March 4, 2008 | By Gary D. Myers
NEW ORLEANS – Christians are called to more than simply hearing God’s Word, they are called to action, Rhonda Kelley said during the Southern Baptist Women’s Leadership Consultation (WLC).
The yearly WLC event, sponsored by the Seminary Women’s Network, offers training and resources for the leaders of women’s ministry programs at churches and associations across the nation. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) played host to over 300 conference attendees Feb. 7-9. The women participated in worship, training sessions and even practical ministry as they prayer walked throughout the city of New Orleans.
Kelley, professor of women’s ministry at NOBTS and wife of Seminary President Chuck Kelley, kicked off the event Feb. 7 with an explanation of the conference theme, “Beyond Hearing.”
Taken from Jesus’ Parable of the Sower found in Luke 8; the theme comes from verse 15 (“..having heard the Word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit…”). Kelley said that the goal of the conference was to help women become both hearers of the Word and doers of the Word.
“We want to be challenged personally, and we want to challenge you as well, to not just hear [God’s] Word, but to go ‘Beyond Hearing,’” Kelley said. “We need to be reminded to hear and to teach and to live the Word.”
To illustrate each point of her explanation, Kelley pointed to a woman from the Bible. She also invited three women from NOBTS to share testimonies about hearing, teaching and living God’s Word.
“Lydia is a woman in the New Testament who is a wonderful example of a woman who heard the Lord,” Kelley said.
Pointing to her story in Acts 16, Kelley said that when Lydia heard the Word of the Lord she responded. Lydia not only received salvation, but she shared the Word with her household and all of them were saved.
“How wonderful to know that as we carry the Word and share the Word from the Lord the work of the Spirit can change lives,” Kelley said.
Kelley then asked Rebecca George, a student at NOBTS, to share about hearing from the Lord.
George related a story about a recent experience with an automated telephone answering system. She knew she needed to speak with a customer service representitive so George tried to by-pass the system by saying words and phrases such as “representative,” “customer service,” and “real person.”
George’s attempts were not successful. Ultimately she became frustrated and the automated system cut the call short.
“I am so glad this isn’t the way God communicates with us,” George said. “He doesn’t have a matrix set up for us to try and get through. He doesn’t try to keep us at a distance. He doesn’t play games with us.”
“Instead, we serve a God who willingly and freely offers His Word to us,” George continued “I know that when I need a word from the Lord, I’m speaking with somebody who really does want to speak to me.”
Kelley said that hearing from the Lord is of vital importance, but the believer must not stop at hearing. God wants Christians to teach and share what He has said with others.
Priscilla, Kelley said, is a biblical example of a woman who faithfully taught the Word to others.
“My question to myself and to you is, ‘Are you teaching the Word?” Kelley asked.
Kelley then asked Trish Hawley, assistant professor of women’s ministry at NOBTS, to share about teaching the Word.
When Hawley became a Christian as a teenager, she had many questions about her new-found faith. A Christian woman in her life soon became her mentor and helped her answer these questions. She also taught Hawley about the God’s Word, challenging her to search the scriptures for her answers.
“As I began to look in God’s Word, I started experiencing transformation,” Hawley said. “The Truth actually changes you. [The Word] started to effect how I thought and it started to have an effect on the things that were uncertain to me.”
Now as a teacher, Hawley leads her students to the same type of discovery. She points her students to scripture so that they will be transformed as well.
“We must not only hear the Word and teach the Word, but we must live the Word.” Kelley said moving to the final point of her presentation. “Jesus told us over and over again how important it is to hear and to do.”
“I love the story of Dorcus in the New Testament. Dorcus was an example of one who lived the Word,” Kelley said point to Acts 9:36.
“Dorcus was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did,” Kelley said reading the verse.
Kelley asked Hannah Sterling, who works with the seminary’s MissionLab initiative, to give a testimony about living out God’s Word.
“Though I was saved as a little girl … it was only a few years ago that living the Word became a reality in my life,” Sterling said. “At that time, God began dealing with me through one word: surrender.”
God then called Sterling into ministry. She responded in faith and spent a semester serving in Mexico. From there Sterling came to lead mission groups in New Orleans through MissionLab.
“When you fully surrender to God and you are truly living the Word, your plans for your own life are no longer certain. When you are in His hands, He can start to bend you towards His desire and will for your life,” Sterling said.
Kelley closed the session by imploring her audience to be hearers and doers of God’s Word.
“Today our challenge to you is to go beyond hearing; to not just hear the Word, but to teach it and to live it,” Kelley said.
During a brief introduction Feb. 7, NOBTS President Chuck Kelley affirmed the importance of the Women’s Leadership Consultation.
He said the event is a time to “confirm what Southern Baptists have always known, that is, that women play a very important role in the lives of Southern Baptist churches. It has always been so, but we have formalized that with a statement in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.”
-30-