towers | september 2015

02VOLUME 14SEPTEMBER

2015

A NEWS PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

towers.sbts.edu September 2015 towers 3

FROM THE EDITOR When I was a senior at Gaffney High School in South Carolina, the school district commissioned me to produce a documentary on the football program’s 75 years playing in its

dilapidated yet glorious stadium, The Reservation. There was a mystique to The Reservation, so much so that many fans protested the proposal of a multimillion-dollar stadium with two Jumbotrons not because of the expense but for the loss of tradition. My quest to uncover the mythology of one of the nation’s top high school football programs led me to an unsettling reality. As I talked with former players about their glory days, I

realized playing football for the Gaffney Indians was for them both a childhood dream and their most cherished memory. It is no exaggeration to say football, and any other sport, can become an idol. You know it’s football season when church members can’t sing praises during Sunday worship because they lost their voice at Saturday’s game. Enjoy sports to the glory of God, but make sure your favorite sports team isn’t the Mt. Sinai Golden Calves.

SEPTEMBER 2015 06Boyce soccer, missions, and the glory of God As the Boyce Bulldogs prepare to kick off their inaugural soccer season, debuting players talk about their calling.

10Defending the Bible, protecting the faithSouthern Seminary pro-fessor Timothy Paul Jones discusses how his new book can help future generations defend the trustworthiness of Scripture.

17Sports and family discipleshipSBTS Provost and family leadership expert Randy Stinson offers five ways sports can serve as disci-pleship tools for children.

20Broadus on exercise John A. Broadus provides exhortations on fitness.

283 Questions with Derwin Gray Former NFL player Derwin Gray discusses the best practices for leading multiethnic churches.

Our mission is to use our time, resources, and talents to tell the Southern story in an accurate, timely, and creative manner to the glory of God.

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September 2015, Vol. 14, No. 2. Copyright ©2015 The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Postage paid at Louisville, Ky.

POSTMASTER Send address changes to Towers, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280

PUBLISHER Steve Watters

EXECUTIVE EDITOR James A. Smith Sr.

EDITOR S. Craig Sanders

COPY EDITOR Annie Corser

NEWS WRITER Andrew J.W. Smith Robert Chapman Mackenzie Miller

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Eric Jimenez

ART DIRECTOR Daniel Carroll

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Laura Johns

PHOTOGRAPHER Emil Handke

When sports becomes your godIs the widespread love of sports good or bad? Southern Seminary professor and avid sports fan David E. Prince evaluates how excessive commitment to sports can corrupt a good gift from God.

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September 2015 towers.sbts.edu4 towers

Newslog

REPORT

Mohler calls for gospel action ‘while there’s time’ at Southern Seminary convocationBy S. Craig Sanders

CULTURAL HOSTILITY TO the gospel should compel Christian ministers to proclaim God’s message with faithfulness and urgency while there is still time for repentance, said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. during the Aug. 25 fall convocation.

“More is hanging in the balance than the horror of human terrorism,” Mohler said after recounting the courage of the three Americans who prevented the Aug. 21 attempted mass shooting on a train in France. “The time is coming when the wrath of God will rise up and there will be no remedy. And while there’s time, act. Do. Wring everything out of every course, wring everything out of every test, do everything you do to the glory of God.”

In his convocation address, “Until There Was No Remedy,” Mohler preached from 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, in which the kingdom of Judah persists in rejecting God’s proph-ets until the Lord judges his people through Babylonian captivity. Mohler said the reality of God’s judgment means seminary students must prepare to act with eternal consequence

for those who have not believed “because at some point there will be no remedy.”

“We’re actually preparing a generation of young minis-ters, church planters, missionaries, and Christian leaders to go out and suffer being mocked and to be the object of scoffing,” Mohler said, referencing cultural rejection of God’s Word.

In addition to those who refuse to profess faith in Jesus as Lord, Mohler said mainline Protestant denomina-tions and their seminaries appear to be “beyond remedy”

because of apostate leadership. Mohler expressed his gratitude for the conserva-tive resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s, saying, “A gen-eration ago, Southern Baptists acted while there was still an opportunity for a remedy.”

Prior to Mohler’s convocation address, two professors elected to the faculty during the spring trustee meeting signed the Abstract of Principles, the seminary’s confession of faith. The

professors signed the original document drafted and signed by founding faculty James Petigru Boyce, John A. Broadus, Basil Manly Jr., and William Williams, along with every subsequent faculty member of the school.

“We go back not just to traditions of Christian higher education in a generic form, we go back to some very specific disciplines and patterns and commitments rep-resented by Southern Seminary,” Mohler said. “None of those is more important than the public signing of the Abstract of Principles.”

Signee numbers 254-255 of the Abstract were Douglas K. Blount, professor of Christian philosophy and ethics, and Joseph R. Crider, Ernest and Mildred Hogan Professor of Church Music and Worship. Blount has previously served on the faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary, Southwest-ern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Criswell College (more on p. 23). Before coming to Southern in 2011, Crider served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Liberty University and minister of music and worship at First Baptist Church, Roanoke, Virginia.

Audio and video of Mohler’s convocation address are available online at sbts.edu/resources.

“The time is coming when the wrath of God will rise up and there will be no remedy. And while there's time, act.”


REPORT

Southern Seminary student, father of 4, killed in crashBy SBTS Communications

A FATAL CRASH in southern Indiana July 23 claimed the life of Wade Stephenson, a husband and father of four who was also a Master of Divinity student at Southern Seminary.

“The Southern Seminary family is heartbroken over the death of Wade Stephenson and our hearts and prayers are with Becca, their three precious girls, and their son,” said President R. Albert Mohler Jr.

“We are thankful for Wade's life and witness, and we pray that his family will know the peace from Christ that passes all understanding. We are stunned by this tragedy and are reminded all over again that our only hope — and our certain hope — is found in the gospel of Christ.”

Stephenson, a member of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, began taking classes at Southern in August 2014. The seminary hosted a July 26 memorial service in Heritage Hall to honor his life.

“The sheer weight of resurrection hope at Wade's memorial service was palpable,” said Jeremy Pierre, dean of students and associate professor of biblical counseling. “This was a man who proclaimed Christ with his life so clearly that others knew they simply had to proclaim Christ with his passing.”

Stephenson is survived by his wife of 12 years, Becca, their three daughters and newborn son. A GoFundMe page (gofundme.com/Stephensonfamily) has raised more than $60,000 for the family.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLISON BARKER

Schreiner, Joslin discuss Hebrews ‘warning passages’ at Alumni AcademyBy Andrew J.W. Smith

THE BOOK OF HEBREWS urges believ-ers not to fall away but instead to behold the excellencies of Christ, said two New Testament professors at Southern Sem-inary’s Aug. 6-7 Alumni Academy.

“It’s worth it to stick with Jesus, no matter what happens, because he’s better; he’s better than anything or anyone else,” said Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation.

Schreiner and Barry Joslin, professor of Christian theology at Boyce College, lectured on the book of Hebrews at the Alumni Academy. Each has written a commentary on the epistle — Schreiner most recently in the Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation Series, while Joslin’s forthcoming work will be released in the Christian Focus Commentary Series in 2018.

Much of the challenge of understanding Hebrews

lies in the many warning passages, which actually comprise the theme of the letter as a means of preserv-ing elect believers: “Don’t fall away, because Christ is a better priest, a better covenant, and a better sac-rifice,” Schreiner said.

Although there are diffi-cult passages in Hebrews, they are not impossible for Spirit-indwelled believers to grasp, Joslin said.

“These are the Scriptures; God has given them to all of his people in every age. He intended them to be understood. They are not beyond the believer’s ability to understand,” he said.

Alumni Academy provides free ongoing instruction for alumni and prospective students of Southern Seminary. To find out more about the program, visit events.sbts.edu.

Legacy Hotel, Norton classrooms among summer renovationsBy Annie Corser

SOUTHERN SEMINARY completed several major renova-tions over the summer, including upgrades to the Legacy Hotel and Norton Hall classrooms.

In the Legacy lobby, finishes have been replaced from the ceiling, walls, and floor to provide an updated design concept without altering the layout and function of the existing lobby. All lobby artwork illustrates Kentucky history, landscapes, and culture. The lobby fireplace is safe and kid-friendly by utilizing steam and light tech-nology to create the look of smoke.

The Keesee Educational Fund provided a grant allow-ing for 10 classrooms to receive desks with outlet plug-ins and new media services, including Smartboards and lecterns with touch-screen computers.

The new Grinstead entrance sign matches the rest of the seminary branding and architectural features with its dimensional lettering, LED lighting, and the Boyce and Southern seals as mounted plaques on the side.


Boyce College soccer team fuses love of sports with passion for missionsBy Robert Chapman

THE BOYCE COLLEGE BULLDOGS soccer team will kick off its inaugural season in September. The program recently hired an experienced head coach, finalized its roster of players, and secured a location in downtown Louisville for its home games. But the work to start the program began more than a year ago with the persistence of three students who had a vision for playing soccer to glorify God and share the gospel with others.

“I wanted to start a team because playing at Boyce College is the best way to utilize a sport that you love to glorify a God that you love,” said sophomore Nicho-las Kampouris, a Business Administration major from Stoughton, Massachusetts. “Growing up I viewed soccer as a way to glorify myself, so having an opportunity to approach soccer in a way that is not self-glorifying is why I wanted to play here.”

Kampouris said he sensed the desire to start the pro-gram as a means for ministry early in his freshman year. He said word spread around campus after he opened a Facebook page for Boyce soccer and eventually South-ern Seminary’s administration approved the program, which will compete in the NCCAA Division II Mideast Region. In 2006, Boyce formed a basketball team which also competes in the NCCAA.

Sophomore teammates Luiz Moreira, of Campo Grande, Brazil, and Samuel Johnson, of Buchanan, Michigan, helped Kampouris form the vision for the program and shared his desire to glorify God through Great Commission faithfulness as their ultimate goal.

“I want to use soccer in missions because it is the most known sport in the world,” Moreira said. “In any country you go into, we might not even have a language that we can communicate with, but soccer is a language in itself. It can break barriers and infiltrate societies for missions.”

Dennis Brooks, who has more than 10 years of coaching experience and recently founded the soccer program at Louisville’s Christian Education Consortium, assumed head coaching duties in July. Brooks said he became interested in the Boyce post because of his dual interests in coaching soccer and teaching young men.

“I am very passionate about pouring into guys and talking to them about becoming godly men, and soccer presents the opportunity to teach a lot of life lessons through the game,” Brooks said. “So the two things are

perfectly aligned in this setting, to have that passion of pouring into guys in a godly environment with the game that I love.”

Brooks said the team has already fused together its love for soccer and passion for missions. During the team’s Aug. 17 morning practice at Louisville’s Seneca Park, Brooks said a young man playing soccer alone asked if he could practice with the team.

“He did not know who we were, but he spent an hour and a half with us. And at the end of practice I heard one of our players sharing the gospel with him,” Brooks said. “I do not know what the result of that will be, but that is what this is all about. And if all we accom-plish this season is that young man, then the season was a success before we even play our first game.”

The Bulldogs will open the home schedule Sept. 12 against Crown Col-

lege. All home games will be played at Champions Park, located in downtown Louisville at 2050 River Rd.

For more information on the Bulldogs soccer team, visit boycebulldogs.com.

REPORT

“I want to use soccer in missions because it is the most known sport in the world.”

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REVIEWS

NIV Zondervan Study BibleD.A. Carson, general editor Review by S. Craig SandersThe emergence of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible raises the question: Do we really need it? For every translation there appears to be at least three study Bibles, each more colorful and more in-depth.

With legendary scholar D.A. Carson at the helm, the NIV Zondervan Study Bible quickly dismisses its skeptics and places itself as the crowning achievement among its competitors. In size, it is reminiscent of the ESV Study Bible, but in content, it models The Apologetics Study Bible with a concentrated focus on its theme: biblical theology.

Whether or not you’ve bought into the translation philosophy of the NIV 2011, this study Bible offers no shortage of beautiful illustrations and rich articles from theologian-pastors like Tim Keller, SBTS professor James M. Hamilton Jr., and SBTS alumnus Greg Gilbert. Purchasing this resource also comes with free digital access to the study Bible.

Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson Review by S. Craig Sanders In a revised and expanded update to their book Mormonism 101, re-searchers Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson remain focused on their orig-inal goal: “to take the authoritative claims of the Mormon leadership and see how they compare with the teaching of the Bible.”

With more than 15 million members, the Latter-day Saints present a major challenge to evangelicals as Mormons themselves seek to iden-tify one of the world’s fastest-growing religions with the Christian faith. McKeever and Johnson explore the history of Mormonism and the evo-lution of its doctrines in order to examine how the religion compares to biblical Christianity.

The “Mormonese” section opening each chapter is one of the more remarkable features, explaining what Mormons mean with terms that might appear familiar to many Christians. This book is perfectly accessible to anyone interested in sharing the gospel with Mormons.

Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel Russell Moore Review by S. Craig SandersThe easiest reader response to books on culture wars is despair. But it’s nearly impossible to read ERLC President Russell Moore’s Onward and not come away with a reinvigorated boldness and sense of mission.

Moore’s manifesto for evangelical Christians does not try to reclaim the false concepts of the Bible Belt and a moral majority but rather to embrace a

“prophetic minority” that seems “freakish” and “strange” to American culture.“Our call is to engaged alienation, a Christianity that preserves the

distinctiveness of our gospel while not retreating from our callings as neighbors, and friends, and citizens,” writes Moore, formerly dean of the School of Theology at Southern.

Moore envisions an understanding of kingdom and culture that sends Christians on a mission for “justice and justification” with a message of convictional kindness. Press onward and take this book with you.

Book ReviewsFACULTY RECOMMENDATIONS

(Zondervan 2015, $49.99 )

Canon Revisited (Crossway 2012, $30)

AND

The Question of Canon(IVP Academic 2013, $24)

Michael Kruger

“Kruger presents the canon in ontological, functional, and exclusive

terms that take seriously the developing views of canon among early Christians

without compromising the fact that these 27 texts were canonical — even if that term wasn’t being used yet —

from the moment they were written. His work effectively dismantles any false dichotomy that sharply distinguishes

‘Scripture’ from ‘canon.’”

(Baker 2015, $19.99)

(B&H Books 2015, $24.99)TIMOTHY PAUL JONESC. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Family Ministry and associate vice president for Global Campus

towers 9towers.sbts.edu September 2015

How We Got the BibleTimothy Paul JonesReview by Andrew J.W. Smith

n How We Got the Bible, Timothy Paul Jones defends the Scriptures against skeptics’ arguments and

describes the transmission of the Old and New Testaments from manuscript to canon. Aimed at young believers, par-ticularly high schoolers, the book attempts to equip Christians with sound reasons for the Bible’s authenticity.

The book is a unique contribution to the familiar area of Christian apologetics, fea-turing extensive pictures, graphs, tables, and the use of helpful pop culture illustra-tions from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings.

“This God-inspired book wasn’t an afterthought or an accident!” writes Jones, C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Family Ministry at SBTS. “Eternal eons before God created darkness and light, God had already decided that he would reveal his kingdom not only through spoken words but also through written words. The Bible that you possess today is the perfect product of this eternal plan.”

Starting with a full doctrine of Scripture, Jones lays out a theological foundation for his defense of the Bible — fully inspired, inerrant, and sufficient for godliness and Christian living. Although critics

of inerrancy have argued the idea is a modern one, Jones convincingly demon-strates the early church also believed in an error-free Bible, even if they did not use the term “inerrancy.”

Jones addresses key issues related to the transmission of the Old Testament and the New Testament, including the various arrangements of the OT books, the Sep-tuagint, and how every book in the NT is closely associated with an eyewitness of Jesus Christ.

One of the strongest features of the book is Jones’ counterargument for the popular Bart Ehrman “Telephone Game” illustration of the oral transmission of the Jesus tradition. If a spoken message can so disintegrate in a children’s game, Ehr-man’s argument goes, how could the Jesus tradition remain uncorrupted as it spread across the entire Roman Empire?

On the contrary, Jones points out none of the evidence suggests the oral tradition was nearly so unstable. So, on one hand, the transmission of the Jesus tradition from oral stories to the written Gospels couldn’t be more different from the Telephone Game. The Bible was relayed with much greater care and seriousness than laughing children exhibit, and this was done in an overwhelmingly oral culture that recalled stories through the spoken word.

In another sense, however, the Tele-phone Game is a helpful illustration for

the origin of the New Testament. Just as the message at the end of the game is compared to and corrected by the original message, stories about Jesus were avail-able for correction by the eyewitnesses who were still alive at the time.

Finally, the book traces the transmission of the Bible, from copying of New Testa-ment to the history of the English Bible. Jones provides a helpful and easy-to-un-derstand introduction to textual criticism, noting that the many variants also mean there is much manuscript evidence of

the New Testament — far more than any other ancient text. Jones also describes the different philosophies behind Bible translation, such as formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence.

Apart from effectively arguing for the reliability of the Bible, the book is also very accessible and easy to follow. Jones avoids overly technical language while also including extensive footnotes to buttress his arguments. How We Got the Bible offers parents and teachers a useful resource to prepare young Christians to face the hard-est questions about the Bible and can be paired with a six-session DVD study in Sunday School classes and youth groups. (Rose Publishing 2015, $14.99)

Church with Jesus as the Hero David E. Prince and Ashland StaffReview by Annie Corser

In Church with Jesus as the Hero, David E. Prince, assistant professor of Chris-tian preaching at Southern Seminary, focuses on Jesus to provide churches with a starter kit for Christ-cen-tered ministry.

Filled with practica l applications, Church with Jesus as the Hero offers a four-step process of seeing the gospel in specific biblical

texts. Step one, find the bad guy — that’s you. Step two, find the heroic example pointing to Jesus. Step three, find the hero: Jesus. Step four, obey Christ in faith.

“One of the problems many people have in rightly interpreting and applying the Bible is that they immediately attempt

to identify with the hero,” Prince writes, “not the bad guy.” Prince, who pastors Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexing ton, Kentucky, explains that identifying with the bad guy and seeing the heroic examples in the text as sinners rightly places

Jesus as the ultimate, perfect hero. Once we reflect on Jesus, we are able to follow in obedience through faith.

Prince also provides a few chapters of excerpts from Baptist theologian Andrew Fuller. He uses Fuller to address some questions and objections that are raised in his seminary classes such as “What if my sermon text is focused on a moral truth and not on Christ?” and “If I preach Christ in every sermon text, will not every sermon begin to sound the same?”

This book will equip churches as Prince explains how focusing on Jesus as the hero changes church ministry and everything in our lives as we become the “community of the kingdom.”

REVIEWS

(Ashland Publishing 2015, $11.99)

I

“Many people ... immediately attempt to identify with the hero, not the bad guy.”

“This God-inspired book wasn’t an afterthought or an accident! Eternal eons before God created darkness and light, God had already decided that he would reveal his kingdom not only through spoken words but also through written words. The Bible that you possess today is the perfect product of this eternal plan.”


INTERVIEW

Defending the Bible, protecting the faithJONES EQUIPS BELIEVERS IN RESPONSE TO SKEPTICS

By Andrew J.W. Smith

EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, Timothy Paul Jones, C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Family Ministry at Southern Seminary, discusses his book How We Got the Bible with Towers news writer Andrew J.W. Smith.

AJWS: You open the book with a discussion of the theology of Scripture, inspiration, inerrancy, and similar doctrines. Why was that an important way to open the book?

TPJ: It seems to me that in every generation we need to fight the battle for inerrancy again. If one genera-tion loses sight of the fact that inerrancy really is a crucial issue in terms of healthy theology, then the next generation will lose not only the importance of it but the doctrine itself. It will erode the doctrine, so I think it’s important that you begin with a discussion of inerrancy. One of the things I’ve found is that, in discussing and talking with people who aren’t believ-ers or who are young believers, they have very little

understanding of what we mean by inerrancy. They really struggle to understand it. So I wanted to describe in a very simple way what inerrancy is and what its implications are, as well as demonstrating that this is historically viable. Even though the early Christians may not have used the word “inerrancy,” they certainly believed in the idea.

AJWS: You stress how the formation of the biblical canon is not haphazard or arbitrary. It didn’t happen overnight and it was logical. Why is this important to know about the collection of the canon?

TPJ: Probably a couple of decades ago it would not have

been nearly as important to equip and educate laypeo-ple about the formation of the canon. But we live in a post-Da Vinci Code world. The Da Vinci Code marked a moment in culture in which the skepticism about Scripture, that includes skepticism about the canon, really came to the forefront. It wasn’t that people didn’t have these ideas before; it was that it really became popularized. It really popularized this idea of ques-tioning the books that are in the canon, which books belong in the canon and all of that. And I found that so many people, even mature Christian believers, have no concept of how the books of the Bible came together. And so I really want to help them understand that. I want them to see that this was something that, on the one hand, did not fall out of heaven already finished,


INTERVIEW

but on the other hand, it wasn’t put together on the basis of some sort of political pursuit either.

AJWS: You discussed the well-known telephone game metaphor of the transmission of the New Testament — I’m thinking of Bart Ehrman and others. How is that metaphor both helpful and unhelpful for how we must understand the transmission of Scripture?

TPJ: I think that’s a true met-aphor, actually, but not in the way that the skeptics use it. Of course in the telephone game, one person whispers some-thing to the next person, which goes to the next person then all the way around the circle, until at the end you get this jumbled message. You compare it to the original message, and ev-erybody laughs and that’s the game. Well, what is unhelpful about that metaphor is that it treats the transmission of Scripture and of the stories about Jesus as if they were something that were delivered haphazardly, as if there was no care taken to guard them and to keep them, as if the transmission was from one person to another rather than a community. So in those ways it’s unhelpful because it gives the impression of much more fluidity in the stories than really existed.

On the other hand, it is somewhat helpful because it ends up undercutting the case of the skeptic. What makes the telephone game work is that at the end they are able to compare the message that came through the circle with the original message. That’s actually precisely what happened in the first century. When the books of the New Testament were written, the eye-witnesses who wrote them were still alive. So when a message made it through the “circle,” so to speak, it could then be compared with the original message and could be corrected at that point. So in that sense, the very use of that metaphor undercuts the skeptics’ own case by demonstrating that as long as the person who started the story is still present it is possible to correct the story back to its original form.

AJWS: Why is it important to have multiple diverse and updated translations of the Bible?

TPJ: Well, every translation is something temporary. There is no such thing as a permanent, once-for-all-time translation because language changes. Our knowledge of ancient languages changes. That requires new translations being made so that the Word of God can be conveyed accurately to every person, and to every place, in every time.

I also think different translations have different purposes. There may be one translation that is excel-lent for a brand new believer but isn’t something you’d want to use a decade later for in-depth study of the

Bible. There may be a Bible that is excellent for really studying the Bible, but for a new believer, somebody who speaks English as their second language or some-body who has reading difficulties, it may not be as useful.

AJWS: What were some of the difficulties in writing an accessible book like this about such complicated and nuanced issues?

TPJ: The difficulty is, in writing a book that is really aimed at lay-people, that some level of nuance is always lost in that. Now I’ve really tried to include very ex-

tensive footnotes because the research is there in the footnotes at that point. But in the writing, there has to be some nuance that gets left behind to make it under-standable to ordinary people. So that’s the hardest thing — figuring out where to stop and just how to make it simple enough for the ordinary person. As we developed this book, we actually had different people who didn’t have seminary education, who didn’t have any training in this area — “Read this and tell us where you got bored. Read this and tell us what you didn’t understand, what didn’t make sense to you, what seemed irrel-evant to you, and let us know on this.” And we adjusted the book really to try to make it as accessible as possible to anybody, from a high school age up should be able to pick up this book and read it and understand the central message that we’re getting at.

AJWS: What was the process like in exposing test groups to your book and having to make revisions to the book?

TPJ: It’s painful. It’s painful because somebody could come back and mark a whole page and say, “This was really boring” or “I don’t understand this at all,” and then you have to go back and rewrite. It’s not that you’re backing off the content or that you’re somehow giving up on it. It’s that you say, “Okay, I have to write it better.” I do find for me that the joy of doing that is, I think, when we understand it best is when we’re able to get it down to a layperson’s level. When we’re really able to get it simple, that’s when we understand it best.

AJWS: Who is your target audience for the book?

TPJ: Several of the books I’ve written are kind of reac-tive, that is to say, they take things that people are going to be encountering — maybe in college or in watching certain documentaries or in reading certain magazines

— and try to help them to understand the truth. But one of the things I hadn’t yet done is be proactive, to write a book preparing people to encounter skeptics rather than react to them. So my purpose in writing this book is to be proactive, to help people be prepared to understand and to respond to these skeptical attacks on the gospel before they happen. That’s what I really wanted to be able to do in these books, beginning with high schoolers and young adults.

AJWS: What do you hope this book accomplishes among your readers?

TPJ: One of the things in family ministry seminars that I often talk to parents about is: When your children hear

a question that casts doubt on the Bible, make sure that’s not the first time they’ve heard that question. Make sure it’s at least the second time. Make sure that you’ve asked them that question before the college professor or the co-worker does. So part of what I want to do in this book is make certain that when somebody hears questions of the authority, the accura-cy, the reliability of Scripture, after they’ve read this book they’re able to say, “I’ve heard that objection before.” And they may not even remember the exact response to that ob-

jection, but they will remember that there is a rational and intellectually defensible response.

“When your children hear a question that casts doubt on the Bible, make sure that’s not the first time they’ve heard that question. Make sure it’s at least the second time. Make sure that you’ve asked them that question before the college professor or the co-worker does.”

“My purpose in writing this book is to be proactive, to help people be prepared to understand and to respond to these skeptical attacks on the gospel before they happen.”


David E. PrinceWRITTEN BY


When I hear someone say, “War Eagle,” or see someone wearing Auburn sports gear, I almost reflexively feel obligated to respond, “Roll Tide!” It seems like a duty, a moral responsibility even. To call football in the South culturally a big

deal is akin to saying the Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Any time Alabama and Auburn meet on the football field, everything else in the state grinds to a halt. Football analyst Beano Cook once said, “Alabama-Auburn is not just a rivalry. It’s Gettysburg South.” The thought of a wedding or funeral in the state of Alabama on the day of the Iron Bowl would be met with a “Bless their heart.”

I am an unabashed sports fan, but I do not write this article as a fan — rather, as a Christian pastor and a seminary professor. Any discussion of the widespread love of sports begs the question, Is this good or bad? My answer is an unequivocal yes. It all depends on whether sports are summed up in Christ or abstracted from him. God did not create sports — people did. But people created sports in a reflexive response to the world God created. Sports are capable of providing spectacular glimpses of truth, beauty, and goodness, as athletes tune and discipline their bodies to perform amazing feats. I con-sider sports to be a competitive manifestation of the performing arts.

But God’s good gifts are always in danger of being corrupted into idols. Idolatry is often subtle because we tend to make idols of good things — like sports. We can fixate so much on a particular good thing that it becomes an ultimate thing to us. Any time we think that we cannot be happy or satisfied without something, we have made it an object of worship — an idol.

Is your commitment to sports becoming a substitute god rather than a means of delighting in God? To help you decide whether or not you are cor-rupting God’s good gift of sports, I have offered several guidelines.


Do you enjoy sports as a good gift of God even when your favorite team loses?

TRAGICALLY, IT IS not difficult to find, even among professing Christians, idolatrous excesses in devotion to sports competition as a player or as a fan. In my home state, the Alabama-Auburn rivalry has been connected to incarceration, divorce, violence, and recently, the poisoning of majestic trees that were a part of one of the grand-est traditions in college football. For such people, allegiance to a favorite team is not an enjoyment of God’s good gift of athletics, or a rooted cultural identity marker, but an obvious idol. Most who read this article will never contemplate such atro-cious acts; however, idolatry that is more subtle is no less an act of rebellion.

If one cannot delight in God with thanksgiving for a hard-fought contest when your team loses, then you are perverting God's good gift of athletics and teaching those around him to do the same. Christian parent, if you cannot root like crazy with your children for your favorite team — only to see them lose — and afterward laugh and play in the yard with your kids, you have a problem; it's called idolatry. I have known children who desperately wanted their dad’s favorite team to win, not because they cared all that much but because they knew their father would be sour the rest of the day if his favorite team lost. Such behavior is pathetic for one whose identity is in Christ.

Do you sever your participation in sports or cheering for your favorite team from your Christian faith?

I ONCE KNEW a godly man who just happened to have season football tickets for the local college team and invited me along to attend a game. During the middle of the game, I was stunned when he blurted out an occasional profanity I had never before heard him utter. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. His demeanor was also aggressive and rude to those around him. When I saw him later at church or at his job, he was back to the godly and faithful man I had always known. At the stadium, the outcome of the game was func-tionally his lord, which is a problem for one who confesses Jesus is Lord.

If your behavior at a game would make it awkward for you to shift the conversation to your faith in Christ, you are making an idol of sports. I have known Christians who prefer to watch games alone because they did not want others to observe the way they act. Abraham Kuyper’s dictum should shape our interest in sports: "Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be her-metically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”


David E. Prince is assistant professor of Christian preaching at Southern Seminary and pastor of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Does your involvement in sports inspire you to faithfulness in your vocation and endeavors?

PAUL SEIZES THE metaphor of sports as a key image to explain Christian living because success in athletics demands purposeful self-sacrifice and requires self-discipline for a cause greater than the individual (1 Cor 9:24-27; Phil 3:13-14; Gal 2:2; Eph 6:12; 2 Tim 2:4-7). A Christian approach to sports as a participant or as spectator involves being inspired to worship the Creator through witnessing the honed physical gifts and agonizing determination of his image-bearers who compete with excellence. Therefore, Christians should be challenged to offer a similar purposeful, sacrificial devotion and disci-pline in their vocation and endeavors.

How many Christians rigorously critique the job performance, dedication, and work ethic of the coach of their favorite team while simultaneously complaining about their job and excusing their own lack of work ethic and dedication? Such is a sad commentary on their lack of commitment to the priority of the kingdom of Christ. Where this is happening, the love of sports has become detached from the Christian life and transformed into a barrier rather than a bridge to worshipping Christ. Participants and fans watch and enjoy the beauty, effort, and focus that the sporting contest brings out in its participants and Christians should be challenged to agonize in similar fashion for the glory of Christ in their own vocation (Col 3:17).

A Christ-centered approach

THROUGHOUT CHURCH HISTORY, Christians have struggled with their relationship to sports, which is appropriate since we are called to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). Unthinking rejection or enjoyment of sports are both a failure of Christian discipleship. I believe that the Christian with a rightly ordered, Christ-centered worldview is uniquely in a position to enjoy athletic competition as a good gift from God. Nevertheless, we must be aware of the danger of rendering sports an idol rather than a gift.

THE AVERAGE AMERICAN ON ANY

GIVEN SUNDAYSource: PRRI/RNS

Religion News25%

Going to church

18%Watching

football

25%Doing both

32%Doing neither


Susan Rainey Maguire, a third-generation realtor who coaches clients in the process of relocating and building value while buying or selling residential property throughout the Louisville Metro Area.

To know more about how to make asmart move to Louisville,contact Susan at 502-599-4488

TRUST THROUGH GENERATIONS

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Authority is part of the stamp of God over all of creation. Once an athlete steps onto the field, the umpires or referees are the final authority on how the game is played. Very often, these fallible people get the call wrong. It is important for our children to realize we must learn how to submit to imperfect authorities and to know God will use the unfair call, favoritism, or just plain negligent people to shape us into the image of Christ. Using the referees or umpires as excuses for not doing well or losing the big game reveal char-acter issues a parent can begin to rehabilitate.

Every sport features coaches who make dozens of decisions, call multiple plays, and might even put your kid on the bench. These are perfect opportuni-ties to teach your child how to submit and learn obedience even when they disagree with the one giving them instruction. One of the most disappointing scenar-ios is watching parental outrage when coaches make certain decisions. They are setting a ter-rible example. Authority is given by God for our protection, and we should learn to listen to those who have charge over us.

In most sports, athletes encounter opportunities to put themselves in harm’s way for the good of the whole team or another teammate. In any of these situations, players must learn and cultivate the idea of self-sacrifice. This was at the

heart of the life of Christ and is at the heart of the Christian life. For both boys and girls

— although probably to differ-ing degrees and for differing ultimate purposes — getting knocked down and getting back up again will build a sense of godly resilience, certainly necessary to live out the adult Christian life.

In a Genesis 3 world, unfairness is a significant part of life and sports competitions are loaded with moments of unfairness. One of the ways I measure the Christian maturity of my children is by watching how they respond to unfair situa-

tions. In certain cases appeals may be made, but in a fallen world, unfairness abounds, and God will sort these things out according to his good pleasure.

Failure happens regularly in sports and it is almost always very apparent and public. Learning how to deal with it often turns out to be one of the richest uses of sports in the discipleship of our chil-dren. Christians in particular should be the best at dealing with failure because we have a distinct theological category for it. Rather than covering for our children or making excuses for them, parents should help their children accept this as a part of life.

A common expression from one athlete to another is to “shake it off” after a botched play or a minor injury. Most sports require a lot of mental tough-ness, and good leadership on the field means you are encouraging teammates to “shake it off” so

that they will be ready for the next play. Typically, focusing on failure in sports means that you are not focused for the next play, which means another failure. We have taught our kids not to correct another player while on the field but to discuss strategies for improvement in between innings, plays, side changes, or timeouts. Good leaders on the field offer encour-agement and remember to

“shake it off.”

This is not the part where it’s time to say, “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” This is where it’s time to remember that someone wins and someone loses. My concern for my children is how they act in each situation. While competition can potentially end up being a bad thing, I think there is something inherent in us that strives for victory and loathes defeat. Genesis 3:15 illustrates a profound struggle and a crushing victory. The New Testament epistles use language of competition, like when Jude alludes to contend-ing for the gospel (Jude 3) and Paul describes striving for sanctification (1 Cor 9:24-27). The inward desire to embrace victory and avoid defeat is an opportunity to point ourselves to the gospel. In our humiliat-ing losses, we congratulate our opponent on their great victory and commit to strengthen our weaknesses. In our triumphant victories, we honor our oppo-nent while extending grace.

4 5321

In addition to being a widely recognized expert on family leadership, Southern Seminary Provost Randy Stinson is an avid sports fan. As the father of eight children, Stinson has learned how to use sports as a tool for discipleship and character development. These five lessons demonstrate concrete ways parents can use sports to disciple their children.

By Randy Stinson

WAYS SPORTS CAN DISCIPLE YOUR CHILD

CHRISTIANS IN PARTICULAR SHOULD BE THE BEST AT DEALING WITH FAILURE BECAUSE WE HAVE A DISTINCT THEOLOGICAL CATEGORY FOR IT.

OBEYING AUTHORITY

PRACTICING SELF-SACRIFICE

DEALING WITH UNFAIRNESS AND FAILURE

LEARNING LEADERSHIP

SHOWING GRACE, MERCY,

AND HONOR


September 12 // The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, LouiSviLLeSeptember 19 // Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling grEEn

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HISTORY HIGHLIGHT

‘Exercise, Preacher’EXHORTATIONS FROM JOHN BROADUS

By Adam Winters

outhern Seminary co-founder John A. Broadus is best remem-bered for his instruction of men

for the preaching ministry, but he also demonstrated concern for the health of the preacher’s body. Collected here are quotes from Broadus’ published and personal writings regarding the importance of main-taining a sound mind and body, with special applicability to one who is entrusted with teaching or preaching responsibilities:

“Whatever improves the general health will improve the voice, especially muscular exercise, and particularly such as develops the chest, and promotes an easy erect-ness of position.”1

“The higher ranks of intellectual workers in our cities, including the great business men, now comprise many who need to make a busi-ness of taking exercise; and if they only realized the need, and would make conscience of the matter and faithfully try experiments, every one might assuredly find means of regularly and amply exercising the muscles in some proportion to the exhausting and incessant strain he puts upon brain and nerves.” 2

“We must all learn to take ample mus-cular exercise every day, and a little walking or driving is not enough. The hope for most city men of mentally laborious and anxious life is believed to lie in the use of exercising appa-ratus, at home or in a gymnasium. … The gymnasium of today does not propose feats of strength or agility, but moderate exercise for all the most important muscles.”3

“One must of course add to indoor exercise such walks and rides and excursions into the country—for which the electric cars are becom-ing a great convenience—as will give fresh air and change of scene.” 4

“We should exercise more in the cold than the warm weather, in order to break down an abundance of mus-cular and fatty tissue, that it may be oxidized and keep the body warm.”5

“Better face a class very imperfectly pre-pared than violate the laws of health.” 6

“I have kept alive, amid many infir-mities, and I know it has been through persistent exercise and plenty of sleep.” 7

Broadus wa rned of how poor bodily health aggravated by neglect of physical fitness had diminished the effectiveness and con-tributions of both Addison Alexander and James P. Boyce in their later years:

“Dr. [Charles] Hodge once said to Dr. J. W. Warder that Alexander had the finest mind he had ever known. It may be a useful warning to add that this admirable man presumed on his always vigorous health, and devoted himself to incessant reading and writing, with an almost total neglect of exercise; and so, at the age of fifty, there came a sudden collapse, and the world lost all those other noble works which he might have been expected to produce, and which some of us were so eagerly awaiting.”8

“[Boyce] also suffered, as did Addi-son Alexander and Count Cavour, and other famous men of full habit and great mental labors, from lack of bodily exercise. After removing to Louisville in 1872, he never kept a carriage, and so did not have the exercise of driving, by which he fre-quently profited at Greenville. He had not learned to ride on horseback in youth, and never attempted it after the brief term service as Chap-lain, and as Aide to the Governor.

He walked with remarkable ease and grace for so heavy a man; but it pretty soon fatigued him in those last years, and so he rarely walked except to lecture, or down street on business, or to market in the m o r n i n g — a n ea rly task in which he took

special pleasure. He never tried gymnastic apparatus. The frequent railway trips required by Seminary affairs and private business afforded his only considerable means of exer-cise, and sometimes returned him in manifestly improved health; though in the later years such a journey was often followed by an attack of gout.” 9

It was a common sight to see Broadus admonish dedicated students for physi-cal lethargy and encourage them to join a gymnasium. 8 During his years as seminary president, the annual catalogs began to

note that two students were selected to give daily instruction in gymnastics throughout the school year. Although he himself never claimed to be a model of fitness, he strongly believed in responsible self-discipline in diet and physical activity as necessary to living a vibrant and productive life.

Those interested in learning more about the life and thought of Broadus can research his personal correspondence and manuscripts available in the Archives and Special Collections on the second floor of the James P. Boyce Centennial Library.

S

ENDNOTES

1 John A. Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012), 409.

2 John A. Broadus, Memoir of James P. Boyce (Louisville: Baptist Book Concern, 1893), 315.

3 Ibid., 316.4 Ibid.5 John A. Broadus to Alice Broadus Mitchell, 15 January 1893, Mitchell Family Papers, series 1, box 1, Archives and Special Collections, James P. Boyce Centennial Library, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

6 Ibid.7 Ibid. 8 Broadus, Memoir of James P. Boyce, 72.9 Ibid., 315.10 A. T. Robertson, ed. Life and Letters of John A. Broadus (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1901), 442.

SOUTHERN STORY

Broadus strongly believed in responsible self-discipline in diet and physical activity as necessary to living a vibrant and productive life.


While it would still be fun to have a baseball field on the J-Bowl, we're sure you’d much rather have the Honeycutt Campus Center, which sits on top of home plate.

This undated photo from the 1940s is the earliest portrait of the Southern Seminary Saints, a traveling club basketball team. The seminary even distributed an award for outstanding sportsmanship.

INTERESTING SPORTS FACTS (AND ONE MYTH)

ABOUT SOUTHERN SEMINARY

The Josephus Bowl is also the name for the old intramural

football championship game. The league was formerly divided into teams based on states. This

photo is from the 1962 game between Alabama teams.

In 1972, the Southern Seminary Saints played inmates at a nearby prison farm and shared their testimonies at halftime.

Ron Swanson, of Pawnee, Indiana,

throws a deep pass in an intramural

football game.

The Boyce Bulldogs aren’t the institution’s first soccer team. This

1969 photo shows Southern Seminary soccer player John Looye. In 1987,

the school’s soccer team played the Louisville Thunder, a professional

indoor soccer team.


FACULTY PROFILE

Douglas K. Blount, the collectorNEW PHILOSOPHY PROF AIMS FOR STUDENTS ‘TO THINK CHRISTIANLY’

By Annie Corser

he first thing most people will notice in Douglas K. Blount’s office is a big, stuffed Eeyore. A gift several years ago from his two kids, Eeyore sits

snugly on a table in his office — one of the many things Blount collects.

“I drove up to Louisville in a U-Haul, and he rode shotgun with me,” Blount said. “Eeyore is my favorite character because of his personality. My kids got a big kick out of that about 10 years ago when they found out that dad likes Eeyore, and that gave them several gift ideas for awhile.” His office collection also features two smaller figurines of Eeyore and one of Winnie the Pooh. To complete the scene, he has a Winnie the Pooh book that was published in Latin.

Blount, professor of Christian philosophy and ethics, joined the Southern Seminary faculty July 1 after the board of trustees elected him at the spring meeting. Coming from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, Blount brings over 20 years of experience, includ-ing teaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Criswell College.

Blount earned degrees from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He completed his Ph.D. in 1998 at Notre Dame, where he studied under a faculty that included noted philosopher and theologian Alvin Plantinga.

Blount's journey to Southern began when his former student Adam W. Greenway, now dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry, recommended him to Greg-ory A. Wills, dean of the School of Theology.

Greenway is a “very close friend and former student of mine,” Blount said. Greenway completed his master's work at Southwestern and studied under Blount, later becoming Blount’s assistant.

Slightly joking, Blount explained he played a tiny role in introducing Green-way to his wife, Carla. When Blount took Greenway with him to visit a friend in the hospital, Greenway met a close friend of Carla’s who then arranged for them to meet. Blount, however, does not consider himself a matchmaker.

Blount was born at White Sands Missile Range, which is a military base in New Mexico, and his birth cost his parents $5. He jokes his dad was certain he was overcharged. Blount grew up in a Christian family and pro-fessed faith in Christ when he was 7 years old. Although he said it may not be a dramatic salvation experience, he attributes his salvation to the grace of God through the faithfulness of his Christian parents.

In junior high, he felt a strong sense of calling to minis-try but was not excited about it. Blount’s understanding of ministry was limited to the pastorate and missions, and he didn’t have a desire to do either. His prayer became,

“Lord, I want to do what you want me to do, but could you at least help me like it.”

The Lord answered his prayer when he received his first taste of apologetics soon after his call to ministry. Blount realized in college that apologetics provided an avenue for ministry and later realized his passion was to teach at a seminary. As he collected over 20 years of experience, Blount’s students and colleagues began serving in ministry all over the nation.

Apart from his studies in philosophy and theology, Blount has several other hobbies, including a “deep and abiding interest in military history” and being “an avid sports fan.”

Blount also collects strategy war games, what he calls old-fashioned board games. Specifically, he enjoys tradi-tional, British-American war games. His favorite all-time

game is Advanced Squad Leader, which simulates tactical-level World War II strategies, but he does not play it as much because with a complex game comes a complex, thick rulebook.

In the classroom, Blount is a collector of ideas.

“Teaching on the graduate level is going to require certain amount of lecture, that just comes with the territory, but my classes tend to be fairly heavy in conversation and back and forth,” Blount said.

“I think of my classes as pri-marily aimed at helping students

develop their critical thinking skills. I want to teach them to learn to think Christianly and to do that well, but you can’t learn to think Christianly if you can’t think well. You help people learn to think by engaging in conversation with them. Plus I get tired of listening to myself,” he quipped.

By provoking conversation, Blount is able to be a thought collector of his students.

Blount said he is delighted to be back in an environ-ment he is comfortable in, one that has a doctrinally Baptist community.

“Southern in particular has a strong reputation for two things that I find very appealing: one is a very strong rep-utation for excellence; and the second, which is even more important from my point of view, is a really deep com-mitment to the confession of the institution. So frankly, what I find particularly attractive is the integrity of the institution with respect to its confession first and fore-most and, in addition to that, integrity with respect to doing things well.”

Blount is joined at Southern Seminary by his wife, Andrea, their son, Andrew, and their five dogs. Their daughter, Katie, married in May of this year and remains with her husband in Texas. Blount hopes to continue to collect new memories while he faithfully serves at South-ern Seminary.

SOUTHERN STORY

“I want to teach them to learn to think Christianly and to do that well, but you can’t learn to think Christianly if you can’t think well. You help people learn to think by engaging in conversation with them.”

T


DONORS Marvin and Nancy St. John, who are longtime supporters of the event, were the Signature Sponsor again this year. Aquifer, Bachman Auto Group, and Sodexo all returned as Truth Sponsors to this year’s Golf Classic.

COMMUNITY

PHOTO ESSAYS

Heritage Golf Classic By Bonnie M.C. Burke

THE 118 GOLFERS and 51 sponsors of the 12th annual Heritage Golf Classic Aug. 24 at Big Spring Coun-try Club in Louisville, Kentucky, helped raise over $125,000 for Southern Seminary’s tuition fund. The self-sponsored team of Jim Brennard, Josh Brennard, Josh Bordas, and Tom Vallett won with a score of 57.

Organizers presented the $5,000 Rick Bordas Student Scholarship to Southern Seminary M.Div. student Alex Duke. The scholarship is named for Rick Bordas, who died in September 2013. Rick Bordas was a longtime friend and supporter of Southern and father of Josh Bordas, a member of this year’s winning team.


COMMUNITY

Summer MissionsSOUTHERN SEMINARY SENT 89 students to eight different countries for short-term mission trips this summer. The teams, sent by the Bevin Center for Missions Mobilization, ministered to people on four different continents, from East Asia to the Persian Gulf.

One team traveled to Southeast Asia in late June-early July, working among a culture steeped in Buddhism. One city the team ministered in had 1 million inhabitants and just nine Christians.

“[It was great] to see the promise of Jesus to build his church played out in reality,” said Nathan Dickinson, an M.Div. student.

26 towers September 2015 towers.sbts.edu

September 2015HEALTH AND REC

More information on hours and fitness classes are available at sbts.edu/hrc, the front desk or call 897-4720.

SEMINARY CLINIC HOURS

Staff, students and their immediate family members are provided a health maintenance program through the clinic, located on the second floor of the campus center, Honeycutt 213. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.More information and price listings are found on the clinic website, sbts.edu/clinic.

VOLUNTEER AT THE ATTIC

Open from 2-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, there is always an opportunity for the SBTS community to volunteer in The Attic which provides selections of clothing, home goods, and furniture to our students and their families at no cost. Contact Aaron Rothermel at [email protected] or 897-4728 for more information.

FREE SEWING CLASS

The free sewing class led by Barbara Gentry meets from 6 - 7:30 p.m., Mondays in Fuller Room 34. Sewing machines are provided at no cost. No experience is required, but women with experience may also participate. Knitting and crocheting lessons will also be offered. Gentry leads the class assisted by Donna Chancellor. For more information, call Mrs. Gentry locally at 423-8255.

01TUESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noon Chapel 10 a.m. | Ligon Duncan

02WEDNESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonSWI* 10 - 11:45 a.m.Commonweal Luncheon Lecture 11:30 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.Heritage Hall

03THURSDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonJenkins Lectures ›Chapel 10 a.m. | Randy StinsonSWI* 7 - 8:45 p.m. Ph.D. Applicants Dessert Reception 7 - 8 p.m.

04FRIDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonPh.D. Interviews‹ Jenkins Lectures

07MONDAY—LABOR DAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noon

08TUESDAY HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Nick Floyd

09WEDNESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonSWI* 10 - 11:45 a.m

10THURSDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Ken FentressSWI* 7 - 8:45 p.m.

22TUESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Ryan FullertonWorship Student Lecture 11:30 - 1 p.m. | Cooke Hall

23WEDNESDAY

SWI* 10 - 11:45 a.mThe Challenge of Church Revitalization noon - 1 p.m.Legacy 303Seminary Faculty Meeting2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

24THURSDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Carl TruemanSWI* 7 - 8:45 p.m.Theology Conference: The Five Solas ›

25FRIDAY‹ Theology Conference: The Five SolasHRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonGlobal Connections noon - 1 p.m.

28MONDAY


29TUESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Bill Cook

30WEDNESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonSchool Faculty Meetings SWI* 10 - 11:45 a.m.

11FRIDAY

SBTS Preview Day HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChurch Planting 101 12 - 1 p.m.Fall Festival 6 - 10 p.m.

14MONDAY


15TUESDAY

Andrew Fuller Conference ›HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Nathan Finn

16WEDNESDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noon‹ Andrew Fuller ConferenceMentoring /Shepherding Groups 10 - 11 a.m.SWI* 10 - 11:45 a.m

17THURSDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonChapel 10 a.m. | Hershael YorkSWI* 7 - 8:45 p.m.

18FRIDAY

HRC Childcare 9 a.m. - noonSeminary Wives Institute Family Life Conference ›

19SATURDAY‹ Seminary Wives Institute Family Life Conference

21MONDAY


COMMUNITY

* Seminary Wives Institute


COMMUNITY

Hall Ball champions: Holokleros wins the Aaron Filippone CupBy Mackenzie Miller

TEN HALLS COMPETED in Boyce College’s annual dou-ble-elimination dodgeball tournament Aug. 24, and Holokleros took the win to claim the Aaron Filippone Cup in the final round against Apostolos.

“I have been at this school for two years and have never seen Holokleros win a game,” said R.J. Lago, resident advi-sor for Holokleros. “To come into a tournament with that riding on my mind the whole time made it unreal to win a championship.”

Each hall spent the week practicing and developing strategies and sought to make an entrance with every-thing from face paint to unique costumes to customized team T-shirts.

“I thought we would have a chance at winning after we won the first couple of games,” said Holokleros RA Caro-line Haley. “But it was surreal being in the championship and going for the gold. The best part about it was winning against my old hall. That was icing on the cake for sure.”

Boyce College alumnus Aaron Filippone, student pastor at Family Church in West Palm Beach, Florida, created Hall Ball in 2004 as a way of fostering community for on-campus students, commuters, and faculty.

“I wanted to help created hall identity. Hall Ball cre-ated competition between the halls and community within them early on in the semester,” Filippone said in an interview.

Sure that by this point the trophy would have fallen

apart, Filippone said he nearly fell out of his chair laugh-ing when Boyce students overwhelmed social media with pictures of the event and of the Aaron Filippone Cup, and he was encouraged to see that the push to foster hall iden-tity still continues today.

NONPROFITORGANIZATION

US POSTAGEPAID L&D

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary2825 Lexington Road · Louisville, KY 40280

What is one lesson you would pass on to a minister-in-training

hoping to plant or revitalize a multiethnic church?

BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT to plant a multiethnic church, live a multiethnic life. Buy my book, The High Definition Leader: Building Multiethnic Churches in a Multiethnic World.

What is your favorite on-field moment from your

six-year NFL career?

I KNOCKED Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino out for a month. I hit him so hard it tore cartilage in his knee, and he had to have blood drained out of his hip.

1 2 3

What is the biggest challenge of founding and pastoring

a multiethnic church?

I HAVE FOUND that the biggest challenge to founding and pastoring a gospel-cen-tered, multiethnic church is the American church. The American church has been influenced by a racialized American his-tory, poor biblical exegesis and ecclesiology, and a reductionist view of the gospel. The New Testament only knows multiethnic local churches (Eph 2:1-21). The “church” was synonymous with Jew and Gentile, or multiethnic communities. From eternity past to eternity future, God’s heartbeat has always been to have a multiethnic, recon-ciled family (Eph 3:5-11; Rev 5:9-12). The American church needs to recapture God’s heart for his church (Gal 3:28).

Questions

DERWIN L. GRAY Lead pastor of Transformation

Church, Indian Land, South Carolina; former NFL safety

(Indianapolis Colts, 1993-1997; Carolina Panthers, 1998)

with

towers | september 2015

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