Many of you have probably seen the headlines from this past week about a preacher who died in the middle of a sermon on heaven. I've seen it mentioned in several places, most notably the Drudge Report and Lee Ann Milinger has a short post on it on her blog. Here is the lengthiest article I have found on it - it is from the Orlando Sentinel.
It turns out that this particular preacher was a seminary professor of mine at RTS Orlando. His name is Jack Arnold and for many years he was the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, which was in Winter Park for many years until it's move to Oviedo. Most recently Jack has founded a ministry to Pastors around the world called Equipping Pastors International. The Covenant church site has a lot of good info about Jack's life and ministry, as well as what really happened this past Sunday.
I don't want this post to come off as if I was Jack's best friend or that I have tons of deep and intimate knowledge of his life, but I do think it would be helpful to some folks who have seen this story in the news to know a little bit about the person. Also, I wanted to share my reaction to how he died.
While feeling tremendous sympathy for Jack's family and dearest friends, I have to say that when I found out about how he died, I thought to myself that this was the perfect way for a preacher to die. Jack was preaching a sermon and was talking about going to heaven, and then he collapsed and died. I have read several different news accounts claiming to know the exact words he said and have heard a few different things. But, all are agreed that he was speaking of heaven when God called him home.
As I said, I can think of no better way for a preacher to die. It is as if God heard his longing for heaven and said, "ok, well done my good and faithful servant, come and enter your rest."
Jack had a long and distinguished ministry. He attended UCLA where he played basketball for John Wooden. He attended Dallas Theological Seminary where, among others, he was in the same class as, and personally acquainted with Chuck Swindoll. I don't have any documentation to verify this, but I am told he won some kind of preaching award while in seminary, which is pretty good when you consider that Chuck Swindoll was part of the competition (not that they were competing).
He ministered for many years and endured great trials and saw great victories. At one church, he endured a split. At another he was instrumental in laying the groundwork for growth and health that would last many years.
I first got to know Jack when I had him for a class on church polity at RTS, which is not exactly the most stimulating class in the world. But, Jack did a good job with it. He is one who came into the Presbyterian tradition from the outside and so he gave diligent study to all of the pertinent matters. He was a presbyterian by conviction not by birth so he shared that.
Though he was a presbyterian by conviction, he also understood that a minister has an obligation to the larger body of Christ. One of the great things he did for us in that class was to bring in ministers from other denominations and enabled us to engage in very helpful dialogue with them. He encouraged us to make friends outside of our denomination and to minister together with them. One of the guys he brought into class was the pastor of the local PDI (now Sovereign Grace) church, which is a charismatic group. Jack purposely cultivated a relationship with him. He said "I know that there are going to be people for whom our church just won't cut it, we won't be charismatic enough for them." So, he was happy to have a relationship with this pastor so he could recommend his church for them. This was a good word for me - there is a temptation for pastors to clutch onto people and he showed a real sense of humility and trust in the sovereignty of God. God can work through churches that are not a part of my denomination and we need to accept that and encourage that.
Probably the greatest compliment that I ever heard for Jack came from Richard Pratt of RTS and Third Millennium Ministries. To appreciate what Richard said, you need to know that Richard was a member of a church that Jack had pastored when Richard was younger and Richard had been a great antagonist of Jack's. Years later Richard had repented of his arrogance, asked Jack's forgiveness and reconciled. With that as a background it was very significant when Richard said that he considered Jack to be the most successful pastor in Orlando. He didn't pastor the largest church, not even the largest PCA church. He wasn't flashy, but he was faithful. Being a prof and published author, Richard moves in circles with many of the big dogs in the Reformed community, so for him to say that Jack was the most successful pastor was a high compliment. Jack was successful because he was faithful.
So, while I join others in sorrow over the Jack's loss, let me also say that I rejoice with him that he now beholds his savior face to face. And I praise God for the great blessing of taking him home in the midst of a sermon where he spoke of his longing for heaven. Well done Jack, enjoy your rest!
If you are interested in reading some of Jack's writings you can do a search for his name at Third Millennium Ministries.
Thanks for you kind words about my father. Just happened to catch this while surfing the web. Your portrayal is a good one, and we are all very proud of him.
Posted by: Dean Arnold | January 17, 2005 at 03:00 PM