R E C ON C I LI AT IO N

R AC I A L
contact The Ministry Magazine of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary | Fall 17 | Vol. 45 No. 1 | Racial Reconciliation
 THEN GOD SAID,
LET US MAKE MANKIND
IN OUR IMAGE,
ACCORDING TO OUR
LIKENESS...
GE N E S I S 1 : 2 6

contents
f e at u r e s articles contd

6 New Institute Focusing On The Black 28 When Sunday Comes, Oh What a Time It Will Be!
Christian Experience Kenneth Young
Anne B. Doll
29 Learning from a Legend: Gardner C. Taylor
9 Love of Neighbor & Its Challenges to Jared E. Alcntara
Racial Reconciliation
Patrick T. Smith 30 Racial Reconciliation: My Personal Experience
Dean Borgman
14 A Conversation with Dr. Emmett G. Price III
Anne B. Doll 32 From the Beginning: The Development of an Urban
Ministry Campus to Serve the CIty and the Church
18 In Our Shoes: What Does it Mean to Be Black
in America?
news

articles
34 whats new?
20 How Do We Learn to Love Our Neighbor?
A Lesson From My Mother
Michelle D. Williams reach

21 Can We All Get Along? 38 On a Gratitude Journey!

Jacqueline T. Dyer Kurt W. Drescher

22 How Do We Learn to Love Our Neighbor? alumni

Some Reflections
Quonekuia Day 40 alumni spotlight: gunja b. tamang (math 05)

23 Ministering to Families in the Urban Context 42 alumni notes

Virginia Ward

25 Beyond Colorblind reflections

Sarah Shin
46 In Memoriam: Haddon W. Robinson
27 Vice Chair of Gordon-Conwell Board
47 Opening the Word: Hope
Addresses Charlotte Unrest
Claude Alexander Jeffrey D. Arthurs
contact
The Ministry Magazine of
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Fall 17 | Vol. 45 No. 1 | Racial Reconciliation
reflections from the president
Interim Director of Communications & Marketing
and Editor of Contact
Mrs. Anne B. Doll
Christians have frequently viewed racial justice and reconciliation as political
Assistant Director of Communications & Marketing issues that are not central to the Christian Faith. But the Bible will not let us
Ms. Sarah Leong off the hook so easily. Racial reconciliation and justice are core outworkings of
Assistant Director of Creative Services
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ms. Nicole S. Rim
Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that our salvation comes only by Gods grace
Inquiries regarding Contact may be addressed to:
through faith in Jesus Christ, owing nothing to human works. But the next
Editor, Contact
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary verse tells us that We are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do
130 Essex Street, South Hamilton, MA 01982 good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). Paul
communications.office@gordonconwell.edu immediately turns to one of the first major ethical issues the Church faced,
www.gordonconwell.edu
978.468.7111 racial/ethnic reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles. Herein the good works
of God are to be demonstrated, as an integral implication of the Gospel of
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary does not Jesus Christ.
discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national
or ethnic origin, age, handicap or veteran status.
Racial injustices and prejudices frequently categorize the other with
derogatory language, and so it was in the conflict between Jew and Gentile.
Circumcision and uncircumcision (v. 11) were labels of distrust, hatred
board of trustees co-founder and and racial superiority. But Paul tells us that in Christ new patterns have
Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger,
President
trustee emeritus
Dr. William F. Graham
dawned, transforming the old categories into a new reality: For he himself is
Rev. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr., our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier,
Chairman president and the dividing wall of hostility (v. 14). Gods purpose in all of this was not to
Rev. Dr. Claude R. trustee emeritus
Alexander, Jr. Dr. Robert E. Cooley destroy their ethnic identity, but to create in himself one new humanity out
Vice Chairman of the two, thus making peace and to put to death their hostility (vs. 15-
Dr. Shirley A. Redd president emeritus
Secretary Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. 16). Consequently, they were no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow
Mr. Ivan C. Hinrichs citizens with Gods people and also members of his household (v. 19).
Treasurer presidents cabinet
Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger,
Mr. Joel B. Aarsvold President We have a long troubled history of racial discrimination and injustice in
Dr. Diana Curren Bennett Dr. David Currie, American society, evidenced in recent events. In reality many countries and
Rev. Dr. Garth T. Bolinder Dean of the Doctor of
Mr. R. Bruce Bradley Ministry Program & the cultures reflect similar fallen actions and attitudes. But the Gospel comes to
Dr. Stan D. Gaede Ockenga Institute heal these breaches, by reconciling us not only to God through Christ, but
Mrs. Joyce A. Godwin Mr. Kurt W. Drescher,
Mrs. Sharon Fast Vice President of also to each other. Such actions are not optional. They are foundational to the
Gustafson, Esq. Advancement meaning of the Gospel.
Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes Mr. Neely Gaston,
Mr. Gerald L. Hector Executive Director at
Mr. Herbert P. Hess Charlotte Campus
Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger Ms. Robin Higle,
Rev. Dr. Peter G. James Executive Director of
Mrs. Priscilla Hwang Lee Organizational Effective-
Mr. Caleb Loring III ness & Human Resources
Mrs. Joanna S. Mockler Dr. Richard Lints, Dennis P. Hollinger, Ph.D.
Dr. Charles W. Pollard, Esq. Vice President President &
Mr. Fred L. Potter, Esq. for Academic Affairs
Mrs. Virginia M. Snoddy Dr. Seong Park,
Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor
Rev. Dr. David D. Swanson Dean of the of Christian Ethics
Dr. Joseph W. Viola Boston Campus
Dr. William C. Wood Mr. Jay Trewern,
Vice President for Finance
emeriti members and Operations / CFO
Dr. Richard A. Armstrong
Rev. Dr. Richard P. Camp
Mr. Thomas J. Colatosti
Rev. Dr. Leighton S. Ford
Mr. Roland S. Hinz
 f e at u r e s

Gordon-Conwell Mourns with the Heart of God

Following the Charlottesville tragedies, President Dennis P. Hollinger and

ISBCE Executive Director, Dr. Emmett G. Price III, led the Gordon-Conwell
community in a day of prayer.

Dr. Price stated, The violent activities in Charlottesville should cause all of
us to pause, reflect, pray, lament and commit to action. While some are visibly
shaken, others are paralyzed and silently fearful of how to respond, if at all.
We believe that silence cannot be the response of the leaders of the Church.
In the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, For God gave us a spirit not of
fear but of power and love and self-control... (2 Timothy 1:7).

4 contact | fall 2017

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fall 2017 | contact 5

articles

NEW INST IT U T E FO CUS ING O N T HE

BLACK CHRISTIAN
EXPERIENCE

I
n Fall 2017, Gordon-Conwell will formally launch a timely and
important new initiative: the Institute for the Study of the Black
Christian Experience (ISBCE).

The new institute is guided by the desire to share with the global
Church the powerful testimony, rich heritage and dynamic distinctives of
the collective Black Christian experience across the many denominations
of the Black Church.

Furthermore, its aim is to engage in the theological formation of semi-

narians, pastors and activists; encourage research and scholarship by fac-
ulty and institute fellows; stimulate interactive dialogue locally, regional-
ly, nationally and internationally and provide educational opportunities
through lectures, forums and symposia.

Leading this Institute are faculty members Dr. Emmett G. Price III, Dean
of the Chapel and Professor of Worship, Church and Culture, who serves
as Executive Director; and Dr. Patrick Smith, Associate Professor of Philo-
sophical Theology and Ethics, who serves as ISBCE Associate Director.

According to Dr. Price, Evangelicals have had a peculiar history in the

sense that there have always been some evangelicals left out of the ma-
jor narrative. Even today, that narrative is around white evangelicals.
ATS (the Association of Theological Seminaries in the United States and
Canada) and The Barna Group have done important studies revealing
that huge populations among people of color have been left out of the
chronicles of evangelicals. And so that gave us a springboard to consider
what contributions the seminary we both love could be.

6 contact | fall 2017

 articles

The new institute is guided by the

desire to share with the global church
the powerful testimony, rich heritage
and dynamic distinctives of the
collective Black Christian experience.

Gordon-Conwell already has a
wealth of rich resources in the Cen-
ter for the Study of Global Christian-
ity and the J Christy Wilson Center
for World Missions, he explains. And
while most institutions studying the
Black Church do so from a domestic
perspective, our seminarys under-
standing has always been global. Its
reflected in our vision, To advance
Christs Kingdom in every sphere
of life by equipping Church leaders
to think theologically, engage glob-
ally and live biblically. And so our
goal is to take all the pieces we have
here, incorporate the Black presence
across global Christianity and then
do in-depth study on the complex and
comprehensive experiences of Black
Christians.
Dr. Smith adds, That was one of the
reasons we wanted to emphasize
the Black Christian experience, and
to pay attention to the Black pres-
ence, at least of the African American
Church. We think this emphasis has
the opportunity to speak globally.
Within this experience are distinc-
tives grounded in rich biblical and
theological narratives that we think
can provide insights for individuals
and the Church at large about what it
means to do life together.
The Institute will offer courses, forth-
coming degree options and concen-
trations, symposia, seminars and in-
teractive research opportunities for
students as well as scholarly reports
and publications.
Well be looking at the histories of
a variety of Black Christian experi-
ences, from the continent of Africa
through South and Central America,
the Caribbean and West Indies, and
then the wide bandwidth of experi-
ences within North America, Dr.
Price explains. Well also be looking
at various approaches to theology
through the lens of the Black Chris-
tian experienceand studying the
ways in which church administration
and ecclesiology have occurred, to
glean what are best practices, so as to
inspire local clergy and laity to con-
sider using them in their ministries.
Some of the ground work is already
in place related to theological forma-
tion. Because Dr. Smith teaches some
related core courses in the Theology
and Ethics Department, he has been
steadily revising those classes, incor-
porating more reading and insights
from the Black Christian experience.
The goal, he says, is to expose stu- er world.
dents to the larger conversation and
introduce them to the names, posi-
tions and views that may not be a part
of their ecclesial heritage, but would
still be important for their theological
formation and ministerial training.
Dr. Price has already taught sev-
eral courses, including, The Project
of Reconciliation: Intersectionality,
Church and Culture, at the South
Hamilton campus and The Bible and
Race at the Jacksonville campus.
He notes that the composition of
these has been extremely diverse
the full swath of gender, ethnicity
and nationality. Our seminary is one
of the most diverse in terms of global
composition. These courses are not
just for Black folk.
Two more courses will be available
during the 2017-2018 academic year:
The Prophets of the Civil Rights
Movement and The Theology of Black
Music.
We also hope to tackle the theologi-
cal and ethical work that focuses on
justice, because often we want rec-
onciliation without reparation, Dr.
Smith adds. We tend to focus on
reconciliation efforts, but do not deal
with the underlying questions where
there may be injustices.
I think that the ecclesial focus of
what it means to prepare pastors
globally, in tandem with the deep
theological reflection that attends to
those issues of justice and what that
means for human communities, can
lead into more sustainable issues of
reconciliation among the wider body
of Christ, and ultimately, as we bear
witness to the Gospel, out to the larg-
The seminary recently announced a
new ISBCE Scholars program, and
recruitment is underway to identify
five qualified students for this initia-
tive. The new scholars will receive 50
percent tuition remission, and will
work closely with Drs. Smith and
Price to help build the program and
handle a number of internal projects.
They will also continue to extend the
resources of the Institute to the Bos-
ton, Charlotte and Jacksonville cam-
puses, and are pursuing grants and
communicating with private donors
who have already expressed a desire
to collaborate with the seminary in
its development of the new Institute.
For more information
on the Institute for the Study
of the Black Christian Experience
at Gordon-Conwell, please visit:
www.gcts.edu/ISBCE

fall 2017 | contact 7

f e at u r e s

Love of
Neighbor
& Its Challenge
to Racial
Reconciliation
Patrick T. Smith, Ph.D.

8 contact | fall 2017

 articles

T
here is the story of a man walking along a deserted road when he happens
upon a magic lamp. He picks it up and out comes a genie. The genie is grateful
that he has been released from this lamp. So he tells the man that he can have
one wish. The only stipulation is that he cant ask for more wishes. So the man
thinks for a moment. Then he says to the genie, My spouse has always wanted for us to go to
Hawaii. However, I am afraid to fly. So I would like you to build a bridge from the United States
to Hawaii so that we can go on a nice vacation.

The genie responded to this request by saying, This is a very difficult task. There is a lot of
complex engineering involved in such an endeavor, let alone the amount of materials needed.
All of the issues surrounding plate tectonics make it an extremely difficult task. It is almost an
impossible task. You need to choose something else. The man thinks for a moment and then
says, My spouse mentioned the other day about her desire for me to understand her better.
Okay, thats it. I wish that you can help me understand my spouse better. The genie pauses and
says, Do you want that bridge in two lanes or four?

fall 2017 | contact 9

articles
Some things are so interpersonally
challenging and emotionally complex
that wed rather not even try to engage
them. Wed rather take on other
seemingly difficult, and maybe even
impossible, tasks instead of entering
into such areas of high sensitivity
that create immense psychological
discomfort and social tension. This
might characterize the experience
of many Christians when thinking
about race, racial injustice and racial
reconciliation. For some, it can be
quite a contentious issue regardless of
where we stand. But it is necessary that
disciples of Jesus enter in. It is necessary
because racial injustice still plagues our
human communities. It is necessary
because our Christian witness with
respect to these concerns matters. It is
necessary for us to enter in because the
Gospel demands us to do so.
I want to suggest that the parable of
the Good Samaritan has implications
for Christian ethics with respect to
racial justice. And further, that these
implications provide some insight into
why some of our best efforts at racial
reconciliation might continue to be less
successful than we desire.
It is necessary for us to
enter in because the Gospel
demands us to do so.
10 contact | fall 2017
THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD
SAMARITAN - LOVE OF GOD AND
LOVE OF NEIGHBOR
Jesus used parables as tools for
challenging assumptions that people
often take for granted about the world.
They expand our understanding of what
love, compassion and justice require
and how these relate to the Gospel of
grace. Jesus used parables as a way of
offering a radically different way of
conceiving reality.1 The parable of the
Good Samaritan is a case in point.
In Luke 10:25-37, we have two rounds
of dialogue that take place between
Jesus and this expert in the law. In the
first round we see the expert presenting
Jesus with a question in verse 25.
Teacher, he asked, what must I do
to inherit eternal life? The text clearly
indicates that this lawyer was trying to
trap Jesus in his words so they could be
used against him. Jesus is very much
aware of what is taking place. This is
why he responds as he does in verse
26.What is written in the Law? How
do you read it? In these questions,
Jesus asks the expert lawyer to give
his understanding of what the Law of
Moses requires. Jesus then takes this
lawyers own understanding and uses
it as a response to answer the original
question. The expert answered, Love
the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind;and,
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It might be that the expert heard of
Jesus summary about this at some
previous time. Whether or not he
was echoing Jesus earlier teaching
during his earthly ministry, this lawyer
brings together two commandments
from the Old Testament. The first
commandment to love your neighbor
is from Leviticus 19:18. The second
commandment to love God appears in
Deuteronomy 6:5. If he was following
Jesus teaching on this, then the order
of these commands is significant.
Kenneth E. Bailey writes, Experience
dictates that it is very hard to love the
unlovely neighbor until the disciples
heart is filled with the love of God, which
provides the energy and motivation
necessary for the arduous task of loving
the neighbor.2 From this backdrop
one is able to see how ill-formed the
lawyers question was about what
one must do in order to inherit eternal
life. Nevertheless, Jesus entertains his
question, so to speak, when he says,
You have answered correctly. Do this
and you will live(verse 28).
Of course, we have a deep sense of
irony in both the lawyers response
and Jesus affirmation. In essence,
Jesus is saying, Well, okay. If this is
what you think, then follow your own
advice and live up to these standards
and you will indeed inherit eternal life.
(As if one could do anything to inherit
eternal life to begin with.) So it seems
that all this lawyer needs to do is
consistently practice unqualified love
for God and love for neighbor.3 This
response is like our being told to go
out and find a good, high paying job
with outstanding benefits and flexible
working hours. It is not quite as easy
as it sounds. You would think that this
expert in the law would recognize
the impossibility of fulfilling such a
standard in ones own strength. But
it is clear that he fails to understand.
This brings us to round two.
The lawyer seems to think that if he
could just get some clarification as to
who his neighbors are, then he could
be well on his way to doing what he
needs to do in order to inherit eternal

life. It is obvious that the lawyer has
missed the point. Jesus provides a
parable to respond to the lawyer in
order to challenge his thinking about
what a compassionate and just love of
neighbor requires. This parable gives a
far more expansive understanding of
who our neighbors are. This parable
also informs us that the consequences
of love are far deeper than we ever
could have imagined on our own.
The parable opens with a priest who was
on his way down the mountain from
Jerusalem to Jericho. Many priests lived
in Jericho during the first century. And
so this priest may have well been on
his way home after fulfilling his sacred
responsibilities in the precincts of the
Temple. A middle easterner listening
to this parable would rightly assume
that this priest had a ride such that he
could have transported this wounded
man in order to get him some help. Yet
the parable tells us that when the priest
saw the wounded man he passed by on
the other side. Given the circumstances
and obligations of purification laws, it
would have been at great cost to the
priest to stop. This goes beyond mere
inconvenience. There are a number of
religious duties that would be incurred
if he became defiled. This priest in the
story had a difficult time determining
his duty under the law. The religious
cost to the priest was too high for him
to pay. And so he passed by on the
other side of the road.4
And then there was a Levite. The
Levites function in the Temple was to
assist the priests in their duties. It is
reasonable to believe that this Levite
in the parable knew about the priest
who was ahead of him on the road. It
may even be likely that this Levite was
the assistant to that same priest. The
Levites decision perhaps was easier
than that of the priest. Since the priest
had already gone by on the other side
of the road, the Levite could pass by
with an easier conscience. After all,
the Levite perhaps thought that the
priest understands the laws better than
he does. Beyond this, he might have
believed he would encounter that same
priest later that evening in Jericho.
If the Levite were to ride into Jericho
with the wounded man, the same
wounded man that the priest passed
by, then this could make the priest look
bad. Especially if the Levite thought
he would have been acting out of
obedience to the law, the same law that
the priest opted to ignore. There was a
political cost. It was too high for him to
pay. And so he passed by on the other
side of the road.5
Next Jesus described the actions of a
Samaritan: someone who is from the
outside; someone who is despised and
rejected by those listening to this story.
He becomes the hero. The Samaritan
used his immediately available
resources (oil, wine, cloth wrapping,
riding animal, time, energy and money)
in order to care for this wounded man.
He risks his life by taking a wounded
Jew into Jericho within Jewish territory.
As Kenneth Bailey observes, a
Samaritan would not be safe in a Jewish
town with a wounded Jewish man over
the back of his riding animal.6 He
further jeopardies his personal safety
by staying in the inn overnight to take
care of this Jewish man.
Perhaps most striking is the
Samaritans long-term commitment to
the restoration of this victim in making
provision for the wounded mans
future wellbeing (Luke 10:35). It is
estimated that two denarii would have
covered room and board for several
weeks,7 Christopher D. Marshall notes.
Moreover, the Samaritans commitment
to restoration is seen in the solemn
promise to repay the innkeeper for
any future debt incurred. Such an
undertaking was clearly intended to
afford the victim protection from being
imprisoned or enslaved for unpaid dues
after his recovery.8 All of this was at
great personal cost on the part of the
Samaritan.
In all of this, Jesus doesnt answer
the question, Who is my neighbor?
Instead, the actions and attitudes of the
Samaritan in the story reframe the way
we should even approach the question.
Hence, Jesus question in verse 36,
Which of these three do you think was
articles
a neighbor to the man who fell into the
hands of robbers? The question here
no longer is, Who is my neighbor?
The questions now are: To whom are
we to be neighborly? To whom are
we to have compassion? To whom
are we to use the immediate resources
we have available to us in order to
meet their needs? To whom are we
to use our networks in order to meet
those additional concerns of which we
cannot? To whom are we to provide
ongoing provision so that their lives
can be restored to a reasonable degree?
The lawyers reply to Jesus particular
question was, The one who had mercy
on him (verse 37). Interesting here
is that the lawyer, no doubt, has seen
the point. But his prejudice has not yet
been fully broken.9
Jesus response to him is straightforward.
He says, Go and do likewise. The
lawyer is to emulate the Samaritan
who is a symbol for Jesus. Go and do
likewise is a command to love like
Jesus in attitude and actions and in
ongoing support through our extended
networks.10 Loving our neighbor
through expressions of mercy and
compassionate justice (not just charity)
is linked to eternal life. In this parable
we see that when we love like this
Samaritan, we love like Jesus.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN
ETHICS AND RACIAL JUSTICE
My favorite high school English teacher
had a sign above the chalkboard just
behind his desk. The sign read: SO
WHAT? Whenever we made a point
or had what we thought to be astute
observation, he would often point over
his shoulder to that sign prominently
displayed in our classroom. He always
wanted to push his students to think
about the implications of what it is that
they are saying and what it might mean
for human communities. In keeping
with the spirit of his question, I want
to highlight several implications of this
parable for Christian ethics. Then I want
to offer some preliminary reflections
on what this might mean for Christian
communities with respect to racial
justice that could inform efforts toward
racial reconciliation. None of this, of
fall 2017 | contact 11
f e at u r e s
course, is a final word. Nor should it
be seen as a program of any sort. But
hopefully, we all will be encouraged
to expand our moral imaginations in
wrestling with such important matters.
First, we need the eyes of the Samaritan.
He was proximate in a way that he could
see others as persons and affirm their
dignity. Proximity breeds empathy.
Distance breeds apathy. Too often we
have not been close enough to each
other to appreciate the particularities of
our embodied humanity or to recognize
one anothers plight.
Second, we need to cultivate the kind
of compassion that is informed by the
Gospel. Our hearts need to be filled
with compassion when we encounter
affronts to human dignity. The Priest
In this parable we see that when we
love like this Samaritan,
we love like Jesus.
and the Levite saw the wounded man,
but their hearts were not filled with
compassion. The Samaritan saw and
had compassion. This most profound
Christian attribute is reflected in the
work of the triune God in the Gospel
and hence is at the core of Christian
faith (Psalm 103:6-19).
It is compassion that moves us to see
the situation in the parable the way
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed
in his last speech the night before
his assassination when he said, And
so the first question that the priest
askedthe first question that the Levite
asked was, If I stop to help this man,
what will happen to me? But then
the Good Samaritan came by. And he
reversed the question: If I do not stop
to help this man, what will happen
to him?11 Compassion arises in our
hearts when we enter into spaces of
suffering, not when we seek to avoid
them. Compassion is a gut-wrenching
response to human suffering and
anguish that propels one to act beyond
12 contact | fall 2017
the limits of what is considered
reasonable and acceptable.12
Third, we need to have the Samaritans
hands and feet. The outward expression
of compassion is understood in terms
of extending mercy in the form of
concrete actions. As Christopher D.
Marshall helpfully points out, Having
compassion designates the emotional
reality and doing mercy its practical
outworking. It is the combination of
[this inward emotional experience] and
the ethical [actions] that signals the
Samaritans exemplary character.13 The
Samaritan intervened in a manner that
interrupted the trajectory of hardship
of another. He dedicated his time and
attention to the recovery of the other.
Moreover, the Samaritan used his
position and his own resources to work
towards eliminating other potential
barriers that could be sources of further
exclusion and marginalization.14
Those of us who have them must use
our positions and power to change the
immediate circumstances of those who
are disinherited and disenfranchised.
What this parable of Jesus points out
is that love goes the extra mile. All of
this then becomes important for what
it means to love our neighbor and has
implications for Christian communities
engaging in racial justice.
It is customary in particular circumstances
to provide people with warning labels.
This is done to inform us as to what
risks or harms we might be exposing
ourselves if we purchase an item, ingest
certain medicines or foods or partake
in certain activities. Perhaps something
like this is needed for all who desire to
love like Jesus. Maybe the command to
love our neighbor with respect to racial
justice should come with a warning
label. On this label it should remind us
there will be unavoidable experiences
of discomfort when addressing these
issues. Given the sordid history
of racism in the United States and
unfortunately in some of our churches,
it seems impossible to really get at the
heart of the matter without some level
of discomfort. That is, if we approach
it in a way that is informed by the
insights of this parable.
The warning label will also indicate
that while there is a sense of shared
responsibility, it is not necessary, and
may be inappropriate, to insist that
the responsibility between groups is to
be shared equally. There are historical
injustices that have not been fully
rectified. These continue to divide
us, both within and outside of the
Church. There are power dynamics
and privileges of various sorts that
must be accounted for when thinking
about racial justice and perhaps racial
reconciliation.
Massingale further notes, Common to
every effort of social reconciliation is
a recognition that deep social wounds
cannot be healed without an honest
examination of the reasons for and
causes of the estrangement.15 This
point might be a source of the perennial
challenge for evangelical approaches to
racial reconciliation in the Church. In
part, this is due to our reticence to talk
about race effectively and incorporate
the theological categories of structural
or systemic sin into our public witness
and Christian ethics. But this is
necessary in order for us to practice the
kind of love of neighbor that goes the
extra mile.
We need to have eyes to see that
many instances of racism and their
undermining of human dignity in our
contemporary contexts are of a systemic
nature that disintegrate our human
communities. We need to think more
carefully about the biblically grounded
category of structural and systemic
dimensions of sin and how it manifests
in our world. We need to see how this
is expressed in our policies and social
practices that are often distinct from the
individuals who engage in them.

This means we need to go beyond
what some call the commonsense
understanding of racism, which can
be described as: Person A (usually,
but not always, white) consciously,
deliberately, and intentionally does
something negative to Person B
(usually, but not always, Black or
Latino) because of the color of his or her
skin.16 I would like to think many North
American Christians would affirm that
we are more aware of these kinds of
interpersonal dynamics and feel as
if weve made at least some progress.
In order to see racism as systemic
injustice, we need to understand it as a
cultural phenomenon. That is:
[A] way of interpreting human color
differences that pervades the collective
convictions, conventions, and practices
of American life. Racism functions
as an ethos, as the animating spirit
of U.S. society, which lives on despite
observable changes and assumes
various incarnations in different
historical circumstances. Analyses
that focus only or principally upon
interpersonal dynamics (what person
A does to person B) miss the more
important and pivotal cultural setting
that not only facilitates such acts,
but makes them understandable and
intelligible.17
As Christians, we cannot be blind to
the ongoing intergenerational negative
effects of American slavery, Jim Crow
laws, sharecropping, peonage or
the so-called Black Codes that were
informed by racism. Nor can we simply
ascribe the deep inequities that exist
between whites and communities of
color, generally speaking, in education,
criminal justice and health care
systems in the United States only to
narratives of personal irresponsibility.
Too much historical, sociological and
theological data for such reductionistic
explanations of these complex social
realities suggest otherwise. We mustnt
speak of personal responsibility without
a corresponding social responsibility
to remedy the collective intentional
agency of society that enabled and
supported policies and practices that
are harmful to human flourishing.
There are power dynamics and
privileges of various sorts that must
be accounted for when thinking
about racial justice and perhaps
racial reconciliation.
Unfortunately, pockets of the Church
supported racism and attempted to
theologically justify systemic injustices
on its basis. Of course, racial injustice
is not compatible with the Gospel
of Jesus. And yes, many authentic
Christians of various racial and
ethnic backgrounds struggled and are
struggling against these injustices and
their effects. However, it is historically
true that many Christians, churches
and theologians, some of whom we
hold their theological reflection in high
regard, were part of perpetuating social
and economic inequalities. This is
raised not to pass blame. It is raised in
order to highlight a challenging moral
truth: We cant have reconciliation
without repair.18
It is better to name and own the negative
aspects of particular expressions of
North American Christianity. We then
need to repent, lament and repair. It
seems that the American churchs
best efforts at racial reconciliation
will always be thwarted if there is not
due attention to mending the deep
injustices that characterize some of our
communities. The parable of the Good
Samaritan teaches that love of neighbor
goes the extra mile. It goes beyond acts
of charity to entail forms of justice
that lead to shalom. Herein is the deep
challenge of the Great Command to
racial reconciliation.
CONCLUSION
In some ways, it is much easier to affirm
the love of neighbor in abstract terms.
It is not as easy to love our neighbor
in concrete material ways. According
to Jesus teaching in the parable of
the Good Samaritan, Christian love is
a costly love that is deeply informed
f e at u r e s
by the Gospel. Hence our hearts
can only be filled with the love of
God and neighbor when weve been
transformed by the grace of the Gospel.
So it is grace that both informs our
understanding of love and empowers
us for loving actions. This parable is
profoundly challenging to Christians
when thinking about racial justice.
(Romans 12:9-13)
endno t es
1 Christopher D. Marshall, Compassionate Justice: An In-
terdisciplinary Dialogue with Two Gospel Parables on Law,
Crime, and Restorative Justice (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books,
2012), 250.
2 Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes:
Cultural Studies in the Gospel (Downers Grove: InterVarsity
Academic Press, 2008), 286-287.
3 Ibid., 287.
4 Ibid., 292-293.
5 Ibid., 293.
6 Ibid, 295.
7 Christopher D. Marshall, Compassionate Justice, 126.
8 Ibid.
9 Darrell L. Bock, Luke 9:51 24:53, Baker Exegetical Com-
mentary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Aca-
demic, 1996), 1034.
10 Harold Dean Trulear, Go and Do Likewise: The Churchs
Role in Caring for Victims, God and the Victim: Theologi-
cal on Evil, Victimization, Justice, and Forgiveness, ed. Lisa
Barnes Lampman (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 74-85.
11 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ive Been to the Mountaintop,
April 3, 1968, Memphis, TN.
12 Massingale, Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, (New
York: Orbis Books, 2010), 114-115.
13 Christopher D. Marshall, Compassionate Justice, 253.
14 Ibid., 120-139.
15 Massingale, Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, 97.
16 Bryan N. Massingale, Racial Justice and the Catholic
Church,13.
17 Ibid., 15.
18 Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Long-
ing for Racial Reconciliation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Patrick T. Smith, Ph.D., Associate
Professor of Philosophical Theology
and Ethics, was named a 2016-
2017 Henry Luce III Fellow in
Theology. In addition to his
primary teaching responsibilities
at Gordon-Conwell, he is a
Lecturer at Harvard Medical
School in the Department of Global Health and
Social Medicine, serves as core faculty for the
Master of Bioethics program offered through
Harvards Center for Bioethics, and is also a
principal faculty member for Harvards Initiative
on Health, Religion, and Spirituality. Dedicated to
global education, Dr. Smith has taught courses
and given talks to pastors, educators, medical
professionals and community leaders in Zambia,
South Africa, Kenya and the West Indies.
fall 2017 | contact 13
articles

14 contact | fall 2017


A C O N V E R SATI ON
W I T H D R . E M METT G. PRI CE I I I
Dr. Emmett Price joined the
Gordon-Conwell faculty in 2016
as Dean of the Chapel
and Professor of Worship,
Church and Culture.
His additional charge includes the development
of a new Gordon-Conwell Institute for the Study
of the Black Christian Experience, in collabora-
tion with Dr. Patrick Smith, Associate Professor of
Philosophical Theology and Ethics.
Dr. Price is an ordained pastor, scholar, ethno-
musicologist, speaker and frequent contributor
to several Boston media outlets. He recently
shared with Contact editor Anne Doll his insights
on racism, the Church, what believers can do to
break down walls that separate individuals and
races and his hope in God who is sovereign.
f e at u r e s
COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE US A BRIEF HISTORY
LESSON ON THE ROOTS OF RACISM?
Dr. Price: Racism has been studied by philoso-
phers, sociologists, theologians, even musicolo-
gists. It spans the intellectual pursuit and even
theology. It evolved out of the sinful nature of hu-
manity, and the failure to see one another as the
imago dei, as image bearers of God. Those who
have been colonialists, those who have been impe-
rialists, have used their authority to subjectify and
objectify others into subordinate and condescend-
ing roles and functions.
And so across time, we find humans mistreating
and abusing one another. Whether you look at the
colonialization, the slave trade, the early American
history of the genocide of indigenous peoples, you
find the same thing over and over and over: the
racialization of one another, the desire of an op-
pressor to other-ize another person based on their
racial identity.
And its a sinful thing. God did not create racists;
God created humanity. We were dispersed across
the planet into peoples and tongues, as many Bible
interpretations have stated. Racism and racializa-
tion and the concept of race is a human oriented
thing that is used to separate and segment us,
which again is sinful because it goes against the
nature of the imago dei, the ability to see each other
as Gods image bearers.
fall 2017 | contact 15
f e at u r e s
IT SEEMS AS IF, IN THE U.S., THERE HAS BEEN MORE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK INDIVIDUALS THAN
OTHER MINORITIES OF COLOR.
Dr. Price: I think the indigenous have been discrimi-
nated against the most and the longest in this coun-
try. We dont have a huge population of indigenous in
the country anymore, and those remaining have been
ostracized and disrespectedwhich is a huge atrocity.
Next in terms of discrimination would be African de-
scendants, because chronologically, the Africans were
brought here as indentured servants and slaves. That
legacy of servitude and subordination is horrific. The
reason why the Black narrative has emerged as promi-
nent is because discrimination of Blacks still remains.
We, those of us who are here, need to tell these stories,
even in the midst of it.
As we have recently celebrated the Fourth of July,
which was a declaration of independence against the
British Empire that led to the emergence of this na-
tion 241 years ago, that document was signed and cel-
ebrated even in the midst of slavery. Even in this great
nation, there is a conundrum, because as much as we
celebrate citizenship, freedom and liberty, not every-
body is granted full citizenship, freedom and liberty.
And, unfortunately, much of that is based upon race
and gender. So in that Declaration of Independence,
where it suggests that all men are created equal, the
word men was not a substitute for mankind or hu-
mankind. The framers meant that all white men were
created equal. If you were not a white man, you did not
fit the mold.
DO YOU SEE THE RECENT DEMONSTRATIONS AND
EMERGENCE OF GROUPS LIKE BLACK LIVES MATTER
AS A BOILING OVER RESPONSE TO LONGSTANDING
DISCRIMINATION?
Dr. Price: I think its a progression. I dont see it as
much worse now than ever. I think the challenge is
that because there have been violent atrocities against
black bodies in our recent and past history, weve be-
come immune to it. We have said, As long as it doesnt
happen here The challenge is that now it is happen-
ing here, and in a digitized era when we have video
cameras in our hands at all times. These live record-
ings, and the ability to replay, send and share videos
make it seem as if its a new thing.
But if you go back to Emmet Till, a 14-year-old Afri-
can-Americanboy whose brutal lynching deathinMis-
sissippi is credited with galvanizing the Civil Rights
Movement, and if you go back beyond that, if you look
at the maiming and torturing and murder of black bod-
ies, both male and female, and the lynchingsback to
many other horrific examples of this senselessness
across the history of our country, I dont see a new
16 contact | fall 2017
thing. I see it as a progression, although now with
video proof. And the hope inherent in that for many
Blacks, for people of color and also many whites, is
that somebody with authority will do something
about it, because there is an awakening consciousness.
So the whole notion of Black Lives Matter is not to
suggest that black lives matter more than any other
lives. But the reality is that until we all agree that black
lives matter, too, or matter just as much as white lives,
then were going to continue to have issues.
YOU TAUGHT A COURSE LAST YEAR, THE PROJECT OF
RECONCILIATION: INTERSECTION OF CHURCH AND
CULTURE. YOU HAVE DESCRIBED THAT COURSE AS A
VERY DETAILED PREPARATION OF SEMINARIANS ON
HOW TO LEAD LOCAL CHURCHES AND THE NATIONAL
AND GLOBAL CHURCH, KNOWING THAT WE HAVE A
HUGE UPHILL BATTLE AGAINST US, BUT KNOWING
THAT GOD IS SOVEREIGN. COULD YOU PLEASE EX-
PAND ON THIS?
Dr. Price: You cannot deal with anything if you dont
acknowledge that it exists. And factions of the Church
historically have either taken a blind eye or a slighted
eye to racism. I believe that until we recognize the sin
of racism and the sin of not seeing one another as im-
age bearers of God, then were sweeping things under
the rug. The moment we acknowledge that these issues
exist, then we are able to open our eyes and learn how
to relate with one another, ask the questions that seem
silly about one another, spend time together, fellow-
ship and break bread with one another in our churches
and be able to take leadership from clergy together.
What Im looking at here is Acts 2:42-47, an exam-
ple of the first Church and what those folks did. They
broke bread and fellowshipped together. The churches
in the New Testament wrote the very first script, and
we can follow that New Testament model of what it
means to spend time and learn and be with one anoth-
er, to share heritages, to hear stories and share testi-
monies and realize that God has been working in your
life just as God has been working in my life.
And what that does is remove the fear of the unknown.
It removes the anxiety of saying something that may
be presumed prejudiced or discriminatory, because no-
body wants to be called a racist. And, unfortunately,
many of us see life and the world in a racialized per-
spective until were called to be aware of it.
BUT THERE IS GOD
Dr. Price: I do believe there is hope for those of us
who follow Christ and believe that God is sovereign,
that there is a time and a place we look forward to
where we can eradicate this evil sin of racism, and see

one another as image bearers of Godto the point of
calling one another brothers and sisters in Christ.
TOWARD THAT END, HOW DO CHURCH LEADERS
ENGAGE AND HELP THEIR CONGREGATIONS ENGAGE
IN REACHING ACROSS THE DIVIDE TO HEAR ONE AN-
OTHERS STORIES?
Dr. Price: There are a number of ways to do this, and
many organizations are doing great work. The chal-
lenge is that certain organizations concentrate on cer-
tain people, some on intellectuals and some on youth
and some on women. Some focus on churches, oth-
ers, on people in the streetsthose who are beyond
the churches. I dont think there is any one way to do
anything. Theyre all important.
However, the critical piece is that there have to be
some people of color who are able to take a leadership
role in the conversation. And the problem with many
of the organizations is that they are run and led by
people who are not of color. It becomes a challenge
if you want to get a critical mass of people of color,
because the notion is that you are still asking us to
submit to the authority of a person who is not of color.
There have to be a number of organizations and enti-
ties that are led by people of color.
DO YOU SEE SOME POCKETS OF THAT
OCCURRING?
Dr. Price: Many organizations nationwide are doing
that. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Indigenous
we always forget about our Asian brothers and sisters
and our indigenous brothers and sisters, both of whom
are making great strides. This is the space the Institute
wants to sit in as well. As a leading seminary in the
country and in the world, Gordon-Conwell Theologi-
cal Seminary has made a commitment to explore these
questions, these challenges, in a way that no other
seminary has endeavored to do. While many seminar-
ies focus on Black Church Studies, were looking at the
Black Christian Experience, which is global, which is
diasporic, which is inclusive. And so in that sense, we
have a broader swath and much more flexibility to be
inclusive, and encompass the narratives and stories of
many folks who often get ostracized and left out.
LETS SUPPOSE THAT I AM A READER OUT IN THE
HEARTLAND, AND MY HEART IS BREAKING FOR
PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO HAVE SUFFERED SO UNDER
RACISM. I WANT TO DO SOMETHING. I WANT TO TAKE
THE FIRST STEPS. HOW DO I EVEN BEGIN?
Dr. Price: That is a beautiful question, one that is chal-
lenging for all of us. I think the first step is to do a self-
examination, and really wrestle and reflect on whether
you have been part of the problem in the past. We have
f e at u r e s
to change behavior in order to create a different future.
A lot of people suggest that whites join black churches
or make a black friend. I think those are great exam-
ples of forward progress, but those dont do any good
if you dont reflect, to make sure youre not part of the
problem, whether implicitly or explicitly.
The second step is prayer. We forget that God reveals
so much to us when we quiet ourselves and spend time
deliberately with God. Can we enter a season of per-
sonal prayer that would allow God to illuminate and
show forth various ways that may be specific to each
of us, of what we can do and how to do it. I dont be-
lieve in a one-equation-fits-all situation.
And the third step would be to reach out prayerfully to
a person of color to initiate a safe conversation within
boundaries and perimeters that is focused on race and
racial relations. The reason I say with boundaries and
perimeters is that these kinds of conversations can go
on for four or five hours. You may want to establish
Y OU CANNOT DE AL WITH ANYT HING
IF Y OU DONT ACKNOWLE DGE
THAT IT E XIS TS .
a weekly dialogue, a time where you could set aside
45 minutes or an hour and a half, so that that you can
initiate a series of conversations. Keep in mind that
many such conversations need time to breathe. So take
a few days to think about what you heard, what you
said. Then maybe start off again by debriefing your last
experience. This process helps us to grow.
We forget that moving to a place where we eradicate
racism and prejudice and discrimination means that
we have to grow. We have to grow spiritually, emo-
tionally and intellectuallyand that takes time.
Prior to Dr. Emmett Prices arrival to Gordon-Conwell, he
served as an Associate Professor of Music at Northeastern Uni-
versity (Boston) for 15 years. From 2008 to 2012 he also served
as chair of the Department of African American Studies. He
is a former research fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for
African and African American Research at Harvard University
and Northeastern Universitys Center for the Study of Sport in
Society, where he was lead scholar on the Rhythm & Flow Ini-
tiative. Dr. Price is also Founding Pastor of Community of Love
Christian Fellowship in Allston, MA. In addition to the M.A. in
Urban Ministry Leadership from Gordon-Conwell, he earned a
BA from the University of California, Berkeley and both MA
and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.
fall 2017 | contact 17
f e at u r e s
in our shoes
what does it mean to be black in america?
The searing stories below put a human face on the stark realities of racial discrimination and
the urgent need for Gods justice and reconciliation. These were shared by Gordon-Conwell
students and alumni during a forum at the Hamilton campus by the Black Student Association.
The reason why the
black narrative has
emerged as prominent
is because discrimination
of blacks still remains.
We, those of us
who are here, need to
tell these stories,
even in the midst of it.
-Dr. Emmett G. Price III
18 contact | fall 2017
denicia ratley, m.a. 16
Growing up in the South, I always knew
there was something different about me be-
cause of the color of my skin. The scariest
moment was when I was 16. My brother and I
were entering a local restaurant, and a group
of white men were driving by and hanging
out of their truck with a huge confederate flag. They yelled, Nigger,
go back to where you come from, nigger, and acted as if they were
going to lunge at my brother and me. At that moment, I was terrified
and ashamed. I thought about calling the cops. But how would I ex-
plain what just happened, and what could they do? Having your life
being threatened and harassed because of the color of your skin leaves
wounds that are incomprehensible.
I have been overlooked when waiting to be seated at a restaurant,
followed in a store and accused of stealing. In those moments, my
blackness, at times, has felt like an inconvenience. I often ask myself
what true freedom looks like or feels like. Does it have a color? A
gender? Will there be a day where I am free from the fear, anxiety
or mental bombardment of what my skin color represents? I am still
waiting; however, it has taken years and Gods grace to get me to the
place where I am in love with every colored skin cell on my body. Ive
learned to love the expression God chose to use when he created me.

muoki n. musau, m.a. 16
I was working for a real estate company
changing locks on foreclosed homes in
Northern Virginia. One day, I was working
in a lower income area in the afternoon,
and someone thought that I was trying to
break into the house and called the police.
When they arrived, I was surrounded by six squad cars, each with
two officers present. Every single one approached me with their
guns drawn, with one of the officers coming to me point blank with
his pistol right between my eyes.
I understood the situation, but that was not enough to prevent the
overwhelming fear [I experienced]. I literally thought I was going
to die. The officer asked me questions about what I was doing there,
who I worked for, but I could barely open my mouth because I sim-
ply didnt want to die. Discrimination can be overt and/or covert.
Covert discrimination is the reality that in the situation I was in, I
feared that if I said the wrong thing, or moved the wrong (threat-
ening) way, I would lose my lifeeven though the police were do- To this day, I do not know exactly what was meant by this
ing their jobs.
tiffany miller, m.div. 15
Nothing could have prepared me for
experiences that I have had as a Black
woman living in New England. What
has always struck me is that in New
England, whenever I have had negative
interactions that are race related, there is
an obliviousness of those who have committed the act. For instance,
during my time as a student I worked part-time at a local restaurant
as a waitress. One day at work, I was having a conversation with
a fellow coworker when he commented that Square One Mall
was ghetto because theres nothing but black people there. Before
I could respond, he said, Dont worry, Im not racist. Its also cannot recall a time when I was not keenly aware of my blackness.
ghetto because of the Mexicans there. He then walked away and
continued to wait on tables. I stood there in disbelief, because I
couldnt believe that he had the confidence to make such a blatantly
racist statement to me. Unfortunately, this was not the first time or
the last time I experienced a taste of racism living here.
marcus doe, m.div. 16
One specific piece of advice I was given by
multiple people upon my arrival to the US
was to never leave a grocery store without
a receipt of purchase. No matter how small
the item of purchase. I was warned that I
would not be given the benefit of a doubt
if the security alarm went off.
The tension I feel whenever I walk toward toward the door of a
grocery store, especially if I havent bought anything is right below
the surface. Something as simple as a receipt creates anxiety in most
people of color. I never leave a grocery store without my receipt.
I have seen others get waived through when the buzzer goes off and
I have seen others get searched. The search is degrading, it says, we
are suspects even though we may have the receipt.
f e at u r e s
dawn mackey, mar 18
I will never forget the time someone told
me that I am not really black. I was 17
and attending a summer science research
program at MIT. I was one of two black
kids in the entire program. During a
conversation with some fellow students,
the topic of the programs lack of diversity came up. After someone
observed that there were essentially no black people in the
program, I noted that there were actually two of us, which was
more than in previous years.
I am a light-skinned African-American woman who looks
ethnically ambiguous, and from time to time, acquaintances cannot
tell I am black until I say so directly. Still, I was not prepared for the
response I received.
Oh, but youre not really black.
statement. I was too stunned at the time to ask. My blackness had
never been denied or debated before. I could only imagine that
perhaps I did not fit this students stereotypes of blackness. Maybe
I did not look, sound or act black enough to count as an addition
to the programs diversity statistics. Maybe it was because I was
not poor or uneducated. Heaven forbid that black people should be
diverse and should experience even a small taste of the American
dream!
The denial of my blackness felt like a slap in the face, not just to
me, but to my ancestors who were brought here from Africa against
their will and enslaved, to their children who fought and marched
and protested and demonstrated to gain civil rights, and to my
parents who worked tirelessly to provide more opportunities for
their kids and raise them to know and appreciate their heritage. I
Being blissfully unaware of ones racial or ethnic identity is not a
luxury most people of color in this country have.
It has been 13 years, and this is still the most offensive thing anyone
has ever said to me. I know that means I have been very privileged.
But in processing why this incident impacted me so deeply, I
realized that denying my blackness felt like denying part of how
God carefully designed me. God created me with kinky hair and
light brown skin in New York in the late 1980s in a Christian family
of mostly African descent. He did none of this by accident. He did
not create Americas definitions of race, and He did not invent the
one-drop rule. But He did create each of us in a time, place, body
and historical context that we cannot deny.
Acknowledging this context, owning our history, seeing each other
in our fullness (spirit, soul and body), and celebrating our God-
given diversity are the ways forward. Denial and erasure are not.
For more information on Gordon-Conwells
Black Student Association, visit their facebook page at:
@gctsBSA
fall 2017 | contact 19
articles
HOW D O WE LEARN
TO LOVE OUR
NEIGHBORS?
A LESSON FROM
MY MOTHER
Rev. Michelle D. Williams, Dean of Students
B
y age 16, my family had moved a total of nine times.
Nine different cities, nine different neighborhoods.
A plethora of different neighbors. We always
moved to places where we were one of the only people of
color. We were ALWAYS the others, the those people; friends who model this so beautifully. How do we learn to
the strangers. I was used to smiling and going out of
my way to try and make people comfortable with my
otherness.
In the sea of names, faces and people that make up my
collective memories, one person stands out: Mrs. B. I met
her the day after one of our many move-ins. I was in the
kitchen helping my mother make breakfast when our
doorbell rang. I went to answer it and there stood a short
older lady. She had a plate of cookies in her hand and
a shocked expression on her face. I greeted her and she
attempted to fix her face. I called my mom to deal with
her and walked away while rolling my eyes. At 14, I knew
I wasnt who she expected to answer the doornot in this
neighborhood.
20 contact | fall 2017
Our welcoming committee wasnt very happy to see us. I
know this because a few minutes later my mother came
in with a plate of cookies that she threw in the trashcan.
I didnt ask for an explanation and she didnt offer one.
What she did say was that my siblings and I were not
supposed to cut through the neighbors yard. That
neighbor, Mrs. B, proved to be one of my mothers love
challenges. For two years she scowled at my siblings and
me when we encountered her. She refused to speak to any
of us. In fact, she went out of her way to avoid my parents.
Mrs. B was downright nasty to us.
We were ALWAYS the others,
the those people; the strangers.
Two months before we were scheduled to move again,
Mrs. B collapsed in her driveway. We were rushing out
of the house to get to school and because we were late,
my mother was going to drive us. My younger sister
noticed her falling and my mother rushed over to assist.
We called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. After
school I asked about Mrs. B and my mother said shed
had a heart attack. Over the course of the next couple of
weeks, I observed my mother. She asked my dad to mow
Mrs. Bs lawn. She visited the hospital and took flowers.
She made us pray for Mrs. B before dinner. My sister and I
were so confused by my mothers response. Here was this
person who obviously didnt like us for reasons that we
couldnt fathom. Why were we going out of our way to be
kind to her? Eventually we asked my mother. She smiled
at us while she was seasoning chicken and simply said,
Because that is what Christians do.
That is what Christians do. We practice kindness. We
pray for people. We perform acts of hospitality. We love
our neighbors. Even those neighbors who dont or wont
love us back. Thank God for mothers, mentors, elders and
love our neighbors? We practice, we pray, we remember
that someone loved us, so we must in turn love others.
And then we wake up the next day and do it again. Why?
Because that is what Christians do.
Rev. Michelle Williams is Dean of Students
at Gordon-Conwells South Hamilton campus.
A graduate of Anderson University School of
Theology and an ordained minister, she served
in pastoral ministry for more than seven years.
Prior to assuming her present position in 2015,
she served in higher education administration
as Assistant Dean of Students at Anderson
University. Her areas of expertise include student development
and biblical reconciliation.

CAN WE ALL GET
ALONG?
Jacqueline T. Dyer, Ph.D., (MAUML 16)
I
remember that question, Can we all get along?
asked by Rodney King, the African American man
who was savagely beaten by four police officers af-
ter a car chase. The officers were eventually charged
for their use of force. Despite video evidence, three of the
four white policemen were acquitted. The subsequent
anger and violence that erupted lasted for days. At some
point during the course of the Los Angeles riots, Rodney
King pleaded for peace.
His question is a complicated one to ask, especially in
connection to racial reconciliation in the United States.
The hurt borne of a history of brutal slavery and ongoing
inequities remains a festering wound under an uneven
surface. When the hurt place is touchedor squeezed, as
happened after that fateful verdict in 1992a lot of mess
comes oozing out. The mess does not reveal any new is-
sues. It only reveals what is often veiled by efforts to mini-
mize or hide some grim realities.
Race issues are not easily addressed on a good day in the
United States. They are frequently convoluted by the fact
that we are marred by sin and all that sin relentlessly de-
mands. For instance, sin demands that we maintain pride-
ful immobility if faced with fixing a wrong we do not
feel we created. We experience fatigue at the thought of
having to extend ourselves one more time. However, we
who are people of the Triune God do not have the luxury
of maintaining such resistance for long. Jesus shreds that
resistance by giving us the mandate to be reconciled in
all our relationships, both vertically, with God, and hori-
zontally, with others. Matthew 5:23-24 reminds us that we
cannot come to God with our offerings without being rec-
onciled, even if the issue originates with our neighbor. We
articles
cannot claim to be too tired to improve our relationships.
The responsibility to act rests with us.
So what gets in our way? It could be said that we get in
our own way. We tend to want what we want, the way
we want it. This often includes the choice of which rela-
tionships we reconcile, and who we call neighbor. Con-
versely that means deciding who does not receive our af-
fections. Such preferences originate from our limitations.
Yet all indicators of our faith tell us picking neighbors is
not an option.
Christians have the ultimate manual, replete with infor-
mation for how to behave and interact, that guides our
lives. When it comes to how we learn to love our neigh-
bors, the issue is not the absence of knowledge. The issue
is our starting point and how we proceed from there. I be-
lieve we first need to recognize the true Source of love in
our lives. We learn to love others as we experience Gods
love for us.
Can we all get along? Our Love connection teaches us that
we cannot remain passive or disaffected by our neighbors,
nor about our interactions with them. Gods love moves
us beyond ourselves toward a strength and courage gained
through humility in Christ. We first learn to love from God;
and God enables us to extend love to others. This is how we
learn to truly love all our neighbors.
Dr. Jacqueline T. Dyer is Assistant Professor of
Counseling, Director of Counseling and Academic
Support Initiatives and teaches at the seminarys
Boston Campus. She holds a Ph.D. from the Boston
College Graduate School of Social Work, and an M.A
in Urban Ministry Leadership from Gordon-Conwell.
She formerly was Assistant Professor and Field
Coordinator at Eastern Nazarene College, and an
Adjunct Professor at Simmons, Salem State and Wheelock Colleges
of Social Work. She has served in clinical and supervisory positions at
Family Intervention Team, Abundant Life Counseling Center, Roxbury
Preparatory and Edward Brooke Charter Schools, Cambridge Public
Schools and Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership. In addition,
she is on the leadership team for Clergy Women United of the Black
Ministerial Alliance.
We learn to love others
as we experience
Gods love for us.
fall 2017 | contact 21
articles

HOW DO WE LEARN TO
LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR?
SOME REFLECTIONS
Quonekuia Day, M.Phil./Ph.D. (cand.)

H
ow Do We Learn to Love our Neighbor? For
some, this question may conjure up memories
of the parable of the Good Samaritan. This
parable is told in response to a lawyers ques-
tion to Jesus on how he might receive eternal life.

Jesus initially tells the lawyer to follow the first two com-
mandments of the Law: to love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor
as yourself. However, this answer is not sufficient for the
lawyer, who further presses Jesus to identify the neigh-
bor. This inquiry leads Jesus to present the parable of the
Good Samaritan.

In the parable, a man is injured, robbed and left helpless.

Three men identified as a priest, a Levite and a Samari-
tan have an opportunity to aid the injured man. But it is
only the Samaritan who intervenes to change the injured
mans condition. The priest and the Levi recognize the in-
jured man but do not intervene to change his fate. At the
conclusion of the parable Jesus asks the lawyer to identify
the neighbor of the injured man, to which he responds by
indicating that he was the Samaritan.
Perhaps one of the more notable moments of the Good
Samaritan story is when each person sees the injured
man. The priest sees the injured man and continues with
his journey. The Levi sees the injured man and continues
with his journey. But when the Samaritan sees the injured
man, he is moved with compassionsplagcnizomai. He
stops his journey and acts to change the fate of the in-
jured man. The compassion he feels prompts him to inter-
vene on the behalf of the man.
The Greek word splagcnizomai, translated as compas-
sion, is the same word used to describe Jesus feelings
in Matthew 14:14 as he looked upon the large crowd of
followers. He lamented that they had no shepherd and
he healed the sick and miraculously fed them after mul-
tiplying two fishes and five loaves of bread. In Luke 7:13,
the scripture details that Jesus felt compassionsplagcni-
zomai for the mother whose son had died, and then he
raised the son from the dead. The compassionSplagcni-
zomaiexperienced by the Samaritan and by Jesus leads
them each to act to change the circumstances of the in-
jured and the helpless.
Our question is How to Learn to Love our Neighbor?
Learning to love our neighbor begins with following the
example of Jesus Christ and the Good Samaritanthat
when we see our neighbor in a helpless, injured condi-
tion, we feel compassion to act. It is not enough for us to
simply recognize his or her condition as pitiful or a sor-
rowful state.
The homeless, abused, oppressed and neglected require
more than recognition that their state in life is sorrow-
ful. In order for their condition to improve, they will
need more Christians to feel and experience something so
strong that it interrupts their life, stops their journey and
causes action on behalf of the injured. The Christian will
have to be moved by compassionsplagcnizomai.
Prof. Quonekuia Day, Instructor in Old Testament,
joined the Gordon-Conwell faculty full-time in 2009
after serving as Coordinator of Student Advisement
and Mentored Ministry for the Boston campus, and as
an adjunct professor. She also taught for Vision New
England at her church, Greater Love Tabernacle in
Roxbury, MA, and the Southern New England Church
of God Ministerial Internship Program.A licensed
clinical social worker, she has served at Brigham and Womens Hospital,
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Dimock Community Health
Center, all in Boston. She has also co-facilitated a substance abuse
support group. She is an Ordained Minister with the Church of God,
Cleveland in Tennessee.

22 contact | fall 2017


MINISTERING
TO FAMILIES IN
THE URBAN CONTEXT
Virginia Ward (MA 10, D.Min.16)
C
hurches in the urban landscape are poised to
reach families of all ethnicities.
More families are living in urban areas than in
the past. The United States Census Bureau re-
ported that in 1950 only 56 percent of the population lived
in the city. That number increased to 76 percent in 1989
and to 80.7 percent in 2010.1
The urbanization of communities during the mid-century
created new challenges for families. The major support
systems of the family, school and work encountered a dif-
ferent set of demands. Urban youth were faced with social
and economic problems at a greater rate than their subur-
ban counterparts.2
The biblical first family gives us a snapshot of the com-
plexity of the urban family:
A father, although present, is not walking in his
full authority
A mother, deceived by Satan, disobeys Gods
commandment
An angry, envious son kills his brother
An obedient son innocently loses his life
As a result of these complex issues, the family is a) dis-
placed from their original home environment (the Gar-
den of Eden), b) in trauma over the loss of a son and, c)
faces economic hardship due to Adams new job situation.
Many of the issues facing urban families are displayed in
this account: opposing agendas, lack of male leadership,
unsupported females, sibling rivalry and economic hard-
ship, to name a few.
articles
Although the first biblical family had a father present in
the home, 70 percent of urban families [currently] do not
have a male parent living in the home.3 For the 30 percent
that do, most of the parents are struggling to find their
spiritual identity and do not feel adequate to help their
children.
Today, the urban family is not as well defined as in bible
times. The biblical mandates requiring parents to train
their children in the ways of God and equip them for life
assumed that each home unit was comprised of a father
and mother. These mandates were taught from the previ-
ous generation and passed on to the current generation in
order for them to instruct future generations. Fathers and
mothers were given specific roles to accomplish this goal.
The current urban family description does not fit this pat-
tern. With the exodus of men and women from the home
to the world of work and the increase of fatherlessness,
the traditional, biblical model of parenting is in question.
Given the abandonment of children to the influence of
technology and the streets, coupled with the epidemic of
violence that touches the lives of youth, today families
require additional support.4
The extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts, cous-
ins and all blood relatives used to be a constant network
to rely on in times of need. Over the years this extended
network has fragmented and families are left with mini-
mal internal support. Immigrant families often have an
additional language barrier to face.
fall 2017 | contact 23
articles
Governmental agencies and community supports have
risen in attempt to meet the challenge of supporting fami-
lies. Urban churches can also assist with this challenge
to support families, even in complicated circumstances, if
youth leaders are properly trained to do so.
In cases where the mother is the head of household, the
Church must support single mothers to become the spiri-
tual leaders and champions in the home.5 We have wit-
nessed many single mothers who have raised Christian
children who are successful academically, socially and fi-
Over the years this extended
network has fragmented
and families are left with minimal
internal support.
nancially. Using the Church as a community, single moth-
ers, Christian and non-Christian, can connect with strong
Christian families. Men serving as uncles, big brothers
and fathers support the children.
Urban fathers are not totally out of the picture. There
are some hard-working fathers who have stayed in the
home despite the special challenges and barriers facing
urban fathers. Dr. Willie Richardson, author of Reclaim-
ing the Urban Family, declares that the Church cannot
build strong families without reaching out to fathers and
sons.6 The Church can help men address the issues plagu-
ing their parenting successfully in an urban environment
by being intentional about including men in the spiritual
development of youth.
The urban church is a great resource for families seek-
ing additional support for their childrens holistic devel-
opment. Eugene Roehlkepartain of Youth Ministry in City
Churches believes that each urban church must develop its
own plan to reach youth and families in their community.
He states that since no city is exactly alike; the youth min-
istry models will also vary. Although the ministry compo-
nents may be similar, there is no one size fits all approach
in urban youth and family ministry.
In Hardwired to Connect it is noted that religious institu-
tions are recognized as one of the strongest civic institu-
tions in low-income neighborhoods.7 Urban churches can
provide better leadership by empowering youth leaders
to build authoritative communities to support youth and
families. This is a practical approach, enabling youth lead-
ers to connect with the multiple systems that surround
our youth. Urban youth ministry models must address
all aspects of youth development in connection with
the family. The urban family needs a connection to the
24 contact | fall 2017
Church and other supportive systems. The youth leader
can be the facilitator of these connections.
The living parts or systems in urban environments in-
clude the family, health, education, justice, poverty, trau-
ma, faith, court and penal institutions, civic duty and the
multi-faceted cultural component. These systems in the
urban environment surrounding youth connect with each
other, some by choice and others by force. Youth workers
should be able to identify these systems and connect with
them for strategic ministry to youth and their families. Un-
derstanding urban and family systems are essential keys to
ministry in an urban context. Youth and family ministry in
the urban environment demands an understanding of the
complex systems surrounding the urban family and urban
church.
In their book The Cat and the Toaster, Dr. Doug and Judy
Hall, who for 50 years led the Emmanuel Gospel Center
in urban Boston, present a biblical narrative of urban sys-
tems and a challenge to urban ministries to think systemi-
cally about how to navigate and connect in their commu-
nities. Urban church based youth leaders can benefit from
these principles and develop relevant ministries to youth
and their families.
endno tes
1 US Census: Census 2000 Population Statistics (US Government, 2000), https://
www.census.gov/geo/reference/ua/uafacts.html, accessed November 29, 2013,
http://www.Fhwa.dot.gov.
2 Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Youth Ministry in City Churches: Proven Tips From
Over 40 Youth Ministry Veterans (Loveland, CO: Thom Schultz Publication, Inc.,
1989), 24.
3 George R. Williams, Quenching The Father Thirst, National Center for Father-
ing, April 9, 2007, accessed January 28, 2014, http://www.fathers.com/s5-your-
situation/urban-fathering/quenching-the-father-thirst-2/.
4 R. Miller, A Brief Introduction to Holistic Education, The Encyclopedia of
Informal Education (2000), accessed
5 George Barna, High Impact African American Churches, 136.
6 Dr. Bernard Franklin, A Challenge to Urban Churches, National Center for
Fathering, April 9, 2007, accessed January 28, 2014,
http://www.fathers.com/s5-your-situation/urban-fathering/a-challenge-to-urban-
churches-2/.
7 The Commission on Children at Risk, Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific
Case for Authoritative Communities. (New York: Institute for American Values,
2003), 45.
Dr. Virginia Ward is Assistant Dean of Gordon-
Conwells Boston Campus and Assistant Professor
of Ministry and Leadership Development. Previously
Director of Leadership and Mentored Ministry
Initiatives at that campus, Dr. Ward has extensive
experience as an urban pastor, ministry organizer and
youth ministry expert. A third-generation minister,
Rev. Ward and her husband, Bishop Larry Ward, have
co-pastored the Abundant Life Church (Cambridge, MA) which they
founded in 1988. She has also been a trainer for the DeVos Urban
Leadership Initiative and the Black Ministerial Alliance, and Director of
InterVarsitys Black Campus Ministries.

BEYOND COLORBLIND
Sarah Shin (MAT 17)
A
n adapted excerpt from the forthcoming book
Beyond Colorblind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Jour-
ney (IV Press, October 2017).
Our churches often avoid the topic of ethnicity and race
because we dont think its relevant to our faith, or were
afraid of offending people and trying to avoid being po-
litical. More often than not, we dont know how to talk
about it and withdraw from conversations about race or
ethnicity. We lack the skills, language and understanding
to be able to share the gospel in our diverse and divided
contexts.
Perhaps the reason Christians have little to say is that,
for a time, we bought into the secular worlds gospel
of colorblind diversity as the answer to our problems
of ethnic division. Colorblindness often meant polite
avoidance or silence, inside and outside the Church.
In buying into colorblindness, we lost our prophetic voice.
We did not examine the Scriptures rich depth of insight
into Gods creation and intent for ethnicity, and we lacked
biblical literacy on the issue, leading to lack of theological
reflection, formation and repentance. Scripture formed
no foundation for ourselves as ethnic beings. We either
denied ethnicity as valuable or bought into the secular
worlds understanding of ethnicity. This robbed us of
the opportunity to hear the stories of people who are
ethnically different than us.
articles
We are shocked and unsure of how to engage when we
hear of things such as a race-related incident or hate crime.
Our lack of ethnic identity understanding for ourselves
and those around us led to a proclamation of a gospel that
is irrelevant or powerless in addressing real aches, pains
and questions. Racially and culturally unaware witness
and involvement in our communities caused distrust; we
sometimes did more harm than good and pushed people
away from usaway from opportunities to hear the
gospel, and away from trusting Jesus. What resulted was
and is a distant and often irrelevant, unaffected Church.
The Christian story is one that acknowledges that we
are fundamentally broken. Why would the realm of
ethnicity and race be exempt from the influence of sin?
Colorblindness mutes Christian voice and thought
from speaking into ethnic brokenness. In holding onto
colorblindness as the solution, we as Christians are trying
to doggy-paddle when we actually need to learn how to
swim. We might sink in our attempts to stay afloat or
cause others to drown as we thrash about in our good
intentions.
Our world is in need of the gospel, a good news that goes
beyond colorblindness, that is not afraid of addressing
ethnic difference. When it comes to ethnicity, our world
needs Christian voices to call for change and reform
with Jesus as the transforming center of it all. How can
we relevantly live out the gospel in such a hotbed of
fall 2017 | contact 25
articles

emotions, scars, division and chaos? If we avoid this topic
now, we withdraw into ineffectual witness in word and
deed. And we leave a broken and hurting world, friends
and strangers, in chaos.
We need to recognize what we are meant to be in our ethnic
stories and identities so that we can ask Jesus to restore
us. Its not just about being racially aware and sensitive
so that you can be a cross-culturally savvy navigator
of a multiethnic group. Its also about Jesus redeeming
and restoring our ethnic identities, which makes for a
compelling narrative that causes non-Christians to ask us
about our faith as they wonder, how could that kind of
hope and healing be available to me?
When Jesus interacts with the Samaritan woman at the
well in John 4, she responds with astonished cynicism:
You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you
ask me for a drink? (John 4:9).
the vehicle, the sacred vessel in which Gods story comes
to light.
Our ethnic stories rarely form in isolation; they often
involve encounters and altercations with those around
us. Its knowing our ethnic stories and the ethnic identity
narratives of those around us that help us realize the
complexity of values, scars, trigger points and words to
avoid. It helps us know more how to sensitively share the
gospel, and boldly invite even those that were considered
ethnic enemies or strangers to become believers.
Knowing and owning our ethnic narratives helps us
understand the real issues of injustice, racial tension and
disunity that exist in the world. Ethnicity awareness helps
us ask the question of how to prophetically engage in
pursuing justice, racial reconciliation and caring for the
poor while we give the reason for our hope: Jesus, the
great reconciler of a multiethnic people.

Jesus attempts at conversation are parried by the womans
multiple pointed questions about their peoples historic
ethnic tensions. But by choosing to speak with her, Jesus
the Messiah is embodying what Israel was meant to be:
the priesthood nation and light to the Gentiles. He is
redeeming what it means to be an Israelite Jew. And as
the Samaritan woman experiences Jesus redeeming his
her husband live in Cambridge, MA.
peoples ethnicity, she starts to desire such living water.
Jesus is transforming the disciples understanding of
what it meant to be Jewish and the Samaritan womans
understanding of what it meant to be Samaritan. Ethnicity
no longer serves as the confines of mission. It becomes
Sarah Shin is a resource specialist in the evangelism
department of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
(IVCF). She is a speaker and trainer in ethnicity,
evangelism and the arts, and she previously served
IVCF as an area director in Boston and as a regional
coordinator of multiethnicity. A fine artist and
painter, Sarah has an M.A. in Theology degree from
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Masters
in City Planning and Development from MIT. She and

The Christian story is one that acknowledges

that we are fundamentally broken. Why would the realm
of ethnicity and race be exempt from the influence of sin?
Colorblindness mutes Christian voice and thought
from speaking into ethnic brokenness.

26 contact | fall 2017


VICE CHAIR OF
GORDON-CONWELL
BOARD ADDRESSES
CHARLOTTE UNREST
Dr. Claude Alexander, Senior Pastor of The Park Church in
Charlotte, NC, and Vice Chair of the Gordon-Conwell Board
of Trustees, issued the following statement in response to the
shooting death of an unarmed African-American by a Char-
lotte police officer in Fall 2016.
T
he eyes of the world have been affixed to Charlotte as
the Charlotte story tragically merged with the worst
of our national story. Just one day after beginning to
absorb the senseless shooting death of Terrence Crutcher, an
unarmed African-American, we were struck with the officer-
involved shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.
While the narrative around his being shot and subsequent
death is as hazy as the videos that have been released, one
thing is clear. Here is another African-American male whos
been shot and killed by a police officer under less than clear
circumstances. The fact that the officer involved in the
shooting is Black does not erase the fact that the person who
will go in the grave is Black. Unfortunately, implicit bias is
not about the race of the person who holds it. It is about
the race of the person against whom the bias is held. The
national story of officer-involved shooting deaths of African-
Americans, unarmed or armed, seems to be an amazingly
deadly ability to shoot to kill with pinpoint accuracy while
being able to exercise restraint with Dylan Roof, who killed
nine unarmed people in Mother Emmanuel, and Ahmad
Rahami, the Chelsea bomber. Are the New Jersey police that
inaccurate at shooting that they didnt kill Rahami or is there
something else at play?
articles
Like most of you, I was frozen by a suspension of disbelief with
the rioting and looting of Tuesday and Wednesday nights
[September 20 and 21, 2016] that included the unimaginable
shooting and killing of Justin Crutcher, an innocent
bystander in Wednesdays. I might be missing something,
but this is a confusing use of the week days, I think because
time has passed. The actions took the focus off of where
the focus should be. The pain and anger felt by so many of
us are legitimate and real. We must have the discipline to
communicate and express them in legitimate ways. Having
said that, when you have expressed it legitimately and you
dont see change or you feel that you do not have access to
be legitimately heard, you do what you know will be heard.
I have tremendous respect, love and appreciation for Chief
Putney and the members of CMPD [Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Department]. I believe that he and the overwhelming
majority of police officers wake up every day with the desire
to both serve and protect and return home with no loss of life.
They exhibit tremendous courage in the most unbelievable of
circumstances. However, we need to revisit the shoot-to-kill
policy and continue to insist on further training in the areas
of de-escalation and implicit bias.
Special thanks to the many men and women who were
present each night in the assurance of persons right to
peaceful protest. Appreciation must be shown to the various
groups who have raised significant concerns.
The days ahead will be days where we recognize loss, express
grief, seek the proper redress of wrong, pursue justice, heal
wounds and reconcile the estranged. As individuals and as a
community, we must give ourselves to the fulfillment of each
one of them. There are a variety of things that people can do.
We can take the time to listen to each other, affirm the common
humanity of one another, and recognize the shared desires
that we all have for safety, courtesy, respect, fairness and
justice.We can commit to dedicate time, talent and treasure to
build hope and to provide positive options for people who feel
that they have no stake in the current and future prosperity
of our city. We can pray for Gods comfort and healing to the
family of Keith Lamont Scott and Justin Carr.
Bishop Claude R. Alexander, Jr. (D. Min. in Preaching
04), Senior Pastor of The Park Church in Charlotte,
NC, has served his congregation since 1990. Under his
leadership, the church has grown from one 600-member
congregation to a global ministry of thousands
worshipping in three locations. Early on, his focus was
to help members reach beyond the church, instituting
programs such as global missions, counseling services
and holistic ministry to youth. He was one of the founding pastors of
HELP (Helping Empower Local People) that worked with congregations to
increase justice and access for all people. A leader in many Christian and
civic organizations, Bishop Alexander has worked with government and
community officials to address the communitys most critical issues. Over
the years, he has served on a number of local and national Boards of
Trustees, and is currently Vice Chairman of Gordon-Conwells Board.
fall 2017 | contact 27
articles
WHEN SUNDAY COMES,
OH WHAT A TIME IT
WILL BE!
Kenneth Young (MAR 14, MACH 15)
S
unday is indeed the most important day of the week
for the Black Churcha worldwide body of believers
within seven denominations comprised predominately
by Black congregations, including Baptists, Methodists and
Pentecostals. When Sunday comes, the sanctuary will be
filled with loud and jubilant singing, dancing in the aisles,
hand-clapping and foot-tapping. The worship will be spon-
taneous, with all participants free to express thanksgiving
through song and dance, sitting and swaying.
The leader of this very participatory service will call out
to the congregation, God is good all the time; and the
congregation will automatically respond with, All the time
God is good! With Sunday comes a chance to gain strength.
The preacher will deliver a sermon that sounds more like
a soulful song, syncopated and colored with descriptive
storytelling accompanied by a Hammond B3 organ. This
message will bring life and rejuvenationenough to last until
the next Sunday. After waiting with much anticipation all
week long, Sunday is the day to be freed, laying all burdens
down at the altar.
As free as its style of worship is, the Black Church cannot
be confined within the four walls of any church building.
From the quiet and somber yet hopeful Negro spirituals to
the lively worship and preaching styles, the most distinct
attributes of the Black Church have crossed the river and
reached the other side, offering hope, grace, freedom and life
to the Global Church.
28 contact | fall 2017
Quietly birthed from the hush harbors of the Antebellum
South where Black slaves secretly assembled to worship and
to address social matters, theBlack Church has long served
as the center of Black communities in America.During the
days of slavery, the Invisible Church, as it is called, was the
Sunday meeting place for slaves. They would sing spirituals
their religious songsand worship God in their own
Africanized way. A preacher would give a message which
offered hope of the sweet by and by. Though circumstances
were cruel for slaves on earth, they could look to the hope of
heaven once their lives ended.
Once slaves were freed, Sunday had come anew! The jubilant
songs of gospel music paired with a new dance flowed
through the churches, and their worship was just as free as
they were. This very distinct worship style of gospel singing
and shouting once unique to the Black Church has now
danced its way into churches all around the globe. Church-
goers now freely pause for praise breaks, a form of dancing
originally called the ring shout, that was performed by
black slaves during their church services. Gospel music
has become a universal language sung by people on almost
every continent. The preaching hour is dynamic and met
with great expectation. Preachers speak the oracles of
life with a sonorous voice to highlight the Good News.
And as characteristic of the tradition itself, the rhythmic
storytelling of the black preacher has been passed down
from denomination to denomination across race and cultural
lines worldwide.
The Black Church has given to the world freedom for people
to fully participate in the worship experience. For the Black
Church and Global Church alike, Sunday has become so
much more than one day of the week. Sunday brings hope,
freedom and life.
endno tes
Lincoln, Lawrence Mamiya and C. Eric. 1990. The Black Church in the African Ameri-
can Experience. Durham: Duke University Press.
Mitchell, Henry. 1990. Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art. Nashville:
Abingdon Press.
Rev. Kenneth Young, Admissions Representative at the
South Hamilton Campus, received MAR and MACH
degrees from Gordon-Conwell, graduating with honors,
and was the Michael Haynes Scholar, Byington Scholar,
member of Theta Alpha Epsilon Honor Society and
President of the Black Student Association. In 2016, he
was named among the 100 Men of Color in Connecticut
and Western Massachusetts. While in college, he was
Overseer of Christian Education for a college ministry
of more than 2,500 students at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Nashville,
TN. He also was Senior Associate Pastor, St. Johns Congregational
Church, Springfield, MA.
 articles

LEARNING FROM A LEGEND:

GARDNER C. TAYLOR
good books
Jared E. Alcntara (M.Div. 04)

Note: The following article contains excerpts from the authors most recent book Learning from a Legend: What Gardner C.
Taylor Can Teach Us About Preaching (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2016).

O
n Easter Sunday 2015, Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor Even with all these commendations, especially in preach-
(1918-2015), one of the greatest preachers of the 20th ing, Taylor never actively pursued any of them. In todays
century, boarded his flight from this life to eternity. climate of news-cycle-driven, celebrity-focused, trophy-car-
What gospel preacher wouldnt want to die on Resurrection
Sunday? At 96 years old, having outlived almost all of his
contemporaries, it was time to go home. He mentored a younger cohort
Like Barnabas in Acts 11:24, Taylor was a good man fully of of preachers including the likes
the Holy Spirit and faith. He exercised strategic leadership
on behalf of African Americans during the Civil Rights Era, of Martin Luther King, Jr.
led campaigns for educational equality, participated in com-
munity work in Brooklyn, and committed himself to speaking rying attitudes and actions outside and inside the Church, it
out for the least, the lonely, and the lost. almost seems odd that Taylor never tried to make a name for
himself. James Earl Massey puts it this way: Taylor has been
Yet, more than any of stuck with the church. He has been busy handling the themes
these distinctions, it of the gospel and seeking to affect society in ways that are
was his preaching that consonant with the gospel purpose. This is not newsworthy
set him apart. like leading a sit in.2
Taylor modeled ser- Taylor did what God calls every gospel preacher to do: he
monic excellence in a kept on preaching, and he kept on living out the gospel in
ministry that spanned daily life. In the end, faithfulness mattered more to him than
six continents. Most success. The legacy he leaves behind in preaching and in liv-
often, one could find ing has much to teach the next generation of preachers.
him at Concord Bap-
tist Church of Christ endno tes
1 See American Preaching: A Dying Art?, Time, December 31, 1979. Americas 15
in Brooklyn where he Greatest Black Preachers, Ebony, September 1984; The 15 Greatest Black Preachers,
pastored from 1948 to Ebony, November 1993.Baylor Names the 12 Most Effective Preachers, Baylor University
Media Communications, February 28, 1996, http://www.baylor.edu /mediacommunica-
1990. Thats 42 years! tions/ news.php?action=story&story=1036.
He mentored a young- 2 Interview in Michael Eric Dyson, Gardner Taylor: Poet Laureate of the Pulpit,
er cohort of preachers Christian Century 112, no. 1 (January 4, 1995): 1216.

including the likes of Jared E. Alcntara is Associate Professor of Homiletics

Martin Luther King, Jr.
An entire generation of Black preachers considered Taylor
the gold standard for pulpit eloquence, and many of the es-
teemed White preachers of that era also held him in high
regard. In 1979, Time magazine named him, Dean of the na-
tions black preachers. In 1984 and 1993, Ebony put him first
on its list of the 15 greatest Black preachers in America. In
1996, Baylor University named him one of the 12 most effec-
tive preachers in the English-speaking world.1
at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Il.
His latest book, Learning from a Legend: What Gardner C.
Taylor Can Teach Us About Preaching, recently received
the Book of the Year Award from Preaching magazine.
An ordained Baptist minister, Jared has served as a youth
pastor, associate pastor and teaching pastor in Illinois,
Massachusetts, Oregon and New Jersey. He lives in the
Chicagoland area with his wife, Jennifer, and their three
daughters. You can follow him on Twitter @jaredealcantara.

fall 2017 | contact 29

articles
RACIAL
RECONCILIATION:
MY PERSONAL
EXPERI ENCE
Dean Borgman, Senior Professor of Youth Ministry
D
uring the 1930s most New England Congregational
Churches were admittedly Modernistic, essentially
Unitarian and Universalist. But Black Rock Congre-
gational Church in Bridgeport, CT, was an exception. This
church moved from Modernist to Fundamentalist (or from
liberal to evangelical, to use todays terms) in the 1920s chase adventure and relief through drugs.
under the leadership of Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon Mac-
Dowell. His daughter, Winifred, became a leading evangelist,
and (not without a dash of romance) she converted a local
agnostic, Arnold Borgman.
Charles MacDowell was my grandfather; Arnold and Win-
ifred, my parents. Black Rock was almost entirely white,
but it bordered projects that were predominantly Black.
As dispensationalist Christians, we were interested in the
salvation of black souls, for eternitys sake, but seemingly
unconcerned about their present worldly dilemmas. World
concerns God had entrusted to Israel; the Church was made
up of Gods heavenly people, who were simply waiting for
the Rapture.
Through a childhood friend, God opened doors for ministry
to Black youth, as busloads of youth joined our Black Rock
Teenage Group. It was great, but I never took the time to hear
30 contact | fall 2017
their full stories. While teaching high school and leading a
Young Life Club in New Canaan, CT, I spent time with Black
students. But despite my enthusiasm for their presence, I
never got to hear their stories or understand their deeper
issues. Around 1960, I began doing graduate studies at Co-
lumbia University and had a roommate, a Brazilian Ameri-
can who identified as Black and gay. He engaged me in deep
conversations and introduced me to the notion of systemic
racism. My dispensational theology began to weaken, and
its individualism was giving way to a more holistic theology
with the strong corporate emphases of Scripture.
I became involved in an urban youth ministry with Young
Life in an Anglo-Catholic Church on the Lower East Side
Manhattan. Systemic obstacles were apparent all around us:
in housing, education, and criminal justice; the hopelessness
of dreams, pressure to join gangs and powerful incentives to
In his old age my grandfather came to live in my parents
home while I worked with black leaders and youth in New
York. He turned to me one day and exclaimed: Remember,
Dean, the Civil War was fought over the Unionnot over
slavery! I also remember being in the kitchen one day when
my mother and grandmother explained: Remember, Dean,
sparrows mate with sparrows and robins with robins. I re-
member no malice behind these remarks; they just hung in
the air and in my mind. God knew how far I needed to go,
through my own failures and pain, to fathom the significance
of the Great Commandment in racial reconciliation.
I began to see that my understanding of love and compas-
sion had been generic and superficial. We were not trained to
understand communal and trans-generational trauma back
then, but the compelling wounds and anger of these youth
led us to empathy and a deeper understanding of privilege,

power and disadvantage. A year with the Street Academies
of Harlem brought us into hard confrontations, emotional
encounter groups, and late night discussions with the fol-
lowers of Malcolm X and others.
Ears must take precedence over
mouths, real listening before
even considering a response.
My learning curve also included years in Africa. The stories
of African supervisors, friends, and servants pointed to the
racist aspects of colonialism and our countrys economic im-
perialism. American aid would bounce once in Africa and
then back to the U.S. But the American inner-city was the
same: outsiderslandlords, teachers, police, and shop own-
ersprofited from money pumped into such neighborhoods.
In 1975, Dr. Wesley Roberts asked me to team-teach (eventu-
ally solo-teach) a new course requested by Black students at
Gordon-Conwell. All I had was my privileged perspective; I
had to become a humble and receptive learner, receptive to
stories of pain. Surveys I conducted as we laid the founda-
tion for an urban Boston campus contributed to my learning
curve, as did countless deep encounters with students and
colleagues for 40 years at the Boston Campus. As a practical
theologian, I listen to the secular world and social scientists.
A shelf-full of books on the African-American experience
and systemic racism helps educate me to some degree.
The triumphalism of my early theology has faded. Even now
I seem to be committed to a cause that will never fully win
until our Lord brings Gods final triumph of justice. We seem
to be called to faithfulness until final success, knowing that
it may not come in our lifetimes.
articles
I recently listened to dismissals of white privilege by young
women who see charges of privilege as racism against
whites. Their perspective must be part of any discussions
leading toward reconciliation. But when our interchanges
are characterized by arrogance rather than humility, rhet-
oric rather than earnest experience, and anger rather than
vulnerability, we are pushing polarization rather than seek-
ing beloved community and Gods Kingdom among us. Ears
must take precedence over mouths, real listening before even
considering a response.
In our academic communities, churches and cities there are
deep wounds that result in a lack of trust and hinder genuine
community. Too often, we just dont get it. We dont realize
how we, as those with subtle but real social power, come off
to those who have always experienced less.
I am called by Jesus Christ to be childlike, to understand the
total mystery of ethnic identities and social strata involved in
secular society and in Gods Kingdom. Only as a vulnerable,
learning sinner can I truly open my arms to relationships
with all others.
Dean Borgman, long-time Charles E. Culpeper Professor of
Youth Ministries, joined Gordon-Conwell in 1976, bringing
valuable expertise in urban and cross-cultural youth
ministry and the changing youth culture. Recognized
as a leader in youth ministries, he established Young
Life in New England, founded its Urban Training Center
and worked to integrate youth into Young Life and St.
Christophers Episcopal Mission in Lower Manhattan, NY.
He also taught at New Canaan (CT) High School, New
York City Community College, Cuttington College in Liberia, and served as
Educational Director of Street Academies for the New York Urban League.
An Episcopal priest, he was on the Youth Board of the Episcopal Diocese
of New York and the Youth, Urban and Spiritual Renewal Commissions of
the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. In addition, he was the Youth
Ministry Consultant at the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
Ready to take the next
step in your education?
The Th.M. in Applied Theology is a flexible degree with a
modular format for seminarians who have an MA, M.Div.,
or 60 credit hours. This innovative degree features inter-
disciplinary theological research and the opportunity to
earn advanced standing in one of four GCTS Doctor of
Ministry tracks.
www.gordonconwell.edu/thmboston
fall 2017 | contact 31
articles
L. to r: Rev Eugene Neville, Dr. Robert Fillinger, Dr. Luis Robles, Rev. Sam Hogan,
Dr. Eldin Villafae, Rev. Dean Borgman, Rev. V.C. Johnson, Dr. Nigel Kerr
FROM THE BEGINNING: The Development of an
Urban Ministry Campus to Serve the City and the Church
I
n 1969, one of the mandates of the newly-
formed Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
was to engage the city in some fashion. Leaders
from both schools, the Gordon Divinity School and
the Conwell School of Theology, had historic com-
mitments to urban ministry that they were unwill-
ing to abandon.
Rev. Dr. Michael Haynes, pastor of the historic
Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, MA, who
would become a long-time trustee of Gordon-
Conwell, played a crucial role in advocating for the
seminarys need to be involved in the inner city.
This need for a seminary presence in the city was,
for him, a critical need, coming on the heels of the
slaying of his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
just a year before the seminary opened.
32 contact | fall 2017
In the ensuing months and years, Dr. Haynes
would meet with seminary President Harold John
Ockenga, and many others, as they envisioned
what Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary could
do to be more involved in the inner city. From
these early meetings would emerge the idea of an
urban ministerial education program.
Further steps in the development of Gordon-
Conwells urban engagement were taken when
Douglas Hall (B.D. 68, Honorary D.D. 91), at that
time Executive Director of the Emmanuel Gospel
Center (EGC) in Bostons South End, submitted
a proposal to Gordon College and the seminary
suggesting a strategy for urban involvement.
After several starts and stops, in the 1973-74
academic year, under the leadership of seminary

President Harold John Ockenga, the support of seminary
Dean Dr. Nigel Kerr and the inspiration and impetus of
numerous urban practitioners, Master of Divinity courses
were offered for the first time in the city at the Emmanuel
Gospel Center.
This would address the mandate in Jeremiah 29:7: Seek the
peace of the city, which speaks to the Churchs mission in
the city. The word and concept peace (Shalom) best sums up
the mission and ministry of the Church. Scripture presents at
least three dimensions of Shalom: peace with God (Romans
5:1), the peace of God (Philippians 4:7) and (seek) the peace
of the city (Jeremiah 29:7).
Gordon-Conwell Boston, previously known as the Center
for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), began its formal
history in 1976. During that academic year (1975-76), Eldin
Villafae, a Pentecostal pastor from Puerto Rico pursuing his
Ph.D. in social ethics at Boston University, was invited to
lecture. This resulted in Gordon-Conwells hiring him two
months prior to the CUME opening in September 1976.
The impetus for CUMEs vision, though strongly supported by
others, resided in Villafaes recognition of the urgent need
for a full theological training center specifically designed for
urban church leaders in Boston. He was able to merge the
visions of Drs. Haynes and Hall with his own to develop a
multicultural, contextualized urban theological education
program that would meet the needs of all in the city. These
L to r: Class in progress at the Emmanuel Gospel Center; Fall 2016 OCF (Orientation/Convocation/Formation) at Congregation Lion of Judah
key leaders knew the Church must be an embodiment and an
agent of Shalom in the citiesparticularly in those places of
brokenness and hopelessness.
CUMEs first associates included Dr. Villafae, VaContess
(V.C.) Johnson and Rev. Samuel Hogan, who all worked in
CUMEs administrative location in the heart of the Black
community at historic Twelfth Baptist Church. Many of
the first students were full-time ministers who also worked
a full-time job to support their families. CUME sought to
articles
accommodate this busy lifestyle by offering evening and
weekend courses, with tuition underwritten by the seminary
to keep student costs as low as possible. Classes were
designed to actively address ministry concerns of the city.
Beginning with 30 students, CUMEs enrollment burgeoned
to 170 by September 1982. With the growth of the program,
additional staff were added and programs adapted to the
ever-changing realities of the city. In 1990, to accommodate
additional growth, CUME moved to 363 South Huntington
Ave. in Boston. And several years later, increasing enrollment
and new courses of study, including the Doctor of Ministry
program, necessitated yet another move, this time back to
Roxbury, where it still resides at 90 Warren St. and is named
the Michael E. Haynes Academic Building.
After decades of service, the Gordon-Conwell Boston campus
is a mature program which is now a model for New England,
the country and beyond. It is committed to an educational
process, philosophically and methodologically, which is
informed by the contextual realities of its constituency.
Emphasis is placed upon developing greater competency in
ministry, greater self-understanding and sense of mission,
coherence between explicit technology and implicit practice
and developing leadership potential in the Church and
greater society.
It aims to be in the city, of the city, for the city and with the
city. To borrow from the great missionary leader, Hudson
Taylor, CUMEs future is indeed as bright as the promises of
our God. To Him be the glory as CUME continues to seek the
Shalom of the city (Jeremiah 29:7-9).
This article is a compilation of many resources, including former
Dean Dr. Eldin Villafaes A Vision for the City, and former Dean Dr.
Alvin Padillas A Brief History of CUME. Now leading the Boston
Campus is Dr. Seong Hyun Park, Dean and Assistant Professor of
Old Testament.
fall 2017 | contact 33
 news

Board Names New Trustee Dr. Mateus F. de Campos

Appointed Assistant Professor
G erald L. Hector, CPA (MACT 17) is the newest member
of the Gordon-Conwell Board of Trustees. He is
of New Testament

M
currently Vice President for Financial Affairs at Cornell
ateus F. de Campos, Ph.D.,
University, where he leads the Division of Financial Affairs,
has been named Assistant
overseeing the treasury functions of the universitys three
Professor of New Testament
campuses. He manages consolidated financial statements
at the Gordon-Conwell South
that generate nearly $4.3 billion in annual revenue with over
Hamilton, MA campus. His
$12 billion in total assets, and reshaped leadership teams by incorporating
background includes a Ph. D of
behavioral tenets around people, process and performance.
New Testament Studies from the University of
Cambridge, UK, an M.A. in Theological Studies
Mr. Hector holds credentials from Harvard Universitys Institute for
from Regent College in Canada, and extensive
Educational Management and two Yale Universitys Common Fund
experience as a published author and presenter
Endowment Institutes. In 2017, he was the Martin Luther King Breakfast
as well as academic lecturer in numerous
keynote speaker for the Elmira/Corning Chapter of the NAACP, addressing
countries. His specialties include Koine Greek,
the topic, It Is On Us Now. An accomplished author, his publications and
Introduction of the New Testament, Gospel
presentations include The New Normal Continues to Affect Institutions, and
of Mark, the Synoptic Gospels, the parables of
Looking Under the Hood: Institutional Aid Policies and Strategies. He previously
Jesus and the use of the Old Testament in the
served as Vice President of Ithaca College and Johnson C. Smith University,
New Testament. He is the co-founder and writer
and as Corporate Controller at the United Negro College Fund, Inc.
at Impacto Magazine, a bi-monthly evangelical
publication with national circulation and has
He has served in various volunteer capacities and also teaches Mens Bible
served churches in Brazil for nearly a decade.
Study at Calvary Baptist Church in Ithaca, NY.

New Leader Tapped for Hispanic New Counseling Professor

Ministries Program Joins Boston Campus

D r. Pablo
Jimnez,
bilingual expert in
A.
a
homiletics, has been
named the new
Associate Dean of the
Hispanic Ministries
Program. He holds a Doctor of Ministry
degree from Columbia Theological
Seminary, a Sacred Theology Masters
from Christian Theological Seminary
and a Masters of Divinity from
Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico.
Dr. Jimnez brings to the seminary
important expertise in homiletics
through decades of experience as a
Senior Pastor in Puerto Rico, Senior
Editor of Chalice Press Christian Board
of Publication, Executive Director of
the Association of Hispanic Theological
Education, as well as National Pastor
for Hispanic Ministries in the U.S. and
Director of the Biblical Institute in
Puerto Rico for the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ denomination).
Also a sought after speaker and
author, he will lead Gordon-Conwells
Hispanic Ministries Program, which
currently trains more than 200 students
around the world.
Dr. Jimenez continues Gordon-
Conwells strong commitment
to providing the highest quality
theological education to some of
the least served populations as close
to their communities as possible,
says Dr. David Currie, Dean of the
Doctor of Ministry Program and
Ockenga Institute. We look forward
to continuing the important work
pioneered by Drs. Eldin Villafae and
Alvin Padilla that has been making
a global impact for decades, and
anticipate the future as the Hispanic
Ministries Program becomes part of
the Ockenga Institutes global outreach
efforts.
D r. Jacqueline T. Dyer has
been named Assistant
Professor of Counseling
at the seminarys Boston
Campus. She previously
served as Assistant Professor
and Field Coordinator at Eastern Nazarene
College, and as an Adjunct Professor at
Simmons, Salem State and Wheelock
Colleges of Social Work. She has also
held various clinical and supervisory
positions at Family Intervention Team,
Abundant Life Counseling Center, Roxbury
Preparatory and Edward Brooke Charter
Schools, Cambridge Public Schools,
and Massachusetts Behavioral Health
Partnership, all in the Greater Boston
area. She also serves on the leadership
team of Clergy Women United of the
Black Ministerial Alliance in Boston. She
holds a Ph.D. degree from the Boston
College Graduate School of Social Work,
and a Master of Arts in Urban Ministry
Leadership from Gordon-Conwell.

34 contact | fall 2017

 news

A New Dean for the Boston Campus

Dr. Park taught for six years at Bethlehem Bible College in

D r. Seong Hyun Park has been named Dean

of Gordon-Conwells Boston Campus,
after serving for nine months as Interim
Dean, and previously, as Assistant Dean and
Assistant Professor of Old Testament.
Dr. Park brings to his new role a rich
background in multi-cultural and multi-lingual experiences,
ministry and leadership. He is the son of a Korean
immigrant family who moved to Paraguay during his
formative years. Despite dropping out of school twice to
help his family, Seong went on to earn a B.A. from Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, an M.A. from Tel Aviv University
and a Ph.D. in Archaeology and Hebrew Bible from Harvard
University.While a student at Hebrew University, he was a
founding member of the Hebrew-speaking Christian Student
Fellowship. He is fluent in Korean, Spanish, Italian, English
and Modern Hebrew.
Palestine, where he developed a license track in tourism.A
gifted vocal musician, Seong has founded various music
ministries, including the Ben-Yehuda Worship Outreach
in Israel. While teaching Palestinians on the West Bank,
he simultaneously served as an Assistant Preacher for a
Messianic Jewish Congregation in Jerusalem.For a number of
years he also was Visiting Professor at Seminario Teolgico
Tirano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and for one year served
as the Acting Director of Harvard Universitys Ashkelon
Archaeological Lab in Israel.
In Boston, Dr. Park was the founding Pastor of the Boston
Onnuri Church (Korean) and for two years served as Interim
Pastor of Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Elim de Boston,
an Hispanic church in Jamaica Plain. In partnership with
the Boston Rescue Mission and various local churches, he
was the initiator and leader for many years of an outreach
ministry to the homeless on the Boston Common.

Dr. Virginia Ward Dr. Jason Hood Appointed Assistant Professor

Undertakes New Roles at of New Testament
Gordon-Conwell Boston
I
n addition to currently serving as Director of Advanced
Urban Ministerial Education and coordinator of the
D r. Virginia Ward has
been named Assistant
Dean of Gordon-Conwells
Th.M. program at Gordon-Conwells Boston Campus,
Dr. Jason Hood has joined the faculty as an Assistant
Professor of New Testament. An ordained Anglican
Boston Campus and Assistant
priest, he received his doctorate in New Testament
Professor of Youth and
from Highland Theological College and the University
Leadership Development.
of Aberdeen in Scotland, as well as his M.A. in Biblical Studies from
Previously Director of
Reformed Theological Seminary.
Leadership and Mentored Ministry
Initiatives at that campus, Dr. Ward has
His published works include articles in
extensive experience as an urban pastor,
journals such as the Journal of Biblical
ministry organizer and youth ministry
Literature and Bulletin for Biblical Research. His
expert. A third-generation minister, Rev.
latest book is Imitating God in Christ, and his
Ward serves with her husband, Bishop
current research interests include the Kingdom
Larry Ward, Lead Pastor of the Abundant
of God and Matthews Gospel. Prior to coming to
Life Church (Cambridge, MA). She is a
Gordon-Conwell, Dr. Hood served as the pastor
trainer for the DeVos Urban Leadership
of an international congregation in Tanzania,
Initiative and Orange/ReThink Group and
after years of urban ministry, including urban
formerly trained for the Black Ministerial
theological education in Memphis, TN. Dr.
Alliance. In addition, she was Director of
Hood and his wife and four children live in the
InterVarsitys New England Black Campus
Roslindale neighborhood of Boston.
Ministries.

Visit Office Hours, our faculty blog, for responses to current topics:
www.gordonconwell.edu/blog
fall 2017 | contact 35
news
Gordon-Conwell Has New South
Hamilton Dean
D r. Thomas C. Pfizenmaier, Director of
Formation and Leadership Development
and Associate Professor of Formation and
Leadership Development, has been appointed
Gordon-Conwells Dean of the South Hamilton
campus. He will continue in his academic and
leadership capacities. He succeeds Dr. Richard Lints, who has
served simultaneously as Campus Dean and Vice President
for Academic Affairs since May 2012. He will continue in the
latter role. Dr. Lints is also the Andrew Mutch Distinguished
Professor of Theology.
Dr. Pfizenmaier joined the seminary in 2016 after serving
for 20 years as Senior Pastor of the Bonhomme Presbyterian
Church near St. Louis, MO. He has also provided pastoral
leadership for churches in California and Oklahoma. He
holds an M.A. in Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell,
an M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary and a
Ph.D. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.He and
his wife, Donna, an elementary school teacher, have three
adult daughters: Lenny, Kate and Ann.
Dr. Pamela Davis Appointed Associate
Professor in Counseling
D r. Pamela Davis is Gordon-Conwells new
Associate Professor in Counseling, based
out of the Charlotte campus. Her background
includes serving as an Assistant Professor
at Wheaton College Graduate School, and
authoring more than 40 publications, such as
Reentry program impact on Missionary Kid depression, anxiety
and stress and publications such as Enhancing Mental Health
Education and Training for International Students.
She has served as Wheaton College Program Director
for the Graduate Schools MA in Clinical Mental Health
Counseling and has received awards that include the Frances
J. White Award for Psychology and Ministry and the Christian
Association for Psychological Studies Award. She was also
active in her community in a variety of capacities, which
include serving as President of the Illinois Association of Play
Therapy and as a Crisis Care Consultant to the Evangelical
Alliance Mission.
She was a missionary in Thailand for 20 years, where she
provided services as Clinical Director and Licensed Clinical
Professional Counselor of the Cornerstone Counseling
Foundation in Chiang Mai, and is fluent in the Thai language.
She will complete her post-graduate certificate in Spiritual
Formation in 2018.
36 contact | fall 2017
Dr. Nicole Martin Named Assistant
Professor of Ministry and Leadership
Development
R
ev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin has recently
joined Gordon-Conwell as Assistant Professor
of Ministry and Leadership Development at
the Charlotte campus. She received a Master of
Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary
where she was the recipient of the Jones Prize in
Music and the Swink Prize in preaching. She is also a consultant
with American Bible Society, is a minister at The Park Church in
Charlotte, NC and was inducted into the prestigious Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.
Dr. Martin earned a Doctor of Ministry at Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary with an emphasis on African American
Redemptive Leadership. She is a regular columnist for the Faith
and Values section of the Charlotte Observer, and is a contributor
for Christianity Today. Most recently, she was named one of the
Top 40 Under 40 for 2017 by the Charlotte Business Journal. Dr.
Martin has been selected to participate in ministries locally and
globally, including the Lausanne Younger Leaders Conference
in Indonesia, and the Evangelical thought leaders gathering in
Israel, and was appointed by the Charlotte Mayor to serve as
the faith-based representative on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Housing Advisory Board. Dr. Martin is also the founder of The
Clergywomen of Charlotte and Executive Director of SoulFire
International Ministries.
Dr. Kateryna Kuzubova Joins Seminary as
Assistant Professor of Counseling
K ateryna Kuzubova, Ph. D., L.P.C. has joined
Gordon-Conwell as an Assistant Professor
of Counseling, based at the South Hamilton, MA
campus. Dr. Kuzubova grew up in the Ukraine and
is fluent in both Russian and Ukranian. She received
her doctorate in Counseling Education from the
CACREP-accredited University of Toledo, and wrote
her dissertation on Forgiveness and Depression Among Adolescents.
She has served as a clinical faculty member at the University of
Massachusetts, conducted research at Boston Childrens Hospital/
Harvard Medical School as a fellow in conjunction with the
Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research, and presented
topics including Computer-Facilitated Screening and Physician
Brief Advice: effects on heavy episodic drinking among adolescents;
Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment Outcomes for Opioid Dependent
Youth and The Civil Rights Movement in Toledo: what does it mean
for us in 2013?
She brings experience as a psychotherapist and mental health
counselor, and has participated in a variety of projects, including
National Institutes of Health studies.

Not a Secret: Behind the Screens
Sarah Leong
I
t wasnt an opening scene in a movie. The log cabin and
gargantuan old-school phone were not props. At a time
when technology was still developing, this was the scene of
an actual classroom led by renowned scholar and long-time
Professor of Old Testament, Dr. Douglas Stuart.
To open his lecture, he asked, Can you hear me now? as he video
conferenced live with a group of eager students from around
the worldstudents determined to be equipped for ministry by
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary professors.
Dr. Stuarts classroom in the woods was the outgrowth of a
now decades-old commitment by seminary leaders to develop
innovative methods for making a seminary education accessible
to men and women at home and abroad.
Hence, Dr. Stuarts resolute commitment to this work was
evident even in the oddest of odd settings. That evening,
he further fostered Gordon-Conwells global mission and
pioneered one of the earliest forms of its online learning
communitiesright from an old log cabin located somewhere
in the state of Maine.
Fast-forward to present day, the seminarys learning
technology to equip individuals for ministry now includes more
than 112,414 video lectures, 58,240 online posts and student-
logged learning hours equivalent to 3.5 straight years. What
began as merely a transportable cassette-tape-driven learning
curriculum has expanded into the comprehensive and still
rapidly growing power-house division of Gordon-Conwells
learning asset offerings now encompassed in a full department
called Educational Support Services.
What is Educational Support Services? Like a treasure
trove of resources, Educational Support Services (ESS) provides
learning tools and support not only to the rapidly-growing
online campus of Gordon-Conwell, but also physical campuses
in South Hamilton and Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Jacksonville,
FL and specially-taught course offerings in other parts of the
country and throughout the globe.
Though ESS may be well-known for powering the online-
learning tool Sakai, its bounds reach far greater capacities
news
utilized across online and in-person seminary coursework. In
addition to the traditionally recognized online courses through
Semlink+, ESS is currently fueling cutting-edge learning tools
such as piloting simultaneous classroom teaching and remote
learning, comprehensive student interactive forums and even
the ability for students and professors to insert real-time video
questions and feedback into lectures.
Imagine a student taking one of Gordon-Conwells preaching
classes through Semlink+, says Scott D. Poblenz, Dean of
Enrollment Management & Registrar. Now imagine that the
professors and student community of learners are able to insert
video feedback in the exactly applicable point of the sermon.
Now, that is a powerful tool.
Furthermore, the community of online and in-person learners
has repeatedly extended beyond academics to include spiritual
encouragement and collaborative prayer.
There is a whole virtual side of the Gordon-Conwell experience
that is exciting, notes Sharon Dhavale (M.Div. 19). Regardless
if used in an online classroom environment or residential setting,
ESS is developing so many new tools and ideas to unify and
propel Gordon-Conwells campuses, students and professors.
In 2013, ESS launched its newly revamped online learning
division called Semlink+ through its first course Christian Ethics
taught by Dr. Dennis Hollinger, Gordon-Conwell President &
Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics.
Now offering more than 12 courses each semester, Semlink+
is expanding beyond its core courses and laying important
groundwork for elective courses, including Paul and His Letters
and Life of Jesus and extending beyond its current Greek and
English-based New Testament courses to the first offering of an
English-based Old Testament course, Genesis.
Also on the future docket is a potential repackaging and
assimilation of vintage, yet beloved and academically-rigorous
coursework offered through its 10-course Dimensions of the
Faith program, which is available for free to lay learners looking
to gain training from Gordon-Conwell faculty. Additionally,
ESS is currently in the midst an exciting project to create and
deploy a uniquely-crafted Hispanic curriculum, led by Dr. Pablo
Jimnez, newly-appointed Associate Dean for the Hispanic
Ministries Program.
The Educational Student Services Department and Workshop
Laboratory is located on the South Hamilton Campus, but
can also be accessed through 978-646-4198 or ess@gcts.edu.
Students and lay learners are welcome to email, call or drop
in without an appointment to gain hands-on coaching on how
to better utilize and maximize the technological dimension of
Gordon-Conwells learning community.
Sarah Leong is Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing at
Gordon-Conwell.
fall 2017 | contact 37
reach
a d va n c e m e n t n e w s
On a Gratitude Journey!
Kurt W. Drescher
I
t seems to me that being grateful and living a life of
gratitude are intentional choices that we get to make
regularly. There are so many opportunities, day in and
day out, to choose to be grateful because of our circum-
stancesand many times even in spite of our circumstances.
I am learning to be even more grateful, in large part, because
of my role at the seminary.
I write a lot of thank you notes and I frequently sign them
With gratitude, Kurt. I have thought many times: Is that
genuine? Is this true? Am I truly grateful? The answer is
Yes, more today than when I first starting writing so many
thank you notes. Expressing gratitude does not seem to
come naturally to me. It is something that I have had to
work at, and I am grateful that God is still teaching me what
being grateful truly means. I have come to believe that work-
ing hard at sincerely expressing gratitude is making me a
more grateful person.
38 contact | fall 2017
We absolutely could not do what we do and make the bud-
get work at Gordon-Conwell without the faithful and gener-
ous support of hundreds of donors to the seminary. That
is not hyperbole. That is a fact. We simply cannot do what
we do without these generous friends. Students would not
be able to afford and attend seminary without the numerous
scholarships we offer, including scholarship programs like
the Partnership Program funded by friends of the seminary.
Buildings would not be built, apartments would not be reno-
vated and we would not be able to invest in new technology
without the generous, sacrificial and faithful commitments
that donors have made to the seminary. If we are not care-
ful to sincerely express gratitude, we may start to take this
amazing work of God for granted. Please know that if you
are a friend of Gordon-Conwell, we are so grateful to God for
the way He is working through your faithful commitment to
the Kingdom work of the seminary.

Psalm 100 (NIV)
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
=1
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joy-
ful songs.
3
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are
his[a]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with
praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
5 couraging, grateful even for the health issues and struggles
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
I am really grateful for Gods Word, and I am especially
grateful for Psalms like this, because they direct us to the
One to whom we owe the most gratitude. One cannot help
feeling joy filled when you read scripture that is embedded
with these promises. Alumni Tim and Kathy Keller have
written a daily devotional called The Songs of Jesus A Year
of Daily Devotions in the Psalms. It is a great devotional that
my wife and I have been reading together. These Psalms and
the short accompanying messages have a wonderful way of
starting our days out on the right path. I am grateful for
alums like Tim and Kathy and thousands of others who were
trained at Gordon-Conwell to advance Christs Kingdom in
every sphere of life as we strive to equip Church leaders to
think theologically, engage globally and live biblically.
John Huffman is the seminarys board chair and serves as
Pastor in Residence. John has been a Gordon-Conwell trust-
ee for over 45 years, pastored churches his whole life and is
an extraordinarily gifted communicator. A few years ago he
spoke in chapel on the topic of gratitude. He explained that
it is pretty easy for us to make a list of things that are going
wronga list of grievances, if you will. But he asked if we
ever, literally, had made a list of the blessings in our lives,
or a list of all the things for which we are grateful. John
explained that when you do this, if you are like most people
you undoubtedly find that the list of things for which you
are thankful or grateful is far longer than the list of all your
woes or grievances. If you really work at your grateful list,
you can go on and on and on for the rest of your life. And
perhaps this makes the point that being grateful is more than
just a practice, but rather, a way of living our lives.
As our country continues to struggle with race relations and
racial reconciliation, I find myself being incredibly grateful
for the voices of my Gordon-Conwell colleagues and friends.
reach
I am grateful for the gifted leadership of Dr. Emmett Price
and Dr. Patrick Smith for starting the Institute for the Black
Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell. We all wait with
eager anticipation to be part of these healing conversations
and thoughtful dialogues that will take place as a result of
this initiative. I am grateful that not just our students, but
the entire Gordon-Conwell community can play a part in
this transformative work.
Some of the friends of our seminary are well into their eight-
ies and nineties. You can learn a lot when you have lived
well into your eighties and nineties. I find, more often than
not, that these folks are very grateful people. Grateful for the
way that God has used them throughout their lives. Grateful
for the joys of family and friends. And perhaps, most en-
that many of them face. One couple comes to mind. By any
measure, these last few years have been very challenging,
as they have experienced many health issues and increasing
limitations. But here is what encouraged me most after a
recent visit with them. Despite their challenges, we did not
spend any time talking about them. Instead, we talked about
the wonderful people who are caring for them, the beauty
and comfort of the facility in which they live, the joy that
their children and grandchildren bring them and the deep
love they have for God. I believe as we age, our true selves
shines through. My friends still shine brightly and reflect
their love for each other and for our great God. They have
every reason to complain, but instead they are truly grateful
people. They are such a great model, and I so want to be like
that when I am their age.
One last thing about gratitude: I believe having a grateful
heart and expressing gratitude can be contagious. I get notes
and emails thanking me for being grateful. I hope this ar-
ticle on gratitude inspires you to make a list of the things for
which you are grateful. And if that list includes peoplelike
family, friends, folks at your church, people for whom you
work or people who work for yousend them a handwrit-
ten note, sincerely expressing gratitude for them. You might
be surprised by how much that person appreciates it. You
might be even more surprised by how expressing gratitude
changes you.
Ultimately, expressing gratitude all starts and ends with our
great God. And that is perhaps the greatest joy and privilege
we have.
Kurt W. Drescher
Vice President of Advancement
978-646-4070
kdrescher@gcts.edu
www.gordonconwell.edu/giving
fall 2017 | contact 39
alumni

alumni spotlight

Buddhist Architect
Called to Build
Gods Kingdom
Heather N. Korpi

Gunja B. Tamang (MATH 05) was

crossing the threshold of his friends
church outside of Kathmandu, Nepal
one foot inside the building, the other
just out the doorwhen the ground
started to tremble and a cloud of dust
rose all around him. I looked up and
the wall was almost falling on my head,
he recalls.
So, he rannot bothering to grab the shoes he had
customarily left outside the churchtoward the
dust cloud, where the surrounding villages were
being reduced to rubble (by a massive earthquake).
Immediately the next day, we were trying to bring
resources to the people. And for a whole year, I was
working day and night, mobilizing all the leaders
of our village churches, says Gunja, who goes by
Samuel Bomzon.

Wherever we have a church, we use that church as

a resource center, he explains. So we mobilized the
human resources of our church and we asked the
pastors to assemble a team of people from the local
village, including non-Christian leaders. Over the
course of that year, Samuel, his church leaders and
the village teams served almost 40,000 families in
200 villages, supplying them with basic life supplies
like rice, lentils, salt and tarps for shelter.

People were saying the Christians did more

and better than the government, he says. They
were really admiring the work and accepting the
Christian services.

40 contact | fall 2017


The 2015 earthquake wasnt the first time Samuel ran toward
disaster. Ten years earlier, after graduating from Gordon-
Conwell, he returned home to Nepal with his wife, Karuna, and
two sons, Ujjwal and Prajjwal, during the thick of a civil war.
He had just earned a Master of Arts in Theology and had been
offered a pastoral position in the U.S. But, he says, My heart,
my mind, my call, my everything is in Nepal. Despite the
warranted concerns of family and friends, Samuels passion
for sharing the gospel in his country was unquenchable. He
counted the cost and moved back with an even stronger vision
to increase leadership development and church planting
efforts.
Though he understood the risk, facing danger was nothing
new. He had converted from Buddhism to Christianity in
1977, during what he calls the climax of persecution for the
churches in Nepal. In 1981, he quit his job as a building and
construction overseer and answered the call to a tent-making
ministry, with inspiration from Paul the Apostle, teaching
architecture at the local university as he planted churches.
Samuels first church began in a rented room in Kathmandu,
with funding from his Buddhist parents (who later came to
know Christ). The small gathering of friends has now become
the thriving 800-member Bethel Church, with 130 daughter
churches. Along the way, arrests, prison sentences and riots
ensued as Nepal endured a turbulent decades-long transition
from the worlds only Hindu Kingdom to its now secular
state. Samuel was among the many arrested, but was spared
a prison sentence.
Those days, even though there was restriction, even though
there was persecution, God really ordained us with His Spirit
and gave us the courage to go and share the gospel, he says.
Samuel Bomzon and his wife, Raruna Rupacha Tamang
alumni
The Great Commission was important to every Christian, not
just the ministers. Those who came to church came risking
their lives.
God has been so good. He has protected us and saved us.
And He has equipped the Nepali church to grow like wildfire.
As one of the founding members of the Assemblies of God
in Nepal, Samuel has seen the denomination grow from its
fledgling eight churches to now more than 1,200 throughout
his country.
When I started ministry, we had less than 5,000 Christians
all around the country. Now we have about 1.5 million
Christians. Believers still face some resistance, he says, but
in spite of it all, the Church is growing and we have several
Bible colleges here to train our people.
Samuel continues to teach architecture and has put his
building expertise to use for the greater good. As one of
the founding members of Habitat for Humanity in Nepal,
he oversaw the construction of 900 houses in seven years.
More recently, hes been involved with the Fuller Center for
Housing, working to meet the housing needs of people in his
country, particularly for those rendered homeless by the 2015
earthquake.
He is currently involved with Convoy of Hope, working
to empower children, women and local farmers through
a partnership with the nonprofit Nepal Integral Missions
Society, which functions as an extension of Bethel Church to
meet the social needs of the community. Samuel was also one
of the founding members of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
in Nepal, which now has more than 250 student groups all
over the country.
We are kind of a history-maker for this country, he says, all
because of the efforts of Nepali Christians.
Heather Korpi is Editorial Director at Gordon College, Wenham,
Massachusetts. She formerly served as Communications Specialist/
Project Manager and Assistant Editor of Contact magazine at Gordon-
Conwell.
fall 2017 | contact 41
alumni
alumni notes
In Memoriam
Paul Burkhart (B.Div. 66) passed away on
January 27, 2015 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Paul served
with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in
Papua, Indonesia for 47 years as a church planter,
linguist and Bible translator. Paul and his wife,
Jean, retired in June, 2014. On a trip back to
Indonesia to work on the completion of the New
Testament in a tribal language, Paul became ill,
was taken to Jakarta for treatment, but the Lord
had other plans and called him home.
Rev. Gordon G. MacDonald (M.Div. 46) went
to be with the Lord on May 30, 2016. Gordons
association with Gordon College began before
his studies when his father was employed to
maintain the grounds. After graduating from
Gordon Divinity School, Gordon served as
a pastor at Pigeon Cove, Rockport, and then
at Manchester-by-the-Sea, before moving to
Arizona where he pastored six Baptist churches
from 1946-1964. A skilled machinist, he pursued
full-time employment with Texas Instruments in
1964 but remained active as a lay minister, and
continued sharing the gospel with everyone
he met for the rest of his life. He was an elder
emeritus at Trinity Bible Church in Richardson,
TX. Gordon was predeceased by his wife, Betty
Jane Brinker, in 1994. He is survived by his two
sons, Bruce and John, three grandsons and seven
great grandchildren.
Selby U. Gration (B.Div. 55) passed away on
November 1, 2016, at the age of 86. Selby served as
a minister at North Leverett Baptist Church. After
serving as Director of Libraries at two colleges
in Rhode Island, he was appointed Director of
Libraries at the State University of New York at
Cortland in 1968, where he remained until his
retirement in 1995. Selby is survived by his wife,
Dorothy H. Gration of Fearrington Village, NC,
three children, Cynthia Gration, Pamela Yelle,
and Peter Gration, seven grandchildren and four
great grandchildren.
Calvin W. Becker (M.Div. 61) went to be with
the Lord onFebruary 19, 2016, at the age of 91. He
was in the 82nd Airborne Division in WWII and
was awarded the Purple Heart. He received the
BBA in 49 at the University of Wisconsin. After
pastoring two churches in Iowa, he graduated
from Gordon-Conwell. Then he joined the staff
of Moody Bible Institute and retired in 1986. He
is survived by his wife, Phylis (Zagorski) Becker
(BA 53, Gordon College), four sons and six
grandchildren.
Frank Lawrence Irvine (M.Div. 64)passed away
in Concord, NH, on July 27, 2016, at the age of 81.
Frank was born in Nashua on August 29, 1934. He
graduated from Nashua High School and earned
degrees from Gordon College, Gordon Divinity
School and Andover Newton Theological School.
Frank served in pastoral ministry in a diverse
range of settings, including the U.S. Army,
multiple churches in New Hampshire and Maine,
42 contact | fall 2017
and in the pastoral psychotherapy community
in New Hampshire. In his retirement, Frank
made many trips to Guatemala, working with
the organization, Mayan Hands. This experience
kindled in Frank a passion for peace and justice,
and compassion for the suffering of those on
the margins. He is survived by his wife, Fran,
his son, Jock, daughter-in-law, Dionna, and
grandchildren, Walton, Samuel, Jillian and Frank.
Anatole [Toly] Kornachuk (B.Div. 67)passed
away on April 1, 2016, at the age of 82, peacefully
and surrounded by all of his children. A child of
new immigrants and born in Lachine, Quebec,
Toly earned a B.Eng. from McGill University.
After several years in civil engineering, he earned
his Bachelor of Divinity at Gordon Divinity
School. Toly cared deeply for and helped many
people, and he loved to share how a relationship
with God is possible through Jesus Christ. Toly
was very fond and proud of his years at Gordon.
He is predeceased by his precious wife, Ruth, and
survived by his five children, 11 grandchildren
and one great-grandchild.
Arlene Ruth Cogan, wife of John D. Cogan
(M.Div. 75), died unexpectedly on February 8,
2017. Arlene worked in the mailroom at Gordon-
Conwell while John pursued his studies. She
served as a pianist, childrens worker, church
secretary, and senior care giver throughout her
lifetime. John and Arlene had most recently been
based in Greensburg, PA.
Lorie Wallace Barnes (MAR 78) of Winston-
Salem, NC, died peacefully at her home
surrounded by family on November 2, 2016, after
a nearly two year battle with cancer. She was 64
years old. Lorie is survived by her husband, Peter
Barnes, and their three sons, Nate Barnes (and
his wife Holly, and grandchildren Lleyton and
Campbell), Jason Barnes (and his wife Whitney,
and granddaughter Millie), and David Barnes.
Dr. Matias Gonzalez Regalado (MARE 85;
D.Min. 07) passed away peacefully on January
6, 2017. Dr. Matias was the senior pastor at
Congregacion Candelero de Dios in Lynn, MA, for
more than 40 years. He was an influential leader
within the Free Methodist Church USA, while
serving as president of the Latin Network (La
Red Latina), just retiring in September 2016. Dr.
Matias published the book,La divinidad de Jesus.
He also served on many boards and community
organizations in Lynn and its surrounding areas.
Dr. Matias will be dearly missed by the countless
people he has greatly touched. He is survived
by his wife, Lourdes (Mendes) Gonzalez, his two
children and their spouses, four grandchildren,
his seven siblings and numerous beloved nieces
and nephews.
Lucy Hamilton Lincoln (M.Div. 94) passed and his servants provide understanding of world
away on December 19, 2014, after a brief battle
with cancer. In the two decades since graduating
from Gordon-Conwell, she served believers on
the mission field in Russia, Israel and Azerbaijan
and was actively translating the Bible into the
language of unreached Jewish people groups
up until the week before she died. Lucy was
passionate about this work, and was grieved
to not be able to finish it. Lucy was born in
Hartford, CT, in 1949, and lived a dynamic life
of faith and mission. She is survived by her
son, Sunny Day Morgan, and his wife, Amanda,
daughter Meadow Rue Merrill and her husband,
Dana, and grandchildren, Judah, Gabriel, Lydia,
Asher, Myla, River and Ezra.
News and Notes
1950s
Stanley R. Allaby (M.Div. 56) celebrated the
60th anniversary of his ordination on June 5,
2016, by preaching in the church that ordained
him, Quidnessett Baptist Church, North
Kingstown, RI. Stan is presently preaching on
Revival throughout New England. He and his
wife, Marion, celebrated their 61st wedding
anniversary in December 2015.
1960s
Dr. William H. Griffith (M.Div. 64) has co-
authored a new book, 8 Questions Jesus Asked:
Discipleship for Leaders (Judson Press, 2017).
Those who heard Jesus questions were invited
to process them and apply them to the idea,
experience, or concern that was being addressed.
In8 Questionseach chapter invites the reader to
hear Jesus question and examine it through the
lens of their own experience. The book is designed
to be a useful resource for both individual and
group study.
Rev. W. Earl Appleby (M.Div. 65)retired in 2009
after 45 years of pastoral ministry, five interim
pastoral assignments and five years as a hospice
chaplain. He published a book in 2016:He Came
to Make Us Holy: The Sanctifying Work of the Holy
Spirit (TheBookpatch.com). Earl and his wife,
Mary, currently reside in Spokane, WA.
1970s
Leslie Howe (MTS 70) has finished her second
Meredith Kline inspired historical novel, Corina
of Damascus: A Tale of Naaman, the Leper(Kindle,
2017). This embellished story of Naaman the
Leper from II Kings will take the reader on an
adventure that traverses the three north-south
trade routes of the ancient world. The little maid,
Corina, perceives the world in her own delightful
way. Along the journey the reader will receive
from her a gentle introduction to the divided
kingdom and insight into the struggles of the
peoples of Israel and Syria. The lives of Naaman
events that transition to the New Testament and
beyond. Her first novel,Hatshepsut: The Pharaohs
Daughter(2012), advocates an early date for the
Exodus and explores the idea that Hatshepsut is
the Pharaohs Daughter who rescued Moses from
the Nile.

Rev. Edmund C. de la Cour (MATS 71) has
retired from ministry, having served as the pastor
of the First Baptist Church of Pocasset, MA, for
almost 30 years. Edmund hand selected Rev.
Glenn A. Stone (M.Div. 80) to replace him, and
has been co-leading with Glenn for the last year.
Dr. Paul R. Smith (M.Div. 71) will retire on
June 12, marking the end of 45 years of service
and vocational ministry. He has served as the
senior pastor at West Side Presbyterian Church
(PCUSA) since 1981. After a trip to Africa, Paul
and his wife Carreen will return to Seattle,
where Paul plans to continue writing books and
spending more time with his four children and
seven grandchildren.
Rev. Larry Burd (M.Div. 73) has published a
book titledThe Invisible Hand of God at Work: An
Extraordinary God Experienced in an Ordinary
Life(Living Parables of Central Florida Inc., 2016),
which is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
John Rain (1974-1975), attorney at Thompson
& Knight LLP, has been recognized in The
Best Lawyers in America 2017. John practices
Business and Finance Law, and Energy Law in
Dallas, TX.
Tom Schwanda (1972-1974) has recently
published two books,The Emergence of Evangelical
Spirituality: The Age of Edwards, Newton and
Whitefield(Classics of Western Spirituality series,
Paulist Press, 2016), andPuritanism and Emotion
in the Early Modern World (co-editor with Alec
Ryrie, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). In fall 2015
Tom was elected a fellow in the Royal Historical
Society of England.
Bob French (M.Div. 75) and his wife Koleen
have been serving the Lord in the Philippines for
a number of years. Their dynamic ministry has
involved a range of ministries: a Bible translation
project, church planting, training and discipling
lay leaders of churches, evangelism, training
leaders in church multiplication, and innovated
ways to effectively bring the gospel to the city
poor and to a rural people group who were
formally considered difficult to reach. In 2008,
and then again in 2011, Bob was diagnosed with
cancer. In 2011 Bob was diagnosed with stage IV
cancer with two to four years to live. Five years
on Bob and Koleen continue to actively bring
the gospel to the Philippines. He has authored a
range of resources, listed on the Alumni Authors
page, for equipping lay church members for
leadership.
Rev. William Bud Davies (M.Div. 76)recently
preached his final sermon at Bellevue
Presbyterian Church in Gap, PA. His retirement
marks the end of nearly 40 years of service at
Bellevue Presbyterian.
Rev. Wes Smith (M.Div. 76) retired on Easter
Sunday, April 16, 2017, after 41 years of pastoral
ministry. Wes has been serving at First Baptist
Church in Hamilton, NY.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Macari (M.Div. 77; D.Min.
11)is now an Honorably Retired member of the
Elizabeth NJ (PCUSA) Presbytery. He retired this
past October from the Community Presbyterian
Church of Edison, NJ, after 21 years of service.
Kenneth and his wife, Linda, will be staying in
Edison for the foreseeable future. They will be
involved in volunteer types of ministry including
International Students, Inc. at Rutgers University
and at several area churches.
Rev. Dr. David A. Miller (M.Div. 77) gave his
final sermon at Faith Community Church in
Seminole, FL on March 26, 2017. David has served
at Faith Community Church for the last 25 years.
He has also been a part-time ethics instructor at
the Seminole campus of St. Petersburg College
for the past 10 years.
Darrell Caldwell (M.Div. 79) and his wife,
Susan, have been invited as volunteers for
Peace International School of Cambodia on the
teaching staff for the academic year 2016-17. This
is a school for Khmer students only. At minimum,
Susan anticipated teaching English language and
mentoring teachers, and Darrell teaches Biology
and Bible. Since the school is rather new, they
are being called upon to help in other areas of
instruction. Their youngest son, Joshua, joined
them, helping with grounds and maintenance.
Your prayers for wisdom, courage and provision
are appreciated!
1980s
Rev. Glenn A. Stone (M.Div. 80) has been Seminary California, recently published
appointed and installed as the new pastor of the
First Baptist Church of Pocasset, MA. Glenn was
handpicked by outgoing pastor, Rev. Edmund
C. de la Cour (MATS 71) to take over once he
retires. They have co-led the church for the past
year, providing Glenn the chance to get to know
the parish and the ministry of the church. Glenn
was installed as the new pastor on October 30.
Rev. Alexander Taylor (M.Div. 80) recently
retired from Correctional Chaplaincy, which has
been his work for 32 years. He started in Texas
with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
and enjoyed 15 years before taking the Chief of
Chaplains position in the Florida Department of
Corrections. He remained in that position for 17
years until November 7, 2016, when he retired.
Alex was honored at a chaplains staff meeting
for the FDC chaplains where 109 chaplains
gathered for a three day meeting. It was his last
meeting and he was honored with a very moving
send off. So far retirement involves catching up
on a few projects around the house. He has plans
to travel to India in February as part of a small Shay, spoke on the psychological phenomenon
team from Advancing Native Missions. Alexs
wife, Janet, will retire from teaching Spanish at
Leon High School in June 2017, and they hope to
do some traveling. They will continue to reside in
Tallahassee, FL.
Rev. Dr. Alfred J. Fletcher (M.Div. 84; MRE 86;
D.Min. 97) of China, Maine, began a 13-month
term this July as acting associate general
secretary for Mission Resource Development
of the American Baptist Churches USA. During
this ABCUSA assignment, Alfred will continue
alumni
as Executive Minister for the American Baptist
Churches of Maine. He began his executive
minister responsibilities there in January 2000.
Rev. Dr. Phillip Silvia (M.Div. 86) recently
served in Jordan with his wife, Yvonne, for a
four-month field research project looking for
more evidence of a possible airburst destruction
of Tall el-Hammam and its neighbors. He and Dr.
Steven Collins, director of the Tall el-Hammam
Excavation Project (TeHEP), believe that Tall el-
Hammam is the site in biblical Sodom. For more
information, visit DigSodom.com. To follow
Dr. Silvias field research, like Facebook.com/
DigSodom and/or follow @TeHEP-TSU on
Twitter. Look for the hashtag #SkyFire.
1990s
David Galletta (M.Div. 90) successfully
completed his Ph.D. in Biblical Theology at the
University of Wales. He also holds a D.Min. from
Covenant Theological Seminary (2003). David
works with the Mobile Theological Training
Team of World Witness, the Foreign Mission
Board of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Church, training pastors and church leaders
in developing countries, primarily in Kenya,
Uganda, South Africa and Pakistan. He and his
wife, Annelies, live in Silver Spring, MD.
Rev. Dr. Charles Telfer (90 M.Div.), Associate
Professor of Biblical Languages at Westminster
Wrestling with Isaiah: the Exegetical Methodology
of Campegius Vitringa (1659-1722) with
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.
Dr. Steve McMullin (MATS 91) has achieved
tenure and has been appointed as Academic
Dean at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia,
Canada. He serves as the Sheldon and Marjorie
Fountain Associate Professor of Evangelism
and Missions. His most recent articles have
been published in theJournal of Pastoral Care &
Counsellingand inResearch in the Social Scientific
Study of Religion.
Rev. Dr. Daniel F. Flores (MA 93)was appointed
Project Director for the National Endowment
for the Arts Big Read 2016 program at Tarrant
County College in Fort Worth, TX. This
community-wide literacy initiative features
group readings of Tim OBriens Vietnam war
novel, The Things They Carried. Throughout the
reading marathon, renowned experts, Dr. David
Bachelor, Dr. Rita N. Brock and Dr. Jonathan
of Post-Traumatic Stress Injury, also referred to
as moral injury, as a major theme of the book
and comparative classical literature including the
Hebrew Bible and Homers Iliad and Odyssey.
Dr. Flores is an ordained United Methodist Elder
appointed to Tarrant County College District. He
teaches theology for the GCTS Hispanic Ministry
Program.
Stephen Samuel (M.Div. 95) celebrated 20
years serving as the Pastor of Westbury Gospel
Tabernacle on Long Island, NY, in March, 2017.
fall 2017 | contact 43
alumni

He and his wife Elizabeth, as well as their

daughters Rebecca and Rachel, appreciate the
2000s with High Distinction, was hooded in the May
14, 2016 ceremonies in Lynchburg, VA. The title
prayers of Gods people everywhere for their of her dissertation was Exploring the Relationship
Rev. Gerry Young (M.Div. 00) successfully
family and the church. Between Attachment Style, Stress Perception and
defended his dissertation to complete the
Religious Coping in the Evangelical Missionary
requirements for his Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.)
Marcella Charles (M.Div. 96)is the Pastor of the Population.
at Andover Newton Theological School in June
Dorchester Immanuel Church of the Nazarene
2016. His honors dissertation entitled,The Biblical
in Boston, where she has served since 2007. She Bruce Incze (M.Div. 03) was ordained
Mandate for Church Peace: How We Ignore the
also serves on the district level with the New and installed on February 12, 2017, at First
Scriptures and Reject People We Dont Like,was a
England Board of Ministry, which monitors and Presbyterian Church PC(USA) of Arkport, NY.
mixed-methods study that incorporated a Biblical
provides mentoring in ministerial development
study fully integrated with a church survey. The
and examines candidates for ordination in the Dr. Jeffrey Cockrell (MANT 05)just celebrated
church survey contained a quantitative analysis
Church of the Nazarene. his one-year anniversary as Professor of
that used SPSS for statistical breakdown, and a
Biblical Studies at Welch College and program
qualitative section that used NVIVO for discourse
Marcella Charles (M.Div. 96)has been serving coordinator for the MA in Theology and Ministry
analysis.
as Senior Pastor at the Dorchester Immanuel program.
Church of the Nazarene in Boston, MA, for
Dr. KeumJu Jewel Hyun (MANT 01; D.Min.
10 years as of March, 2017. Her church has Dr. Jason McConnell (M.Div. 05; Th.M. 07),
05) has recently published a book which she
partnered with the Black Ministerial Alliance senior pastor of Franklin United Church in
co-edited with Diphus C. Chemorion, titled The
of Greater Boston (BMA) and other agencies Franklin, VT, will participate in the 2016 National
Quest for Gender Equity in Leadership: Biblical
and churches to provide summer programming Clergy Renewal Program thanks to a grant
Teachings on Gender Equity and Illustrations
for youth at-risk along with other outreaches from the Lilly Endowment Inc. Jason will be on
of Transformation in Africa (Wipf & Stock,
in the neighborhood. Marcella is a member of sabbatical from May through August of 2017.
2016). With a specific reference to the African
the Clergy Women United (CWU) Vision Team With his wife, Jennifer, and their four children,
context, this book explores the phenomenon of
which gives leadership to CWU, part of the BMA. Jason has a range of experiences planned for this
equity in leadership from various dimensions,
Being part of a connectional church, she also time, including attending worship services from
such as African culture and traditional religion,
serves on the New England District of the Church various denominations in the spirit of ecumenical
church tradition, biblical interpretation, as
of the Nazarene (NEDNaz) District Advisory exploration, travelling through Europe exploring
well as from the perspective of contemporary
Board, which is a supporting and advisory group the roots of the Protestant Reformation during
socioeconomic and political realities in Africa.
to their District Superintendent. Marcella still the commemoration of its 500th anniversary, and
Dr. Hyun is founder and president of Matthew
maintains a connection with Cru as an Afilliate participating in a New England Spiritual Heritage
28 Ministries, Inc., focusing on Christian
staff member since 2013. Prior to that, she served Tour. Jason has served as pastor of Franklin
womens leadership development and economic
full-time with Cru in campus ministry for 28 United Church and East Franklin Union Church
empowerment in Kenya and Adjunct Professor of
years and community ministry for 10 years. since 2004.
Theology of Work at Bakke Graduate University,
Dallas.
Peter Sprigg (M.Div. 97) appeared on NBC Rev. Ruth Farrell (M.Div. 06)is the new senior
News to discuss transgender children. See his pastor at St. Peter United Church of Christ in
Laurie A. Tone (MACO 02)was awarded a Ph.D.
contribution on the Family Council Research Lake Zurich, IL. Prior to this appointment, Ruth
in Professional Counseling - Advanced Clinical
website. was the interim pastor at Dreisbach United
Skills from Liberty University. Laurie, a graduate
Church of Christ in Lewisburg, PA.

Missionary Journeys of Paul Alumni Study Tour

Led by Gordon-Conwell adjunct faculty and alumni Drs. David and Christine Palmer
turkey & greece : june 3-17, 2018 | rome extension : june 17-19, 2018

For more information and to register, visit: my.gordonconwell.edu/missionaryjourneysofpaul

44 contact | fall 2017


Bin Hwang (Th.M. 09) has moved to Seoul,
South Korea, to serve as the senior pastor of
Kangsung Presbyterian Church. He is also
teaching homiletics at Baekseok University,
where he completed some theological training
prior to his Th.M. at Gordon-Conwell.
Rev. Adam Rick (MAOT 09; MACH 09)started as Presbyterian Church, Indonesian congregation.
Chaplain at Hillsdale College and Rector of Holy
Trinity Anglican Parish, Hillsdale, on August 1. The
Hillsdale Collegian wrote about his new appointment
at: http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2016/09/answering-
the-call-to-the-collar-and-cloth/
2010s
Rev. Dr. Terry Henry (D.Min. 10)will officially
take office on January 1, 2017, as the president of
the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary. Terry
will continue his role at Macedonia Missionary
Baptist Church in Wilmington, NC, where he has
served for 28 year
Kimberly Stone (MACL 10) was recently
appointed as an officer at Gastonia Police
Department, NC, on October 31, 2016. Prior
to this role, Kimberly worked with the Person
County Sheriffs Office for four years.
Carmen Imes (MABS 11) completed a PhD
in Biblical Theology with an Old Testament
concentration from Wheaton College. She
is currently teaching adjunct at Multnomah
University and George Fox University. She and
her husband, Danny, have been missionaries
with SIM since 2002. Danny handles the finances
for Sports Friends, a ministry of SIM. They live in
Oregon City with their three children, Eliana (15),
Emma (10), and Easton (8).
Budianto Lim (Th.M. 11), with his wife Lidya
Siah, have both accepted positions as professors
of Theology and Worship at Reformed Indonesia
Theological Seminary (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi
Reformed Indonesia). Before this appointment
they were situated in Singapore where
Budianto served for 12 years as the pastor of the
In their new roles, Budianto and Lidya will create
a new program for worship studies.
Trevor Laurence (MACT 13) has just released
his first book,The Story of the Word: Meditations
on the Narrative of Scripture (Wipf and Stock,
2017). In forty-five devotional meditations, this
book guides you on a prayerful journey through
the major turning points in the Bible, inviting you
to trace the developing storyline from creation to
the cross to the consummation of history. Trevor
serves as an elder of Trinity Church of Winston-
Salem (PCA) in North Carolina. He is currently
pursuing a PhD in theological ethics from the
University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
Brian Chadwick (MACT 14) has recently been
appointed by Blue Ridge Christian Church in
Mills River, NC, as the new Preaching Minister.
Chadwick was ordained in 2004, and since that
time has served several Christian churches in
both Virginia and New Hampshire. Just prior
to this appointment at Blue Ridge, Brian was
the Associate Pastor for Community Christian
Church in Newbern, VA.
Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin (D.Min. 14)was
featured in Christianity Today, in which she
shares some reflections on what its like to be
a black, female pastor in the South. Nicole was
recently named Assistant Professor of Ministry
and Leadership Development at Gordon-
alumni
Conwell-Charlotte and is a minister at The Park
Church in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC.
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson (MACL 14)has been
signed as a new author by InterVarsity Press. She
will be writing a book that answers the question,
Why are we so divided across racial/ethnic and
socioeconomic lines in America? Her hope is that
this book will provide an accessible way for better
understanding, and help with having more holistic
conversations, leading to real life, relational, and
systemic change. She asks for your prayers as she
takes on this project over the next year.
Zach Washburn (M.Div. 14) serves as a pastor
of Calvin Presbyterian, an EPC congregation. He
relishes the opportunity to shepherd a group of
humble, dedicated disciples of Jesus and enjoys
the challenge of living in a town full of thoughtful
people, most of whom are unaware that they
desperately need Jesus. Zachs ministry passions
are public proclamation of the Gospel combined
with intensely personal discipleship. He lives in
Corvallis, OR, with his beautiful wife Vanessa,
and their children Haley, Liam, Lucy, and Claire.
Tim Norton (M.Div. 15; Th.M. 15)now serves
as the Associate Pastor of Evergreen Church in
Peachtree City, GA, after previously serving as
the churchs Director of Family Life and Outreach.
Evergreen Church is a Presbyterian Fellowship
that belongs to the ECO denomination.
Peter Jenkins (M.Div. 16) now serves as the
Director of Communications and Advancement
at Zeeland Christian School, MI.
alumni connect: new york city
Thirty-seven alumni gathered on the West Side of
Manhattan in March 2017, for dinner, fellowship,
updates on the seminary from President Dennis P.
Hollinger, and an opportunity to share their min-
istry experiences in the citys five boroughs. Some
have served for two to three decades. Hosting the
event was Mike Elmer 15.
fall 2017 | contact 45
reflections
in memoriam: Haddon W. Robinson
D
r. Haddon W. Robinson,
longtime faculty member,
former President of Gordon-
Conwell Theological Seminary and
one of the worlds foremost experts in
Biblical preaching, went to be with the
Lord on July 22, 2017.
Originally from the Mouse Town sec-
tion of Harlem, New York, he received
a Bachelors Degree from Bob Jones
University, Master of Theology from
Dallas Theological Seminary, Master of
Arts from Southern Methodist Univer-
sity and a Doctor of Philosophy degree
from the University of Illinois. He was
also awarded honorary degrees from
Gordon College and McMaster Divin-
ity College.
Dr. Robinson joined Gordon-Conwell in
1991 as the Harold John Ockenga Dis-
tinguished Professor of Preaching, fol-
lowing 12 years as President of Denver
Conservative Baptist Seminary, now
Denver Seminary, and 19 years on the
faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary.
Throughout his long and distinguished
career, he also served as Associate Pas-
tor for the First Baptist Church in Med-
ford, Oregon, Instructor of Speech at
the University of Illinois and General
46 contact | fall 2017
Director of the Christian Medical and
Dental Society.
In 1996, he was named in a Baylor Uni-
versity poll as one of the 12 Most Effec-
tive Preachers in the English Speaking
World. In 2006, he was recognized by
Christianity Today in the top 10 of its 25
Most Influential Preachers of the Past 50
Years. In 2008, he received the E.K. Bai-
ley Living Legend Award.And in 2010,
Preaching magazine named him among
the 25 Most Influential Preachers of the
Past 25 Years.
Always looking for new ways to
reach more people for Christ, he
was also active in broadcast media.
He hosted the television program,
Film Festival, and with Dr. Alice
Mathews and Mart DeHaan, hosted
Discover the Word, a radio program
which for 20 years broadcast 6,000
times daily to two million listeners
throughout North America and other
English speaking countries.
A prolific writer, Dr. Robinson wrote
more than a dozen books, including
his hallmark text, Biblical Preaching,
still used by seminaries and bible col-
leges around the world. His articles ap-
peared regularly in Christianity Today,
Bibliotheca Sacra, Moody Monthly, the
American Lutheran Magazine, Leader-
ship and Decision, and in the Our Daily
Bread devotional. He also edited the
Christian Medical Society Journal and
the Theological Annual, and served on
the editorial boards of Preaching and
Christianity Today.
But even with these many accomplish-
ments and accolades, his family was
his greatest joy. He is survived by his
devoted wife of 66 years, Bonnie; his
daughter, Vicki Hitzges, a motivational
speaker; his son Torrey Robinson, Se-
nior Pastor of the First Baptist Church
of Tarrytown, NY, Torreys wife, Sue,
and two grandsons.
We continue to thank God for Had-
dons legacy and formative impact on
the Gordon-Conwell Theological Semi-
nary and the global Church, comments
Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger, President and
Colman M. Mockler Distinguished
Professor of Christian Ethics. Though
we mourn his loss, we find hope in the
power of the Resurrection.

opening the word
1 Samuel 30
Jeffrey D. Arthurs
In The Anatomy of Hope, Jerome Groopman says that for a
doctor, dispensing hope is just as important as dispensing
medicine. He says, I think hope has been, is, and always
will be the heart of medicine and healing. We could not live
without hope.
But hope is an endangered species in the world. Listen to
these hopeless words from Mark Twain:
Men are born, they labor and sweat and struggle; they
squabble and scold and fight; those they love are taken
from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief.
The release comes at last and they vanish from a world
where they were of no consequence...a world which
will lament them a day and forget them forever.
Hope may be an endangered species in the world, but in
Christs kingdom, it abounds. In the Bible, hope is confident
expectation. Author Gordon MacDonald calls it vital
optimism, and it rests on the granite of Gods character and
covenant.
In 1 Samuel 30, it would have been easy for David to identify
with Mark Twain. King Saul put a price on his head, so David
gathered a guerilla army of 600 men who were composed of
all those who were distressed or in debt or discontented
(We all have likely visited churches like that). He and his
men returned to Ziklag, their home base, and found that
the Amalekites had raided the town and burned it with
fire. They wanted slaves, so they took all the women and
children, driving them like a herd of animals. David and his
men raised their voices and wept until they could weep
no more. Then Davids own men turned against him and
threatened to stone him! David was greatly distressed, a
phrase which means pressed into a corner like a potter
pressing clay into a mold. David turned this way, and Saul
was chasing him. He turned that way, and the Amalekites
had burned his town. He turned another way, and his own
men talked about killing him.
reflections
Hope
Then comes verse six: But David strengthened himself in
the Lord his God.
How did he do that? How did he take hope and not despair?
Maybe he sang; maybe he composed a psalm; certainly he
prayed. Perhaps he recounted the promises of God and his
merciful visitations in the past. He found strength for today
and bright hope for tomorrow.
You and I can do the same. When you hear Mark Twains
voice in your ear, repeat, remember, recall, rehearse, recount,
recite and recollect the promises of God:
I will never leave you or forsake you.
Christ in me, the hope of glory.
Christ is the first fruits of a coming resurrection.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that you may abound in hope through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Arthurs is Chair of the Division of Practical
Theology and Professor of Preaching and Communication
at Gordon-Conwell. Called to preach at age 16, to this day
his passion is preaching, and he uses his communication
experience as a teacher, missionary, director, announcer
and consultant to equip others for more effective
proclamation of the Word. Dr. Arthurs has taught
preaching and communication in a dozen colleges and
seminaries in the U.S., and in the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.
He served as teaching pastor in Portland, OR, and is currently teaching
elder at North Shore Community Baptist, Beverly Farms, MA, where he and
his wife also lead the Alpha ministry. In addition, he maintains an active
ministry of pulpit supply and conference speaking. His books include
Preaching With Variety and Devote Yourself to the Public Reading of Scripture.
fall 2017 | contact 47
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As an Institute Scholar, you will receive a 50 percent tuition discount.

You will also engage in research, scholarship and interactive dialogue,
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