Newsletter #36

On Elbert Hicks and Preaching Theologically

My condolences go out to the family of James Earl Raper. Brother Raper went to be with the Lord this past week at the age of 91. He was the first Free Will Baptist pastor I ever had.

Remembering Elbert

This past Wednesday marked the fifteenth anniversary of the passing of my grandfather, Elbert Harwell Hicks. He died after an extended battle with lung cancer. I had just begun my first vocational ministry role a few hours north when he went to be with the Lord. Thankfully, I was in the next room when he breathed his last.

In my mind’s eye, I still see him in his rocking chair by the window reading the Bible. Here is how I described this in my eulogy at his funeral:

He engaged the words on each page so deeply that he would mouth the words almost aloud. So with great regularity and faithfulness he read and meditated on the Scriptures. Now that is impressive enough, but what really is impressive is no matter how loud Trey and I got as we played on the floor, and as we ran around the house, he…