These men have been my accountability group since my PhD days. This year at the SBC we met. We marked our 20th anniversary from the time we started being serious about holding one another’s feet to the fire.
They are L to R: John Avant, now VP for evangelism at NAMB; Doug Munton, pastor of a great church in Illinois and NAMB trustee, and was VP for the pastors conference this year in Greensboro; Dr. Fish, our mentor and hero in whose seminar we all met; Steve Gaines, new pastor at Bellevue in Memphis and former pastors conference prez; yours truly, prof at SEBTS; and Preston Nix, our hero who is now prof at NOBTS, but who lost everything in Katrina 3 weeks after moving there.
This group started meeting 20 years ago. We began then to scheme to find how to shake the right hands and move in the right circles so one day we would all be leaders of the SBC. We studied all the ins and outs of cronyism and nepotism to become great in the eyes of men…
Okay after typing that I need to go take a bath or something, or at least dodge the lightning bolts. We actually met from then until now to try our best to discourage any ambition or goals (which is a constant battle for us all I think)beyond seeking to love our families, share the gospel, stand for truth, and just be obedient to the Lord. And here we are, all with some influence. Now if we had only really schemed, what could we be doing…
Okay enough of the sarcasm. I thank God for these men. They are my heroes. In a day of cynicism, of criticizing people (sometimes rightly) for seeking power, I can still look my children in the eye and say God still uses folks for His glory who genuinely seek to follow Him.
I tell my students every semester that the best thing I got out of seminary was not in class. It was these men, who have challenged me and pushed me to always seek to life a life spent for the gospel.