It is the first of September. Spring has sprung. The daffs are up. The lambs are out. And the magazine for the alumni of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) arrived in the mail…
It is a particularly good issue. As I read it through I find myself saying to my daughter Bethany, “You know my three years at TEDS were the most important years of my life.” It’s true. It shaped me.
As I thumb through the pages I note a few familiar people – like my friend in those dorms, David Kyle Foster who went on to write the classic text on sexual brokenness and who came to TEDS from a bit of a career in Hollywood. Boy, was I a wide-eyed 21 year old when he told me that!
Then I see mention of the John Piper and DA Carson evening to a packed church of 1500+ people back in April – on the subject of “the pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor” and a link on the web …
… and I decided to treat myself for the latter part of the afternoon. I listened/watched Don Carson for 64min on the subject of “the scholar as pastor”. Vintage D.A.C. The stimulation of mind and stirring of heart in that seamless way which so impacted me almost thirty years ago. Some of the same old stories recycled to good effect. I revelled in all the memories. I thanked the Lord for the privilege. Alongside John Stott, he is quite simply the biggest influence on my life. Easily misunderstood, he has always been for me the scholar-pastor about which he speaks in this talk.
I suspect the Q & A afterwards is also good – but I haven’t got that far yet.
Go on – why not treat yourself as well?!
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
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Ten years ago, Ode to Georgetown was my response to being surprised by grief when the only church I had ever pastored closed its doors. Last week brought the news that the theological college which I attended, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), was to close most of its Chicagoland campus. I have been feeling a…
I am neither painter nor poet, musician nor actor. With Art and Music and Drama classes at school, I was present in body—but absent in spirit and skill. However, as a teacher, there has been the occasional flare of creativity in the crafting of assignments. One of my favourites is one of my first ones.…
John Stott was the first one to help me see the tension in Jesus’ teaching on salt and light. They are pictures for how his disciples are to live in society. Salt pulls them in, keeping them involved. Light holds them back, keeping them distinctive. Being light responds to ‘the danger of worldliness’, while being…
I remember listening to this a while back (unless it is new and he is speaking here again on the same topic). Piper's talk was a good one also. It's cool to be able to see the video, however.
Ah, a bit slow…
Interesting to hear Carson refer to Tim Keller's Reason for God as possibly the best piece of Christian apologetics since CS Lewis. A big call…
I'm with him on that one… 'The Reason For God' and 'The Cross of Christ' are equal as far as I'm concerned as the two best books outside the bible that I have read. I am about to buy my second copy of "Reason" because the one copy I own never comes back to me… it is out on loan all the time!