Beeson Podcast, Episode #585 Name Jan. 25, 2022 >>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 co-host, Kristen Padilla. And this week on the show we’ll talk with three alumni. Each of whom has traveled on a unique ministry journey since leaving Divinity Hall. But all of whom are now teaching at Highlands College in Birmingham – a bible school and practical ministry training institute. Before we listen to their stories, let me say a few words about happenings at Beeson. Our spring semester convocation service is today, January 25th. It will launch our new chapel series on art and beauty in the bible. Our own Dr. Allen Ross will preach today on the beauty of God from Isaiah 48. You’re welcome to attend chapel every Tuesday at 11:00 AM in Hodges Chapel. Or online at www.BeesonDivinity.com/live. Our final Preview Day of the year is Friday, February 4th. Those who come will learn all about Beeson Divinity School, hear from faculty, staff, and students, and get their Beeson application fees waived. So, if you or someone you know wants to learn more about us they can register at www.BeesonDivinity.com/previewday. All right, Kristen. Let’s dive right in. Will you please tell us a little bit about today’s esteemed guests? >>Kristen Padilla: I sure will, Doug. Hello, everyone. It is going to be a fun episode with these three friends on the show. We have Chris Hanna, who is professor of theological studies at Highlands College and serves as a pastor at Church of the Highlands here in Birmingham. We also have Eric Parker who is an assistant professor of theological studies at Highlands College. And Trey Johnson who is an associate professor of biblical studies at Highlands College. Welcome to the show. Well, podcast listeners, these three men were at the Divinity School recently in my office and we had such a fun conversation that I thought that we needed to get them on the show to tell about their ministry and what God is doing in their lives. Even just to learn about their friendship. But I want to begin as we normally do by asking them to share a little bit more about themselves. I just gave a brief intro about each of these men and so how about we start with you, Chris, and then maybe go to Eric and then Trey. If you could just introduce yourself a little bit more fully for our listeners. >>Chris: Yeah, I’m Chris Hannah, long time listener of the Beeson Podcast. So happy to be on with you and Dean Sweeney. I am from Birmingham, Alabama. I was born and raised in Birmingham so I have not gotten very far in life from Birmingham, still in Birmingham. I became a Christian at a very young age. I grew up in the Church. My family discipling me, my wonderful parents. It was probably in early high school I discovered Beeson Divinity School. Then the Beeson Media Center somehow found their way into my car and as far as CDs and tapes ... this is before the history and doctrine sequence, so with church history and theology. So, Beeson Divinity School was the only seminary on my radar and I knew I wanted to go to seminary before I knew where I wanted to go to college. So, I remember when I was applying to Beeson and they asked me, “Are you applying anywhere else?” And I said, “No, this is the only school that I’m applying for because this is where God wants me to be.” So, after I became a Christian and discerned a call to ministry early on Beeson was on my radar. And then at that time I was attending Church of the Highlands and sensing a call to ministry. I studied history and philosophy at UAB and then was an evening student with Highlands College, the institution I work at. And then when I was 20 years old I came on full time at Church of the Highlands, serving and leading in our children’s ministry. We have a wonderful children’s ministry at Highlands. And then at the same time entering into Beeson Divinity School after I graduated there from UAB. I have a wonderful wife, Sarah. And we have a wonderful son, Beckham. >>Eric: Yeah, so, I’m Eric, I am married to Katie for ten years now, which might be surprising because I don’t look it probably, at least that’s what I’m told. We have two amazing kids, Hudson and Elizabeth, that are the joy of our lives. I’ve been serving at Highlands College now for a little bit over a year. It’s a phenomenal place to be and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. I went to Beeson, obviously, and before that to the University of Alabama. I have a history of going to some pretty great schools. I became a Christian when I was 13, ish, 7th grade, I think. And it wasn’t until my junior year of college that the Lord made it clear that he wanted me to be in a life of full time ministry in some form or fashion and called me to pastor, at least initially. And so I have been on that journey really ever since for the last 15 years or so now. Most recently was pastoring at a church called Tapestry that I helped to plant here in Birmingham. I’m really grateful to be on the podcast with you guys today. >>Trey: I am Trey Johnson, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, married to Chantel. We’ve been married six years, will be seven this upcoming May. We have a dog, her name is Gypsy, that’s our child at the moment. She keeps us busy. But nonetheless just grateful for the opportunity to be on here today and share. I accepted the call to ministry at the age of 16 and similarly to Chris knew that God wanted me to prepare myself for the call of God that he had placed on my life in college. I graduated from Birmingham Southern College and during my sophomore/junior year just discerning what would be the next step for me to prepare for ministry? I only applied to one place. I knew God was calling me to Beeson. I went online, showed up randomly at a Preview Day in chapel on a Tuesday. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I knew that was where God wanted me to be. The only place I applied. Other colleagues of mine in school, they were applying to different other places and they asked me, “Where are you going to apply?” And I knew God was calling me to Beeson. Been in ministry for a while now and just serving in both the local church and serving here at Highlands College. This is my seventh year. I started as an adjunct and then just recently in the last month became full time at Highlands College. Grateful for the journey God has my wife and I on and grateful for the part that Beeson has played and continues to play in my life and ministry. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s wonderful. Of course, guys, we’re talking here about how you’re all professors at Highlands College and you all went to Beeson Divinity School, so that can sound a little bit academic. But I know that both Highlands College and Beeson Divinity School are firmly committed to the service of the Church. So, before we get into too much academic conversation, let me ask you to tell us just a little bit more about your passion for church ministry and maybe first of all how it was that you felt the Lord kind of tugging you into full time ministry to begin with before you knew you were going to become professors at Highlands? >>Trey: Pastoral ministry is such a high and holy, weighty calling that comes only from God. I’m grateful for that, for the call of God, that is placed on my life. I believe pastoral ministry, for myself, just thinking through it extends beyond a 30 minute message on a Sunday morning. I think it calls us to, in my experience, not only that – that is essential and vital for the Church – but also walking with people, listening to people, caring for people. I’ve seen throughout my ministry experience has been so essential. I think it really impacts your preaching, it impacts your ministry, it impacts the way you disciple once you have an ear on the culture, your ear to the hearts of the people in which God called you to lead and to pastor. I believe it makes your shepherding more fruitful and I’ve seen people and pastors both men and women mentoring me and shepherding me and discipling me, my parents, and people that I can think of, too many to name that have been a part of that journey. So, in my experience just serving in the local church as an associate pastor and coupling that with my work at Highlands College is just such a blessing to see how important pastoral ministry is and how does it shape my life and how it continues to shape my life in building God’s Church and expanding God’s Kingdom here on earth. >>Eric: Yeah, I think for me I was in Thailand back in 2009 and I was spending a month there and there was a lot of things that God had been doing leading up to that moment in warming my heart to ministry, giving me an awakening, spiritual gifts of teaching and counseling that I had never had or known before. And deepening my love for his Word. And I find myself in this month’s span and amongst an unreached people group and living with an older Christian couple in their 60’s and they didn’t at that time have a firm grasp on what the gospel was. I believe they were Christians, they loved Jesus, they were such a model to follow in so many ways, but they really struggled to articulate and discern what the gospel message was. I watched that play out in that home. As a 21 year old that just ... both of those realities burdened me so much because on the one hand in the world around me at the time there was people that had never even heard the name of Jesus. How that can be is unbelievable. And then in the world that I was surrounded in, in the context of their home, here was this couple that should have been discipling me in the gospel and they could barely articulate if not even articulate the gospel. And so the Lord used that to weigh heavily upon my heart to call me into the preaching ministry. At the same time I knew that I was going to be teaching in ministry. So, for me, these two sorts of outlets are not mutually exclusive, right? I think it was D A Carson and John Piper who gave a set of talks at, I want to say, the Henry Center a number of years ago. And it became a book called, “The Pastor of Scholars,” or “Scholars of Pastors,” something to that affect. It kind of painted for me this vision that you can really be both. The academy and the Church don’t have to be separated. The academy can really serve the Church in so many ways. Some of us might lean one way or the other. For the last five or six years I’ve been in pastoral ministry as an associate pastor and leading some different ministries in other churches and I’ve found that to be able to help people the most required a great deal of thought and consideration of things that, in some ways, can be very academic and in their place needed to be very academic, but I needed to do that hard work so that I could be most pastorally wise in the place with real people and real situations. Whether they’re asking me about what they should think about their sister who has same sex attraction and is in a certain kind of relationship and should they go to the wedding? I’ve got to have thought deeply about the Christian worldview and how we should think about that as not just as someone who gets to be in an office somewhere and never actually have to encounter that, but as people who have to go face their dearest loved ones, right? So, being in pastoral ministry has given me the real on the ground realities of real life for real people and what that feels like. And it’s also helped me to realize that when I step into Highlands College the people that I’m getting to lead and to teach and to shape and to pastor at a professorial level, they’re going to be facing those challenges and more in this increasingly secularized sort of culture that we find ourselves in. So, I don’t separate those two at all. I think what I do in the church informs what I do in the classroom and what I do in the classroom, in preparation for the classroom, is for what I do and what my students do in the church. >>Chris: I think that’s beautifully said. When I think about the intersection between the local church and theological education, or even our own journeys and some of the things that we’re sharing. We mentioned our titles and our titles are helpful because they show our position and they help prove our employment, but what’s more important than our titles in Christian ministry is [a towel 00:14:19]. Jesus said that true spiritual leadership, our ability to lead spiritually, our authority to lead spiritually is determined by our ability to serve. I think it’s that servant hood approach, whether it’s serving youth or children or men or women in the church or if it’s serving students in the classroom. When I think of ministry I think of God using our spiritual gifts to help people in their needs in order to build up the Church or advance the Kingdom. I think that’s where the intersection has to meet is the giftings of the Holy Spirit in our lives and developing and using them to meet real people’s needs. Without actually helping people then it’s just kind of a talent show. Without gifts it’s just really a tragedy. So, I think God wants those two things to intersect. And they’re his gifts. It’s the gifts of the Holy Spirit, used through his people to build up his Church and to advance his Kingdom. When all of us applied to Beeson Divinity School one of the essays is, “Articulate your personal calling.” And so hopefully Dean Sweeney would still let us in reading our personal calling essays. >>Kristen Padilla: I think he would, which is a nice segue into just what I want to get you all to talk about just for a minute before we talk about Highlands which is Beeson Divinity School. Two of you have already mentioned that Beeson was your only choice and then you all articulated your calls to ministry and how the Lord has been working in just your pastoral ministry. I know Beeson had a lasting shaping affect on your pastoral ministry and even what you’re doing today at Highlands. I also know that you all love Beeson. So, I wonder if you could just spend a couple of minutes maybe sharing a highlight about your time here, something that has continued to impact you from your studies. Maybe it was a particular professor or friendship at Beeson. Chris, you could give a couple of minutes plug into just what Beeson means to you and then we’ll go from there to Eric and then to Trey. >>Chris: I’m so thankful for Beeson. I think one of the things that I love about Beeson is the interdenominational character and the evangelical identity. By evangelical identity I just mean bible people and gospel people. That’s how John Stott defined it. And that’s the principles of the Reformation. Sola scriptura and the gospel and sola fida. So, the priorities of Beeson really shaped me as a person. So, when I think about who am I as a minister, who am I as a leader? I think I’m first and foremost a Christian and then I’m a Reformational Christian, and then I’m a Christian who learns from other Christians who are not like me, but at the same time have a deep commitment to God’s Word and to the gospel and advancing it. So, Beeson was so helpful in that respect. I used to sneak into the chapel early in the morning and look at the Apostles Creed on the back wall there in the chapel and then just work through a J I Packer book on the Apostles Creed. That’s so helpful. I remember one of those early mornings getting on the elevator on the first floor and running into Dean George and he had these huge, huge headphones on. They were too big for him, probably. And he noticed me and he was going to say, “Hello” and he said, “Sorry, I’m listening to a sermon. I’m trying to become a better preacher.” And as a young divinity student, probably my first semester or first year there, hearing that the dean of my school was trying to become better at something. There’s just that spirit of humility, in a very small moment, made a huge impression on me. I think those things. The chapels, the chapel lunches, Dr. Padilla who was my Greek professor was one of the professors who took me aside one day and said, “Chris, I think you have some real academic ability and I just want to encourage you about this kind of theologian/pastor, pastor/theologian mindset approach.” So, just that recognition, that affirmation that goes a long way. Those are some of the moments ... I think the interdenominational character, just learning from the whole Body of Christ. Each church tradition has gifts that we can share with one another. Each church tradition has gifts to give one another. And Beeson was just such a beautiful place to learn from each other’s gifts and appreciate them. When I would have a question about a different denomination all I would have to do is walk down the hallway and ask the professor that serves in that denomination. So, there weren’t any room for straw men. There had to be a lot of intellectual honesty and intellectual clarity. So, it was an amazing time to explore and to learn. But not just to explore and never find answers; and not just to question all my assumptions and never find anything that I can put my feet on. I think Beeson gave me a place where I could explore and ask questions and learn from people who are different from me, but at the same time provide a firm foundation of Christian essentials and historic Christian orthodoxy that gave me a lot of confidence in my faith. >>Eric: Oh man, Chris, that was so well said and really exactly what I was going to say. So, I’ll just echo that and say that Beeson did so much for me temperamentally and giving me an ecumenical spirit in the best sense of that word, in the Timothy George sense of that word. And then I guess I would just highlight the availability that the professors had. I mean, goodness, Paul House ... I mean, I always called him Dr. House, but in this setting I’ll call them by their first and last name. Paul House spent so much time with me. He worked so hard but he never failed ... if I knocked on his door, without an appointment or anything else, to stop what he was doing and show genuine concern – have a conversation with me. He was just there in so many ways as a mentor, which I don’t even think he was trying to be a mentor, but just always departing wisdom into my life. I’m just so grateful. I think about Oswaldo Padilla, who like you after turning in a Greek 3 paper on Colossians said, “Hey, I think you have some potential here to possibly pursue some PhD work. Something for you to think about.” That was something that I had wanted to do but I was told by mentors that you should probably not do it unless a professor tells you that you should consider it. There was this moment of affirmation and telling me that I had the ability, the potential, to do more in the future. That was so important for my confidence. I think about Sidney Park who my very first semester of biblical interpretation gives me back a paper that I wrote and it had an “A” on it. At the same time she wrote a comment saying that she expected more from me. Some people would take that the wrong way and be somewhat frustrated or turned off by that, but to me that was her calling me to a higher plane, calling excellence out of me, saying that, “I know you can be more.” So, it was this weird thing of getting an “A” and yet saying, “Hey, you can do more. I know that you can do more.” I could just keep going with professors. Frank Thielman, who always had positive encouraging feedback on the assignments that we did and was always open to questions or concerns. I mean, just the professors were unbelievable in that they were such high caliber professors. Intellectuals, academics who were pastoral at the same time. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Some of the top in their field in Pauline studies or in Old Testament. And yet they were so down to earth, pastoral, all of them serving in the local church, and very practical. This beautiful mixture of both. I think that imparted to me the same sort of passionate pursuit of bringing those two worlds together and what I’m trying to do now at Highlands College is that very same thing. >>Trey: I would echo everything Eric and Chris mentioned as well. As I think about Beeson and the impact it has had and continues to have on my life and ministry, number one, the incarnational approach to learning – key and important for me even in choosing where I wanted to study. Also, I would say the interdenominational setting. As Chris mentioned earlier, able to learn and grow from those who are a part of a different regimen. As Dr. Dorsett often said. We’re part of different regimens, but we have one goal, one mission. So, that continues to stick with me. I still have relationships with those who serve in different denominations. We have one call, one cause, and so I’m grateful for that. Also, both Chris and Eric mentioned this – being able to study under some of the best men and women of God who are scholars, pastors, theologians. There are many that I could mention from Dr. Smith who would stay later in the evening to make sure I’m praying and grasping what the text is saying. And intentional in his heart and connecting the head and the heart. That continues to reverberate through my mind and my heart. Dr. Dorsett making sure that our souls are in the right place. Spiritual transformation as we lead and as we pastor and as we teach. Making sure that we have that passion that first starts with us. How we’re caring for souls and caring for people. Dr. Matthews, Dr. Gignilliat, Dr. House, Dr. Padilla ... there are many. I could go on and on and on. Dr. Outlaw, who retired. All of those individuals. Dr. Park who Eric mentioned. The list can go on and on of both men and women who have impacted my life, my ministry, my marriage, and what God has called me to now. Coming to Beeson was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in my life, because my life in ministry is better. And I’m able to use those tools that I’ve received and continue to impact those that I pastor and serve now at Highlands College. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s wonderful guys. I want out listeners to learn all about Highlands College and what the Lord is doing there and what’s special about Highlands. I also want our listeners to know about Chris’s doctoral dissertation. Both because I’ve read parts of it and I think it’s wonderful, but also because there’s a special connection to Beeson even in his doctoral dissertation. >>Trey: Yes, where do I start speaking about Highlands College? When I first came on as an adjunct in Fall of 2014 and to see where the college is now, it’s amazing what God has done in really bringing people together as you mentioned to supply the local church. It simply not about just us coming to learn and to grow but how can we prepare both young men and women to impact the church both locally and globally for the glory of God. So, spiritual formation, academic instruction – what does that look like to really be men and women of integrity who have a passion for God, who are challenged physically, emotionally, spiritually to grow and to go and make an impact in the world? And to see them also ... the essential of serving in the local church. Not just being a part of class, but also being in small groups and the impact that has on our students at HC and to see where God is, how God is growing and how God is supplying and how God is providing has been such a blessing to be a part of Highlands College and this model ... I know Chris and Eric will answer this – active learning model that we recently launched and the impact that is having at Highlands College. So, those are some initial thoughts that come to mind as I think about where Highland College was when I first got there and now to be full time and how God opened that door for that opportunity. It’s amazing. It leaves me speechless at times to see what God is doing as I pull up on the campus off of 280 Grandview. And how God is just ... it’s a miracle, as many have said, what God is doing at Highlands College. >>Eric: You know, our Chancellor, Chris Hodges, I think he had a vision in his heart for what we’re doing at Highlands College. That is Highlands College now. The vision really comes out of Luke 10:2 where Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. So, pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers, workers. That’s really the vision of what this school is. I think some of the unique things about our school is that he for the journey that God him on gave him a real vision for what they would call the academy model. So, you look at some of the finest military academies in the world and you think of like a West Point, right? And at a place like a West Point you’re not just getting academic instruction there, that’s really important because you’re going to go on to become ... Some of those people are going to become obviously generals at the top of their field who have a lot of complexity in what they do, but there’s people who are going to fly airplanes or be engineers or serve in IT or all kinds of really difficult complicated ... So, you have to have the academic component. But the academy model is really a way of life. So, there’s this regimen, there’s a structure, there’s this higher accountability that you’re not going to just know some things but you’re actually going to be a different kind of person than what you might otherwise be if you just translated all of that into a secular place. So, your character is going to be essential, it’s going to be raised to another level, your discipline, your mind, your abilities, and then on top of that in the academy you’re going to be trained to actually do the thing that you set out to do. And then you’re going to be placed in a specific job. It’s 100% placement rate. So, part of the vision for Highlands College is not only are we going to train your mind academically, but we also want to provide hundreds of hours of hands on practical ministry as a part of the program. So, we’re going to design it, build it, provide it for you to be able to do as a student. So, whether that’s you going on our worship track, which we call Worship Practicum, and getting to sort of focus in and learn under the best worship leaders at the second largest church in America, Church of the Highlands, and actually lead for hundreds of hours by the time that you’re done real live worship services in front of thousands of people. And all that that involves. Or maybe it’s production and you’re leading this production team and that’s a team of both paid and volunteer people that we call our Dream Team. And so you’re getting this beautiful pairing. The goal is 100% placement. That we have this network of relationships, both through our ARC network (Association of Related Churches) but then even beyond that. So, our biggest thing right now is not that we don’t have anywhere to place students that are finishing our program, it’s that we have too many people calling us and saying, “We have these open positions and we trust you and what you’re doing there are Highlands College.” We’ve got the vision, we don’t have enough students. We don’t have enough leaders to be able to place them. So, what we’re doing that’s so unique, I think, as opposed to lots of other bible colleges is that in a lot of places you’re probably hopefully required to be a part of a local church, but what you do and how involved you are in the local church is really kind of up to you. But it is baked into our program literally designed, structured, we teach ministry philosophy in each of the different areas that we kind of can ... I guess call it a major, if you will, whether it’s worship or pastoral or youth or whatever it might be students. We have whole curriculums built around those things and then we allow them to serve in our local church under other leaders who are in the program as well and getting them hands on experience. And they are moving from A to B to C in their leadership so that they can walk out of here, be placed, and already have basically two years worth of ministry job experience, if you will. That’s functionally what they’re doing. There’s no other school that I know of that’s offering a program like that where they’re getting academically trained but they’re actually getting tangible experience in the local church that is being guided and coached and built upon so that when they’re finished with our program they’re actually ready to step into a ministry role and lead with a level of excellence that they would not otherwise be able to do, or at least have to wait a couple of years for. But on top of that they’ve been trained by some of the best people in the world at the second largest church in America. So, I think that’s some of the unique things that we do and the passion that’s been given to our Chancellor, Chris Hodges, the Pastor of Church of the Highlands. And I get excited about as I get to come alongside them and know that God is going to use them in big ways and I’m just a small part of that. I get to be their professor. I get to be their pastor. And I get to watch them go and lead in these other congregations and be fully equipped to do so. >>Chris: That’s well said. Luke 10:2 is our theme verse. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. And so just like Beeson Divinity School, we want to train people to go and serve in the harvest. I think Eric and Trace said that wonderfully. Dean Sweeney asked about my dissertation so I’ll say a word about that. It was an amazing thing to do a dissertation. I had a wonderful dissertation committee. Dr. Jason [Ducing 00:33:42] and Dr. Mark Devine. I got to actually do my dissertation defense at Beeson Divinity School. Dr. Devine hosted that there. And that was just a wonderful thing to be there and to do it in that building. Because like Dean Sweeney said, Beeson Divinity School factors very heavily in my dissertation. The start of the divinity school, the challenges that Beeson faced, and then the characteristics of it. In some ways, my dissertation is the story of Beeson Divinity School. But more than that it’s the story of Timothy George. When I went to meet with Dr. George and asked him if I could write a dissertation about him he just started laughing. And I was like, “Why are you laughing?” He’s like, “You know, you should write on Thomas Aquinas or John Wesley or Augustine. Someone who has something to teach you.” I hesitated and I said, “Dr. George, your approach to studying church history and theology is the wardrobe that students walk through to get to a place where they can discover Aquinas and discover Wesley and discover all these wonderful works of the reformers and the ancient church.” I wanted to study Timothy George and I studied him through the professors that formed him. And basically wrote an intellectual biography of him. Some of his professors were George Hunson Williams of Harvard, who the Beeson Podcast has focused on before, George Williams, the great church historian. Some people are David Steinmetz of Duke. Through David Steinmetz, Heiko Oberman. There’s the great reformation commentary series on scriptures and Dr. George has often said that would not exist without the contributions of David Steinmetz and his work on pre critical exegesis. Then wonderful people like [Yurislov Pelican 00:35:30] of Yale and his work on Christian doctrine and Christian creeds. So, Dr. George, these people really formed him and his approach to studying church history and the value of church history for today. I love David Steinmetz, he says that he has this great picture for the importance of church history. He talks about spiritual amnesia. He says, “If we forget the past, we can’t function in the present or plan for the future. The church oftentimes is at risk of spiritual amnesia.” So, that’s one of the reasons we need church history to make responsible pastoral and theological decisions in the present. It was an amazing journey. I did get to spend a few times with Dr. George interviewing him. But it was an amazing thing to spend two years studying Dr. George’s writings and sermons and lectures. After two years of studying someone there’s going to be things that I take away from that experience that are not just going to be in my dissertation but are going to be in my mind and in my heart. I need to choose wisely who I study. Because that person is going to have an inevitable shape on me. So, when I met with Dr. George recently and we were talking about my dissertation I said, “This was my way to get you to mentor me just through me studying you.” And so that’s why I did it and it was extremely a valuable and informative experience for me. It was amazing, too, as Highlands College has started in 2011 and then we are growing with it. It was amazing, too, to study and carefully watch the decisions that Dr. George and others made at the beginning of Beeson’s beginning and formation and development. And those things will help factor into some of the decision making and thought process as we grow as a school. So, really grateful to learn from the people that Dr. George learned from like Steinmetz and Pelican and Williams. Those people came alive to me as I studied Dr. George. To be a student of Dr. George and to be a student of the professors that formed him. One of the things I love about teaching is I get to think about fun complex ideas and then try to present them in a way that is easy for students to understand. And so every time I worked on the dissertation chapters I tried to dive into these fun ideas about church history and theology from Pelican or Steinmetz or from Williams and how Dr. George received and embodied them, and it was fun to try to think of how would I explain these to my students? >>Kristen Padilla: Thank you, Chris. I remember having several conversations with you about Dr. George while you were working on that dissertation. Podcast listeners, I must say that if you want to know about lectures and sermons and other things that Timothy George has taught or given over the years then follow Chris Hanna on Twitter. He provides such great content and we’ll put his Twitter handle in our show notes so that you can follow him. But I think you’re the first and only one who has written a dissertation on Timothy George, Chris. So, you’re paving the way hopefully for others down the road. We always like to end the podcast by hearing what God is doing in your lives and teaching you. I want to expand the question just a bit to include Birmingham. Given your work as pastors and at Highlands College, what is God doing in your life and/or ways in which you see him at work in our city? >>Chris: Right now our church is in a season of prayer and fasting. So, that is what God is doing in my life right now. The way that we think about prayer is that prayer connects us with God. And prayer is conversation with God. The way we think about fasting is that fasting disconnects us from the world. Some noises that maybe we need to turn down. So, that’s what God is teaching me right now is in a season of connecting with him through prayer. I think a lot of people in the New Year are focused on their devotional life, their bible reading, their prayer, their intimacy with God. So, that’s what we’re in right now as a church. This is the amazing thing about Highlands College. Every semester we start with 21 days of prayer at 6:00 AM. So, right now we’re in 21 days of prayer at 6:00 AM during the week. 9:00 AM on Saturdays. In January it’s prayer and fasting. It’s prayer and feasting in the fall. I don’t know of any other bible college that begins the semester with prayer and fasting. So, when we did our orientation we said, “Welcome to Highlands College. Tomorrow morning you get to get up at 6:00 AM and come to prayer and there will just be water bottles there.” I’m grateful for that kind of prayerful dependence on God. That’s what fasting demonstrates is our ... it’s just a recognition of our dependence on God. Eric: I think for me and what God is doing in my life and maybe somewhat in Birmingham I’m young, I’m in my mid 30’s and so I’ve got so much to learn about everything, about how to be a husband, about how to be a dad to this six and a half and four and a half year old. Every day I’m feeling my need for the Lord in those things, very ordinary things. But those are the things that present themselves most deeply and urgently to my heart and mind – raising up these children to follow the Lord and trying my best every day to both be a model and a teacher to them. What does that look like? I just feel so inept. I think as well as a part of that I’m trying to form better spiritual habits in my life – rhythms and rivers that I can follow. And so that’s pressing on my mind right now. Trying to build in other things than just my daily bible reading and prayer. So, I’m reading a devotional poetry book by Riken, just trying to slow down and thoughtfully meditate on God’s beauty that’s been lived and said by others. And that’s also been important for me because I’ve recently just started my PhD at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m reading a lot of things that are fairly heady and I can get wrapped into that and lost in that and I can also create a divide between sort of the intellectual side of me and what might be probably just a more normal side of me for everybody else. I feel right now in this moment in my life I’m trying to bridge through these habits the contemplative life so that I’m a more whole person in both settings. Trey: I would say for myself, continually being reminded to remain dependent on God. It can be so easy in the hustle and bustle of life and in the society in which we live to get thrown off and to get distracted. So, continually putting in front of me, reminding myself, “Remain dependent on God. Remain dependent on him.” And so that’s something that I preach to myself daily, that I remind myself that all good and perfect gifts come from above. I’m grateful for that reminder, consistently reminding myself that all of us should remind ourselves of that as Jesus followers. But also as I think about the city of Birmingham. Just being around young people. I love being around young people. I see a hunger. I see a desire to want to grow inquiring minds to learn. So, that’s something that I believe the Church can capitalize on, those who desire to know and to grow. We fill minds and hearts with the right thing. So, I see that hunger and desire for more and to grow and to discover. So, we as the church, can we put the right pieces together to really, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to pour in the right things into the next generation. Just remaining dependent on him. Trusting him. And as Eric mentioned, those daily rhythms I believe are so important and remembering that. I was taught that at Beeson. Again, I’m still applying those things of how important spiritual disciplines are. How important those sacred rhythms are in your walk with the Lord. >>Dean Sweeney: What a great way to end this rich conversation with professors Trey Johnson, Eric Parker, and Chris Hanna – all Beeson alumni. We are proud to say. More importantly all three are ministers of the Church of Jesus Christ and professors at Highlands College here in Birmingham, Alabama. Thanks, our friends, for being with us. We love you. Goodbye 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-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.