Beeson Podcast, Episode #696 Reverend Jesse Carr Date >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your host, Doug Sweeney. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast, I am your host, Doug Sweeney. I am joined today by the Reverend Jesse Carr who is a graduating senior here at Beeson Divinity School and is also this year’s James Earl Massey Student Preaching Award Winner. He is the pastor of Sharon Heights Baptist Church which he’s been serving while he’s been a student here at Beeson. He’s become a friend of mine. I’m a great admirer of Pastor Carr. He will preach tomorrow in the last chapel service of the spring semester for us as the Massey Student Preaching Award Winner. And we’re recording this a day before chapel but you listeners will be hearing it after an edited version of the chapel message is already posted online. So, we’ll encourage you again at the end of the episode to go online and be blessed by Pastor Carr’s sermon. Jesse, thank you for being with us on the podcast as well! >>Jesse: Thank you for letting me be here. Thank you for putting up with me for all these years at Beeson. >>Doug Sweeney: It has been a delight. All right. So, on campus we all know you. People who listen to the podcast may not. Let’s tell them just a little bit about you. How did you grow up? How did you come to know the Lord and how did you sense that he was calling you into pastoral ministry? >>Jesse: Sure! So, I was raised in a pastor’s home. And so I’ve always been privy to behind the scenes glimpse of pastoral ministry and got to see my dad’s pastoral heart. And his love for the word of God. Just up close. Like a lot of preacher’s kids I resented some of that and struggled through some of that. But long story very very short, around the time I was 12 I just began to sense an unusual kind of desire to preach. And would catch myself preaching when I would go walk our dog, Pepper, or caught myself preaching in the bathroom mirror. And I thought, I really need to surrender to what I think is the Lord’s will or seek psychiatric help. And so I announced what we would have called my “call to preach” and preached my first sermon when I was 13. And preached in churches and different services as the Lord would open doors. And when I was 22 right after my wife Amy and I got married a congregation extended a call for me to become their senior pastor which I was the only staff member at the church. >>Doug Sweeney: And you were how old then? >>Jesse: 22. >>Doug Sweeney: Wow. >>Jesse: Exactly – wow. Bless their hearts. They were kind and patient and gracious and we survived it. And I’ve been blessed now to serve three congregations as lead pastor, senior pastor, regular preaching pastor. >>Doug Sweeney: So, when I was a young man it was more common, especially in the South or more rural areas of the country to hear people talk about boy preachers. But today you don’t, at least I don’t hear that as much as I used to hear it. And you’re a great example. You were a boy preacher! >>Jesse: I was. Yes, sir. And I still feel like one. I still feel like a kid. So, yeah. >>Doug Sweeney: What was that experience like? And was it ... I mean I bet you’d say today the Lord used it to kind of make you into the man, the pastor you have become. >>Jesse: He did. >>Doug Sweeney: But what’s it like being a boy preacher trying to minister God’s word to people who are older than your parents, sometimes as old as your grandparents? What was that like for you? >>Jesse: Well, nerve-wracking in a lot of ways. You deal with a lot ... at least I did ... I dealt with a lot of insecurity but also a lot of pride. When you’re up there preaching all eyes are on you. And kind of wrestling through that. But how it benefited me in life is that as even a preteen, teenager, and a young adult there was never really any question of what am I going to do for a living? I’ve had numerous other jobs but I’ve always sensed that this was the Lord’s will for my life. And so it developed in me a desire to pursue preaching, pursue learning as the Lord has given opportunities to work on my craft, to grow, and so just it kind of narrowed my focus. And that’s been a tremendous blessing. >>Doug Sweeney: Tell us just a little bit, we want to talk more about Beeson later, but when you were young what ... how did you think about going to school, getting whatever education you are going to get to be a pastor at 22? >>Jesse: That’s a great question. I don’t know that I have a good answer, because the tradition that I was raised in, which most of our listeners would probably think of as more fundamentalist Baptist, the thought process was, “Well, if you’ve been called to preach, go preach.” And I imbibed a lot of that and certainly would still agree with that. >>Doug Sweeney: God’s word and Holy Spirit are more important than book learning. >>Jesse: That’s right. But there was also probably an unhealthy suspicion of book learning. And so I did attend a small bible college in our area. And just thought I’m going to go do the best that I can and that’s what I try to do. I made a mess of a lot of things. I wish I could do differently. But I have been very, very blessed to serve congregations that have been patient and gracious and helpful, even when I wasn’t always ready to receive help. And so the Lord has surrounded me with goodness and mercy and definitely protected me from myself. >>Doug Sweeney: Wonderful. All right, give us just a thumbnail sketch of your ministry before you got to Beeson. You said it was three different churches over the years? >>Jesse: Right. I pastored two churches in North Carolina. The first I was there for six and a half years. The second church I served for three and a half years. And those churches, as the crow flies, are about two miles from each other – just over the mountain. But there’s only one way around the mountain and so they’re about 15 minutes apart. Very different, even in the same town and zip code – very different ministry, very different congregations. While I was pastoring at the last church that I served I received a call from the congregation that I serve now here in Birmingham – Sharon Heights – and they reached out to me and asked me to come and here we are. So, I’ve been there five and a half years. >>Doug Sweeney: So, in my role as Dean I am in a lot of conversations with bi-vocational pastors, bi-vocational preachers who get to a certain age and they kind of wish they could go to seminary but they’re just in situations in life where they think, this is just ... it’s going to be impossible. My family can’t do this stuff. Somehow you managed to pull it off after a good number of years in ministry and marriage. I haven’t asked you about your dear wife yet, but you were married long before you came to Beeson as well. How did that go for you? Why did you decide you were supposed to go to seminary after pastoring three different churches? >>Jesse: Well, I think for me there came the realization that I really need help. And I’ve always been curious, I’ve always been a learner, I’ve always been kind of an [inaudible 00:07:18] in a lot of different aspects of my life. But I really sensed I’ve gone as far as I can go on my own. And I need help to tighten up some areas theologically. I wanted to learn the languages the best that I could. And there may be a very, very small minority of people that can do that on their own. I would never be among them. Most people would never be among them. >>Doug Sweeney: For the lay people listening, we’re talking about Hebrew and Greek – the languages in which the bible was written. >>Jesse: Right. So, I knew that those things would be incredible assets to me. And you mentioned my wife, Amy. We’ve been married for 16 1/2 years. And she pushed me to go to seminary for years. If I would have listened to her this would have all been behind me a decade ago. But you know how those things can go sometimes. >>Doug Sweeney: How did Amy get ready for that? I don’t want to over generalize. There are a lot of wives who wouldn’t be up for that. Who would think, well, we’re finally kind of settled in, we’ve got a family life going just how we want it to go, and we don’t want to uproot and all of a sudden do three years of seminary. Why was she in a position where she’s pushing you? >>Jesse: I think there are two answers. On the one hand, she’s listened to almost every sermon I’ve ever preached since we’ve been married. So, she probably knows “he really needs this.” (laughs) So, that’s probably part of the answer. But I’m so blessed that Amy is without a doubt my biggest fan. My best cheerleader that has always believed in me, supported me, even ... I have no doubt that if I went home today and told her, “Honey, I feel like the Lord is calling us to the Congo.” She would say, “That’s where we need to go.” That’s a tremendous testimony to her and the Lord’s work in her life. But she’s been a rock star and so much of it comes down to the fact that she’s a great mother to our two children, and of course she was pushing me to go to seminary before we had children. And there would have been a lot of wisdom in that. But I can be a slow learner sometimes. >>Doug Sweeney: All right. Now, in addition to being at Beeson you’re the Pastor at Sharon Heights Baptist Church which is not far from where we’re sitting now. How did the timing of that call go? Did you and they already know you were thinking about coming to seminary at Beeson? Or was the call first and then you thought about seminary after? >>Jesse: Right. I was thinking about seminary before we moved to Birmingham. In fact, I was registered and had applied for and was accepted at another seminary. But then I moved to Birmingham and I wanted to do seminary work on campus. I wanted to know my professors as much as possible and have relationships with them and have the experience of being in class. And so we moved to Birmingham. I had heard of Beeson and several of the faculty members. And when I went to Sharon Heights the Youth Pastor that was serving at the time that we hired full time right after I came was a Beeson grad. He graduated here in 2019. I was so impressed – his name is Corey – I was so impressed by Corey’s grasp of scripture, by his depth of understanding, and what he had taken in here at Beeson that I began to think ... and of course COVID happens and so many things are in turmoil, and then I just kind of thought – maybe I should just shoot my shot and see what happens. >>Doug Sweeney: All right. So, how has it been? How have you found Beeson? And you have to tell the truth. Obviously the Dean is interviewing you and people are listening and you don’t want to say too many bad things, but I want you to tell the whole truth before the Lord. How has it been like for you at Beeson Divinity School? At your age, with the experience that you had, was it humbling to be with people who were younger than you, going through paces? What has it been like? >>Jesse: All of the above. It’s been humbling because it has stretched me. In fact, I feel like my primary challenge has been the clock. That’s been the challenge. But also the Lord has so proven his faithfulness in that I haven’t been up at 2:00 on Sunday morning trying to prepare a sermon – that hasn’t happened one time. I don’t know that there’s any assignments that I’ve turned in late. That doesn’t mean they’ve all been turned in great (laughs) but ... The Lord has helped me to do it when I felt stretched too thin. When I thought in my second or third semester I just can’t do it, I don’t have it in me to do it. The Lord has helped me to do it. And so it’s proven to me the Lord’s faithfulness. And that he can allow us to carry more than we think we can carry because he’s the one carrying the weight. And it has been humbling. But it’s also been encouraging because I do come to seminary at a different point in life and a different point in ministry than many of my classmates. And I’ve been able to help walk them through maybe job transitions. Or I’ve been able to help them even prepare sermons for class that I hope they got good grades on. And I’ve been able to pour into them maybe as something of an older brother, hopefully. >>Doug Sweeney: Of course, Amy, as we’ve already described as being a wonderful person. But it can’t be easy for her to be your wife as you’re pastoring a church, as you’re going to seminary, as you’ve got two little ones at home and so on. How ... I have in mind right now as I’m asking you these couple of questions people I know will be listening to this who are thinking about whether the Lord wants them to go to seminary. Whether it’s Beeson or some other seminary. A lot of the people who tune into podcasts like this are trying to figure these things out for themselves. What’s Jesse Carr’s advice to such people? If you’re 30 years old already or you’re 35 years old already. If you’ve been preaching for a while but you’ve never gone to seminary, if you’re already married, is it worth picking up stakes and moving to an in person seminary and doing it? And even if it’s worth doing all of that, what kind of council do you want to kind of speak into their decision making process? >>Jesse: Not to be cliché but obviously they need to pray and they need to seek the Lord’s will. But all things being equal it’s absolutely worth it. It’s absolutely worth it. It’s a way for us to study, to show ourselves approved. It’s a way for us to give ourselves to the God who has given himself for us in Christ. It will shape the way we think about scripture, the way we think about others. And it’s absolutely worth it. And I have no regrets. I have no regrets. I’m thankful to have been here and to be sitting here today. And so my council would be to do it! As you do it, there will be times when you are overwhelmed and overworked and exhausted. And you think, I cannot make another flash card. I hate the Greeks and their language. You will have those moments. And even for me when I started in the spring of 2021 I thought I’ll never live to see April of 2024. It just seems like it’s such a long time. And it feels like it’s been about two weeks. It really does. So, I would simply want people to know that as they go through that process all you have to do is what you have to do today. Do what you have to do today. Sufficient for this day is the evil thereof. And then tomorrow will be a new day. And the Lord will provide the strength and the energy and the rest and the time and the finances. He has done that for me for countless others who have gone through seminary of any background or circumstance. He will do it for those that want to follow him as he opens the door. >>Doug Sweeney: There’s a lot of biblical wisdom there. All right. I’m sure you have several favorite teachers. I’m not asking you the next question to play favorites but can you think as you reflect back on the last few years – are there a couple or three people who have been especially influential? God has used them in special ways to equip you and kind of advance your gospel ministry? >>Jesse: Sure. I would say of course Dr. Smith. Anybody that comes to Beeson is going to say Dr. Smith. And he’s helped me so much as a preacher. He’s one of the primary reasons that I’m here. So, I feel like that should go without saying. But I would also say those brothers who have taught me the languages. I think of Dr. Thielman and even Dr. Thielman’s New Testament class. I left that class with the ability to instantly summarize every book of the New Testament with its main themes and main ideas. And having that 30,000 foot overview combined with the skills he gives in the languages, that’s priceless. That’s priceless for somebody wanting to engage in pulpit ministry. I came to Beeson really wanting to learn Greek and knowing I would just have to survive Hebrew. But Hebrew was really rich for me. I took summer Hebrew a couple years ago. Very hard. A lot of work. Maybe not the wisest decision I’ve ever made. But that has opened up the Old Testament to me in so many ways. I can think of every professor that I’ve had. Some that are retired now and others that are serving in different capacities. I think about Dr. House and I think about so many others – Dr. Todd who teaches at Samford as well. They’ve all impacted me in different ways – in their classes, writings, correspondence. I would say that’s one of the strengths of Beeson as an educational institution. The way its organized is that I have little doubt that if I have done this that if I’m preaching a passage in the New Testament that I’m struggling with I can email Dr. Frank Thielman. And he will answer me. I can call different professors whose numbers I have and they will answer me. I’m not just a nameless number. I’m not just an unknown person. But they care and they want to help me. And for me that’s been the great treasure of my time at Beeson. >>Doug Sweeney: All right. So, as we’ve already said, tomorrow you’re going to preach at chapel for us. And by the time the people listening to this podcast episode hear it they can already go online and hear the sermon. We don’t need you to preach the sermon here, of course, but give our listeners a little feel for if they get to go online and click on your sermon, what are you going to be preaching about? >>Jesse: Okay, so we’ve had the on again off again theme in chapel of fanning in the flame the gift of God from II Timothy 1 and I’m going to try to continue that theme from that text. In particular, how does Paul encourage Timothy, who is very clearly anxious and afraid and worried about ministry, to have courage? And how does the gospel that we preach preached to us to give us the courage that we need to keep preaching? So, that’s the sound byte version. >>Doug Sweeney: I can’t wait to hear it. This is a funny question and you may not have an amazing answer. I’m not sure I would have an amazing answer. But a lot of people want to hear me ask you the question. So, just what is it like when the Dean calls you and says the preaching profs think you ought to be the preacher of the semester and win this Massey prize? What is that experience like being a student whose chosen by the preaching professors as the one who is the most, thus far, kind of gifted proficient role model preacher who ought to be preaching in chapel for your peers and your professors? I imagine it’s a little scary but what else is it? >>Jesse: I’ve never jumped out of an airplane and I have no desire to. But I imagine it’s something similar. The feeling of excitement, even to being honored that I was chosen and also terrifying that this could end very, very badly. >>Doug Sweeney: Oh, I doubt that. >>Jesse: So, I have only had one nightmare about it. So, that’s good. And my biggest fear I’m telling everybody is that the Lord is going to use this to humble me publicly as part of my sanctification. (laughs) But it is an incredible honor. And I’m so thankful. So, thank you and I’m also intimidated of course by preaching to so many people that have invested in me, that have cared for me, that are pulling for me. You don’t want to let them down. There’s a part of you that pridefully wants to impress them. But you also know they’ve heard everything. They’re not going to be impressed. So, it’s a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts. >>Doug Sweeney: Yeah. I’m in conversations regularly with people who say something like it would be so intimidating to preach in Hodges Chapel. And I’ve developed an answer to that over the years I’ve been here that goes something like this: You won’t preach in a context where you have more people surrounding you who are just praying and hoping and cheering for you to be faithful and open up God’s word and applying it to our lives. I don’t think you’re going to be preaching to a group of people who are going to have their arms crossed and look at you like, “What’s he going to get wrong?” >>Jesse: No. >>Doug Sweeney: Well, we’re all looking forward to it. Thanks for the courage you have and your willingness to step up and do it. All right, you know Jesse we always end these podcast interviews by asking our guests what the Lord is teaching these days, what the Lord is doing in their lives these days. We want to conclude on a kind of edifying note for those who are listening to us. So, I ask you – what is the Lord doing in your life these days? Have you learned anything new either in class that would be spiritually edifying for non seminary students or outside of class? >>Jesse: Yeah, sure. The simple emphasis of being the person God has made me to be and being the person that Christ saved me to be. In doctrine ethics right now with Dr. Mawicz we’re talking about the approach to ethics that isn’t what do I do in the crisis situation when I need to make a decision but how do I live an informed life where I’m transformed by the renewing of my mind. Be the disciple Jesus wants me to be. That has really resonated with me. And as I’ve reflected on my time at Beeson, again reflecting on God’s faithfulness that he will not fail. He will not fail. He will not let his people down. And he will always come through. And that’s a lesson we all need to hear over and over and over again. >>Doug Sweeney: He will indeed. Jesse, thanks for being with us. Listeners, you have been listening to the Reverend Jesse Carr. He’s pastor of Sharon Heights Baptist Church. He’s also the James Earl Massey Student Preacher of the Semester who wins the Massey prize this term and will preach to us in chapel. Please tune in and listen to his sermon. I’m sure the Lord will use it mightily in our community and your life as well. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for praying for students like Jesse Carr and others here at Beeson Divinity School. We’re praying for you. We do love you. And we say goodbye for now. >>Rob Willis: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our engineer is Rob Willis. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes and Spotify.