Robert Lowery

On August 1 I began my thirty-sixth year of teaching in the Seminary of Lincoln Christian University. I am blessed! The title of this posting describes how I have felt over the years. Of course, there have been ups and downs, but that is to be expected in ministry, isn’t it? But again, I am blessed!

I wish I could write that whenever I stepped into the classroom or whenever I met with students one-on-one or in a small group around a lunch table, I always did my best. That has not always been the case, but my students have been, for the most part, forgiving. Sometime ago I commented about a student who has either taken for credit or audited every class I have ever taught, “She has been to more of my classes than I have!” I confess that sometimes I showed up or phoned in a session. But I hope that has not happened often. The point is that after teaching all these years, each August I am re-energized to begin once again, and this year is not different.

But I begin this new school year with a request. The requst is awkward for me to raise, but here goes. As most of you know I have been an Adjunct Professor for TCM International Institute, a ministry committed to equipping Europeans and people living in Central Asia for ministry. I began my ministry with this outstanding organization in 1993 and have returned each summer to teach. I am blessed! Some of the finest students, faculty, administrators, and support personnel I have ever met are a part of TCMI.

Over the years I have tried to be a disciple-maker, both in the States and throughout Eastern Europe. My passion is to be a practioner-scholar and to help make more and better disciples of Jesus. I learned this from my mother and from my home church in Indianapolis, Indiana (Fairfax Christian Church), and numerous other Christians, from preachers to professors to students to friends to colleagues. In April of this year I found out that the TCM Board of Directors’ Meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to create the Dr. Robert Lowery Faculty Chair Endowment Fund. This endowment will be used to recognize and select a faculty member by supporting his or her base salary, teaching, and research activities that will directly relate for further development of international disciple makers throughout Europe and Central Europe. I was and remain humbled by this recognition. May I say again, I am blessed.

So here is my request. Should you or a congregation you know be looking for an opportunity to support one of the finest para-church ministries I know of, would you personally give or encourage others or other congregations to give? It is not like me to make such a request, and this is the first time I have ever done so on this site. Should you choose to give, it is not to honor me. Far from it, it is to honor God.

Please contact David Wright at TCM International Institute, Inc., 6337 Hollister Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46224 or call him at 1:317-299-0333. His e-mail address is david@tcmi.org.

May we be grateful to God that each of us can write: I am blessed.

News of the upcoming festschrift for Dr. Lowery (first announced here) was recently featured in the Springfield, Illinois, Journal-Register.  You’ll find the piece here:

Beloved professor subject of ‘writing party’

Dr. Lowery is taking some time this month for vacation and a brief writing sabbatical.  Look for new posts at the beginning of August.

On Wednesday, April 14, students, faculty, staff, and friends gathered at the morning Seminary chapel service to pray for the Lowerys.  The service began with singing and a brief sermon by LCU president Dr. Keith Ray, then transitioned to a time of prayer.  Bob and Marilyn were seated up front while friends and colleagues gathered around them to pray for Bob’s health, his family, and his ministry.  Here are some of the moments from that special time.

Photographs by Michael Gowin

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. . . . I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 30:1,5-6

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:21

Today, Thursday, March 25, 2010, Marilyn and I met with my oncologist. Last week I had several tests done, and she wanted to discuss the results. The scan revealed that the slow-growing cancer has spread to my abdomen and intestines. While the tumors are very small, they will continue to grow. The doctor has decided to put me back on medicine that has been successful in slowing down the cancer in certain situations. I had been on it for about two months, but due to side effects, the doctor had me cease taking it. As a result of the tests, however, she has asked me to go back on the daily medication. She told me that if the treatment does not slow down the growth of the tumors, or if new medications are not developed, or if God does not intervene in a special way, then I have up to two years to live.

There is no earthly cure for this kind of cancer.

My doctor encouraged me to continue doing what I am doing with regard to being a godly husband, father, grandfather and friend. She also encouraged me to continue in my ministry in the months ahead. I am praying that God will continue to allow me to find joy and contentment in my family and in my ministry as professor and dean.

We have shared this news with our family, and we now share it with you. Of course, we ask you to pray for us. Ask God to bless us with a deeper faith and with a resolve to honor him in the days ahead. Ask God to bless my wife and my children and grandchildren. Ask God to bless me as I continue serving in the seminary. Pray that God will be exalted in the days ahead.

In closing, I’d invite you to read a reflection I recently posted and remind myself Okay, Papa.

Dr. Lowery’s speaking engagements page has been updated for 2010.  In order to spend more time on study, teaching, and family, Dr. Lowery will be speaking less this spring.  More dates will be added, however, as they arise.

Come to The Other Holy Land!

Well, actually, two lands. For the fourth time, I will be visiting Greece and Turkey. My last visit was in 2005, and I am looking forward to co-hosting a tour with my friend, colleague, and fellow dean, Dr. Paul Boatman. We will depart on Sunday, December 27, 2010 and return on January 8, 2011.

Many people travel to Israel for pilgrimage or study tour, but there is also much to see in Greece and Turkey. Our tour group will be retracing the steps of Paul and John. Excavations have continued since my last visit. In 2005 in the ruins of Ephesus a tent had been erected over a site near the library, and I am eagerly looking forward to what has been uncovered. I also anticipate re-visiting Laodicea because much archaeological work has been done in the past five years. It is possible to walk down the main street and see typical homes and businesses in a way that was not previously possible. And Pergamum is always a treat, along with Athens, Corinth, and Philippi.

There are an increasing number of books on the seven cities available. This year I plan on taking with me an academic work by Steven Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Friesen is one of the leading authorities on the significance of the first century cult for our understanding of Revelation.

The best all around guide is A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey by C.E. Fant and M.G. Reddish (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). I strongly encourage you to purchase this work if you go with us.

Please contact me at rlowery@lincolnchristian.edu, Paul Boatman (pboatman@lincolnchristian.edu) or our administrative assistant, Becky Boggs, at bboggs@lincolnchristian.edu for more information.  Full details including itinerary and cost can be found on this flyer (PDF).

Dear reader, I submit this essay with considerable uneasiness because I do not want to appear to be boasting. My thoughts reflect my response to God’s ever-surprising grace.

On February 22, Monday evening, I had the privilege of preaching the inaugural sermon for Ozark Christian College’s annual Preaching-Teaching Convention. The theme was Unveiled, and all of the sermons were based on the Book of Revelation. I was asked to preach a sermon based on Revelation 1. My goal was to use the first chapter as a way to introduce the major themes of the last book found in our New Testament. The title I gave to the message was “Dancing to the Lyrics of the Lamb,” and I wanted the folks to understand how John challenges us as disciples to remain faithful to the Lamb. I pray that it was a night in which God was honored by what I preached.

At the end of the service, Shane Wood, an alum of our seminary, former research assistant of mine, member of the staff at OCC, and a student currently working on a PhD in New Testament in Edinburg, Scotland, announced to the assembly that he was editing a book that would contain special studies on the Book of Revelation. What took my breath away was that the book was going to be published in my honor later this year. He then presented me with a plaque and a list of the contributors: Craig Blomberg, Paul Boatman, Oti Bunaciu, Craig Evans, Gary Hall, Fred Hansen, J.K. Jones, Paul Kissling, Brian Lowery, Yulia Lubenetz, I. Howard Marshall, Matt Proctor, Mark Scott, Jeff Snell, Carmen Trenton, Tony Twist, Neal Windham, and Shane Wood. Some names will be recognizable to you, some will not be. I know all of them. They are former teachers (either directly or through their writings), classmates, and students.

What unites them all is their love for Jesus, their commitment to the study of the Word, and their love for wedding serious study with service in the Lord’s Church. They hail from our country as well as from Austria, Canada, Romania, Scotland, and Ukraine. Some are presidents, others are professors, still others preachers and teachers. But all follow the Lamb. I have been blessed by their influence in my life over the years, and I pray that whatever they write will be a blessing to you and bring glory to the Lamb. And I thank them for their gift.

I remain stunned this Thursday morning as I write this piece. But before I finish, I must share with you something about the title of the volume. You certainly understand the references to the dragons and to John, but what is the meaning of “every grain of sand”? Bob Dylan wrote a song with that title many years ago, and it remains my favorite song of the hundreds he has written and of the hundreds I have heard him perform. Let me quote some lines from memory:

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need,
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed.
There’s a dyin’ vice within me, reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the dangers and in the morals of despair.
Don’t have any inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment, I can see the Master’s hand,
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame,
And every time I pass that way, I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey, I come to understand,
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

This is not the time to offer an analysis of the song, so let me offer this one observation: as we experience the failures and frailties of life may we always remember that God remains God, and our submission to his will is our way of expressing gratitude to him for his saving grace.

Dr. Lowery will be a featured speaker at Ozark Christian College’s 2010 Preaching-Teaching Convention during Feb. 22-24.  This year’s event is entitled “Unveiled: The Surprising Plan of God in Revelation.”  Dr. Lowery will be speaking at the opening session at 4:00 PM on Feb. 22 as well as at a morning seminar on Feb. 23.  More details and registration information are available at the link above.

Briefly, friends, two things:

• On Monday, Dr. Bob will kick off a five-part series entitled “Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation.”  It is intended to give preachers, students, and readers of Revelation some guidelines for understanding and communicating the message of the book responsibly.  Lots of good ideas are forthcoming, to be sure.
• If you’re viewing rlowery.com on an iPhone or mobile device, we’ve activated a “theme” that enables you to read the blog more easily.  If you haven’t accessed rlowery.com on your iPhone, now’s a great time to try it.

Thanks for being a part of this work.  Feel free to leave a comment or question at any time.