During a memorial service for Roy
J. Fish at Southwestern Seminary today, we heard about a "mighty oak"
and "mighty warrior." His impact on thousands of seminary students
was recounted in the moving eulogy of Dr. Steve Gaines. Like so many, Dr.
Gaines was stricken during his first class with Dr. Fish with this thought:
"Who in the world can have that kind of heart and mind?!" Dr. Gaines
came to Southwestern Seminary because of Dr. Fish and he completed several degrees,
including the Ph.D., because of this "mighty oak." "In many
ways, he was Southwestern Seminary to us." Another speaker described him
as "Perhaps the most beloved seminary professor in the history of the
convention."
Indeed,
Southwestern's legacy is found in professors like Roy Fish, and it is that
legacy that ought to define our future. Just as his son, Steve Fish, prayed,
"Let the fire that burned in this man burn in us!" Thanks are owed to
Jean Fish and the Fish family and to Dr. Paige Patterson for allowing his
memorial to be held in Truett Auditorium, for as Dr. Gaines said,
"Southwestern was his home." Please allow me a moment to share some
words from a surprising source that also describe who Roy Fish was, followed by a personal reflection.
A Surprising Testimony
From
his early days, "God found in [him] the kind of moldable clay he could
shape into one of the great Christian leaders of his generation." His
character and "passion"—this word often appears in the references of those
he touched—marked him out as special. He possessed "intellectual ability,"
but, most importantly, he had an "obvious gift and passion for
evangelism." While certainly capable of leading a great church, he became
a professor of evangelism, filling the "Chair of Fire" at
Southwestern Seminary. He had a special calling from God to become part of
Southwestern Seminary. And he stayed with the school he helped make great,
because he believed that through his students he could "be preaching in a
thousand pulpits after I am dead and gone."
From
a theological perspective, he believed with B.H. Carroll, the founder of
Southwestern Seminary, that the school should be "kept lashed to the Redeemer."
He also believed in the "traditional" understanding of evangelism,
that it is "the sharing of the good news of Jesus with a view to winning
people to Him as Savior and Lord." His personal beliefs may be
encapsulated thus: "One cannot understand [him] without seeing him
primarily as a person of great passion for people who are lost. He not only
preached it but he lived it." Finally, he was also "a denominational
statesman," who enthused state evangelism conferences and filled countless
pulpits. He first retired from his seminary office only a few years prior to
going "to his eternal reward."
These
words appropriately describe Roy Fish's service to His Lord on this earth while
at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. However, Roy Fish himself wrote these
words, not about himself, but about another great Southwesterner: Lee Rutland
Scarborough (See The Legacy of
Southwestern: Writings that Shaped a Tradition, ed. James Leo Garrett, Jr.)
The correlation between these two lives tells us much about the legacy of
Southwestern Seminary: we are passionate to preach the good news to every human
being, believing that Christ died for all.
A Personal Word
Those
who were not here for the service today are invited to celebrate with us the
legacy of Roy Fish. I was also a student of Dr. Fish, and it was a profound
privilege to become his colleague. He is one of the gentlest man I have ever met
in my life, similar to the giant of a theologian whom I escorted to Dr. Fish's
memorial service: James Leo Garrett, Jr. Roy and his wife, Jean, joined me in
Oxford, England one summer a few years ago. There, I learned that this man is
the genuine article. I detected no guile in him whatsoever. I have known many Christian
leaders and seen them struggle with their coarser natures, but I found nothing
but brokenness before God in Roy Fish. He is one of the few heroes in my life to
remain a hero even after I came to know him for who he really is.
My
heart will always thrill at the private moments he took to encourage me. I will
miss Roy Fish. I will miss his encouragement to remain traditional in
theology—to remember that God's nature of love, expressed in his sending His
Son to die on the cross for a lost world, is foundational to the theological and
evangelistic tasks. I will miss his encouragement to pursue both theological
and administrative roles—to use the gifts God has given me to their fullest for
His glory. But, most of all, I will miss his gentle and consistent reminder
that we must sow the Word of God and reap the results by inviting people respectfully
and kindly to believe in Christ Jesus. We will miss him, but we will not forget
him.
