptists? Which Anabaptist would you
recommend they read?
Patterson: Probably courage and faith more
than anything else. Anabaptists were nothing
if not courageous. They were willing to put it
on the line and die for it and if I had one thing
that I wanted passed down — biblical author-
ity, a believer’s church, all those things are
tremendously important — but in the end, that
commitment that a man makes in his baptism,
a covenant with Christ, (which says) that I’m
going to live my life as much as I can in accordance with Christ, which includes courage
and faith. I think those are the factors I wish
everybody would take away.
I would recommend them reading Balthasar
Hubmaier because, first of all, he’s fun. He was
trained under John Eck, who was the greatest
of all Roman Catholic debaters, so he has that
fun way of putting things. But also, of course,
he was the only Anabaptist that had a thorough
training all the way to his terminal degree, so
naturally he’s probably more thoughtful and
he is the one I would read if I could read only
one.
What words of wisdom would you give to
our students?
Patterson: The vast majority of ministers
eventually burn out or fail. The only way to
avoid burnout or moral corruption in this day
and time is to do two things: keep your walk
with Christ very, very close, not to neglect that
whatever else you are doing and number two,
to witness to somebody every single day. I’ve
never known a person who was a consistent
witness and who had a real walk with Christ to
burn out or fall out.
TOWERS
7
Tweetable features “tweets” from
Southern Seminary faculty and other
leaders in Southern Baptist life.
with Andrew Lucius
A cross section of the student body of Southern Seminary
Southern Seminary recently merged its
School of Leadership and School of Church
Music and Worship to form the School of
Church Ministries. Andrew Lucius is a student in that school as well as a music intern
at Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville.
What are your ministry goals?
“I think the greatest goal that I have,
and what I’ve seen lacking in a lot of music
leaders in the church, is that there is a lot of
emphasis on music and not much emphasis
on pastoral ministry. So, as far as a goal, I
want it to be more than playing music every
week; I want people to see me as a pastor
and not just a musician. I would like to
leave Southern with the ability not just to
lead music but also to divide the Word of
God and preach if the time came where that
would be needed.”
What is the School of Church
Ministries’ role in you working
toward that goal?
“The classes that the School of Church
Ministries is requiring now are pushing
people closer to that goal. It is still a growing
process, but the people that are in the roles
that can make change happen are certainly
listening, specifically Dr. Stinson and Dr.
Brewton. They are both listening to what the
students are saying; at the same time they
are not backing down from what they feel is
important.
“I heard Dr. Brewton say one time,
‘We’re not getting rid of the School of
Music. However, we are not training music
teachers or music performers. We are not a
conservatory; we are a seminary and we are
training music pastors.’”
What do you enjoy most about
your coursework at the School of
Church Ministries?
“I enjoy the practical classes that are
geared towards preparing people for
ministry. Last summer I was able to take
8
TOWERS
music ministry for adolescents and adults
and I just really enjoyed that class because it
was more than learning music. It was more
hands on and addressed specific situations.”
How do you see church music and
music ministry changing?
“One of the big changes is going to be
instrumentation. Fifteen to 20 years ago,
the guitar wasn’t really on the church music
scene, everything was primarily piano and
organ based. Even today most music students are majoring in voice, piano or organ,
but the guitar is slowing coming in.
“I think one of the dangers that church
musicians will face will be to compromise theologically or musically. There are
advantages and disadvantages to the guitar
making its way onto the church music
scene. The greatest advantage is that it takes
little musical training to play the guitar
well enough to lead a worship song. This
also means that the overall level of musical proficiency will probably diminish in
the church as a whole if music pastors and
churches do not hold the standard high for
its song leaders.
“I am trying to find a balance of musical
proficiency and theological proficiency,
where I can respond to someone in my
church that says to me, ‘My mom just committed suicide, is she in heaven or hell?’ and
then also lead a musical group with excellence. There is a shift that is moving more
towards music ministers having a greater
responsibility in pastoral ministry, and in 10
years that will be the expectation.”
What is your ministry passion?
“The greatest passion must be that Jesus
is proclaimed as King and that, as a byproduct, the church be resolved to take the
Gospel to the ends of the earth. The second
passion would be to train myself out of a
job. I want to be training others with a passion for pastoral music ministry in developing musical gifts and a pastor’s heart.”
@RobbieSagers: Please
welcome Southern Seminary’s
founders, @JPBoyce, @JohnABroadus,
@FounderWilliams, and @BasilManlyJr.
to the Twittersphere.
twitter.com/RobbieSagers
@DonWhitney: Simplifying your
life can’t save your soul. To paraphrase,
What profit is it if you simplify the
whole world & lose your soul?
twitter.com/Don Whitney
@JohnPiper: A sweet effect of
being Sovereign. “I will not execute my
burning anger; for I am God and not a
man.” Hosea 11:9.
twitter.com/JohnPiper
Bird illustration Copyright © 2009 Luc Latulippe
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
Professor Profiles
Tom Schreiner
Tom Nettles
Professor of Historical Theology
Current church/local church
ministry:
LaGrange Baptist Church, LaGrange, Ky.
Information:
Spouse’s name/length of
marriage:
Margaret, 41 years.
Children’s names and ages:
Joe 37, Robert 35, Sarah 33. Three grandchildren with a fourth soon to be born.
Hometown:
Brandon, Miss.
List one of your favorite:
Authors:
There are different authors for different
ages that are among my favorites. Athanasius, Augustine, John Calvin, John Bunyan,
Jonathan Edwards. Cormac McCarthy is
probably my favorite secular writer.
Preachers:
Al Martin and David Miller
TV shows:
Lost
Tidbits of Intrigue:
Surprising thing about you:
“My hometown in Mississippi is the
home of Miss America 1959, Mary Ann
Mobley. Her half-sister was in my graduating class and so Mary Ann would come
back for class parties like Christmas parties.
She would serve punch and of course, all of
us guys would drink punch all night.”
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
Influential books in your life
(besides the Bible):
Athanasius’ “On the Incarnation;” Augustine’s “Anti-Pelagian Works;” Calvin’s “Institutes,” John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Holy
War” and “Chief Abounding to the Chief of
Sinners;” Jonathan Edwards’ “Freedom of the
Will.”
You sing a lot of hymns in your
classes and have a deep love for
music. Where did that originate?:
“I went to church all my life. My grandpa
lived with us from the time I was in third grade
until he died in sixth grade and he went to
church all the time and he was a big singer. I sat
by him and I was a boy soprano and everybody
could hear me singing. I just had a very clear,
loud boy soprano voice. Very early my mother
started putting me in talent shows. The first one
I was in, I did Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy and
did a dance with it. My uncle was a pretty good
tap dancer and he taught me a few moves to
make. A cousin and I started entering 4H talent
competitions and we started winning district,
then we’d go to state and we won state contests.
Then we got another guy with us one year and
had a trio and did the same thing. We were
singing in church choirs, youth choir. We got in
band in the fifth grade. I played trombone from
fifth grade until I graduated high school. I was
in junior high chorale and high school chorus.
From the time I was a freshman in high school
I started singing in a quartet. My freshman year
in high school I started trying out for the state
choral festival at the University of Southern
Mississippi music camp and they did a musical
comedy every year. I was active in music like
that all through high school and was in the
chorus in college, so music has always been
a huge part of my life from the time I was in
third grade.
When did you begin to enjoy
studying history?
I felt the Lord was calling me to pastoral
ministry and I went to seminary (at Southwestern), but I didn’t care much for history. I didn’t
really see the value of history until the third
year of the M.Div. program. I took the required
history classes and the first one I took was Anabaptist history under William R. Estep. I made
a C in it: I didn’t get it. I just could not get the
historical narrative. My third year in seminary,
I decided I was going to try to get into the
Ph.D. program in New Testament and we had
an interdisciplinary seminar where we did the
synoptic problem in my section. Dr. Estep did a
history section and because of the way he could
interact with different areas, I realized that
history was what I wanted to be able to study
and teach. Dr. Estep was not afraid to say what
he thought and back it up with historical and
theological narrative and being in that seminar
with him did it.
Didn’t you play basketball in college
for a short time? Tell us about that:
I was a music education major with an
emphasis in voice when I went to Mississippi
College and I was trying to play college basketball at the same time. I got this respiratory
problem in October during the first few days
of practice and kept it throughout basketball.
I couldn’t get rid of it from getting hot and
cooling off while playing basketball and so my
voice lessons really suffered. My voice teacher
told me, “You’re going to have to make a
choice: either you are going to play basketball
in college or you are going to be able to take
voice and use it for the rest of your life. It’s up
to you and I’m not going to tell you what you
should do, although I know what you should
do. I’m not going to teach you any more if you
keep playing.” So I quit basketball even though
I loved basketball.
Books:
“Baptists and the
Bible”
(Broadman &
Holman: 1999
— co-authored
with L. Russ Bush).
“By His Grace and
For His Glory”
(Baker: 1986
— original.
Founders Press,
revised and
expanded: 2006
— pictured).
“James Petigru
Boyce: A Southern
Baptist Statesman”
(P&R: 2009).
TOWERS
9
Portrait at Boyce College honors the impact of Clarence Walker
one — also had a burden for conservative,
Bible-believing education. Fearful of the liberal
drift he witnessed at Southern Baptist schools,
Clarence Walker may be the most imporhe launched Lexington Baptist College in 1950.
tant Southern Baptist name you’ve never heard
He became a mentor and champion of Christof. In his book “Apostasy,” Dale Moody held
centered education for hundreds of young
him responsible for spreading the doctrine
pastors because he had been deprived of much
of eternal security throughout the Southern
formal education. Though small, Lexington
Baptist Convention.
Baptist would train hundreds of students until
When the International Mission Board
it closed in 1999 and encouraged its student
implemented its current baptism policy, many
body to transfer to Boyce College, giving the
critics traced the origins of the policy back to
new degree-granting Boyce a solid student
Walker’s day and the ecclesiology that he probody with which to begin its ministry.
mulgated through his publication of “The Trail
On Oct. 19, 2009,
several pastors who
were among the first
graduates of Lexington Baptist College
gathered in Boyce
Dean Denny Burk’s
office and presented a
commissioned portrait
of Walker for display at
Boyce. Acknowledging
that Southern Seminary and Boyce have
become the conservative training centers
that Walker long
Boyce Dean Denny Burk and SBTS professor Hershael York gaze at the portrait
prayed and worked for,
of influential Southern Baptist Clarence Walker, which was presented for display
the alumni wanted his
at Boyce, Oct. 19, 2009. Photo by John Gill
memory to be a part of
the tapestry of Southern’s history.
of Blood” by J. M. Carroll. Presidential candiI was delighted to be present at that predate Al Smith partially blamed his unsuccessful
sentation. For me it was personal. Not only
1928 run for the White House on this simple
was I privileged to know Walker when I was a
pastor from Kentucky. Out of fear and respect
child and later to be one of his few successors
for Walker, the trustees of the University of
as pastor of Ashland Avenue, but I am also a
Kentucky did not officially allow evolution to
direct recipient of the blessings of his ministry.
be taught until after his death.
My maternal great-grandmother, grandmother
Both W. A. Criswell and Jerry Falwell
and mother were led to Christ and baptized
told me they greatly admired Walker and his
by Bro. Walker. His bus ministry reached my
example encouraged them to take courageous
father and his family and brought them to
stands for truth. Walker was an icon in LexingChrist. He married my parents, ordained my
ton and in Kentucky Baptist life that provoked
father and discipled much of both sides of my
widely divergent reactions, depending on one’s
family. From a human perspective, I would not
perspective.
even exist were it not for Walker, let alone be
Walker served as pastor of the Ashland
who I am.
Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., from
While I hold some disagreements with posi1916-1966. His unique 50-year tenure was
tions that Walker maintained, I cannot help but
marked by many firsts. He launched the first
bus ministry in Kentucky, had the first religious admire such a simple pastor who unflinchingly
took a stand on issues that matter. Whether
radio program in the state, began the first
dealing with evolution or ecclesiology, Bro.
large-circulation local church newspaper (at
Walker believed that truth mattered and urged
one time mailing out more than 100,000 copies
others to think through such things.
of The Ashland Avenue Baptist weekly, each
While World War II was raging he wrote a
of them hand-addressed by volunteer church
little booklet called “Walter Doesn’t Live Here
members), and Kentucky’s first and largest
Anymore,” a paraphrase of a song that was
daily Vacation Bible School (which originally
popular at the time, which told of his brother’s
lasted three weeks!).
death and explained what happens when life
Bro. Walker — as he was known to everyBy Hershael York
10
TOWERS
ends and how one can be assured of eternal
life. He got special permission from the War
Department and the government delivered a
copy to every U.S. soldier. Only eternity will
tell how many men received Christ as Lord as
a result of reading that clear Gospel statement
during the war.
As the portrait was presented, I could not
help but closely observe those men, now in
their 70s and 80s, whom he had trained long
ago when they were young. Amazingly, most
of them followed in his footsteps and stayed at
one church for decades.
One of them, Pastor Earl Thomas of the
Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church in Lexington,
has been at that one church for more than 50
years. I know because my father planted that
church when he was a student at Lexington
Baptist in the early 1950s.
I was also moved because my father, who
just died in May, very much wanted to be present when the portrait was presented.
The Southern Seminary community has
been enriched by Walker in ways that most
don’t even realize. Like me, Jim Scott Orrick is
the son of one of those early graduates of Lexington Baptist College. Both David Adams and
Dan Dewitt came to Boyce, as professor and
student respectively, when Lexington Baptist
closed. Many others among our graduates have
been shaped and touched by this man either
directly or indirectly.
The investments that Walker made in the
state of Kentucky and in the Southern Baptist
Convention are today paying dividends at
Southern Seminary. While we do not agree
with Walker on some points, we unequivocally
agree that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God
and the final appeal for truth. I do not know
the degree to which the redeemed in heaven
realize what is happening here on earth, but
know that Walker would be delighted with
what God has done at Southern. The slight hint
of a smile in his portrait surely says so.
Boyce Bulldogs update: team
gets three wins amid adversity
By Garrett E. Wishall
Five players; 40 minutes; one victory.
That was the numerical story for the Boyce Bulldogs in the team’s first victory of the season
Nov. 14 over Shawnee Baptist College.
Bulldogs first year head coach Matt Emadi said he was extremely proud of his team for working
together and coming up with the win, which he called the high point of the season so far.
“Because of ineligibility issues and injuries the team we have now is significantly different from
the team that started the year,” he said. “We had one guy who practiced with us one day before the
first Shawnee game. All five guys played 40 minutes. They played hard and played great and got
that one.”
In the weeks leading up to the season, the Bulldogs (3-6) learned that three of their players
were ineligible. An injury to guard Andrew Kelly in the first game of the year left the team with
five players for the Shawnee victory. The five who played in the 77-74 road win were guards Jeff
Pearson and Jordan Doenges, wing man Blake Rogers, center Michael Naaktgeboren and forward
Ethan Brunner.
Nine days later the Bulldogs again knocked off Shawnee — their crosstown rivals — this time
at home, 67-58. On Dec. 1, The Bulldogs beat Fairhaven Baptist College, 73-53, also at home.
Emadi said effort and good execution have been the keys to the team’s three victories as it has
sought to make up for a lack of size.
Senior guard Jeff Pearson has led the way offensively for the Bulldogs, averaging more than 18
points per game. Pearson has rotated between the point and shooting guard positions. Brunner,
who Emadi said had never played organized basketball until this year, has started every game and
is averaging 11 points per game. Rogers, the Bulldogs’ top outside scoring threat, is averaging 9.6
points per game. John Paul McCammon, Tim Arndt and Kelly round out the team’s current roster.
Despite the unexpected difficulties the team has faced, Emadi said he is really enjoying the
opportunity to coach the Bulldogs.
“This season, people have asked me if I am enjoying the coaching and my response is always
that I am absolutely loving it,” he said. “I love it so much because of the character of the guys on
the team. These guys come in and show sacrifice, effort and hard work and I just can’t say enough
about the effort of these guys and how much fun they make it to coach.”
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
Books old and new
By Jeff Robinson
“John Calvin” by
Bruce Gordon
(Yale University
Press, $35)
As evangelicals
marked the 500th
anniversary of
the birth of John
Calvin in 2009,
a truckload of
books on the great
reformer have
issued forth from a
wide variety of presses. There have been biographies both scholarly and popular, examinations
of his theology and helpful reminders of his
too-often overlooked role in the development
of Western culture.
“The Power of
Words and the
Wonder of God,”
edited by John
Piper and Justin
Taylor (Crossway,
$15.99)
It has been
estimated that the
average person
uses upward of
20,000 words
per day. Given
the analysis of
Solomon in Proverbs 10:19 (“When words are
many, transgression is not lacking”), this reality
provides the individual person with roughly
20,000 opportunities per day to sin. This new
book by Piper and Taylor recognizes this
crucial reality and seeks to help Christians to
sanctify their use of words.
The volume, developed from presentations given at the 2008 Desiring God national
conference, includes essays on Godward words
by Piper, Taylor, Paul David Tripp, Bob Kauflin,
Sinclair Ferguson, Daniel Taylor and, perhaps
most provocatively, Mark Driscoll, a minister
whose use of words has, to say the least, roused
the attention of many in the evangelical community. Ferguson deals with putting a bit and
bridle to the tongue in an exposition of James
3, while Kauflin writes on the importance of
God-centered lyrics in hymnody and Tripp
looks at the inextricable link between tongue
and heart. The book ends with an extremely
helpful two-part discussion between the
contributors.
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
Perhaps no new biography is more compelling than that of Bruce Gordon, professor of
Reformation history at Yale Divinity School.
Gordon paints a rich picture of Calvin, showing him as a brilliant pastor-theologian who
viewed himself as a prophet of reformation in
the mold of the apostle Paul, a devoted husband, loving father and indefatigable friend to
his inner circle, but also a deeply flawed man:
impetuous, peevish, egotistical, defensive and
almost maniacally self-aware. In a delightfully readable manner, Gordon shows all three
dimensions of the great reformer — the good,
the bad and the ugly in proper proportion —
and provides abundant rationale for why he
remains a theological hero to many.
One of the many strengths of Gordon’s
biography is that he brings to life, with no small
vividness, Calvin’s deep friendships and his
interaction with myriad enemies. The work
also sheds much light on several controversies
that roiled the final two decades of the Genevan reformer’s life. Of perhaps best “take-home
value” for today’s minister and believer is Gordon’s portrayal of the high personal cost of the
pursuit of biblical reformation; while Calvin
had many deep friendships, his enemies —
many of them heretics — went to great lengths
to discredit Calvin and overturn his work.
Among Calvin’s contemporaries there seemed
to be no middle ground: some loved him, others reviled him.
Gordon shows Calvin to be at his peak
intellectually in the midst of conflict while
simultaneously showing his flaws as a communicator and builder of relationships;
Calvin was often clear-headed on theological
issues and their implications, but was less often
gracious in his treatment of those with whom
he disagreed.
Gordon devotes nearly an entire chapter
to the Servetus affair. While Calvin is often
blamed for being the one who single-handedly
served as judge, jury and executioner of Servetus, Gordon argues forcefully that Calvin, while
not without guilt in Servetus’ death, was not
primarily responsible for the ignoble event and
its final outcome.
In all, Gordon provides a strikingly
even-handed portrayal of Calvin, one that is
a pleasurable read. He proves his thesis that
Calvin viewed himself as a “Paul-type” figure in
Geneva and in Europe and paints him as a man
who is worthy of continued admiration, but, a
mere man whose heart clearly operated out of
the Romans 7 tension of attempting to live a
Godward life in a fallen world.
“A Messenger of
Grace: A Study
of the Life and
Thought of
Abraham Booth”
by Raymond A.
Coppenger (Joshua
Press, $24.99)
Abraham Booth
was one of the great
Baptist pastors/
theologians/thinkers of the late 18th/
early 19th centuries, but one who has been
largely forgotten. Booth pastored the Little
Prescott Street Baptist Church in London for
many years, a calling he undertook after rejecting Arminianism and embracing the doctrines
of grace in his late-20s.
Booth was a strong supporter of William
Carey and stood alongside him and other such
as Andrew Fuller at the headwaters of the modern missions movement. Booth wrote and published many sermons and books, particularly
focusing on soteriology and ecclesiology, and
his best-known work is “The Reign of Grace,” a
delightful, devotional-worthy exposition of the
doctrines of grace. Coppenger’s book provides
a nice overview of Booth’s life, theology and his
British context. The work is the Ph.D. dissertation which Coppenger completed in 1953 at the
University of Edinburgh. Coppenger is the late
father of SBTS professor Mark Coppenger. The
elder Coppenger died in November 2009 at the
age of 100.
“How People
Change” by Timothy S. Lane and
Paul David Tripp
(New Growth
Press, $17.99)
This book has
an audacioussounding title,
but the title “How
People Change” is
spot-on in describing the contents of
this excellent 2008 book from our dear brothers at the Christian Counseling & Education
Foundation. Essentially, it is a highly practical
theology of progressive sanctification in a fallen
world.
Five Gospel perspectives compose the
skeleton of the book’s main argument: (1) the
extent and gravity of our sin, (2) the centrality
of the heart, (3) the present benefits of Christ,
(4) God’s call to growth and change and (5) a
lifestyle of repentance and faith.
Lane and Tripp show biblically how all
believers live out of a “Gospel gap” between the
reality of the riches they have in union with
Christ and indwelling sin. All in all, the book
provides a penetrating biblical diagnosis for the
human condition and a comprehensive remedy
which is located in the Gospel. It is a book that
might well be read annually.
“The Doctrine of
Repentance” by
Thomas Watson
(Banner of Truth,
$8)
Thomas Watson (1620-1686)
was perhaps the
most engaging
of the Puritan
writers. Spurgeon
called his writings,
“A happy union
of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical
wisdom.” Indeed. With his brilliant use of word
pictures, Watson’s writings and sermons live
and breath, containing a succinctness atypical
of the English Puritans.
Watson’s “Doctrine of Repentance,” first
published in 1668, is representative of his eloquence and depth of theological thought. Watson unpacks the doctrine of repentance over a
dozen chapters, beginning with the definition
of genuine repentance (over against false views
of repentance) and concluding with two chapters of application prescribing means for repentance. In between, Watson unfolds the biblical
doctrine and connects it to the Christian life
in a compelling and profoundly useful fashion.
This book is a perfect supplement to the daily
devotions of all Christians and emphasizes a
doctrine that is the track upon which authentic
Christian sanctification runs. Other recommended titles by Watson: “A Body of Divinity,”
“The Lord’s Prayer,” “The Ten Commandments”
and “The Godly Man’s Picture.”
TOWERS
11
SBTS alums leading
development of 2010 SBC
Pastors’ Conference
Russell D. Moore,
C.J. Mahaney, David
Platt, Francis Chan, Andy
Stanley among speakers
lined up so far.
By Emily Griffin
Kevin Ezell, president of the 2010 Southern
Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference and
an alumnus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said he is excited to be working alongside young, energetic pastors in the
planning of the 2010 Pastors’ Conference, June
13-14, in Orlando, Fla.
“We are hoping to help the younger pastors
see that there is a place for younger people
within the Southern Baptist Convention,” Ezell,
pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, said. “We are working as a team to put
together a program that will include a great
line-up of speakers, as well as worship with
Travis Cottrell and singing from the Watoto
Children’s Choir.”
Ezell was elected Pastors’ Conference
president at the 2009 Pastors’ Conference in
Louisville, Ky. Southern Seminary alumni
Jimmy Scroggins and Ben Mandrell were also
elected to the positions of vice president and
secretary-treasurer, respectively. Scroggins
serves as pastor of First Baptist Church of West
Palm Beach, Fla., and Mandrell is the pastor of
Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn.
Ezell, Scroggins and Mandrell have devel-
oped the conference’s four sessions to challenge
pastors to consider the “Greater Things” they
can achieve in their personal walk, for their
family, for their churches and for missions.
“We are very thankful for the past but
we still think the best is yet to be,” Ezell said
regarding the theme.
Conference speakers scheduled so far
include Francis Chan, teaching pastor of
Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, Calif.; C.J.
Mahaney, leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries;
David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook
Hills in Birmingham Ala.; Andy Stanley, senior
pastor of North Point Community Church in
Alpharetta, Ga.; and Russell D. Moore, preaching pastor of Highview Baptist Church’s Fegenbush location in Louisville, Ky., and senior vice
president for academic administration and
dean of the School of Theology at Southern
Seminary.
The Pastors’ Conference is not limited to
SBC pastors; the entire event is open to anyone
wishing to attend. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First
Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga. and SBC
president, is hoping for 18,000 attendees at the
two-day event, which immediately precedes the
SBC annual meeting.
Ezell earned his doctor of ministry from
Southern. Scroggins earned both his master of
divinity and doctor of philosophy from Southern and served as dean of Boyce and preaching
pastor of Highview Baptist Church’s Fegenbush
location prior to relocating to Florida in May
2008. Mandrell earned his master of divinity at
Southern.
Theology meets technology:
SBTS to launch iPhone app
By Emily Griffin
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
is anticipating an early 2010 launch of a custom
designed SBTS iPhone application (app). Russ
Hawkins, director of software development at
Southern, worked for months to develop the
technological framework for the SBTS app,
which will feature audio and video files of chapel sermons and campus events, an interactive
campus map, Twitter and blog feeds of campus
leadership, and a complete concierge and information service.
David Yeiser, Southern Communication’s
12
TOWERS
lead designer, assisted Dawkins in the graphic
elements of the app.
“Working on all the technical aspects of the
app has been pretty challenging,” Yeiser said.
“As we wind-down the project and get ready
to launch the app, it has been really neat to see
how surprised people are when they hear about
all the elements the app will have. Russ has
designed the app in a way that is going to make
it really beneficial to Southern students.”
Look to the Southern Seminary website for
the announcement on when the free app will be
available through the Apple App Store.
HISTORY HIGHLIGHT
John A. Broadus at Yale
By Steve Jones
In 1889, Yale University invited John
A. Broadus to present the distinguished
Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching. On Jan. 10 of that year, he delivered
the first in a series of eight lectures on
“Preaching and the Ministerial Life.”
Over the course of the following three
weeks, his lectures were received by large
and attentive audiences. One newspaper
reported that,
“Men of considerable reputation have
come and gone without their presence
being known to any but the few immediately concerned. Such has not been
the case with the visit of Dr. Broadus
and the delivery of his lectures. He has
made marked impression on the life and
thought of the University, outside of the
Divinity School, to which he has been
specifically lecturing. Every available
seat in Marquand chapel not reserved
for students, has been occupied each
day, considerably before the hour for the
lecture, and after all available spaces had
been filled by chairs many have crowded
into the corners left and listened standing.” 1
These lectures, which have been
referred to as “The Lost Yale Lectures”
were not published and no record of
Newspaper announcement for John A. Broadus’ Yale Lectures
Broadus’ exact delivery has survived.
on Preaching found in the Mitchell Family Papers, 1845However, Broadus’ own lecture notes,
1945, which are held in the Southern Seminary Archives.
which are stored in the Southern Semipreaching is that they do not know the Bible—
nary Archives, and a few published newspaper
they know the surface. The expository reading
articles give us a picture of the messages he
of Scriptures, if done with some skill and of a
delivered. One selection from The Examiner’s
full knowledge is very helpful.”2
summary of his lecture on “The Preacher and
The Examiner went on to report that
His Bible” stands out as a particularly imporBroadus concluded that lecture with one final
tant reminder.
caution,
“Many Christians and not a few ministers fail
“Young gentlemen, never speak of the
to read the Bible in any decent proportion to the
reading of God’s Word, of the singing hymns
time they spend on other reading. Allow me to
to his praise, of the sweet service of prayer, as
suggest various reasons why a minister ought to
the ‘preliminary exercises,’ as if all this were but
read the Bible, though the very words seem an
the introduction to the grand thing which is to
impertinence: 1. Primarily for personal benefit;
follow—you and your sermon.”3
let his reading never be perfunctory, profesBroadus delivered his lectures from Jan.
sional. Do not merely visit the Bible now and
10-25, 1889. The titles for all of his lectures can
then, but be at home in it, live in it. 2. To gain
be found in the image included above.
material for preaching and for pastoral instrucTo learn more about Broadus, the Yale Lection. 3. That you may be able easily to find texts
tures, or archival resources available to you visit
suited to any occasion or subject. 4. To be able to
archives.sbts.edu.
quote the Bible freely and felicitously. 5. To keep
thoroughly familiar with the Bible, so as to read
ENDNOTES
it aloud interestingly and impressively. 6. To
1
“Dr. Broadus at Yale: The Two Closing Lectures.” The
gain the most thorough and familiar knowledge
Examiner, February 7, 1889.
2
of the Bible for use in expository preaching. The
Ibid
3
chief difficultly of ministers with expository
Ibid
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
SBTS student excited about taking sound theology back to India
training school in order to train other Indian
men who can plant churches in different parts
of India and, God willing, around the world,”
He-ze-kai-uh is not an Indian name.
Singh said.
People in India have a hard time pronouncSingh’s parents were
ing it. So Hezekiah
the only Christians in
Harshit Singh goes by his
his community when
middle name, Harshit.
his father, Rolly Singh,
His parents gave him the
decided to start a local
name Hezekiah because
church.
they are believers in
“In India is it difJesus Christ.
ficult to be a Christian,
“My sisters and I were
especially in the rural
very privileged to grow
communities,” Singh
up in a Christian home,”
said. “When you go to
Singh said. “Only 2.4% of
church you are excomthe people are Christians
municating yourself
in India, and in my town
from the society. No one
Lucknow the presence is
goes to church just to go
0.1%,”
to church.”
This 2.4% includes
Singh grew up knowCatholics, Jehovah Witing the Lord and went
nesses and Protestants.
away to college to seek a
Singh came to The
Hezekiah Harshit Singh said he hopes to
develop a Bible training school to train pastors business degree. While
Southern Baptist Theoin school he decided that
logical Seminary in 2008 and church planters in his home country of
India. Photo by John Gill
he wanted to devote his
to prepare for Christian
life to vocational ministry.
ministry. He plans on going back to India to
“Back then my theology was all messed up,”
plant churches when he is done.
he said. “All I wanted to do was see conversions
“As I pastor, I hope to be developing a Bible
By Patrick Schreiner
and I tried to get them by any means possible. I
have grown a lot more in my understanding of
the Gospel and how the Spirit of God through
the Word of God works to change people.”
While in college, Singh met a lot of missionaries coming to India and trying out different
tactics on the Hindu people.
“I have learned that a lot of missionaries do
not preach the Bible,” Singh said. “Rather they
think about tactics and strategies, not that this
is wrong, but in the process they forget that the
main task is to preach and teach the Bible.”
Singh was the translator in India for a
young Ph.D. graduate from Southern, Coye
Still, who modeled teaching and preaching
the Bible. He said that through Still’s ministry people came to understand the Bible and
learned what it meant to be a Christian.
Singh encouraged people who are thinking
about missions to do more theology and not
less theology.
“Indian Christians need to know how to
study the Bible,” he said. “My fear is that there
are many Christians who want to be missionaries but who do not know their Bibles. If
you want to help the church in India the best
thing is to train people to preach and study the
Bible because the Word is powerful and it will
accomplish what it has set out to do.”
Through Still, and a couple other people
from Southern, Singh was encouraged to come
to the seminary to study further.
“There are seminaries in India but they
do not have the faculty or the resources that
Southern has,” Singh said. “Most good scholars
do not stay in India because the scholarship is
not as good there. I want to plead with Southern students to go to Indian seminaries to teach
and stay there and have a impact.”
Singh got his letter of acceptance to Southern in 2001. However, he did not have enough
money to come at that time so he had to wait.
In the meantime he worked under Jonathan
Fletcher, the vicar of Emmanuel Church in
London. Fletcher, an Anglican, said he would
help Singh come to Southern.
“He told me that he knew they taught the
Gospel here so they wanted to help me,” Singh
said. “They also knew that I had baptistic convictions so they did not expect me to plant an
Anglican church (there in England).”
Coming to America has been an encouraging experience for Singh. He said it is exciting
to know that Christianity has more than a 2.4%
presence in some parts of the world.
“Sometimes in India you feel so alone as a
Christian,” Singh said. “Coming to America
gives you confidence in your faith.”
The conference that changed my life: GMAA Collegiate Conference
By Garrett E. Wishall
In the spring of 2003, I stepped onto a
charter bus with 30 other college students. Nine
hours, lots of laughs and a dinner buffet later,
we rolled onto the campus of The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary.
We had missed the first general session
of Southern’s Give Me An Answer Collegiate
Conference in our travels, so my other college
buddies and I settled into couches in the lobby
of Southern’s Legacy Center Hotel to make our
elective session choices.
The next morning, we arose and made
our way to our respective classrooms. For my
second elective, my good friend Joe Fuentes
and I found ourselves in the front row. The man
teaching seemed to be not much older than we
were and not even as tall: “Russell D. Moore,” I
thought, reading his nametag. “Hmmm… kind
of young.”
Fifty minutes later Moore had convinced
me that the Man on the Island would die and
go to hell without the Gospel and that I needed
to go and take it to him. We then made our
way over to Alumni Memorial Chapel to hear
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
a man named Albert Mohler present several of
the most information-packed, theologicallyrobust messages I had ever heard.
The other elective sessions, with the late
Ron Nash and theologian and historian
Tom Nettles, were
also compelling, and
I returned home with
my head hurting and
my heart full of things
to think about.
Two and a half
years and a wedding
Garrett E. Wishall
later, I stepped into a
Southern classroom again, this time as a master
of divinity student.
Southern’s “Give Me An Answer Collegiate
Conference” was the first step for me in deciding to come to this seminary. A return visit
for the seminary’s preview weekend, “Scene@
Southern,” was an important step in the decision to come to Southern, but it all began with
the Collegiate Conference.
As I heard a few of Southern’s professors
explain why Jesus is the Only Way and defend
biblical doctrines related to that critical issue,
I was able to see the seminary’s devotion to
biblical truth. And as I began to walk through
my master of divinity here, I came to see that
the faculty of Southern is committed not just
to imparting the knowledge of biblical truth,
but to pressing that truth into students’ lives so
that it changes them. So that it sinks deep into
students, molding them more into the image of
Christ, so that they can in turn do the same in
local church and missionary contexts.
Southern cannot train men for local church
ministry. Only local churches can do that. But
Southern is devoted to assisting local churches,
partnering with local churches, in training men
for ministry. And that they do very, very well.
With at least nine professors serving in staff
roles in churches, and a number of others in
other leadership positions, Southern’s faculty is
unique among seminaries in its combination of
academic, theological and biblical acumen with
practical, pastoral wisdom.
Just two nights ago, two friends and I
bantered about which class at Southern has
been our favorite. As we did this, we quickly
had to move to favorites (plural). After about
20 minutes, we shifted to the question “what
classes have you not liked?” because the favorite
category was so full.
For me, the starting point in all of this was
Southern’s Collegiate Conference. The dates for
this year’s conference are Feb. 12-13; the theme
is “Does God Still Speak?” If you have any
thought of pursuing theological training for
ministry, I encourage you to come. If you aren’t
planning on seminary, but want to be better
equipped to take the Gospel to your college
campus or your future co-workers in whatever
career field you are preparing for, this conference is for you as well.
Just be warned: it might change your life.
The featured speakers for this year’s Give Me
An Answer Collegiate Conference are R. Albert
Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary,
and Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for
academic administration and dean of Southern’s
School of Theology. For more information, visit
events.sbts.edu/give-me-an-answer-collegiateconference. For more information on Southern’s
preview weekend, “Scene@Southern,” visit
www.sbts.edu/future-students/visit-campus/
scene-at-southern-weekends.
TOWERS
13
You will plant, but God will grow, Mohler tells fall graduates
By Jeff Robinson
The uniqueness of the call to Christian
ministry is bound up in the fact that ministers
will not finish what they started because they
are laying the foundation upon which God is
constructing His church, R. Albert Mohler Jr.
told graduates at fall commencement exercises
Dec. 11 at The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary.
Preaching from 1 Corinthians 3:1-11,
Mohler told the graduating class of 223
students that the call to ministry is not one of
completing a task, but of faithful Gospel proclamation that God grows and finishes.
“The biblical conception of the Christian
ministry is, as we should not be surprised to
find, radically at odds with worldly wisdom,”
Mohler said.
“According to the New Testament, one of
the most important insights about the Christian ministry is this: We will not finish what
we begin. This is not to say that we will never
set goals and reach them or that we will never
complete plans and programs. It does mean
that the Christian ministry must be seen in the
R. Albert Mohler Jr. exhorted students from 1
Corinthians 3 at Southern’s fall commencement in
Alumni Memorial Chapel. Photo by Devin Maddox
context of faithfulness extended from generation to generation until Christ returns to claim
his Bride.”
Mohler encouraged graduates to serve in
the ministry with a constant awareness that
God is the agent of all true Gospel ministry.
God’s workers plant and water, but God
grows His church and expands His Kingdom,
Mohler said.
“The congregation is God’s field and God’s
building,” Mohler said. “Every minister must
take care to build faithfully upon the foundation. The one who plants and the one who
waters are nothing in themselves. The agent of
all true Gospel ministry is God himself. As (1
Cor. 3) makes clear, the worthiness of our work
will be fully disclosed on the day of judgment
and tested by fire.”
Mohler warned graduates not to view their
ministries as a profession or a job, but as a
sacred and solemn calling in which God works
through human instruments to complete His
Kingdom and bring glory to Himself.
“Graduates of the Southern Seminary class
of December 2009, if you aim to finish what
you start in ministry, you will aim too low or
finish what is not Christ’s,” Mohler said.
“Go out to plant, but also to water. Sow the
good seed of the Gospel, even as you cultivate
and irrigate. Build faithfully upon the foundation laid by Christ and the apostles. Receive
the stewardship of ministry that is passed on to
you and give your all to this calling so long as
you live. Then, pass this ministry to a generation yet unseen and unborn to continue this
ministry and extend the reach of the Gospel
until Jesus comes.
“Start something you cannot finish and give
yourself to it for the length of your days, with
the strength of your life, to the glory of God.
Dream dreams and see visions, and take up this
calling as you plant and water in the fields of
Christ. Build carefully upon the foundation laid
for you. The hopes and prayers of God’s faithful
people go with you.”
A full manuscript of Mohler’s address
is available at www.albertmohler.
com/2009/12/11/starting-something-you-cannot-finish-christian-ministry-from-generationto-generation.
SBTS grad Steven Chambers must hurry up and wait
By Emily Griffin
If Steven Chambers were to adopt a life
motto it most certainly would be, “Hurry up
and wait.”
Chambers graduated from The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary in December and
while many of his classmates are finding ministry positions across the globe, God is deepening Chambers’ trust in Him by having him wait
for deployment to the foreign mission field.
Chambers’ desire for the nations has been
cultivated and strengthened during his time
at Southern, but the Lord has called he and
his wife Christy to other things for now. This
spring he will join the staff of a church in Georgia and enroll in another masters program,
both moves that were not in his original plan.
Chambers is the first to acknowledge the value
that can come from both experiences and from
accepting a change in plans. He speaks from
experience.
While in high school, Chambers considered
entering the military after graduation. Several
of his relatives had armed service careers and it
seemed like a natural fit. As graduation neared,
Chambers’ plans were altered when he was presented the opportunity to attend Bryan College.
A talented athlete, he was extended a scholarship to run track and cross country at the small
Christian college in Dayton, Tenn.
Chambers gained a great deal from college;
he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in busi-
14
TOWERS
ness, met Christy and developed a deep passion door got shut on the path that I thought I was
headed down and I ended up coming here. It
for unreached people groups.
was hard at first, the academics were very chal“I had always had an interest in, and love
lenging to me, but I have really enjoyed it.”
for, the local church but through my college
Upon arriving at Southern, Chambers
I had the opportunity to go on some mission
established a rapport with the local representatrips. I went to Nicaragua and Peru ... those
tive of the International Mission Board and
(trips) were the highlights of college,” he said.
has since greatly valued that relationship. His
After graduation Chambers was unsure if
coursework reaffirmed his desire to serve on
he was ready to live the life of a full-time missionary but was also uncertain
on how he could financially
manage a seminary education.
His thoughts returned to the
military and he started pursuing advanced military training
through the Coast Guard’s
Officer Candidate School.
But the Coast Guard placed
Chambers on an applicant waiting list, a source of frustration
for Chambers, who describes
himself as “a very driven
person.” Waiting encouraged
Chambers to think and pray
December SBTS grad Steven Chambers and his wife Christy are
more about seminary. A friend
waiting to serve on the mission field in North Africa. Chambers has
accepted a position as an adult ministries director at a church in
had attended Southern and
Fayetteville, Ga. Photo by John Gill
encouraged Chambers to send
the international mission field with Christy.
in an application. He did, and Southern, speMarried in 2008, the couple desires to serve in
cifically the Billy Graham School of Missions
North Africa.
and Evangelism, welcomed Chambers into the
Chambers graduated in December 2009
master of divinity program in fall 2007.
with a master of divinity in Great Commission
“The year before I started at Southern, I
Ministries, four months after he and Christy
had no idea that I would be here,” he said. “A
welcomed their first child, Andrew. The current
economic instability has changed the couples’
plans temporarily. With the IMB experiencing funding limitations and the young couple
having a newborn baby, the Chambers were
advised by individuals at the IMB to further
strengthen Steven’s ministry experience and
business training with a master of business
administration degree.
Bottom line: the mission field waits. In
the meantime, Chambers is joining the staff of
Woolsey Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga., as
adult ministries director. Overseeing Sunday
school, pastoral care and church mission work
will provide him the opportunity for hands-on
church ministry as he works toward his MBA
through a local university. The Chambers will
keep in contact with the IMB while Steven
completes his MBA and will gladly wait on
the Lord. Chambers doesn’t resent his change
in plans; rather he sees it as an opportunity
that will strengthen his future service on
the field.
“I have a passion for unreached, Muslim
people groups in the developing world.
Those things are on my heart,” he said. “I
really want to use my business degree to bring
value to their infrastructure, but our ultimate
goal is to see people become believers and to
see churches get planted, and then grow and
develop. ... I foresee using my understanding
and background in business as a legitimate
platform to meet needs and share Christ.”
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu
Southern Seminary 2009 fall
commencement photo collage
Community
Newsbriefs
‘The Albert Mohler Program’
“The Albert Mohler Program,” a daily radio
show hosted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., can be
heard from 5-6 p.m. on WFIA-FM 94.7 or
as a live webcast at www.AlbertMohler.com.
Previous broadcasts of the nationwide program
may be accessed at the web site and are also
available as a podcast. Anyone is invited to call
the show toll free, 877-893-8255, or to e-mail
[email protected] with questions and
comments.
• Mommy and Me Power Walking M, W & F
10-11 a.m.
• Practical Pilates M, T, & R 4:45-5:45 p.m.
• Aqua Alive T & R 5-5:45 p.m.
• Step It Up Cardio Blast T & R 8-9 p.m.
Intramural Volleyball
• 6:30 p.m., Mondays.
Co-ed Volleyball in the Main Gym of the HRC.
Holiday hours
• 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday, Jan. 19.
Martin Luther King Jr. day.
Ministry
Resouces
Children’s programming
registration
• Beings at 9 a.m., Monday, Jan. 19.
Registration for children’s programs (Kids Fit
and Motor Skills) will run for two weeks.
Register at the HRC front desk.
Ministry position postings
Full-time and part-time ministry positions
may be found on e-campus through the help
desk’s link to Ministry Resources.
Intramural registration
• 9 a.m., Monday, Jan. 19.
Registration for all intramural leagues, tournaments and games will begin.
Résumé service
Start or update your résumé file with Ministry Resources by submitting our on-line candidate form. Visit the Church Resources quick
link on www.sbts.edu for the simple instructions. The office is also eager to counsel you
over your resume and ministry preferences.
Visit Norton Room 150 or call ext. 4208
HRC locker clean-out
• 10 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25
Please clean out your locker before 10 p.m.
Health and Rec
Bulldogs basketball
All games are played in the Main Gym. The
Main Gym, both locker rooms and the pool
will be closed two hours prior to the game, for
the duration of the game for afternoon games
and for the rest of the night for evening games.
The Health and Recreation Center (HRC)
will be open regular hours during the spring
semester: M-F — 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sat. — 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15
Ohio Christian University
7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 22
Free Will Baptist
2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 23
Crown College
Aerobics schedule
• Fitness Boot Camp M 6:30-7:15, W & F
8-8:45 a.m.
• Call the HRC at 897-4720 with questions
about scheduling and events.
Clockwise, from top right:
• Southern Seminary graduates join in song at
Southern’s 2009 fall commencement ceremony.
• Southern Seminary professor Jonathan Pennington celebrates with graduate Abigail McBroom.
• Justin Sampler receives his diploma from R.
Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern. Sampler
received the Baggott Award, which is given to the
most outstanding graduate as voted on by the student body and selected by Southerns deans.
• Don Whitney, senior associate dean of the School
of Theology, prays during the commencement
service.
• Two graduates celebrate together their hardearned degrees.
Does my ministry have to become a 501(c)(3)??
Should I opt out of social security ??
What’s a “parsonage allowance”??
How is a minister a self-employed “employee”??
Edward J. Smith
George W. Cochran
[email protected]
[email protected]
Serving Christian ministries for over 20 years
(502) 426-1058
THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT
Photos by John Gill and Devin Maddox
news.sbts.edu January 4, 2010
TOWERS
15
Towers
3
NONPROFIT ORG.
US POSTAGE
PAID
L&D
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
2825 Lexington Road · Louisville, KY 40280
Three
Questions
W IT H
John Frame
professor of systematic theology
and philosophy
at Reformed Theological Seminary
1
If a pastor had time to read only one of
your four massive theology of Lordship
books, which one would you recommend
and why?
I’ve worked out about four different
proposals for the order in which those books
ought to be read. They are somewhat selfcontained, but each one sort of summarizes the
other. I think the “Doctrine of God” book is the
first one I would recommend in terms of logical
order and not so much pedagogical order. I
think people need to understand the biblical
God and His Lordship in order to understand
the rest of the series.
“What I want to emphasize is
that the Bible is so full of emotional
content, as well as propositional
doctrinal content, that unless
we are expounding both of those
in our preaching and teaching
we are really not presenting the
whole counsel of God.”
— John Frame
2
In your latest installment of the Lordship
series, “The Doctrine of the Christian
Life,” you write about preaching with
passion and how sometimes in Reformed
circles you see that lacking. How important is it
for a young pastor to preach, to quote Richard
Baxter, as a dying man to dying men?
16
TOWERS
I think the Christian church has been
different in different segments. I think that
Jonathan Edwards, for example, set out to
restore interest in the emotions within the
Reformed community and I think the Puritans
are pretty balanced in their understanding of
emotions. Somehow, especially late in the 19th
century during the fundamentalist-modernist
controversy when the liberals were saying it’s
all a matter of feeling and not propositions, that
balance kind of went away.
What I want to emphasize is that the Bible
is so full of emotional content, as well as propositional doctrinal content, that unless we are
expounding both of those in our preaching and
teaching we are really not presenting the whole
counsel of God.
3
I know Cornelius Van Til has shaped
your thinking to a great degree, but who
have been the other major figures and
writings that have shaped your own
thought and ministry?
I have read Augustine, Thomas Aquinas,
John Calvin and the historical Protestant and
Reformed literature, but I’m not primarily a
historian of doctrine so I tend to be more influenced by things that were written over the last
hundred years or so. Certainly B.B. Warfield,
Abraham Kuyper and Van Til. The old faculty
at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia,
where I served, were just superb in so many
ways. John Murray as well; Murray is the one
to whom I have dedicated my festschrift. I
think he is under-appreciated today, so most
any book that came out of that atmosphere
such as Gresham Machen’s “Christianity and
Liberalism” is something everybody ought to
read, especially seminarians. That is a powerful
work.
January 4, 2010
news.sbts.edu