Spring 2007 | Volume 65, No. 3

Black history month celebrated with praise and preaching

Southwestern Seminary commemorated what President Paige Patterson called the “incomparable contribution” of black Christians during a special chapel set aside to celebrate Black History Month, Feb. 22.

“Never in the history of mankind … did a people find themselves so oppressed and yet so impact a society as those who were brought here as slaves,” Patterson told the chapel audience. He displayed two posters commemorating black ministers who exemplified Patterson’s statement. The first poster honored John Jasper, an African-American preacher and pastor who was born into slavery. The second poster honored Dr. Shadrach Meshach “S.M.” Lockridge, who studied theology at Southwestern Seminary in the early 1950s. According to Patterson, Lockridge was a “magnificent man of God” and a “phenomenal preacher.”

The two posters were among several other posters developed as part of Southwestern Seminary’s advertising campaign to recognize Black History Month. They were displayed at the entrance of Truett auditorium before the chapel service began.

“The Southern Baptist Convention is a great people of God, but we started out on the wrong foot when we were first organized,” Patterson said. “The whole debate had to do with whether or not a slave owner could be appointed as a missionary. It is unbelievable that our forefathers could have been right on so many things and made such a tragic mistake. The Bible is crystal clear: Eve is the mother of all living … We’re all part of the family of God, and we need to make sure in all of our churches that every vestige of racism is gone and that we are a family
together in Christ.”

Marlowe McGuire, a Master of Divinity student and president of the Fellowship of Black Seminarians, called the Black History Month celebration a “monumental event that expresses the seminary’s stance … in promoting diversity amongst the student body.”

McGuire did the public reading of Scripture before Haywood Robinson III delivered the keynote sermon. Robinson, pastor of the People’s Community Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Md., received his undergraduate education at Hampton University in Virginia, where he majored in music education. He went on to obtain a Master of Divinity degree in pastoral theology from Capital Bible Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in Christian education from Howard University.
In the Black History Month chapel service, Robinson opened his remarks by singing an old spiritual of encouragement and perseverance titled “Keep Your Hand on the Plow.” In a message based on Matthew 6:33, Robinson urged his audience to pursue the realm, rule and righteousness of God.

“There are people all over the world who are seeking God,” Robinson said. “And the people even who have assembled in this space are on a quest for God.” He said that some seek preparation for ministry, education or healing, while others just want God to give them a spouse. Though God can fulfill these desires, they are “less than God’s best for us,” Robinson said.

“If you seek God’s best, you will get the rest,” Robinson said, adding that Jesus reveals what is best in Matthew 6:33: “‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.’” In this verse, Robinson said, Jesus calls people to “seek the realm of God.”

“I believe that Jesus says ‘seek first the kingdom of God’ because the kingdom of God is not evident to the naked eye,” Robinson said. “We have to have a desire for the kingdom, not the things of the kingdom, but the kingdom itself.” He said people should not focus on the things of this earth that “glitter.” Rather, they should “focus on being well connected with God.”

“Don’t be satisfied with just being born again, but walk deeper … into the realm of God,” he added. “If we are citizens of the commonwealth of God, then let us move throughout his realm with a degree of freedom and with a degree of hunger to learn more … about this spiritual realm.”

Second, Robinson said that people should pursue the “rule of God.” Though God is Lord over His kingdom, some people attempt to gain the benefits of the kingdom without submitting to the King. Robinson noted that believers have security only when they seek the rule of God.

Finally, Christians should seek the “righteousness” of God, Robinson said. It is as believers submit themselves to the lordship of Christ that they can “walk in righteousness.” He added that righteousness must be intentionally pursued because it is unnatural to desire it.

“Righteousness is unnatural. That’s not what we are by nature,” he said. “All of us struggle with doing what is right in the sight of God from time to time … We are ‘naughty by nature,’ but – thanks be unto God – through Jesus Christ, He can give us a new nature. We are new creatures in Christ.”

This Black History chapel service also featured worship and special music inspired by black Christians throughout American history. Azer Lilite, a master’s student in the School of Church Music who is from Haiti, offered a rendition of two spirituals. 
Archived Flash Media and MP3 recordings of this Black History Month chapel service can be viewed, listened to or downloaded through the seminary’s Web site, www.swbts.edu.