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Summer 2010 | Volume 68, No. 4
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Unleashing the power of the Gospel
by Keith Collier
After a time of uncertainty about what to do next, their friend and former pastor, Bob Rich, a Southwestern graduate, encouraged them to consider investing in eternity through giving to the seminary.
“When our only child passed away, it changed everything,” says JoAn. “Bob knew we were struggling with this, and he suggested that we talk to the seminary about making a bequest.”
After speaking with representatives at the seminary, the Hales decided to create a planned gift toward the Spring Revival Evangelism Practicum, a yearly program that sends Southwestern students outside of the Bible Belt to preach revivals.
They experienced firsthand the need for the Gospel outside the Bible Belt when they lived in Maryland, where Clif worked for the Atomic Energy Commission.
“One of the things that attracted us to the spring practicum was that when we got to Maryland, we realized how few people up there even get the true Gospel,” JoAn says.
“When you think of missionaries,” Clif adds, “you don’t think of them in your home. You think of foreign missionaries going to China and Tanzania and places like that, and that’s what missions always meant to me. But, good grief, look at all the mission opportunities there are within our own boundaries, and it seems like they get overlooked.”
Following their time in Maryland, the Hales returned to Texas, where Clif worked for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the senior project manager in licensing during the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant construction.
Today, they are members of First Baptist Church in Lakeside, Texas. Clif teaches a large Sunday school class, and the Hales lead the seniors group at the church.
“We’ve been teaching for a long time, and as we’ve gotten older, they’ve gotten older with us, so we’ve kind of evolved into working with seniors,” Clif says.
The Hales are members of the Naylor Society and Distinguished Life members of the President’s Club at Southwestern. They feel blessed to have recently seen the impact their planned gift will have on reaching people with the Gospel.
“We were invited to a luncheon at the seminary, and we had the privilege of being in chapel when they had prayer for the young men who were going out on the spring practicum,” JoAn says. “It was just great to see those men lined up along the stage and have prayer for them. It brings it closer to home when you have a privilege of putting a face with that name.”
Noting the desperate need for believers to support the work of Gospel-centered seminaries, Clif says, “I wish there was some way to get that message across to the general population of Christians. I know there’s got to be a dozen people facing the same problem we were faced with: What are we going to do with our estate? We only had one child and the Lord took him home long before us, so now, what are we going to do?
“That’s when we started thinking, ‘It’s God’s work that’s going to go on, and we can have a part in that.’“
“It doesn’t matter if they remember who put it there,” JoAn adds. “It just matters if they can spread the light.”
Southwestern is grateful for the investment of Christians like Clif and JoAn Hale, which advances the Gospel to North America and to the ends of the earth.
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