HIP-HOP ISSUE STEREO SIDE ONE 1. A CHRISTIAN HIP-HOP FORUM 2. SBTS EMBRACES THE MESHKHETIAN TURKS 3. GENTRY, WELLUM TALK ABOUT NEW BOOK VOLUME 10 10 JUNE-JULY 2012 Towers start-stop A NEWS PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DON’T WASTE YOUR SUMMER Registration still open Make progress toward your degree without giving up your entire summer. Southern Seminary offers week-long intensive courses from May to August. Here are a few of the many course offerings: Contemporary Theology Building an Typical Problems in Resurrection of Jesus Dr. Gregory A. Thornbury Evangelistic Church Biblical Counseling Sean J. McDowell June 25 - June 29 Dr. Charles E. Lawless Jr. Dr. Stuart W. Scott July 30 - August 3 July 2 - July 6 July 9 - July 13 Visit www.sbts.edu/summer2012 to view the entire class list. Apply today and receive credit before the fall semester begins. FOR MORE InformatION GO TO:WWW.SBTS.EDU/APPLY OR CALL 1-800-626-5525 EXT. 4200 TO SPEAK WITH AN ADMISSIONS COUNSELOR JUNE/JULY 2012 Changed hearts, Our mission is 12 changed music to use our time, Christian hip-hop artists Lecrae, Trip Lee, FLAME The Office of Communications of The Southern resources and and Shai Linne participate in a forum. Baptist Theological Seminary publishes 10 issues talents to tell the Southern story in of "Towers" per year. an accurate, timely Staff Advertising Info and creative "Towers," the award-winning manner to the Executive Editor: HIP-HOP glory of God. Steve Watters campus publication of The ISSUE Mgr. of News and Info: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, provides an excel- Josh Hayes STEREO SIDE ONE lent advertising opportunity Managing Editor: for businesses and ministries. 1. A CHRISTIAN HIP-HOP FORUM Aaron Cline Hanbury 2. SBTS EMBRACES THE MESHKHETIAN TURKS Rates for ads are available 3. GENTRY, WELLUM TALK ABOUT NEW BOOK Creative Director: upon request, by emailing VOLUME 10 Eric Rivier 10 JUNE-JULY 2012 [email protected] or calling Art Director: (502) 897-4310. All mate- Andrea Stember rial for the ads is subject to From the editor: Design/Layout: approval. The advertiser It’s hard to miss the Daniel Carroll SBTS joins IMB assumes full responsibility for impact Christian hip- 07 initiative, embraces hop has on the current Photographer: the accuracy of the content. generation of (especially the Meshkhetian Turks Jason Coobs Southern Seminary commits to reaching an younger, Reformed) Feedback evangelicals. What began as unengaged, unreached people group. Contact Info Send comments and ques- a marginalized movement Towers in the South, now finds Phone: (502) 897-4310 start-stop tions to [email protected] A NEWS PUBLICATION OF itself distributed by major A more glorious vision THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY music sellers – Christian Fax: (502) 897-4880 10 Professors Peter Gentry and Stephen J. June-July, 2012, Vol. 10, No. 10. and secular – and among E-mail: [email protected] Wellum talk about their new book, Kingdom the most talked about and Copyright ©2012 The Southern energetic music scenes. This Web: news.sbts.edu through Covenant. issue of “Towers” offers a Baptist Theological Seminary. The Southern Baptist brief timeline of Christian Postage paid at Louisville, Ky. From the radio waves hip-hop, and a conversation Theological Seminary 18 to Twitter with rappers Lecrae, Trip Postmaster Lee, Shai Linne and FLAME. 2825 Lexington Rd. The June-July History Highlight column And, in the spirit of the Louisville, KY 40280 Send address changes to traces Southern Seminary's involvement in popu- theme, the cover represents Towers, 2825 Lexington Road, a Technics turntable, a lar media. widely used instrument Louisville, KY 40280 among producers, DJs and Bruce Ware rap MCs. 21 For Bruce Ware, the ministry of teaching is like a fish in the water: natural. news.sbts.edu June-July 2012 TOWERS 3 | Report Newslog Smith urges God-centered, trinitarian preaching during Mullins Lectures | By Alex Duke | Robert Smith addressed the trinitarian nature of preaching during the E.Y. Mullins Lectures on Christian Preaching at Southern Seminary, April 24-26. Smith, professor of Christian preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., delivered his three-part address, “Preaching as Intra-Trinitarian Presence,” to a jam-packed Heritage Hall. Smith exhorted fellow pastors and students to preach about God the Father faith- fully, balancing both theological clarity and fear-filled adoration. He framed a robust biblical foundation for the Trinity throughout the totality of Scripture – from creation to redemption. He affirmed the Father’s trinitarian headship as tantamount to a correct understanding of authentically biblical theology. SWI shares the hope of Christ with “In creation, he elects the Son. At the cross, he rejects the Son. And on the third day, he resurrects the Son.” Henryville women Smith’s second address, “Theology of the HIMbook,” focused on the homiletical christocentricity. | By Emily Griffin | He encouraged his listeners to recover the art of preaching from the whole Bible – espe- cially the Old Testament – and warned against a functionally selective canon. A pastor’s On March 2, just as the school day came to a close, a F4 tornado descended on the obligation, according Smith, is to “dust for christological fingerprints” in any and every text. quiet township of Henryville, Ind. The twister generated 170-mph winds, turning most Smith’s final lecture, “The Neglected God,” dealt with the pastoral pitfall of neglecting of Henryville’s business and homes to rubble. the Holy Spirit in preaching. Here, he directed his statements at seminary students, urging News crews and disaster relief teams descended on Henryville in the hours and days them to resist the temptation of self-sufficient, Spirit-suffocated ministry. following the storm. Southern Seminary, located just 25 miles south of Henryville, sent “Don’t ever feel equal to the task,” he warned. “I feel inadequate [when I preach], and multiple student-led teams to help with the recovery efforts. Toby Jenkins, pastor of I hope you feel that way too.” First Baptist Church of Henryville and a student at Boyce College, opened his church to To close – with a rhythmic cadence and solemn eyes – Smith offered a humble call to become the official hub for volunteer efforts. preach with rooted intra-trinitarian presence. In the weeks following the storm, Southern Seminary’s Seminary Wives Institute (SWI) “The best we can do is squeal,” he said. “We need the roar of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” closed in on its 15th year of operation. The SWI hospitality class was also beginning Video and audio of Smith's lectures are available at www.sbts.edu/resources preparations for SWI’s annual end-of-year party. SWI founder and director Mary Mohler and the SWI hospitality class – under Mohler’s direction – started to brainstorm ways in which the party might benefit and uplift women outside of SWI. Henryville’s proximity to Louisville, and the several SWI students living in and serving churches in and around Henryville, made reaching out to that community an easy decision. What developed was a brunch for the women of Henryville, hosted by the women of SWI on Saturday, April 28. Sonia Jenkins, wife to Henryville pastor Toby Jenkins and SWI student, arranged for the brunch to be held at First Baptist Church and gathered friends to spread tickets throughout the community. The hospitality class divided into committees, each tasked with an element of the event. The committees transformed the church gymnasium with dozens of donated floral centerpieces, compiled gift bags for each of the 140 women in attendance, assembled homemade dishes and collected food donations and cared for the attendees' children for the duration of the event. At the event, two Henryville residents shared their personal experiences from “that day,” focused on how God was and remains stronger than the storm and how they are choosing to view “that day” as a blessing rather than one of the worst days of their life. Kathy Chapman Sharp, author, speaker and former International Mission Board mission- ary, spoke to attendees about taking time to reflect on events of that day in order to see the bigger story and realize the connection between life events and faith. Sharp also presented the gospel message. 4 TOWERS June-July 2012 news.sbts.edu Report | Boyce College SBTS hosts pureHOPE conference teacher education featuring Ware, Montgomery program prepares | By SBTS Communications | servant-leaders Southern Seminary hosted a pureHOPE conference, Pursuing Purity in a Sexual- | By Andrew Walker | ized Culture, May 4-5, 2012. PureHOPE is a non-profit organization committed to “providing Christian solutions in a sexualized culture.” Many people think of Boyce College, the The conference featured SBTS Professor of Christian Theology Bruce Ware and undergraduate school of Southern Seminary, Sojourn Community Church Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery. as merely a Bible college. But within Boyce is a In Ware’s plenary session, he suggested that the impetus for human burgeoning elementary education certification holiness and purity is the holiness of God himself – God’s holiness leads to program that aims to use teaching as a means human holiness. for missionaries to enter foreign countries. “We must see God’s holiness to see rightly our sin,” said Ware, who speaks Alvin Hickey, associate professor of educa- around the world about the doctrine of God. “We must see our sin to appreci- tion and department chair of Boyce teacher ate rightly God’s forgiveness. We must see the beauty of God’s forgiveness to education, said that, “The best open door to live out an abiding love for him. And we must have that love for God if we’re the mission field in many foreign countries going to live in obedience and faithfulness and purity.” is for teachers to work in the schools of the For his plenary address, Montgomery, a graduate of Southern Seminary, country and at the same time be able to share traced human sexuality back to the Book of Genesis, arguing that God estab- the gospel.” lishes human sexuality as a life-giving and life-cultivating gift.