Way back there in the last Millennium, I finally gave up trying to order my life and found that the only option that God had left for me was that I would do as He told me to do when I was fourteen years old. So, to make a long story short, I quit a lucrative job, sold our new home, gave away a lot of furniture and sold one of my cars in preparation to go to seminary at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Once that decision was made and I began to make preparations to do what God had called me to do, I experienced the greatest peace about life that I had ever known.
In August of 1973, my wife, Carolyn and I took our eight year old daughter, Georgia and moved to Wake Forest. There were several miracles attached to this but they are for another day and article. We lived on campus in an apartment which was an old athletic dorm. There were five apartments in a block building construction which no longer exists on the campus. Quite a difference from the new home we had been occupying in prior months. Anyway, we made the best of it and never regretted the move at all. After a few months I was invited to speak at a small country church about 45 miles away in Johnson County, NC. Burnell Baptist Church was the site of the first sermon I ever delivered. My years of experience in the radio business was used by the Lord to prepare me for public speaking and it went very well. In fact, they called me to be their Pastor and we moved to the church field in February, 1974.
Seminary went wonderfully well for me. I enjoyed the studies and took a number of classes that were not required because I felt they would help me in various areas of ministry. As I was closing in on graduation, we found it necessary to discontinue my seminary education because of several factors which we could do nothing about. Anyway, we left North Carolina and came back to Georgia. My ministry took off much faster than I had expected so the studies I was going to do for my degree in Georgia just couldn’t fit into the schedule. The bottom line is that I had never finished my seminary degree even though I served two different terms on the SBC Executive Committee. No one ever knew that I had to terminate my seminary studies. I was often concerned that someone would bring it up as we went through the Conservative Resurgence and try to discredit my leadership on the Committee but no one ever did. I was relieved to say the least. As I look back on the situation, I realize now that God used the fact of my lack of a degree to keep me humble and aware of my limitations. I had a good bit of “vinegar” in my blood in those days and it was best that I had something to hold me back a little to allow me to assess situations to a deeper degree.
Over the years, I mentioned my disappointment at not finishing seminary to my dear friend Dr. Paige Patterson. He always listened with interest and tried to encourage me not to worry about it. Later, he became the President of Southeastern Seminary where I had attended and near the end of his tenure there a very interesting thing happened. I was invited to preach in chapel but I didn’t realize that there was more to it than that. Dr. Patterson told his Academic Dean to take a look at my twenty-eight year old transcripts to see what I actually had as far as credits were concerned. I had taken a number of elective courses that added to my total and they saw that I actually had enough credits to qualify for a Master of Theological Studies degree. Those credits had laid up there for twenty-eight years without me knowing it.
On the day that I was to preach in chapel, I noticed upon arrival at the seminary that the van from my church was sitting in front of the Administration Building. I said, “look at that, some of our people heard about my preaching today and they have traveled all the way up here to hear me in chapel.” I greeted them and proceeded over to the chapel never suspecting anything. But, when we arrived at the chapel, we were greeted by several people and then I discovered that they had provided seating for the Abilene Baptist members. I thought: “now, that’s odd. They must have known they were coming.” I also noticed that the chapel was full and I wondered what was so interesting about that certain day. The platform was full of men in all their academic regalia and that seemed odd also but I still didn’t expect anything. As the Interim President (Dr. Patterson had just moved to Southwestern Seminary), introduced me he began to tell about my seminary experience. He said Dr. Patterson had asked the Academic Dean to look at my transcript because he had heard me tell my story about having to leave seminary in my Senior year. I began to think as I sat there waiting to preach; “Now, why is he going into all of this.” Then, I found out. All the dignitaries were present and the chapel was full because they were going to present my degree to me. I began to get emotional as it became more evident to me what he was leading up to. Then, he asked me and Carolyn to approach the pulpit which we did and he presented me with my Master of Theological Degree. I had accepted my degree situation and served the best I could over the years, but I never expected to be awarded one. Those credits had lain in the records at Southeastern Seminary for twenty-eight years. But now they paid off. I am so grateful to Dr. Patterson for thinking of me and for investigating the situation. That degree now proudly hangs in my study in an honored place. When I began to speak that morning, I was hardly able to do so. I was overcome with emotion and gratitude for what God had just done for me. It was something I never dreamed would happen and it was urged along and made possible by my friend, Dr. Paige Patterson when he decided to look and see just what my transcript held. I am eternally thankful to him for making possible such a wonderful day for me and my wife, Carolyn.
There is a very good lesson involved here. God blessed me with that degree at the time He knew was right. If I had possessed it in the years of the Conservative Resurgence, I might have been too “cocky” and God knew that. He used the lack of my degree to keep me humble and depending on Him and then, when I was in the right position, He gave me what I had earned years before. The timing was perfect.
It is needless to say that the events of that day in 2003 were A Total Surprise to me. The whole process has brought to me the value of trusting God and waiting on Him. Twenty-eight years is a long time to me but it is nothing to God. If we are faithful and true to His calling and plan for our lives, we can rest assured that He has not forgotten us and He will always reward his faithful servants at the right time and in the right way. It is in His plan even though it may be A Total Surprise to us.
