Category Archives: Passing The Torch

Passing the torch: College years

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It’s taken me a while to get back to this meme that John Dobbs started. It would be hard to mention all of the college professors that had an influence on me, but here are a few of the principal ones:

John Willis: Dr. Willis taught me to appreciate the Old Testament. I don’t remember ever being taught to consciously look down on the Old Testament, but I definitely considered myself a New Testament Christian. I learned that Paul was right when he said that the Old Testament can make us “wise unto salvation.”

Tom Olbricht: Dr. Olbricht had a radical effect on the way I view Scripture. I learned that Scripture isn’t flat, that certain things are presented as being more important than others. Dr. Olbricht’s methods of identifying those principal themes have greatly affected how I read and understand the Bible.

Carley Dodd: Dr. Dodd taught me much about communication, both intercultural and interpersonal communication. I learned things in his classes that I have applied both personally and professionally. In addition, Dr. Dodd offered me personal friendship beyond the normal student-professor relationship.

Gaston Tarbet: Along with Les Bennett, Gaston introduced me to missions, both in the classroom and through the Mission Outreach group. It was Gaston that first encouraged me to consider being a missionary apprentice.

There are many more that could be mentioned, but these are the principal ones that stand out in my mind.

{photo by Solipsist}

Passing The Torch: Ed and Shirley Huston

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Not too long ago, John Dobbs started a meme among some Christian bloggers for recognizing those who have influenced us. I wrote about a few people and promised to write about some more.

On Easter Sunday, I attended the funeral of Shirley Huston. Shirley and her husband Ed were my Bible school teachers during middle school (we called it junior high back then). They were heavily involved in other youth activities, like our annual camp. It’s hard to think of camps or retreats without thinking of them.

Ed and Shirley had 5 kids, the oldest of whom was one year behind me in school. Their house became a popular gathering place for the young people during my high school years. I spent many hours there with others from our church.

To be honest, I can’t describe even one Bible lesson that I heard in their class, though that doesn’t mean that I didn’t hear some good ones. What it means is that the influence they had in my life went far beyond what happened in a Sunday School classroom. Probably the biggest influence was the example of family life that I saw in them.

Shirley was deeply loved; hundreds of people turned out for her funeral. The funeral, though tinged with the sadness of the loss we had experienced, was more a time of testimony to a life well lived than a time of mourning. Could any of us aspire to anything more when our own time comes?

Passing The Torch: Lynn Anderson

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When I was a freshman at Abilene Christian University, I began attending the Highland Church of Christ along with some friends of mine. Admittedly, I went more for the college program than the preaching. However, the preaching was outstanding. I was privileged to hear Lynn Anderson regularly for over 3 years. Then, while working on my master’s degree in Bible, I was fortunate enough to take a class with Lynn on Theology of Ministry. It was one of the best classes I had.

Lynn is wrestling with cancer at this point in his life. A video team from the Oak Hills Church went to his home a few weeks ago and filmed Lynn’s encouraging thoughts:

Passing The Torch: Steve Ridgell

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Having written about Randy Mayeux yesterday, it’s only appropriate that I also write about Steve Ridgell, because the two of them were influencing my life at about the same time. Steve came to the University Church of Christ in Abilene as Campus Minister about my senior year at ACU. Since I stayed around to do graduate work, I had time to get to know Steve. He had preached in Winnsboro, Texas, the hometown of my roommate, so I was around Steve even though I wasn’t attending University at that time. I even went to some informal classes that Steve gave for some of us who were looking to become ministers, and I got to join a group of twelve that worked with Steve in leading the campus ministry.

It was good for me that I got to be around Randy and Steve about the same time because they were almost total opposites. Randy strictly followed the guidelines from Dress For Success. Steve wore blue jeans almost constantly. Randy believed in doing what it took to be invited to speak; he told me, “I have something to say, and I don’t mind shaking the right hands to get to say it.” Steve took the opposite tack, saying, “If I really have something to say, I’ll get the chance to say it.”

While Randy was all about mining the text for deeper meanings, Steve was focused on making the text practical. His speaking style naturally appealed to college students, and more than a thousand of them would come to hear him on Wednesday nights. But Steve especially taught me about dealing with people on a personal basis. He gave me advice about life and career when I really needed it. And he gave me the freedom to use some of my gifts in ministry.

It’s interesting to write this now, because life has led me to work with Steve again. He is Director of Ministry at Herald of Truth and was responsible for my coming to work here. We travel the world together, preaching and teaching, and now we’ve written a book together. Life takes interesting turns.

I’m enjoying this series of Passing The Torch which John Dobbs began. Be sure and read some of the other stories. And bless us all by writing your own.

Passing The Torch: Randy Mayeux

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Continuing with the Passing The Torch series, I want to talk about another minister who had a profound impact on my life. Interesting thing is, he’s no longer a minister and no longer attending a Church of Christ.

When I was a sophomore in college, my roommate convinced me to go on a Spring Break campaign to Long Beach, California. Randy Mayeux was the minister there. In one of our daily devotionals, he made a statement that stayed with me: “Go as far as you can go.” Admittedly, he was trying to convince some of the students to move out to Long Beach, but his point was that some would be able to go to China, others to Brazil, others to California, but each should go as far as they could.

I eventually returned to Long Beach to work with Randy for two summers. Randy taught me to love digging into the text to find truth. He also taught me about sharing the gospel with others and making evangelism a priority.

Randy was an avid reader, continually reading from a wide variety of sources. He particularly loved to read about preaching. He also studied long and hard, presenting deep, challenging sermons.

I got to see Randy last year when his mother-in-law passed away. His father-in-law attends church where I do, and Randy’s wife is frequently there with her dad. I know that the Mayeuxs went through some difficult trials in the church, and I’m sorry for what they went through. I’ll always be thankful to Randy for all the things he taught me.