Prof

I'm mid-week through my class at Dallas Theological Seminary (thanks again for letting me go!). And it's yet another great experience.

The saga of getting here is a very long, complicated, frustrating story that involves very bad weather, some measure of incompetence, some every helpful people, and extra expenses. I won't bore you with the details, but I got to Dallas 24 hours later than scheduled, missing the first full day of class, and the process at times became so frustrating that I was very tempted to just give up and come back to Dublin. However, I'm grateful that the Lord carried me through to enduring.

I've been most excited about taking this class because it is co-taught by one of the most beloved professors at DTS, Dr. Howard Hendricks. Everyone calls him "Prof." All the professors here are "profs," but only Hendricks is universally called "Prof." If you say, "I learned that in Prof's class," everyone knows you're talking about Hendricks' class.

The impact from Prof's ministry over the last several decades is impossible to calculate - he is quoted by hundreds (or thousands) of former students, he's traveled the world many times over teaching, and most likely, he has indirectly impacted your life through one of your pastors who has been directly or indirectly impacted by Prof. He has a building named after him because some generous families wanted to honor his contribution.

Prof is the first to admit that age is starting to overtake him. Well into his 80s, one eye has gone completely bad, his body is slowing down, and even his brilliant mind doesn't have the same razor sharpness it once had - although he still remains sharper than most people you'll ever meet.

I had never met Prof before. We had a reception Tuesday night, and we took turns sitting next to Prof to talk with him one-on-one. One fellow student suddenly turned to me and said, "It's your turn!" I had no idea what to say - I didn't want to treat him like a rock star, I did want to say something meaningful, and I didn't want the conversation to be about me. He immediately asked me to share my story and then I spent the rest of our time finding out about his family.

Today in class, Prof shared an interesting story. When he was a senior at Moody Bible Institute, he was paired with a freshman to mentor (our class this week is on mentoring). This freshman was Jim Eliot, the missionary that became a household name when he was killed at age 28 in 1956 while trying to reach an unreached people group in Ecuador. Prof said that in this pairing of mentor and mentoree, it was the mentoree who mentored the mentor. Even as a college freshman, Eliot was a deeply spiritual, amazingly mature believer - the more senior man, who eventually became one of the most influential seminary professors in our age, was awed by this younger man.

Prof's humility in this way is inspiring. Another one of our students (who also is a professor at my alma mater, Talbot School of Theology) mentioned to Prof that they both teach the same courses. Prof genuinely said, "I wish I could take your class." What a memorable moment for my fellow student.

But it was a simple comment to me in the short time I sat next to him at the reception that was my memorable moment. This man, who has taught and mentored so many fantastic pastors and theologians, looked me in the eye and said, "If there's any way at all that I can help you, just ask." He clearly sees himself as a servant-leader. That is was ministry is all about. With all of his influence, impact, and accomplishments, after helping hundreds of the truly impactful Christian leaders, he hurries to offer his help to a student barely qualified to be in the program.

I'm beginning to learn why so many people love Prof.