Mid-America Messenger-Winter 2016 by Mid-America Seminary

REACHING THE WORLD— YOUR WORLD—WITH THE GOSPEL FOR JESUS’ SAKE

MID-AMERICA BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

WINTER 2016 | WITNESS ONE:SEVEN | END-OF-YEAR GIVING | THE MID-AMERICA EXPERIENCE | PRAYER-POWERED COMEBACK

President’s Page

DESPITE THE TRIALS OF TODAY’S WORLD, GOSPEL POWER IS IN PRAYER’S REACH BY DR. MICHAEL SPRADLIN

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. —Zephaniah 2:3 Despite the many troubles, trials, and tribulations of today’s world, it is an exciting time to serve the Lord Jesus. The power of the Gospel is not diminished, and the opportunities to share the Gospel are endless. I have several burdens about which I would like you to join me in prayer. PRAY for a spiritual awakening in America. Moral decline and spiritual apathy are prevalent, but if we pray, I believe that the Lord will do a great work in our midst. PRAY for a great harvest of lost people coming to Jesus. The students of

Mid-America personally shared the Gospel over 7,000 times during the last school year. As a friend of MidAmerica, you can know that you helped almost 700 people pray to receive Christ during that time. You and I are involved in very few ministries that see 700 people come to Christ through person-to-person evangelism. But there is so much more to do! PRAY for the Lord to call people to the ministry and for the call to be answered. Students come to Mid-America and learn from a faculty with practical experience second to none. To us, local church ministry is not a theory to be taught but a lifetime of experience to be shared. Our veteran faculty have fought the good fight of ministry and know how to disciple others in the ministry. PRAY for a record number of people to accept the call to cross-cultural

Dr. Mike Spradlin, President Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary

ministry. At Mid-America, all of our professors are “missions professors.” The world is desperately lost, and Jesus is the answer. In this critical moment, it is good to keep our focus on our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Jesus saves! At MABTS, we will preach Jesus until He takes us home or until He calls us home. God is love. Jesus is wonderful.

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

COVER FOCUS God calls each of us to make a world of difference for the Gospel. The only question is, “Where in the world is He leading you?” That’s the focus of this issue of the Messenger— reaching the world, your world, for Christ through missions across the street and across the sea. VOLUME 44, NUMBER 2 WINTER 2016

Published by Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary PRESIDENT

Michael Spradlin, PHD EDITOR

Randy Redd CONTENT COORDINATOR

A CULTURE OF LOSTNESS Mid-America’s director of the Northeast Branch describes life where the darkness is overwhelming, and the Gospel is desperately needed.

Deanna Coscia DESIGN

Eternity Communications

12 18 20

THE MID-AMERICA EXPERIENCE

MABTS alum shares five “Ps,” enduring qualities of the MidAmerica experience. P.O. Box 2350 Cordova, Tennessee 38088-2350 901-751-8453 • info@mabts.edu MABTS.edu

MORE NEWS President’s Page 2 Witness One:Seven Report 4 Advancement 9 Save the Date 17 MABTS News 23

POWER FORWARD Dr. Mike Spradlin’s daughter, Laura, makes an amazing prayer-powered comeback after a devastating auto accident.

Practical Missions

Mid-America’s Practical Missions program is now called WITNESS ONE:SEVEN. The requirements for students remain unchanged: 1. Witness to at least one person every week (seven days), and 2. Complete at least two missions hours per week.

WITNESS ONE:SEVEN REPORT FALL 2016

TENNESSEE NEW YORK PRACTICAL MISSIONS

TOTAL

963

102

1,065

1,082

1,170

PROFESSIONS OF FAITH

SERMONS PREACHED

158

183

PERSONS WITNESSED TO

Practical missions reported August 1–October 7, 2016

PROFESSIONS OF FAITH SINCE 1972 = 163,663 4

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

THE UNSPEAKABLE JOY OF WITNESSING AND REAPING BY DR. KIRK KILPATRICK

This has been an encouraging fall season for all of our students as they have been active in our WITNESS ONE:SEVEN (formerly “Practical Missions”) program. The challenge before them is to witness to one person every week (seven days) with a clear presentation of the Gospel, giving them a chance to respond to the call to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. This challenge has them sharing wherever they work and at their chosen

mission site. Our students have given testimonies this fall of many professions of faith in Jesus. Sometimes these occurred in weekly evangelistic outreaches for their home churches, while other times students simply pointed their conversations at work back to the Gospel, making the most of the opportunity to share their faith. One of our students, Jessica Bowers, wrote of the blessing she experienced, for the first time, when she saw someone put their trust in Christ during her witnessing: This week, I had a profession of faith from one of the girls at the facility where I work. We had taken them to Celebrate Recovery where one lady gave her testimony, and it apparently

made an impact on her. That night when the girls were going to bed, she told me she wanted to give her life to Christ and asked me if I would pray with her. We talked about salvation, and I explained to her what she needed to pray for. It was the first time I’ve ever experienced praying with someone who desired a relationship with Christ and who was making a profession of faith, which was a blessing. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). Following Jesus and sharing Him with others is a path to joy that is unspeakable. You must experience it to understand such joy.

Alumni Missions

MABTS ALUMNUS KNOCKS, ENTERS THE DOOR TO CAREER MISSIONS BY JEFF SINGERMAN

Never, since I’d started my Christian journey, had the idea of committing my life to career missions crossed my mind, nor the thought of a tantalizing meal of sautéed caterpillars. In my life, the call and caterpillars are intrinsically linked! The reality of Christ’s death for my sin and His free forgiveness struck me during a Josh McDowell rally while I was a junior at the University of Tennessee. Christ’s Lordship immediately became a settled issue in my life. Whatever, whenever, wherever, became Christ’s direction in my decision to be His disciple. Some years later as I was preparing for pastoral ministries at MABTS, I sat in the old, wooden, former Jewish synagogue. I’d experienced several years of chapel services and sung countless times our Alma Mater, “To All the World for Jesus’ Sake.” Yet, I’d never felt compelled to walk forward and surrender to a mission’s path for my life. I rationally considered that if God desired that direction for me, He’d reveal it to me because of His Lordship. This particular spring morning, Dr. John Floyd preached and said something I’d never heard nor considered before. “Maybe you’re sitting there in that pew, ready and willing to serve the Lord in any capacity. But how will you know He does not want you to be a missionary unless you knock on the door? If it opens, walk through it. Get in touch with the Foreign Mission Board.”

His words were logical. They challenged and appealed to me. No lightning bolts struck. God didn’t part the veil of Heaven with a special revelation. There was simply and only the presence of a door. It was my responsibility to knock. I KNOCKED ON THE DOOR, then God called. Suddenly, I was aware that hundreds of others could apply for the youth ministry position I held, but who would go overseas to an unfulfilled priority request? The youth of America needed someone to tell them about Jesus, but how much more so those who had no one to tell them. Many could take my place, but how many would go? So began a life process of constantly knocking on the door. My wife, Barbara, and I applied to be missionaries with the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board [IMB]). We were appointed to be student workers in Benin, the birthplace of Voodoo, but after years walked through the door to become church planters among an unengaged, unevangelized people group (UUPG), the Ayizo (eye-ee-zoe). We also ministered as orality leadership trainers for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in French-speaking west African nations. Doors and callings. As we ministered side-by-side with African Baptists in engaging churches, we witnessed God working among the Ife, Ci, Maxi, Anii, and Foodo people groups. Countless thousands came to Christ. Among the Ayizo, using oral methods, we witnessed a church start in the mud hut village of Gandaxo (gahndah-hoe). The village was composed of primarily the Miko (mee-koe) family. Francois, Philbert, and Remy, young single men, quickly started sharing their

faith and preaching in Gandaxo as well as taking Christ to other Ayizo villages. Their family elders called a family meeting one Sunday morning early in the life of the church. Francois, along with another brother, chose Christ and went to the bamboo slatted church before attending the meeting. When they arrived at the meeting, they were met with wrath and beaten with nail studded boards by several Voodoo python worshipping elders. Upon MABTS Alumnus Jeff Singerman receiving a frantic call concerning Francois’ broken body, I raced to the village to admit Francois to a bush hospital. BUT THE MEN DIDN’T STOP SHARING the truth of Christ. When we left the Ayizo ministry in the hands of the Ayizo Baptist believers, 40 churches and preaching points had been established. The Ayizo first took Christ to the Ci people themselves. While directing a medical clinic in a village quite removed from Ayizo territory, several years after going on from purely Ayizo work, we were struck with how many “Mikos” were assisting us. Barbara turned to Remy and asked, “How many men in the Miko family are now preaching Christ?” The response? “Twelve.” They persevered under persecution. Christ is being made known. We’ve been privileged to witness

similar movements across other people groups by God’s grace. We simply knocked on the door. WALKING THROUGH THESE PREVIOUS DOORS prepared me to walk through the most recent one. Sitting in an urban evangelization conference in South Africa, Steve Moore, who was with Missio Nexus, said, “If you chart a different path, there is no telling the impact it could have on the Great Commission.” Many of the countries of Central Africa were considered a church planting “black hole” for IMB missions because of a lack of personnel, information, and current research. I’d visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) several times and had come to the realization that ministry there would be atypical because of the lack of established SBC work. Different. Unique. Steve’s words stirred powerfully in me. I’d already knocked on the door. God used Moore’s words to turn the knocking into a calling. In April 2015, God uprooted us from 24 years of learning culture and languages, creating relationships, and establishing effective ministry, plus our home in Benin, and transplanted us to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is one of seven nations clustered into the Congo Basin with 110 million people among which live 69 unengaged, unevangelized people groups with a combined population of more than 1.9 million. The number of IMB missionaries? Two. My wife and me. We were just one IMB couple to reinstate or start work among these nations. We felt overwhelmed. We’d traded a country of 10 million for an infrastructure-poor, population-unsustainable, 8

city of 12 million, the third largest city on the African continent and the largest French-speaking city in the world. Fifteen hundred people a day flood into Kinshasa. One church needs to be planted every day just to keep up with the population, while in Kinshasa 275 people die daily without Christ. THE CITY IS CHAOTIC, the work complex, and then there are the caterpillars. We’d never lived in a country in which a staple food source is sautéed caterpillars, each complete with their head, big eyes, and sixteen foot-less legs. From being alive and crawling in street vendors’ basins to large baskets of dried bodies in grocery stores, caterpillars of all varieties are everywhere. Their presence is an integral part and necessary to be tasted at nearly every church “pot luck” encounter. While establishing relationships, we delved into orality training. The first orality event trained 127 leaders from 23 churches. They, in turn, were to train their members to story evangelize. Two months later they reported the churches had collectively gained 757 new disciples! In one year we trained several national orality trainers and trained over 1,190 church leaders to reproduce the training in their own churches. As the trainees went out from the seminar to share Christ through the demoniac story in Mark 5:1–20, 328 people immediately professed Christ, with a multitude to follow as the churches put

orality into practice. During one training in the bush, a mayor from a village 25 miles away called the host pastor and said, “I hear you have missionaries teaching in your village. Come here tomorrow and tell us what you’ve learned.” He went. Nine people, including the mayor, surrendered to Christ and a baby church was formed. Pierre, the president of a Baptist convention, left his large church and planted a new one using oral methods. In months, his church had 250 members. Another pastor, two months after hosting an orality seminar joyfully complained, “We don’t have enough room! We have 60 new adult Christians!” God quickly granted us experienced IMB missionaries, Jay and Kathy Shafto, to transfer and join our team. Together with two African Baptist men, they have been training others to use stories in the Four Fields discipleship track. After one training, 11 cell groups were formed. Two of the trained men, burdened for another area, went there to train 70 church leaders with 150 in attendance. Five-hundred and forty-three people heard the Gospel during the training, 172 made decisions for Christ with 19 being immediately baptized. Paul said, “A wide door for effective work has opened for me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). IT ALL STARTED WITH A DOOR. A wide door. So many more could fit through it at a time. But few are knocking. How would the Great Commission be impacted, how would countless individuals, people groups and cities be impacted for Christ if you would just knock on the door?

INVESTING IN SERVANTS WHO ARE SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS The Lord is so good. During the months of October and November each year, seminary representatives gather with alumni at several Baptist state conventions and other alumni fellowships. I personally had the opportunity to meet, talk, pray, and fellowship with alumni at several alumni meetings this fall, and it was incredible. Hearing what the Lord is doing through them to further His Kingdom was absolutely inspiring. For example, the alumni and their families at the Arkansas Baptist Convention on Tuesday, October 25, communicated how the Gospel is being proclaimed throughout the world, eternally impacting lives for His Kingdom through their local churches that they pastor, mission organizations they lead, and believers mobilized to evangelize the lost. My heart was overwhelmed with joy. I was reminded of His precious Word in Psalm 40:5, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works.” MY HEART IS FULL OF GRATEFULNESS as our donors, who are dear friends of the seminary, demonstrate love to the Lord through their investment in the students of Mid-America. It was evident on the night of our annual Donors’ Appreciation Banquet that our beloved friends wholeheartedly

REMINDERS FOR END-OF-THE-YEAR GIVING FOR 2016 DEC

love the Lord and display their love to ones He has set apart for the proclamation of the Gospel. We are called to “make disciples,” but consistent giving energizes the proclaiming of the Gospel, through the current student population involved in our Witness One:Seven program, and our alumni as they share the love and hope of Christ in their churches and ministries at home and abroad. AS WE DRAW CLOSE TO THE END OF 2016, invest in His servants who are spreading the urgent and hopeful news of the Gospel. There are many ways to support the seminary through charitable gifts like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and/or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Our nation’s tax laws provide powerful benefits and saving incentives through charitable support. Whether you give cash or other assets, a minimal amount of planning may help you maximize your tax savings. To donate online immediately or through other options, please visit mabts.edu/support-mid-america. For personal assistance, please contact Duffy Guyton, Chief Development Officer, at dguyton@mabts.edu or 901-751-3030.

Discover more ways to invest in training that helps spread the Gospel:

mabts.edu/support-mid-america

zz Make your contribution(s) by December 31, 2016, to enjoy tax savings for 2016. zz Keep all receipts and acknowledgments for tax purposes. zz Giving stock or property that has increased in value may

DEC

provide greater tax savings. zz Gifts through wills, trusts, and other longrange financial plans are productive options to support the seminary. zz Consult your financial advisors regarding which methods of support are best for you and your family.

Messenger | Winter 2016

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

Church Planting

MODELING THE HOME IS KEY TO REACHING THIS LOST CULTURE BY DR. RAY MEADOWS

The Southwest city in which our team planted CrossLife Church, Phoenix, Arizona, is in the top 10 least biblically minded and contains a high percentage of broken families. It is reported that in our community of Anthem, which has a population of about 50,000 within a five-mile radius of our location, over 80 percent of the families have, at some time, experienced divorce. We experienced the result of this level of family brokenness last year when a friend of our daughter took his own life because of his parents’ divorce and his subsequent moving to our neighborhood. WE LIVE IN A CULTURE OF LOSTNESS with broken families, broken lives, and no knowledge of God or His ability and desire to redeem the fallen and repair the broken. We are ambassadors of the One who can mend any broken heart and provide peace and rest to all who are weary. Jesus commissioned His followers to make disciples, first and foremost. These new disciples come from this very culture of brokenness and absence of Bible knowledge. Where these new disciples exist, God proclaims we are to gather together to encourage one another, to minster with spiritual gifts given to each believer, and to continue the mission of God, multiplying ourselves and churches. These groups of called-out ones function as both body and a family. The concept of the family of God is modeled throughout Scripture. Believers in the New Testament often called one another “brother” or “sister.” They

understood that in Christ, they are adopted into the same family. God is our Father, and Jesus is both our Lord and Brother. Those who are in Christ experience the real and personal relationship the Father has with the Son. This same relationship, the love and care God has for His Son and Jesus’ love, humility, and sacrifice for humanity, is to be modeled in the church toward one another. Just as Paul explained in Philippians 2, Jesus saw the glory of Heaven as nothing to be held on to, but took upon Himself “the form of a bond slave,” humbling Himself all the way to the Cross! We, too, are to live humbly and sacrificially toward one another and be willing to leave the comfort and calm of our “house” to engage a lost and dying culture. In the current cultural context that is America, the greatest light we have to shine in the darkness of humanity is the light of a true Jesus follower who is willing to humble himself or herself to carry Christ into the dark places. God has called us to be shining lights in the darkness. When you are a part of the family of God, you are able to carry the name of God and the message of God into places that openly reject Jesus and His Cross. TWO OF THE WAYS WE TRY to accomplish our mission at CrossLife Church is through sports and music. Some of our core planting team members coach youth football, and we sponsor and play on a competitive men’s softball team. Youth football practice and games provide time with parents and families. Most are not believers, so we invite them to meals, coffee, and other events that allow us to invest in their families. We also invite the fathers to play on our softball team to provide more interaction. Our softball team is usually made up of about half unchurched unbelievers and half from

our church. Our most faithful families who worship with us were met through sports. Two of our core team members play in a band which offers music based on biblical themes but is enjoyable by

Mid-America alumnus Ray Meadows (MDIV 2007 and PHD 2013) and his wife Deenie

anyone, believer or not. We invite our friends we meet in sports and others in the community to come listen, and we are able to spend hours with them, getting to know them and hearing their life experiences. This provides opportunity to love and serve them and bring the Gospel into their lives. There is no better way to carry out the mission of God in our lost culture than to model the humble, sacrificial relationships found in godly homes. The broken families of our culture need Godhonoring parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces, brothers and sisters—the types of families they have never experienced. They need to see those who love God and will love and serve them unconditionally, but also verbally bring truth, the message of the Cross, and the Gospel of redemption into their lives. An old professor once said the mission of the church was to reach down into hell and rescue as many as would receive God’s message of salvation. Let’s not stay in our safe places just because it’s hot outside!

NEWS | EVENTS | PEOPLE | MINISTRY

Northeast Branch

UNDERSTANDING A CULTURE WITH NO GOSPEL WITNESS BY DR. MIKE HAGGARD DIRECTOR, MABTS NORTHEAST BRANCH

What is “lostness”? To someone who grew up in a nurturing Christian home, attended church regularly, and walked exclusively in Christian circles (all good things, by the way), lostness describes a foreign world in which non-Christian people live. As good Southern Baptists, we enter that world on occasion, usually to share the Gospel or serve in some other ministry capacity. Then, that world is exited almost as fast as it was entered, and often for sound biblical reasons. But what is it like to live in that world? What is it like to live day after day as a lost person, to walk only in lost circles, to know absolutely no one who is a Christian? Allow me to describe it, because I grew up in that environment. I GREW UP ON THE WEST COAST in an unchurched home with lost parents and siblings. We had a family Bible, but it was never opened nor discussed. Church was never discussed. As an elementary school-aged child and teenager, I did not know any of the Bible stories, any of the Bible personalities (except a vague awareness of Jesus), or any basic things about the Bible. I didn’t know who Moses, Gideon, or David was. I didn’t know any of the Old Testament prophets or stories. I didn’t know any of the New Testament Apostles. Foul language, alcohol, and tobacco were used in my home, and it was expected that we children would experiment with each—and we all did from time to time with no fear of parental correction or

discipline. The California culture, even in the 1960s and 1970s, was very liberal and permissive, and it set the tone for our moral choices. Culture, any culture, always wants to force you into its mold with all its sin and the disillusionment that comes with it. I was a complete reflection of that culture by the age of 16. My home was in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, an area that was home to millions. My school system was huge with hundreds of students, but I knew no Christians. There was no one I knew who went to church; there was no one I knew who professed Christianity; there was no one I knew who brought a Bible to school or wore a Jesus T-shirt to school—no one. No one ever knocked on our door to share the Gospel with us. My dad had no Christian coworkers, and we had no Christian neighbors. There was no one I could point to and say, “That’s a Christian.” We were all living the same way, all without hope and light. I lived in a Gospel-free zone. I RECEIVED THE GOSPEL and the gift of a Bible from a Gideon the day I enlisted in the U.S. Army in Oakland, California. I trusted Christ four months later, and by the grace of God, I departed from the world of lostness forever. After a military career, God led me to Mid-America for training. Now, I am privileged to serve Mid-America at the Northeast Branch in Schenectady, New York. I have always been interested in the Northeast, and I am honored that God has called us here. I am attracted to the Northeast because of the lostness. There are entire cities, towns, and villages here without a Gospel witness. There are children here who know no Bible stories. They don’t know who Moses, David, and Gideon are. They don’t know about Noah

and the Ark. They don’t know any stories about Jesus or the Apostles. There are teenagers here who attend huge school systems with hundreds of students who know no Christians. They know no one who brings a Bible to school or wears a Jesus T-shirt—no one. They live in communities where they have no Christian neighbors; their parents have no Christian coworkers, and sadly, no one has ever knocked on their door with the Good News of Jesus Christ. They live in Gospel-free zones. They will become like the parents who raised them and the culture around them and the lostness, and everything that comes with it will perpetuate itself. That is, unless someone brings the Good News of Jesus and shines the light of the Gospel into their lives. GOSPEL-FREE ZONES are everywhere here, but there is hope for some. There are some great churches of all sizes in the Northeast doing the stellar work of pushing back the darkness. MidAmerica’s Northeast Branch is playing a role: since our beginning in 1987, the Northeast Branch has produced 123 graduates of whom 81 percent are still in ministry. Sixty-seven of those graduates are pastoring churches in the Northeast, and 20 of those 67 are actively engaged in church planting in the Northeast. I cannot think of a better way to reduce the sea of lostness here in the Northeast than by producing laborers for harvest work. So, there is hope for some, but there is so much work yet to be done in the cities, towns, and villages that remain in Gospelfree zones. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2).

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

Missions Training

MABTS MISSIONS PROFESSOR SPREADS GLOBAL VISION IN THE CLASSROOM BY DR. MARK TERRY

Standing before King Agrippa, the Apostle Paul declared, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). Paul was declaring that God called him to be a missionary, and he had faithfully fulfilled his divine call. I, also, received a call from God, though mine was less dramatic than Paul’s. When I went to college at John Brown University, I already felt God calling me to serve Him in a special way, but I did not know exactly how. At college I met a wonderful girl, named Barbara Whittle. Barbara came to college to prepare for missionary service. I admired her commitment, but I did not share it. I thought all male missionaries served as evangelists or as medical doctors. I did not see myself as an evangelist, and I was not good enough at science to become a doctor. Therefore, I concluded that missions was definitely not for me. During my junior year, our college sponsored a missions conference; one of the speakers was a missionary to New Guinea named Rich Cannon. Providentially, I met him in the campus coffee shop, and he asked me if I had considered serving in missions. I replied that I did not feel called or able to be an evangelist or missionary doctor. He asked me about my college major. I told him that I was studying education. Rich said, “You need to learn 2 Timothy 2:2: And the things that you have learned from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Then, he proceeded to list

all the opportunities for teaching on the mission field. During my senior year, the college required us to take a course called The Christian Life. Our professor assigned us to read a missionary biography. I chose to read Bill Wallace of China because I had heard about Dr. Bill Wallace all my life. Bill Wallace was a Southern Baptist medical missionary to China. He died under torture by the Communist government of China in 1950. When I finished the biography, I laid it on the library table and thought, “Wow! What a commitment he had to world evangelization.” In my mind the Lord spoke to me and said, “I want you to have that same commitment.” At that moment I received my own “heavenly vision.” God wanted me to be a missionary educator. Barbara and I married, and we wrote the Foreign Mission Board, informing them of our call to missions. They wrote back and instructed me to go to seminary. My pastor encouraged me to enroll at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, so that is where I went in 1972. In April 1975 we were appointed as missionaries by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and I graduated in May. Some months later we landed in Davao City in the southern Philippines. We were assigned to teach at the Mindanao Baptist Bible School (later Southern Philippine Baptist Seminary). AFTER LANGUAGE STUDY, the Philippine Baptist Mission required me to

spend a year as a field evangelist (church planter) before beginning my teaching. I chafed at that; I thought that requirement only postponed fulfilling my calling by 12 months. How wrong I was! I enjoyed my year as a church planter immensely.

I CAN PREACH OR TEACH IN ONLY ONE PLACE AT ONE TIME, BUT THROUGH MY STUDENTS I CAN PREACH AND TEACH SIMULTANEOUSLY ALL OVER THE WORLD. I loved working with the churches. I climbed mountains and forded rivers. I walked though rice paddies and trekked through banana plantations. I had a great time, and I learned a lot, which, of course, is what the Philippine Baptist Mission intended. At the end of the 12 months of church planting, I was torn between taking up my teaching assignment and continuing to do evangelism and church planting. I spoke with a veteran missionary, Les Hill, and asked his advice. He said, “Ask yourself whether it is better to do the work of 10 men, or to train 10 men to do the work.” His wise reply helped me decide to begin my teaching ministry, and I have never regretted that. I enjoyed teaching at the Bible School, and I also got to do church planting on weekends and when the Bible School was not in session.

Due to family needs, we resigned from the Foreign Mission Board, now International Mission Board, in 1989. We came back to the United States to serve at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, a Kentucky Baptist Convention institution in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. There, I taught missions and served as academic dean. After four years at Clear Creek College, I accepted an invitation to join the faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Al Mohler, the new president, and I arrived on campus in July 1993. This was the period of the Conservative Resurgence, and Southern Seminary was like a combat zone for three years. One exciting development during those difficult years was the founding of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. The Billy Graham School opened in the fall of 1994, and I served as the associate dean. We saw the Billy

Graham School grow from 42 students that first semester to over 900 by 2004. IN 2001, SOUTHERN SEMINARY asked me to travel to the Malaysia Baptist Seminary to teach for three weeks in their School of Transcultural Mission. I enjoyed doing that, and I was fascinated by the students who came from all over Asia to study at that seminary. Southern Seminary asked me to go again in 2003, and Barbara accompanied me. As we flew back to the States, I said to Barbara, “I believe God is calling us to serve at Malaysia Baptist Seminary. What do you think?” She replied, “Yes, I do, too.” We prayed about this and soon applied to the International Mission Board for reappointment as missionaries. God opened many doors for us, and we were reappointed in November 2004 and arrived in Penang, Malaysia, in April 2005. At that seminary we began a Master of Missiology program and a Doctor of

Missiology program, the only indigenous Doctor of Missiology program in Asia. As we grew older, we began to consider our “retirement.” In 2012, Dr. Jeff Brawner from Mid-America Baptist Seminary came to teach at the School of Transcultural Mission. When we spoke, he informed me that Mid-America was seeking a missions professor. He asked me if I would be interested. I said that I would speak to Barbara, and we would pray about it. We felt led to continue, and the seminary invited me to join the faculty. I began teaching in August 2013. Throughout my ministry I have sought to fulfill my heavenly vision— to serve as a missionary and train others to serve in missions. I have made it my aim to multiply myself. I can preach or teach in only one place at one time, but through my students I can preach and teach simultaneously all over the world.

Dr. Mark Terry Chairman of the Department of Missions Professor of Missions, MABTS

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

HANDEL’S MESSIAH

SPRING BREAK

December 6, 7:00 p.m.

March 13–24

LAST DAY TO SUBMIT APPLICATION FOR SPRING SEMESTER

MARCH MINI-TERM

December 30

NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION AND REGISTRATION

January 6

SPRING SEMESTER CLASSES BEGIN January 17

LAST DAY TO SUBMIT APPLICATION FOR MARCH MINI-TERM

January 27

MARCH MINI-TERM REGISTRATION

February 6–12

March 13–24

PHD SEMINAR WEEKS

March 27–April 14

SPRING PREVIEW DAY March 28

DMIN SEMINARS

April 10–14

LAST DAY TO SUBMIT DMIN APPLICATION

May 1

GRADUATION

May 12

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

Alumni Reflections

THE FIVE Ps OF THE MID-AMERICA EXPERIENCE BY DR. MONTE SHINKLE

It is an honor to write a few words of appreciation and thanksgiving for a school that I dearly love. Mid-America changed my life. I came to know Christ in 1972 while attending the University of Kentucky. God was moving across our nation and on our college campuses at that time. The Vietnam War was winding down and the “Jesus Movement” was happening in California. The overflow of that touched my campus, but it was in a small Kentucky Baptist church on an October Saturday night that Jesus saved me. It is hard for me to separate my salvation experience from my call to preach. I was certain of it. I had a Christian upbringing with godly parents and a good home church. With the assurance of salvation on that Saturday night came a great burden and desire to preach. Doors began to open, and in 1973 I became pastor of Clark’s Creek Baptist Church near Dry Ridge, Kentucky. I would remain their pastor for four years. In 1977 I was just beginning to learn what I didn’t know about pastoring a church. I am still learning. I was working in the family business, pastoring, leading a young family, and feeling a stirring of the Lord. A call to preach is a call to prepare. I was learning that. I needed something more than a degree in agriculture. I needed to go to seminary. The late 70s were interesting days in SBC life. There was a seminary just down the road, but I was advised by some friends that I might not “fit” there. A student

there told me to check out Mid-America. I had not heard of it. I didn’t even know where it was. I checked it out and enrolled. On August 15, 1977, Betty and I moved to Memphis. Elvis died the next day. I have never regretted that decision. “Mid America will hinder your ministry,” I was told. “It will limit your opportunities.” “You will not be able to do anything in SBC life.” I heard the naysayers. I am so glad I didn’t listen. When I think back on my experience at Mid-America, five things come to mind. PEOPLE People shape our lives. I have been left with a lifetime of memories. Dr. Gray. Dr. Phil. Dr. Preston. Drs. Skinner, Millikin, Floyd, Bickers, Powell, Barnard, Beamon, Farris, Hight, Henderson, and Charlie Culpepper. So many of them are gone but certainly not forgotten. They live on in this aging preacher boy. I made some of the best friends I could ever imagine in the classrooms and lunchroom at Mid-America. You do not get that in an online class. Things change, but these people and memories continue to shape my life. PERSEVERANCE It was tough at Mid-America. My life was being shaped in those days. “Just don’t quit!” became a philosophy. Warren Wiersbe said that much of ministry is “Preach and pray and plod away.” I like that. I can do that. As I finish 25 years at Concord, I still plod away. I learned that at Mid America. We learned that “he who winneth souls is wise” and that soul winning takes determination and consistency.

PREACHING I learned the primacy of preaching. Expository preaching. Evangelistic preaching. We heard some great preaching. The best of America’s preachers passed through. In addition to our own professors, there was a young pastor named Adrian. Homer Lindsay, Jerry Vines, Fred Wolfe, Bailey Smith, Vance Havner, B R Lakin, E J Daniels, and so many more. We learned the discipline of preparing sermons true to the text. PROPRIETY We learned that doing things properly was important. Good manners were always appropriate. “Stand when a lady steps on the platform.” “Tuck in your shirttail.” Speak properly, dress properly, and moderate a business meeting properly. There is a proper way to deal with conflict. PREEMINENCE “That in all things He might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). This became much more than a verse. It became a way of life to so many of us. Keep Jesus lifted up. Stay faithful. Don’t quit. Ultimately our heart and philosophy are shaped by this. Mid-America is as relevant today as ever. The theological world is changing, and the SBC is shifting, and Mid-America is needed. I am forever grateful for MidAmerica Baptist Theological Seminary and how the Lord used it in my life.

MABTS alum Dr. Monte Shinkle (MDIV 1980, DMIN 1994) Senior Pastor, Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Missouri

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

Inspiring Story

LAURA SPRADLIN’S AMAZING PRAYERPOWERED COMEBACK

artery, the major blood vessel carrying blood to the brain, had been damaged; and shattered glass was embedded in her face. Other injuries included a severed leg tendon and dislocated elbow. “We knew things were pretty serious Watching Laura Spradlin drain 3-pointers as soon as we saw her,” Lee Ann said. and block shots, it’s hard to believe a car After several bad reports, family members crash nearly took her life. prepared for the worst. “I love that basketball is Laura’s parents refused a game for tall people,” said to leave her alone at Regional Spradlin, who has played since One Health in Memphis. They she was 5. At almost 6-foot-2, initially split shifts during the not being able to play basketball day, while family and friends was torture. “I couldn’t run for stayed nights. Known as the months because of my injuries,” MED to locals, the hospital she said. is staffed by highly trained “But I knew I needed to trauma specialists, though Mike try my hardest because I really Spradlin admitted, “We had wanted to play again.” only heard horror stories about Driving alone on her the MED. What we found way to school, Spradlin was was the complete opposite. severely injured when her car The doctors and nurses were collided with a pickup truck at wonderful. a Memphis-area intersection “IT WAS LIKE THE January 22, 2014. Despite WHOLE CITY of Memphis was doctors’ low expectations, taking care of our daughter.” Spradlin aimed to stay positive Although on heavy amid the rigors of her recovery. medication, Laura turned a “Rehab was my corner just four days after the opportunity,” she said. accident. “Dad, I think I’m “Whenever they told me to in the hospital,” she said in a walk for five minutes, I asked if surprise early morning wake-up I could walk a mile.” call that sent her parents racing NEWS OF THE Laura Spradlin, daughter of Mid-America President Dr. Mike to the hospital, anxious to see Spradlin, was severely injured in a devastating auto accident in ACCIDENT initially devastated their daughter awake. her parents. “On the way to the 2014. God’s grace enabled her to recover and regain her athletic abilities, and she now plays college basketball. In subsequent days and hospital, we prayed for God weeks, word spread of the to spare her life,” said Mike Spradlin, Strapped in a neck brace, her left accident. “So many people wanted to visit president of Mid-America Baptist eye was swollen shut. Still in a coma, she Laura and help us,” Lee Ann Spradlin Theological Seminary. “She was only suffered from massive brain bleeding said. “We were overwhelmed by the 17 and I prayed she wouldn’t be in a and a fracture in which part of her face support.” Laura’s aunt created a personal wheelchair the rest of her life.” Though had separated from her skull. Her front website to give updates. People around the idea of losing their only daughter teeth had been knocked out; a carotid the world prayed and posted encouraging

Messenger | Winter 2016

and youngest of their three children was heart-wrenching, Spradlin’s mother Lee Ann rejected fear that tried to set in. The Lord immediately reminded her “Laura was right with Him no matter what happened.” Laura was in critical but stable condition when her parents first saw her.

messages. Friends delivered hot meals and Spradlin’s basketball team even collected money to help with expenses. “We are so grateful for the body of Christ,” Lee Ann Spradlin said. “The family of God was there to help us with whatever we needed.” RECOVERY WAS EXCRUCIATING for Spradlin due to diet restrictions. “My jaw was wired shut and I had to drink all my food through a straw. I was always so hungry,” she said. “They brought me cream of mushroom soup for breakfast. It was horrible.” Rejecting sugary protein shakes and smoothies, she lost 32 pounds. “I was upset because they wanted me to drink all this sugar and I couldn’t move around or work out,” she said. Even when the nutritionist threatened to insert a feeding tube, Laura wouldn’t concede. She wasn’t satisfied until she could eat her mom’s chicken tortellini soup. “It tasted so good and I finally felt full.” Mood and memory changes added to Laura’s challenges. Family members never knew if she would angrily lash out, cry uncontrollably or be joyful. In difficult moments when attempts to calm her failed, nurses had to restrain her.

Her parents remained hopeful that her brain would recover. “I know it was hard for them,” Laura said. “They had to keep repeating things to me because I wouldn’t remember what happened the day before. I still have bad brain days,” she said. “But compared to how they thought I would be, I’m so much better.” After four weeks in the hospital, 11 surgeries and months of rehab, Spradlin returned to basketball with flair and vigor. She shocked everyone in her first game by shooting a 3-pointer. Her game, now bolstered by a six-day-a-week workout regimen, had changed—and everyone could see it, especially intimidated opponents who don’t think she can shoot because she’s tall.

Spradlin’s most striking change is her relationship with Christ. “God taught me to trust Him more,” she said, reflecting a joy in sharing her testimony. “When I was in the hospital, everything was taken away. I couldn’t walk, or play the piano or play basketball.” With no guarantee she would recover, Spradlin focused on the Lord. “He was all I needed to be happy and fulfilled,” she said. “And once I got everything back, I realized I didn’t need those things as much as I thought.” THIS FALL, SPRADLIN WILL BE A POWER FORWARD for Ouachita Baptist University’s Lady Tigers in Arkadelphia, Ark., her spot on the team secured by an impressive tryout. Despite her achievement, Spradlin cautions young people against becoming fixated on sports, friends and their social lives. “We can make those things our god and push our spiritual life to the side,” she said. “In the scope of things, your soul is what really matters. When I almost died, I learned what was really important.” This story was written by Redunda Noble and is reprinted with permission from Baptist Press (bpnews.net).

MABTS.edu | Mid-America

Alumni Profile

SPRING PREVIEW DAY MARCH 2017 MABTS28, ALUM

RECEIVES OBU PROMISING TEACHER AWARD

NEW! ACCELERATED DEGREE and service as a mentor.” Apocalypse of John. In 2010, he PROGRAM CUTS TIME AND COST Bandy says this commitment and published his dissertation as “The

Come spend the day with us at the MABTS Spring Preview Would you like to earn two degrees—Bachelor and Master—in dedication to students, for which he Prophetic Lawsuit in the Book of Day, March 28, 2017. Whether you’re interested in the as little as five years? Now you can with Mid-America’s new was honored, was modeled for him by Revelation” in Sheffield Phoenix Press’s Associate, Bachelor, Master, or Doctoral level program, we Accelerated Degree Program. Bachelor faculty at MABTS. “They took time to New Testament Monograph Series. He have a special day planned just for you. You’ll join in on a class, students can take up to 30 hours invest in me personally as I hammered has also contributed to God, Marriage, tour our campus and student housing, and attend chapel to of Master-level credit by taking out my theology or struggled with issues and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical hear Dr. Michael Spradlin, President of Mid-America. While 10 of the 15 courses offered in ministry,” he said. “They took me Foundation, The Cradle, the Cross, Mid-America alum Dr.enjoying Alan S. Bandy lunch, you will hear from in the Dual Credit format. witnessing and showed me their love for and the Crown: A Comprehensive was recently honored with thestudents, Promisingfaculty, and staff, all Current Master students people and passion for the gospel. I have Introduction to the New Testament, Teacher Award at Oklahoma Baptist describing seminary life and can take some courses sought to reproduce all of these traits in and Invitation to Biblical Interpretation University, where he is an Assistant our connection between that they had previously my life, ministry and teaching.” (Kregel, 2011). Professor of New Testament. learning and community. on the Bachelor BANDY HAS BEEN ACTIVELY In terms of academic, as well as Bandy credits his time at MidWe look forward to level in the Credit By involved in church ministry since 1992, personal, influences, he remembers America for helping prepare him for getting to know you! Examination (CBE) holding positions including senior pastor, “marveling at the vastness of God and the teaching, saying that at MABTS, “I was TO REGISTER, visit format. The bottom-line associate pastor, and student pastor in complexity of theology with rapturous able to get up close to my professors bothmabts.edu, e-mail benefits include: churches in North Carolina, Tennessee delight while listening to Dr. John in and outside of the classroom. They dsneed@mabts.edu, zz Quicker path to ministry and Kentucky. He has led OBU students Mahoney lecture,” and credits Dr. Kirk were men who lived their calling, and or call the admissions zz Less expense on Global Outreach trips to the work Kilpatrick for instilling him with a passion they were role models to me for teaching office at (901) 751zz Broader learning through less course among people groups in the Amazon “to teach in such a way to facilitate the excellence that emphasizes the supremacy 3060. Deadline to register and instructor redundancy jungle. Bandy recalled the Mid-America presence of God in the classroom.” He of Christ.” is March 24, 2017. Come For complete details, visit MABTS.EDU/ACCELERATED alma mater as he described his desire to traces his heart for missions, in part, to BANDY GRADUATED preview FROM your future! or contact the Registrar’s office at (901) 751-3023. take students on international trips “so his study under Dr. Howard Bickers, Mid-America with a DEGREE? in that they will go ‘to all the world for Jesus’ and notes that Dr. Steve Miller impacted YEAR? and went on to complete his sake.’” him to “pursue scholarship in the PhD at Southeastern Baptist Theological He also expressed his passion for his original languages and with attention Seminary. Before joining the faculty at students to be “amazed and captivated to the discipline of archeology,” while Oklahoma Baptist in 2009, Bandy served by the Word of God and the God acknowledging a number of other as assistant director of PhD studies Sons of thefor 43rd tells the story of two men who left their small-town America to travel around the world of the Word.” “I want them to think teachers who were also influential in his Southeastern Baptist Theological, and fightasan enemy they had never met. One man survived World War II, and the other disappeared, his through the text for themselves as I was maturation as a student and teacher. assistant professor of Christian Studies until a chance discovery 50 years later. Delmar Dotson of Pound, Virginia, lost his father and fate unknown encouraged to do while at MABTS,” he “I know enough by now to know that at Louisiana College, and grew as anup adjunct in an orphanage. The disappearance of his plane in said. “I learned how to read the Bible any award I may earn is only because so professor at Liberty University Online. the jungles of New Guinea has haunted his family for decades. at MABTS, and I learned how to think many men and women have impacted me During the presentation Bandy’s(circled in photo at right) of Ida, Louisiana, also GrayofAllison about its implications for all areas of along the way,” Bandy said. “I believe that award, which honors outstanding lost his father but later in life. Both men found a home in the life. I want to produce a generation of this award is a recognition of the great teaching potential, OBU President David 43rd Bombardment Group fighting the Japanese, first in New brilliant young minds who are submitted teachers who taught me how to think, Whitlock described him asGuinea an exemplary and finally, for Allison, at the doorstep of Japan. to the authority of Scripture, who are study, love, and teach.” teacher, not onlyis on campusEmeritus but Dr. involved B. Gray Allison President of Mid-America, and Delmar Dotson knowledgeable of the entire canon, and Bandy and his wife, Necoe, have five in lives of students. is athe relative of his current MABTS President and the book’s author, Dr. Mike Spradlin. who are skilled at interpreting the text children. “His YOUR classes are rigorous andoffilled to from Amazon at amzn.com/1613143508 ORDER COPY of Sons the 43rd accurately.” capacity,” Whitlock said. “His personal or any other book retailers. BANDY’S AREA OF EXPERTISE concern and commitment reach far includes the New Testament and beyond the classroom. His students seek Greek, with a specialization in The him out for assistance, encouragement,

NEW! BOOK BY DR. MIKE SPRADLIN TRACES WW II STORY OF GRAY ALLISON AND DELMAR DOTSON—A STORY OF BRAVERY, STRENGTH, AND GRIT

MABTS NEWS NEWS | EVENTS | PEOPLE | MINISTRY

Messenger | Summer 2012

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MEMPHIS, TN PERMIT NO. 831

P.O. Box 2350 • Cordova, Tennessee 38088-2350 901-751-8453 • info@mabts.edu MABTS.edu

WILL STUDENT DEBT KEEP YOU...

$17,465

AS D IN FEATURE ITY N CHRISTIA Y A TOD !

...FROM MINISTERING FREELY?

EVERY MID-AMERICA STUDENT IS ON 70% SCHOLARSHIP.

The ball and chain of student debt can overburden the passion in a servant’s heart. At Mid-America, we believe being free to answer God’s call is priceless. We offer you world-class scholarship at down-toearth costs. Compare our tuition and you’ll see that our annual cost is about 60% less than most similar institutions. How are we able to keep our academic quality so high and tuition so low? The answer, quite simply, is God’s provision through faithful donors. Get the full story at MABTS.EDU/FREEDOM. $7,190

MDIV Degree Average

MABTS

Costs are “per year” based on 2015–2016 tuition and fees. “Degree Average” based on Association of Theological Schools data.

MEMPHIS • NEW YORK • ONLINE