The SBJT Fo r u m : Heroes of the Faith

Editor’s note: In this forum each contributor was asked to write on an individual who influenced their spiritual and theological development.

C. Ben Mitchell: One of the values of Almighty has set before me two great biography is encouragement. Seeing objects: the suppression of the slave trade God’s providence worked out in the life and the reformation of manners.” The of another human being can often encour- founder of Methodism, John Wesley, age us to repent, beware, or persevere. warned Wilberforce in a letter: “Unless Perseverance is the lesson I learn from the God has raised you up for this very thing, biography of one of my own Christian you will be worn out by opposition from heroes, William Wilberforce. men and devils. But if God be for you, Elected to British Parliament at the age who can be against you?” of twenty-one, Wilberforce felt no particu- Although he was personally wealthy, lar attraction to any cause until after his Wilberforce often gave more than a quar- conversion five years later under the ter of his income to charities and paid for influence of Isaac Milner, his former tutor. the education of some of his relatives. Coming to faith in Christ meant a radical Wilberforce’s son observed that “he gave transformation in Wilberforce’s world and more than merely money; he made his life views. From his conversion forward house the home of one or two youths, the he approached his vocation as a calling expense of whose education he defrayed; from God. His friend, John Newton, all their holidays were spent with him; former slave trader and author of many and hours of his own time were profusely hymns, including Amazing Grace, con- given to training and furnishing their vinced the young convert to remain in minds. Nor were the poor forgotten; they Parliament despite counsel to the contrary were invited to join his family worship on he had received from others. Sunday evening, and sought out often in When he was twenty-seven, Wilber- their cottages for instruction and relief.” force founded the Society for the Refor- While he might have availed himself of mation of Manners. The goal of the Society many of the amenities consistent with his was to make “goodness” respectable social stature, he was quite modest in among the leadership class of his culture. every way. In his recent profile, Hero for Even though few were aware of it, King Humanity: A Biography of William Wilber- C. Ben Mitchell is associate profes- George III’s “Proclamation for the Encour- force, Kevin Belmonte points out that “In sor of bioethics and contemporary agement of Piety and Virtue” was due to an intensely class-conscious age, Wilber- culture at Trinity Evangelical Divinity Wilberforce’s influence. That same year, force forsook the amenities of traveling in School in Deerfield, Illinois and consult- Wilberforce became one of the prime mov- his own comfortable and expensive car- ant on biomedical and life issues for the ers in the effort to abolish the slave trade riage. Instead, he began to travel by coach, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in England. He entered the following in the equivalent today of taking a taxi of The Southern Baptist Convention. his journal on October 27, 1787: “God instead of a limousine.” 98 Most striking, however, was Wilber- societies. At their core was a pro- found sense of the presence and force’s persevering confidence in God’s power of God giving them vision, power and purpose to end slavery courage and the necessary perspec- through his efforts. In 1789, he gave a tive to choose their issues and stand against the powerful interests notable address before Parliament calling aligned against them. Wilberforce, on his peers to pass his Abolition Bill. along with his friends, viewed him- Newspaper accounts lauded it as one of self as a pilgrim on a mission of mercy, never defining his identity of the most eloquent speeches ever heard in purposes by the flawed values of his the House. Nevertheless, the time was not age. This transcendent perspective made him the freest of men and yet right for abolition in England. therefore the most threatening force While continuing to lobby against the against the status quo. Second, slave trade, Wilberforce founded The Wilberforce had a deep sense of calling that grew into the conviction Bible Society, The Society for Bettering the that he was to exercise his spiritual Condition of the Poor, and published an purpose in the realm of his secular apologetic theology, A Practical View of the responsibility. Too often people of faith draw a dichotomy between Prevailing Religious System of Professed the spiritual and the secular. Reli- Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes gious activities are considered a lofty in this Country Contrasted with Real Chris- calling, while secular involvements are viewed with disdain and tianity. believed to have little to do with true By 1804, it appeared that the tide was spirituality. changing in Parliament. Wilberforce helped found the Abolition Society and We tend to be short-sighted when it reintroduced his bill in 1804 and again in comes to cultural transformation. If we do 1805. The bill fell both times. Yet he per- not see promiscuous abortion outlawed severed. In the face of defeat, Wilberforce in one generation, we tend to give up. If published an influential tract against the we are not successful in turning around trade of human slaves. Over and over the militant homosexual agenda, we faint. again, Parliament resisted the inevitable. If our culture disintegrates around us, we Finally, on July 26, 1833—a full 46 years are tempted to acquiesce. If the church after it was first introduced—the Eman- loses her power, we often contribute to her cipation Bill passed. Wilberforce died impotence by forfeiting what is necessary three days later! to her potency, personal holiness. John Pollock, the great Christian biog- Wilberforce has left us a legacy of rapher of both Wilberforce and John New- fidelity to God, commitment to the wor- ton reminds us of the genius of Wilber- shipping community, effectiveness in pub- force’s life: lic theology, and perseverance in the face of systemic opposition. In addition, his life First Wilberforce’s whole life was under God reminds us that it may take animated by a deeply held personal generations to see cultural transformation. faith in Christ. Rather than ascribing to lifeless dogma or dull We might never see it ourselves. But, we conventional religious thinking, are to be faithful to do what God calls us Wilberforce and his colleagues were to do, all the while remembering that God motivated by a robust personal belief in the living God who is con- will accomplish his purpose in and cerned with individual human lives, through us. justice, and the transformation of 99 Reading List works such as Life Together and The Cost of Belmonte, Kevin. Hero for Humanity: A Discipleship. He followed the theology of Biography of William Wilberforce. Colo- Luther, and called the “alien righteous- rado Springs: NavPress, 2002. ness” of Christ appropriated by faith alone Piper, John. The Roots of Endurance: Invin- the sole criterion for unity in the church.3 cible Perseverance in the Lives of John Still others know of Bonhoeffer’s execu- Newton, Charles Simeon, and William tion stemming from an involvement in a Wilberforce. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002. conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. Far fewer Pollock, John. Wilberforce: A Biography. casual observers of church history, how- London: Constable, 1977. ever, know that the young ’s great sacrifice began with attempts to speak out Gregory Alan Thornbury: When Dick against the German church’s near whole- Keyes wrote his marvelous book True sale compromise with the Third Reich. Heroism in a World of Celebrity Counterfeits Dietrich Bonhoeffer was first and foremost a few years ago, he argued that heroes are a church reformer. marked by conviction and accomplish- Early in his career, Bonhoeffer and a ment, and that our admiration of them is cadre of like-minded known as well-placed.1 This stands in sharp con- “the Young Reformers” protested the Ger- trast, Keyes averred, to the pure manu- man Reich Church’s capitulation to “The facture of modern celebrity, which by Aryan Clause”—the Third Reich’s state nature is ephemeral. Consequently, a jour- rule that barred Jews from public and vari- nal such as this one is right to highlight ous kinds of private service. Dietrich servants of the kingdom of God who, by urged pastors to speak out to repeal the both confession and action, prove them- government’s anti-Semitic program and selves to be true heroes of the faith. led the way by forming “The Pastors Although choosing among the vast Emergency League.” With others, he array of possibilities for this forum was drafted The Bethel Confession, which daunting, I settled on Dietrich Bonhoeffer unapologetically challenged the church’s (1906-1945). By doing so, I am not imply- accommodation to Nazi apostasy. He also ing that Bonhoeffer is my favorite theolo- publicly called Hitler an antichrist. Finally, gian or that he was entirely sound on he supported The Barmen Declaration in Gregory Alan Thornbury is Assis- every point of doctrine. He was, like 1934—a statement that gave birth to the tant Professor of Christian Studies and Luther, a man of his time. But, like the Confessing Church movement, which Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center great Reformer, Bonhoeffer was also a called the church to a return to the gospel for Christian Leadership at Union Uni- man of action. “The Christian,” he wrote and a rejection of the Aryanism of the versity. He is the co-editor of Who Will in Life Together, “belongs not in the seclu- Reichstag. Bonhoeffer knew that the good Be Saved? and author of several articles sion of a cloistered life, but in the thick of of the nation was tied to the health of the and book chapters. Thornbury is a foes.”2 One comes to know a man by his church. God’s people and the training of Fellow for the Wilberforce Forum, the enemies. In this respect, Bonhoeffer’s foes young gospel ministers mattered most to Research Institute of the Ethics and Re- were the right ones—those who corrupted the young theologian. Bonhoeffer wrote ligious Liberty Commission (SBC), and the message of the gospel, the witness of to Reinhold Niebuhr on the heels of turn- the Center for Church Reform. He holds the church, and the integrity of a nation. ing down a job offer to teach at Union the Ph.D. from The Southern Baptist Many people are familiar with Bon- Seminary so that he could return to Ger- Theological Seminary. hoeffer’s work as a theologian through many, “I shall have no right to participate 100 in the reconstruction of Christian life in other. Given clear accounts of courage, can Germany after the war if I do not share today’s pastors fail to call the church to the trials of this time with my people.”4 repentance on modern accommodation to Despite attempts at church reform, secularity? Do believers stay silent about Hitler tightened his grip on Germany. the oppression of the weak in society? Are When a majority of even the Confessing church leaders vigilant about blurring the Church pastors took an oath of loyalty to lines between national pride and loyalty Hitler in 1937, Bonhoeffer started keeping to Christ? Men of God will ultimately give a low profile, but refused opportunities account for such matters—perhaps not to escape Germany for London and before church tribunals or state courts— America. Upon his arrest in connection but assuredly before “the one with whom with an assassination attempt planned by we have to do”, even Jesus Christ, our two of Hitler’s top military advisors, Lord (Heb 13:17). Dietrich refused to recant before the Dietrich Bonhoeffer underscored that Gestapo. In his hearing, he calmly asserted the theology of the Reformers was a prac- that came before Germany. tical theology—one of costly grace. Ser- Bonhoeffer spent the last two years of vants of Christ’s church would do well to his life ministering to the needy and other remember Bonhoeffer’s dictum on law Christians in exile in various Nazi pris- and gospel: “Only those who believe obey ons and concentration camps. To the end, . . . Only those who obey believe.”5 he poured his life into building up Christ’s church. On the direct orders of Heinrich ENDNOTES Himmler, a detachment was sent to 11Dick Keyes, True Heroism in a World of retrieve Bonhoeffer and take him to the Celebrity Counterfeits (Colorado Springs, gallows. Even as the dispatch approached, CO: NavPress, 1995). Bonhoeffer poured himself into his last 22Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. sermon among his fellow believers. The John Doberstein (New York: Harper & text was 1 Peter 2:21-25: “For to this you Row, 1954) 17. have been called, because Christ also suf- 33Ibid., 23. fered for you, leaving you an example, so 44Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as cited in Reinhold that you might follow in his steps. . . . He Neibuhr, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” Union himself bore our sins in his body on the Seminary Quarterly Review, 1, no. 3 (March tree, that we might die to sin and live to 1946) 3. Chad Owen Brand is associate pro- righteousness. By his wounds you have 55Dietrich Bohoeffer, The Cost of Disciple- fessor of Christian Theology at Boyce been healed.” The next day, the SS Black ship, trans. R. H. Fuller, et. al. (London: College and assistant professor of Chris- Guard hung a calm, confident Bonhoeffer SCM Press, 1959; reprint, New York: tian Theology at The Southern Baptist on April 5, 1945 at Flossenburg. This event Touchstone, 1995) 69. Theological Seminary. Previously, Dr. came mere days before the liberation of Brand taught at North Greenville Col- the Allies in Germany and a scant three Chad Owen Brand: Do Christians have lege. He is the author of many articles weeks before the suicide of Adolf Hitler. “heroes”? I guess that depends on what and reviews and has served as pastor A faithful example such as Dietrich you mean by the word. Holding to the or interim pastor in a number of Bonhoeffer inspires pastors who come historic doctrines of human depravity and churches. He is also book review after him to warn both church and nation progressive sanctification, I would argue editor for The Southern Baptist Journal about their obligations to God and each that we don’t have “heroes” who are flaw- of Theology. 101 less. In that sense, Christians revere only in the margins. Studying these in the one Hero. Yet, some Christian leaders have church’s “upper room,” Criswell came to loomed large in their ministries and have realize that there was a better way to pur- inscribed with indelible marks their sue the preaching task. impact for good on the Kingdom. W. A. Criswell testifies that in that little study Criswell was such a man. room and behind the pulpit of that con- Born in Eldorado, Oklahoma in 1909, gregation, “God transformed my preach- and raised mostly in the Texas panhandle, ing. . . . Instead of pacing the floor, stressed Criswell was saved at the age of ten in a and anxious, trying to find some new revival service in his little church in topic to preach, I was pacing the floor with Texline, an unimaginatively-named burg excitement and caught up by the might that is just a stone’s throw from the New and majesty of God’s Word, eager to get Mexico state line. (I have been through on to the next text, to the next story, to the there many times and I can tell you that next book, eager to dig out the truth in W. A. Criswell is the only thing remark- every line that God’s Spirit presented.”1 able about Texline.) In 1927 the precocious In 1944 the Oklahoma pastor was called young man entered Baylor University, to the First Baptist Church, , to suc- graduating four years later Magna Cum ceed the pulpit giant, George W. Truett, Laude. Criswell left the Southwest only who had led the church for forty-seven during the years he spent at The South- years. By the time he marked his nine- ern Baptist Theological Seminary, where teenth anniversary in 1963, Criswell had he earned the Bachelor of Divinity and the preached through every book of the Bible. Doctor of Philosophy degrees, graduating The preacher who was saved in that in 1937 with a doctorate in New Testa- little church in Texline was not the archi- ment. He studied with renowned scholar tect of expository preaching, nor was he A. T. Robertson and did his doctoral work the only practitioner of it in the mid-twen- under W. Hersey Davis. tieth century. Evangelical preachers such Criswell pastored churches during as Donald Grey Barnhouse and D. Martyn both college and seminary years, but it Lloyd-Jones, following earlier models was while pastoring in Oklahoma, from such as Alexander Maclaren and G. 1937 to 1944, that God transformed his Campbell Morgan, exemplified the preaching. Like many preachers of the expository method, though they differed time, the young pastor had developed a from one another in such matters as the pattern of preaching mainly textually- length of text used in each sermon and based, topical sermons. The question he their respective rhetorical styles.2 Among would ask himself was, “What shall I in the American South, John A. preach about this Sunday?” After his Broadus and B. H. Carroll had preached installation as the new pastor of First expositionally, carefully crafting their ser- Baptist Muskogee in 1941, all of that began mons around the contours of the text, thus to change. His predecessor, expository giving to their sermons ”direct biblical preacher A. N. Hall, had died while still authority.”3 In the 1940s and ’50s South- pastor, and had left behind all of his ern Baptist Robert Naylor was a fine written sermons, his preaching Bible, and expository preacher, and Jesse Northcutt, his commentaries, all with copious notes as pastor of First Baptist, Abilene, and as 102 professor of preaching at Southwestern was its grandfather, its mentor, its advi- Seminary, modeled and taught the exposi- sor.11 He persistently advocated the tory method. The vast majority of even complete truthfulness of Scripture in its well-known preachers in the SBC in those entirety. What was the matrix out of which days, though, were topical preachers.4 Criswell held these views? This is an Criswell built a great church into one important question. The Dallas pastor was of the greatest churches in the nation.5 not the intellectual heir of the fundamen- One of the keys to this ministry was his talist controversy in the 1920s. At a time expository preaching. He went through when J. Frank Norris was inveighing the entire Bible, “book by book, chapter against Baylor University, Criswell was by chapter, line by line. It was the preach- quite content with his experience there.12 ing of the Word that changed my life and No, Criswell was not the offspring of early the lives of the good people at First Bap- twentieth-century inter-denominational tist Church of Dallas.”6 This kind of fundamentalism. Rather, he was the child preaching mines each text for its main of the Baptist heritage at its best. His Bap- emphasis, then notes the complementary tist roots drove him to affirm that the Bible elements in each passage, and finally is the Word of God written and that it was constructs the sermon outline itself to be trusted implicitly in its theology, as according to the contours that the Bible well as on everything else it touched. Even itself establishes.7 Criswell, and those oth- his Ph. D. at Southern, taken under the ers who joined him in modeling this style best teachers of the day, with full cogni- of preaching, such as Naylor and zance of critical theories about biblical Northcutt, have left a legacy especially in origins, had given him no reason to reckon the South, as some of the best pastor/ otherwise. Little wonder, then, that many preachers in Baptist life today follow the Baptist conservatives have looked to this same general approach to hermeneutics man, with all the faults and weaknesses and exposition.8 But in the mid-twentieth of those still in the process of sanctifica- century, no one modeled it more effec- tion (and that is all of us), as a heroic fig- tively or with greater passion and impact ure in the battle for Christian orthodoxy than W. A. Criswell. that has waged in recent decades. Why would such a man preach in such There is much that I have learned from a manner? Because he was convinced that Dr. Criswell. Hearing him preach, read- the Bible and the Bible alone was the Word ing his books, spending brief personal of God written, and that it ought to be moments with a man who was as person- taken at face value. As he put it, the Bible able as any pastor I have ever known— is “literally true.”9 Criswell’s stand for all of these things have left an indelible was one of the catalysts mark on my mind and soul. He stands as for the conservative resurgence in The proof that one can be trained at the high- Southern Baptist Convention, which est academic levels and yet still have the would begin a decade after the publica- confidence in Scripture that a little child tion of his famous book.10 Criswell was has, that one can be a man of the books not a vitally active participant in the and a man of the people, and that one can conservative resurgence; he was nearly build a great church by making central the seventy years old when it began. But he proclamation of the Word of God. I thank 103 God for “Dr. C.” I pray that future gen- 10Robert A. Rohm, Dr. C. (Chicago: Moody, erations of evangelicals will discover the 1990) 165. legacy of this great man of God. 11Jerry Sutton, The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern ENDNOTES Baptist Convention (Nashville: Broadman 61W. A. Criswell, Standing on the Promises: and Holman, 2000) 66-67. The Autobiography of W. A. Criswell (Dal- 12His autobiography gives four chapters las: Word, 1990) 160. to his experience at Baylor, and it is clear 72See, for example, Warren Wiersbe, Walk- that he loved the Baylor of the 1920s. He ing with the Giants: A Minister’s Guide to does indicate that there were some Good Reading and Great Preaching (Grand causes for concern, but that for the most Rapids: Baker, 1976) 35-41, 129-137; D. part, it was a spiritually and theologi- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and cally healthy institution. Norris, of Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, course, held otherwise. Though he re- 1971) 64-80. spected Norris’s ability to move a crowd, 83Al Fasol, With a Bible in Their Hands: Bap- Criswell considered Norris to be “dia- tist Preaching in the South, 1679-1979 bolical.” Barry Hankins, God’s Rascal: J. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994) Frank Norris & the Beginnings of Southern 77-80, 84-87, quote from page 86. Fundamentalism (Lexington: University 94Fasol, 146-182. of Kentucky Press, 1996) 132. 55Leon McBeth, The First Baptist Church of Dallas: Centennial History, 1868-1968 D. A. Carson: When I was asked to write (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968) 240- on a hero of the faith of my choosing, I 347. began by running through my mind some 66Criswell, Standing on the Promises, 206. of my personal favorites: John Chry- In the case of a couple of Old Testament sostom, Augustine, John Hus, John books, specifically, Leviticus and Song of Calvin, William Perkins, George White- Solomon, the Dallas pastor did not field, Andrew Murray M’Cheyne, preach every passage individually, but Adoniram Judson, the Countess of Hunt- gathered similar thematic sections up ingdon, Charles Spurgeon, and many and covered them in one or two sermons. more. Then I ran through some candidates 77For a major hermeneutical volume for the label from the twentieth century, D. A. Carson is research professor which defends and articulates this meth- some of them still alive, all of them of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical odology in moving from text to sermon remarkable: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He construction, see Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., R. W. Stott, and quite a number of others. is the author of numerous commentar- Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Then I thought of some gifted Christian ies and monographs, and is one of this Rapids: Baker, 1988). leaders I have known from around the country’s foremost New Testament 88Examples include Jack Graham, James world, some of whom have suffered scholars. Among his books are Divine Merritt, , , and enormously, while others have exercised Sovereignty and Human Responsibility O. S. Hawkins. These men all cite magnificently fruitful ministries, some- (John Knox Press, 1981; reprint, Baker, Criswell’s influence on their preaching. times under appallingly difficult circum- 1994) and The Gagging of God: Chris- 99W. A. Criswell, Why I Preach that the Bible stances. Then I thought of Christian tianity Confronts Pluralism (Zondervan, Is Literally True (Nashville; Broadman, martyrs in Cambodia, among the Karen 1996). 1969). people of Burma, pastors in Iran, those 104 who have suffered and sometimes died Lord. Dirt poor, at certain periods of their in Indonesia and southern Sudan, only life they depended for their meals and for very few of whom I could name. Where their clothes on quiet intercessory prayer, should I begin? How can I possibly choose and nothing else. After twenty-five years one, when temperamentally I have never of ministry, Tom became a tentmaker, sup- fixated on just one person (save Jesus), just porting himself and his family, while he one book (save the Bible), or just one continued his ministry in his chosen movement? people-group. Finally I decided that, just as God over- When he was in his sixties, he finally turns many of the categories that we witnessed something of a movement of human beings think are so important, I the Spirit of God, but the leadership was would do the same. I will tell you about in the hands of others. He rejoiced to see Tom. the church grow, but deep down inside I won’t tell you his last name, or where he sometimes wondered if growth had he served, because some who read these taken so long coming because he was not lines might guess who he is. Certainly a sufficiently able and spiritual leader Tom never thought of himself as a hero of himself, and others, more gifted than he, the faith, not once. He was a largely had to appear on the scene. In his early unknown Baptist pastor, working in a seventies, his wife started drifting away very difficult cross-cultural context. In his in the long dementia associated with mid-twenties, the Lord laid such a bur- Alzheimer’s disease. He cared for her for den on him for this largely ignored nine long years. Released from this people-group that he moved there and responsibility, he started preaching and started to learn the language. During the visiting and serving again. Tom ran quiet course of twenty-five years, he planted regional day-sessions to encourage young two tiny churches. He never wrote a book. pastors in his area. After three years, he He was not asked to preach at large con- fell ill with some nasty flu, and had to be ferences. He never traveled overseas as a taken to the hospital. There a young doc- kind of influential ambassador of the tor made a mistake, and prescribed the gospel to Third World countries. He wrong medicine. Tom died. He was 81 wasn’t brilliant at the conceptual level, years old. though he had a careful mind that paid In some ways, his ministry was quite attention to details. Administratively he ordinary. He preached countless sermons, was at best a plodder. he counseled many people, he prepared On the other hand, every day of his and led services, he wrote letters. He was adult life he prayed, on his knees, for at astonishingly faithful in his visitation, not least 45 minutes, and often much longer. least evangelistic visits. Scrupulous to a He was a man of unimpeachable integ- fault, he devoted himself to his study, and rity, and amidst extraordinarily trying although he was never a gifted orator, his denominational conflict, he chose the path sheep did not come away hungry. He of rectitude without any trace of discern- was a meek man, and people often took ible malice towards those who tried to cut advantage of him. In the early years of his him up. He and his wife reared three chil- ministry among the people to whom he dren in the nurture and admonition of the was sent, there was a lot of virulent 105 opposition, including threats to life and above the humdrum problems that afflict property. He was hauled in by the police. mere mortals, but because in persecution Some other Baptist ministers in his area they endure to the end, they retain sound spent a total of eight years in prison, but doctrine when others follow some foolish during that time Tom managed to escape Jezebel, they keep rebuilding their first such treatment, only to see one or another love, and they live with one foot in eter- of his children being beaten up by neigh- nity. These are the overcomers, the heroes borhood toughs who were encouraged in of the faith. And Tom was one of them. their violence by the local religion. His Tom Carson was my Dad. R.I.P. stamina and sheer faithfulness were beyond reproach. When on occasion he was driven to despair, it simply meant he was driven to his knees. Persistence, faith- fulness, integrity, loving lost sinners, car- ing for fledgling churches, keeping his peace, thinking well of people—these were the virtues that made him a hero of the faith. Tom stands for a lot of other heroes of the faith. They look after three demand- ing children under the age of five, and still love them and read to them. They perse- vere with trust in God’s wisdom even when they are scared and debilitated by the ravages of a terminal cancer. They use their retirement to help the most disad- vantaged in one of the most impoverished and dangerous countries of Africa. It is rare to hear a whining complaint escape their lips. They smile easily, laugh quickly, forgive readily, love graciously, hope for better things incessantly. You will often find them carrying the heavy end of the load. When they make mistakes, they apologize, and try to put things right. Many of them are blessed with the gift of encouragement. They are known in only a very limited circle, and they eschew the praises of people, but their names are writ- ten large in the ledgers of heaven. They are described in Scripture: they are “over- comers,” not because they are wiser or more famous than others, not because they are on TV, not because they float 106