If I Were 21 Again!
By Joe E. Trull, Editor Christian Ethics Today
Note: This speech was delivered at the Christian Ministry Banquet at Oklahoma Baptist University on April 23, 2007, where the editor received the Christian Ministry Alumnus Award for 2007, for recognition as "Outstanding Alumnus of Oklahoma Baptist University, Leading Christian Ethicist, Influential Professor, Author, and Pastor, Exemplary Role Model."
Dean McGough, distinguished faculty, family and friends, and most importantly Christian ministry students at Oklahoma Baptist University. I am both humbled and honored for the unique privilege of speaking to this special group.
And, I really don`t deserve the award. I can think of scores of graduates who deserve this more than I. But, I also didn`t deserve to have prostate surgery and heart bypass surgery within the same week about a month ago, so I guess I will accept the honor with gratitude.
I`m sure I seem alien to you. I come from another country, the past. You may feel like one of my seminary students who refused to read any book written before his birth year-another evidence of original sin! I know it is hard to relate to my world-our generations hardly speak the same language. When I was a student on this campus fifty years ago, bunnies were still small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. A `chip` was off the old block, hardware meant a hammer and nails, and software wasn`t even a word. We did not know of ipods, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or dot.coms. Fast food was what the Catholics on campus ate during Lent, and `making out` referred to how we did on our exams. Grass was mowed, Coke was a drink, Cheese was sliced on ham sandwiches, and pot was something you cooked with. I come from a foreign country; I come from the past.
Yet, we do have some points of connection. This campus for one. Its traditions. Its history. This place on the map where you and I were first introduced to a newer and larger world-a world of ideas, challenges, and opportunities-and introduced to professors who taught, mentored, and nourished us toward maturity.
Over my life I have traveled a long way from my boyhood home on 45th street in Oklahoma City, and yet I have never left that ground of my being-I will always be an "Okie." But a more important part of my past is a church-a group of Christians called Southside Baptist then, who loved me into the kingdom and nurtured and supported me through my college years as their first "preacher-boy." Without them I would never have made it even through my freshman year.
You see, I was not raised in a Christian home. My first experience with a preacher was when the Southside Pastor and an evangelist came to our house to discuss religion. My Dad, who was an agnostic, literally ran the preachers out of our house. (I interpret his antagonism partly due to the horrors of World War I, which scarred him physically and emotionally).
A few years later a layman named L.D. Jones offered to take me and my brother and sister to S.S. and church each week. I think my mom was glad to get us out of her hair for two hours. In his class I first learned that "God so loved the world he gave his Son . ." (Jn 3:16). At age 13, I made a profession of faith, and about three years later my pastor Loren Belt helped me interpret some inner urgings saying, "God may be calling you to preach!" I had absolutely no idea what he meant.
"The best way to find out," he said, "is to let you speak this Wednesday evening at our prayer service." Being 16, I was game for anything and said, "OK!" I began my 10 minute devotional with the story of the first time I heard John 3:16 five years earlier from my best friend, H. C. Owenby. His dad was a preacher. One day after baseball practice we were standing in my driveway, when he quoted the verse and asked me if I believed in Jesus. I was about 11 years old and told him honestly, I did not understand.
Years before my first sermon, H.C. had transferred to a different school-I had not seen him in several years. Yet, as I told this story during my first sermon, the back door opened and in came H.C.-someone had told him I was preaching my first sermon. I finished the introduction, then I looked H.C. in the eye and said, "I know you thought you failed that day when you tried to tell me about Jesus-but you didn`t. Thank you!"
That`s enough background for you to know my basic history, but this information is also important for a crucial point I want to make shortly.
So now let me talk with you about, "If I Were 21 Again"-by that I mean, here are some principles for Christian ministry that I wish someone had told to me when I sat where you sit today-a few ideas that I hope will make your history as a minister of Jesus Christ even better.
The apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4: "Therefore, since it is by God`s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. . . . we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God`s word; . . . But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us."
Be Real
My first word of advice may sound rather mundane-Be Real! But it is actually very basic for a meaningful ministry to people. Parishioners will forgive poor sermons, forgotten appointments, and failed programs-but they want a pastor who is a real person. Read the gospels and see if Jesus does not come across as a real human being-so real, in fact, that some followers began to doubt his divinity.
By "real" I mean many things-honest, truthful, accessible, vulnerable, empathetic, and above all, a person of integrity. When James Carter and I worked on our co-authored book Ministerial Ethics, which you have been given, we discussed many possible words to describe the ethical life of the minister. The one we chose that captures the essence of Christian ministry, we believe, is integrity.
In his hotel room the night before he delivered the first Yale lectures on preaching, the famous minister Henry Ward Beecher cut himself badly while shaving. Biographers have suggested the reason was the contradiction between the person he saw in the mirror, a pastor awaiting trial for adultery, and the message he was about to preach. His life at that point lacked integrity.
In vivid contrast was the testimony of George Wharton Pepper, one of the few laypersons to deliver the Yale lectures, who said: "It is impossible to exaggerate the weight that the man in the pew attaches to the integrity of the preacher." No professional is expected to model integrity as much as a church minister.
After noting ministers are not superhuman and are subject to the same human faults and foibles, ethicist Karen LeBacqz states: "The minister is expected to embody trustworthiness in such an integral way (i.e., to have such integrity) that even the slightest failure becomes a sign of lack of integrity. This does not mean the minister is permitted no faults. It means that the minister is permitted no faults that have to do with trustworthiness."
The apostle Paul uses the phrase, "above reproach" (1 Tim 3:2) to describe the minister. That is basic. "This above all," writes Shakespeare, "to thine own self be true." The one thing no one can take from you is your integrity-you have to give it away. Never, never, never, like Esau (Gen 25:3), sell your birthright for a bowl of stew, or a better church, or a denominational job, or personal security, fortune, or fame. Like Jesus, be real. Be true. Be a person of integrity.
Be Nice
This second suggestion may sound simplistic-Be Nice. Philip Wise, chair of our CET Board of Directors and pastor of Second Baptist in Lubbock, TX., spoke on Pastoral Ethics at Truett Seminary last year at a conference which CET sponsored. His title-Be Nice!
Philip shared a story told by our mutual friend, Fisher Humphreys, professor of theology at Beeson Divinity School. In the early 1990s Stanley Hauerwas, the most renowned ethicist of our day who teaches at Duke, was to speak to the faculty. While Fisher transported him from the airport to the campus, Hauerwas said something like this, complaining about his Methodist church: "God is nice-that`s all the theology we Methodists have. You be nice-that`s all the ethics we Methodists have." And Fisher replied, "Stanley, I`m a Southern Baptist, and nice would be progress for us!"
When I arrived at OBU fifty years ago, I soon learned from the upper-class preachers that if you want to get a church or preach, you had to be orthodox: separated from the world and sound in doctrine. Interpretation: "Give up dancing and movies, and become a premillenial dispensationalist." Well, I had already renounced dancing, which was easy for me with my clumsiness; I saw my last corrupt movie-a Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy-my freshman year. And, even though I couldn`t spell it, I espoused premillenial dispensationalism.
The worst part of this "orthodoxy" was an incipient Phariseeism-a judgmental attitude toward those with whom you disagree-those `worldly` preachers who have not seen the light, for whom we prayed and with whom we had no fellowship. Although I felt some discomfort with that, if the leading preachers said it was so, and if the evangelistic pastor of a large Arkansas church, who always preached in a white suit and white shoes and who was heard each evening on XERF, Del Rio, Texas, said it was so, maybe it was!
In more recent days this sectarian spirit has divided Southern Baptists, as our early debates over the Bible have expanded to Calvinism vs. Arminianism, private prayer language vs. glossalolia, gender equality vs. female submission, and clergy sexual misconduct. As these issues arise in seminaries, mission boards, and denominational agencies, there seems to be much anger, rancor, ugly words, and unkind actions.
Be nice. Whatever your position on these issues, be nice. However much you disagree with fellow ministers, be nice. And yes, you may find at times some of your own church leaders oppose your ministry and disagree with your leadership-but, be nice!
Stay Healthy
My next word may seem hypocritical, coming from one recovering from prostate surgery and four heart bypasses, all in the same week-yet I say, Stay Healthy. In my defense, my doctors claim my active athletic life-running three miles daily for 25 years and playing tennis most every day-along with my fish and fowl heart healthy diet, probably kept me alive. My cardiologist said, "The one thing you could not choose was your father-your major problem is genetics!" My urologist said over my ICU bed, "You know, this prostate cancer saved your life!" That`s another story that I will write about in the next issue of CET, but I simply want to give thanks to God for arranging for me to be in the best possible place when my heart pains began.
I first thought of this advice for young ministers, to stay healthy, while attending the OBU homecoming last year. I discovered that many of my classmates were gone. I was particularly upset to realize several of the finest and best ministers of my era died in their forties and fifties, most of heart attacks. I knew most of them well. Though successful in ministry, many were overweight, inactive, and lived a life filled with stress. I regret their life was cut short, for they had so much to offer.
In Ministerial Ethics, James Carter begins chapter three, The Minister`s Personal Life, by noting the minister of God has an obligation to take care of his body-she or he must not sacrifice physical, mental, or emotional health on the altar of service to the church.
I tend to be a workaholic. In my first years of ministry, I was working 70-80 hours a week doing good things for God, but neglecting my health and my family. A friend called me to accountability: "Joe, the church is not God. If you don`t take care of your body, your family, and your emotional health, you won`t last very long in the ministry."
Stay healthy. Take care of yourself and you will lengthen your days in service to God.
Nurture Your Marriage
A corollary to this last point is the need for every minister to nurture his or her marriage.
Dean Merrill observed in Clergy Couples in Crisis, that a failure of a minister`s marriage is considered a tragedy, in many cases a fatal tragedy as far as continuation in ministry is concerned.
But divorce is not the only issue. The quality of the marital relationship between a minister and a spouse must also be considered. On April 9, 2007, in the small western Tennessee town of Selmer, a quiet, unassuming preacher`s wife stood trial for the first degree murder of her 31-year old pastor-husband, struck dead by a single blast from a 12-gauge shotgun as he lay in bed. She told police she just snapped after constant criticism built up. "I was just tired of it."
Christian counselors David and Vera Mace have done extensive research and interviews of clergy couples over many decades. They discovered that clergy families face many unique problems-financial pressures, unrealistic expectations, and a fish-bowl existence to name a few. However, of all the issues listed, time spent together is the key ingredient of a happy home life. According the Maces, 68 percent of the wives surveyed listed a lack of time alone together as the greatest difficulty in adjusting to being married to ministers.
So, nurture your marriage. The most important gift you can give your children is a happy home life. One practical word of advice: plan to take your wife and each child on a date at least once a month, or even weekly if you can afford it. Do something they like to do with just them-go somewhere that they enjoy. And remember, taking the family to Glorieta for a week of conferences is not a vacation-that`s work.
Make Peace With Your Past
James Flaming, who was for many years pastor of First Baptist of Abilene, Texas, followed by many years at First Baptist of Richmond, Virginia, once told me a strange question he always asks when interviewing potential staff members. "Do you have any unresolved problems with your parents or family?" He added, "I have found across the years that the Christian ministers who have difficulty are usually those who have never made peace with their past."
This was also my experience. When I completed my first decade as pastor of a great church in Austin, Texas, I was called to Dallas-area church that had grown in 10 years from 100 members to almost 2000. Without giving you all the details, the first few years were horrific-the pastor had left under a moral cloud and within a few years I discovered two other staff members had been sexually involved with members.
I was especially upset that no one seemed to understand or accept my leadership. Some accused me of spreading lies about the previous pastor, others claimed I was not "loving" like Brother X (who hugged everyone). The deacons had asked me to keep my distance, especially from several troubled female members who had become emotionally involved with the previous minister during counseling.
I was ready to resign, when I signed up for a Personal and Professional Growth Conference in Nashville, an intense two weeks with four church administration specialists who were skilled at helping ministers.
I learned many things about myself. Perhaps the most important was that I was running from my past-I saw my parents, my background, and my family as the very opposite of my calling-something I needed to forget and erase from my vita.
Even my name was an embarrassment. Joe-how common! Why did my parents not name me Joseph? No, I was just plain ole Joe! My middle name Earl was taken from my father`s best friend, a liquor dealer in Houston. And Trull-the word means strumpet, trollop, a prostitute-not much of a pedigree for a preacher I thought, although a seminary professor did remind me when he learned of the derivation of my name, "Well, Jesus had Rahab the harlot in his ancestry, so you are in good company."
However, it was at this conference that I finally made peace with my past. One of the three counselors, who himself was an illegitimate child, said to me, "Joe, you are not the only person in the world who has been [blanked] on." He then uttered words that changed my life. "Don`t you realize," he said, "God called you because of who you were and where you came from. You can be Dr. Joe E. Trull and mingle with educators and lawyers and doctors, and you also are Joe Trull the teenager from south Oklahoma City, who understands what it is like to be on the outside of the church and on the underside of society; you can relate to people who live in that world."
So I say to you, take a long, hard look at your past. If there is any unresolved conflict there, deal with it. Making peace with your past can free you for ministry.
Stay Competent
Now I am going to get a little academic-you also have an ethical obligation as a minister to Stay Competent. Traditionally, doctors, lawyers, and ministers have been considered professionals who render a valuable service to their community, as well as to their clients. In my research for the book Ministerial Ethics, I discovered the value of codes of ethics for ministers. You can read Chapter Eight for the details, but it is worth noting that most major denominations-Methodists, Presbyterians, Disciples, American Baptists, and others-developed codes of ethics for their ministers, spelling out the ethical obligations clergy owed to themselves, to their congregations, to their colleagues, and to their community, in order to be a good minister.
Every one of them included an obligation for the minister to stay competent. The Presbyterian Code of Ethics reminds ministers "to reserve sufficient time for serious study in order to thoroughly apprehend his message, keep abreast of current thought, and develop his intellectual and spiritual capacities."
My major professor and mentor, Dr. T. B. Maston, often told students, "Keep the Bible in one hand and Newsweek in the other." The minister must be able to faithfully proclaim the Good News of the Gospel in a language relevant to our world.
Last week I was reading the April 9 issue of Newsweek, in which editor Jon Meacham describes a four-hour conversation he arranged between Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California and author of The Purpose Driven Life, and Sam Harris, congenial author of two books espousing atheism and a PhD neuroscientist. The question they discussed: Is God Real?
As I read the ten-page article, I could not help but wonder: How many ministers, including myself, could wage such a debate? But do you know what? Those parishioners sitting in your pews face these questions each day. They are struggling to find meaning in a world of greed, violence, war, and ethical dilemmas. As a church leader, you must stay competent-not that you will have answers for every question, but you must be able to provide insight and guidance for your congregants in their search for God`s will.
Follow Christ
My final word is much more profound than it may sound-Follow Christ. As I enter my seventies, I find myself preaching and teaching some of the same themes I did when I was 21. But now they mean so much more. So with this word to follow Christ.
Jesus himself made clear to many who wanted easy discipleship, "If anyone wants to follow me-to go where I am going-that person must first say `No` to self, and `Yes` to the cross, and then keep on following me every day" (Lk 9:23). Demanding words.
In my first seminary New Testament class, my professor noted how much he disliked the "red-letter" versions of the New Testament, the ones that put Jesus` words in red ink. His reason was that "red-letter" Bibles implied the rest of the Bible was not as inspired as the words of Jesus-"Every word of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is equally the inspired Word of God," he affirmed. I understood and accepted his thesis.
However, in time I have changed my mind. In fact, today I like to call myself a "red-letter Christian." Certainly the entire Bible is our best revelation of God and God`s will for humanity. Yet the Bible also affirms that the best and fullest revelation of God came in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. The writer of Hebrews (1:1-2) begins his book by noting that God spoke in various ways to the prophets, but God`s final and best revelation has come in Jesus Christ.
That is why I say to you, follow Christ. The entire Bible must always be understood in light of the life and teachings of Jesus. Your ministry should reflect the ministry of Jesus-your concerns, your priorities, your values, your walk and your talk must be as a follower of Jesus.
T. B. Maston once asked our seminar group, "If you knew Jesus were going to be in Ft. Worth this Saturday, where would you go to look for him?" After a few answers he responded, "Jesus would probably not be at one of our churches, or at this seminary, or even in the homes of prominent persons in this community. No, to find Jesus you would probably have to go where there were needy people that no one noticed, who needed him. That`s where we find Jesus in the New Testament."
Who will you follow? The "successful" CEO-preachers in their mega-churches who have developed marketing techniques to impress the multitudes and build their own kingdoms-they have their reward. Or will you join Jesus in ministering to those hungry and hurting multitudes who reach out of their need to touch the hem of his garment.
Because of who you are, and because of what you have learned in this place called Oklahoma Baptist University, I think I know where you will be. Bless you in your ministry.
