Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol. 91.2) Pastoral Ministry in a Changing World

6 The Strange World of 

Personal Ministry 

14 Five Ministry Challenges 

I Didn’t Anticipate 

22 What Does it Mean To 

Be a Shepherd Leader? 

v91 n2 

JEREMY PIERRE 

HERSHAEL W. YORK 

TIMOTHY PAUL JONES

A Lifetime 

of Faithfulness 

begins with an 

education that is 

Trusted for Truth 

SBTS.EDU

President's Message 

R. ALBERT MOHLER, JR. 

ALBERTMOHLER.COM 

@ALBERTMOHLER 

Social change used to come slowly. Think of the 

Middle Ages, often dismissed as the Dark Ages. 

Social structures and patterns did change over 

time, but that usually mean a lot of time. Generation 

after generation could pass with little change to the 

society and little sense of change. 

Our times are dramatically different. Social change 

now comes quickly, measured by months and days, 

rather than decades and centuries. Sociologists 

sometimes refer to this as “social velocity,” and most of 

us feel it happening all around us. 

Pastors and preachers feel this change taking place, 

sense its importance, and can trace the effects of such 

massive change in the experience of a congregation 

and the individual lives of believers. Time and space 

are collapsing as the role of the pastor now demands 

a rather urgent understanding of what is happening in 

the world around us – and in the world experienced by 

church members. 

The world that provided the social context for this 

institution through more than a century and a half 

is gone – utterly gone. In my own lifetime we have 

shifted from concern that church would be co-opted by 

cultural Christianity to the concern that we are now in 

a post-Christian culture that threatens religious liberty. 

Now, the concern of most pastors is not that their 

church members will be seduced by the culture, but 

that the culture itself poses a direct threat to Christian 

faithfulness. The danger of seduction has given way to 

the danger of intimidation. 

The only proper Christian response to the challenge 

of a post-Christian culture is deeper conviction and 

increased boldness. Pastors must preach the Word 

with undiluted conviction, unmatched clarity, and 

unquestioned courage. Otherwise, all is lost. Just look 

at the social science data that underlines the post- 

Christian condition of younger Americans. 

On the other hand, consider the thousands of young 

men studying to be faithful pastors right now through 

Southern Seminary. I am in awe of what God is doing 

as so many young people are responding with the full 

measure of conviction, knowing exactly how they are 

seen by a post-Christian culture. With them, I am 

invigorated by the challenge of raising up a generation 

of young men coming to be made ready for a lifetime 

of gospel ministry. They have already been swimming 

against the currents of their own generation. They have 

come to Southern Seminary because they want a bold 

and convictional theological education. They want Bible 

– lots of it. They want doctrine – all of it. They want 

ministry training – and they soak it up. Who would not 

be invigorated by that? 

Do you want to be encouraged? Come see what God 

is doing at Southern Seminary as the next generation 

of “soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed” is readied for 

deployment. These students are serious, convictional, 

devotional, and joyful. They know the landscape of 

the post-modern world and they are determined to 

preach Christ and lead gospel churches. They match 

seriousness with sweetness. God is doing something 

marvelous in this generation and right here at Southern 

Seminary and Boyce College. Come see it for ourself, 

pray for us, and thank God for calling out the called 

in this generation. How kind of God to let us be a part 

of all this. 

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. 

FALL 2023 1

 

THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 

From the Editor 

JACOB PERCY 

Fall 2023. vol. 91, no. 2. 

Copyright © 2023 

The Southern Baptist 

Theological Seminary 

From its inception in 1859, 

The Southern Baptist Theological 

Seminary has existed primarily 

to educate, train, and prepare 

pastors for a lifetime of ministry 

faithfulness. Over the past 160 

years, the commitment of Southern 

Seminary to train pastors, under 

the Lordship of Jesus Christ, 

has not changed. However, the 

context in which pastors are 

called to minister continues to 

change rapidly. Today, pastors 

face challenges such as the rise of 

secularism, the decline of religious 

participation, and the increasing 

complexity of social issues. 

Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, "Jesus 

Christ is the same yesterday and 

today and forever” (ESV). The 

immutability of God gives comfort 

that amid a rapidly changing world, 

God remains constant. Throughout 

Scripture, there are many 

examples of the people of God 

experiencing significant change 

as leaders came and went, and 

nation after nation rose to become 

the dominant power of the day. 

During this change, the prophets 

faithfully urged God's people to 

remember Him. To remember 

the covenant He had made. To 

remember the relationship He 

had invited them into. In periods 

of economic success and periods 

of exile, God did not change. 

This reminder is of great 

comfort as we remind ourselves 

that no matter how much the world 

changes, God does not change. 

Similarly, God’s call to pastors 

has not changed. Paul instructs 

Timothy to “preach the word; be 

ready in season and out of season; 

reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with 

complete patience and teaching” 

(2 Tim. 4:2). The pastoral task 

set before Timothy remains the 

same one set before pastors today: 

preach God's word faithfully, and 

lead God's people patiently. While 

aspects of this task will look unique 

to each pastor called by God, it 

is a comforting reminder of how 

unchanged and unchanging the 

task given to pastors remains. 

The Fall 2023 issue of the 

Southern Seminary Magazine has 

Pastoral Leadership in a Changing 

World as its theme to encourage 

pastors and ministry leaders as 

they seek to minister where God 

has called them. Those who have 

pastored for any time have faced 

unanticipated challenges and 

unexpected questions from those 

they lead. Our goal is to provide you 

with a magazine that is a resource 

and encouragement as you seek 

to navigate challenges and pursue 

your calling with faithfulness. 

Vice President of 

Communications and Managing 

Editor: Jacob Percy 

Creative Director: Samantha Rice 

Chief Style and Copy Editor: 

Torey Teer 

Assistant Copy Editor: 

Hannah Miller 

Designers: John Zurowski and 

Anna Vanden Brink 

Production Manager: 

Drew Watson 

Photographers: Caroline Rook 

and Kelsie Marques 

Contributing Writers: R. Albert 

Mohler, Jr., Hershael York, 

Timothy Paul Jones, Jeremy 

Pierre, Mitch Chase, and 

Travis Hearne 

Subscription Information: 

Southern Seminary Magazine 

is published by the Southern 

Baptist Theological Seminary, 

2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, 

KY 40280. The magazine is 

distributed digitally at 

equip.sbts.edu/magazine. If you 

would like to request a hard copy, 

please reach out by emailing 

communications@sbts.edu 

Mail: 


Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, 

Louisville, KY 40280 

Online: sbts.edu 

Email: communications@sbts.edu 

Telephone: (502) 897-4000 

2 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

 

Contents 

v91 n2 

PASTORAL MINISTRY IN A CHANGING WORLD 

1 

PRESIDENT'S 

MESSAGE 

2 

FROM THE 

EDITOR 

28 

HISTORY OF THE 

LIBRARY 

by Travis Hearne 

6 

The Strange World of 

Personal Ministry 

by Jeremy Pierre 

14 

Five Ministry Challenges 

I Didn't Anticipate 

by Hershael W. York 

44 

FACULTY 

BOOKS 

48 

SEMESTER 

HIGHLIGHTS 

36 

NEWS & 

FEATURES 

22 

What Does it Mean To Be 

a Shepherd Leader? 

by Timothy Paul Jones 

50 

THE WHOLE 

BIBLE FOR 

THE WHOLE 

CONGREGATION 

by Mitch Chase 

FALL 2023 3

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The Strange World 

of Personal Ministry 

JEREMY PIERRE 

Rejoice with those who rejoice, 

weep with those who weep. 

Live in harmony with one another. 

Do not be haughty, but associate 

with the lowly. 

Never be wise in your own sight. 

ROMANS 12:15–16 ESV 

No one prepares you for how strange 

ministry is. How could they? To be 

strange is to be unexpected, odd, 

out of the norm. And personal ministry in 

particular traffics in the unknowns. It occurs 

at the heart of strange. 

This insight came to me one afternoon as I sat 

in my church office, listening to a man walk 

me through his interpretation of a billboard 

for All State Insurance as a sign from God 

instructing him to marry a woman who was 

already married to another man. This was not 

exactly seminary course material. Strange. 

When you’re personally ministering the Word 

to real people, you get their real problems. 

A leader in the college ministry suddenly 

starts promoting furries’ rights online. 

(If you don’t know what that means, the Lord 

bless and keep you.) Or, you catch wind that 

a professional in his fifties is letting people 

know at church that he’ll be marrying a 

woman in her early twenties that no one has 

ever met. Or, a husband and wife inform 

you that she is pregnant but they haven’t 

slept together in over a year, and you have 

to untangle that story before you even know 

what action to take. Strange. 

Let me get to the point I’m driving at. 

PERSONAL MINISTRY MEANS FACING THE 

UNKNOWNS OF YOUR PEOPLE’S TROUBLE 

WHILE ATTENDING TO WHAT YOU DO KNOW 

FROM THE WORD. Sometimes this will make 

you cry. Sometimes laugh. Sometimes throw 

your hands up. But all the time pray. 

FALL 2023 7

The Strange World of Personal Ministry 

Being with Your People in the Unknowns 

What makes personal ministry so much 

stranger than public ministry are the 

variables. In public ministry, you study 

your text of Scripture and the history of 

interpretation. You create your sermon 

or lesson outline, thinking about general 

applications to folks in your church and 

community. But most things in public 

ministry are planned and delivered. 

Personal ministry to individuals is full of 

unknown variables. That’s what makes it so 

unpredictable and often strange. We don’t 

like the idea of entering into situations we’re 

not familiar with, of placing ourselves in 

conversations we don’t know the way out of. 

If you feel lost in a sermon or lesson you’re 

giving to a group, that’s a simple mistake in 

preparation. But in a personal conversation, 

there is no preparation that can entirely 

prevent you from feeling a bit lost at times. 

In personal ministry, unknown variables are 

the norm. 

But let me relieve some of the burden of this 

for you. Knowing the route through those 

unknowns is less important than being 

present with your people in the unknowns. 

In other words, you enter into the confusion 

with them, not as the one responsible to have 

pre-supplied answers but as one who sits with 

them to wait on the Lord. 

Presence. This is one of the greatest tools for 

ministry we have. Presence is facing unknowns 

together. I’m talking about something more 

than just being in the room. It’s not just 

passively receiving information. I’m talking 

active presence, where we voluntarily shoulder 

their questions and concerns with them, in 

all their majestic strangeness, and go before 

the Lord. 

This is why I made Romans 12:15-16 the 

epigraph to this article. To weep with those 

who weep or rejoice with those who rejoice 

means you’re affected by what affects them, 

you’re an active participant in the variables 

that affect them. The instruction of these 

verses presumes the ability to recognize the 

state people are in and respond appropriately. 


Jeremy Pierre 

It also presumes a willingness to take on 

troubles (and joys) that are not your own. 

This takes time and effort. And it takes a 

certain degree of fortitude. Honestly, you 

have to be strong for this kind of ministry. 

You have to be strong in a way that public 

ministry doesn’t require as much. It’s a 

strength characterized both by contentment 

that God knows what you don’t know and by 

confidence that God will reveal what needs to 

be known for proper response at each stage. 

To put it simply, you have to get comfortable 

with waiting on God for answers. 

to prepare our hearts to receive this wisdom 

to see the specific troubles people face with 

greater clarity. 

This desire is expressed beautifully in Psalm 

130:5: “I wait for the Lord, my souls waits, 

and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the 

Lord more than watchmen for the morning, 

more than watchmen for the morning.” 

What your people need from you is not an 

immediate answer to all the specifics of their 

troubles but a confident attendance to God’s 

Word with them regarding their troubles. 

Attending to What You Do Know 

from the Word 

Sometimes, there’s incredible clarity in a 

simple declarative sentence, like the one in 

James 4:14: “You do not know what tomorrow 

will bring.” The whole point James is driving 

at is that it is the Lord’s will that brings the 

variables of each day. God wants the humility 

of our recognizing that he alone knows all 

the variables involved in our success and our 

suffering. As we minister to people, we model 

for them what confidence in the unknowns 

looks like by attending to God’s Word. This is 

the same letter that starts out, “If any of you 

lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives 

generously to all without reproach, and it will 

be given him” (1:5). Incredible clarity. 

How does God grant this wisdom? I use the 

word “attending” deliberately. Attending 

means waiting. Attending is not a passive 

waiting; it is active attention to the means 

by which God grants wisdom to face the 

unexpected. We attend to the Word as an act 

of submission to God. We ask the Holy Spirit 

FALL 2023 9

The Strange World of Personal Ministry 

This avoids two opposing temptations: either 

to get lost in trying to figure out all the 

specifics or to ignore the specifics because 

they’re so confusing. Instead, attendance to 

the Word means that you’re willing to wait on 

the Lord regarding the unknowns while you 

trust and obey the knowns. 

Figuring out what furries are and to what 

degree your college ministry leader is 

associating with them will take time. 

Discovering why this guy in his fifties is 

drawn toward this particular young lady, 

how they have conducted themselves in the 

relationship, and what accountability looks 

like in this situation will take effort. Sorting 

through the obvious sin that occurred 

when a wife is impregnated by another man 

with the less obvious relational history 

and motivations that led to that sin will be 

complex. Those unknowns are daunting. But 

Scripture is full of knowns. And they provide 

the grace of clarity for each step. 

To know which knowns are most relevant, 

you have to know your Bible. And that will 

be my parting encouragement. I’ve already 

made it clear you can’t entirely prepare for 

the unexpected. That’s what makes personal 

ministry strange. But you can be prepared to 

respond wisely to the strange and unexpected 

by stockpiling wisdom from the Word over 

the course of your ministry. Know the God 

of Scripture, and you will know his heart in 

each situation. 

Strange, I know. But look at all the strange 

situations Paul wrote to in the early church 

or Jesus walked into when he entered a 

town. The world of ministry has always been 

strange. But we can confidently wade into the 

unknowns precisely because God has made 

known everything we need to wait on him. 


"What your people 

need from you is not an 

immediate answer to all the 

specifics of their troubles 

but a confident attendance 

to God’s Word with them 

regarding their troubles." 

Jeremy Pierre

9 Questions 

FAITHFUL FAMILIES SHOULD 

ASK ABOUT COLLEGE 

Making the right choice about college often begins with parents 

asking the right questions on each campus visit. Boyce College has 

curated a series of short videos designed to arm faithful families with 

the nine critical questions they should be prepared to ask. 

WATCH 9 QUESTIONS ABOUT COLLEGE AT 

BOYCECOLLEGE.COM/PARENTS

Ready to 

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Five Ministry 

Challenges I Didn’t 

Anticipate 

HERSHAEL W. YORK 

Life and ministry have changed rapidly 

and radically over the past forty years. 

Reared in a pastor’s home, I was not, 

on the one hand, totally unprepared for the 

complexities and complications that awaited 

me when I accepted my first full-time 

ministry assignment at only twenty years 

old. On the other hand, no one was prepared 

for the sweeping changes that the next four 

decades would produce. Five things, in 

particular, caught me completely unprepared 

and added challenges to life and ministry that 

I never saw coming but nonetheless to which 

I had to respond. 

1 SECURITY AND ABUSE ISSUES 

When I was a boy, I spent a lot of time 

alone with older men who were members 

of churches my father served as pastor. They 

taught me to work hard, hunt stealthily, fish 

patiently, accurately identify plants and trees 

in the woods, and drive almost anything. 

None of them ever acted inappropriately or 

abused me in any way. They were kind, godly 

men who helped me walk toward manhood. 

Each of them proved worthy of the trust 

my parents placed in them. That idyllic 

childhood hardly prepared me for the hidden 

crimes and abuses perpetrated in many 

churches that would later be widely exposed 

and reckoned with. 

Consequently, ministry today means thinking 

about physical safety issues and the price 

paid when that does not happen. Not only are 

churches now endeavoring to help those hurt 

in the past, but they also must do everything 

possible to prevent any crimes or even 

potential for such deeds in the future. 

FALL 2023 15

Five Ministry Challenges I Didn’t Anticipate 

I did not foresee a need to run background 

checks on all church employees, leaders, 

and volunteer workers, but we do. Nor did 

I realize how much the physical security of 

church members and employees would factor 

into the design and expense of a new building, 

but it did. For the first half of my ministry, I 

never thought of lockdowns, active shooters, 

armed and uniformed officers in the church 

building, security cameras, or a policy that 

no adult may ever be alone with a child, but 

I certainly have in the last two decades. Like 

many others, I needed education and training 

to know how to protect the people whom I 

lead. That often meant hearing hard truths 

about consequences when churches and 

shepherds are not vigilant, stories so grievous 

that they made me resolve to do everything I 

could so it did not happen on my watch. 

2 THE COLLAPSE OF COHERENCE 

ON SEXUALITY AND GENDER 

I remember when the public relations agenda 

of the gay lobby could be summed up in the 

word “tolerance.” They claimed that all they 

wanted was to be allowed to live their lives 

as they saw fit. No one asks for “tolerance” 

anymore. The demand now has moved 

beyond acquiescence or acceptance to full 

agreement and celebration. 

Not only did the vocabulary of the demand 

changed, but so did the coalition of those 

demanding it. The “gay lobby” became 

LGBTQIA+, and the + means so many 

things that it’s impossible to keep up: twospirit, 

non-binary, pansexual, demisexual, 

aromantic, gender fluid, and asexual! Who 

saw that coming? Not I. But the most 

troubling thing is that neither did I anticipate 

that people who have claimed to be Biblebelieving 

Christians for years would abandon 

clear biblical precepts to accept the views 

perpetrated on them by the contemporary 

culture. I did not foresee Christian colleges 

and universities abandoning the clear moral 

standards of their past and raising a white 

flag of surrender followed by a rainbow flag 

of assimilation. I could not have believed that 

parents would be led by their indoctrinated 

children on this issue rather than the other 

way round. I correctly assumed the world 

would gradually accept homosexuality, but I 

never imagined a wholesale denial of gender 

reality. Some people have always argued 

that they should be allowed to dress and to 

live however they wanted, but I could not 

have known that much of the world would 

vociferously argue that genes and genitalia do 

not determine sex, that men can have babies, 

that gender can be fluid, that people have the 

right to force others to use certain pronouns, 

or that biological men can compete in 

women’s sports. I never foresaw that a female 

nominee for the Supreme Court of the United 

States would be unable or unwilling—under 

oath—to define what a woman is. 

In the entire history of the world, no previous 

culture has been confused on this issue. 

Whether pagan or Christian, rural or urban, 

ancient or modern, everyone has known how 

to finish the sentence uttered at the birth of 

a healthy baby, “It’s a . . . .” I did not envisage 

that our culture would have the hubris to look 

back in smug judgment on all others and 

simply say, “We know better.” 


Hershael W. York 

3 SCREENS ARE DISCIPLERS 

My parents’ generation complained frequently 

about their kids’ being glued to the television. 

They had no idea that screens would morph 

and proliferate into every room, every space, 

and every waking moment in the lives of their 

grandchildren and great-grandchildren. No 

one foresaw that those ubiquitous screens 

could simultaneously bring information and 

inanity, delight and danger, gospel preaching 

and graphic pornography. No one knew that 

the self-image and mental health of teens 

would be shaped—and threatened—by the 

things they saw on those screens. 

Opinions on everything from sex and 

sexuality to Christian nationalism to fashion 

to theology to politics and public discourse 

are formed largely from online exposure. 

Out of the same screen come praise and 

cursing. I don’t think I am doing the biblical 

writer James a disservice by applying his 

statement on the tongue to our screens: “My 

brothers, these things ought not to be so” 

(James 3:10 ESV). 

Screens on computers, iPads, cell phones, 

and TVs are relentlessly streaming values, 

opinions, worldviews, and images into the 

minds of believers and unbelievers alike at an 

informational rate many times over anything 

in the past. Parents are giving their children 

easy access to the internet and, consequently, 

giving everything on the internet easy access 

to their children. And parents are being 

manipulated and molded by those same 

forces as much as their children. 

Christian ministries and churches have tried to 

use those screens for gospel purposes and have 

succeeded in many ways. Still, biblical truth 

proclaimed on the internet is—to paraphrase 

the great R. G. Lee—“like a fragrant gardenia 

in a garbage dump.” I had no idea how much 

of my time in ministry would be spent dealing 

with people discipled destructively by a screen. 

4 A GLOBAL PANDEMIC 

I had read books or watched movies about 

what a global pandemic might look like, but I 

had never thought about what it might mean 

to lead a church through one. I did not see 

it coming, and when I did, I did not think it 

would last long. When it lasted long, I still 

held out the hope, even the belief, that an 

end point would come at which everything 

reverted to what it was before I ever heard 

of COVID-19. I know now that will never 

happen. The world changed in ways we can 

neither undo nor move past. 

I thought the biggest problems of a pandemic 

would be health issues, but for me, at least, 

the leadership challenges were far more 

challenging than the three times I contracted 

COVID. How could I lead a church when 

FALL 2023 17

Five Ministry Challenges I Didn’t Anticipate 

we couldn’t gather? How could we maintain 

unity in a world so fractured? How could the 

voice of a shepherd be heard above the din 

of everything else the sheep were seeing and 

listening to online? I had always trusted my 

ability to look my members in the eye and 

speak candidly and honestly so that they gave 

me their trust. I never thought about how 

I would lead when I couldn’t even be with 

them for a while or have them all together, 

even when we came back in multiple services. 

I also didn’t know that the members of my 

church would have such different opinions 

about the social and medical issues the 

pandemic brought. 

Though the pandemic ended, many effects 

remain. Some church members simply 

disappeared, and we don’t know where 

they went or what happened to them. Some 

never came back and say they are no longer 

following Christ. Habits and expectations 

changed. I am grateful our church made 

it through the pandemic without major 

divisions or disruptions, but it was hard, and 

it made me develop a different set of skills 

than those I relied on before. 

5 THE VITRIOL OF DIVISIONS 

AMONG CHRISTIANS 

I can name numerous evangelical leaders who 

shared platforms and enjoyed close fellowship 

ten years ago but hardly speak to each other 

now. Historically, theology has been the basis 

of Christian fellowships and denominations, 

but in recent years, theological distinctives 

have given way to myriad other issues that 

previously were secondary or non-existent. 

Christians don’t merely disagree about 

theology or the best way to be Christian in 


Hershael W. York 

a multicultural, pluralist society. They argue 

about politics, vaccines, the war in Ukraine, 

race, and a host of other matters that, though 

important, were once left out of church spaces. 

Those disagreements lead to suspicions of 

a departure from faithfulness and fidelity. 

Those suspicions, in turn, embolden public 

accusations and personal animus, including 

labels intended to demean and dismiss 

someone over a single issue. Fellowship has 

fractured over non-theological issues like 

never before in my lifetime. And if that is 

true on the broad spectrum of evangelicalism, 

it is equally true in local churches. 

Social media provides a public platform for 

everyone, and Christian charity is often the 

first casualty when an indignant believer 

feels justified in publicly correcting or calling 

out someone. The more outrageously the 

outrage is expressed, the more hits or views 

it generates. I confess that I did not anticipate 

this degree of animosity among believers, 

particularly between well-known leaders. 

While I must admit a lack of foresight and 

being completely shocked by these major 

developments over the course of my ministry, 

one thing I saw very clearly, and which 

has only been confirmed across decades of 

experience, is this: the gospel of Jesus Christ 

is true. I have frequently been disappointed by 

people, even more so in myself, but Jesus has 

never let me down. Through all the sadness, 

confusion, disappointment, misinformation, 

and animosity around me, I still know that 

the gospel is the deepest need to the greatest 

problem in the world. I am more determined 

than ever to believe it, preach it, tell it, trust it, 

and live it than ever before—no matter what 

comes next. 

FALL 2023 19

Issues are Rising 

But Scripture Remains 

Southern Seminary offers you theologically informed 

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"Through all the sadness, 

confusion, disappointment, 

misinformation, and animosity 

around me, I still know that the 

gospel is the deepest need to the 

greatest problem in the world. 

I am more determined than ever 

to believe it, preach it, tell it, trust 

it, and live it than ever before— 

no matter what comes next." 

Hershael W. York


What Does 

it Mean To Be a 

Shepherd Leader? 

TIMOTHY PAUL JONES 

Pastoral leadership is inseparable from 

the image of a shepherd. The word 

“pastor” is, after all, the Latin word 

for “shepherd.” The call to serve as a pastor 

or elder is a call to shepherd the people of 

God in a particular place (Acts 20:28–29; 

Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 5:1–2). AS I READ THE 

SCRIPTURES, I SEE THREE KEY PRACTICES 

OF A SHEPHERD LEADER THAT REMIND 

ME HOW TO RELATE TO THE PEOPLE FOR 

WHOM I AM RESPONSIBLE AS A PASTOR. 

God, the Model Shepherd Leader 

A shepherd leader is a leader who practices 

presence, protection, and provision. These 

three practices are particularly clear in God’s 

denial of David’s request to build a temple 

(2 Sam. 7). After rejecting David’s plan, God 

related the ways that he had shepherded 

David throughout his rise to power: 

The Lord had remained present with David 

(“I have been with you,” 7:9). 

The Lord had protected David 

(“I have destroyed all your enemies,” 7:9). 

The Lord promised to provide a name for 

David and a place for the people of Israel 

(“I will make a name for you. . . . I will 

establish a place,” 7:9–10). 

This threefold description of God’s care for 

David provides a helpful snapshot of the 

practices of an ideal shepherd: Shepherds 

remain with the sheep, rescue them from 

danger, and provide them with a place where 

they receive what they need to be secure. In 

other words, shepherds practice presence, 

FALL 2023 23

What Does it Mean To Be a Shepherd Leader? 

protection, and provision. One result of God’s 

shepherding would be peace for David and 

for his people (“so that they may . . . not be 

disturbed. . . . I will give you rest,” 7:10–11). If 

any future king of Israel became a beast who 

preyed on the people, God would discipline 

this king with a shepherd’s rod (7:14). 

This covenant with David is far from the 

last place where provision, presence, and 

protection appear in connection with sheep 

and shepherds, however. In his most famous 

psalm, David recognized the Lord as his 

shepherd (Ps. 23:1). According to David, his 

shepherd God was: 

Present to guide him 

(“he leads me,” “you are with me,” 23:3–4) 

Powerful to protect him 

(“I fear no danger,” “in the presence of my 

enemies,” 23:4–5; see also Ps. 28:7–9) 

Faithful to provide for him 

(“there is nothing I lack,” “green pastures,” 

“quiet waters,” “he prepares a table,” 23:1–2, 5) 

Once again, the leadership of the Lord God 

led to peace and rest in a place that God 

himself had prepared (“he lets me lie down,” 

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord,” 23:2, 6). 

Practices of presence, protection, and 

provision are entwined in descriptions of 

the ideal shepherd in Scripture because no 

sheep can survive long without a shepherd 

who is present, powerful, and faithful to 

provide. Without antlers or claws or fangs, 

sheep are hard pressed to strike back at 

predators. Lacking the capacity to climb or 

to run at high speeds, they can’t escape easily 

either. Simply put, an independent sheep is a 

dead sheep. 

Because they are so vulnerable, sheep 

don’t typically rest unless they feel safe and 

secure. In the words of Timothy Laniak, for 

sheep “rest is not only a function of being 

well provided for. It is a state of security 

that comes from the shepherd’s protective 

presence.” 1 This is why God called for leaders 

who would not only lead his people but also 

shepherd them. Every sheep needs a shepherd 

and a flock. 

Shepherd Leadership as a Way of Leading 

When God raised up human leaders as 

shepherds, he was calling them to participate 

in his work of rescuing his people, remaining 

with them, and providing for them. This 

calling did not elevate leaders to positions of 

sovereign lordship over the people; instead, 

it placed them in positions of sacrificial 

stewardship among the people of Israel. God 

alone remained the supreme shepherd of 

his people, because only a sovereign God 

is capable of perfect provision, protection, 

and presence (Ps. 80:1; Isa. 40:11; Jer. 31:10; 

Mic. 7:14). The position of the God-called 

shepherd leader is one of service and 

obedience, guiding and guarding the people 

under the authority of the supreme shepherd. 

In the early church, this way of leading 

would become so closely tied to the work of 

the church’s leaders that the word “pastor”— 

which means “shepherd”—developed into a 

title for the office of elders and overseers in 

the new covenant. 


Timothy Paul Jones 

The Presence of the Shepherd Leader 

To be a shepherd leader requires us to be 

present with our people, protecting them 

from error and providing them with the rich 

fodder of God’s Word. In the world’s way of 

thinking, successful leadership correlates 

with inaccessibility; the most successful 

leaders are protected by layers of security, 

staff, and secretaries. Unfortunately, church 

leaders can easily fall into similar patterns. 

Among pastors, however, such inaccessibility 

should be seen not as a badge of honor but 

as a shameful signpost of capitulation to the 

world’s values. We cannot be present with 

our people to protect and provide for them 

if we aren’t accessible to them. If shepherds 

cease to be available to the sheep, they 

cease to behave as shepherds. This is not 

to suggest that a pastor must be leashed to 

every member’s passing whim or present at 

every church function. Pastors must schedule 

consistent times for the purposes of study, 

prayer, and spiritual refreshment (Luke 5:16; 

Acts 6:2, 4), as well as making space for rest 

and recreation and time for family. And 

yet pastors must also prioritize patterns of 

presence with their flock. 

The Provision and Protection 

of the Shepherd Leader 

When it comes to provision and protection, 

the world’s priorities might call us to pay the 

most attention to the people who are most 

powerful, or those whose bank accounts 

are most likely to multiply the church’s 

budget. Godly shepherds, however, are 

called to provide and to protect by seeking 

the lost, bringing back the strays, bandaging 

the injured, and strengthening the weak 

(Ezek. 34:16)—which sounds like a shepherd’s 

priorities should be shaped not by people’s 

positions, but by their brokenness and 

need. “If I do not show concern for the one 

sheep that strays and gets lost,” Augustine 

remarked in the fifth century regarding his 

congregation in the city of Hippo, “even a 

sheep who is strong will think it’s nothing 

more than a joke to stray and to be lost. I do 

indeed desire outward gains, but I’m more 

afraid of inward losses.” 2 

1 Timothy Laniak, Shepherds after My 

Own Heart (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 55. 

2 Augustine of Hippo, “Sermon 46: On the Shepherds,” in 

Sermons 20-50, vol. 2 of The Works of Saint Augustine, pt. 3, 

Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, ed. John E. Rotelle (Brooklyn: 

New City Press, 1990), 272. 

FALL 2023 25

What Does it Mean To Be a Shepherd Leader? 

The High Call of a Shepherd Leader Today 

Ever since he empowered his people through 

his Spirit, Jesus the good shepherd has been 

gathering a flock from every nation and 

making them his own (Matt 28:19; John 

10:14-18). As he gathers this flock, God has 

chosen not only to serve as the supreme 

shepherd of his people, but also to work 

through human shepherds. In the Gospels, 

the apostles began as sheep (Matt 10:16) and 

became shepherds (John 21:15-18) who then 

recognized other God-appointed leaders 

as shepherds of the flock (Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 

5:1-2). And yet, those who are privileged 

to shepherd God’s people are never lords 

over the flock; we are followers of a greater 

shepherd who alone remains the true owner 

of the sheep (Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4). Our 

calling is to pursue the pattern of Jesus, the 

model shepherd. When we pursue the pattern 

of Jesus, our lives are characterized by habits 

of presence, protection, and provision for the 

men and women in our churches. 


"The position of the 

God-called shepherd 

leader is one of service 

and obedience, guiding 

and guarding the people 

under the authority of the 

supreme shepherd." 

Timothy Paul Jones

NEWS & FEATURES 


News & Features 

The Spirit and Flesh of 

James P. Boyce: A History 

of the Library at 

Southern Seminary 

By Travis Hearne 

On my first visit to Southern 

Seminary, I thought, "This library 

is worn." The floors were worn. 

The desks were worn. The books 

were worn. The campus, professors, 

and legacy were top notch, but the 

library . . . underwhelming. My 

perspective has since changed. 

If I had voiced my impression of 

a worn library to James Petigru 

Boyce he would have responded, 

"Yes, as it should be." Tattered 

floors and desks revealed that the 

faithful and educated ministers 

Boyce envisioned to lead Southern 

Baptists shared his convictions. 

Thus, the story of the library at 

Southern Seminary begins with 

Boyce—in spirit and flesh. He 

provided the Seminary with books, 

many of which remain today, 

and a love for books that Lordwilling, 

will endure for the life of 

this institution. 

Boyce’s Seminary, Boyce’s Library 

According to historian Gregory 

A. Wills, it is not an overstatement 

to say that "Boyce's love and 

admiration for books of all kinds 

is embedded into the character of 

Southern Seminary." 

Boyce wrote in 1856 that 

“no institution can pursue 

extensive courses of study or 

contribute anything directly to 

the advancement of learning,” 

without a “good theological 

library.” Those closest to Boyce 

couldn’t separate the man from his 

books. “His library was a source 

of great pride and enjoyment," his 

daughter wrote. 

“From early childhood, James 

was an excessive reader,” professor 

and friend John Broadus wrote. 

“While his companions were in 

the ‘city square’ or on the ‘citadel 

green,’ engaged in their physical 

sports, he would be lying flat 

on the ‘joggling-board’ in his 

father’s piazza absorbed in some 

storybook, novel, or history” 

(A joggling-board was a bench a 

child could rock on). Broadus noted 

that the more Boyce read, the more 

his “voraciousness” and “number 

and variety of books he read” 

increased. “All through life,” wrote 

Broadus, Boyce’s admiration for 

reading was “a marvel to his family 

and intimate friends.” Boyce rarely 

went to town without scavenging 

through bookstores, and he always 

bought his theological books with 

the seminary in mind. 

Plans for the seminary came to 

fruition in 1859, and the library 

would serve Boyce’s vision for 

theological education. He believed 

students at every level of education 

needed training, the curriculum 

should permit advanced 

scholarship for the ablest students, 

and a biblical confession of faith 

should determine the boundaries 

of acceptable belief among the 

faculty. At the 1858 Southern 

Baptist Convention, South Carolina 

pastor Thomas Curtis echoed the 

importance of a world-class library. 

“The requisites for an institution 

of learning are three b’s,—bricks, 

books, brains,” Curtis wrote. “Our 

brethren usually begin at the wrong 

end of the three b’s; they spend 

all their money for bricks, have 

nothing to buy books, and must 

take such brains as they can pick 

up. But our brethren ought to begin 

at the other end of the three b’s.” 

Greenville, South Carolina 

From 1859 to 1877, Southern 

Seminary made its home in the 

former meeting house of the First 

Baptist Church in Greenville, 

erected in 1826. The Greenville 

building had two lecture rooms and 

a library, totaling 1,100 square feet. 

Furman University donated two 

thousand volumes of its theological 

collection to begin the library. One 

of Boyce’s former teachers, William 

E. Bailey, then donated many of his 

classical works to the seminary in 

1859. Broadus wrote that Bailey’s 

collection of 1,300 works included 

“many elaborate and costly editions 

of the great classical authors”—a 

good start for the first student body 

of seven students. The following 

FALL 2023 29


summer, Columbian College of 

Washington City provided two 

hundred more volumes which 

included highly valuable complete 

sets. The books were stored in glass 

cabinets and numbered according 

to the shelf. 

However, building a library is 

never final. Boyce and Broadus 

consistently corresponded with one 

another regarding the purchase 

of books for the library. As 

they traveled to New York (the 

most important hub for book 

purchasing), the two friends and 

professors labored to make sure 

they could fill the library with the 

latest scholarship as well as cultureshaping 

classical works of literature, 

philosophy, history, and theology. 

“Three Professors and a Few 

Thousand Volumes”: From 

Greenville to Louisville 

On the brink of financial ruin and 

facing the threat of closure, Boyce 

resorted to moving the seminary 

to Louisville, Kentucky in 1877. 

Broadus wrote that the move would 

not be difficult because “there was 

nothing to move, except the library 

of a few thousand volumes, and 

three professors—Broadus, Toy, 

and Whitsitt—only one of whom 

had a family.” 

The seminary rented space in 

Louisville from the Free Public 

Library on the third and fourth 

floors. The library filled the fourth 

floor, and the third story housed 

the lecture rooms. 

The actual movement of the 

books included the efforts of 

students, professors, and their 

families. Annie Broadus, daughter 

of John A. Broadus, wrote that a 

couple of students had worked 

all day for a whole week boxing 

Toy’s books—and a week of work 

remained. Books were numbered 

by box, and the packing process 

was expected to take at least a 

month for the seminary library. 

The boxed books, about seventhousand 

volumes, were shipped 

by train. Around the same time, 

the faculty requested a list of all the 

periodicals and planned to draw up 

a list of rules. The rules contained 

strict instructions for checking out 

material and gave credence to the 

claims that librarians of the past 

were known as “shushers.” 

Building the Memorial Library 

Southern Seminary erected the 

beautiful Memorial Library in May 

of 1890 at the corner of Fifth and 

Broadway in downtown Louisville. 

Broadus wrote that the building 

“was carefully planned according 

to the best recent ideas and 

examples, and is one of the most 

beautiful, convenient, and every 

way satisfactory library buildings in 

Memorial Library, downtown Louisville 

existence.” He added that it would 

hold sixty-thousand volumes and 

provide plenty of space to expand. 

But how did the struggling 

seminary construct such a spectacular 

home for its growing collection? 

In 1888, Mrs. J. Lawrence Smith 

surprised the faculty with a gift 

of $50,000 to build and furnish a 

library to advance the gospel as one 

of the “great needs of humanity.” 

Smith previously contributed to 

the seminary but wanted the new 

library to honor her deceased nieces 

and nephews: Sara Julia Caperton, 

Mary Caperton, William Beverly 

Caldwell Jr., and Lawrence Smith 

Caldwell. Smith was the widow of 

J. Lawrence Smith, who charitably 

gave to many ministerial causes in 

Louisville but had opposed Boyce 

moving the Seminary to Louisville 

out of fear that the learned pastors 

of the seminary would overrun 

the Kentucky pastors. Mrs. Smith 

wrote to the faculty that the 

seminary needed a permanent 



location for its books and that 

students needed “to study the Bible 

with all its helps.” 

Boyce celebrated the gift as the 

provision of God and envisioned 

a library that would last for 100 

years. He died shortly after he 

learned of Mrs. Lawrence’s gift on 

December 28, 1888. According to 

Broadus, 5,000 volumes of Boyce’s 

collection went to the library. “It 

is proper to state that his wishes 

in this regard were of course very 

carefully carried out,” Broadus said. 

“Some persons have wondered 

that Dr. Boyce’s noble collection 

was not kept separate. Yet his older 

colleagues were quite sure that he 

would himself have chosen to have 

his books distributed throughout 

the library, according to subjects. 

Separate collections may be a 

pleasing memorial, but in that way 

the books are not worth half so 

much for actual use.” 

Never again could Boyce’s library 

be distinguished from Southern 

Seminary’s library. 

Beeches, Boyce Centennial, 

and Billy Graham 

Southern Seminary moved to its 

present location on Lexington Road 

in 1926. By the time of the move to 

“the Beeches,” as the new location 

came to be known, the collection 

had grown to 51,000 volumes. 

The library stacks stood in the far 

east end of Norton Hall, in what 

today is Norton 195. The room, 

currently called Broadus Chapel, 

housed the desks, circulation, and 

reading areas. 

By the 1950s, the collection grew 

to nearly 140,000 volumes, and 

the enrollment spiked to 1,700 

students. The facilities could not 

keep up. Seminary staff, including 

Library in Norton Hall 

President Duke McCall, began 

pushing for a new library building 

in 1951. McCall envisioned opening 

the James P. Boyce Centennial 

Library in 1959 to celebrate the 

school’s hundred-year anniversary. 

A committee introduced a threeyear 

strategy to raise $500,000 for 

the new library from 1957–1959. 

Southern Seminary leaders 

toured libraries nationwide 

for inspiration. After much 

consultation, the new library 

would model the library at Florida 

State University. Librarian Leo T. 

Crismon recalled, "That library 

impressed us more than any of 

the others." 

President McCall joined 

Crismon and others to finally break 

ground on the Boyce Centennial 

Library on May 24, 1957. After a 

few unexpected hoops and hurdles, 

such as heavy rain and busting 

steam pipes, builders completed 

the library, but costs exceeded 

the initial plan. The school had 

to borrow over $20,000 from the 

Executive Committee, but the 

alumni pledges surpassed the goal 

by 1960 and raised $528,067. The 

seminary officially dedicated the 

state-of-the-art Boyce Centennial 

Library on March 10, 1960. Billy 

Graham arrived on campus in May 

and donated artifacts for the "Billy 

Graham Room." 

During a round of golf in 1956, 

President McCall had convinced 

Graham to donate his crusade 

material to Southern Seminary 

instead of Harvard University. At 

the dedication, Graham said that 

his team donated the materials for 

three purposes: the glory of God, 

the study of mass evangelism, and 

to provide inspiration and interest 

in evangelism. “Research and 

facilities for research will bring 

about a continual interest in mass 

evangelism for years to come,” 

Graham said. “It is our prayer that 

this deposit of material might be 

of inspiration and challenge to 

FALL 2023 31


James P. Boyce Centennial Library 

students and generations to come. 

That they may see that the message 

of the first century has been used 

effectively in the twentieth century 

and that people have listened, 

representing many languages and 

all races.” Graham then presented 

his first Bible to President McCall. 

The library stood complete 

and dedicated, but what about 

the books? 

“We decided that we would use 

the students, as many of them who 

would volunteer,” Crismon said. 

“We would start with the zeroes 

and then go to the one hundreds 

and the two-hundreds in the Dewey 

decimal classifications, take them 

out of the old library building, 

carry them in to the main door and 

onto the main floor.” The first book 

shelved was Boyce’s personal copy 

of the Geneva Bible. 

“No Neutral Spaces”: Recovering 

Boyce’s Seminary 

The Southern Baptist Convention 

experienced decades of turbulence 

during the so-called “conservative 

takeover” in the late 1970s through 

the early 1990s. The convention 

garnered grassroots support to 

appoint conservative presidents, 

trustees, and, in 1993, the youngest 

seminary president in the history 

of the convention. When R. Albert 

Mohler Jr. became president, “there 

were no neutral spaces,” Wills said. 

“The depth of concern and pain 

was too deep on both sides.” Even 

Students moving books into the new library 

the library failed to escape the grip 

of controversy. 

“Very naturally, the progressive 

character of the faculty built 

the library on progressive 

commitments,” Wills said. “The 

acquisition policy under Mohler 

changed to include conservative 

presses and scholarship.” In other 

words, the Seminary broadened 

its collection of resources rather 

than shifting from progressive to 

conservative material. 

Up to Date 

Tradition and change coalesce 

in libraries. Collections grow 

older, but technology evolves. 

The initial classification of books 

only referenced a shelf and book 

number, but John R. Sampey, 

the fifth president of Southern 

Seminary, introduced the Dewey 

Decimal system in 1890. The 

system stood until 2007 when 

the library adopted the Library 

of Congress classification. The 

relabeling process was finalized 

in 2012. 

Before Wills assumed the role 

as the first full-time archivist 



in 1994, the library had begun 

cataloging and indexing archived 

material with part-time workers 

and volunteers. The process started 

in 1975. At the same time, the 

seminary was changing from a 

card catalog to an online database 

that could be searchable around 

the world. 

Martha Powell, who joined the 

library staff in 1969 and continues 

to volunteer her time today, said 

“this meant entering information 

about each item the library owned 

and putting a barcode on each item. 

We started entering information 

into the database in 1970 and 

library employees are still doing it 

today." Another significant change 

the library witnessed was the 

increased need for digital resources, 

a task Southern Seminary “adapted 

fluidly to” in the twentieth century, 

according to the current librarian, 

Berry Driver. 

There remained one problem. 

The desks and floors really were 

worn. Three previous renovation 

plans emerged in the last twenty 

years under the administrations of 

Ronald Deering, Bruce Keisling, 

and Driver. Finally, in 2022, 

the plans culminated with the 

current renovation and the library 

re-opened on August 29, 2023. 

Current Chairman of the Board 

of Trustees, Joshua W. Powell, said 

the library exists so that students 

and faculty “may pursue dedicated 

study for the glory of God and 

the advancement of his kingdom.” 

The vision and character of Boyce 

live on in the library indebted 

to his name, efforts, collections, 

and spirit. 

The library of the Southern 

Baptist Theological Seminary has 

always been Boyce’s library. 

Renovated James P. Boyce Centennial Library 

FALL 2023 33


“Neither Good, nor 

Bad, nor Neutral”: 4 

Questions for Missions 

in a Digital Age from 

Annual Missions 

Conference 


While evolving technology 

propels the world to new and 

digital frontiers, Southern 

Seminary confronted the unique 

questions of missions in a 

technological age at Future Shock, 

the 2023 Missions Conference 

hosted by the Bevin Center for 

Missions and Mobilization, on 

September 15. The event brought 

together experts on missions and 

technology to tackle the pressing 

challenges of modern digital tools 

and platforms reshaping the global 

missions' landscape. 

"The digital world is clearly a 

world in need of the gospel," said 

J. Keith McKinley, professor of 

missions at Southern Seminary 

and Director of the Bevin 

Center. "But that world is fraught 

with dangers and theological/ 

ecclesiological landmines. The 

dangers include various addictions 

and physiological changes in our 

brains, as well as exposure to all 

manner of evil that I do not care 

to elucidate. Theological issues of 

personhood and embodiment are 

especially critical to our missiology. 

Whereas most would agree that 

we should take the gospel into the 

digital world, things quickly get 

more complicated when it comes 

to discipleship, community, and 

being the church in a virtual realm. 

This is why we sensed the need to 

start talking about these issues and 

the questions we must be thinking 

about concerning missions in the 

digital world." 

Jason Thacker, professor at Boyce 

College, author of Following Jesus in 

a Digital Age (B&H), and editor of 

The Digital Public Square: Christian 

Ethics in a Technological Society 

(B&H Academic), pointed to four 

fundamental questions Christians 

should consider to begin thinking 

about the intersection of faith, 

technology, and global outreach. 

What is technology? 

When Thacker asks students 

this question, they often respond 

with examples of technology—but 

it's a more profound philosophical 

question. "It's not a trick question,” 

Thacker said. “But it's trying to 

get to the heart of what these 

examples of technologies are. Is it 

merely a tool?" There are two main 

ways to understand technology, 

according to Thacker: as a tool and 

as a formative influence. “We are 

morally responsible for how we use 

these tools but technology is always 

working to form us and our world 

by driving everything in life to the 

goal of efficiency.” 

Is technology neutral? 

“Nothing is really neutral,” 

Thacker said. “Everything is 

shaping us toward a particular 

end. The questions we have to ask 

as Christians are, ‘to what end?’ 

and ‘to what purpose?’” Christians 

must be aware of the shaping effect 

of technology. “When we fail to 

acknowledge the formative goals 

of technology, we can fall victim 

to the dehumanizing results of 

seeing everything through the 

lens of efficiency,” Thacker said. 

As Paul urges Christians to not 

conform to the world in Romans 

12:2, believers should recognize 

that no technology is ever truly 

neutral before embracing the 

latest innovations. “Technology 

is one of the primary disciplers of 

our culture,” Thacker said. “You 

didn’t wake up one day addicted to 

your smartphone. That is a subtle 

discipleship shaping us to always 

want something new and to always 

feel like we’re missing something.” 

How can technology be used for 

the glory of God? 

Reading his notes from an iPad, 

Thacker is not anti-technology. 

“The question for our age is not 

if you have a smartphone but 

how you choose to use your 

smartphone,” Thacker said. “Many 

of these companies are at odds 

with what we believe, but we can 

use these technologies for the glory 

of God. We have more access to 

people than at any time in history 

and that can be a really good thing.” 

Thacker said there are countless 

ways we can build relationships 

and connect with people in order 

to share the gospel through the 

use of technology, but we must 

remember there are always possible 

unintended consequences. 

What are the pitfalls 

of technology? 

“Study after study shows how 

isolated and disconnected we are 

as a society,” Thacker said. “The 

utopian promises often fail and 

there’s a rapid rise of addiction, 

misinformation, and belief in the 

lie that all the information and 

social connectivity in the world 

will improve our lives.” Technology, 

according to Thacker, can also 

feed into a “hyper-individualism” 



that leads people to believe they 

can construct their own reality 

rather than existing in a world 

governed by God. “If we can reach 

more people with the gospel, 

praise God!” Thacker said. “But 

what happens when people are 

addicted to their phones and more 

comfortable in virtual worlds 

rather than fellowshipping with 

embodied human beings?” 

“The Gospel message has always 

been more than an information 

transfer,” Thacker said. “The gospel 

message is about a whole person's 

transformation that takes place in 

an embodied community. We serve 

an embodied savior who suffered 

a real, not spiritual, death and was 

physically resurrected. Hope is real 

and is alive.” 

“So what do we do and how do 

we respond?” Thacker asked. “We 

go therefore and make disciples of 

all nations, even in a digital age.” 

Michael Horton 

Delivers Norton 

Lectures at Southern 

Seminary 



Seminary was excited to host 

distinguished theologian, author, 

and professor Michael Horton for 

the 2023 Norton Lecture series, 

September 12–13. Horton is the 

J. Gresham Machen Professor 

of Systematic Theology and 

Apologetics at Westminster 

Seminary and host of the White 

Horse Inn radio show and podcast. 

Horton’s three lectures defended 

the doctrine of justification in its 

Michael Horton delivered the Norton Lectures on the doctrine of justification 

historical and theological context as 

“the great exchange.” According to 

Horton, the Reformation teaching 

of Solus Christus, or the teaching 

that salvation is through Christ 

alone, must stand at the center for 

a true and liberating understanding 

of justification. 

“Everybody understands God’s 

righteousness and his punishment 

for sins in their conscience and 

by nature,” Horton said. “It’s the 

gospel that is surprising. It’s the 

‘but God’ that interrupts karma. 

As the Law mediated the Old 

Covenant, Christ as the new Adam 

mediates the New Covenant and 

provides his righteousness for 

those who believe.” 

Horton believes contemporary 

challenges to the biblical doctrine 

of justification undermine the 

sufficient work of Christ by falling 

into legalism and antinomianism. 

A particular error Horton 

corrected was the teaching of the 

so-called new perspective on Paul, 

which is commonly associated with 

James Dunn, E.P Sanders, and N.T. 

Wright. Contrary to proponents 

of the new perspective on Paul, 

the Reformers understood Paul’s 

teaching on justification correctly 

as a great exchange where Christ’s 

righteousness is imputed to 

the faithful. 

“Justification is not about the 

ethnic problem of inclusion or how 

to get in and stay in the covenant,” 

Horton said. “It’s the opposite. The 

question of the true nature of Israel 

is provoked by the coming wrath 

of God, not whether Jews must 

circumcise Gentiles. The questions 

they were asking were, 'How 

must we be saved? Am I among 

that Israel?” 

Therefore, according to Horton, 

Paul’s concern with legalism was 

a secondary concern to his main 

FALL 2023 37


Jonah Twiddy, recipient of the Rick Bordas scholarship, and his family 

concern—that Christ alone is 

our salvation. The Reformation 

doctrines of the solas, which 

include Scripture alone, faith alone, 

grace alone, and to the glory of 

God alone, all require the central 

teaching that man is dependent on 

Christ alone for faith, grace, and 

true understanding of Scripture. 

“Paul totally rejected selfdependence. 

He saw man 

as completely depraved and 

dependent on God. God, through 

Christ, provided Paul with a 

salvation that the law could not 

provide. The prerequisite for 

that salvation was the quality 

Abraham had—faith.” 

For Horton, the question of 

justification is not “how we are 

made right with God?”, but the 

primary question is “who has been 

put forward as the mediator for 

salvation for the world?” 

“We can’t add anything to our 

salvation besides Jesus Christ,” 

Horton said. “At every moment, we 

depend on the mercy of Christ, and 

everything else comes after that." 

Horton’s most recent books are 

Justification: Volume 1 & 2 and 

Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God's 

Perfecting Presence in Creation. 

Another book on justification 

recommended by Horton is 

Justification: An Introduction by 

Southern Seminary professor 

Thomas R. Schreiner. 

Annual Golf Tourney 

Raises $249,800, “For 

the Purpose of Gospel 

Ministry” 


The 20th Annual Heritage 

Classic Golf Tournament ended 

triumphantly as 108 golfers came 

together at Big Spring Country 

Club to raise $249,800 for Southern 

Seminary and Boyce College 

student tuition, August 21. 

“We could not have had a better 

kickoff to our new academic 

year and the fall semester," said 

Vice President of Institutional 

Advancement Edward Heinze. 

"This year, we celebrated two 

golfers who have played in all 20 

tournaments: Dr. Tim Beougher, 

Professor of Missions & Evangelism, 

and Chip Hutchison, Content 

Editor of Kentucky Today. We also 

enjoyed celebrating a hole-in-one 

by one of our long-time Louisville 

patrons and participants, Dr. Tom 

Benninger. Most importantly, 

this year’s tournament helped the 

students of Southern Seminary and 

Boyce College prepare for service 

by raising close to $250,000 for the 

Southern Fund.” 

Participants ranged in their 

golfing skills from amateur to 

experienced, but Jonah Twiddy 

and his family were real winners. 

Twiddy is a Master of Divinity 

student at Southern Seminary 

and received the $5,000 Rick 

Bordas scholarship. 



A longtime friend of Southern 

Seminary, Bordas had a passion 

for seeing students trained to take 

the gospel to local churches and to 

international mission fields. Upon 

his death in 2013, his family and 

friends established a scholarship 

fund in his name. 

Twiddy’s wife Leah and oneyear-old 

daughter Dakota stood 

with him as he accepted the 

scholarship. The Twiddys plan 

to serve in overseas missions as 

church planters—fulfilling the 

vision of Bordas and the mission of 

Southern Seminary. 

“Before we take God's word to 

others, we wanted to know it better 

ourselves,” Twiddy said. “The Lord 

introduced Southern Seminary to 

us as a place where we could pursue 

that leading while preparing to be 

sent out. Southern has been exactly 

what we hoped it would be. Our 

knowledge of God and his Word 

is growing daily, and we regularly 

stop to thank God for all of the rich 

blessings He has brought into our 

lives during this season." 

President R. Albert Mohler 

Jr. thanked the participants for 

their commitment to the work 

of Southern Seminary and 

Boyce College. 

“God is doing something 

absolutely remarkable at Southern 

Seminary and Boyce College,” 

Mohler said. “It will make a 

difference on the mission field 

and in the pulpits of our churches 

and places we will never go, places 

we’ll never see. That is absolutely 

glorious. What a great way to spend 

a day.” 

Plans are already underway for 

the 21st Annual Heritage Classic 

Golf Tournament, with organizers 

hoping to build on this year's 

success and continue making a 

positive impact for the global 

church. As the tradition carries 

on, golfers and supporters eagerly 

anticipate the chance to once again 

tee off for “the purpose of gospel 

ministry,” Heinze said. 

From Text, to Heart, to 

Pew: Southern Seminary 

Empowers Leaders to 

Retain and Apply Greek 

and Hebrew for Life 


In this year’s SBTS Alumni & 

Friends Academy, Rob Plummer, 

Adam Howell, and several other 

professors offered guidance to 

over 200 ministry leaders trying to 

get back on track in their biblical 

language skills at the Greek & 

Hebrew for Life conference, 

July 28–29. 

With the intense duties and 

demands of ministry, many leaders 

can slip in their comprehension 

and utilization of the biblical 

languages, says Rob Plummer, 

Professor of Biblical Studies at 

Southern Seminary. The purpose 

of the conference was to help 

pastors and other leaders retain 

what they previously learned in 

the classroom. 

“We want to keep pastors and 

other Christians reading their 

Hebrew Old Testaments and Greek 

New Testaments for their entire 

lives,” Plummer said. “We had a 

variety of fascinating and practical 

breakout sessions—everything 

from how to read ancient papyri 

text to how to use Greek responsibly 

in weekly sermon preparation.” 

Most of the conference attendees 

were alumni or current students 

at Southern Seminary and Boyce 

College. But many guests, including 

participants from Japan and New 

Zealand, connected with the 

conference through the Daily Dose 

of Greek, Daily Dose of Hebrew, 

Daily Dose of Aramaic, and Daily 

Dose of Latin. 

While many attendees were 

Southern Baptists, the conference 

included Presbyterians, Lutherans, 

Assembly of God, and Evangelical 

Free church representatives who all 

Rob Plummer and Adam Howell at the Greek and Hebrew for Life Conference 

FALL 2023 39


came to Southern to experience the 

world-class teaching and breakout 

sessions in the biblical languages. 

For Plummer, Southern 

Seminary’s decision to continue 

including Greek and Hebrew in the 

curriculum and emphasizing the 

languages in day-to-day ministry 

represents Southern Seminary’s 

larger commitment to the final 

authority of Scripture. While other 

institutions are dropping Greek and 

Hebrew requirements, Plummer 

and Southern Seminary continue to 

stress the necessity and practicality 

of reading the Bible in its original 

languages beyond the classroom. 

“If we value the Bible as the 

Word of God, then we will value 

the biblical languages,” Plummer 

said. “If it doesn't matter what 

the Bible says, then studying the 

biblical languages is a waste of 

time. If, however, we continue to 

uphold the Scripture as our final 

authority in doctrine and ethics, we 

have a joyful obligation to study the 

biblical languages. Of course, some 

pastors around the world will never 

have the opportunity to study 

Greek and Hebrew, and the Lord 

can still use them mightily. But, if 

we have this opportunity, how can 

we pass it up?” 

In a 2021 Faculty Address, 

Plummer presented a systematic 

case for why seminaries must 

include biblical languages for 

ministerial training. 

“I confess that I find it 

embarrassing that evangelical 

seminaries are reducing biblical 

languages to an optional part of 

their MDiv curriculum,” Plummer 

said. “We’re sending soldiers into 

battle with muskets and powder 

horns instead of powerful and 

accurate weaponry.” 

How Should Christians 

Think about the Attack 

upon Israel? 


The Carl F. H. Henry Institute 

at Southern Seminary hosted a 

forum on October 12 to discuss 

a Christian understanding of the 

recent attack on Israel. President 

Albert Mohler, Ayman S. Ibrahim, 

and Thomas R. Schreiner joined the 

forum hosted by Andrew T. Walker 

to answer pressing questions 

Christians are asking. 

What is the context for the attack 

on Israel? 

Mohler began the discussion by 

framing the October 7 attack by 

Hamas as a continuation of Israel’s 

long fight to exist as a nation. 

“Reflecting on the horrors of 

the previous century, the United 

Nations established partitions of 

the Middle East as Jewish and 

Palestinian states,” Mohler said. 

“In 1948 the Israelites officially 

declared themselves as a state, but 

the surrounding Arab nations did 

not want to see a Jewish state. In 

1967 Israel had to fight to defend 

itself and ended up conquering 

territory that was not in its original 

partition. The Palestinian people 

after the conflict were unwanted 

by the neighboring nations and 

have experienced statelessness 

ever since.” 

“Israel has to fight for its 

existence every day and this has 

led to constant skirmishes,” Mohler 

continued. “But the recent attacks 

are an existential threat to Israel 

which has not happened since 

maybe the 1960s and 1970s.” 

What is Hamas? 

“To understand Hamas we 

have to understand the linguistic, 

political, and ideological context,” 

Ibrahim said. 

Ibrahim is one of the leading 

Christian scholars of Islam and 

serves as the Director of the Jenkins 

Center for Understanding Islam at 

Southern Seminary. 

“Linguistically Hamas means 

rage with enthusiasm. But it is 

also an acronym that means a 

movement of Islamic resistance 

particularly targeting the Jews. 

Some Palestinians want to live side 

by side with Israel, but not Hamas.” 

Ibrahim stressed that Hamas 

is politically and ideologically 

committed to a version of Islam that 

is more than praying and fasting. 

“For Hamas, jihad is the most 

honorable deed,” Ibrahim said. 

“Jihad is armed fighting for 

the cause of Allah according to 

the Quran and Muhammed’s 

statements. It is a call to advance 

Islam as a ruling political power. 

They look at the religious texts of 

Islam and determine that the Jews 

are the enemy. They also see from 

Muhammed’s life that he launched 

attacks on Jews. The fighters for 

Hamas believe they are doing a 

service for the divine under the 

banner of religious texts.” 

How does Old Testament Israel 

relate to the geo-political state 

of Israel? 

With many Christians asking 

how the current events in Israel 

relate to the Bible, Schreiner, 

a New Testament scholar and 

professor at Southern Seminary, 

discussed Israel’s role in God’s 

redemptive plan. 



Andrew Walker, Ayman Ibrahim, Thomas Schreiner, and R. Albert Mohler, Jr. 

“The issue is very complicated, 

and believers have different views,” 

Schreiner said. “God chose the Jews 

as his covenant people and Paul says 

the gospel went to the Jews first. My 

understanding is that the church 

of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of 

the promises to Israel. There is a 

promise of a future eschatological 

salvation for the Jewish people as 

they put their trust in Jesus Christ.” 

“We are definitely in the last 

days,” Schreiner said, “because 1 

John 2 says this is the last hour and 

Hebrews says we’re in the last days. 

But it is impossible to know if we 

are in the last days of the last days. 

Every generation rightly believes 

we are in the last times.” 

Mohler believes the modern 

state of Israel may have significance 

for God’s redemptive and 

historical plan. 

“Ultimately all the promises 

to Israel are fulfilled in Christ,” 

Mohler said. “But there are 

historic and territorial promises 

yet to be fulfilled. I believe 1948 

means something. I believe in a 

literal space-time rule of Jesus 

from Jerusalem and that Israel is 

a providential nation—a means of 

preserving the Jewish people for 

God’s redemptive purposes in the 

age to come.” 

Why has there been a hesitation 

for some leaders to condemn 

the attacks? 

“All civilized nations must 

support Israel in this situation,” 

Mohler said. “A brutal invasion 

with beheadings and the taking 

of hostages is the kind of thing 

that any civilized society needs to 

declare as wrong. Some student 

organizations have taken the side 

of the Palestinian cause because 

they say the Palestinian people 

have been oppressed. They are 

right that the Palestinians have 

been oppressed, as Israel has had 

to worry about implanted jihadists 

who may cross their border. 

However, I do not believe we can 

question Israel’s right to exist and 

defend itself. Even if you have no 

biblical or theological stake in this, 

you can recognize that if this can 

be tolerated in Israel it could be 

tolerated anywhere else.” 

“An Islamist group that murdered 

babies and grandmothers must 

be condemned,” Mohler said. “If 

the attacks can’t be condemned by 

Harvard, then everlasting shame 

on Harvard.” 

Is Israel justified to retaliate in a 

ground invasion? 

“Christian Just War Theory has 

two parts: when military action is 

justified and how it is to justly be 

carried out,” Mohler said. “After the 

attack, the justification for war has 

been met. Now Israel must seek to 

preserve civilian life as best as they 

can. All Christians should recoil at 

the danger to civilians and those 

trapped in the dangers of war. But 

if Israel does not neutralize the 

threat of Hamas there will be a 

threat of escalated war. If this were 

the United States, the American 

FALL 2023 41


people would clearly demand an 

end to this threat.” 

“What Hamas did is suicidal,” 

Ibrahim said. “They don’t care 

about their own people. Hamas is 

using people as human shields, and 

they know Israel will hesitate to 

bomb buildings full of civilians.” 

What can we be doing 

as Christians? 

“We have to pray that the lord 

will vindicate and preserve human 

life,” Mohler said. “Hamas has 

decided to put rockets under cribs 

and it is going to be a horrible thing 

to see. We must pray for God to do 

something humanely impossible.” 

Senator Rand Paul 

Delivers Leadership 

Lecture at Southern 

Seminary, Joins Mohler 

for Dialogue 


Southern Seminary welcomed 

Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul 

as the distinguished speaker for 

Senator Rand Paul with Dr. Mohler 

the Duke K. McCall Leadership 

Lecture on October 23, 2023. 

McCall served as the seventh 

president of the Southern Baptist 

Theological Seminary (1951–1982) 

and the yearly lecture series honors 

his legacy of leadership. 

Senator Paul trained as a surgeon 

and medical doctor before he was 

elected as a senator of Kentucky 

in 2010. The lecture stressed 

the need to hold freedom and 

tradition together and took place in 

Alumni Chapel. 

“Freedom and tradition are 

intertwined,” Paul said. “Freedom 

needs tradition as faith, knowledge 

of right and wrong, inspiration, and 

law and order. But tradition also 

needs virtue to escape stagnation 

and decline.” 

After the leadership lecture, Paul 

joined President R. Albert Mohler 

for a dialogue. Paul and Mohler 

discussed issues of policy and the 

importance of ideas in shaping the 

public sphere. 

“Rand Paul is known as a man of 

action, policy, and ideas,” Mohler 

said. “His perspective on leadership 

is one that all of Southern Seminary 

has anticipated.” 

Senator Rand Paul with students 


The 

Southern 

Fund 

Southern Seminary trains, educates, and 

prepares men and women to be effective 

gospel ministers no matter where the Lord 

calls them. Now more than ever, the church 

needs biblically and theologically trained 

students to confront our increasingly 

secular age. 

Our resolve to be faithful to the 

Scriptures has enabled us to become 

one of the most trusted names in 

theological education. 

With thousands of financial partners, 

faithfully supporting our students, we 

are also one of the most affordable 

names in theological education. 

Every dollar given to The Southern Fund 

is one less dollar our students have to 

pay in tuition. 

SBTS.EDU/SUPPORT



Recent Faculty Books 

Healthy Leadership for 

Thriving Organizations: 

Creating Contexts 

Where People Flourish 

Justin A. Irving 

Baker Academic, 2023 | $26.99 

The God Who Draws 

Near: Life in the Father, 

Son, and Holy Spirit 

Michael A.G. Haykin 

Union Publishing, 2023 | $14.99 

Revelation (Baker 

Exegetical Commentary on 

the New Testament) 

Thomas R. Schreiner 

Baker Academic | $48.99 

The devastating effects of toxic 

work environments are top news. 

Everyone seems to understand 

that healthy organizations 

nurture flourishing individuals 

and societies—flourishing 

that Jesus desires for all of us. 

How can Christian business 

and ministry leaders create a 

positive organizational culture 

and identity? 

The God Who Draws Near seeks 

to retrieve the key elements of 

a biblical spirituality and what 

they mean for our daily lives. 

Spirituality is very much a 

positive buzz word today; but 

in so many of the ways that it is 

used, it muddies the waters as to 

the nature of true spirituality. 

As with all BECNT volumes, 

this commentary features the 

author’s detailed interaction 

with the Greek text and an 

acclaimed, user-friendly design. 

It admirably achieves the dual 

aims of the series—academic 

sophistication with pastoral 

sensitivity and accessibility— 

making it a useful tool for 

pastors, church leaders, 

students, and teachers. 





Introducing Islam Set 

Ayman S. Ibrahim 

Baker Academic, 2023 | $45.49 

How to Teach the Old 

Testament to Christians: 

Discover How to Unpack All of 

Scripture for Today's Believers 

T.J. Betts 

Tyndale Momentum, 2023 | $16.99 

I Have PTSD: 

Reorienting After Trauma 

Curtis Solomon 

New Growth Press, 2023 | $11.99 

This set of resources 

provides readers with a basic 

introduction to Islam. Ayman 

Ibrahim helps readers learn 

about Muslims, their beliefs, 

their scripture, their prophet, 

and key Islamic concepts and 

terms. Volumes include: 

• A Concise Guide to the 

Quran: Answering Thirty 

Critical Questions 

• A Concise Guide to the Life of 

Muhammad: Answering Thirty 

Key Questions 

• A Concise Guide to Islam: 

Defining Key Concepts 

and Terms 

Studying the Old Testament, 

and its relationship to God’s 

new covenant, inspires wonder 

and awe at God’s grand plan of 

salvation that spans millennia. 

Tragically, too many preachers 

and Bible teachers don’t have 

the time or inclination to dive 

into the depths of the Old 

Testament. T. J. Betts, respected 

professor of Old Testament 

interpretation at The Southern 

Baptist Theological Seminary, 

provides a convenient solution 

in this book. 

In I Have PTSD, Curtis 

Solomon helps both those who 

have suffered trauma, as well as 

their loved ones, to understand 

the physical, emotional, and 

spiritual effects of trauma, 

while offering gospel hope and 

practical ways to make that 

hope real in their lives. 

FALL 2023 45




My Spouse Was Unfaithful: 

Finding Strength 

in God’s Presence 

Robert D. Jones 

New Growth Press, 2023 | $7.19 

Victory Over the Enemy: 

Defeating the World, the 

Flesh, and the Devil 

William F. Cook III 

and Chuck Lawless 

B&H Academic, 2023 | $13.49 

The Conviction to Lead: 25 

Principles for Leadership That 

Matters (Revised and Updated) 

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. 

Bethany House | $26.99 

The consequences of your 

spouse’s sin cast wide effects 

on your relationship, family, 

and future. Counselor Robert 

D. Jones has walked with many 

couples in your situation and 

provides ten steps for moving 

forward from this betrayal with 

God-given hope. 

Drawing on their extensive 

expertise on this subject, as 

presented in their previous B&H 

volume Spiritual Warfare in the 

Storyline of Scripture, Cook and 

Lawless aim to equip everyday 

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scriptural principles. 

In this updated edition Dr. 

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The Conviction to Lead will 

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Islam and the Bible: 

Questioning Muslim 

Idiom Translations 

Ayman S. Ibrahim 

and Ant Greenham 

B&H Academic, 2023 | $49.99 

Salvation 

Thomas R. Schreiner and 

Christopher W. Morgan 

B&H Academic, 2024 | $32.24 

Coming Soon 

Systematic Theology, 

Volume 1: From Canon 

to Concept 

Stephen Wellum 

B&H Academic, 2024 | $59.99 

Coming Soon 

In Islam and the Bible, editors 

Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant 

B. Greenham invite leading 

voices, representing a spectrum 

of approaches, to explore the 

issues surrounding “Muslim 

Idiom Translations” of the Bible. 

This work will be insightful 

for students, theologians, 

missiologists, missionaries, 

and Bible translators seeking 

wisdom and clarity on 

gospel contextualization. 

Chris Morgan and Thomas 

Schreiner’s Salvation examines 

the doctrine of salvation 

through in-depth explorations 

of the different aspects of God’s 

salvific plan for believers. 

Through in-depth biblical 

and theological studies of 

election, calling, regeneration, 

justification, sanctification, and 

more, Schreiner and Morgan 

demonstrate how each part of 

our salvation is not only for our 

good but also for God’s glory. 

Trinitarian, reformational, and 

baptistic, Stephen Wellum’s 

Systematic Theology models a 

serious evangelical engagement 

with the Scriptures while being 

grounded in church history and 

keenly aware of contemporary 

issues. Building on decades of 

research, Wellum formulates 

doctrine 

exegetically, 

covenantally, and canonically 

for a new generation of students, 

pastors, church leaders, and 

seasoned theologians. 

FALL 2023 47

Fall Semester Highlights


The Whole Bible 

for the Whole 

Congregation 

MITCH CHASE 

In the second letter to his coworker 

Timothy, Paul says that “all Scripture” is 

profitable for teaching and for training in 

righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16 ESV). Those two 

words—“all Scripture”—encompass the Old 

and New Testaments. 

WHAT DOES YOUR WHOLE CONGREGATION 

NEED? THE WHOLE BIBLE. THERE ARE NO 

UNPROFITABLE PARTS IN SCRIPTURE. THERE 

ARE NO IRRELEVANT BIBLICAL BOOKS IN 

THE TASK OF TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Some Personal Context 

Since 2006, I have had the joy and immense 

privilege to pastor two Southern Baptist 

churches. And I have seen the blessing of God 

upon his people when the “word of Christ” 

dwells richly among them (Col. 3:16). 

I’ve been preaching the Word of God since 

age sixteen, and my first sermon was nearly 

twenty-five years ago. After becoming a 

pastor for the first time in 2006, I wanted 

to preach through as much of the Bible as 

I could, and at first, I preached primarily 

from the New Testament. In hindsight, I 

wish I would have preached more from 

the Old Testament. Yet those early years in 

pastoral ministry provided the opportunity 

to engage and exposit book after book in the 

New Testament. 

Moving to Louisville in 2010 to enroll in the 

doctoral program at Southern Seminary, I 

didn’t return to pastoral ministry until 2012. 

Once I did, I intentionally incorporated much 

more of the Old Testament into my preaching 

schedule, though my practice of expositing 

books of the New Testament continued as 

FALL 2023 51

The Whole Bible for the Whole Congregation 

well. By God’s grace, on May 22, 2022, I 

completed my exposition of the entire New 

Testament. This expositional journey took 

fourteen years of pastoral ministry at two 

churches (2006–2010; 2012–2022)—and it 

took 1,106 sermons. No one said preaching 

through the New Testament would be 

quick! But pastoring churches that had both 

morning and evening services allowed for 

more biblical passages to be proclaimed. 

If you are responsible for preaching to an 

assembly, make it your goal to serve them 

from both the Old and New Testaments. The 

Lord has inspired sixty-six canonical books 

for the nourishment of his people. 

Preach the Old Testament Narratives 

Your congregation needs the narratives of 

the Old Testament. They need to see God’s 

working through the many men and women 

whose stories are told. They need to know and 

learn the names and narratives of Adam and 

Abraham, Samson and Solomon. Preaching 

through these stories can help listeners get 

a sense of the biblical storyline as well as 

notice the typological patterns that point to 

the Lord Jesus. The narratives don’t hide the 

blemishes of the biblical characters. As God’s 

purposes advance, they do so by his grace 

and his covenant faithfulness. Preach the Old 

Testament narratives. 

Preach the Genealogies 

Your congregation needs the genealogies of 

Scripture. A genealogy may have names you 

don’t see anywhere else, and it may be full of 

names that are difficult to pronounce. But the 

list of generations displays the faithfulness 

of God, whose purposes preceded and 

succeeded every name in the list. Generations 

come and go, yet the plan of God triumphs 

in the world. Of special concern for the 

biblical authors is the line of descent toward 

the Messiah. God promised a Son who 

would come, and the genealogies report 

the generational march toward fulfillment. 

Preach the genealogies. 

Preach the Psalms 

Your congregation needs the songs of Psalms. 

These are songs for every stage and status of 

life. The psalmists long for God’s help, pray 

for God’s justice, sing with hope despite 

the darkness, rejoice in victory, remember 

God’s previous deeds, give thanks in dire 

circumstances, and anticipate the coming of 

Israel’s King who will establish righteousness. 

Life is full of hardship and blessing, many 

griefs and undeserved goodness. These songs 

fill our minds with metaphors for Christian 

hope and confidence. God is our rock, our 

fortress, our shield, our defender, our king, 

and our rescuer. Preach the psalms. 

Preach the Wisdom Texts 

Your congregation needs the wisdom texts. 

Surrounded by deceit and delusion, we need 

the light and clarity of biblical wisdom. The 

books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and 

Song of Songs point us to God’s design and 

goodness for the world—so that we can fear 

the Lord and delight in his Word. We need 

to know how life typically works, how life 

nevertheless remains unpredictable, and how 

God can be trusted from start to finish. The 

righteous will suffer, but the Lord’s steadfast 

love and morning-by-morning mercy will 


Mitch Chase 

be with us all the way, through every valley, 

and one day out of the tomb. Preach the 

wisdom texts. 

Preach the Prophets 

Your congregation needs the Prophets. The 

Lord is sovereign over history. He has 

prophesied the future, and he brings it to pass. 

He raises up kings and empires, and he brings 

them down according to his providential 

appointment. We need the voices of Isaiah, 

Ezekiel, and Hosea to call us to right worship 

and righteous living. We need the voices of 

Jeremiah, Daniel, and Micah to tell us not 

only of coming judgment but also of future 

restoration and transformation. We need the 

prophetic visions to ignite our imagination 

with pictures of divine justice and the horror 

of sin. We need the warnings of Joel and 

Malachi that prophesy the future Day of the 

Lord—the day of Christ’s return to judge 

the nations and set all things right. Preach 

the Prophets. 

Preach the Gospels 

Your congregation needs the four Gospels. 

In them, we behold the birth, life, ministry, 

death, resurrection, and ascension of the 

Lord Jesus. We hear his many teachings, and 

we witness his many miracles. We ponder the 

titles of Son of Man, Son of David, and Son 

of God. We hear his claims to be the light 

of the world, the bread of life, and the good 

shepherd. By studying the Gospels, we are 

able to make many connections to the Old 

Testament, for the Gospel writers deliberately 

tell the stories of Jesus with Old Testament 

quotations and allusions galore. Here is the 

One who has died for our sins and risen in 

victory. Preach the Gospels. 

Preach the History in Acts 

Your congregation needs the book of Acts. 

The ascended Lord ministers by his Spirit 

through his disciples. The mission goes 

onward and outward. Through the obedience 

and suffering of the apostles, we see the power 

of the gospel change lives and impact regions. 

This biblical history of the early church 

includes descriptions of their worship, and 

it provides many examples of their speeches 

and sermons. We see the perseverance of the 

apostles through opposition and persecution, 

and we rejoice at the spread of the Word 

through the ministries of people like Peter 

and Paul. Preach the history in Acts. 

Preach the Letters 

Your congregation needs the New Testament 

letters. The letters comprise most of the 

New Testament books, and they are written 

to churches or to individuals in order to 

provide instruction. The letters are rich 

in theology and application for Christian 

discipleship. Differing in size and written in 

response to a variety of occasions, the letters 

remain relevant and edifying for readers 2000 

years later. The writers exalt Christ, build up 

his church, bring needed corrections, and 

emphasize our Christian hope for the future. 

Preach the letters. 

Preach the Apocalypse 

Your congregation needs the Apocalypse 

of John—the book of Revelation. Written 

initially to seven churches in Asia, the 

FALL 2023 53

The Whole Bible for the Whole Congregation 

Apocalypse unveils the sinister principalities 

at work in the world, and it foretells 

the glorious return of Christ and the 

consummation of all things. As the last book 

of the New Testament, the book of Revelation 

is also the capstone of the entire canonical 

revelation that began with Genesis. We 

behold the risen and reigning Christ who has 

authority in heaven and on earth. The people 

of God will be vindicated, and the raging 

dragon will be defeated. Christ will make all 

things new. Preach the Apocalypse. 

Conclusion 

A. W. Tozer once said, “Nothing less than 

a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” 

And if we believe that claim, how should it 

affect our preaching ministries? 

We must bring our assemblies under the 

fullness of God’s revelation. Over time, we 

should guide them into all the different 

parts of Scripture, leaving no literary genre 

ignored or book unengaged. The blazing 

center of Holy Scripture is the Son of 

God—foreshadowed and foretold in the 

Old Testament, proclaimed and narrated in 

the New. 


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30 YEARS · 4 MONTHS · 21 DAYS 

No President has served with more 

conviction than R. Albert Mohler, Jr. 

and now, no President has served longer. 

On December 21, 2023, President Mohler will arrive at his 11,099 day as 

President and become the longest-tenured president in the history of The 

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In reaching this milestone, Dr. Mohler 

has also become the longest-serving leader of any Southern Baptist Convention 

entity! Congratulations Dr. Mohler on your thirty years, four months, and 

twenty-one days of convictional, faithful leadership as president and for all the 

days ahead! We thank God for how He has and continues to work through you! 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mohler by posting 

a note of congratulations on DECEMBER 21, 2023 

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or Facebook and tagging Southern Seminary and Albert Mohler, or share 

and comment the Seminary’s post on that day! 

@SBTS 

@ALBERTMOHLER 

@SOUTHERNSEMINARY 

@ALBERTMOHLER 

@SOUTHERNSEMINARY 

@ALBERTMOHLER

Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol. 91.2) Pastoral Ministry in a Changing World

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