Charles Page: 'alive because of prayer,' wary of a 'cold heart'
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated the dedication of the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology on April 15 with a triumphant tone in a chapel service featuring a message from the chair's namesake.
Page is a Southeastern graduate, longtime denominational leader and pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. His wife, Sandra, was a Southeastern trustee for several years.
Page, who has spent the last seven years battling multiple myeloma, a deadly form of bone marrow cancer, said he has fought back by God's grace.
"I am convinced that I am alive today because of prayer," he said. "I believe strongly in the healing touch of God."
The Pages were visibly moved at the outpouring of love at the dedication service, where they also were given the President's Award for outstanding service and support of Southeastern.
"Every time I step on this campus, I am thrilled all over again," Charles Page told the assembled crowd, which included trustees who were at the seminary for their meeting. "This has become one of the world's greatest seminaries, without question."
Friends and supporters of both the Pages and Southeastern are funding the chair, which entails raising $1 million to fully endow a chair in a given academic field. Endowment proceeds are then used to pay the faculty chair holder's salary and other expenses.
Southeastern has one fully endowed chair, the Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism held by evangelism expert Alvin Reid. The holder of the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology has not been selected because the chair needs $200,000 to be fully endowed.
In introducing Page, Southeastern President Paige Patterson commended Page for his longtime loyalty to the seminary, as well as the gentle spirit in which he has carried out a lifetime of ministry.
"In the whole world, there is no more deeply profoundly humble man than Dr. Charles Page," Patterson said, adding that Page is one of the most gifted preachers in the Southern Baptist Convention. "I have never heard Dr. Charles Page when he didn't bless my soul."
Page, in his message, preached from Isaiah 6 on the importance of hearing and acting on the call of God. He challenged the students to fear only one thing as they embark on ministry -- a cold heart.
"I have a fear of a cold heart," Page said. "May I always be excited about [God] and what [God] called me to be."
Maintaining a hot heart, Page said, depends on daily confession before the Lord and a sincere commitment to go whenever and wherever God leads.
Page recalled that when he decided to surrender to God's call and leave a career of high school athletic coaching and attend Southeastern, he was called a fool by the high school's administration.
"I'd rather be a happy, joyful fool in the center of God's will," he said, "than to own the universe."
(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: PAGES APPLAUDED.
