Beeson Podcast, Episode 482 Rev. Dr. Ronald D. Sterling Feb. 4, 2020 Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast, I'm your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my cohost Kristen Padilla. Today's conversation airs on February 4th and this day is a special day in the life of our community as we inaugurate a new emphasis here at Beeson. Doug Sweeney: Today marks Beeson's first annual African-American Ministry Emphasis Month, which we planned in conjunction with Black History Month. Our objective with this emphasis is to celebrate in a special way what God is doing in and through black churches in America, especially those connected to Beeson and Samford. Of course, we will feature African-Americans at other times of the year as well, but February will be a special month at our school when we shine a light on God's work among our African American brothers and sisters in the Lord. Doug Sweeney: This emphasis will bring to campus African American alumni and other gospel ministers to preach in Beeson's chapel and then meet with students and others in the community at a variety of other special events here on campus. This year, our speakers are the Reverend Dr. Charlie Dates, Senior Pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, Reverend Cokiesha Bailey Robinson, a Beeson alumna and founder of Cross Spring Ministries in Dallas and today's podcast guests the Reverend Dr. Ronald Sterling, whom Kristen will introduce in just a minute. Doug Sweeney: They will be with us on February 4, 18 and 25. We won't have an African American preacher on Tuesday, February 11, as that will be the first day of our annual biblical studies lectures with Dr. Ray Van Neste of Union University. Our chapels and lectures are always free and open to all and you can learn more about them at beesondivinity.com/events. Now, Kristen, who is the Reverend Dr. Ronald D. Sterling? Kristen Padilla: Welcome everyone to the Beeson Podcast and I am so glad to introduce our podcast guest, the Reverend Dr. Ronald Sterling. He is pastor of Saint John AME Church here in Birmingham and he is also the director of student services and part-time lecturer at Beeson Divinity school. He is married to Kim and they have three children and eight grandchildren. He is also a Beeson graduate. And Ronald and I were students together back in 2005 through 2007 and so we're so glad to have you on today's show. Welcome Ronald. Ronald Sterling: Good. Thank you Kristen and also Dr. Sweeney. Kristen Padilla: Dr. Sterling, could you introduce yourself to our listeners? We always like to hear a first person account from our guests learning more about you. So who are you and if you could say a word about your spiritual journey. Ronald Sterling: Many may not know, but I'm originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But I've been in Alabama since 1988 so for right at 32 years this March actually. And the Lord has really blessed... I was with Bell South Telecommunications at the time and they transferred me and my family here to Alabama and it's just, it's been an exciting time and we didn't want to go back to Louisiana. Ronald Sterling: So we've been here since that period of time. I'm the seventh child of a total of nine. Both parents are deceased and along with one of my siblings, but God continues to bless us and as you mentioned, we have three adult children and eight grandchildren and my wife name again is Kim and we've been married be 47 years this July. Kristen Padilla: Congratulations. Ronald Sterling: Thank you very much. And you asked the question also about my spiritual journey and I'll be happy to share that because that's what it's really been. As a child, I grew up in a Baptist denomination where attending church was not an option, it was what we did on Sunday. And when Kim and I married in 1973, I started attending church with her, which would be the African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as the AME Church. Ronald Sterling: And Kim is a fourth generation AME. So when we moved to Alabama, we attended Saint John AME Church in downtown Birmingham. It would be at Saint John that I really started to attend Bible study and start receiving in depth teaching about the scriptures, also the Holy spirit. The group who taught the Bible study were very different, that a love for one another joy was in their hearts and had a genuine concern about each other's well-being, especially my family, since we had just moved to Alabama. And I enjoyed their fellowship and the joy that they seem to possess. Ronald Sterling: And of course his life would have it I entered some very challenging times. The anxiety associated with the situation just would not go away, and I'll admit it for quite some time and people did everything they could to comfort me, but still I found no comfort in anything that they were saying. And I can remember really crying out to the Lord just asking for him to save me. And I remember this one Sunday as I knelt at the alter, I heard a voice within me that said, "Now that you can hear my voice." Ronald Sterling: And in hearing that voice, all of my worries, my fears, my anxieties seem to have just lifted. However, my journey didn't stop. It wasn't over. It was the beginning actually, of my new life in Christ. And so on the night of November 14th, 1992, I just remember it very distinctly. I once again heard the voice of the Lord calling me into ministry. Ronald Sterling: And my response was, "Here I am Lord, send me." At that time I didn't even know that wasn't Isaiah. That was just where my heart was. So my calling was evangelistic with healing in the fingertips. And the calling would actually transform my life forever. I pray for people wherever I went, whether it was in the church, on the street, in hospitals, youth detention centers, prisons, wherever the Lord would send me, I would go. Ronald Sterling: And the passion for people to know the Lord was just overwhelming. In 1996 after working for about 22 and a half years with Bell South, I took an early out and made myself fully available for the Lord. Whatever God's will for me, I was willing to take on that challenge. This change would not be a retirement because I was too young, only 41 years old and did not have enough time in service to really qualify for retirement. Ronald Sterling: But the calling was so strong that I really had to trust the Lord. And it's been a journey. In 1997 after several years of primary evangelistic and homeless ministry, I entered the AME Church Candidate Program for Itinerant Ministry, which only takes about five years. But in that first year, I was asked to pastor a small declining church in Birmingham. Ronald Sterling: This would be in the Birmingham airport area and the church had about three to five members in regular attendance. And it would be in this church where the Lord would show me I was really called to be a pastor as well. So many would say that I had a pastor's heart, especially the homeless, the homeless. And that's part of my journey as far as accepting my calling and being at Saint John is my third charge, as we call it, within the AME church. Ronald Sterling: And so going from a ministry where you have three to five, now you have over a hundred and it's a much larger setting. But God continues to show me that he's with me. And now I'm pastoring at the same church that I attended when I moved to Alabama. So I was like, okay Lord, you just have a way of doing things. So I'm grateful. Doug Sweeney: What a wonderful story of God's faithfulness to you and your faithfulness to him in turn as well. So Dr. Sterling, how does Beeson fit into your story? You've done both an M.Div. here at Beeson Divinity School and then a doctor of ministry degree as well. What drew you to Beeson? And in what ways did Beeson help your discipleship and your ministry? Ronald Sterling: In 2004, the now retired associate professor, Dr. Patricia Outlaw, was also a minister in the AME Church. She visited the church that I was pastoring and she recognized that I had graces in my life, but she encouraged me to pursue some biblical and theological studies. I actually attended the Birmingham Theological Seminary at Briarwood for about two semesters because I really wanted to learn. Ronald Sterling: And after Dr. Outlaw's encouragement, I checked with the office of admissions here at Beeson and was provided the necessary requirements to enter the school. What's interesting is that the registration had already closed, but they had just had a meeting the day before and opened the registration and they not even published it. Ronald Sterling: And I was like, okay Lord, so you're doing a mighty work here. So at the age of 49, I entered Beeson. My first semester was almost my last, I was not academically or emotionally prepared for what I would encounter in my first semester. I've been out of school for almost 20 years. I did not have the proficiency that I needed in the area of writing, had no background in languages and in my first semester I was required to take Hebrew. Ronald Sterling: But here's what kept me and remains with me today. Dean, members of the faculty spent time with me and always provided encouragement. I used Samford's Writing Center with my papers, and the students there looked forward to working with me. Ronald Sterling: Beeson's students at the time were compassionate. They even started referring to me as Pastor Ron. And they included me in aesthetic groups. I remember one of the students saying, "You're not in this by yourself Pastor Ron. And they really rallied around me. So it would be here at Beeson that I felt an authentic sense of community, love, and compassion. There are many areas that I could speak on but just address to that also will help to understand the importance and the love that I have for Beeson. While working on my M.Div, I was afforded the opportunity to study Clinical Pastoral Education or CPE. Ronald Sterling: At that time a lecturer would come in and teach on CPE. So this encouraged me to take several evening units of CPE while still a student. I completed all the requirements to be a chaplain. So this allowed me to become a PRN Chaplain at one of the local hospitals. And it was because Beeson provided a diversity of courses and that really helped me in the ministry that I'm in today. And I still would strongly recommend to students that they take at least one unit if not two units of CPE because it was transformative for me. And it also helped me to know how to minister to those that God would entrust in my care. Kristen Padilla: We want to talk to you today, Ronald, about your work both in the local church and here at Beeson and the ways in which God is at work. And you've already mentioned that you are ordained in the AME Church. For our listeners who are unfamiliar with the African Methodist Episcopal Denomination, can you tell us more about what makes this denomination distinctive and what are some ways that you see God at work in the AME Church that would benefit those of us who are not part of the AME Church to know about? Ronald Sterling: Just to give you a little background, the African Methodist Episcopal Church has a unique and glorious history. It was unique in the fact that it's the first major denomination in the Western World that it had its origin over social, logical, and theological beliefs in differences. It rejected the negative theological interpretation which rendered persons of African descent, second-class citizens. Ronald Sterling: And that was the theological declaration that God is God all the time and for everybody. The church was born in protest against slavery, against dehumanization of African people brought to the American continent as labor. The mission of the AME Church is the minister to the spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ's liberating gospel through word indeed. Ronald Sterling: And so at every level of our connection in every local church, the AME Church engage in carrying out the spirit of the original, what we would call the Free African Society of in which the AME Church actually evolved. We do mission all over the country. The Lord is blessed in that we allow women to be in ministry. As a matter of fact, we have women, female bishops, and the Lord allows that to take place. And so we're always out there reaching out to others. We do mission and we try to assist people in any way that we can. Doug Sweeney: I'm still thinking Dr. Sterling about your spiritual journey, about the story you told us at the beginning of the broadcast. It's just so interesting the way the Lord has taken you through life. A second career pastor who moved from success in the business world, to significance in ministry. You went to seminary as a middle-aged man and somebody who was already engaged in pastoral ministry, and by now you've had such varied ministries, different kinds of congregations. Doug Sweeney: You've been a pastor, you've been a teacher here at Beeson Divinity School. Looking back on all of that, all the many years of your own pastoral ministry and the variety in it, do you think the Lord's taught you some things just based on your experiences that you'd want to share with, especially younger people who are just starting their journeys of discipleship and feel a calling to pastoral ministry and wonder what lies ahead for them? Ronald Sterling: When I think about that question and I look back over my life in the ministry, I think it was important to understand that God had called me into ministry. I think that's crucial for everyone. Of course, he manifest that calling and understanding in different ways, but I think there's also a knowing and God will use people to also to help confirm that. Ronald Sterling: And keeping in mind that the word of God says in Ephesians 4:11, that he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers, and he empowers us by the power of his spirit to fulfill the calling that is placed upon our lives. It's going to be important for students who abide in God's word and receive the grace that's needed for every season of ministry. And I say season because seasons are different, but it does not mean that God is not with them at that time. Ronald Sterling: Understanding also church members can be very challenging, but they're still God's children and they have been entrusted to our care and we have to learn to meet people where they are. And that's important to me because the Lord met me exactly where I was. And don't move outside of what God has called you to do regardless of the temptation to be like someone else or be like another ministry. Ronald Sterling: The ministry he's entrusted to you does not have to be like the ministry around the corner or the ministry that you see on television. And be careful when you try to measure success by the standards of the world. I see success as obedience to the will and the ways of God. Ministers must practice spiritual disciplines of question. I teach spiritual formation and one of the disciplines that's important to me is journaling because journaling allows me to talk with God and God to talk with me. Ronald Sterling: Meditation is tied into journaling. You can ask God's questions and he's there. Prayer is tied to journaling and also for me conviction because when I look at my journal and I see I have not journaled for a week or two weeks, I say, Oh Lord, I have not really been communication with you where I generally communicate. Ronald Sterling: And remain faithful to wherever God places you and God does give us the grace to do that. Also, I would say to young people entering into ministry, I don't forfeit your Sabbath rest. That's crucial to spend time with God, to meditate and to trust because the rest is also needed. And I did learn this over time as well. Don't try to impose unnecessary expectations on your family, if you have family. They're human just like everybody else. And the church will generally do that. They put expectations on the pastor, the pastor's wife, the pastor's children, but it's important for your family to be just who they are. Kristen Padilla: You are a pastor. You mentioned that in your call that you realized that God had formed you, had called you to be a pastor and then when you were a student you were called Pastor Ron. And I remember that quite distinctly and you truly were pastor to your fellow classmates. And now you're back on staff and you are pastoring our students in the roles that you have here at Beeson, both as a director of student services and as a mentor group leader and a teacher. Kristen Padilla: So how has pastoral ministry in the church prepared you to pastor Divinity students? Are there similarities or differences in that work and two part question, how is God at work among our students here at Beeson that might encourage our listeners and help our listeners know how to pray for our students? Ronald Sterling: What I realized is that here again, people are people and when you have the gift of pastoring, it's not a hat that you can take off. No matter where I go, that heart of a pastor is there. As a matter of fact, part of what I do in the spiritual formation class, I have them to journal every week of a situation in their lives and that they want to share. And when they do that, then I give them feedback. Ronald Sterling: And that feedback is from the heart of a pastor. So you're meeting the students exactly where they are and you're given the gift even though it's in an academic setting, but God is in the midst of all of it. So that really, really helps to do that. Kristen Padilla: And then how is God at work among our students here? Ronald Sterling: I see the Lord really growing the students. He's challenging them because many may not have really had a lot of challenging things in their lives, some have and some may not have. And so just through some of the studies that they're going through, like for instance, I had several students that were under Dr. House's class and so they would come in my spiritual formation class and then all they wanted to talk about was Dr. House and what was going on in his class. Doug Sweeney: He is a pretty good teacher. Ronald Sterling: Yes sir. And it was just so interesting. So I told them, I said, "Okay, why don't we do this? Why don't we take a few moments and I'll just allow you all you guys continue to talk about the concerns that you have in Dr. House's class." And they were like, "Really?" I said, "Sure." I said, "Because guess what? This is still all a part of spiritual formation." Ronald Sterling: And so I would give them seven to 10 minutes, then I'll say, "Well, test one another. Just go ahead and challenge one another on your test." And that gave them such freedom. So that lets them know that spiritual formation and God working in their lives is in every aspect of what's going on. Doug Sweeney: Well, that's a great segue to the question I wanted to ask you about next and that that has to do with spiritual formation itself in churches and at schools like ours, spiritual formation is a term that's used a lot more today than it was when we were coming up as young people. Doug Sweeney: And I wonder if some people listening to us just wonder... when these guys talk about spiritual formation, what are they talking about? Could you help us out a little bit? So what is spiritual formation as a professor of spiritual formation here at Beeson, what are you trying to do with students when you work on them with spiritual formation? Doug Sweeney: And whether you are experience in African American churches has informed the way you teach about spiritual formation and might make a contribution to the ways in which the rest of Christians think about growing up in the Lord's grace as well? Ronald Sterling: What I try to help my students to understand is that because of the fall that we have lost the image of God and because sin has come into our lives that God in his loving kindness is still working. And scripture says in Romans the eighth chapter that we've been predestined to be conformed into the very image of Christ. Ronald Sterling: And that is a process. It's a lifelong process of being conformed to the image of Christ by taking on the character of Christ, the spirit of Christ, along the spirit of God, to move and dwell within our hearts. And that none of us are perfect, but God is doing a perfect work within us teaching us how to love, spending time in the word, allowing that word to work with in us, cleansing us by the word, by the spirit of the Lord, through fellowship one with another. Ronald Sterling: Also, through community that all of that is used by God to help us to grow in the very image of Christ Jesus. We realize that we have different journeys and we bring different things to the table, but it doesn't make us any better than the other. And the word of God must be our gauge. Our for deciding where we are or trying to help to see where we are in our walk with the Lord. Ronald Sterling: And I try to emphasize to them that it's progressive. I tell this to say, you still young, you still have a lot to learn. You still have a lot of life ahead of you, but you should always be striving to be more and more like Christ. And so within our context of African Americans and we have our heritage that we also bring to the table. We worship, bring the triune God, the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. Ronald Sterling: Our worship may be different because that's what our culture... we all have a culture that we bring to the table. And so I may clap just a little louder than you clap and I may sing just a little louder but that's just who God has created us to be. And we're very resilient people. We've come through a lot but God has kept us through it and we continue to stand and we know that if it had not been for the Lord on our side, then where would be. So we have history and the Lord is still doing the work in our lives as he's working in others as well. Kristen Padilla: That's a nice segue into the question I want to ask you. As Doug mentioned in the beginning, this conversation airs during Black History Month and in our first annual African American Ministry Emphasis Month. And so I wonder if you can tell our listeners about our special month long emphasis? What are we trying to do and your heart for this emphasis, Ronald? And also if you could talk about our newly formed student minority group? Just the ways in which God is at work among our minority students here at Beeson. Ronald Sterling: In order to answer that, I have to thank Dean Sweeney for having such an open heart to hear the voice and cry of those minority students that are present and of course Black History Month. We've been celebrating that for quite some time, but we don't want to just look over that. There's been so much that's been contributed to who we are, not just as African Americans but to all people. Ronald Sterling: And by celebrating and putting emphasis on the month of February, then that gives us an opportunity to also to worship God in our context. And as we come to Beeson, we are in a minority and of course we generally follow the majority. But this will also enable us to just kind of be a little freer and that we worship together the triune God in spirit and in truth. So we're very grateful for that opportunity. Ronald Sterling: And as Dean Sweeney has said, although we're celebrating, we're putting emphasis on the month of February that there will be other opportunities that people will be used to be able to minister. And I think that's just the blessedness and it's because of his heart. And we are very, very grateful to that. And we are forming, as you mentioned, a minority group fellowship where students are coming together and it's not just African Americans but just a minority group of students. Ronald Sterling: So that they can learn and have different sessions that may minister to their particular context. And that once again it's a great thing to be taking place here at Beeson because we are interdenominational and we contribute a lot to the school. I've learned a lot by being here at Beeson. I was embraced. I was extended mercy, grace and compassion and I think we should continue to do that in our current context. Doug Sweeney: And with the Lord's help, we will continue to do that. Thank you very much for your leadership in that area, Dr. Sterling, last question and this question is for Pastor Sterling more than for Dr. Sterling. What's the Lord doing in your life these days? What's he teaching you from his word? Everybody who knows today's Beeson knows that you're a wonderful person to spend time with because we come away edified every time we spend time with you. Doug Sweeney: And I wish a little bit of that on our listeners as well. Can you just share with us what God's teaching you these days and maybe leave us with a word of encouragement for our audience? Ronald Sterling: Yes. The Lord is showing me how faithful he is. When I read and study the Old Testament, I see a people who are hard-hearted, disobedient, but I still see a very loving father. And God loves us and he's showing us how faithful he is and that he's the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Also, he's helping me to meet people where they are. Ronald Sterling: I think that's crucial for their growth and also yours because it keeps you in a place of humility. I'm reminded of Second Timothy, the second chapter where it says, "The servants of God must not strive and be quarrelsome but must be gentle. Apt to teach that those may be that are opposing him can recover out of the snare of the enemy." So we're called to a place of humility and gentleness with those who just may not know. Doug Sweeney: You have been listening to Dr. Ronald Sterling, the director of student services here at Beeson, professor of spiritual formation here, pastor of Saint John African Methodist Episcopal Church here in the town of Birmingham, Alabama. We are glad you've joined us. We hope you've been blessed by him and his ministry the way he blesses so many of us here at Beeson all the time and we say goodbye to you for now. Kristen Padilla: You've been listening to the Beeson Podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-host are Doug Sweeney and myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at beesondivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.