The Pastor as Theologian: Al Mohler
OK, so if I had to list the top 5 "mostly-unknown" things to see before you die, Al Mohler's library would definitely be on that list. Just got back from Southern Seminary and got to spend a little time with President Mohler in the basement of his home where he has built his library--some 30,000 volumes he has amassed in his personal library. Are you kidding me? It is built like a labyrinth... some kind of "The Name of the Rose" deal... truly astounding.
It reminded me of the excellent biography I just read of Charles Spurgeon... a man who thought and preached deeply about the Gospel but was marvelously effective at reaching people. Spurgeon is often (wrongly) claimed by so-called preachers who love to preach heady doctrines that they are fascinated by, but are stunningly themselves stunningly ineffective at reaching common people. Spurgeon was a theologian and a fanatical evangelist. His deep theology was readily understood by "common" people. In fact, Spurgeon had the first megachurch of modern history--some 20,000 people in one service before there was amplification!
Where are the examples of preachers who can do both--reach people effectively and take people deep with Christ? Why aren't our deepest theologians setting the examples for how to reach people?
Al Mohler is a man dedicated to creating preachers of such sort, and Southern Seminary (surpassed only by its Southeastern counterpart) are great places to train.
J.D.
Thank you for your post on C. H. Spurgeon. While I'm not as knowledgeable on him as I'd like to be (I NEED to read his biography) , I have grown very fond of Rev. Spurgeon in the last couple of years.
I was given an iPod a couple of years ago, and what I use it mostly for is going to Sermon Audio and downloading sermons to listen to in the car. They have many of his sermons online, by differing providers. The one I enjoy most is CloudAudio. If you haven't discovered this incredible site, I highly recommend it!
Also, if you're interested in finding his works online, Christian Classics Ethereal Library is an excellent resource!
Brian
Posted by:Brian Johnson | June 09, 2007 at 02:37 PM
Hmmm, sadly, my clicky links didn't work.
Sermon Audio is found at http://www.sermonaudio.com
And the Christian Classics Ethereal Library is at http://www.ccel.org.
Brian
Posted by:Brian Johnson | June 09, 2007 at 02:38 PM