Southern Seminary recently hosted Joel Beeke where he spoke at chapel, engaged with students, and presented the Mullins Lectures on “Reformed Experiential Preaching.” In the lectures, Beeke urged aspiring pastors to preach with conviction—believing God uses the ordinary means of preaching to perform extraordinary works of redemption.
“If you’re called to the ministry, you’re called to an occupation that is more important than living in the White House,” Beeke said. “You’re dealing with the immortal souls of men and women, teenagers and children.”
Beeke serves as chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, where he has pastored, written, and lectured in Reformed circles since 1978. He has authored and coauthored more than 120 books, edited another 120, and contributed some 2,500 articles to Reformed publications worldwide.
Beeke challenged students toward earnestness in the pulpit, warning against ministers who do not preach with their whole hearts. He recalled a visitor to his own church who remarked after a service that he preached as though he actually believed what he was saying. Beeke said comments like that should never be unusual for pastors.
“How could you be a minister and not really believe what you’re saying?” Beeke asked. “Believe in preaching in such a way that as you preach, you preach with passion and you preach with earnestness.”
Beeke’s visit to Southern Seminary gave students a rare opportunity to learn from one of the most prolific and respected voices in Reformed theology. As a pastor, scholar, and seminary president who has spent close to five decades immersed in Puritan thought and pastoral ministry, Beeke embodied the historical depth and theological grounding that Southern Seminary seeks to instill in every minister it trains.