Eric Metaxas Issues Challenge at Hamrick Lectureship

“Young people today need heroes, especially young men,” according to Eric Metaxas. The best selling biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce and the keynote speaker for the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast, said at the 18th Annual John A. Hamrick Lectureship at First Baptist Church of Charleston on January 27 and 28.. “These men changed the world of their day.”

“The importance of their lives to us today is what we can learn from them. William Wilberforce was born into a world of unbelievable debauchery. He took Christian principles which were celebrated by only those on the fringes of the society of his day and brought them into the center of society. His life was so changed by his acceptance of Jesus that he wanted to somehow give back. He truly believed that he was no better than any other person. He believed that whatever gifts God had given us were for us to help others. We are blessed so that we can bless others.”

“We who are Christian have not done a good job of telling our story. We have allowed the secular world to forget where the great principles of justice, liberty, charity and responsibility come from. These are Christian values. If we have been saved by Jesus, we are responsible for taking the message to the marketplace and we have not done it. Wilberforce believed that God called him to end the slave trade. We need to find out what God has called each of us to do and to get busy doing it. Each of us has a unique role to fill.” Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane, Executive Director of the Avery Research Center, introduced Metaxas on Sunday night and Dr. Malcolm Clark, retired history professor at the College of Charleston, introduced him on Monday. The Joy Club provided a Soup and Cornbread lunch for all attendees.

Both lectures were followed by question and answer sessions moderated by Rev. Joel Smith.. David Templeton was the soloist and Suzanne Jeter was the organist.

The lectures are a memorial to the life and work of Dr. John A. Hamrick, pastor of the church for 29 years, founder of First Baptist School and the founding president of what is now Charleston Southern University.

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