Pastors celebrate legacy and impact of late Pastor Adrian Rogers in Convocation

 

• Panel of pastors discuss legacy of late Pastor Adrian Rogers in Convocation on Sept. 15.
• Rogers is remembered as a man whose life reflected his teaching.

Liberty University celebrated the life and legacy of Adrian Rogers, the former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Sep. 15th at Convocation.

Rogers passed away in 2005 after battles with pneumonia and cancer, according to Baptist Press. Rogers had a legacy of clearly preaching the gospel, speaking truth in love and living a life of conviction.

David Nasser, Liberty’s vice president of spiritual development, said that Rogers continues to have an impact all around the world through a syndicated gospel-sharing ministry that he founded called Love Worth Finding Ministries.

“God loves it when his children honor one another,” Nasser said. “We have a hero in Adrian Rogers who didn’t just start off strong, but finished strong.”

Nasser led a discussion with four pastors about the impact that the ministry of Rogers had on their lives in order to honor his legacy.

Among the guests at Convocation were Thomas Road Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jonathan Falwell, as well as pastors Johnny Hunt, Robert Jeffress and Ken Whitten.

Hunt of First Baptist Church Woodstock, Georgia said he was able to learn so much from Rogers simply by watching the way he lived.

“Even more than his preaching, he really influenced me more by his walk, by his conversation of life, through observing him and seeing how he cared for people,” Hunt said. “He never began to see himself as a big-shot, and he said that if you are ever too big for a small church then you are too small for a big church.”

Whitten of Idlewild Baptist Church said Rogers was a fun-loving man who also lived with integrity.

“Adrian Rogers was filled with joy, and he would be intimidating just by the sound of his voice,” Whitten said. “The tongue in his mouth and the tongue in his shoe went the same direction.  He talked the talk, and he walked the walk.  Adrian Rogers said I would rather eat dirt than knowingly, purposefully sin against a Holy God. Adrian Rogers taught about the difference between reputation and character, your reputation is your picture, your character is your face.”

Whitten said that Rogers never made things about himself, but always wanted to lead people to Jesus.

“He told us that God will ask us if the people that we were entrusted to were more like Jesus when you left them than when you came,” Whitten said.

Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas said that he learned from Rogers in how he held to his conservative convictions respectfully.

“In a lot of ways Dr. Rogers was like the founder of Liberty, Jerry Falwell, in that they both taught me how to deal with the culture in the right spirit and how to speak the truth in love,” Jeffress said.

Rogers’ wife Joyce Rogers is 84-years-old and was unable to attend the Convocation due to an arm injury.

Nasser said that Liberty would be sending Joyce Rogers a purse filled with 74 handwritten letters from Liberty students, representing the 74 years her husband lived, as a token of honor and thanks for his ministry and legacy.

“(Adrian) Rogers continues to have an impact through his ministry and his ministry is bigger today than it ever has been,” Nasser said.