Rice Lecture Series 2017

“Why is the thinking, feeling, and intentional heart so important to God? Why did he design human hearts so intricately? The answer is simple. God designed the heart’s functions for worship: he wants people to respond to him with the complex beauty that reflects his own.” – Jeremy Pierre

Counseling the flock of God is a serious responsibility for any under-shepherd – one that no can claim to have mastered. Because humans are infinitely complex, there are few easily-solved counseling situations. Last Friday, Dr. Jeremy Pierre spoke to over 150 pastors and students, gathered for our annual Rice Lecture Series, about how we can better understand the complex human condition – and use that knowledge to inform and nuance our counseling.

Jeremy is the Dean of Students at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary  and the author of The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life: Connecting Christ to Human Experience. His book aims to help Christian workers grasp the full experience of the human mind in its thinking, feeling, and willing functions and to help them use that knowledge in counseling the whole person. Too often, unskilled counselors can view people as problems to be solved, and the solutions as simple as dispensing the right Scriptures. In three sessions, Jeremy explained how a more robust view of the human condition, informed by Scripture, can help in leading people to worship God, heart, soul, mind and strength. To listen to Dr. Pierre’s lectures, click here or scroll down to the videos below.

In addition to visiting Christian workers, student attendees from various colleges had the opportunity to experience DBTS and the work God’s doing through graduates in the Detroit area. One group of students from Bob Jones University spent the weekend in Detroit, visiting Inter-City’s church plants in Hamtramck, River Rouge, and Lincoln Park. Dave Doran Jr., pastor of Resurrection Church took the group on a tour of their recently-purchased building and let them sit in on his Gospel Community Group – a localized evangelistic Bible study in Dave’s home.

Jay Searcy, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Hamtramck, MI, took the group around Hamtramck, a predominately Muslim community populated with immigrants from Bangladesh, Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan. The students participated in an outreach to several immigrant families by helping with kids games at a local community center and eating dinner with the families at the church.

Matt Wells, one of the students who attended the conference, said,  “[Dr. Pierre] convicted me of my own need to reevaluate how I give advice and how I use Scripture to meet the needs of those around me. It inspired me to proactively engage with the hurting with the answers found in the Word of God.” Matt also wrote about his group’s experience with Inter-City’s church planters on his blog, The Church Accords, commenting on how they inspired him stick to the basics of true Christianity: loving and discipling people.

Every spring DBTS hosts the Rice Lecture Series to address current issues in Christianity. Speakers include recognized theologians and pastors with a commitment to the absolute authority of Scripture. The William R. Rice Lecture Series is named in honor of the Seminary’s founder, first president and long-time pastor (1949-1989) of Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, Michigan. For more information or to hear past lectures, click here.