Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Ministering in Crisis
fall 07 1 FALL ’07 VOL.36 NO.2 THE MINISTRY MAGAZINE OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY FALL ‘07 VOL.36 NO.2 contents
3 Ministering to People in Prolonged Crisis Anne B. Doll
6 Ministering to Children in Crisis Anne B. Doll
8 Broadcasting Bible Teaching and Laughter 5 Days a Week
10 A New Leader for Gordon-Conwell 12 Why Do We Suffer? William David Spencer and Aida Besançon Spencer
16 After Virginia Tech: Speaking God’s Words in the Midst of Crisis Derek Mondeau Candlelight Vigil at Virginia Tech (See page 16). 19 Responding to Suicide Karen Mason
24 Ministering to Women in Crisis Alice P. Mathews
26 Singing in the Night Gary A. Parrett The Call at 2 a.m. crisis 29 Kenneth L. Swetland
31 The Practice of Prayer Moonjang Lee
32 Seminary News
Board of Trustees Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr. President Opening the Word Mr. Joel B. Aarsvold David M. Rogers, Esq., Dr. Haddon W. Robinson 39 Mrs. Linda Schultz Anderson Vice Chairman Thomas D. Petter Dr. Richard A. Armstrong Mr. John Schoenherr Dean of Enrollment Management Dr. George F. Bennett Rev. Ken Shigematsu Mr. Bill Levin Rev. Dr. Garth T. Bolinder Mrs. Virginia M. Snoddy prolonged Rev. Dr. Richard P. Camp, Jr. Mr. John G. Talcott, Jr. Director of Mr. Thomas J. Colatosti, Joseph W. Viola, M.D., Communications Chair Secretary and Editor of Contact Mr. Charles W. Colson J. Christy Wilson III, Esq. Mrs. Anne B. Doll Rev. Dr. Leighton Ford Rev. Dr. John H. Womack Mrs. Joyce A. Godwin William C. Wood, M.D. Assistant Director of Dr. William F. Graham Communications Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes Emeriti Members and Assistant Editor Mr. Herbert P. Hess, Dr. Allan C. Emery, Jr. of Contact Illustration on page 6 by Cameron Colaneri Treasurer Mr. Roland S. Hinz Mr. Michael L. Colaneri Mr. Ivan C. Hinrichs Rev. Dr. Robert J. Lamont Rev. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr. Mr. Richard D. Phippen Graphic Designer Inquiries regarding #/.4!#4 may be addressed to: Editor, #/.4!#4 Mr. Caleb Loring III Rev. Dr. Paul E. Toms Ms. Nicole S. Rim Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Mrs. Anne Graham Lotz Dr. Robert E. Cooley, 130 Essex Street, S. Hamilton, MA 01982 Tel: 978.468.7111 Rev. Dr. Christopher A. Lyons President Emeritus Photography or by [email protected] Mrs. Joanna S. Mockler Matt Doll www.gordonconwell.edu Fred L. Potter, Esq. Shirley A. Redd, M.D. gordon-conwell theological seminary does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, handi- fall 07 2 cap or veteran status. ON THE FRONT LINES
In a stone wall on a narrow, twisting street in the Christian
quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City is a black door with a gold
cross stretching its length. Inside, high on another stone wall,
hangs a life-size wooden cross with a crown of thorns.
Anne B. Doll ministering to people in crisis prolonged
fall 07 3 ON THE FRONT LINES
The riveting crosses at the Jerusalem Alliance Church from village to village, providing food vouchers, medicine, are apt reminders of the suffering and hope that once con- transportation to medical treatment, educational scholar- verged on a cross—twin realities for Rev. Jack Sara and his ships, and counsel and comfort from the Word of God. 100-plus congregation as they reach out with humanitarian “We cannot believe what the Lord has done through this,” aid and the Gospel to West Bank Palestinians. he comments. “Sometimes the workers have barely enough money to run the ministry and sometimes they have abun- dance. But always there has been salvation of souls...people asking why we do this. And we have to tell them the truth even though they are not of Christian background.” The church also operates a compassion center that reaches 22 villages in the West Bank’s Salfeet area. Through this center, teachers, primarily from the church, provide courses in art, sports and fitness, music, family issues, He- brew and English, offering some of these courses in various villages. In addition, people are trained to support themselves by making olive oil soap, raising chickens and learning marketable computer skills. Short-term mission teams offer periodic special events such as sports tournaments, medical/ Currently completing his D. Min. in Missions at Gor- dental clinics, community clean-up and children’s programs. don-Conwell, Jack grew up a block away from the church A second center in Ramallah provides training for leaders. in a house on the eighth station of the Via Delarosa. He Because of conditions within the West Bank, prompted has served as senior pastor since 2000, and is also a profes- in large part by the wall now surrounding the area where sor at the Bethlehem Bible College. they serve, Jack says much of the ministry is to people in The church’s ministry is chiefly among the nearly 2.4 prolonged crisis. “People feel in prison,” he says. “People million Palestinians living in hundreds of villages and cities cannot go to work. A lot of kids can’t go to their schools. in the northern West Bank. Less than 2 percent are Chris- It is really causing a lot of pain and crisis to people, some tians. Its relief work started with the current Intifada when even who are part of our church.” countless individuals, including some of their own members, New believers in Christ are often ostracized from their began struggling to survive. “Unemployment is up to more community, and sometimes disowned by their own families. than 65 percent, so people have no food in their houses,” Within recent months, one man was kidnapped and threat- Jack explains. ened with death if he did not return to his former faith. During a Sunday service, he challenged his church not to Another man’s family was threatened because he began wait for others to help, but to feed people themselves. From evangelizing, and several girls were imprisoned in their the proceeds of a second offering that day—eight times homes for following Christ. the normal offering—they launched their Compassion and Jack’s team members also receive threats, are spit on Mercy ministry, feeding families they knew.“Before then, and called names. Sometimes they must follow circuitous we never thought of food as a means of evangelism or a routes along dangerous roads to reach people for Bible means of entry.” Jack says. “We mainly wanted to preach study or discipleship. One of his ministers was driving on the Gospel and give Bibles and tracts until the Lord really a main street when someone in a passing car pulled a gun moved us.” and started shooting. The minister was not injured, but suf- As the Intifada worsened, friends from outside the fered the trauma of “seeing death almost in the face...These church began giving toward the outreach, enabling Jack are people I’m in charge of. I have to take care of not only and his members to provide even more relief, and with their spiritual health, but also their physical needs.” that came the need to organize this ministry. The church The conditions, he admits, sometimes “are wearing on appointed two men whom Jack says have hearts for the us. We are not getting the easiest time in our lives.” Minis- ministry and are “great evangelists.” As they started taking try, he says, includes “anything from food to feeding them out food and medicine, he says, “many doors were open for with courage. We do that through spiritual revivals, and real ministry to people.” being with them...just standing alongside them, understand- Today, through what is now known as the West Bank ing them and what they’re aching with, and training them, Relief Project, seven workers are traveling almost daily of course, in the way of Christ.”
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isters who are supposed to when ministers suffer do counseling to others. It How do pastors ministering in prolonged crisis sustain their own faith causes us to go as well into and vision when they suffer in the course of tending to others? Rev. counseling a lot of couples.” Jack Sara, Pastor of the Jerusalem Alliance Church and a professor Jack admits that despite at the Bethlehem Bible College, shares insights applicable to ministry Middle Eastern taboos in any setting. against men who cry, he is When pastors are battered in ministry, Jack Sara advises, “We have to be not ashamed to pour out very serious in what we’re doing. Our wounds have to be healed...Some- his heart “in weeping and times it’s a very bloody path in terms of just getting wounded by your own crying, not as a pity on our- people for being a minister. We have said many times that maybe getting selves, but just pouring the persecuted, pressured from outside, is really nothing compared to being aching of our hearts before pressured from inside.” the Lord. Otherwise, it keeps in your heart and you get bitter in the ministry.” When wounding occurs, he says, “We have to face it squarely or go with a He also focuses on God’s call. “Except for the call,” he adds, “it would be much lot of pain within, and sometimes it will stay there and put pressure within easier to go and live somewhere else...Being from Jerusalem, being with a lot of us until it explodes somewhere else. So we have to talk about it with Godly visitors, there are a lot of temptations. People say ‘Come to the U.S. and share people who can help us. I just can’t emphasize enough the whole impor- about your work. Maybe you could stay for a year and go from church to church.’ tance of accountability.” All that just blurs sometimes the real sense of calling for the work of God. If it’s not Sometimes this includes marriage counseling for his ministers, because for the calling...and really feeling God’s Spirit leading, it would be easier to focus the stresses and bruises of ministry can manifest in negativity, anger and on teaching in the Bible college or doing service in the ministry. People are the nervousness. “The place this usually shows up is in their houses with their hardest work to do.” wives and kids, so we have to do a lot of marriage counseling with min-
To further equip believers, the church has created the One of the blessings of suffering, he affirms, is that joy is Alliance Leadership Training Institute through which they its eventual byproduct. “I can think of a lot of stories like teach not only the Word but also ministry skills such as that—people who have matured. Very few would be will- how to do relief work, how to counsel, how to get coun- ing to be drawn back into their past lives. A lot have been seling, and a course on the theology of suffering. In the encouraged upon suffering, facing persecution. Their faith church, they also preach on forgiveness and reconciliation, molds into a better one, a stronger one, a bolder one.” encourage members to take part in reconciliation confer- And, amid the suffering, his team experiences miracles in ences, and periodically invite Messianic pastors to preach. the course of ministry. Jack says that many people come to Jerusalem teaching “As our people have gone into villages that no Chris- about “prosperity, health and wealth, while we are seeing tians have entered before, some families have said, ‘We have been waiting for a Christian to come and visit us.’ They say, ‘We have this dream constantly about Jesus him- self, telling us, “Wait. Someone will come and visit you”’... And when our ministers came, the people said, ‘You are the ones we are waiting for.’ “And others have visions of Christ himself telling them, ‘Read the Book. Read the Book’...So as soon as our guys came, they said, ‘We don’t want food. Give us the Book.’ As these things happen, our team gets encouraged that it is not only a desperate situation. There was someone before Rev. Jack Sara, Pastor, Jerusalem Alliance Church us working, preparing the way for us to go there. Or we that people are suffering. And these are good believers. We are preparing the way for others to come and work, plant- know that they’re keeping the faith, living strongly for the ing seeds of love for people, seeds of acceptance for Chris- Lord, and they’re suffering. That’s no answer for them. I’m sure tians. Maybe someone will come after us and they will say, they’re full of faith but their situations are overwhelming.” ‘The Christians did good to us.’ What is the Gospel message he gives? “The point of “One of the greatest signs is that our ministers have seen Christ’s redemptive work on the cross—him suffering and a lot of salvations and were able even to establish a church, dying for us,” Jack replies. “We cannot just move away several cell groups, and baptize people. And we’re not talk- from the whole idea that Jesus himself had to suffer. Jesus ing about people who come from Christian backgrounds.” himself had to pay a very big price. If he did that, then who When these things happen, Jack says, his team gets even are we to claim prosperity or to proclaim that we could be more passionate about the Gospel. well and not ache and suffer for the sake of our people.”
fall 07 5 ON THE FRONT LINES
MINISTERING TO children IN CRISIS Anne B. Doll
When Gordon-Conwell D. Min. candidate Niveen Sarras conducted the entire service. “That helped them to trust started teaching Sunday School and Confirmation class in themselves and to help at the church.” 2005 at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Beth- Moreover, after the service, her pastor (whose steadfast lehem, Palestine, she wanted to teach children the Bible, support she describes as “a gift from God”), commented and its precepts on loving their enemies, accepting Jesus that he was seeing some youth who are able to be pastors. and dealing with their neighbors. Most of Niveen’s students have spent their entire lives They wanted to talk about killings, curfews, stone throw- in the shadow of Holy Land conflict. She says widespread ing and land confiscations. unemployment “affects the children so much. When I ar- Niveen, who is the church’s Director for Christian Educa- range for hanging out at a coffee shop, some of them say, tion, says that while the children still tell her “the same ‘Sorry, we cannot go because our parents are out of a job.’ news” every Sunday, she now listens first and lets them The church helps as much as it can.” And when she at- share their concerns. Then she begins the slow and loving tempted to plan a meeting for the youth of her church and process of teaching them how to trust God, and how to the Lutheran church in another city, travel restrictions and pray for their enemies, their country and for the problems dangerous roads posed too great a hazard. of the world. “We cannot move from town to town, city to city,” she “It was not easy then because they were shy; they didn’t explains. “It’s difficult and the children realize that, and it like to talk,” she explains. “Slowly, slowly, I encouraged really puts them in a bad situation. They are under stress them and slowly...their anger and grudges were less than all the time. They are suffering in this situation...All of before. I was just teaching them that through prayer and them are traumatized.” forgiveness, they can get rid of all of their bitterness and For the older students, trauma manifests in yelling, fight- anger, because I experienced that in my life.” ing, lack of attention and depression. Younger children, Now Sunday School includes worship, prayer, and teach- she explains, “sometimes are just shocked.” A course in ing supported by biblical stories and games. During an ad- trauma therapy has helped her better understand and help ditional weekly Bible study for confirmands, students learn the children, and she has seen improvement among both about Lutheran doctrine and practice, and discuss their age groups. faith. She also holds youth meetings each week. Much of Niveen’s teaching, of necessity, consists of help- Most children now enjoy participating in the church’s ing the children know and trust God through the difficul- Sunday services when she assigns them tasks such as Bible ties they encounter—a concept that crystallized when she reading, playing instruments or presenting small plays. arranged a field trip to Jerusalem. As she recounts, she had And when the Global Youth Day rolled around, the youth secured the needed permits, but when their bus arrived at
6 fall 07 the checkpoint, soldiers refused to let the children through. much—always giving testimony...When they say the Bible is Rules change often, and now they needed birth certificates. just stories, I say that God helps me share His love...Every “The children started to cry, were very depressed, so I experience, every hardship in my life, God wanted something told them, ‘Our God is greater than the soldiers.’ And I for me and it’s for my benefit. God understands all these asked them to trust and pray to God...that they will see things they’re experiencing.” how God delivers them.” She started phoning parents, and While her ministry is not to adults, many of the parents soon all but five arrived with birth certificates. When it ap- have started attending church because their children are peared that the remaining five would not be granted entry, asking them to come. She advises the parents to encourage Niveen and the children started praying again, and in the their children at home and help them with their homework. end, all were allowed to cross without problem. Her D.Min. thesis will focus on working with parents in “I asked the children, ‘Do you now know how much God order to help their children.
“SLOWLY, SLOWLY, I ENCOURAGED THEM AND SLOWLY...THEIR ANGER AND GRUDGES WERE LESS THAN BEFORE. I WAS JUST TEACHING THEM THAT THROUGH PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS, THEY CAN GET RID OF ALL OF THEIR BITTERNESS AND ANGER, BECAUSE I EXPERIENCED THAT IN MY LIFE.”
is good to us, how much He loves the children? No matter In addition to her work at the church, she instructs Chris- what you face in your life, you will see Jesus glorified.’ They tian Education teachers in all the Lutheran schools in the were so excited; they couldn’t believe themselves...Then and West Bank on how to teach children about biblical issues, there in the bus, they started to pray, asking God for protec- the Christian life, and the Lutheran faith, and assists her tion and thanking Him. It was their testimony to God. I was pastor in training these teachers. She is also involved in writing so excited.” scripts for clay animation films focusing on Jesus’ Parables. The ordeal lasted for two hours, and Niveen thanked The youth minister admits that when she earned an M.A. God for using it to work among the children. And she in Theological Studies at Evangelical Theological Seminary determined that the harrowing experiences the children in Cairo, she had no intention of working with children. share with her can be teaching opportunities. “It’s a long She wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in Old Testament and then process,” she admits. “But in the end these children will trust to teach adults. “I didn’t ever imagine that I can work with Jesus more than anything else.” children.” She now believes she can do much work “prepar- Currently, she is seeing children progress in their ability ing believers who can be witnesses wherever they go.” to pray. “We’re praying for their words,” she says. “We Not long ago, Niveen turned down a full scholarship in use the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23, but now they are using the U.S. for a Ph.D. in Old Testament, opting instead for their own words, not always the words of the Bible. That’s a D.Min. at Gordon-Conwell that enables her to continue a huge change in them.” working with the young people while pursuing her degree. Niveen notes that because of the occupation, many par- “Here, I believe my ministry is to plant the seed of faith in ents and young adults have lost their faith. “I have many them,” she comments. “When they go out the seed will go people say that there is no God. If God exists, He would out with them not allow this to happen to us.” She responds with her “...I cannot imagine not having fellowship with Christ. favorite verse in the Bible, Romans 8:28: “And we know He is for all the time...I am always showing the children, that in all things God works for the good of those who love the youth, that Jesus is very close. They should open the him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It is door to him. He loves them much more than they imagine.” the same verse that she shares with her youth and children. “That’s the testimony of my life,” she emphasizes. “I Anne B. Doll is Director of Communications at Gordon-Conwell. share my testimony with them about how he helped me so
fall 07 7 Broadcasting Bible Teaching and Laughter 5 Days a Week
Whenever President Dr. Haddon W. Robinson and Academ- out to have its own set of problems, because when you’re ic Dean Dr. Alice P. Mathews preach and teach around the on a program that lasts for 15 minutes, you have only 11 world, listeners will invariably ask about their daily radio and a half minutes of actual teaching time. To work exeget- program $ISCOVER THE 7ORD ically through a passage and keep each program completely The two have been on the air Monday through Friday self standing without being able to rely on listeners having for the past 18 years, teaching Bible passages for roughly heard the program preceding it is a challenge. 2 million listeners in North America and other English- speaking countries. Produced by RBC Ministries of Grand H: The down side is more that we spend a lot of time in a Rapids, Michigan, the program originally known as 2ADIO passage simply because it takes a lot of time to do all we "IBLE #LASS has aired continuously since 1938. have to do to explain the passage. Alice and I work on con- #ONTACt recently caught up with Haddon and Alice for tent and Mart De Haan, the other person on the program, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the studio of this popular is the Listener’s Advocate. He raises questions that come to program. him as a result of the whole discussion. We have an outline and sometimes one outline lasts for three or four programs What do you try to accomplish with the program? because questions take us off into directions we hadn’t anticipated. This gives us a balance between structure and Haddon: We try to use a conversational format that re- spontaneity. sembles a small group Bible study to go through passages of the Bible and talk about how those passages relate to life. A: It is genuine conversation at all times. At the same time, we have identified before each program what we want the Alice: It’s expositional Bible study, not topical. That turns listener to carry away from it...but we know that it’s Mart’s job to derail us and he does that with great skill!
8 fall 07 Do you have some merry times in the studio? H: ...Sometimes 5. We’re now about a year ahead.
A: Oh, yes. There have been times when we’ve been laugh- How many Scriptures are you able to cover? ing so hard we’ve had to stop and start over. There have been times when Mart has raised an issue and we’ve looked H: We spent three years on the Parables, and we’ve spent at each other and just shrugged our shoulders. We had no nearly two years on Hebrews 11. We’re just finishing the idea where to go with that. taping on Hebrews 11.
Was it hard to adjust to being spontaneous? How much preparation do you have to do?
A: In the beginning, it was very difficult because this was A: A lot. You can’t go there without having everything a new way of doing expositional Bible teaching and it was worked out ahead of time... much stiffer and a bit more scripted. Over time, as we all felt more comfortable, that has changed. In the early days, H:...At least understand what the book is about. Haddon would stop the program in the middle and say, ‘You’re not listening.’ We’d have to start over. A: Haddon and I usually divide up the research responsi- bility, so if we were going through Hebrews 11, he would H: We discovered that you have to listen to one another. take some verses, I would take the next chunk of verses and You can’t have in your head something you would like to he’d take the ones after that, and we would each come back say if the conversation goes on and you insert it. So you with our research and how we saw the flow of thought for really have to listen. It’s a major ingredient. the development of programs. Then we actually develop a complete outline of each program On the program, you sound like you’re having a good time. H: We come together to do that. A: We love it when listeners write in and say to us, ‘It sounds like you’re good friends,’ or ‘as if you enjoy one an- What is the genesis of RBC Ministries? other.’ They comment often on the laughter on the program and how much they enjoy that. We do have a story about a H: The man who founded it was M.R. De Haan. Some of driver... the older folks remember him. Richard De Haan, his son, Broadcasting Bible Teaching and Laughter 5 Days a Week followed him. Mart DeHaan is the grandson. H: ...He was a limousine driver in New York and he’d drive people to parties and then he’d sit in the car and wait. Late A: M.R. De Haan was a medical doctor who left his prac- at night, about 1 o’clock in the morning, he said he was try- tice to begin Calvary Church in Grand Rapids. I have a ing to find something to listen to and he got the laughter. It personal interest in this. My family moved to Detroit when I stopped him and then he began to listen to the conversation. was five, and my father came to faith in Christ about a year And he found himself listening every night, and as a result later. There was a man in the men’s Sunday School who of that, he came to faith in Christ. When I was out in Cali- invited my dad to a Bible study in his home that was being fornia preaching at Biola University, he drove to the service taught by a medical doctor from Grand Rapids. My dad in order to see the people he had been listening to. started attending the Bible study, and the men in the class decided that this teacher was so good that they would col- What are the logistics of producing the program? lect money to get him on the local radio station. The Radio Bible Class actually started in that Bible study. My father A: Generally we go to Grand Rapids, MI, for one week and died shortly after we started on the program. I’m not sure try to tape between 10 and 12 programs a day for five days, he even really knew we were working on it. so we produce 50 to 60 programs in one week... H: He does know now. H: ...If we get 10 programs in a day, we know we’ve done a good job A: Yes. He does know.
A: In the old days we were really pushing hard because In addition to their current responsibilities, Dr. Robinson serves as the Harold John Ockenga Professor of Preaching at Gordon- a program that requires 260 programs a year is a hungry Conwell. Dr. Mathews is the Lois W. Bennett Distinguished Emer- animal...At times we got in as many as 16 programs in a ita Professor of Educational Ministries and Women’s Ministries. single day. And also in the early years, we were going more often to Grand Rapids. One year we went nine different times; another year, seven times. But now we go four times a year... fall 07 9
Becoming a seminary president— again—had not crossed Dr. Haddon W. Robinson’s mind when the Gordon-Conwell Dr. Robinson has frequently held leader- Board of Trustees tapped him in May to serve ship positions during his distinguished career, as President. including General Director of the Christian He had already served for 12 years as Medical and Dental Associations, an organi- President of Denver Seminary before joining zation of 17,000 health care professionals; the Gordon-Conwell faculty in 1991 as the Director of the Dallas Youth for Christ; Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Profes- and Associate Pastor of the First Baptist sor of Preaching. Church in Medford, Oregon. He also taught “I was totally taken by surprise,” he com- homiletics at Dallas Theological Seminary ments on the Board’s unexpected request, for 19 years. At Gordon-Conwell, he has adding that his wife, Bonnie, “was in a bit worn the additional hat of Senior Director of a shock.” for the seminary’s burgeoning Doctor of But Haddon and Bonnie are praying people Ministry program. committed to following God’s call. “When Widely regarded as an expert in the area we became Christ followers,” he later told his of preaching, he was named in 2006 among daughter, Vicki Hetzges, “we put ourselves at Christianity Today International’s Top 25 his disposal.” Most Influential Preachers from 1956 to 2006, His first official act as President was to and in an earlier Baylor University poll, as one gather the entire seminary community togeth- of the 12 most effective preachers in the Eng- er for an extended time of prayer. “We need lish-speaking world. the prayers of the people,” he says. “Without Dr. Robinson has also worked exten- God’s presence, the whole theological enter- sively in radio and television media, includ- prise is folly. ‘Apart from me,’ Jesus said, ing former host for the television program ‘you can do nothing’” (John 15:5). &ILM