Jeremiah offers lessons for ministers, ETBU professor tells BGCT workshop_111504

Posted: 11/12/04

Jeremiah offers lessons for ministers,
ETBU professor tells BGCT workshop

SAN ANTONIO–An Old Testament prophet offers insights for ministers who face serious challenges, an East Texas Baptist University teacher said at a workshop on Jeremiah during the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Jeph Holloway, associate professor of theology and ethics at ETBU, said, “Jeremiah's challenge to the religious and political establishment meant that all those who wielded power in Jerusalem saw the prophet as a threat to be nullified.”

The prophet searched the streets of Jerusalem in vain to find one person who was doing justice, but instead he found a dysfunctional society in which the wealthy lived by deceit and enjoyed their advantage at the expense of the vulnerable.

Jeremiah's lament provided him four crucial strategies for negotiating his vocational crisis, Holloway said. It taught him to pray in specific ways, display vigorous faith, find a measure of order amidst chaos and place his life and crisis in perspective.