Tuesday, August 25, 2020
What I Learned from Tom Olbricht
Tom Olbricht recently got to go home to be with Jesus forever. He was one of my Bible professors and I had him for several classes at ACU. I was not one of Tom's boys. Every professor had those students that were their guys. I wasn't really a great scholar like many of my classmates. Didn't spend hours in the library. Didn't go to any of the Scholar conferences with Tom -- or any of my other professors for that matter. Never even went to the Bible majors retreat. So not really one of his guys.
But I learned a lot from Tom Olbricht and developed a great admiration and respect for him.
He helped me get a sense of the great stories of the Old Testament. The themes that were present throughout the Scriptures. And he did the same for the New Testament. Showing Jesus in the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles. And it was surprisingly easy to understand. Which is amazing because he was an outstanding scholar. Not just in Bible and Theology. But advanced degrees in Speech and Communication. Restoration History scholar.
He really cared about me for who I was. I was not going to get a Doctorate. I was learning so I could share the Bible with ordinary people. You know, people like me. He was on my committee when I did my Master's in Restoration History. I remember during Orals he asked me what I had learned that I would use in ministry. I always appreciated that. It was OK that I wan't like him.
We were on a program together a few years ago. A preacher's retreat. He talked about Restoration History. I talked about evangelism. He spent several minutes of his first presentation talking about me. How he remembered my enthusiasm for ministry while in college. How he had kept up with me thru the years. Even knew about my work with Herald of Truth. Even said how difficult it was to follow me on the program. Amazing.
And I did publicly thank him for what I learned from him Including things I learned that weekend.
We weren't much alike at all. He was not who I would have picked as my role model. And I was not who he would have pointed to as one of his outstanding students.
But I learned to appreciate from Dr. Tom how important it is to value the people not like you. To love them and to celebrate their gifts and work in the Kingdom.
Funny thing -- he was proud of me. And he did claim me as one of his best students. And it had nothing to do with academics. And he ended up being one of my role models.
We need to be more like Tom Olbricht.
Labels: Death, People, Preaching
