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Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4
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Investing in Eternity: Extending the Preaching Legacy of W.A. Criswell
by Keith Collier
From their first handshake, Jack Pogue knew that he and W.A. Criswell, the late pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, would become good friends. Not only did they become close friends, but Criswell’s ministry also profoundly impacted Pogue’s relationship with God and understanding of the Scriptures—an impact for which Pogue is eternally grateful.
For this reason, Pogue, a commercial real estate broker in Dallas, does everything he can to continue the legacy of the late Dr. Criswell, who died in 2002. Pogue currently serves on the board of trustees for the Criswell College as well as the board of directors for the W.A. Criswell Foundation, a non-profit charitable corporation established to provide for the long-term financial needs of the Criswell College. Through the foundation, he has created the Web site www.WACriswell.com, which provides free audio and video sermons from Dr. Criswell’s 70 years of ministry. They are continuing to add messages to the site, hoping to reach 4,300 sermons online within the next year.
Pogue also wants to continue Dr. Criswell’s legacy of expository preaching in the seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention. One way he is doing this is through establishing the W.A. Criswell Chair of Expository Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“I think it’s a way to expand Dr. Criswell’s ministry,” says Pogue.
“My hope and goal is that they will train preachers to preach expository sermons like Dr. Criswell did. I want to be a part of training young men to preach that way. I think it’s the best way to understand the Scriptures and to win people to Christ.”
Once an endowed chair becomes fully funded and inaugurated, it supplies the salary of one of the professors who teach expository preaching at the institution.
Pogue remembers the first time he ever heard Dr. Criswell preach. It was a Sunday night in November 1970. He had been searching for a church whose preacher practiced strong biblical preaching, and a friend invited him to hear Dr. Criswell preach at First Baptist in Dallas.
In Dr. Criswell’s introductory remarks that night, he shared with the congregation that he had made a commitment early in his ministry to remain true to preaching only the Bible. He then raised his Bible and exclaimed, “I will always preach from this book.”
Pogue sat under Dr. Criswell’s ministry for more than 30 years and watched him remain faithful to that commitment to the end.
“When he walked up to that pulpit, he was prepared, more so than anyone I’ve ever known,” says Pogue. Dr. Criswell was known for studying the Bible four hours each day.
“He was an expository preacher,” Pogue says, “and he preached with deep, deep passion. Dr. Criswell cried many times as he was preaching.”
Pogue would like to see the next generation of preachers at Southwestern model this same zeal and commitment for studying God’s Word.
“It wasn’t a job to Dr. Criswell to get up and preach; it was his life,” says Pogue.
Even in his 90s, Dr. Criswell’s passion for preaching remained strong. Pogue cared for Dr. Criswell in his home during the final few years of his life and had the opportunity to experience this firsthand.
Pogue recalls that Dr. Criswell would often preach aloud in his sleep, including an invitation for sinners to come to Christ.
“What a great thing it is to see someone so committed and so saturated with the Gospel that even during his sleep, he would preach and would be worrying about lost people.”
Southwestern Seminary shares Pogue’s commitment to honoring Dr. Criswell’s legacy of expository preaching and recognizes his immeasurable contribution to the Kingdom of God. Southwestern is grateful for ministry partners like Jack Pogue who invest in eternity through generous gifts to the seminary.
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