The Wit And Wisdom of Dr. Dorsett

Every Wednesday and Friday at 8am, I have the privilege to sit under one of the most entertaining, energetic and passionate sixty-five plus men I can imagine. Dr. Lyle W. Dorsett is a historian and theologian, having taught history in secular universities before becoming a Christian. He is a premier C.S. Lewis and John Wesley scholar and his also written biographies on D.L. Moody, A.W. Tozer, and Billy Sunday, among others. He is an ever-interesting mix of, a Charismatic Wesleyan High-Church Anglican, and pastor of Christ the King Anglican Church, which meets at Beeson's chapel on Sundays. He is often less of a professor and more of a general giving marching orders. I differ from him many ways theologically, but have learned a great deal from him. He has made me more resolutely Reformed in my theology, while at the same time making me more resolutely ecumenical in my thinking about church practice. Above all else, he is a warm, real, compassionate, heart-on-his-sleeve kind of man. A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk with him in his office about power evangelism, church planting and Wesleyan theology. Though he is a busy man, we talked for over an hour and a half!

So I thought I would share some of the wisdom he has passed on to our 8am class, which I quickly jotted down to later consider (and share).

"The simple truth is that worship is elementary until it begins to take on the quality of admiration."

On the same subject, he quoted A.W. Tozer: "God has few admirers among Christians today."

"In churches today, we have too many Bible deists, those who read the Bible without the Holy Spirit."

"When you climb up into that pulpit on Sunday, you are who you've been all week."

"Ministry is not glamorous; as long as you think it is, you're not doing God's work."

"It's the hobgoblin of little minds to insist that we know everything."

"If you know God, you can't hide him." To illustrate this, he told the story of when he first met his wife. He couldn't help but "share" her with people, his parents, his best friends. We ought to be more like that regarding Jesus.

"Why don't we pray regarding our ministry? Are we too proud to pray? Or too busy for God? Prayer is our lifeline to the Spirit."

"Roll Tide? Someday nobody will care. Roll Church! The gates of hell will not prevail against it!" (that's a hard one for me)

"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for." (that's a classic Charles Spurgeon quote that sits framed on his desk.)

I finish with a story he told about a friend's church that had an old woman known by the children as "Old 100" because no one quite knew how old she was, possibly a hundred years old. Every week during the sermon, she sat in the front row, hunched over. If the pastor took too long with an introduction, she would mutter "Lift him up," referring to Jesus. If she wasn't heard, she started speaking louder and louder, "lift him up, get him up." She wanted to hear about none but Jesus. On one occasion, a visiting preacher started touting himself and his ministry. This was eventually interrupted by Old 100 shouting, "Lift him up! Get him up!" from the front row.