From Terrorist To Evangelist Series

So, I found a spiritual desert at Southern Seminary in 1975. There were days when I was so discouraged; I seriously contemplated leaving the ministry. Instead, I was forced to get into the Word myself and study even harder to be able to refute some of the liberal ideas I was being taught.

But God had a reason for leading me there. After I graduated with a Masters Degree and later a Doctorate, I was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern. It was during a time of great transition when our entire denomination was dealing with theological liberalism. Some people were insisting there weren’t ANY liberal professors in our six seminaries. I couldn’t speak about the other five seminaries, but I knew there were some changes that needed to be made at Southern. And as a trustee in the late 1980s I was able to be a part of a process where new leadership was chosen. Over the past 25 years, our denomination has experienced a Spiritual Renaissance and now all six of our seminaries are committed to teaching the Bible as God’s infallible Word. The students are men and women who are passionate about taking the Gospel to the nations.

My desert experience turned out to be a blessing in disguise. And I was blessed beyond description to be able to return to my alma mater this week and find a seminary that is so healthy and Bible-based.

III. GOD LEADS US TO WISE PEOPLE TO HELP US GROW

Next Paul wrote, “I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.” (Galatians 1:18-19)

After three years in the desert, Paul realized he still wasn’t ready to launch his ministry. He needed some wise counsel and fellowship with Christians who were wiser than he was. So he spent fifteen days in the home of Simon Peter. Wouldn’t you have loved to have followed those two men around for those two weeks and heard what they had to talk about?

Then Paul spent time with James, the half-brother of Jesus. There were two men named James who were part of the twelve, but this James was the half-brother of Jesus. They had the same mom, Mary, but different dads. James’ father was Joseph, and we all know who the father of Jesus was, God Himself! James, who later wrote the epistle bearing his name, became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem.

Every new Christian needs to be mentored by someone or else their growth will be stunted. If you are in my generation, you’ll recognize the name B.J. Thomas. He was a singer with some great hits in the 1960s and 1970s like “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling.” Thomas was deeply into drug addiction when he was suddenly “born again” in 1976. He recorded a song about heaven entitled “Home Where I Belong.”

Almost overnight, he became a Christian celebrity. But the sad thing about his conversion was that he didn’t have anyone to mentor him and instruct him on how to live the Christian life. He was signed to do concerts at Christian venues and after he sang a couple of his Christian songs, he would sing his country and pop songs. This made the fickle Christian audiences angry and they literally booed him off the stage. I remember one concert in Birmingham where he started with 10,000 Christians in the audience, and by the end of the show there were about 300 and many of them were railing on him and telling him they were praying he would repent. Narrow-minded Christians even sent him death threats.