This week, I finished reading a book entitled, "Love Worthy Finding." It is the story of the personal life and preaching philosophy of Adrian Rogers. It was written by his childhood sweetheart and wife of fifty-four years, Joyce Rogers. Dr. Rogers was the pastor of the historic Bellevule Baptist Church of Memphis, Tennessee. He served there for thirty-two years, until his retirement in the March, 2005. He was the featured speaker of Love Worth Finding Ministries. And was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention three times during its conservative resurgence in the 1980's and 90's. Dr. Rogers died on November 15, 2005, from pneumonia after suffering with cancer. But before his death, he and his wife outlined the details of his life that would be chronicled in this book. Likewise, several years ago, Dennis Brunet did a dissertation on the Dr. Roger' philosophy of ministry. And the notes from his interviews with Dr. Rogers comprise the second part of this book, in which Dr. Rogers talks about expository preaching, pastoral ministry, church growth, and other topics.
Dr. Adrian Rogers loved Jesus Christ. He loved the word of God. And he loved the church of Jesus Christ. These holy passions created a man who was totally sold-out to God. Over the years, Dr. Rogers' preaching and writing has been a great blessing to my life. And the example of his life and ministry have also been a source of great encouragement to me. Dr. Rogers developed a great church through the faithful preaching of the word of God, something that many people say cannot be done anymore. And his preaching was always clear and compelling. He had a great way of making difficult concepts easy to understand. He was simple, without being simplistic. And his voice, style, and language were all tools in the hands of the Lord to use in effective communication of the Gospel. But Rogers did not rely on preaching alone in his work. He knew that a great church cannot be built without faithful preaching. But it also cannot be built on preaching alone. And God used him to develop a ministry infrastructure at Bellevue Church that facilitated the proclamation of the word. From the development of church facilities, to the organizations of ministry programs, to media outreach through radio, TV, and the internet, to strategic and aggressive world missions support, to the conviction-based denominational work (SBC); Dr. Adrian Rogers was a model of what a man of God ought to be. If you want to read the inspiring story of one of the modern heroes of the faith, pick up "Love Worth Finding." I dare you to read it and not be inspired to embrace and promote the love of God.
