I started reading this the article, Man in the Middle, by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra because I have long appreciated Dr. David Dockery’s leadership in evangelicalism. But as I began reading, I realized that this piece tells a far bigger story than Dr. Dockery’s personal journey. Rather, Dr. Dockery’s experiences offer a lens through which we can consider evangelicalism’s story in North America over the last 50 years. Dr. Dockery has had a front row seat — and place in the ring — and invested his life — regarding debates and violence involving theological liberalism and racism.
David Dockery, president of Trinity International University, knows the feeling of exhaustion. His wife, Lanese, gave birth to their three boys in three years. While he was president at Union University, one student shot another, and an EF4 tornado tore through while half of the students were on campus.
But the most emotionally exhausting day in his life came on January 24, 1992.
“It was one of the happiest days and one of the saddest days of our lives jammed together,” he said.
For Dockery, January 24 started early. His commute to downtown Nashville normally took about 20 minutes. Although he was an assistant professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, he was on loan to the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (precursor to LifeWay Christian Resources) in order to serve as the general editor for the New American Commentary series.
But that Friday the drive was three hours, and took him up Interstate 65 back home to the SBTS campus in Louisville.
Read the rest here.
