Christ’s glory shines to the world through believers, Hemphill says

Kenneth S. Hemphill, the seventh president of The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, returned to the Fort Worth campus as the seminary’s chapel speaker, Oct. 22.

“I have looked forward to this morning for some time, because our chapel preacher of the day is no stranger to Southwestern Seminary—though he has not been here with us in a long time,” said President Adam W. Greenway. “But we are delighted, and I am personally thrilled, to welcome back to Southwestern Seminary our seventh president, Dr. Kenneth S. Hemphill.”

In his introduction of Hemphill to the chapel audience, Greenway shared that, 25 years ago, Hemphill was elected Southwestern Seminary’s president “amidst the backdrop of excruciating difficulty and division, which he had nothing to do with.” Hemphill had served “east of the Mississippi” in a variety of pastoral roles, including pastor of the First Baptist Church of Norfolk, Virginia, and founding director of the Center for Church Growth at what was then the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board).

“But 25 years ago, he was willing to take on a task that, candidly, was one that lesser men would have not taken on,” Greenway said. “And for nine years, Ken and Paula Hemphill served our seminary with distinction, with compassion. I am proud to say that I came here 20 years ago as an M.Div. student when Ken Hemphill was president—my president.”

When Hemphill stepped into the pulpit to begin his sermon, he began by acknowledging what a “treat it is to be back home at the dome.”

“Thank you, Dr. Greenway, for the invitation to share, an opportunity to be in this pulpit,” he said. “And I am proud to call you ‘our’ president.”

Hemphill, who also led the invocation prayer at Greenway’s inauguration the previous night, proceeded to preach from John 17. He encouraged the chapel audience to let Jesus’ power shine through them and be seen by the world.

“That Jesus might shine from the cross is the very essence of His earthly ministry,” he said.

Hemphill observed that John 17 is “a prayer spoken in the shadow of the cross” as Christ prepared Himself and His disciples for the crucifixion. Throughout John 17, Jesus invests His followers with the glory that God had given Him and tells His disciples that they will go on to do greater works, Hemphill said.

“I suppose today our biggest fear is that the instruments of God—that’s us—know our own frailties, our own lack of passion many times,” he said. “But that ignores the glory, the gift given to Jesus by the Father, and the glory invested in us.”

Hemphill recalled that in her book Given, his daughter Tina Boesch uses the word “shine” to convey the significance of seeing a divine blessing—the burning bush, the face of Moses, or the face of God. Shine, he said, is “the perfect combination of grace and truth.”

Paraphrasing the first few verses of John 17, Hemphill said that Jesus prayed for Himself, “Father, the hour has come. Shine through your Son. I shined for you on earth, having accomplished the work you have given me to do. Now, Father, shine through me so clearly that they will see the glory I had with you. … In these moments on the cross, shine through me so clearly that they see only you.”

Hemphill said the disciples were to be the continuation of this “earthly shine.” He continued, “They would know that the love of the Father expressed in His Son will be in us. That is the essence of shine.”

“The Father sent Jesus into the world to shine, to reflect His glory, to be a clear representation of the Father,” Hemphill said. “The magnificence of God’s shine is reflected like light through a prism when diverse members of the body are unified in mission and in desire to reflect His shine in daily living.

“You are on a mission to enable you to shine. Missions does not start when you graduate. You are on a mission now. God has put you in a mission field, and every encounter, every event, you have the opportunity to shine so that God is glorified.”

His voice breaking, Hemphill recalled that after his father died, his mother wept each time her children left after visiting her. “So it becomes very personal when, before the crucifixion, Jesus says, ‘Dad, my desire is that everyone you’ve given me will be with me, so they may see my glory, which you’ve given me.’”

“Folks, this is what heaven is like,” he said. “Heaven is glorious because there, we will have unrestricted, unimpeded, irrepressible shine, face to face.”