May 18, 2009 | By Paul F. South

NEW ORLEANS -- The life of a Baptist minister is no Hollywood movie, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley reminded 295 graduates at 2009 spring commencement May 16. Ministry packs challenges that no screenwriter could imagine.

But God's word and its stories of heroes of the Christian faith provides a soundtrack for those in ministry that offers greater encouragement than any majestic movie theme or classic costume.

Using film clips featuring some of Hollywood's great epics and heroes - the fedora-sporting  archaeologist Indiana Jones, the secretive swordsman Zorro and the Jedi knights of Star Wars - Kelley told graduates that motivation for ministry would be easier if backed by a dramatic soundtrack. To illustrate, Kelley donned a Jones-style fedora and whip as the movie's theme played in the background. But that's not real life.

"There's no scriptwriter who could possibly make up what happens in a Baptist church," Kelley said. "And every one of you who are graduating will find yourself saying as you go through your life in ministry, ‘They never told us about this at seminary."

But scripture provides an exhilarating soundtrack for ministry for those times when those in ministry need it most, Kelley said. He cited those in Hebrews 11 and 12, the "hall of fame" of the Christian faith, who through God's strength, won victories in war, stood fast in the flames and persevered through persecution. God's reward for these men and women was outlined in Hebrews 11:39-40.

"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

"This in the thing that every one of you knows about your life in ministry that lies ahead, Kelley said. "Wherever you go, and whatever you face, somebody serving Jesus has been there before you. Someone has faced the same kind of problems. Somebody has faced the same kind of crisis. Somebody has been at something that hopeless and that insurmountable, and God has made a way."

He added: "That is the great testimony of all who have gone before. That is the keynote in our ministerial soundtrack: That we know that wherever we are, whatever we face, God will make a way. We of all people here at NOBTS should know that."

Almost four years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the seminary campus. In Leavell Chapel, where Saturday's graduation ceremonies took place, Katrina smashed the chapel's large rear window, splintered an organ, and ripped a hole in the ceiling. Water covered two-thirds of the campus and faculty and student housing was flooded. Some of Saturday's graduates lost all they had on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina smacked the seminary.

"We're the kind of people that God calls to run into the fire and not away from it, into danger and not away from it," Kelley said. "And our lives will be spent dealing with problems, heartaches and brokenness. Much of it will be in the lives of the people we serve; some of it is going to be our own brokenness. But we have this great cloud of witnesses about us, all who have gone before, giving that ringing testimony: God will make a way."

The other movement in the soundtrack of ministry is the harmony in our own relationship with Jesus Christ.

"I'll tell you what's more important than your circumstances," Kelley said, "It's your reaction to your circumstances."

He added, "In every case you will have a choice about how you respond and it's the choice you make to respond that makes all the difference in the world. You will find yourself ready if you keep that heart in tune with God."

The author of Hebrews reminds readers of the third and last part of the soundtrack of a life in ministry. Christ saw the joy that was to come as a result of the cross, and then He endured the cross. That is the key, Kelley said.

"Some people think that heaven is an excuse to cop put of earth, that people who are heavenly minded can have no earthly good. Nothing could be further from the truth," Kelley said. "It is having in your mind and in your heart and in your soul that which is to come; that certainty that something better is coming that gives us the courage to face however big a mess we have to face. That simple little phrase -something better is coming. This is the gift that Jesus gave to us."

Kelley then took his digital music player, a device worthless without headphones, to draw his final parallel. Prayer provides the headphones to hear God's encouraging soundtrack for ministry.

"The most important thing you will take away from here is not the knowledge in your hear or the skills in your hands. It is that intimate relationship with God that every single day through the simple act of prayer and submission will release in your soul his amazing power," Kelley said.

While they could not attend the commencement, 40 students from Mississippi's Parchman Prison and 103 Haitian students were recognized during the service.

Twenty-seven inmates at Parchman received their bachelor of arts in Christian ministry, 13 prisoners received associates degrees in the Christian ministry.

The Haiti graduates each earned the certificate in pastoral ministry, through the seminary's Center for the Americas in Miami.

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