Spring 2007 | Volume 65, No. 3

Traveling Scholar

Trip to Turkey ignites faith and learning.

by Lauri Arnold

As Pastor Brian Devany showed his congregation slides he took in Turkey and told stories of experiences there, he felt a passion reigniting in his heart for the millions of lost people around the world. As he recounted stories from the distant country, Devany felt encouraged to lead his local church to make some heartfelt changes.

“There’s a reality out there of a world without Christianity, and I think it shows us where we are headed as a nation if we don’t turn our hearts and repent, and turn our hearts back to the Lord,” Devany said.

Devany, who is pastor of Skyview Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, and an MDiv student, was one of 11 students and three professors from Southwestern Seminary who took part in a 17-day visit to biblical sites in Turkey as a part of the seminary’s Traveling Scholar program, Dec. 29-Jan. 11. Students on the trip saw first-hand various sites related to the journeys of Paul, the seven churches of Revelation and early Christianity.

Sites such as the ruins of Cappadocia, the unexcavated tel of Lystra and the remains of Philadelphia brought home for Devany and other students how churches that once thrived in the land are now hard to find.
“For me, the renewal was getting out of our comfort zone here in the United States and seeing what it means to be in a country where Christianity is not prevalent and it is not accepted,” Devany said.

Devany was especially struck by the testimony of a Turkish pastor he met. The man related to the Southwesterners that in the 1970s there were only 10 Christian believers in the entire country. Today he believes there are around 3,000. In light of that testimony and other experiences on the trip, Devany said a core group within his church is concentrating on discipleship training and growth through multiplication rather than merely addition.

“I believe it’s a revival and renewal experience,” Jim Wicker, associate professor of New Testament, said of the Traveling Scholar trip to Turkey. “Because God certainly speaks to your heart as you are over there seeing the need and thinking through what happened there, comparing it to what is happening there today.” Wicker served as an instructor and organizer for the trip, along with Assistant Professor of Biblical Backgrounds and Archaeology Eric Mitchell and Professor of Biblical Theology Robert L. Williams.

Wicker said he believes Traveling Scholar trips such as the one to Turkey are unique in the sense that they focus on personal and spiritual renewal for the students who participate.

“I think you’re not only a better student of God’s Word, I think you’re a stronger believer coming back, having been through that revival experience,” Wicker said. “I think also, if you have any spirituality about you, you’d be more missions-minded when you get back home: Support missions better, be an active missionary where you are, as well as going on missions trips.”
Devany agreed.

“It’s like being re-energized when you come back,” he said. “You may not see it on the trip. You may suffer from exhaustion when you are on the trip, but when you come back, it’s amazing the spiritual renewal that you’ve got,” Devany said.
Certainly, students who returned from the winter trip were struck by the pervasiveness of Islam in a land where Christianity once thrived and believers in Christ were first called Christians. Student Chris Robinson recalled how local people often live nearby significant biblical sites but had no appreciation of the value of the sites.

“To them, it’s just a site that brings in a little money; it’s insignificant,” Robinson said.

Wicker likened modern-day Christian witness to the people of Turkey to that of Paul’s day: Where Paul had taken the gospel to a society that was permeated by paganism, today the gospel is taken to a society permeated by Islam. Wicker showed students the well-restored site of the ancient city of Ephesus. They could clearly see how the pagan temples dominated Ephesian life in Paul’s time, and thus how  much courage was required of Paul.

“I think we don’t appreciate what Paul and early Christians went up against,” Wicker said.

Certainly, the historic sites that students on the tour visit give many clues of what Paul was up against. Many students were amazed when they saw the mountainous terrain of the area and imagined how difficult it must have been for Paul to travel by foot or donkey for great distances over the formidable mountains.

“One of the things that I left with was a burden to go back and start in Syrian Antioch, on foot, and at least retrace the first journey of Paul, and preach the gospel along the way and see if God has an open door in that area,” Devany said. “We are called to preach in season and out of season, and this may be out of season, but the gospel still needs to be preached.”

Despite being a study tour, the faculty and students interacted with the Turkish people they met and shared the light of Christ whenever they could. Student Barry Bishop was particularly touched by the gesture of New Testament Professor Paul Wolfe, who briefly joined the tour. Wolfe stopped to spend time with some children who were trying to follow the group near the entrance of the ruins of Philadelphia.
“He smiled real big, and he played games with them,” Bishop said. “He got them to sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and he’d say ‘He loves me and you and you and you.’ It was really touching for him to take that 10 or 15 minutes to spend time with those kids.”

Another benefit of the study tour was the interaction and relationships built among seminary students and professors.

“I enjoyed dialoguing with the professors, not just about the sites, but about all sorts of different aspects of their experience about the Bible, about pastoral ministry and about life in general,” Bishop said. “They were very knowledgeable in all sorts of areas, so they were sort of our mentors. That was very refreshing to me, to spend that kind of one-on-one time.”

Wicker said he encourages students considering a Traveling Scholar trip in the future to not think first about whether or not they have enough money.

“The only question I think they should ask is, ‘Does God want them to go?’” Wicker said.

For more information on future trips through the Traveling Scholar program at Southwestern, visit www.swbts.edu/travelingscholar.