Giants of the Faith - A Christian History Podcast

Giants of the Faith is a bite-sized podcast where we’ll explore some of the great figures in Christian history. Expect to hear episodes on Luther, Augustine, Wesley, and more. Some of the folks we talk about will be familiar to you and some will probably not be but all are noteworthy in some way.

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Giants of the Faith - A Christian History Podcast

Episode 40 - RC Sproul

August 10, 2021 • Robert Daniels • Season 3 • Episode 40

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I'm very excited about this episode because it's subject, RC Sproul, is my favorite modern theologian and teacher and I've learned so much from him through the years. And I continue to learn from him today through his recorded lectures and writings. RC Sproul served the Kingdom in many ways through his life - professor, pastor, leader, father, husband, administrator, hymnist, defender, and many more. But perhaps his most lasting and wide-spread impact is his commitment to teaching the laity. Sproul was without doubt one of the Giants of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

RESOURCES

Ligonier.org: https://www.ligonier.org/blog/ligonier-valley-study-center-early-years/

Ligonier.org: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/r-c-sproul-man-called-god/

Ligonier.org: https://www.ligonier.org/blog/remembering-rc-sproul/

The Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/rc-sproul-life-stephen-nichols/

Challies: https://www.challies.com/book-reviews/rc-sproul-a-life/

The Gospel Herald: https://www.gospelherald.com/articles/71727/20171214/dr-r-c-sproul-death-john-piper-russell-moore-reflect.htm

Hello and welcome to episode 40 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. My name is Robert Daniels and I'm the host of this show. This is the podcast where we look at individuals from the age of the Church who have lived out their faith in a unique or interesting way. These are people who are giants in the history of Christendom; hall of famers, if you will. This is the first episode of season 3 of this show and we're getting back to a more general focus.

Robert Charles Sproul was born on February 13, 1939, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Robert Cecil, was an accountant and his mother, Mayre Ann, was a homemaker. World War II broke out shortly after Sproul's birth and it would shape his earliest years and his earliest memories. When the United States entered the war in 1941 Sproul's father was appointed to the local draft board but a few weeks after the appointment he enlisted in the Army Air Corps because he felt he could not send young men off to fight if he himself did not. Robert returned safely from the war in 1945 and his commitment to honor and integrity had a major impact on RC.

RC's childhood was decidedly middle class American. He participated in youth sports - baseball, football, hockey, and basketball. His love for Pittsburgh's professional sports teams carried on all through his life. You won't have to watch or listen to many of his lessons before you'll come across references to the Pittsburgh Steelers or needling remarks directed at the Cincinatti Bengals and their fans.

When RC was in the first grade he met Vesta Voorhis. Vesta was a grade ahead of RC but when he reached the sixth grade he asked her out. They dated off an on for a couple of years and in the eighth grade it all finally came together. The two were in the same church choir and youth group. They went to different colleges but stayed together and were eventually married in 1960. The couple eventually had two children and remained happily married until RC's death.

The High School years were difficult one's for RC. His father suffered several strokes which made him an invalid. RC had to get a job to help provide for the family and when his father died the family home had to be sold. The family moved into a small apartment and times were tough. At this point in his life RC did not know God and had no real faith on which to lean. He graduated high school and went on to Westminster College in New Wilmington, about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh.

It was as a freshman at Westminster that Sproul was converted. One night, only a week after classes started, he and a friend were on their way to a local bar when RC realized he'd left his cigarettes in his dormitory room. He turned back to get them and encountered the school's star football player. The two struck up a conversation and over the next hour RC came to realize that this man knew Christ in a way that RC did not. He had a personal, intimate fellowship that RC was missing. RC returned to his bedroom and cried out to God for forgiveness. He became a believer that night and the course of his life changed. Soon after Vesta came to visit him and, at a prayer meeting was converted herself.

After graduating from Westminster Sproul enrolled at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a largely liberal Presbyterian seminary. But even in this place that RC called hostile to Orthodox Christianity God moved in his life. He met Professor John Gerstner who was a conservative, Orthodox believer and specialist in Christian history. He became Sproul's mentor. During Gerstner's class on the theology of Jonathan Edwards Sproul became convinced of the correctness of Reformed Theology. This was another pivot point in his life and he would go on to be one of the leading voices in the Reformed world.

While still a seminary student RC served as the student pastor at a Presbyterian Church in Lyndora, Pennsylvania. I tried very hard to find the name of that church but could not. This was his first posting as a pastor and RC thought it was the start of his career pastoring. But his mentor, John Gerstner, had a different suggestion for Sproul. Gerstner suggested that Sproul attend the Free University in Amsterdam to study under Gerrit Berkouwer. Berkouwer was one of the leading Reformed theologians in the Netherlands and held the chair in systematic theology at the Free University. The "free" in Free University refers to its freedom from state and church control.

RC and Vesta, now married and with a daughter, agreed to Gerstner's suggestion. They sold their possessions and headed to Europe. When the family arrived in the Netherlands they were strangers in a strange land. They didn't speak the language, they knew no one, and the culture was completely alien to them. But they persevered. RC threw himself into his studies spending hours a day reading texts in Greek, Latin, and Dutch. Life soon interfered and in 1965 the couple had to return to the US to be with RC's sickly mother. Vesta was pregnant with their second child and on July 1 RC Jr was born and RC's mother Mayre died.

Sproul was granted a year's leave by the Free University and took up a teaching position at Gordon College in Massachusetts. RC realized he could not return to the Netherlands full time so he continued his degree studies remotely and traveled to Europe to take exams. After two years at Gordon he took a job teaching at the Cornwell School of Theology in Philadelphia. In 1968, while in Philly, he completed his doctoral degree from the Free University.

His time in Philadelphia showed him how eager the laity was for Godly education. He was asked to lead a class at his church on the person and work of Christ. He was struck by his students - these were just regular folks - eagerness and desire to learn. Contrasted with his seminary students seeming attitudes these regular churchgoers were excited to learn and grow. This realization would impact RC's ministry for the rest of his life. He took a position as the pastor for theology and evangelism at College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinatti, Ohio. Here he was directly involved with educating the common man.

Anyway, Sproul's church had been visited by Dora Hillman, who was the widow of a coal and steel tycoon. She was so impressed by RC's teaching that she approached him with a unique proposition. She had 52 acres of land in western Pennsylvania that she wanted to donate for use as a study center similar to Francis Schaeffer's L'abri in Switzerland.

Sproul was aware of Schaeffer's work. Schaeffer had setup a chalet as a center of learning and philosophy where anyone - students, seekers, really anyone - could come and stay to discuss and learn. L'abri is a Christian community that has influenced generations of thinkers for Christ. If you want to hear more about Schaeffer check out episode 24 of this podcast.

Hillman wanted RC and Vesta and their family to come live in Pennsylvania and establish something similar. After consideration and prayer the Sprouls agreed. So in 1971 they packed their bags and headed to the Ligonier valley where RC served as the teaching theologian of the Ligonier Valley Study Center. A man named Jim Thompson and his family accompanied them. Thompson was a member at College Hill and he'd begun an audiotape ministry there. He would continue and expand the ministry at Ligonier.

Several buildings and homes either existed or were built on the property to house the staff - which quickly expanded beyond Sproul and Thompson. Students that cams to the center would sleep in the staff homes, dine with the staff and their families, work around the property, attend lectures, etc. Churches would bring in groups to learn under RC. Thompson would record RC's lectures and then distribute them to other churches and individuals.

A typical week at Ligonier went like this. Monday - theology, philosophy, and apologetics instruction. Wednesday - open Bible study for the surrounding community. Friday - church groups would arrive for weekend seminars. Sunday - a morning sermon by RC followed by brunch.

Then in 1974 the center began video recording the lectures. Tapes were sent across the country and hundreds or thousands of people were impacted by the teaching from Ligonier. At the same time, RC began traveling to speak at conferences and churches across the country - raising the profile and influence of Ligonier. Programs influenced by Ligonier teaching and courses include Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship, Young Life, Youth for Christ, and more.

During this time Sproul and the Ligonier center hosted a conference of leading evangelicals from around the world. They met to formulate and prepare the Ligonier Statement on Biblical Inerrancy to defend the authority and authenticity of the Bible from attacks from liberals in the church. This was a precursor to the Chicago Statement, which Sproul was also involved in preparing.

As the influence and mission of the Ligonier Valley Study Center continued to increase the board that oversaw it decided that a change of name and location was needed. So in 1984 the name was changed to Ligonier Ministries and they relocated to Sanford, Florida, in the Orlando metro area. On a personal note, my home is only about 90 minutes from Sanford and one of my regrets is that I never made it over there to hear Sproul preach before he died.

In 1985 Sproul published his master work - The Holiness of God. Over the years he authored more than 100 books. One of my favorites is The Last Days According to Jesus. I encourage you to pick it up.

1994 brought a new opportunity for sharing the gospel with the beginning of the Renewing Your Mind radio program. This program, which continues even after RC's death, has reached millions of people around the world.

Then 1995 saw the publication of The New Geneva Study Bible. Sproul had been asked, back in 1988, to edit a new study Bible in the vein of the 16th century Geneva Bible. With the help of more than 50 Reformed scholars from around the globe Sproul worked on this project for the next seven years until its publication in 1995. It's been reworked and renamed and is still available today as the Reformed Study Bible. It's the Bible that I personally use and I'm very grateful to Dr. Sproul and the team that put it together.

Then in 1997 Sproul was invited to serve as senior pastor of a new church, Saint Andrew's Chapel, that was being formed in Sanford. The church started out small, meeting in offices at Ligonier's campus before it moved to a movie theater, then a school cafeteria, and then on to their own sanctuary in 2001.

Sproul continued teaching, preaching, writing, and shepherding until the end of his life. He was a firm defender of the faith, always looked to deliver truth in a way that could be understood and grasped by the everyman. In 2015 he suffered a stroke and then in 2017, in December, he was admitted to the hospital suffering from the flu - exacerbated by emphysema. He died on December 14. Sproul will be remembered as one of the greatest American theologians.

And that wraps up this episode of Giants of the Faith. Thanks for listening. Feel free to drop me a line at podcast@giantsofhtefaith.com with any comments or suggestions. Until next time, God bless.

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