INTERVIEW – Al Mohler, Part Three

It is a real pleasure to welcome to my blog again today, Dr. Albert Mohler. Dr. Mohler should need no introduction to most of my readers, but I include a link to his biography for any who need to know more, as well as a link to my Together for the Gospel Conference Round Up Post.

This interview is being serialised over several days. In the first and second parts of this interview, we explored the wide range of roles that Dr. Mohler performs – he is one busy person. So it may seem surprising that he became involved in yet another organization – Together for the Gospel. So I decided to ask him about that.

Adrian

With all your busyness, somehow within it all you found time for this partnership called Together for the Gospel. Why?

Dr. Mohler

Well, Together for the Gospel represents a centering in my life and ministry. At the most basic level, it is established in the friendship of four men who share so many common commitments and a common vision. The time spent with Lig, C. J., and Mark has been one of the best investments of my lifetime. I would wish for other Christians what I have found in these three friends—a genuine friendship, accountability, fraternity, and fellowship that the world can neither sever nor understand. Out of this friendship of four has grown an extended network of friendships, for which we are all grateful. The focus of our greatest concern is the health of Christ’s church in this generation. We are, as our name suggests, together for the cause of the Gospel.

Adrian
Can you tell me, in your own words, just a bit about how Together for the Gospel first came about? What sparked it off?

Dr. Mohler
The movement truly grew out of our friendship. The friendship came first, and as we grew together and invested untold hours and days in conversation, a clear sense of common concern and urgency emerged. I think I might have first suggested that we consider a conference, but it was Mark who ran with the idea and it was Mark, along with C. J. and his team, who really brought organizational shape to the conference. The conference, and the larger movement, grew out of our friendship and common concerns.

Adrian
How did the four of you decide that you can work together with each other and not with other people? Was it just a natural development of friendship or were their conscious decisions made – perhaps connected with theological positions – that said I can unite with someone who believes this, but not that?

Dr. Mohler

As a matter of fact, all four of us do work with other people. I work with a myriad of constituencies, particularly with the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. Ligon is one of the senior denominational statesmen of his generation, having served as moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America. Mark is a dynamo for human relationships, as is C. J. Each of us works with persons who represent an expanding circle of influence. Nevertheless, the four of us chose to work together in this specific project because we detected in each other a set of concerns that were unique and represented a powerful opportunity for common impact.

Of course, the theological issues were always at the forefront. These issues were especially related to the integrity of the Gospel. Of necessity, we had to begin with the issues of biblical authority, inerrancy, and the proper bounds of interpretation. To this we would add our character, common to all four of us, as confessing evangelicals, bound to specific confessions of faith and to a confessional heritage. Everything else grows out of those commitments.

Adrian
This notion we have spoken about of a core of an event or organization being birthed in the friendship of four very different guys intrigues many of us. Is this very different from other groups or organizations that you are involved with?

Dr. Mohler
As a matter of fact, it is different than other organizations of my involvement. In the first place, most of the organizational relationships I know and fulfill are based in institutions or organizations that existed long before I was born. The seminary I lead was established in 1859. The Southern Baptist Convention was established in 1845. These are just indicative of the fact that, in the main, we walk into established institutions and programs. Like Israel, we drink from cisterns we did not dig and eat from vineyards we did not plant.

The fact that Together for the Gospel grew out of our friendship is very special to us, if not unique. I am sure that such partnerships were common in the time of the Reformation and at other turning points in church history.

Continued in Part Four . . .