Lisa Harper's Back Porch Theology AccessMore

You know those party game questions where you’re asked if you could have dinner with anyone – dead or alive – who would you choose? Well, this is my party game answer come true because I had the hugely undeserved privilege of sitting down with seven of my theological HEROES – Dr. Jim Howard, my spiritual mentor and a Denver Seminary professor; Dr. Lynn Cohick, distinguished professor of NT and director of Houston Theological Seminary, formerly the provost of my alma mater – Den Sem; Dr. Scot McKnight, acclaimed NT scholar, author of more than sixty books, who’s been a seminary professor for many decades and guest teaches at Oxford; Dr. Dorian Coover Cox, a world renowned expert on Exodus and Israel’s journey from captivity to Canaan and beloved professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary; Dr. Eva Bleeker, a licensed counselor and chaplain, bereavement expert, and professor at Denver Seminary as well as one of the kindest, most empathetic scholars you’ll ever meet; Dr. Craig Keener, a palpably humble, albeit world renowned biblical scholar, author of the IVP Bible Background Commentary which is on the shelves of pretty much every minister I know as well as eight Bible commentaries, 37 books and over a hundred academic articles, he’s a professor in the doctoral program at Asbury Theological Seminary; and finally the gentleman who’s the main reason I chose the doctoral program at Denver Seminary, Dr. Craig Blomberg, who’s a world renowned NT scholar, has authored and edited many, many academic works like The Historical Reliability of the New Testament and Interpreting the Parables, he was on the translatory team for the most recent edition of the NIV Bible, has served as a research fellow at Cambridge and recently retired from Denver Seminary but continues to teach a few classes in his role as professor emeritus of the NT. The credentials held by this dream teaching team are unstinkin’ believable y’all but their humility, kindness, and generous willingness to help the rest of us fall deeper in love with Jesus eclipses their academic resumes. This perfectly numbered crew of seven scholars became a family of spiritual big brothers and sisters to us at Kerygma and I trust you’ll come to feel that way as well as they open your eyes even wider to the God who loves us more than we can ever ask or imagine. You’ll want to bring a notebook along with something caffeinated and your Bible to the porch today, welcome to this special scholars edition of Back Porch Theology!
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All of the conversations we have the undeserved privilege of engaging in on BPT are special to Ally, Dr. Howard, and me because the point of our conversations – even if it takes a while for us to get there – is always the immutable goodness and compassion of our Trinitarian Creator Redeemer, God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. However, this particular conversation which we taped live at Kerygma a few weeks ago with one of my all-time theological heroes, New Testament scholar Dr. Scot McKnight, is a very personal and poignant milestone for me because God used one of Dr. McKnight’s books – The Blue Parakeet – like a merciful scalpel in my life to cut away some corrosive shame that had compromised my mind and heart and ministry efficacy for decades. The back cover copy of The Blue Parakeet reads: In this bold, engaging reexamination of reading the Bible, Scot McKnight calls all Christians from both ends of the spectrum to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew to our hearts. In other words, his exegetical brilliance will recharge our passion for both reading Scripture and relating to God’s redemptive narrative in increasingly intimate and personal ways. If you’re a Bible banger like me and your Bible is one of those precious possessions you’d be sure to grab if your proverbial ship was sinking OR if you’ve secretly and guiltily thought the Bible was boring and have a hard time engaging with it, this conversation is right up your alley, baby! So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – whether the pages still stick together from so little use or whether it’s tattered and stained – that is unless you’re swinging a broom at those nasty cicadas, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us.

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology Alli and I have the profound privilege of hanging out with two women who are spiritual heroines to us – Dr. Dorian Coover Cox, a professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Dr. Lynn Cohick, a Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Director of Houston Theological Seminary at Houston Christian University. I’ve known Dr. Cohick for many years because she was the provost at Denver Seminary and within five minutes of meeting her, I began plotting how to talk her into becoming one of my mentors! She’s one of the first people I shared my dreams about Kerygma to and has been part of it since the inception. In fact, I told her a few weeks ago that she’s now part of the proverbial living room furniture in my life, so she’d better never think about leaving! And while I’ve known of Dr. Coover Cox for years because she’s one of the spiritual mentors of BPT’s very own Dr. Howard, this year at Kerygma was the first time we got to hang out with her in person, and within 5 minutes she got grafted into the family too! Dr. Coover Cox is an expert on Exodus and Dr, Cohick is an expert on Ephesians so we’re going to glean from these two saints’ wisdom and camp out in those two books of Holy Writ today and let me encourage you to bring a notebook along with your coffee and your Bible, because you’re going to want to take notes on the porch today, baby!

During today’s episode – which is number 124, so we’re well past the two-year mark – I watched my “five-foot-twelve spiritual wing-woman” – it tickles me every time Alli says that but it’s a gracious exaggeration because she and I fly this plane called BPT together and I’d surely crash without her. Anyway, I watched my dear friend put her head on the table and weep because she was so overwhelmed by the palpable goodness of God. Alli’s a beautifully authentic woman y’all but she’s also a consummate professional and is rarely rendered mute. But you know how sometimes divine grace interrupts your consciousness in such a dramatic way that it forces a “selah” moment? A sacred pause when we can’t help but gape at God’s grace. Frankly, I think Christ-followers need to pause and gape at our Redeemer’s grace on a regular basis. In my experience, when too much time passes between gaping at grace sessions, our hearts become susceptible to the deadly virus of unbelief. Wonder is a necessary praxis if we want to actually experience the abundant life Jesus died to give us access to. We all need to be reminded of just how miraculous it is that the transcendent Creator of the Universe condescends to redeem and restore and unconditionally LOVE the likes of mistake prone yahoos like us. We recorded today’s conversation recently, at the very end of the Kerygma Summit here in Franklin, TN. It was kind of like our Swan Song of this year’s summit and it was the first time Alli met my friend Kyle. She said she’ll never be the same after hearing his story and I don’t think you will be either. So please grab a cup of coffee, your Bible, and a box of tissues and come gape at the amazing grace of God on the porch with us.

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Chaplain Kyle Hebert c/o Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office
P.O. Box 1000 Livingston, LA 70754
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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology took place very recently at The Kerygma Summit here in Franklin, TN and this particular conversation was kind of the “chips and queso” moment of the whole weekend for me because I had the undeserved privilege of sitting down with some of my favorite female Christian leaders from around the country and gleaning from their collective wisdom. I framed the question that I posed to all of them like this: At sixty I know much less about God than what I thought I knew about Him at forty and what I pretended to know about Him at twenty. But what I now know to be true of God – namely His unconditional love and immutable faithfulness – I know in the very marrow of my bones. Then I asked each of them – many of whom are leading large ministries – what they now know to be true of God in the marrow of their bones. Their answers were gut-level honest, deeply encouraging, appropriately convicting at times, and always God and others honoring. This conversation was a living example of Psalm 68:11 - the Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng. Plus, since these saints came from various streams of the church, it was also a master class in unity and it reminded me of Jesus’s response to John’s question in Mark 9: “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Christian unity is not the same thing as uniformity, y’all. We don’t have to agree on every, single jot and tittle of what is theologically nuanced, but if we can agree on the fact that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way sinners like us can be reconciled with God, as well as the authority of God’s Word, we’re family. Remember the Bible also reveals that a divisive spirit is one of the six things that God hates (Proverbs 9) and whenever possible He calls us to be at peace and harmony with each other (Romans 12). Today’s conversation is going to be like spiritual Gorilla Glue, it’s going to fasten us tighter to our Creator Redeemer and tighter to the community of faith so please grab a cup of coffee or a glass of sparkling water with a wedge of lime or a thimbleful of wheatgrass juice and your Bible – unless you’re trimming your roses, of course; mine have sprouted out with more enthusiasm than Einstein’s eyebrows during the past few weeks of warm weather – and come hang out on the porch with us.
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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is a really special one and it’s especially rowdy too because it took place just a little over a week ago at The Kerygma Summit here in Franklin, TN where almost 1,500 women from across the country – as well as some other countries, I got to meet a lovely backporcher from Tanzania – gathered together to learn more about God and His Word. The teaching team at Kerygma this year was a veritable Who’s Who of Bible scholars, seminary professors and theologians including some of the engaging and enlightening friends we’ve previously connected with on the porch like Dr. Craig Keener and Dr. Scot McKnight. Brooke Ligertwood led worship all weekend, and y’all I can’t wrap words around what happened when she ushered us toward the throne room of Jesus on Friday night, except to say it felt almost transcendent. God’s Spirit revealed Himself to us in a way that left a redemptive mark on my heart, which I hope never fades. You know those moments in time when God effectively wipes the blurred glass that Apostle Paul says exists between us and Glory in a way that allows us to see Him more clearly? He made His presence so accessible this weekend, I’m still in kind of a discombobulated fog of wonder and gratitude. In retrospect, I should have taken off my shoes because it was just that holy. Well anyway, this conversation took place during the course of Kerygma, so I need to warn you that there’s a lot more ambient sound than usual because we were smack dab in the middle of a giant family of faith instead of a controlled studio environment. And I also want you to know that we delved into sensitive subject matter because I explained in detail about how God used a community of believers to save my life when I wasn’t sure I could keep living it. Which means some of the moments we’ll share today are too mature for little ears, therefore I encourage you to wait until after you’ve dropped the kids off at school to join us. That being said, please bring your Bible and a big cup of coffee – unless you’re up to your elbows in suds because that darling Doodle tangled with a skunk again - and come hang out on the porch with us!
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