Southern Seminary to conduct tsunami relief projects in April February 2, 2005
Students and faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will send a team to assist with urgent tsunami relief projects in the Pacific Rim during the seminary’s spring reading days in April.
Details of the trip are being determined by seminary administrators working in conjunction with personnel from the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Southern Seminary has many graduates serving in the part of the world that has been devastated by the tsunami, and we are grateful for these and others who are already in place to serve the victims and their families,” said Twyla Hernandez, Southern’s director of Great Commission ministries. “The destruction and the loss of life has been overwhelming, and our prayers are with those who have [suffered] and who continue to suffer. We are currently in the process of discussing with frontline personnel how Southern Seminary can best respond to these urgent needs.”
Students and faculty discussed the extent of the destruction in Southeast Asia along with possible relief efforts at an information session on the Louisville campus Jan. 19.
Bonita Wilson, the IMB’s regional personalization consultant for the Pacific Rim region who spoke at the session, said the death counts could be much higher as debris is removed and more victims’ bodies are recovered. IMB personnel in Southeast Asia “say that what you see on CNN doesn’t even compare to the reality of being there,” Wilson said. “... It’s very, very bad.”
Conducting relief efforts in Indonesia is particularly challenging because many fundamentalist Muslims in the country don’t want Christian relief workers in Aceh, she said.
A separatist movement, known as the Free Aceh Movement, has been simmering for the past 30 years and also produces danger for potential relief workers, according to Wilson.
Despite the challenges facing relief workers, Christians must come to the aid of affected areas because of the tremendous physical and spiritual needs in the Pacific Rim, she said.
The people of the Pacific Rim “are very open, and they are asking lots of questions,” Wilson said. “They are very receptive to the Gospel at this point.”
Although the need for work in the Pacific Rim is particularly pressing currently, Southern Baptists must remember that there will be a need for continued work in the region for many years to come, she said.
“Five thousand people die in Indonesia every day, and 90 percent of them have never heard the Gospel. ... We have a chronic catastrophe in the Pacific Rim,” Wilson said. “It is anticipated that relief projects could provide outreach opportunities for the next two to three years.
“God has gotten everyone’s attention so that they can come together and hear [the Gospel],” Wilson concluded. “... There will be opportunities for men and women throughout the region.”
Mohler: Ministers must become ‘fools’ for the Gospel’s sake January 28, 2005
A genuine Gospel minister will receive the world’s scorn and not its praise by preaching the cross of Jesus Christ, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Tuesday during the annual spring Convocation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Preaching from 1 Cor. 1:18-31, the Southern Seminary president pointed out that the cross of Jesus Christ is nonsense to those who reject it in favor of human wisdom. Mohler said today’s “worldly-wise” view the cross similarly to 19th century “death of god” philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who called the notion of following a crucified savior imbecilic and the apex of madness.
Ministers who preach the scandal of the cross of Christ without compromise should expect a similar reaction from the elite shapers of contemporary thought, Mohler said.
“We are to be agents of scandal,” Mohler said. “The foolishness of the cross means that the ministry is essentially and irreducibly scandalous and there is nothing we can do about that [and] there is nothing we should try to do about that. We can’t manage scandal. We must bear it.”
Mohler said there are two kinds of persons, both of whom Scripture calls “fools:” those who follow human wisdom which leads to eternal destruction and those who follow the wisdom of Christ which leads to eternal life.
Ministers who would be faithful to Christ and the proclamation of His redeeming grace have no alternative but to sound forth “the foolishness of the cross,” he said. The minister has no other message because God will destroy the wisdom of the wise, Mohler said.
“We are going to be one variety of fool: (either) the fool who is foolish because of the rejection of the knowledge of God or the fool who is foolish before the world because of allegiance to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Mohler said.
“Which is better: to bear the scorn of the world as a fool and to know the wisdom of the cross or to embrace worldly wisdom and to be shown to be a fool on that day when every act and deed and thought will be revealed and all things will be made known to all?”
Ministers empty the cross of its power when they sidestep its central message of sin and grace in favor of an ear-tickling discourse, Mohler said. He reminded students that it is God who called them both to faith in Christ and to the ministry. Therefore, a minister may boast only in Christ and not in his own genius, he said.
“One of the most dangerous and besetting sins that can fall upon a Christian is the belief is that he or she is clever,” he said. “Cleverness is a danger. Cleverness is a trap because we can be clever enough to get ourselves out of almost any trouble, including theological trouble. We can re-translate the cross into something a little less offensive, a little more sophisticated, and rob it of its power.”
God has not chosen the brilliant, the bright, and the best to be His people, Mohler said. Rather, God has called ordinary people—”fools” in the eyes of the world— to confound the wisdom of the self-appointed wise, he said.
The existence of the church demonstrates the power of the wisdom from above that runs counter to the conventional thought of modern culture, he said.
“What but the Gospel could explain how we got there?” Mohler said. “What but the Gospel can explain anything about who we are?
“The church is a witness in a very strange way because according to worldly wisdom, if you want to do something great, if you want to transform the world, you had better go after the ‘A’ list; you had better go after the rich and the powerful and the beautiful; you had better go after those with social status and standing; you had better go after people who have a constituency, a following, who are celebrities.”
Contemporary society is precisely like the first-century culture to which Paul preached, Mohler said; Jews expected a messiah who would come in political power and military might, and Greeks exalted human philosophy.
In the same way, contemporary culture despises the message of the Gospel because of its apparent weakness. This is the scandal of the cross, he said. Mohler exhorted students to reflect on their motives for entering the Gospel ministry.
“If you are unwilling to bear this scandal for the rest of your earthly lives, if this is not what you think you signed up for—then go home,” he said. “If you are looking for something that is not scandalous, if you have followed a calling that you think has no scandal, you are in the wrong place.
“Paul was called an ‘idle babbler’ in Acts 17:18 and he was called worse and he was treated worse. And if you do what God has called you to do, you are going to be called worse and treated worse.
“We can address ourselves to the cultured despisers of religion or we can preach the Gospel, [but] we cannot do both. We can negotiate the faith or we can proclaim the faith—those are the choices. We can try to maneuver our way through doctrine or we can simply teach the faith once for all delivered to the saints—those are the choices.
“The Christian ministry is a scandalous business. It always has been, it always will be. If you’re looking for a non-scandalous life, if you hope to preach a non-scandalous message, you’re in the wrong place. You’ve heard the wrong call.”
Harold Songer, Southern New Testament professor from 1962-1992, dies January 26, 2005
Harold Songer, who served as professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1962-1992, died Jan. 23 in Louisville, Ky., at the age of 77.
Songer was perhaps best known for his work in New Testament scholarship, publishing numerous works in the field including the volume on James in the Broadman Bible Commentary series.
Born in Miami, Fla., Songer was a two-time graduate of Southern Seminary, receiving his Ph.D. and master of divinity from the Louisville seminary. He was also a World War II Coast Guard veteran and served as chairman of evaluation teams for the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.
Songer began teaching classes at Southern as a doctoral student in 1958 when 13 professors resigned unexpectedly, creating a need for new professors. He was hired as a professor of New Testament interpretation upon his graduation in 1962 and later became the seminary’s vice president for academic affairs until his retirement in 1992.
“Dr. Harold Songer served many years on the faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and had a tremendous impact on the lives of many ministers,” Southern Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. said. “His love for the book of James was the hallmark of his teaching ministry. The Southern Seminary family extends its sympathy to the Songer family.”
Former professor of Christian theology Wayne Ward, who worked closely with Songer throughout his career at Southern, delivered a eulogy at Songer’s funeral Jan. 25 at Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville.
Ward called his friend a committed teacher, churchman and seminary administrator.
“We will always cherish the memory of Harold Songer as a strong but very gentle, even quite private, Christian man,” Ward said.
“He could relate to people personally. He was disciplined and well ordered. He kept things on track..”
“This man helped to continue the ministry of Southern Seminary from 1961 until his retirement. Still teaching as a senior professor, he supervised doctoral students [and] still ministered in the churches. ... God bless the ministry and the work of Harold Songer.”
Songer is survived by his wife, Florence Rains Songer; son, Christopher Songer and a sister, Irene Laffe.
New book by Southern professor sets forth classical view of God’s providence January 18, 2005
Scripture affirms that God is absolutely sovereign over His creation.
Yet, human beings make choices every day, and God holds them morally responsible for these choices. How are believers to understand these two teachings in light of each other?
A new book by Bruce A. Ware explores these issues through an in-depth look at the doctrine of the providence of God. In “God’s Greater Glory: The Exalted God of Scripture and the Christian Faith” (Crossway Books), Ware demonstrates both the centrality and practicality of the doctrine of providence for the Christian faith. Ware serves as professor of Christian Theology and senior associate dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“The providence of God assures us that the universe is not spinning out of control, that human history is not unfolding contrary to God’s purposes, and that God, ultimately, sustains and regulates all that he has made, to the glory of his great name, and in fulfillment of his perfect will,” Ware writes.
The book serves as a sequel to Ware’s 2000 book, also published by Crossway, “God’s Lesser Glory.” In the earlier work, Ware responded to the challenge of “open theism” or the “openness of God,” a view which seeks to reconfigure the traditional, biblical view of God and His providence. Open theists argue, among other things, that God’s foreknowledge of future events is limited and that God sometimes changes His mind in the face of unforeseen circumstances.
Whereas “God’s Lesser Glory” defended the traditional view of God’s providence against the revision of open theists, the new book positively asserts the historic Christian doctrine.
“What comfort, joy, and strength believers receive from the truths of divine providence,” Ware writes in the opening paragraph of the introduction.
“Nowhere else are we given such assurance that the One who perfectly knows the past, present, and future, the One whose wisdom can never be challenged or excelled, the One whose power reigns and accomplishes all that he wills, governs all the affairs of creation, fulfilling in all respects what he alone knows is good, wise, and best.”
“God’s Greater Glory” is divided into two parts: Ware spends the first half of the book laying the foundational biblical and theological bases for the providence of God; in the second section, he examines in detail the practical relevance of the doctrine.
In the first section, Ware demonstrates God’s rule over, through and with creation. He opens by presenting a framework for understanding God and His creation by looking at the way in which Scripture depicts God as both relational (immanence) and is self-existent (transcendence).
The author uses the section on the practical outworking of the doctrine of providence to deal with several key issues relating to God’s sovereignty including suffering, prayer, and seeing the generosity of God in the believer’s service to Him.
Ware demonstrates that the doctrine of providence is of immense practical importance for the believer in his section on God’s sovereignty and suffering. The author shows the necessity that the Christian know God biblically so that he or she may rest in His sovereignty even in the midst of suffering.
“It is sometimes said that our views of God are exposed for what they are at the onset of suffering,” Ware writes. “How true. And how important for us to know God rightly and to understand what he has revealed about his purposes and will and ways for his children in order, in part, to face with strength and joy whatever God brings into our lives, for his glory and our good.”
Religious leaders’ answer to tsunami points to belief in different gods, Mohler tells “Larry King Live” audience January 12, 2005
Where was God when an earthquake on the floor of the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that snuffed out the lives of thousands—many of them children—along the coast of South Asia the day after Christmas?
A panel of six religious and spiritual leaders addressed that question on CNN’s Larry King Live Jan. 7, and each gave distinctly different answers. Their responses exposed a difference between the personal, sovereign God of Christianity and the deity of other religions that is as vast as the devastation the tsunami left in its wake.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary appeared on the show along with New Age author and spiritist Deepak Chopra, Muslim scholar Maher Hathout, Buddhist monk Henepola Gunaratana, Roman Catholic Priest Michael Manning, and Jewish Rabbi Michael Lerner.
Mohler said the tsunami and the resulting destruction did not fall outside the control of the sovereign God that Christians see revealed in the pages of Scripture.
“This God who has created this incredible universe has also disclosed Himself in His written Word, the Bible,” Mohler said. “He tells us that He loves us. He reveals Himself as all-powerful and it’s clear in this incredible universe that is affected by sin, [that] there are these natural laws that operate.
“There is not one atom or molecule that is outside of God’s control. God is love. He loves His creatures, but these laws operate and, unfortunately, it rains on the just and the unjust. Sometimes there is just no way you can give an explanation that we know why this has happened. But we know what we have to do now that this has happened.”
Lerner said the Christian concept of God is invalid and must change to accommodate a changing world. Liberal Jews are re-conceiving God as a “force” who is in a state of evolution alongside creation, he said.
Further, Lerner argued that god is not “up in heaven throwing down punishments and judgments” and controlling and governing creation. Instead, he said liberal Jews conceive of god as “the force of healing” who does not control every event in the universe. The universe itself is moving toward a higher level of “god-consciousness,” so saying God had anything to do with the tsunami is presumptuous and arrogant, he said.
“I think that the older conception of God as the big guy up in heaven shaping and controlling everything has to be replaced,” Lerner said.
“And over the course of the past several thousand years, as Jewish suffering has been so intense, we have been asking this question and evolving a conception of god as the force of healing and transformation in the universe—the force that moves the universe towards greater love, greater kindness, [and] greater caring.”
Similarly, Chopra articulated a deity similar to that of Lerner. He called sin and punishment “very primitive” ideas whose time have passed and said that human beings’ concept of god must change as they evolve.
Regarding the tsunami, Chopra said people should learn compassion as well as their need to “reconnect” with nature in a way similar to the animals. This “connection” is possible because the earth itself is god-like—a living organism—and all of nature is one, he said.
“Is it possible that our consciousness and the turbulence in our consciousness have anything to do with the turbulence in nature?” Chopra said. “One of the very interesting things that happened with this tsunami was that no animal died. [Animals] were so tuned in to the forces of nature that they escaped.
“We have lost that connection. Is there a way that we can collectively transcend to a level of consciousness where we see that the turbulence in our collective mind, possibly, is inseparable from the turbulence in nature because we are part of nature? ...
If we quiet the turbulence in our collective minds and we heal the rift in our collective souls that could have an effect on nature’s mind—if nature has a mind.”
In lieu of a supreme being, Gunaratana pointed out that Buddhists believe in a “universal force” called “eternal law” which asserts that everything that happens on earth is merely a series of unchangeable causes and effects that are part of nature. Therefore, the unconscionable death brought on by the tsunami is merely the existential cycle of nature playing itself out, he said.
“This (suffering) is part of nature, that things come into existence and are going out of existence in one way or another,” he said. “And this is one of those ways that things went out of existence.”
While people of all faiths mourn the tragedy in South Asia and are rightly seeking to aid those who are suffering, Mohler said, it is only the Christian God and His Gospel that can offer genuine, eternal hope.
Scripture and the love of Christ compel Christians to show mercy, to “weep with those who are weeping,” Mohler said. But believers show authentic compassion when they share the good news of the Gospel even as they bind the wounds of those hurting, he said.
“As you look at this program today, you have two very different understandings of God,” Mohler said. “Christians don’t believe that God is some cosmic principle. We believe He is the triune personal God who has revealed Himself in His Word. He has told us who He is and He has told us how we can come to have peace with Him.
“We are all united on this program in broken-hearted concern for the people of South Asia. But for the Christian that concern is not only for this life, but even more urgently, for the life that is to come. That is what drives us in our concern.”
As to the question of how a loving, sovereign God could allow such massive human suffering, Mohler pointed out that grief and death are the results of a world that is fallen and held captive by sin. However, Mohler cautioned Christians against attempting to discern God’s purposes for tragic events. The Bible gives believers no warrant to view the tsunami as an expression of God’s judgment on particular people for particular sins, he said.
“He is omnipotent and He can do anything, but if God stopped all death there would be no death, and we are told that death is a part of His judgment,” Mohler said. “If God intervened in every natural law, we wouldn’t have any confidence that gravity or any other principle would be always operating.
“We must now do what is right in the aftermath of this and a part of this is assuring people that God does love them, even, and especially in the midst of this incredible suffering.
“The Christian response to this is that we know the character of God and we know that God is even now working through His people in the midst of this. And we have a Christian responsibility in this and that is why so many people are going to South Asia and giving (aid) to the people who are there.”
SBTS professors receive awards for instructional development January 7, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Two Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professors were recently honored for excellence in course development by a Louisville-area educational awards program.
Esther Crookshank, Ollie Hale Chiles Professor of Church Music, and Robert Plummer, assistant professor of New Testament interpretation, were among seven professors who received $1,000 Kentuckiana Metroversity Awards for Instructional Development.
Crookshank was recognized for developing a hymnology course teaching students to analyze, evaluate and write Christian hymns. Plummer received an award for developing a curriculum to teach doctoral students about New Testament archaeology and multimedia teaching techniques.
The Kentuckiana Metroversity Awards for Instructional Development have been presented annually for more than 20 years to full-time faculty members at Louisville-area colleges and seminaries who develop creative educational plans.
Crookshank said her proposal is particularly relevant in light of a recent “global worship movement.”
“We are in the middle of a global worship movement that mirrors certain historic hymnic reforms and that demands biblical evaluation and historically-informed understanding from the rising generation of worship leaders,” she said.
Teaching students to analyze worship music biblically will create a generation of ministers who “will engage with and savor hymns more fully in their corporate and private worship and enable their congregations to do the same,” Crookshank said.
Plummer cited an inadequate knowledge of archaeology among many New Testament scholars as grounds for teaching Ph.D. students in New Testament about the most important archeological data relating to their field. His winning proposal designed a one-semester colloquium devoted to the study of archaeology.
As part of the colloquium Plummer also required students to present a lecture using Power Point—a multimedia computer program—in order to prepare them to teach their own classes in the future.
“Many of our students ... don’t know how to use Power Point, but they’re going to teach in places where they’re expected to have their lectures on Power Point,” said Plummer, who also received a Kentuckiana Metroversity award in 2003. “So one of the assignments was to create a very nice Power Point lecture related to one site or one problem in archaeology.”
Both Crookshank and Plummer emphasized the need for Christian institutions to engage the culture by participating in programs such as the Kentuckiana Metroversity Awards for Instructional Development.
“I think it is important for Christian schools and seminaries to participate in forums like the Metroversity contest—to show that we view theological education with the utmost seriousness and dedication,” Plummer said. “It is good to demonstrate to the world that theology is not a second-rate discipline, but is, in fact, the most important topic that one can study and must be engaged in with professorial earnest and pedagogical excellence.”
“If we seek to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, that must include loving Him in the way we teach His Word to others.”
Mohler calls on ETS and evangelicals to hold the line on biblical truth January 5, 2005
Present evangelical scholars will determine what future generations of evangelicals believe about such central issues as truth, the Bible and even the Gospel, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told attendees of the Evangelical Theological Society’s (ETS) 56th annual meeting.
With today’s evangelical teachers holding such a critical role in shaping the future of the church, Mohler called on ETS to hold the line in espousing historic Christianity’s commitment to absolute truth as revealed in Scripture. Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke on “Contemporary Truth and Culture” during an ETS plenary session.
“In this moment of definition and decision, we are going to be determining what evangelicalism really is,” Mohler said. “And as we look to the 21st century, we are going to be making significant decisions about what understanding of evangelicalism and what substance of evangelical theology is bequeathed to the next generation.”
Within evangelical seminaries and colleges, a group of theologians—known as “post-conservatives”—have responded to postmodernism by reconfiguring the way in which truth is discovered.
Post-conservatives have jettisoned traditional views of propositional truth and the doctrine of revelation in favor of a postmodern model that defines theology and truth through the “narrative experience” of a community of believers. Better-known post-conservative teachers include Stanley J. Grenz of Regent College, Roger Olsen of Baylor University, and open theist theologian Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity College.
Against this rising tide, evangelicals and ETS must continue to insist that God has spoken to His creation finally and fully in Scripture which itself is made up of understandable, prepositional truth, Mohler said. Without propositional statements, human beings cannot communicate, Mohler pointed out. Truth is sometimes more than prepositional, but it can never be less, he said.
“I can understand something of the hostility to propositions, but it is very hard to get by without them,” he said. “Even anarchist groups have leaders [and] anti-propositionalist writers use propositions, paragraph by paragraph.
“It is the shape of our minds, and I would argue that it is not merely to counter Darwin, not merely an evolutionary accident, but is a testimony to the fact that our Creator who made us in His image, has created us with a mental capacity and a certain power of rationality that inherently requires prepositional formulation.”
Mohler said evangelicals face at least six challenges in asserting truth within a postmodern culture:
* A deconstruction of truth. Postmodernists argue that truth is not universal, objective, or absolute. Instead, they assert that truth is constructed by societies.
* The death of the “metanarrative.” A metanarrative is the idea that there is an overarching, all-encompassing story of humankind. However, since postmodernists believe all truth claims to be socially constructed, they also deny the existence of all philosophical systems that seek to comprehensively explain reality.
* The demise of the text. Postmodernists argue that readers give meaning to written texts and deny that the author of a given work may ascribe meaning to the words that compose his or her work.
* The dominion of therapy. The prevailing question has shifted from “What is true?” to “How does it make me feel?” Postmodernists replace truth with a focus on self-esteem which leads to rejection of categories such as “sin.”
* The decline of authority. Postmodernists espouse a radical vision of human liberation. To accomplish this, they reject any all authorities including God and the Bible.
* The displacement of morality. Postmodernists reject morality and view traditional moral codes as oppressive.
Mohler says post-conservative evangelicals have embraced portions of the postmodern mood along with parts of its methodology. The post-conservative influence has been seen most clearly in recent years within ETS in the organization’s wrangling with “open theism.”
At the 2003 ETS meeting in Atlanta, members voted against revoking the membership of two theologians who hold to open theism or the “openness of God,” a position which argues, among other things, that God does not know perfectly what will happen in the future.
The two theologians -- Pinnock and John Sanders -- were acquitted largely because ETS members could not agree on a precise definition of the term “inerrancy” in the organization’s statement of faith. To join ETS, one must sign a statement of faith that affirms belief in two doctrines: the inerrancy of Scripture and the Trinity.
Mohler said ETS must not embrace the squishy notions of truth and biblical inerrancy of the post-conservative theologians. The continued health of ETS and evangelicalism, as well as evangelical churches, is at stake in the debate over the nature of truth, he said.
“I believe at the heart of the evangelical movement from the very beginning, and at the heart of the convictions of this society (ETS), from its very formation, is its confidence in the God who is, the God who speaks,” he said.
“I believe we are committed to a theological method that understands truth as something more than the postmodernist can ever understand or embrace. Truth is revealed in Scripture. Truth is revealed in the One who said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ Truth is revealed in Jesus Christ and His high priestly prayer, who prayed that His Father would sanctify His own in the truth and confess ‘thy Word is truth.’ That is something far beyond what the postmodern mood, movement, or gestalt can understand or embrace.”
Memorial service participants remember Honeycutt as a devoted churchman, family man December 30, 2004
William Johnson says it will take some time for him to grow accustomed to looking out over the congregation at Crescent Hill Baptist Church and not seeing the face of Roy L. Honeycutt looking back attentively toward the pulpit.
Johnson, who serves as minister of spiritual formation at the church, pointed to the spot in the pew where the eighth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary sat with his wife June, Sunday after Sunday, for nearly three decades. His regular presence bespoke a deep love for the church, Johnson said.
“He always sat there to the left of the pulpit with Mrs. Honeycutt,” Johnson said. “There are those people who are an anchor or a cornerstone in each congregation. Roy Honeycutt was [an anchor]. I knew [the Honeycutts] were there and it was assurance to all of us.
“At the center of his life was a deep love for the church. This love informed his scholarship, his teaching, his leadership, his service. He loved the body of Christ.”
Johnson and others remembered Honeycutt during a memorial service Wednesday at Crescent Hill, the church in which Honeycutt once served as interim pastor and taught Sunday School for many years.
“Dr. Honeycutt had the true heart of a teacher,” Johnson said. “He was a student of the Word of God...He embodied what he taught [so that] his walk truly had become what he taught.”
Honeycutt, who served as president of Southern Seminary from 1982-1993, died Dec. 21 from head injuries sustained the previous day in an accident in his Louisville, Ky. home. He was buried on Dec. 23 in a private funeral, but a winter storm forced the memorial service to be postponed.
Honeycutt served as dean of the school of theology at Southern from 1975-1980 and provost at the Louisville, Ky. campus from 1976-1982. After retiring as president, he was Southern’s chancellor from 1994-1997.
Walter Jackson, who served as professor of pastoral care during Honeycutt’s tenure as president, recalled his former colleague as a man who exhibited great integrity in every part of his life.
“His word was his bond and he stood behind it,” Jackson said. “There was no pretense, no covert objectives. He was forthright in that which he said and that which he did...He was called by God to be an educator in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and he never wavered from that goal. He had great interpersonal integrity as he went about that goal.”
Born Oct. 30 1926 in Grenada, Miss., Honeycutt was a two-time graduate of Southern Seminary, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958 and his master of divinity in 1952. He served as academic dean at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1971-1975 and chairman of Midwestern’s Old Testament department from 1963-1975 prior to joining the Southern Seminary faculty as a professor of Old Testament.
Jackson recalled the pastoral nature Honeycutt exhibited when interacting with seminary students.
“The students loved him. [He was] a president who would walk down the hall and say ‘hello’ any time he saw you. And [by] the third time, he would call you by your first name. What an important thing [that was] for a prestigious person like the president to do in terms of ministry to the student body.”
Honeycutt’s daughter, Maryanne Honeycutt, said her father left their family with three gifts: he made family his top priority, he taught them how to love, and he gave them the gift of hope.
Though her father served as a prominent voice during Southern Baptist conflict in the 1980s, Maryanne Honeycutt said he never let it distract him from giving undivided attention to his family.
“He was never too busy for the three of us,” she said. “He also loved us deeply, fully, and unconditionally...Dad was also our biggest champion. He believed so much in us. He was a great husband and a great father.”
James L. Sullivan, former president of SBC, Baptist Sunday School Board, dies at 94 December 29, 2004
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--James Lenox Sullivan, Southern Baptist statesman and retired president of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources), died Dec. 27 at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tenn., following a brief illness. He was 94.
A private burial service for the family will be conducted Thursday morning. Visitation is at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of Nashville, followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m.
Sullivan served as president of the Sunday School Board, the denomination’s ministry enrichment, education and publication entity, from 1953 until his retirement in 1975. He was widely known as an authority on Southern Baptist polity and had been actively involved in denominational service since his first pastorate in 1932.
“He was president at one of the most crucial times at the Sunday School Board during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and ‘60s,” said LifeWay Christian Resources president James T. Draper Jr. “He led in production of materials promoting the biblical view of human worth, regardless of race, and modeled his beliefs by providing an equitable work environment for a multicultural staff.
“He was my friend and supporter, and a great statesman. His counsel, wisdom, knowledge of Baptist history and of the Southern Baptist Convention was incomparable. As we have worked to strengthen the institution, he has given generously of his experience and insights to encourage us. Today our staff continues building on the foundation he laid.
“In a time when there are not many heroes, he has certainly been one of my heroes. I have lost a great friend.”
He served as pastor of churches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas; as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention; and as trustee of numerous Southern Baptist universities, seminaries and hospitals. He also served as vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.
Sullivan served one year as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, being elected in 1976.
Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, called Sullivan a “consummate minister” and “denominational statesman.”
“As pastor, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and president of the Sunday School Board, his contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention have been remarkable and invaluable,” Chapman said. “His years as president of the Sunday School Board were pivotal in the Board’s spiritual and business development.
“He was a wise and decisive leader, a captivating storyteller with a genuine zest for life. His delightful humor was artfully woven into his preaching and soon found its way into his conversations. His books about the history and polity of the Southern Baptist Convention will guide generations to come. His life was shaped by his love for and devotion to Christ. He is one of the few individuals you meet along the journey of life about whom can be said, ‘He was a great man.’”
Grady C. Cothen, who succeeded Sullivan as president of the Sunday School Board from 1975 to 1984, said Sullivan’s death marks “the end of a long and significant era in Baptist life.”
“He pioneered new methods and made endless contributions to the religious life of Baptist people,” Cothen said. “He built and maintained a great institution. His generous spirit made possible the sharing of the enormous resources of the Sunday School Board with Baptists of the world. Southern Baptists will never know the debt they owe to Sullivan for his courage under fire, for his humorous defusing of many critical situations. His passing leaves us all poorer.”
Following his retirement Sullivan taught as a guest professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce Bible School (now Boyce College) in Louisville, Ky., and at Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss. A football player and captain for Mississippi College from 1928-32, he was inducted into the institution’s Sports Hall of Fame.
The Mississippi Baptist Convention named him “Clergyman of the Century” in 1985.
Sullivan wrote many articles and books, including “Your Life and Your Church,” with a distribution of more than a million copies, and “Baptist Polity: As I See It,” published by Broadman & Holman in 1998.
“He was a personal friend and faithful mentor,” said Lloyd Elder, president of the board from 1984 to 1991. “He was truly a man of God, a man of his times by being ahead of his times, a peerless leader, fearless prophet and caring servant. Dr. Sullivan developed the Board into a profoundly Christian, Baptist denominational ministry, based on sound business principles and practices. At a personal level, he was forever learning and participating with others.”
A graduate of Tylertown (Miss.) High School, Sullivan’s higher education included a bachelor of arts degree from Mississippi College in Clinton; a master of theology degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and a doctor of divinity degrees from Mississippi College and Campbell College in Buies Creek, N.C.
“His unwavering commitment to the Cooperative Program and the principles behind it stands as a lasting reminder for all Southern Baptists of the necessity of pursuing God’s Kingdom together,” Chapman said. “We praise God for the life of James L. Sullivan, and for the rich legacy and example he leaves with us.”
Sullivan’s wife, Velma Scott Sullivan, preceded him in death in 1993. His daughter, Martha Lynn (James) Porch of Tullahoma, Tenn., died in 1999.
Sullivan had known his future wife since childhood, and often said he knew she had been the right choice because she was “the only girl I ever dated,” adding that they had dated only five times. The couple married in 1935.
“We have been doing our courting since our marriage,” his wife would explain.
Survivors include a daughter, Mary Beth (Bob) Taylor of Nashville; a son, James David Sullivan of Oxford, Miss.; seven grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be given to one of the following charitable organizations: First Baptist Church (“Door to the Future”), Nashville; Alive Hospice, Nashville; or LifeWay Christian Resources (the chapel at Camp Ridgecrest, N.C., for Boys), Nashville.
Roy Honeycutt, Southern Seminary president from 1982-1993, dies December 22, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—Roy Honeycutt, who served as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1982-1993, died Dec. 21 from head injuries sustained the previous day in an accident at his home in Louisville, Ky. He was 78.
Honeycutt, Southern Seminary’s eighth president, guided the seminary through the initial years of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention and gained recognition as a significant voice in denominational conflict.
Among Honeycutt’s major accomplishments at Southern were the construction of the main section of the Honeycutt Campus Center and a significant expansion of the faculty.
“Dr. Roy Honeycutt was a Christian gentleman,” Southern Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. said. “He gave so much of his life to the Southern Baptist Convention and to Southern Seminary in particular. He led during difficult times and was not afraid of controversy. At the personal level he was as gracious a human being as you could ever expect or hope to meet.”
Born Oct. 30 1926 in Grenada, Miss., Honeycutt was a two-time graduate of Southern Seminary, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958 and his master of divinity in 1952. He served as academic dean at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1971-1975 and chairman of Midwestern’s Old Testament department from 1963-1975 prior to joining the Southern Seminary faculty as a professor of Old Testament.
Honeycutt served as dean of the school of theology at Southern from 1975-1980 and provost at the Louisville, Ky. campus from 1976-1982. After retiring as president, he was Southern’s chancellor from 1994-1997.
Honeycutt published numerous books and articles, including a volume of the “Broadman Bible Commentary” in 1970.
Mohler, who served as an assistant to Honeycutt from 1983-1989, praised Honeycutt for a strong commitment to his church, his family and Southern Seminary.
“He and his wife June were married for 56 years and were a model of commitment to each other and shared commitment to this institution,” Mohler said. “The entire Southern Seminary family grieves with June Honeycutt and the Honeycutt family and is praying for them at this time.”
Honeycutt is survived by his wife June and two children, Roy Lee and Mary Anne. Visitation is scheduled from 2:00-6:00 p.m. December 22 at Arch L. Heady-Cralle Funeral Home in Louisville. Funeral services will be held December 23 at 11:00 a.m. at Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville.