NEW ORLEANS (BP)–From the start, the 89th commencement service at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, held Dec. 16 in New Orleans, was seasoned with reflection.
For students who relocated after Hurricane Katrina, graduation was, perhaps, their first trip back to New Orleans in 16 months. For them, as well as students who returned to campus for their last semester, commencement was the end of the road to graduation, a road that had a few unexpected twists. Others, no doubt, reflected on the fact that one of the many newborn babies heard cooing throughout Leavell Chapel was their son or daughter.
Seminary President Chuck Kelley called all the graduates -– 162 in all –- to notice the setting of graduation.
“A year ago, we were having seminary graduation, but not here,” Kelley said. “A year ago, we had it in Birmingham (Ala.) because this campus was still in shambles after Hurricane Katrina. A year ago, this student body was scattered to 29 different states and the faculty to nine different states.”
He congratulated students for persevering in their studies and thanked faculty members for continuing to teach despite the tumultuous year following the storm.
In his charge to the graduates, Kelley, whose father, Charles S. Kelley Sr., passed away the Saturday before graduation, reflected on some of the truths his father taught him and applied those truths to the students present.
The first truth had to do with the significance of a person’s name. Kelley recalled from his childhood an annual playing of the movie “The Wizard of Oz” on a local television station. It was one of the few movies showed during the year, and what’s more, Kelley had never seen it.
“It was always shown on Sunday night, and we never got to see it because the Kelleys were in church on Sunday night,” he said. “I would go to my dad and say, ‘I am the only kid in my school who has never seen The Wizard of Oz.’ And my dad would simply say, ‘Their name isn’t Kelley.’”
As Kelley has matured, he said, he’s come to realize that his father was teaching him that a person’s name is more than merely vowels and consonants.
“Your name stands for who you are,” he said. “All of you graduates here today bear the name of Jesus Christ.”
Kelley referenced the account in the book of Acts of Jesus’ followers being first called Christians in Antioch. Just as the early Christians’ behavior and devotion caused people around them to name them “little Christs,” so the graduates were challenged to be true representatives of Jesus Christ in their places of ministry.
A second word of wisdom from his father that Kelley applied to the students grew out of his grade school homework. Kelley said that when he asked his father to help him with math problems, his father simply told him to “read the problem.”
Kelley would answer him with “I’ve read the problem. How do I work the problem?” His father’s response was the same: “Read the problem.” And sure enough, after carefully considering the problem, Kelley would realize the solution to it. Applying that axiom to life was easy for Kelley.
“That was my dad’s way of saying, ‘Just about all of the problems of life can be solved by paying attention,’” he said.
“For those of you in ministry, you have to pay attention. Ministry is a people calling. No one will prosper in ministry who doesn’t pay attention to the people [to whom he or she is ministering],” Kelley said.
Kelley told those present about his father’s successful business in Beaumont, Texas. His father’s business success mattered little compared to the people he influenced.
“Person after person who life my dad touched was there,” he said. “Person after person would tell me how my dad gave them a job … or saved their marriage.
“It doesn’t matter the color of skin or the size of the bank account or the level of education, just as Jesus loved one and all, so must we.”
The last word of wisdom Kelley shared from his father’s life grew out of the overall way he faced life. About six years ago, Kelley’s father was diagnosed with a form of brain cancer. He survived the surgery, but physically it had left its mark. Even in that hardship, he pointed to God’s grace.
“My dad had a very strong conviction. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, God’s grace is always enough,” Kelley said. “When you have God’s grace, you have everything you need.”
Kelley compared that ability to approach life in light of God’s providence and grace to his prescription glasses. Following the storm last year, Kelley noticed that he had trouble not only reading words up close but also reading street signs and recognizing faces. After having his vision checked, he found out that he needed prescription lenses. With that lens filtering his vision, he sees everything clearly.
In the same way, the lens of God’s providence and grace brings clarity to life.
“He is always present in the life of every believer, and He will always provide what you need for that day,” Kelley said. “With that filter, there’s nothing more important to you than doing what God has called you to do.”
Just as his father passed on to him wisdom for life, so Kelley challenged the graduates with fatherly wisdom for a life of ministry.
Included in the number of graduates Saturday were 52 Haitian pastors. Even through the men could not attend the New Orleans service, their names were read to acknowledge their achievement.
The Haitian graduates celebrated their graduation in Port Au Prince, Haiti, earlier in the semester. The pastors, who earned certificates in pastoral ministry, were the first graduates from a cooperative effort of the Florida Baptist Convention and New Orleans Seminary to provide theological education to Haitians.
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