Pastor H.D. McCarty served the community of Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas at University Baptist Church (a Southern Baptist Church) for 39 years as its Senior Pastor. With UBC’s and H.D.’s commitment to reach the University of Arkansas, he helped lead over 300 men and women into full-time ministry, hundreds of collegians into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and counseled many of them prior to marriage and then brought them together, often with vows he helped them write. In fact, he married Tara and me over twelve years ago, with Pastor Mike Bedford, an excellent worship pastor, taking part.
Tara was going through an old box of bible study materials and found a booklet that Pastor McCarty first wrote for his congregation in April 1975. As much ado has been made of late in SBC circles about private prayer languages and the fear of charismatic theology, a fear I believe should not be had, I found the title of the booklet to be enticing: “The Magnificent Giver and His Spiritual Gifts.” For those readers who do not know, the missionary sending agency of the Southern Baptists (the IMB) has made the speaking in tongues a litmus test for its potential missionaries and will not allow those who believe in such a gift serve in their calling as missionaries.
Over thirty years ago this wonderful follower of Jesus, H.D. McCarty, wrote these words:
There is often a big time gap between awareness and understanding. When my father in the faith led me to Christ he kept emphasizing that I find my “spiritual gift.” It took twenty years for me to begin to see what he meant and how important spiritual gifts are for the life of Christ’s church. Knowing, understanding and implementing this doctrine has been one of my chief goals in my later Christian life.
Spiritual gifts are not a gimmick, a cure-all, nor a short cut to spirituality. There is only one answer to the Christian’s deepest need . . . a passion for, and availability to, the Person of the Lord Jesus Himself. However, the Giver desires to extend His ministry through His Gifts. Charles Ryrie states that, “Service apart from the use of spiritual gifts is not spiritual service, it is only a manifestation of the activity of self.” Donald Gee declares, “Spiritual gifts are not a hobby to play with, they are tools to work with and weapons to fight with.”
The enormous significance of spiritual gifts can be most clearly seen from Ephesians 4:7-8 . . . .
Without question this links the giving of spiritual gifts to men with the resurrection exaltation of Christ to the heights of heaven!! To put it mildly, no small event!
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I am a charismatic Christian but I have not spoken in tongues! [Later he writes that he believes that tongues are a scriptural gift still today and simply not one that he has been given. This would disqualify him from service overseas with the IMB.]
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In the last twenty or thirty years congregations have been split over the issue of tongues and gifts of the Spirit. The debate has been heavy, not only in theological institutions of learning, but among the average layman. We have seen Pentecostal excesses on one side and narrow judgmentalism on the other. Even though the controversy has raged all around us and pastors who I know and love have been pulverized into taking a position [ugh! so sad!] on either side, the force of charismatic dissension has never been felt in UBC. I believe the reason for this is simple… we have made Jesus Christ the center of our church and have not allowed the various winds of our human limitations or experiences to move us from that one and only Rock. . . . There is danger in any doctrine that is cut off from the Person of Jesus Christ, regardless of its truth. The fact remains that great numbers of honest, sincere, godly, Bible-believing Christians hold opposite views on this subject.
*** Both sides… the Charismatics and non-Charismatics… would say search the Scriptures…but nothing is ultimately resolved. I have taken the position that there is a “HIGHER LAW” than gifts operating in the Body and that law is that of love and unity! Just before He died the Lord Jesus prayed to His Father that those who know Him would be one (John 17:21). It is my experience and belief that doctrine alone does not constitute the power to hold us together in a God glorifying fellowship . . . Jesus alone is able to do that. If we wait until our minds agree on all doctrines before we have unity, then unity will never come on this earth. The Lord Jesus expected this unity and commanded it. Further, He said the very power of our witness would be determined by the obvious wonder of our unity (John 13:34-35).
I love how he captures so well, in the midst of some of the greatest heat in the Church over the charismatic debate (the mid 1970s), the concept of unity through Jesus, not doctrine. We would be well served to have more men and women in the Church today making such a call to unity.