Jan and I have enjoyed an uplifting weekend at Wheaton College, where I was given the Alumnus of the Year Award for Distinguished Service to Society. It was heart-warming, and a little odd, to hear all the accolades. Jan said it reminded her of a retirement party; I said it reminded me of a funeral! The irony is that I am neither dead nor retiring but in the midst of a bustling and thriving ministry that continues to expand in its global impact. We have yet to see what God will accomplish through Reasonable Faith. Still, it was nice to hear such wonderful testimonials. I noticed that sometimes people’s memories aren’t entirely accurate! I was surprised when my former debate teacher (now in his eighties) said that I always gave testimony to my faith in every debate in which I participated. He must have confused me with someone else. We were debating wholly secular topics of economics and politics, where one’s faith played no role. While I was, of course, ready to share my faith in personal conversation, when it came to the debate proper, I was all business. I want to share with you my remarks given in response to the award presentation: “All glory and honor be to God for this wonderful award! This recognition from Wheaton is especially meaningful to me because I’m so grateful to the college for the pivotal role it played in my life. I came to Wheaton as a young Christian, only two years old in the Lord. Sandy Tiffan, a classmate at East Peoria Community High School who first pointed me to the Lord, had an older brother Paul who was a student at Wheaton, and she suggested that I apply to go there upon graduation. I followed her advice, was accepted, and arrived at Wheaton in the fall of 1967. “I spent four of the most wonderful years of my life at Wheaton. Coming from a non-Christian background, I had never experienced the evangelical subculture before. I was stunned to have professors who opened their classes in prayer, to see students praying silently before meals in the dining hall, and not to hear cursing and profanity in the locker room. Some of my fellow students who had been raised all their lives in Christian homes found Wheaton to be a Christian hothouse which they found stifling. For me it was instead like an incubator in which my new faith could be nurtured and grow to maturity. “I was especially captivated by the vision of the integration of faith and learning. From Dr. Beatrice Batson in her marvelous class on Russian literature I learned the first semester of my freshman year the importance of developing a Christian Weltanschauung that integrated one’s Christian faith with all the various disciplines in a liberal arts education. I’m so grateful that Wheaton did not allow us to isolate ourselves in one of the two cultures, the humanities or the sciences, but required us to study both and to integrate both with our Christian faith. What a priceless gift! “During my four years at Wheaton I participated in debate and other forensic competitions all around the country under the tutelage of Ed Hollaz and Bob Chandler. I never dreamt that debate would one day become for me a ministry. I thought when I left Wheaton that I had participated in my last debate. But I have found that debate is the forum for evangelism on university campuses today, and the skills I learned at Wheaton have been invaluable in our ministry. “Although, through Dr. Donald Lake’s classes in theology, I came to love Christian doctrine, I was something of a late bloomer when it comes to philosophy and apologetics. It was only late in my senior year that I took a course from Alan Johnson called “Conflicts in Biblical Christianity,” where I became familiar with the work of the former Wheatonite Edward John Carnell. Carnell was a Christian apologist who had earned doctorates in both theology and philosophy. Though I could never aspire to so lofty a goal, Carnell inspired me to become a Christian apologist. Ever since becoming a Christian I felt called to be an evangelist, to share the incredibly good news of the Gospel with a lost and dying world. Wheaton gave me the vision of combining the proclamation of the Gospel with an intellectual defense of the Gospel. Wheaton set me on the path which I tread today . “I have been accompanied along this path by my life’s partner Jan. After graduating from Wheaton, I met her on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. We were married by President Hudson Armerding and Chaplain Evan Welsh on the campus of Northern Illinois University. In all candor, much of the credit for this award must go to her. Very early on in our marriage, as we contemplated graduate studies, I remarked to her that I felt I could do anything as long as there was one person who really believed in me. She later told me that she determined in her mind to be that person. Over the years she has sacrificed an independent career to be, like Eve, a helper fit for me. She has been my right arm in ministry, typing both my doctoral dissertations, all of my books, and almost all of my articles. In doing so she has followed me across globe, giving up nice clothes, a comfortable house, job security, sometimes living in really bad conditions, always without complaint. She has encouraged me and spurred me on. This award which I receive today is therefore due in large measure to her, and I want to acknowledge publicly my indebtedness and thanks to her. “Finally, I thank Ray Smith for his audacity in nominating me for this award, and I thank the committee for bestowing this honor upon me. May the Wheaton I love continue to advance the cause of Christ and His Kingdom!”
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 10:42:41 +0000