Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - Remembering Voddie Baucham Panel Tom Ascol, Lennox Kalifungwa, Aaron Wright, Joshua Lloyd

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - Remembering Voddie Baucham Panel Tom Ascol, Lennox Kalifungwa, Aaron Wright, Joshua Lloyd · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We have to be reminded again and again of those
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: things that are true. We also have to be warned
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: again and again against those things that are false. And
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: so we are constantly working to recover the gospel, to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: make sure that we got the gospel right. I love
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: how Paul talks about in Galatians, how he went up
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to meet with Peter. And then he went up several
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: years later to meet with the apostles again, just to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: make sure. just to make sure that his gospel was
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in order, right? This is the apostle Paul, right? So
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: if he did that, how much more important is it
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: for us to constantly make sure that we are being
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: faithful to the scriptures and proclaiming the gospel as it
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: has been handed down to us by the apostles? The
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: gospel shows us this perfect mercy of God to individuals
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: who can't achieve this perfect holiness and righteousness. The gospel
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: shows us the glory of Christ and his person and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: work as he kept the whole law on our behalf
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: so that his righteousness could be imputed to us and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: our sinfulness imputed to him. If we don't understand law
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and gospel, then we cannot understand our redemption. We don't
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: know what we're saved from if we don't understand the law.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And we don't know what we're saved by if we
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: don't understand the gospel. We have to build our lives
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: around the church because the church is the body of Christ.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: We are members of his body. Christ laid down his
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: life to redeem his bride, to redeem the church. And
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: so it's not secondary. It's not optional. It's absolutely essential.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: These things are incredibly important to every believer. It's the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: way that the Lord meets us. It's the way that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord fortifies and grows our faith. And it's the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: way that we deepen our connection to our communion with
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: not only Christ, but also the other members of the body.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And all of these things are happening within the context
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of the church.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Brothers, thank you for being a part of this panel tonight.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Every one of us here had a special relationship with
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Bodie at different times in his life and in different circumstances.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: And so we thought it would be fitting to take
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: this time where Bodie would have been preaching had God
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: spared him and just honor him. The scripture says we
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: should show honor to whom honor is due. And we
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: do that knowing that he was a frail creature of dust,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: just like we are.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: And we do this.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Knowing that we have no desire, intention, or need to
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: try to portray him as something that he wasn't. He
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: would tell you very quickly, he was a sinner saved
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: by God's grace. But he was gifted to God in
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: unique ways, in ways that fit our day, that helped
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: us today in our unusual ways and in wonderful ways.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: And we've experienced it here in this conference. We've experienced
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: it in different settings of life and over different years.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And so tonight our desire is to honor Votie Bauckham
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and to commend him as one who is worthy of
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: following as he followed Christ and to do that in
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: a way that we trust will be true to God's word.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: So I'll I want to introduce these guys, or maybe
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I should just have you introduce yourselves. Aaron Wright from Houston,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: part of the church that Votie planted in Houston.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Just go ahead and introduce yourselves. Aaron, tell us who
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you are. My name is Aaron Wright.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: I'm one of the elders at Grace Family Baptist Church
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: in Houston, Texas.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: And you joined that church in 2010? Yes, we joined
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: that church in 2010. I came on as a deacon pastor.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: and began to do some preaching and teaching Sunday school 2013.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: And I came out as an elder in 2015. And
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: you're still an elder there, full-time elder? Still an elder
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: there now, full-time. And Vody was instrumental in starting that
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: church about four years before you got there, right?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: That's right, 2006. Okay. And Josh, you are an elder
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: at West Oaks Baptist in Bryan.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're in Bryan, Texas, which anybody who knows
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: the area, that's where Texas A & M is.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: We were actually driving down to Houston. It's like an
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: hour and a half away for about six years as
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: we were members there. So we started in 2008, and
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: then six years later, whatever that was, we ended up
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: planting in Bryan a Reformed Baptist church there.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: And you were an elder at Grace Family Church? church
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: before you moved out to Bryan, right?
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: And I'm probably a little unusual because I was one
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: of those who was grabbed by the word Votie preached,
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: and I was not someone who was ever going to
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: be an elder, but was grabbed by the word and
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: the theology and the desire to learn. And through that
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: process and the shepherding of Votie, I ended up becoming
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: a pastor, which I had never anticipated.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: I've heard that story more than once from people that
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: were around Votie. And the Lord used him to show
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: them what he had in store for them. Lennox, brother,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: tell us about where you are working now, how you
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: got to be there, and how you came to know Vody.
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: Yes, I'm Lennox Kalafungwa, originally from Zambia, now living in Idaho.
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: Knew Vody for about 18 years before the Lord called him.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: He became a very close family friend, and I'm one
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: of those who is just privileged to have been mentored
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: by him at his table and just seeing and witnessing
• 6:50
  Speaker 7: his life.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: I've tried to remember exactly how far back it was
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: that Vody and I met. We had this conversation a
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: couple of times and never could figure out the exact year.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: But the way that I got to know Vody.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Was we had published these little truth and grace memory
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: books that we still have available.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And there are three of them.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: And periodically we would just get these massive orders from
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: would come in and think, well.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: That's weird.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: And they'd be from different places around the United States.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: And finally, I don't know who it was, somebody figured out, well,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: these are homeschooling conferences. And it's after the conferences that
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: these books are being ordered. And then found out there's
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: this guy named Vody who is preaching at these conferences
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: recommending these books. And he started ordering them himself and
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: just taking them with him. So I got on the
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: phone with him. and basically said, who are you? Where'd
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: you come from? And we discovered we had a whole
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: lot in common. I mean, you find a guy that
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: believes in catechizing, number one, who's a Baptist, who's an inerrantist,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: and you think, man, this is really good.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: You don't want to mess it up by keep asking questions. Well,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: are you a Calvinist? Yeah. Oh, great. So that's good.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: And then I go the final leg and say, well,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: do you know about the 1689 confession?
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Know about it. I love it. I teach it, you know?
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: And so we just became fast friends over that. And
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: it was probably a couple of years later. And I
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: just remembered not long, a few minutes ago before coming
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: out here that it was, he was preaching in this church,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: you know, not for this church, but this church was
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: hosting the Florida Baptist convention. And I think it was
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: either the pastor's conference or part of the convention that
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Vody was one of the speakers. And I remember, Had
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: gotten to know him before then. We just never met personally.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: So I came over here to hear him preach. And
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: he got in trouble when he preached. It's probably hard
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: for you to believe that he did that. But he
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: preached on the qualifications of an elder. And that was
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: a year the SBC was all afroth about a resolution
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: on alcohol and whether you could even believe that it
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: was okay to drink alcohol or not sinful to drink alcohol.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: And they passed a resolution saying that if you weren't
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: a teetotaler and advocated teetotalism, you shouldn't be allowed to
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: do anything in the SBC. And so that just created
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: a lot of controversy. And so Vody stands up and
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: he's preaching on the qualifications of elders. He says, you know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: so we will just make a big deal about whether
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: or not a guy drinks alcohol, which this text says
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: nothing about. And then we'll just overlook the fact if
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: his household is not in order. His kids can be hellions.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: And we'll say, that's okay. He's a good preacher. You know,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: he's a good pastor. And it offended quite a few people,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: including some of the leadership. And they let it be known.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: And so as soon as the guy stood up who
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: was the leader after that and made some snarky remarks,
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: I looked at him and said, why don't we just leave?
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: So we went and grabbed some coffee and got to
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: know each other. And God made us fast friends through that.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: And so I'm guessing I'm not the only one who
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: got in trouble with Vody at different points and times
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: in our lives. So I'm interested in how you guys,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, you said his teaching drew. you, Josh, what,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: how did you come across his teaching?
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: Well, I was, I was not reformed. I was looking,
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: I was having young children. I was looking at trying
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: to disciple them. I didn't know anybody who was discipling
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: their children. I'd run into the idea of family worship
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: and homeschooling circles and And somebody who didn't know who
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Vody was bought his family-driven faith book for me because
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: they knew I was interested in that sort of thing.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: And that kind of started me paying attention to him.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: And I noticed that when I listened to him teach
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: on marriage or children, that at the end of it,
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: I learned a lot. And I also realized that all
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: he did was walk through the Bible. And I'd never
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: seen that before. So that expository preaching, which was very... applicable.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: In fact, it hit to the core of what I, afterward,
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: I understood exactly what the passage said and I knew
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: exactly where it hit me the worst. And so, and
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: he was, he was just, that was amazing to me.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: And so it was really his, and his zeal for
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: encouraging parents and especially men to disciple their families. That's
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: really what drew me, what drew me in and what
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: eventually even drew me into being a pastor was that
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: desire that he had stoked up in me.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Very good. Ronald, I'm not Ronald. Ronald is his dad.
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: Close enough.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Pardon me, yeah.
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: I'll take it.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I'm at that stage of life where I call the
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: sons the father's names. Lennox, you were just a kid, right,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: when you met Vody?
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much.
• 11:27
  Speaker 7: I was, I think in my mid-teens at the time.
• 11:30
  Speaker 7: I was about 14 or 15 years old when I
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: met him. I actually won't forget the first time I
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: met him. My mom had told me like, hey, there's
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: this really great preacher who's around. I think you'll really
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: like him. So I remember meeting him and he was,
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: you know, dressed in, um, you know how Vody usually dress.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I know how Vody dress. Yeah.
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: Um, he was the only one who could make the
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: kind of fashion choices he made and get away with it.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: You know, who's going to challenge him? He's going to say, Hey,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: that doesn't look good.
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: Oh, no way. No way.
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: And I changed with him. So that's not fun to be,
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: you know, um, but yeah, I'll just never forget the
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: first time I met him and my little hand getting
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: swallowed in, in his, in his big firm grip. Um,
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: And the rest is history, just meeting him. He made
• 12:13
  Speaker 7: such an indelible impression. And yeah, the Lord just saw
• 12:18
  Speaker 7: it fit to bring our lives together. And I learned
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: so much from him.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Aaron, how did you first come to know Vody?
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: First met Vody, it goes further back. It would probably
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: be at one of those passion conferences with Lou Giglio.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: And he had spoken at one of those.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: I had.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: just recently converted to Christianity. And, you know, I didn't
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: live like a Christian for many years after high school.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: And I thought, well, you know, the Lord, I could
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: never serve the Lord in ministry. And I remember listening
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: to him preaching and it kind of hit me like, wait,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: this is the gospel. This is the grace of God.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: And he was walking through Paul's testimony. And so I
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: was influenced by hearing him at various conferences, but we
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: ended up at the church because we had left New
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Orleans after Katrina and we ended up in Houston, never
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: intended to live in Houston. And we ended up just
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: attending not a reformed church, but more of a regular
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: traditional Baptist church. And it was there serving in that
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: church that I began to realize like doctrines important. Um,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: And we left that church, ended up going to GFPC,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: a church that what I did know is they held
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: to the 1689. And that's what was important. And that's
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: something I'll say. Doctrine is crucial for ministry. Having a good,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: solid foundation. And I'll say that is, I appreciate that
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: you said that about him, the 1689.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: That's one of the best blessings.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: That he gave to GFPC was the choosing of the
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: 1689 as the confession for the church. Because it is
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: It's been a blessing to us in difficult times.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Amen. You know, you mentioned the way Votie dressed. He
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: was a sharp dresser.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: He was.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: He was.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: And his socks, though, were on a whole other level, right?
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: And I think we actually have some pictures of his socks.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. So, you know, Votie's socks.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: So in honor of Vody Socks, I wore some socks
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: tonight that I don't typically wear. There's so many things
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: to like about Vody. I mean, he was hilarious. He
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: had a great sense of humor. And you remember Bad Vody?
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Yeah, he was quick. He was Bad Vody,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: you know?
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: And so he was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, national champion, something.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: National champion. So you know about that or when that happened?
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know when that happened because I got on
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: to him at an afterward. We were on some sort
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: of panel. I think that was right after I became
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: a pastor. And I introduced him and I said, this
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: is Vody. And by the way, he is a national
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And I said, that's in the
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: geriatric division, right, Vody?
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Better you than me, you know. But he would talk
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: about bad Bodhi. Just better hope bad Bodhi doesn't show up.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: And he often did. That's true. When he needed to. Yeah. Well,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: we talked a little bit beforehand.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: One of the things that many people who've known Bodhi
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: very long refer to regularly is how far advanced he
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: was in seeing things that we've lived through. I remember
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: when Obama was elected, He told me, he said, this
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: is going to be horrible for race relations in America. And,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: you know, I thought, well, I didn't vote for Obama.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: I didn't like Obama's policies. But I thought, well, maybe
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: it'll be good, you know. I mean, you remember John
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Piper wrote that open letter about, you know, how this
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: is going to be great for the country. We're so
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: glad that a black man was elected. Well, that was
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: kind of where my thinking was. And Buddy said, no, no, no, no.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: This is going to be horrible. He was dead right.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: And then about public education. He was contending for Christians
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: not to put their kids in public education long before people.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Were talking about that. And I thought he was a
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: little bit over.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: I thought, man, you're probably just something bad happened that
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: you know about and that just has poisoned you about this.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: But he saw it. He understood it. And he convinced
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: me of it. I was a slow learner. But then
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: critical theory, same thing. And he cut his teeth on
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: that in some of his academic studies. But He and
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: I had another friend who would talk to me about
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: this stuff and my eyes would glaze over. You know,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: this is, I don't know, 2010, 12, something like that.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: And I just didn't think it had anything to do
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: with me, anything I need to be worried about. But boy,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: he saw it before anybody else did.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: He saw it and it was showing up in sermons
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: that he did 2008, 2009, going through Genesis, going into
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: like 2011, going through Romans. And he would discuss critical theory.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: He would discuss cultural Marxism. He would discuss the effects
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: of Obama in some of his policies. And I was
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: like you. I always thought, you're really focusing on this
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: quite a bit. And then 2020 happened. And it all
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: made sense.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: You know, he did a panel. You can find this
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: on YouTube. It's called A Time to Speak. And we
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: think it was 2016 maybe.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: Maybe.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: It was after the Michael Brown incident right outside St. Louis,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: where I forget the officer's name, that shot him because
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Brown was trying to get in his car, and he
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: said trying to get his gun. And Brown had robbed
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: a store shortly before that, was walking down the street. And,
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: of course, it became just a massive time for protest.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: And so Votie had written an article for the Gospel
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: Coalition because I think he was one of the guys,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: I don't know what they call themselves now, Grand Poupas
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: or something, whatever, the Gospel Coalition.
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: That was back when they published it.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: That was back in the early days when we all
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: had hopes for it.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: And he was on the board or whatever.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: But he wrote an article basically saying, you know, Michael
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Brown was wrong. And, I mean, that was heresy. But
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: it broke the TGC server. I mean, it crashed it
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: because it was, I think it still is, the most
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: popular article they've ever published. So he gets invited. to
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: this panel discussion. Ed Stetzer's organized it, and he's the moderator,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: but it's got Thabiti Anyabwele there. Who else was there? Yeah,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: you guys would know their names. The pastor that sadly died,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: killed himself in St.
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: Louis.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Darren Patrick was there. And there were several other guys
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: there on the panel and voting. And, of course, they're
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: all given the party line, you know, of systemic racism.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: This is horrific.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: This is the fruit of all kind of things that's
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: wrong with America and our society and white evangelicalism. And
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Vody just held his ground. He said, no, I don't
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: think so. And he applied God's law in a very
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: straightforward way. I'll never forget, Thabiti came out with the
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: names of people. black people that had died in different
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: incidences over the years.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: And, you know, Vody pointed.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Out certain names he didn't have on his t-shirt. But
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: it was a masterful display of one against the world
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: where he refused to back down, And these guys realized
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: that the stuff that they could blow over on other people,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: he wasn't going to buy and he wasn't going to
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: let them get away with it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: He was a master at that. He was a master
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: at that. He was.
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: And I think that specific panel changed a lot for him.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: In terms of the places he'd get invited to and
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: disinvited from. And, you know, it's interesting, you know, when
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: he eventually wrote Fault Lines and one of the things
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: that pushed him over to actually get the book done
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: was some of his students in Zambia were asking him
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: why America is so racist. And he's thinking to himself,
• 20:46
  Speaker 7: wait a minute, why am I having this conversation all
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: the way out here? And I think it really occurred
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: to him how deep the propaganda ran across the world.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: And he knew that it needed to be addressed. But
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: what's interesting is that with Vodhi, him writing fault lines
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: wasn't him coming up with an idea in an instant.
• 21:07
  Speaker 7: In fact, just as you're saying, these are things he
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: thought about for decades, actually. And that was, I think,
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: just a work of him putting together his thoughts after
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: many years. And again, just leading the line and speaking
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: with conviction and clarity about an issue that really has
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: affected the way people think about life and an issue
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: that has altered the way people think even about Christianity. Um,
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: and I think he just did some excellent work and
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: just had this incredible ability to understand that ideas do
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: have consequences. And if wrong ideas are not challenged and confronted,
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: those ideas will persist.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: And one of the things that I really got from Bodie, um,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: is the importance of speaking truth regardless of the consequences.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: And if you listen to his sermon, he has a
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: sermon that he did at one of our Semper Reformanda conferences.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It's on the nation of Islam.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: And he begins the sermon grieving the fact that there's
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: many white ministers that tolerated and marched alongside black ministers
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: that were marching with Louis Farrakhan at the Day of
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: Atonement Million Man March. And He grieved that and said,
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: you can't do that. You must be willing to be
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: considered a racist. You must be willing to be looked
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: down upon by the culture. You must pay the price
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: because it's only then that you can speak truth. And
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: that's the critical time that you must do it. He
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: was willing to do that.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: And he did that at personal cost. He was told
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: by SBC leaders that he would be the first SBC
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: black president, that he would be the first black president
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: of an SBC seminary. But then they continued to listen
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: to what he said and he got canceled. He was
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: on the circuit, spoke at pastors conferences. He was in
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: line to do all kinds of stuff and he got canceled.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: And it does largely go back to this, but one
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: of the stories I like to tell about voting that
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: many people do not know. I think we, We may
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: have pulled it out of him on a podcast so
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: he'd go public. But early on when he was writing,
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: he had like a three-book contract with Lifeway. And they
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: were doing these conferences for him. And, you know, I
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: think it was his, what was his book on apologetics?
• 23:42
  Speaker 7: The Ever-Loving Truth.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Ever-Loving Truth. Yeah, Ever-Loving Truth. And so, you know, he
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: was just kind of getting into that world. And Lifeway
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: also had this female author. that was just beginning to write.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: And he got to know her a little bit and
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: found out that they were not treating her well. You know,
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: they would have her speak at all these things, but
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: they weren't remunerating her for that in the way that
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: they were him and other authors. And so as he
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: got to talking to her about it, he said, you know,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: this isn't right. He put her in touch with somebody
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: who could help her. And then he went to the
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: guys at Lifeway and he said, you know, what you're
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: doing to this woman is not right.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: And you need to make it right.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: And so they got upset with him and they canceled
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: his contract. But he did that for Beth Moore. Not
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: because he loved what Beth Moore was doing, though she
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: was much better then than she is now, but because
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: it was just a matter of integrity for him.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: And it cost him personally. It held up.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Some of his writing because of what that contract did
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: to him and what they wouldn't let him do. So
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: he just did that. And I've seen him take those
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: stands before. One of the things that united us so
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: much was this whole social justice nonsense. And again, he
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: saw it before most anybody that I knew. And we
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: had an opportunity to get together in Dallas in 2018
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: to And I think there were like 10 or 13
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: guys or so that met in a coffee shop and said,
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: what are we going to do?
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: What are we going to do about it? John MacArthur
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: was there.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: And the folks who had put it together played a
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: clip of that panel from A Time to Speak. And
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: after MacArthur watched that, he looked at Votie and said, man,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: you just pitched a no-hit shutout. He said that was incredible.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: And from that meeting in that coffee shop, the statement
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: on social justice and gospel came out. and we developed
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: some resources. Sadly, some of them never got released, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: I don't know if they ever will be released. But
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: Vody saw it clearly. He gave clear direction and understanding
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: to not just the things that we were seeing, but why,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: why those things were happening and how they'd come to be.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: And he was willing to draw the line and stand
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: and help others to see, yeah, this is a battle
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: for our day. We cannot back away from it. I
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: think we had a conference that year I believe it was,
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Founders Conference that year. And I'd heard him mention maybe
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: in that meeting about ethnic Gnosticism. I'd never heard that term.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Well, he coined it. He coined that term. So we
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: asked him to speak on ethnic Gnosticism. And he'd never
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: spoken on it before. And he kind of complained a
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: little bit. But he was willing to do it. And
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: he did it. It was brilliant.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: And it's one of the most popular things that we
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: have ever put out. on our founder's YouTube page. And
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: if you haven't heard that talk on ethnic Gnosticism, I
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: highly encourage you to listen to it. So Votie was
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: ahead of his time on a lot of these issues.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: He took strong stands. I mean, he was advocating homeschooling
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: and getting your kids out of public education systems long
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: before a lot of people were. And those commitments just
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: knit him together with other people who had those similar
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: kind of concerns.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: And those battlefronts on which he was fighting so faithfully
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: always came back to, he saw where things were going,
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: he saw where people were off, but it was always
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: because he saw what the Word of God said was true.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: And then he saw the difference. And he could articulate
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: that in a way that most people couldn't. And he
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: also had better understanding about what was going on in
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: the culture, so he could articulate what was going on
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: more clearly.
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: But he could always compare it to Scripture. And he
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: wasn't ever.
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: He was never caught off guard because he had done
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: a superficial exposition of the Bible. He had clarity on
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: God's word and God's truth that he was standing on
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: before he spoke.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: One of the things that endeared me to him as
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: well was just his, his love for Bridget and his kids.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: And we got to know them when their two oldest
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: kids were younger and they're about the same age as
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: some of my kids. And he got, he came to
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: do a conference for us. Well, you know, I wanted
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: him to do, we had been doing youth conferences, and
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: we decided we weren't going to do any more youth conferences.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: So our last youth conference was, we're not the youth group,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: we're the church. And so he came, and man, anybody
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: that had doubts going into that about, you know, is
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: this really the right move to make, fully persuaded by
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: what he did.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: But he brought his kids with him.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: I think Elijah, who is the oldest adopted son, I
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: think may have been like two or three or so,
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: and And Bodie had his very clear, decisive way of
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: correcting Elijah when Elijah needed corrected, you know. And that
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: made a big impression on our people. And it was
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: just so good and helpful for our church to be
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: around him like that. Another thing that Bodie greatly has
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: brought benefit to believers all over the world is his
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: commitment to theological education. And I know, you know, he
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: went over to Zambia because he wanted to see African
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Christian University become something like what Harvard intended to be
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: at its outset in Africa. And labored there for almost
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: 10 years, right? And the founding dean worked with Conrad.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Mbewe over there.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I remember lots of conversations back and
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: forth about curricula and courses and what all needed to
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: be done.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: And I got over there. maybe in the first year
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: or two that he was there.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: He was still meeting in temporary housing and trying to
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: shift things around.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: So they fit and all. But to see the way
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: he gave himself to that was wonderful. Yeah.
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: I think just speaking to that, it was profound. I mean,
• 29:49
  Speaker 7: Vody's been a friend of Zambia for a very long time.
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: I think it was 2006 or 2007 where he went
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: out there for his first conference and And it's not
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: typical for the Reformed Baptist Church in Zambia to be
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: very expressive during preaching. It gets as deep as a
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: head nod, if you're lucky. But, you know, Vody just
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: had a way with people. And I believe the story
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: is the first time he preached out there, he received
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: a standing ovation. Now that was very uncharacteristic of the
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: people there. And yet that just goes to show how
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: powerful his preaching was. And for many years after that,
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: he continued to show up to that same conference and
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: preach until eventually in 2015, he decided to move his
• 30:46
  Speaker 7: family down there to join hands with the African Christian
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: University and really do and build something that had never
• 30:53
  Speaker 7: been done in Africa before. Not just Zambia, but in Africa.
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: And it was an audacious project still continues, and he
• 31:02
  Speaker 7: really just wanted to give himself to that. Something else
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: you said there, Pastor Tom, that I think I just
• 31:08
  Speaker 7: want to echo again is just his commitment to his family.
• 31:12
  Speaker 7: I honestly think that his potency in being able to
• 31:16
  Speaker 7: articulate the profound theological truths he gave to so much
• 31:20
  Speaker 7: of us was because he was a qualified man before
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: he was a gifted man. He stood qualified because he
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: won where it matters most. He was diligent in his
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: pursuit of Miss Bridget. I recall just several times that
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: she just swooned and just be completely smitten. He was
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: unapologetic about his love for her. Even with his children,
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: he was just so devoted to them. There was no
• 31:53
  Speaker 7: doubt that they came first. which is why he wanted
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: to be involved. He was part of teaching his children.
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: He educated them himself. He was actively involved. And there
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: was no doubt, if there was ever a choice between
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: anything else and his family, his family would always come first.
• 32:12
  Speaker 7: And I think that's what enabled him to roar like
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: the lion he was and stand before so many of
• 32:19
  Speaker 7: us and speak with that kind of conviction. Because it's
• 32:22
  Speaker 7: not just a conviction he so eloquently delivered. It's a
• 32:26
  Speaker 7: conviction he lived by.
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was something he articulated recurrently, was that your character,
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: talking to people who are going to be pastors or
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: who were pastors, your character is shown first and primarily
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: in your home. And so if there's ever a choice
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: between the church and your family, you choose your family
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: and you don't need to be a pastor. Just step
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: on back. But your family comes first. And if you
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: ever get to a point where you're choosing the church
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: before your family, then you're going to need to get
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: out both of them because you've just disqualified yourself. And
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: he was very good about encouraging us who were considering
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: the pastorate to continually come back to that.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Both you guys had opportunity to study under Bodie because
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: he put you through the paces.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: In terms of training to be an elder. The book list. Yeah,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: so tell us a little bit about that.
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: Well, there was different iterations. I was in the second iteration.
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure which one you were in.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: You were grading my papers.
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: I know. I'm sorry. I must have been the third.
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: Bodie said, I know that you could write well, but
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: be kind when I was grading.
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: And he was like that.
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, he could have graded, and he could have,
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: He could have pushed us to be, you know, tried,
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: expected us to be who he was, and we wouldn't
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: have been able to match up. But he was looking
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: at men in the church and saying, they don't need
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: to be these amazing preachers who can get up on
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: conference platforms or who are going to stun crowds. They
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: need to be faithful men who can deliver the word.
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: And so he met men where they were, and he
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: shepherded them along. And so the books, he would overload
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: us with books. And we would all get through it
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: varying degrees. Some of them were terrible. And he wanted
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: us to read those terrible books and tell what was
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: good and what was bad.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: What's some terrible books he recommended to you?
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: I don't know if I should do that.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: What's this? You should do it. You should definitely do it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: So what are some bad books he recommends?
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: He recommends some business books, which were overall not good,
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: but had a few keys that he saw in them
• 34:39
  Speaker 5: something that he wanted to then go back to the
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: word and show us was for the church, especially the
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: unity of vision for the church.
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: So that was one thing.
• 34:47
  Speaker 5: There was some, I don't remember the name, so I'm
• 34:49
  Speaker 5: going to back out, but there were some on worship
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: that were popular books. Among Southern Baptists and others. And
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: there were some on cross-cultural missions, I think. Which were
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: popular at the time.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: And we were.
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: He would just hand us books. And he wanted us
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: to read them.
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: And we were supposed to figure out if these were
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: ones he was recommending. Or these were ones he wanted
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: us to tear apart.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: One of the most useful exercises that he had us
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: do one time.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Was he gave you.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: I think it was like, is it 15 minutes to
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: write a sermon?
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: Oh, I don't remember that one. Yeah, something like that.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: You didn't do that?
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: I think he came up with that one for you, actually.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, really?
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: So we'd open up to like Philippians 2 and be like, okay,
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: you take the first five verses, you take these, and
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: we'd all have to sit down. And I don't remember
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: how long we had, but it was about 15 to
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: 30 minutes that we had to write a sermon then
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: and then present it to everyone.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: And his point.
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: Was the mistakes you make now are the mistakes you're
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: gonna make spending 20, 30 hours writing a sermon. So
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: we might as well go over them now.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you told me a story earlier, why don't you
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: repeat that, about one time you were speaking at a conference, right,
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: and lost his notes?
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Voting was, I'll tell you, there's nothing more humbling than
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: speaking after voting. And being the person that preaches the
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: next week, right? But Bodhi was so talented at what
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: he did that he's walking into the Semper Reformanda conference.
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: He's being introduced by my co-elder, Aaron Fry. They're going through.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Here he is.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: He's from ACU.
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: And we all know Bodhi. And Bodhi looks at me
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: and says, hey, do you have my iPad? Now, why
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: would I have his iPad? I'm like, why would I
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: have your iPad? He goes, maybe Richard is one of
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: our deacons. Maybe he has the iPad. I'm like, why
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: would he have your iPad? He goes, do you have
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: a Bible? It's like, yeah, right here. He goes, oh,
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: Trinity hymnal.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: That's got the confession in it. He goes, I've got
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: paragraph one, right?
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: Paragraph one.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: He walks to the front.
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: He's turning into the back of the Trinity hymnal, which
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: has the 1689 in it. Goes up, begins to introduce
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: his sermon, goes into some illustrations, talk about traveling over
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: from Zambia. Nobody has a clue that he doesn't have notes.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful sermon. I would have been stumbling all
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: over myself. That's right. We would have had a testimony service,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I think. Let's just share a testimony.
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: There was actually an incident early in GFPC's history when
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: there were three elders at the time. And they were
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: both bivocational. And they hadn't organized themselves well. This was
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: early on. And they got together before the service, right
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: before the service, and We're talking and everybody's like, you're preaching, right?
• 37:48
  Speaker 6: No, you're preaching.
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: So both the guys look at Bodie and say, you
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: do this all the time. So he goes, types his
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: Bible while they're starting up the service and starts studying.
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: And by the time the sermon came around, gave this amazing,
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: amazing sermon.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's great. Those are great stories.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: I remember when COVID hit in 2020 and, you know,
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: everybody was couple of weeks, didn't know what to think.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: It was nuts.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: Two weeks to flatten the curve. And, you know, then
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: we began to see things happening that shouldn't have been happening.
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: And it became pretty apparent pretty quickly that we were
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: just all being played. You know, that this was something
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: that was not, whatever legitimacy there was, it was being
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: taken advantage of significantly to be abusive. And I was
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: a part of different kinds of pastors groups, phone calls, and.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Chat groups and stuff.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: And it became pretty apparent to me that, man, none
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: of us had been really trained or prepared for what
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: we were living through. And we had a great group
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: of elders and God helped our elders. We live in Florida,
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: the free state of Florida with a great governor, greatest governor.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: In the nation.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: And so he initially issued some executive orders that made
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: it sound like churches were not essential services.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: And some protested.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: And so he pulled that back the next day and
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: clarified what he meant by it.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: And that helped us a great deal.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: But once we got clarity and began to try to express, no,
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: we think the government is extending overreach here. So many
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: of my friends just said, oh, I can't believe it.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Romans 13. Hadn't you ever read Romans 13?
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: 13?
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: You got to keep your church closed. You're not an expert.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: You know, you don't know what you're, you don't understand medicine.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: You don't understand science and trust the scientists. And, you know,
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: Ed Stetzer telling people you can do online church and,
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: you know, here's how you do online baptisms. And here's
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: how you do online Lord's supper. I mean, it's just,
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm thinking, this is the twilight zone.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: This is crazy.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: And so during that time when nothing's open, I'm walking.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: I just started walking. I just walk a lot. And
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: one day while walking, some things happened, and an idea
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: began to formulate in my mind about trying to open
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: a study center, university, theological training center, academic institution in
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: another state.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: At a facility that was becoming available.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: And so we worked on that significantly and came down
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: to the last three trying to make a bid for
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: it and didn't get it.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: We weren't selected.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: But in the wake of that, all the legwork we'd done,
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: I said, why don't we do that right here, Cape Coral?
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: And so the idea of an Institute of Public Theology
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: came to my mind. And the first guy I called
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: was Vodia.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: He's in Zambia.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: And I'd always text him, you know, WhatsApp to see
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: if he's awake or what time we could talk. And
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: it must have been like 2 o'clock in the morning there.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: But I didn't call. I didn't text him. I just
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: called him.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: I said, hey, brother.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: I said, you know, I got this crazy idea. Let's
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: talk to him about maybe 10 minutes. I said, I
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: want you to be a part of the founding faculty.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: What do you think?
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: He said, I'm in. He said, I'm in. You know,
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: not I'm going to pray about it. I'm going to
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: think about it. No, I'm in.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: And it was great. And God just melded our thinking
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: together about what was needed.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: And so he became... foundation of that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: If you fast forward now four years, an institute's graduated
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: its first graduates, and one's planting a church, two are
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: going on doing MDiv work. The idea for Founders Seminary,
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: as Peter mentioned earlier today, came to my mind. And
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: so Peter and I decided, and I told the board,
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: just like first week in October, I think it was,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: and mentioned that we believe we had the groundwork for
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: a four-year seminary. And so we're thinking about what we're
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: going to do, how we're going to do it. We
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: had so many logistical questions that getting together a faculty
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: was way down the road. Vody either texted me, he
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: texted me first and called me. And he said, brother,
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: so we just got an offer on our house here
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: in Lusaka. He'd talked for a couple of years about
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: getting ready to move back to the States. It was
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: a plan to do over a couple of year period.
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: And he said, we just got an offer on our house.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: It's cash offer. And said, it's going to be enough
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: money that we'll be able to afford to live in
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Cape Coral.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: He said, we're moving. And this is like the second
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: week in October. He said, there's only one glitch.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: He said, the guy that's buying it says we have
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: to be out of the house December 1st. And so
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: he said, I sat Bridget down. I said, honey, I
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: love you, but we're taking this deal and I'll help you,
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: you know, so we'll pack up and do it.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: So they packed up everything and moved. And then that
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: deal fell through.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: And when he told me they were, he had a
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: house for sale now or that had sold. I said, well,
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: you'll never believe what we're doing. We're going to start
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: a seminary. Come be a part of it, you know?
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: And it's amazing how God worked. Now there were some
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: ups and downs over the next few months, but again, no,
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: no hesitation. Oneness of visions. We laid out, here's what
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: we're looking at. This is the way we want to
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: do it. I mean, he was fully on board with that,
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: fully involved with that. And to, uh, To be able
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: to see him be the founding president of Founders Seminary.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: I praise God for that. I grieve that he's not
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: here to carry it on. I miss him and just grieve.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: But I think I said to you earlier, if I
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: didn't believe what I believed, I'd quit.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: I'd quit. But God's good. He's wise. He's almighty. He's mighty.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: He doesn't make mistakes. He gave up his son for us.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: And if he's laid his rod upon us in this
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: way at this time, I know it's for our welfare.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: I know it's going to bring him glory. And so
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: no matter whatever else happens, Founders Seminary will always be
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: a seminary that had as its first president, Votie Bauckham.
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: And there's no other seminary in the world that will
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: ever be able to say that.
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: And I think to that, Pastor Tom, I know you're
• 44:09
  Speaker 7: not going to do this for yourself, but you know,
• 44:13
  Speaker 7: I saw Vodhi 13 days before he passed away. He
• 44:16
  Speaker 7: had come up to Idaho. We literally spent that entire
• 44:19
  Speaker 7: day together and just catching up, speaking about everything. I mean,
• 44:23
  Speaker 7: clearly the Lord knew what we didn't at the time.
• 44:27
  Speaker 7: And it had been a while since I'd seen Vodhi
• 44:32
  Speaker 7: so excited about anything. And Founder Seminary was very close
• 44:38
  Speaker 7: to his heart, and he was just sold out on
• 44:40
  Speaker 7: the vision for it. But I think even deeper than that,
• 44:43
  Speaker 7: Pastor Tom, he loved you. I think for the last
• 44:47
  Speaker 7: 10 years, whatever you were involved with, voting you, that's
• 44:52
  Speaker 7: where he wanted to be. He saw you very much
• 44:55
  Speaker 7: as that soldier he wanted to link arms with. And
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: it was all as an easy yes for you. One
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: of the things that I kind of chuckle at is,
• 45:03
  Speaker 7: you know, when he had announced that he was leaving
• 45:05
  Speaker 7: Zambia and he had done this social media thing where
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: he wanted people to guess. And I just chuckle and
• 45:10
  Speaker 7: I'm like, oh, come on.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Like, no one has a prayer, you know. You laughed.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: I'm saying, Vody, what are you doing? You're killing me, man,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, no, exactly.
• 45:20
  Speaker 7: But, I mean, from the word go, it was always
• 45:23
  Speaker 7: going to be easy. Where is Tom Askell? Because that's
• 45:27
  Speaker 7: where Vody is going. And so beyond just this incredible
• 45:30
  Speaker 7: idea of an institution like Founders Seminary, Vody was always
• 45:34
  Speaker 7: excited about the men he got to work with. And
• 45:39
  Speaker 7: I think for the last decade, Pastor Tom, I think
• 45:41
  Speaker 7: you were the one person he just really enjoyed building
• 45:45
  Speaker 7: and fighting alongside.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: I know I speak for all of us. I loved him.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Loved him dearly. He was a brother.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: And I'd go to battle with him in a heartbeat.
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: Miss him, but God's good. God's wise. God's almighty. We
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: have no reason to doubt him. We have every reason
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: to continue going forward. And again, to follow Votie as
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: Votie followed Christ. There's only one Votie Bauckham, but boy,
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: the Christ that he knew, I want to know the
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: way he knew him. I want to love him. I
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: want to serve him the way that he loved him
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: and served him. And that's something we can all aspire to.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: And God's laid a great foundation in so many areas
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: that Votie addressed that we can benefit from. We ought
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: to take what we can from his legacy and improve
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: it and act upon it. And God, by his grace,
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: will enable us to do that. Brothers, thank you so
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: much for being a part of this panel. I'm going
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: to ask that we just end our time together in prayer,
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: a prayer of thanksgiving for the life of our brother
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: and praying for Bridget and the kids as well. So
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: each one of us, just pray a brief prayer. So Lennox,
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: if you'd start us and we'll just come down here,
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: I'll close this out.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's pray together.
• 47:22
  Speaker 7: Our Father in heaven, what a privilege it is To
• 47:25
  Speaker 7: be gathered together under the banner of your holy name.
• 47:30
  Speaker 7: Lord you are good.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: You are holy.
• 47:33
  Speaker 7: You are sovereign. And you work all things in accordance with.
• 47:38
  Speaker 7: Your divine providence. And it is perfect. And in that
• 47:42
  Speaker 7: providence Lord you. Took away a brother who's been. A
• 47:48
  Speaker 7: blessing to us. And has ministered to us for such
• 47:51
  Speaker 7: a long time. But Lord we. We trust your holy
• 47:55
  Speaker 7: plan and we say thank you. Thank you for the
• 47:58
  Speaker 7: time that you gave him. Thank you for the ministry
• 48:02
  Speaker 7: that he had to us. And Lord, we pray that
• 48:06
  Speaker 7: we would behold you the way he did and pursue
• 48:11
  Speaker 7: you the way he did, adore you the way he did,
• 48:16
  Speaker 7: proclaim your name with the conviction that he did. Lord,
• 48:22
  Speaker 7: we've learned so much from him. And trust, Lord, that
• 48:26
  Speaker 7: you continue to build out his legacy in each and
• 48:31
  Speaker 7: every one of us. Lord, that you continue to bless
• 48:34
  Speaker 7: Founders Seminary, Founders Ministries as a whole, and continue to
• 48:39
  Speaker 7: perfect this work that you had started with Vody.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: We pray this in Jesus' name.
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: Amen. Heavenly Father, I do echo my brother here and
• 48:51
  Speaker 5: pray that a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing that
• 48:56
  Speaker 5: you have given all of us in different ways of
• 49:00
  Speaker 5: our brother Voddie and his character, his genius, and that
• 49:07
  Speaker 5: you gave him such gifting and yet gave him a
• 49:10
  Speaker 5: humble heart and showed us what it looks like to
• 49:17
  Speaker 5: acknowledge that your giftings come from God and no one else.
• 49:21
  Speaker 5: I thank you, Father God, for his humility, even in
• 49:24
  Speaker 5: times when he stumbled and had to repent. And he
• 49:28
  Speaker 5: did that so quickly. And he saw in the grace
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: of Jesus Christ, what we all need. And he showed
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: that to us and he told us about it. And
• 49:41
  Speaker 5: he displayed Christ before us in such a way that
• 49:45
  Speaker 5: many of us here have testimony to that. I thank you,
• 49:50
  Speaker 5: Father God, for giving us all a vision for what
• 49:53
  Speaker 5: it looks like to come to your word and believe
• 49:55
  Speaker 5: your word and find our life in your word and
• 49:59
  Speaker 5: our standing place. And I pray, Father, that you would
• 50:03
  Speaker 5: continue to provide, even as we don't have his voice anymore,
• 50:09
  Speaker 5: but we do have your spirit, who's the one who
• 50:12
  Speaker 5: gave him his voice, and who will continue to provide
• 50:15
  Speaker 5: for your people. I pray, Father, especially for those who
• 50:20
  Speaker 5: were dear and near to Bodhi, to his family, that
• 50:24
  Speaker 5: you would care for them and uphold them, that they
• 50:27
  Speaker 5: would find their strength in your hand, and for the
• 50:34
  Speaker 5: many people who knew Bodie closely and lost more than
• 50:41
  Speaker 5: a figurehead and more than a gifted speaker, but a friend.
• 50:47
  Speaker 5: And I pray, Father, that you would continue to give
• 50:50
  Speaker 5: both comfort in the grief and encouragement that one day
• 50:54
  Speaker 5: we will see him again.
• 50:56
  Speaker 6: In Jesus' name.
• 51:01
  Speaker 4: Father, we come before you with just grateful hearts for
• 51:05
  Speaker 4: the blessing that Bodhi has been to us. We thank
• 51:11
  Speaker 4: you for Bodhi and his love for the gospel, his
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: understanding of law and gospel, his ability to communicate that,
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: his ability to take any text of the Bible and
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: bring it to Christ, point to Christ, the one that
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: the scriptures point to. We thank you for voting in
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: his love for his family, the way in which he
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: demonstrated how pastors should live with their families, how they
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: should raise their children in the fear and the instruction
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: of the Lord, how they should love their wives as
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: Christ has loved the church. We pray that you would
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: bless us in being mindful of this and remembering these
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: things and recognizing the the importance of this. We thank
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: you for his ability to just declare your word so well.
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: Such skill, such ability, such ability to see the text
• 52:17
  Speaker 4: in its local placement, his ability to see it within
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: the entirety of the biblical context, and his ability to
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: just in so many ways apply those truths to our
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: immediate cultural context and in ways where he's seeing things
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: that as we've confessed up here, we didn't even see
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: at the time. I pray that you would continue to
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: use the preaching and teaching that, that he has done,
• 52:48
  Speaker 4: whether it be in his sermons, uh, conferences, um, what
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: may be, uh, being used in seminaries.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: May you, may you.
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: Continue to use this for your good purpose, uh, to
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: bless people to see these truths that Votie saw. We
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: thank you for this time that you've given to us
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: that we were blessed by this man in so many ways.
• 53:14
  Speaker 4: We pray this in Jesus' name.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Amen. Father, we thank you for our brother that you
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: gave to us. You're good. You're wise. You have the
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: right to do with your own what you will, and
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: we trust you.
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: We ask you to help us to follow Christ the
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: way that he did, to steward the gifts and graces
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: and opportunities you've given us the way that he did.
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: Have mercy on Bridget and those kids and cause them
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: to trust you, to follow you, to be zealous for
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: you because of the investment that their husband and father
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: made in their lives. So we praise you for the
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: opportunity we've had tonight just to reflect upon.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: One of your gifts. to us.
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: Please seal to our hearts all the truth of your
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: word that your spirit has.
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: Set before us this day. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.