KANSAS CITY—Kevin Shrum, chairman of the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) Board of Trustees, delivered a message in chapel April 16 on Acts 2:22-24.
Shrum, pastor, Inglewood Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn., has been intentional in his ministry toward the Midwestern community since a Feb. 10 resignation that caused the seminary to install an acting interim president. He spent Feb. 27 through March 1 on campus, alternatively listening and speaking, and his April return proved to be an extension of the love he feels for the seminary.
Among the experiences that Shrum brings to his current role with MBTS are his past service as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and his current service as a trustee for Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
His message focused on the gas and the match—the fuel and the spark—of the early church. Those early believers talked about the spectacular life of Jesus, who was crucified after a spectacularly unjust trial. The murder of Christ by lawless men was nothing short of spectacularly wrong.
“Let this be the content of our conversation,” Shrum said.
The Midwestern chairman spent quite a bit of time uplifting the doctrine of the Holy Spirit before his Southern Baptist audience. He said it is important to respect Him as a divine member of the Trinity. Within that teaching, in Bible passages like the one he was referencing that cite the miracles, wonders, and signs connected to Jesus that are not often lifted up in our pulpits today, there is plenty of wisdom and power. He appealed to the Midwestern family to consider the beauty of this manner of holiness.
The spectacular resurrection closes the text. It needs to be talked about more often, he said. The spark of the Holy Spirit, the gatekeeper of salvation, can then take that risen Savior talk and create a sanctified explosion.
“Let our conversation be Jesus,” Shrum said. “Let us pray for the anointing of the Spirit, and who knows what can happen?”