: Welcome to Real Truth for today with pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. Wanted to read to you from Romans chapter 8. Beginning in verse 31 says this. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, Rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us, who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, Just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death. All day long we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced Paul says that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In my office, I have a, very beautifully framed, part of the Bible from Dr. Adrian Rogers. It's Romans, chapter 8, and it's his notes on Romans 8. And some years ago at Love Worth Finding, they gave these to some of their top donors. And a top donor was in my church. And, when she had to move into a nursing home, she said, I don't have rock room for this, but I know you love Dr. Adrian Rogers. I want to give this to you. And it's, one of my special, special wall hangings in my office. I love Adrian Rogers. He is my hero in the faith. I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of his sermons over the years. And just last week, I had two strange dreams about Dr. Adrian Rogers. We were at some kind of, a, meeting for, you know, church leaders. And he was there and he was getting ready to speak, and I didn't get to talk to him, but I remember him being there. And then, like the next night I had this dream. Well, Dr. Rogers has been gone for 21 years, and so it was odd for me to dream about him. And it made me think about his son Steve, who's a friend of mine. And so I contacted Steve and I said, steve, I had these two dreams about your dad. And, I want to get you on the program. I think this would be a good time for us to talk about the late, great Dr. Adrian Rogers. I don't think anybody knows Adrian, any better than Steve. And so, Steve, welcome to the program today.
Steve Rogers: Hey, how are you doing, Jeff? Good to, see you and hear you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it's always a pleasure, my friend. And, I love, the Steve Rogers voice is much like dad's somewhat. Very few had a voice quite like Adrian Rogers.
Steve Rogers: That's right. I will tell you an anecdote your listeners may find interesting. after my dad was first elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, this is going back into, the 70s. It was a really big deal for his church members and everything. And I don't know how much of a deal it was for him, but, he went with several of the other newly elected Southern Baptist officials, was invited to be on cbs, and he went to NewSong York City, Manhattan, and they were going to. And they did interview him, but he was going with several other pastors in the elevator from the lobby up to wherever in this, you know, high rise building that they were going to interview him. And he and the pastors got on the elevator and, you know, they were the first on. And then it stops on another floor. And several other CBS employees got on. My dad referred to them as suits. So they were wearing those suits. They were, they were like corporate types.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And they were all going up the elevator, but they're not looking. they're just facing the elevator door. They're not. They don't have no idea who's behind them. They didn't pay any attention. And then my dad started talking to one of his fellow pastors. And all of a sudden one of these suits turns around and says, who are you? And he says, did we just hire you? Are you going to be doing the news or something like that? Because he heard that voice, and he thought that CBS had hired a new. Some kind of anchor or something. He said, no, I'm just a Baptist pastor.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it was said of your dad, he couldn't whisper in a hurricane. I think Bill Skelton told me that. And, he did have that booming voice. well, Steve, your dad's been gone now for 21 years. Is that right?
Steve Rogers: Yes, sir. Yes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: still on the radio. He's on American Family Radio. He's still preaching the gospel, I think, about Abel. Although he is dead, he still speaks. You were very gracious to me, Steve. You gave me a thumb drive of all your dad's sermons. I look at those when I'm preparing a message on a particular passage. I shared an Adrian story just a couple of weeks ago, Steve, where your dad talked about being a teenage boy and witnessing to this guy, in Palm beach and leading him to the first person he ever led to faith in Christ, so powerful. And people, in my church, I mean, everybody could relate to it because he talked about the fear that he felt talking to this guy. He said, here I am, a kid, no shirt, no shoes, just out there. Talk to him about Jesus. If you remember that, that's, a great story.
Steve Rogers: I do remember it well.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: your dad was the master. I have the book in front of me right here. Adrianisms. He was the master of turning phrases and the things that he would say that would be so memorable. was that from your perspective? Was that just unique to him, or did he learn that from somebody else?
Steve Rogers: He didn't learn it. I think my dad, got his proclivity for turns of phrases, aphorisms, syllogisms, whatever you want to call it. What kind of isms?
Caroline: Little.
Steve Rogers: Little, phrases from. And jokes and anecdotes from my grandmother, his mom. But my dad was just born with this ability to memorize. Just remember is what I'm trying to say. Remember any, like, little joke or quip he ever heard. And then after I realized this through his life, and I realized he told it better back, you know, he improved it if it needed to be.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And I've heard other pastors, not you, we'll let them remain anonymous. Tell some of my dad's stories, and I'm going, you're close, but you didn't have the timing. My dad would put a smile in his voice, when, that was his cue to tell you, this is going to be funny. I'm not.
Caroline: I'm not.
Steve Rogers: Don't take Me real serious, because I'm. There's going to be a punchline coming. But no, he, he could memorize. He had memorized, long passages of poems that he learned, like the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. He could spout them off. And I don't know how he did that. And he, of course he always, used the King James Bible. people would ask him, well, Dr. Rogers is a, what do you think about. Don't you think you should preach in some of these newer translations? And he would say, you know, people say I'm a KJV only type of guy, but it's not because I think the other translations are necessarily lacking. I just have always preached from the King James because I've done all my memory and I can quote all these passages, you know, with the. These and the thous. And if I try to study now and go to something else, you know, like NASB or whatever, even NewSong King James, that would just mess my mind up. So. So he was always a King James, version preacher.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: But interestingly enough, when, after he died, when they came out with the Adrian Rogers study Bible, they decided to put it in the new King James Version, which I thought was a good idea. And, and he didn't have anything philosophically or theological, to. To negative, about, another. A newer version. But, it did raise some eyebrows because he has some, followers and admirers in the King James only.
Jeff Chamblee: Yes.
Steve Rogers: My mindset.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Well, I can relate to Dear People, by the way.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, for sure. Well, I can relate to that. When I was a young guy at, Champion Forrest and, Demon Shook, he switched from NewSong American Standard to Niv because he said that's what most people are, Are buying now. That was when Niv before went off the rails and, he asked me to switch and I just said I can't because that'll mess up all my memorization. You know, if you start reading it and it's just a little different than how you know it, then you can't remember it at all.
Steve Rogers: And yeah, yeah, you start quoting the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I don't think I need anything right now. I'm good. You know, that's like a modern version.
Caroline: Hey, that.
Steve Rogers: That's not how it ought to go. You know, I shall not want. And what does that mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: So anyway, yeah, people understand what King James means.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: It's the language of Shakespeare too. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's for sure.
Steve Rogers: Listen to Shakespeare. You put up with all the these and thou's and canst and ditched and all that stuff.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, Steve, your dad died in 2005. he was instrumental in, pulling the Southern Baptist Convention back from the brink of, liberalism. he was a strong preacher. You know, believe the word. His famous, quote there to the convention. We don't have to get along, we don't have to get together. I'm not going to compromise. The word of God has played over and over and over again, and I love that about him. He was strong, but he wasn't ugly about it. But he wasn't going to compromise. How do you think. And no doubt you've thought about this. You spent a lot of time with your dad. how do you think he would view the current situation in the Southern Baptist Convention and in the country itself?
Steve Rogers: Well, let's talk about the country first. My dad had a saying, and when he was talking about end times, he would say, all this stuff that's going to happen should not take the child of God by surprise, because we know it's going to happen. And when we hear all the things that we know are end times things, wars and rumors of wars and signs and the moon, turning to blood and the sun darkening and all that type of stuff, it should not take us by surprise. We should look at each other and say, it's getting gloriously dark.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And so if my dad were alive today, and I say that qualified, he's alive, he's just not here on Earth. Right. He is 95. And I'm not using the past tense. I mean, he will be 95 in September, next month, September 12, coming up in several weeks. But, he would, he would say, jeff is getting gloriously dark. Ain't it, brother? Yeah. When we see all this stuff, you know, tensions in the Middle east, uncertainty with Iran, and then just, the craziness that's going on in our, country with all the extreme political stuff, and, it's just happening every day. You think it can't get much nuttier or much loopier or much crazier, and yet it does. And, you know, I firmly feel that we are in a period of Romans 1 judgment. You'll know exactly what I mean. When people refuse to acknowledge God and leave him out of the equation, then what did God say? I'll give them over to believe a lie. We'll believe ridiculous things that no one in their right mind would have believed before. And so that's where we are. And people, like you and me, you say, wait a minute, that's not right. That's not biologically correct. That's not scientifically correct. It's not anything correct. But yet you're trying to, make that a, litmus test for how we get along. So, as all things do, it creeps into the church. And so we see whole denominations that want to, basically excise certain passages of the Bible because they don't like them, they make them feel uncomfortable. I thought it was interesting. can I talk about the Babylon? Be on, the radio. I will, I will keep it respectful. So the Babylon Bee last week had had a progress. A Bible for progressives. I don't know if you saw that. And, and every page in it is perforated and you can just tear out the pages you don't like. And so, yeah, so, you know, it's crept into the church and that would not surprise my dad either, because what, did Jesus say he's going to do at the end times? He's going to separate the wheat from the tares. The tares are all these people that are kind of have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Jesus said, why, why call me Lord and don't do the things I say.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Steve Rogers: Well, the things he says are plain in the Bible. but yet, Yeah, I see we're getting ready to go to a break.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, yeah, let me jump in here, Steve. We're talking to Steve Rogers, the oldest son of, Adrian and Joyce Rogers. Adrian's been in heaven now for 21 years. We're remembering Adrian here on American Family Radio. We'll be right back.
: Candace talks about finding out she was pregnant. Thankfully, an ultrasound provided by preborn allowed her to hear her baby's heartbeat.
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: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here I'm talking to my friend Steve Rogers, the oldest child of, Dr. Adrian Rogers and his wife Joyce. And they had, five children. One went home to heaven very early. Philip, when he was just two months old. But, Dr. Adrian Rogers is the favorite preacher of so many guys. I know he influenced more people with his preaching and, and with his person, because I've got to meet him in person on several occasions. And, you know, Steve, they say, don't meet your heroes because they'll disappoint you. Well, your dad never disappointed me. Just, a wonderful guy, wonderful man of God taught me my theology. was really formed by listening to his sermons because he was a verse by verse preacher. nobody could turn a phrase quite like Adrian Rogers. And so you guys came up with these, different books. I think there are two volumes in Adrianism's the Wit and Wisdom of Adrian Rogers. I want to share a few of these things. he says, whatever master a man chooses will master that man. you don't make him Lord. He's Lord already. You just recognize it. No man can serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 says that, but he must serve one. the devil has more power than I do, but I have more authority. And on and on and on. He just has these little phrases that, they're like little proverbs. They just pack so much punch. And, he, he loved to, he would say, you know, you may be able to preach, the gospel better than I can, but no one can preach a better gospel than I can. Little things like that that, really made a lot of sense and was like, wow, that is really insightful. I know you must miss him every day, Steve, because you, you spent a lot of time with your dad, right?
Steve Rogers: And I never worked on a staff with him. I have, a music background and spent a career in the music industry. And at the end of that career, God kind of transitioned me back into working with my dad and we formed something we call the pastor training institute. And after he died, you know, it's like we had just videoed, you know. Well, let me very quickly, In April of 2005, we did this major videotaping of his course. I was kidding with him, and he was 74 at the time. And I said, dad, you're not going to be here forever. And when you're Gone. This stuff is so good. We're going to want it. Let's videotape your entire pastor training curriculum and course. And I said, I don't want to do it when you're old and decrepit at 85 or 90. And I was joking. I firmly believed he would be here at 90, right? And I said, let's get you right now when you're young and youthful. And he was a very young and youthful, 74 years old, full of energy, dynamic. And he said, okay. So we videotaped that in April. And then, Patrick Clough, who directed it, he had a big box of all the tapes because we had all these cameras and, and all the tapes, all the angles. He said, steve, we got all these tapes. What do you want me to do with them? And I told my dad, let's videotape it. Someday we will want these. And I said, patrick, I know you guys have a fireproof vault there at Love Worth Finding. Put them in the vault. Someday I will want, you know, Lord willing to pull these out and we'll edit them. Well, a month later, maybe not even a month after we'd videoed that, my dad was going to go to South America to do a big conference in Guatemala and Honduras. Went in with his doctor just for a checkup, and discovered he had cancer, in November of that same year. My dad was in heaven just seven months later. And then here we have this major conference going on. I'd already taken reservations, like, a year out in advance for two or three conferences. And I had this box of tapes. I didn't have them in my hand, but figuratively, I laid them before the Lord. I said, look, Lord, what do I do with this box of tapes? If it's just a box of tapes, I'll give them to, Lifeway. I'll give them to the International Mission Board. I'll give them to, you know, campus crew, you know, these, parachurch, mission organizations. But if it's a ministry, you better let me know. Because the deal I made with my dad was he would do all the speaking and I would do everything else. I would do the website, I would do the registration, I would set it all up. I would make the workbook, but I was not the speaker, because he had that anointing. And I am smart enough to knew that that anointing was not on me, you know, that was not my spiritual gifting. My spiritual gifting is like the. Helps the administration. That's what I'm good at. And Jeff, immediately after, I kind of believed that before the Lord, we started getting calls from people all over the world. Can you come? You know, Adrian, Rogers, I go, wait a minute.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: He's.
Steve Rogers: He's dead. I'm the son. I'm not. I'm not going to speak. but I. You have it on? Yes, I have it on video. I would have to edit it all and make it on dvd. We'll do that. And so I did that. And, you know, the, Next year, after a year and a half later, we were invited. We went to Kenya. And then later that year, we spent, a month in India with two different ministries, went back to Ethiopia, went back to Nigeria and went to South America. Is translated into Spanish. And so this pastor training course that now I had in my hands, and I, said, lord, help me to be a steward of it. Jeff, when my dad was alive, about 400 pastors ever went through that training. Because we were small. We limited it to 50 initially. Then we put it up to 100. We only did, like four things. And then God took him to heaven. Well, after he died and me sending out the DVDs, we've had over 40, 40,000 pastors on five continents go through this training on video. And that never would have happened, apart from my kind of, like, little proclivity for technology. Yes, I. I got the. I learned the editing software and. And spent months turning it all into videos with openings and all that type of stuff. And we. Then we have subtitles in English and Spanish. And, now it's just like, I have, like, I'm not actively involved in that ministry anymore. But, I've kind of let it go and sent it out. Like casting your bread upon the waters.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And a boy. And we get. Still get people like, from. Especially in South America, you know, and they're not just Baptists. They're all denominations that have been blessed by this training. It's amazing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Steve. I was part of the first one. I came with those 50. I was one of those 50 and came to Memphis. And, boy, that was a highlight. I had only been pastoring at First Baptist Texarkana less than a year when it, was in October, I believe, if I remember correctly, of, 2003. Yes, that was the first one. And, man, I loved it. And I tell you what, one of the things, Steve, that, was life changing. I've shared this. I've shared this on the radio. I've shared this with different groups that I'VE talked to is Pace. P, A, C, E. He talked about that in chapel. I thought that was just amazing. Here's another one of those Adrian isms. He takes a little, you know, a little word and turns it into a, Gone blank on what that's called. But, anyway.
Steve Rogers: Acronym.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, a little acronym. So P stands for praise. A stands for acceptance, C stands for control. And E stands for accept. Accept a great day. And he said that's what he does every morning. He would get up, praise the Lord, put his hands up. Then he'd turn his hands in to receive a gift. He'd say, God, thank you. That you accept me and the beloved. And then he'd turn his hands out again and say, lord, here I am. I'm yours to confess. And then he would just expect a great day. Not a long prayer, but a very effective prayer. And, you know, I've shared that before, Steve. And I said, you know, Adrian shared that almost like, just an aside that wasn't even part of the course. And that was the thing that was so memorable to me. because it's something that you can. I've taken it, I've put it into practice all these years, still do it. And, Just dynamic.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And in. In one of the sessions, my dad just had a session. Practical Ideas for Ministry and his philosophy with this. Practical things all have a spiritual application. And spiritual things need to be practical or they're no good. And just some of those things that, like, you shared, like pace. They still stick with me. Me, my dad said, think, of being on time as almost late. And so, like, get there, like, you know, five minutes, ahead. Don't just be walking in right at this. So. So, you know, when I logged on to my call with you, I was. I was sitting here 20 minutes before. I'm going, I'm gonna. I'm gonna practice it. And one of the things. And I still. He said, count the cost. And it's like, you know, pay the price. If you want something, there's always a price to be paid. And if you're not willing to pay the price, you're not going to get what you want. And you can say, well, that just sounds like a, worldly motivational speech. And no, it's like Jesus was very practical in his application when he talked to his disciples. Spiritual principles. And you apply them in a practical way. And my dad says, two plus two is four at the bank, and two plus two is four here at the church. We just can't spiritualize it and say, God spoke to me. And today two plus two is five. And so you see that kind of stuff going on in the world today where people don't want to accept that two plus two is four.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Steve Rogers: And so, you know, yeah, I learned a lot just by, listening to him live. And then I have watched these videos hundreds of times all over the world. Setting up a screen, setting up the little DVD player. And, when we first went to Kenya in Africa, they didn't know. They just heard there was a great Bible teacher is going to be here. And we showed up a screen and whatever we. At the movies, they'd never seen, these, really dynamic Kenyan pastors. They'd never seen any type of video because there's no video in the church over there. No video screens, no projection. No, we're going to watch something that's going to be on dvd. And we set up the portable screen, and they had never heard of Adrian Rogers. And just sit down. We, opened with prayer. Open your Bible. We gave everybody a pen and a workbook, and let God speak to you. That's all I said. And I knew that I shouldn't talk long. And I just got him going, sat down, pressed play. That was the best thing I did, Jeff. By the time we took lunch, we'd watched three, and they didn't even know his name. But they, came up at the lunch break and they would say to me, you know, looking me in the eyes, does the man of God have something to say about this? Does the man of God have something to say about this? The pastor's wives came and sat in the back. The pastor's wives were coming up to Cindy and me and saying, does the man of God have something to say about the pastor's marriage and his family? So guess what? Pastors in Kenya have the same challenge that American pastors have. Too much time at the church and not enough time. How do you. How do you do, your wife, your marriage, your kids, your family? And how do you balance ministry? The challenges are the same in. We've learned they're the same in India, they're the same in, the Far East. They're the. They're the same in Latin America.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: And.
Steve Rogers: And, my dad had a little quip that, that he was talking about marriage. I don't remember it. And. And, the wife comes in and says, honey, I. I believe that, you love football more than me. And he says, yes, but I love you. More than baseball. So that was a. That was a joke told to some guys in Memphis, Tennessee. Right. You know, guys like you. And so I wondered how that would play in somewhere like, you know, you know, Africa.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Steve Rogers: guys laugh at the same exact thing. They have the same struggles. You know, the wife is saying, you watch too much soccer, you watch too much cricket, or whatever you're watching, wherever you are, turn it off and spend something and talk to me. Yeah. So.
Caroline: Yeah. Ah.
Steve Rogers: And so, yeah, they really, like, picked up on all the nuances of ministry that my dad was. It's not just. Yes, there was a session on preaching, but it was much more, much more than that. How to pastor, how to love a flock, and how to put your family first and your marriage first and protecting your marriage. You remember that session? And so many guys have run off in the ditch ministry, you know, and. And it's sad to me and sad to you, I'm sure, that they don't finish well, guys whose names we know. And, So that was my dad's prayer, and I know it's yours and it's mine. Lord, let me finish. Well, I don't want. The last thing people remember about me was some mess up.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right? That's so true. Hey, Steve, let me ask you about your dad's family, your grandparents. So he was one of how many children?
Steve Rogers: He was one of four.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And where did he fall in?
Steve Rogers: Third child.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Third child, yes. And didn't he. He got saved the same day that his dad got saved?
Steve Rogers: Yes, yes. And a revival. His dad and he both walked down the aisle together. I think my dad was 15, maybe 14.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I think. Yeah. I had read where it was 14 years old. Did you. Did you know your grandparents very well?
Steve Rogers: Oh, yeah. Yeah. When, When my parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1972, I had graduated from college. I'd gone to a year of Bible school in England, and I was ready to go to college. But I was serious about my girlfriend, who's now my wife of 51 years. We just celebrated last month.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Congrats.
Steve Rogers: And I didn't want to go to Tennessee, and so, we went down to West Palm Beach, Florida, and met with Jess Moody, who founded that college. And Jess is in heaven now. And we got me enrolled in Palm Beach. Atlantic was a new Baptist college.
Caroline: Ah.
Steve Rogers: In Florida at the time. This was 1972. And I lived with my grandparents, my dad's mom and dad, and stayed for two years when I was going to college in the same bedroom that my dad lived in as a teenager.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Steve Rogers: It was very cool.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. What was their attitude toward their son who was so famous?
Steve Rogers: Well, obviously very proud. And my dad says, I don't know where I got my. I don't have any preachers in my, in my, heritage. No. No public speakers or anything. so one thing, everybody was surprised. My dad was kind of, rough around the edges and, and we'd get into fights.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And, you know, played football and, and he was a jock.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And when, ah, you know, one thing that happened in his life was that, ah, he was like, captain of the football team and they had a state championship team. He told the coach after he got saved, I'm not going to practice on Sundays. And they had a rift and he dropped out for a year. And then they made up and the coach said, okay, you don't have to practice on Sundays. And he said, well, you know, I love football, but my, my commitment to, God is, is more than my commitment to football.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Strong convictions. Were you listening to Real Truth for today? Pastor Jeff Schrieve here talking to Steve Rogers, the son of the late, great Dr. Adrian Rogers. When we come back from the break, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. If you have a question or comment, we'd love to hear from you. So give us a call and let's talk.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email Pastor jeffromhishheart.org now, back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here. Hey, I want to just tell you about two trips that are coming up. We'd love to have you, check them out and see if you'd like to be a of part of those. We are going to Washington, D.C. october 11th through 16th, and I'm, joining with Dr. Gary Frazier on that trip and Bill Federer is going to be on that trip. We're going to have a great time in D.C. and if you'd like to find out more, you can go to fbctexarkana.org FBC, standing for First Baptist Church, texarkana.org and you can get all the details as you click that link, to DC also. We are going to Israel April 2nd through the 11th. That is in 2027, obviously. And, we are hopeful, prayerful, that, all the conflict will be over by that time, hopefully way before that. But, to Walk where Jesus walked. We'd love to have you come and be a part of that. So you can check that out. Go to fbctexarcanada.org and just click on that link. It'll take you to either one of those trips. You can click on. Find out all the details and call, us if you have any questions. We'd love to answer those questions. Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 as we are talking to Steve Rogers. If you have a question for Steve concerning his dad, Adrian Rogers, we'd love to hear from you. And so give us a call and we'll talk about that. Steve, I was curious. So your dad, you know, he's a generation ahead of me, and he was my hero in the faith. I'm wondering who was his hero in the faith.
Steve Rogers: People ask me that and they asked me, who did your dad pattern after? Did he have a mentor? And I don't think he really did, as far as heroes, people he quoted and people that influenced him. he quoted Billy Sunday a lot and Charles Spurgeon. And so, you know, people from, you know, that were dead and gone, someone that, And a lot of people don't even remember him that, my dad would quote a lot. And I would think he got a lot of, and I don't know how he listened to them. This is pre cassette tapes, maybe reel to reel. Probably heard him live. Vance Havner.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And so, you know, Dr. Cat down in Albany, Georgia. You know, he kind of kept Vance, Havner's ministry alive because he was influenced, really a big influence. W.A. criswell First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
Caroline: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And Jon Rice, and the Sword of the Lord publication. A big influence on my dad. Jon Rice, a great hero. Yeah. Steven Alford.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Steven Holford. I remember when first, time, I went with my parents to Israel, this was in 1968, and we flew out of NewSong York City and they thought the coolest thing in the world was to go to Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan. You got, went in the lobby of a building and you went up the elevator and there's a church in a skyscraper. Skyscraper. We got to meet Dr. Olford. And they worked a lot together in both of their later ministries. And of course Dr. Over did. Had, ultimately located, relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And so he, he was influenced by Billy Graham, but he didn't preach anything Like Billy Graham?
Caroline: No.
Steve Rogers: And I've got a picture of my dad. I don't know if you've seen it, where Billy Graham came to Vero beach at Dodgertown, back when the Los Angeles Dodgers used to do spring training in Vero. And Billy Graham preached probably on the pitcher's mound. And afterwards, a bunch of young preachers. My dad was going to Stetson university. He's probably 20 years old. He's sitting there with Billy Graham, who was probably about 30, very young, but he was pretty famous even back then. That was probably 1952 or something like that. and they, continued friendship throughout their life. and then my dad was, on the board of Focus, on the family. So James Dobson was a dear friend. Bill, Bright. Campus, crusade. When my dad was in Merritt Island, Florida, it was controversial because he brought Bill and Vonnett Bright. They weren't even Baptists. Lord have mercy. The Presbyterians. What are we gonna. The world's gonna end. And so that was really like that. That was like, groundbreaking then. A lot of people were scared to do that then. Then when my dad did it. Then it's okay to have Bill Bright here.
: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And so my dad, liked, he would quote Warren Wiers be a lot.
: Uh-huh.
Steve Rogers: And so people like that. So all these people, I. Most of them aren't people that you would say, well, those aren't the preachers. Where's this preaching style from? I don't know. Yeah, it's kind of. Kind of unique. You know, his peers, he certainly preached nothing like Jerry, Vines or Charles Stanley. Nothing at all. You know. And they're both very, very biblical. Both very biblical. Preaching the Bible, same theological convictions, I mean. And, you know. And my dad was close with Jerry Falwell going way back.
Caroline: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And. And, back when the Southern Baptists were searching whether they were going to continue the slippery slope to liberalism or turnaround. I was in a room in Jacksonville, Florida, hotel room with my dad sitting there with Jerry Falwell and some other people. And Jerry Falwell has said to my dad, he said, if you, Southern Baptist would, get your act together and clean house, I think I could become a Southern Baptist. And then my dad told him, he said, jerry, if we don't get our act together, I think I'm just going to take my church, Bellevue Baptist Church, and we're going to leave the Southern Baptist Convention and we'll be joining you on the outside. So isn't that interesting, both of Those guys, it wasn't about denominational loyalty or what camp I'm in. It was like they wanted to be, conviction about the Bible and other convictions they had, you know.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen m to that. Well, the phone lines are filling up. We have Jim on the line from NewSong Jersey. Jim, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: yes, I just want to mention, the evangelist that preached that meeting where Dr. Rogers and his father got saved was evangelist Fred Brown from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Caroline: Yeah, Fred Brown, the evangelist that he preached that meeting when, they came forward. I've heard Fred Brown mention at different times.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that right? Well, I'm assuming that wasn't a very big church.
Steve Rogers: North Northwood Baptist Church, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: What year would that have been, Jim?
Caroline: Oh, I don't know, but Fred Brown has been dead for 20 years, at least. 20 years.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he was 14. He was 14 years old, Steve. So that would have been.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, my dad was born in 31, so do the math. Yeah, yeah. 47.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Wow.
Steve Rogers: That sound right? No, I can't do math. Good. 1945.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: 45, yeah, that sounds good.
Steve Rogers: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's amazing, Jim. Well, praise the Lord for that. What a day. You know, I think about this, Steve, a lot. When you preach, you don't know how the Lord is going to use that. And you know, if you see one person come to Christ, sometimes you can think, well, I thought there should have been 10 or 15, whatever, but that one, you don't know who that one is. So that guy had no idea that this 14 year old kid is going to lead multitudes to faith in Christ. And so God, uses our lives to touch other lives. So thanks for that, Jim. I appreciate, you bringing that up. God bless you, brother. Well, we have, Gary on the line from Arkansas. Gary, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hi, good morning, guys. Morning. I've heard a lot of, a lot of, Adrian Rogers sermons and one I heard just reminded me of what happened to me. He said he was, I don't know how old he was this point, but he, he was doubting his salvation and he stopped in the road and got out of his car or something and just said, God, we got settled this right now. He said, there's things he said, you know, he's. I don't even know. It was then or when he was younger, he said, but God had me. I went through the same thing and I was seven. So I saved, I was seven, you know, I didn't go through a major explosion of any kind. And so, you know, I go, but I get to college and I gotta heard all these testimonies of people that had, you know, been in alcohol, men and all the stuff that they had been through. God brought them from it. And I thought, well, maybe I didn't do something right, you know, maybe, you know, and that started to. I finally went to, Little Southern Baptist Church over in Eastern Arkansas and I went to the association on Pastor and I said, look, I got to figure this out. And he said, he asked me all the questions. You believe? Yes, I believe in the Bible. And let me ask you one really important question. Do you believe God would lie to you? And I said, I never thought of that. But he, he said, let's see what he told us until we go to the Bible, brings up Jon 3:16, he gets into Romans. And we said, you know, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And he's in the, the other one I remember about, you know, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. He said, do you think God would lie to you? no. He said, then let's call on him right now. So I left there knowing. He said, don't believe, don't trust your feelings. Trust what the word of God says.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Yeah. You know, Steve, I remember, I think that was in one of Adrian's books where he talks about digging. I think he was on the football field, if I remember correctly. He dug a hole in the ground, stuck his nose in it.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Because he wanted to get low before the Lord. yeah, yeah, that's a powerful, that's a powerful story.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And that's a great story of, you know, my dad, you know, heard the gospel and got saved, but God, you know, was speaking to him. And I think that was the point where, God kind of put a, put a mantle on him for ministry. He said he was praying and basically saying, God, I don't even know how you could use me. I'm certainly not worthy. And he said, I laid down on the grass and then I couldn't get any lower than the surface of the grass, but I felt like I ought to be a little lower. So I dug a hole where my nose was and stuck my nose so I could get just a little lower. And yeah, and then, you know, and then when my dad was 16, he went to Ridgecrest, North Carolina, with the church youth group. And whoever spoke there I don't know who it was, but, you know, he came back with a conviction that he was going to go into full time ministry. And he had never preached. He said, I. When he was 16, he was not never on any debate club, any, any type of thing, and never got up and talked in front of anybody. And then people were amazed. by the time my dad was 18 or certainly by 19, his preaching was powerful, convictional.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: he learned, to tell powerful illustrations.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: I don't know where he got that. There was no Christian radio, no cassette tape minister you could get a hold of. And, God put his hand on him.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: He just got that from the Lord. He was excellent at telling jokes and telling stories. And the illustrations would, I mean, they would hit and hit hard. And his, you know, the best illustration, Steve, as you very well know, are the ones that take the word and really, you know, inject it into your life. So the illustration is not just for illustration's sake, it's to illustrate a truth of scripture. And he was great at that.
Steve Rogers: He got that from Jesus, by the way.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, he did. God bless. Gary. We have one more call. Greg from Mississippi. Greg, welcome to the program.
Caroline: Thank you, Pastor Jeff. Good morning, Brother Rogers. Yes, it's amazing having your guest on this morning. I'll have in my hand. I was reading this morning, Brother Rogers, believe in miracles, but trust in Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: It's always been my favorite. but one of my favorite moments would have, Brother Rogers would sometimes finish up the message, and I think it was on Hebrews 9. 27. But as he would slowly come around the podium and go down the steps, he made the statement, I use
Steve Rogers: it here at the courageous word that,
Caroline: you know, when we stop, time to go. Unless the Lord. Terri. So, we don't get to take what we have. The only thing we get to take is who we are. Still brings cold chill bumps to me to this day. And we just. Yes, we just. We love. Love brother Adrian Rogers and love, y'.
Caroline: All.
Caroline: Thank you for taking my call.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, he. That brings up, Jeff, an Adrianism.
: Yes.
Steve Rogers: I don't know if this was original with my dad, but he certainly said it. You can't take it with you, but you can certainly send it on ahead.
Caroline: Yes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he would say, you know, when you die, you leave behind all that you have and you take with you all that you are. And, which is. It's another little phrase that's very powerful because it's so true. You can't take any of that stuff with you, but as you said, and your dad said, but you can send it on ahead as we store up treasure in heaven. Well, Steve, this has been, very enjoyable. I love to think about your dad. I'm glad that God put, those dreams in my mind just in the last week, because it was really out of the blue. And, when I was an outside salesman, I had a big, grocery bag of your dad's tapes series and individual tapes. and I would listen to some sermons for four, five, six times. I used to laugh and say, I think I can preach this better than Adrian because he hadn't listened to his sermon six times. But I have. I mean, I knew every. Every inch of that illustration and all that stuff. But such a blessing. And so, Steve, how can we, Just in the minute we have left, how can we best pray for your family?
Steve Rogers: you can pray for my wife. She recently had a small stroke and she lost some peripheral vision. We're praying for God to restore that. You can pray for my mom, who is 93, and my mom says, I'm mad at Adrian. And I say, why? She said, well, I watch him on tv, and he never ages. And here I am, you know, in my 90s, and he's all young and youthful and I'm old. So she said that with a twinkle in her eye. Anyway, pray for mom in her, you know, in her 90s, still going for the Lord.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. Well, thank you, Steve, for being my guest. Thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. I'll be with you again tomorrow. Go out today. Shine for Christ and share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
: Welcome to Real Truth for today with pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. Wanted to read to you from Romans chapter 8. Beginning in verse 31 says this. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, Rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us, who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, Just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death. All day long we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced Paul says that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In my office, I have a, very beautifully framed, part of the Bible from Dr. Adrian Rogers. It's Romans, chapter 8, and it's his notes on Romans 8. And some years ago at Love Worth Finding, they gave these to some of their top donors. And a top donor was in my church. And, when she had to move into a nursing home, she said, I don't have rock room for this, but I know you love Dr. Adrian Rogers. I want to give this to you. And it's, one of my special, special wall hangings in my office. I love Adrian Rogers. He is my hero in the faith. I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of his sermons over the years. And just last week, I had two strange dreams about Dr. Adrian Rogers. We were at some kind of, a, meeting for, you know, church leaders. And he was there and he was getting ready to speak, and I didn't get to talk to him, but I remember him being there. And then, like the next night I had this dream. Well, Dr. Rogers has been gone for 21 years, and so it was odd for me to dream about him. And it made me think about his son Steve, who's a friend of mine. And so I contacted Steve and I said, steve, I had these two dreams about your dad. And, I want to get you on the program. I think this would be a good time for us to talk about the late, great Dr. Adrian Rogers. I don't think anybody knows Adrian, any better than Steve. And so, Steve, welcome to the program today.
Steve Rogers: Hey, how are you doing, Jeff? Good to, see you and hear you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it's always a pleasure, my friend. And, I love, the Steve Rogers voice is much like dad's somewhat. Very few had a voice quite like Adrian Rogers.
Steve Rogers: That's right. I will tell you an anecdote your listeners may find interesting. after my dad was first elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, this is going back into, the 70s. It was a really big deal for his church members and everything. And I don't know how much of a deal it was for him, but, he went with several of the other newly elected Southern Baptist officials, was invited to be on cbs, and he went to NewSong York City, Manhattan, and they were going to. And they did interview him, but he was going with several other pastors in the elevator from the lobby up to wherever in this, you know, high rise building that they were going to interview him. And he and the pastors got on the elevator and, you know, they were the first on. And then it stops on another floor. And several other CBS employees got on. My dad referred to them as suits. So they were wearing those suits. They were, they were like corporate types.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And they were all going up the elevator, but they're not looking. they're just facing the elevator door. They're not. They don't have no idea who's behind them. They didn't pay any attention. And then my dad started talking to one of his fellow pastors. And all of a sudden one of these suits turns around and says, who are you? And he says, did we just hire you? Are you going to be doing the news or something like that? Because he heard that voice, and he thought that CBS had hired a new. Some kind of anchor or something. He said, no, I'm just a Baptist pastor.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it was said of your dad, he couldn't whisper in a hurricane. I think Bill Skelton told me that. And, he did have that booming voice. well, Steve, your dad's been gone now for 21 years. Is that right?
Steve Rogers: Yes, sir. Yes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: still on the radio. He's on American Family Radio. He's still preaching the gospel, I think, about Abel. Although he is dead, he still speaks. You were very gracious to me, Steve. You gave me a thumb drive of all your dad's sermons. I look at those when I'm preparing a message on a particular passage. I shared an Adrian story just a couple of weeks ago, Steve, where your dad talked about being a teenage boy and witnessing to this guy, in Palm beach and leading him to the first person he ever led to faith in Christ, so powerful. And people, in my church, I mean, everybody could relate to it because he talked about the fear that he felt talking to this guy. He said, here I am, a kid, no shirt, no shoes, just out there. Talk to him about Jesus. If you remember that, that's, a great story.
Steve Rogers: I do remember it well.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: your dad was the master. I have the book in front of me right here. Adrianisms. He was the master of turning phrases and the things that he would say that would be so memorable. was that from your perspective? Was that just unique to him, or did he learn that from somebody else?
Steve Rogers: He didn't learn it. I think my dad, got his proclivity for turns of phrases, aphorisms, syllogisms, whatever you want to call it. What kind of isms?
Caroline: Little.
Steve Rogers: Little, phrases from. And jokes and anecdotes from my grandmother, his mom. But my dad was just born with this ability to memorize. Just remember is what I'm trying to say. Remember any, like, little joke or quip he ever heard. And then after I realized this through his life, and I realized he told it better back, you know, he improved it if it needed to be.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And I've heard other pastors, not you, we'll let them remain anonymous. Tell some of my dad's stories, and I'm going, you're close, but you didn't have the timing. My dad would put a smile in his voice, when, that was his cue to tell you, this is going to be funny. I'm not.
Caroline: I'm not.
Steve Rogers: Don't take Me real serious, because I'm. There's going to be a punchline coming. But no, he, he could memorize. He had memorized, long passages of poems that he learned, like the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. He could spout them off. And I don't know how he did that. And he, of course he always, used the King James Bible. people would ask him, well, Dr. Rogers is a, what do you think about. Don't you think you should preach in some of these newer translations? And he would say, you know, people say I'm a KJV only type of guy, but it's not because I think the other translations are necessarily lacking. I just have always preached from the King James because I've done all my memory and I can quote all these passages, you know, with the. These and the thous. And if I try to study now and go to something else, you know, like NASB or whatever, even NewSong King James, that would just mess my mind up. So. So he was always a King James, version preacher.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: But interestingly enough, when, after he died, when they came out with the Adrian Rogers study Bible, they decided to put it in the new King James Version, which I thought was a good idea. And, and he didn't have anything philosophically or theological, to. To negative, about, another. A newer version. But, it did raise some eyebrows because he has some, followers and admirers in the King James only.
Jeff Chamblee: Yes.
Steve Rogers: My mindset.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Well, I can relate to Dear People, by the way.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, for sure. Well, I can relate to that. When I was a young guy at, Champion Forrest and, Demon Shook, he switched from NewSong American Standard to Niv because he said that's what most people are, Are buying now. That was when Niv before went off the rails and, he asked me to switch and I just said I can't because that'll mess up all my memorization. You know, if you start reading it and it's just a little different than how you know it, then you can't remember it at all.
Steve Rogers: And yeah, yeah, you start quoting the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I don't think I need anything right now. I'm good. You know, that's like a modern version.
Caroline: Hey, that.
Steve Rogers: That's not how it ought to go. You know, I shall not want. And what does that mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: So anyway, yeah, people understand what King James means.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: It's the language of Shakespeare too. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's for sure.
Steve Rogers: Listen to Shakespeare. You put up with all the these and thou's and canst and ditched and all that stuff.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, Steve, your dad died in 2005. he was instrumental in, pulling the Southern Baptist Convention back from the brink of, liberalism. he was a strong preacher. You know, believe the word. His famous, quote there to the convention. We don't have to get along, we don't have to get together. I'm not going to compromise. The word of God has played over and over and over again, and I love that about him. He was strong, but he wasn't ugly about it. But he wasn't going to compromise. How do you think. And no doubt you've thought about this. You spent a lot of time with your dad. how do you think he would view the current situation in the Southern Baptist Convention and in the country itself?
Steve Rogers: Well, let's talk about the country first. My dad had a saying, and when he was talking about end times, he would say, all this stuff that's going to happen should not take the child of God by surprise, because we know it's going to happen. And when we hear all the things that we know are end times things, wars and rumors of wars and signs and the moon, turning to blood and the sun darkening and all that type of stuff, it should not take us by surprise. We should look at each other and say, it's getting gloriously dark.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And so if my dad were alive today, and I say that qualified, he's alive, he's just not here on Earth. Right. He is 95. And I'm not using the past tense. I mean, he will be 95 in September, next month, September 12, coming up in several weeks. But, he would, he would say, jeff is getting gloriously dark. Ain't it, brother? Yeah. When we see all this stuff, you know, tensions in the Middle east, uncertainty with Iran, and then just, the craziness that's going on in our, country with all the extreme political stuff, and, it's just happening every day. You think it can't get much nuttier or much loopier or much crazier, and yet it does. And, you know, I firmly feel that we are in a period of Romans 1 judgment. You'll know exactly what I mean. When people refuse to acknowledge God and leave him out of the equation, then what did God say? I'll give them over to believe a lie. We'll believe ridiculous things that no one in their right mind would have believed before. And so that's where we are. And people, like you and me, you say, wait a minute, that's not right. That's not biologically correct. That's not scientifically correct. It's not anything correct. But yet you're trying to, make that a, litmus test for how we get along. So, as all things do, it creeps into the church. And so we see whole denominations that want to, basically excise certain passages of the Bible because they don't like them, they make them feel uncomfortable. I thought it was interesting. can I talk about the Babylon? Be on, the radio. I will, I will keep it respectful. So the Babylon Bee last week had had a progress. A Bible for progressives. I don't know if you saw that. And, and every page in it is perforated and you can just tear out the pages you don't like. And so, yeah, so, you know, it's crept into the church and that would not surprise my dad either, because what, did Jesus say he's going to do at the end times? He's going to separate the wheat from the tares. The tares are all these people that are kind of have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Jesus said, why, why call me Lord and don't do the things I say.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Steve Rogers: Well, the things he says are plain in the Bible. but yet, Yeah, I see we're getting ready to go to a break.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, yeah, let me jump in here, Steve. We're talking to Steve Rogers, the oldest son of, Adrian and Joyce Rogers. Adrian's been in heaven now for 21 years. We're remembering Adrian here on American Family Radio. We'll be right back.
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: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here I'm talking to my friend Steve Rogers, the oldest child of, Dr. Adrian Rogers and his wife Joyce. And they had, five children. One went home to heaven very early. Philip, when he was just two months old. But, Dr. Adrian Rogers is the favorite preacher of so many guys. I know he influenced more people with his preaching and, and with his person, because I've got to meet him in person on several occasions. And, you know, Steve, they say, don't meet your heroes because they'll disappoint you. Well, your dad never disappointed me. Just, a wonderful guy, wonderful man of God taught me my theology. was really formed by listening to his sermons because he was a verse by verse preacher. nobody could turn a phrase quite like Adrian Rogers. And so you guys came up with these, different books. I think there are two volumes in Adrianism's the Wit and Wisdom of Adrian Rogers. I want to share a few of these things. he says, whatever master a man chooses will master that man. you don't make him Lord. He's Lord already. You just recognize it. No man can serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 says that, but he must serve one. the devil has more power than I do, but I have more authority. And on and on and on. He just has these little phrases that, they're like little proverbs. They just pack so much punch. And, he, he loved to, he would say, you know, you may be able to preach, the gospel better than I can, but no one can preach a better gospel than I can. Little things like that that, really made a lot of sense and was like, wow, that is really insightful. I know you must miss him every day, Steve, because you, you spent a lot of time with your dad, right?
Steve Rogers: And I never worked on a staff with him. I have, a music background and spent a career in the music industry. And at the end of that career, God kind of transitioned me back into working with my dad and we formed something we call the pastor training institute. And after he died, you know, it's like we had just videoed, you know. Well, let me very quickly, In April of 2005, we did this major videotaping of his course. I was kidding with him, and he was 74 at the time. And I said, dad, you're not going to be here forever. And when you're Gone. This stuff is so good. We're going to want it. Let's videotape your entire pastor training curriculum and course. And I said, I don't want to do it when you're old and decrepit at 85 or 90. And I was joking. I firmly believed he would be here at 90, right? And I said, let's get you right now when you're young and youthful. And he was a very young and youthful, 74 years old, full of energy, dynamic. And he said, okay. So we videotaped that in April. And then, Patrick Clough, who directed it, he had a big box of all the tapes because we had all these cameras and, and all the tapes, all the angles. He said, steve, we got all these tapes. What do you want me to do with them? And I told my dad, let's videotape it. Someday we will want these. And I said, patrick, I know you guys have a fireproof vault there at Love Worth Finding. Put them in the vault. Someday I will want, you know, Lord willing to pull these out and we'll edit them. Well, a month later, maybe not even a month after we'd videoed that, my dad was going to go to South America to do a big conference in Guatemala and Honduras. Went in with his doctor just for a checkup, and discovered he had cancer, in November of that same year. My dad was in heaven just seven months later. And then here we have this major conference going on. I'd already taken reservations, like, a year out in advance for two or three conferences. And I had this box of tapes. I didn't have them in my hand, but figuratively, I laid them before the Lord. I said, look, Lord, what do I do with this box of tapes? If it's just a box of tapes, I'll give them to, Lifeway. I'll give them to the International Mission Board. I'll give them to, you know, campus crew, you know, these, parachurch, mission organizations. But if it's a ministry, you better let me know. Because the deal I made with my dad was he would do all the speaking and I would do everything else. I would do the website, I would do the registration, I would set it all up. I would make the workbook, but I was not the speaker, because he had that anointing. And I am smart enough to knew that that anointing was not on me, you know, that was not my spiritual gifting. My spiritual gifting is like the. Helps the administration. That's what I'm good at. And Jeff, immediately after, I kind of believed that before the Lord, we started getting calls from people all over the world. Can you come? You know, Adrian, Rogers, I go, wait a minute.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: He's.
Steve Rogers: He's dead. I'm the son. I'm not. I'm not going to speak. but I. You have it on? Yes, I have it on video. I would have to edit it all and make it on dvd. We'll do that. And so I did that. And, you know, the, Next year, after a year and a half later, we were invited. We went to Kenya. And then later that year, we spent, a month in India with two different ministries, went back to Ethiopia, went back to Nigeria and went to South America. Is translated into Spanish. And so this pastor training course that now I had in my hands, and I, said, lord, help me to be a steward of it. Jeff, when my dad was alive, about 400 pastors ever went through that training. Because we were small. We limited it to 50 initially. Then we put it up to 100. We only did, like four things. And then God took him to heaven. Well, after he died and me sending out the DVDs, we've had over 40, 40,000 pastors on five continents go through this training on video. And that never would have happened, apart from my kind of, like, little proclivity for technology. Yes, I. I got the. I learned the editing software and. And spent months turning it all into videos with openings and all that type of stuff. And we. Then we have subtitles in English and Spanish. And, now it's just like, I have, like, I'm not actively involved in that ministry anymore. But, I've kind of let it go and sent it out. Like casting your bread upon the waters.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And a boy. And we get. Still get people like, from. Especially in South America, you know, and they're not just Baptists. They're all denominations that have been blessed by this training. It's amazing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Steve. I was part of the first one. I came with those 50. I was one of those 50 and came to Memphis. And, boy, that was a highlight. I had only been pastoring at First Baptist Texarkana less than a year when it, was in October, I believe, if I remember correctly, of, 2003. Yes, that was the first one. And, man, I loved it. And I tell you what, one of the things, Steve, that, was life changing. I've shared this. I've shared this on the radio. I've shared this with different groups that I'VE talked to is Pace. P, A, C, E. He talked about that in chapel. I thought that was just amazing. Here's another one of those Adrian isms. He takes a little, you know, a little word and turns it into a, Gone blank on what that's called. But, anyway.
Steve Rogers: Acronym.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, a little acronym. So P stands for praise. A stands for acceptance, C stands for control. And E stands for accept. Accept a great day. And he said that's what he does every morning. He would get up, praise the Lord, put his hands up. Then he'd turn his hands in to receive a gift. He'd say, God, thank you. That you accept me and the beloved. And then he'd turn his hands out again and say, lord, here I am. I'm yours to confess. And then he would just expect a great day. Not a long prayer, but a very effective prayer. And, you know, I've shared that before, Steve. And I said, you know, Adrian shared that almost like, just an aside that wasn't even part of the course. And that was the thing that was so memorable to me. because it's something that you can. I've taken it, I've put it into practice all these years, still do it. And, Just dynamic.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And in. In one of the sessions, my dad just had a session. Practical Ideas for Ministry and his philosophy with this. Practical things all have a spiritual application. And spiritual things need to be practical or they're no good. And just some of those things that, like, you shared, like pace. They still stick with me. Me, my dad said, think, of being on time as almost late. And so, like, get there, like, you know, five minutes, ahead. Don't just be walking in right at this. So. So, you know, when I logged on to my call with you, I was. I was sitting here 20 minutes before. I'm going, I'm gonna. I'm gonna practice it. And one of the things. And I still. He said, count the cost. And it's like, you know, pay the price. If you want something, there's always a price to be paid. And if you're not willing to pay the price, you're not going to get what you want. And you can say, well, that just sounds like a, worldly motivational speech. And no, it's like Jesus was very practical in his application when he talked to his disciples. Spiritual principles. And you apply them in a practical way. And my dad says, two plus two is four at the bank, and two plus two is four here at the church. We just can't spiritualize it and say, God spoke to me. And today two plus two is five. And so you see that kind of stuff going on in the world today where people don't want to accept that two plus two is four.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Steve Rogers: And so, you know, yeah, I learned a lot just by, listening to him live. And then I have watched these videos hundreds of times all over the world. Setting up a screen, setting up the little DVD player. And, when we first went to Kenya in Africa, they didn't know. They just heard there was a great Bible teacher is going to be here. And we showed up a screen and whatever we. At the movies, they'd never seen, these, really dynamic Kenyan pastors. They'd never seen any type of video because there's no video in the church over there. No video screens, no projection. No, we're going to watch something that's going to be on dvd. And we set up the portable screen, and they had never heard of Adrian Rogers. And just sit down. We, opened with prayer. Open your Bible. We gave everybody a pen and a workbook, and let God speak to you. That's all I said. And I knew that I shouldn't talk long. And I just got him going, sat down, pressed play. That was the best thing I did, Jeff. By the time we took lunch, we'd watched three, and they didn't even know his name. But they, came up at the lunch break and they would say to me, you know, looking me in the eyes, does the man of God have something to say about this? Does the man of God have something to say about this? The pastor's wives came and sat in the back. The pastor's wives were coming up to Cindy and me and saying, does the man of God have something to say about the pastor's marriage and his family? So guess what? Pastors in Kenya have the same challenge that American pastors have. Too much time at the church and not enough time. How do you. How do you do, your wife, your marriage, your kids, your family? And how do you balance ministry? The challenges are the same in. We've learned they're the same in India, they're the same in, the Far East. They're the. They're the same in Latin America.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: And.
Steve Rogers: And, my dad had a little quip that, that he was talking about marriage. I don't remember it. And. And, the wife comes in and says, honey, I. I believe that, you love football more than me. And he says, yes, but I love you. More than baseball. So that was a. That was a joke told to some guys in Memphis, Tennessee. Right. You know, guys like you. And so I wondered how that would play in somewhere like, you know, you know, Africa.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Steve Rogers: guys laugh at the same exact thing. They have the same struggles. You know, the wife is saying, you watch too much soccer, you watch too much cricket, or whatever you're watching, wherever you are, turn it off and spend something and talk to me. Yeah. So.
Caroline: Yeah. Ah.
Steve Rogers: And so, yeah, they really, like, picked up on all the nuances of ministry that my dad was. It's not just. Yes, there was a session on preaching, but it was much more, much more than that. How to pastor, how to love a flock, and how to put your family first and your marriage first and protecting your marriage. You remember that session? And so many guys have run off in the ditch ministry, you know, and. And it's sad to me and sad to you, I'm sure, that they don't finish well, guys whose names we know. And, So that was my dad's prayer, and I know it's yours and it's mine. Lord, let me finish. Well, I don't want. The last thing people remember about me was some mess up.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right? That's so true. Hey, Steve, let me ask you about your dad's family, your grandparents. So he was one of how many children?
Steve Rogers: He was one of four.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And where did he fall in?
Steve Rogers: Third child.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Third child, yes. And didn't he. He got saved the same day that his dad got saved?
Steve Rogers: Yes, yes. And a revival. His dad and he both walked down the aisle together. I think my dad was 15, maybe 14.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I think. Yeah. I had read where it was 14 years old. Did you. Did you know your grandparents very well?
Steve Rogers: Oh, yeah. Yeah. When, When my parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1972, I had graduated from college. I'd gone to a year of Bible school in England, and I was ready to go to college. But I was serious about my girlfriend, who's now my wife of 51 years. We just celebrated last month.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Congrats.
Steve Rogers: And I didn't want to go to Tennessee, and so, we went down to West Palm Beach, Florida, and met with Jess Moody, who founded that college. And Jess is in heaven now. And we got me enrolled in Palm Beach. Atlantic was a new Baptist college.
Caroline: Ah.
Steve Rogers: In Florida at the time. This was 1972. And I lived with my grandparents, my dad's mom and dad, and stayed for two years when I was going to college in the same bedroom that my dad lived in as a teenager.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Steve Rogers: It was very cool.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. What was their attitude toward their son who was so famous?
Steve Rogers: Well, obviously very proud. And my dad says, I don't know where I got my. I don't have any preachers in my, in my, heritage. No. No public speakers or anything. so one thing, everybody was surprised. My dad was kind of, rough around the edges and, and we'd get into fights.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And, you know, played football and, and he was a jock.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And when, ah, you know, one thing that happened in his life was that, ah, he was like, captain of the football team and they had a state championship team. He told the coach after he got saved, I'm not going to practice on Sundays. And they had a rift and he dropped out for a year. And then they made up and the coach said, okay, you don't have to practice on Sundays. And he said, well, you know, I love football, but my, my commitment to, God is, is more than my commitment to football.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Strong convictions. Were you listening to Real Truth for today? Pastor Jeff Schrieve here talking to Steve Rogers, the son of the late, great Dr. Adrian Rogers. When we come back from the break, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. If you have a question or comment, we'd love to hear from you. So give us a call and let's talk.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email Pastor jeffromhishheart.org now, back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here. Hey, I want to just tell you about two trips that are coming up. We'd love to have you, check them out and see if you'd like to be a of part of those. We are going to Washington, D.C. october 11th through 16th, and I'm, joining with Dr. Gary Frazier on that trip and Bill Federer is going to be on that trip. We're going to have a great time in D.C. and if you'd like to find out more, you can go to fbctexarkana.org FBC, standing for First Baptist Church, texarkana.org and you can get all the details as you click that link, to DC also. We are going to Israel April 2nd through the 11th. That is in 2027, obviously. And, we are hopeful, prayerful, that, all the conflict will be over by that time, hopefully way before that. But, to Walk where Jesus walked. We'd love to have you come and be a part of that. So you can check that out. Go to fbctexarcanada.org and just click on that link. It'll take you to either one of those trips. You can click on. Find out all the details and call, us if you have any questions. We'd love to answer those questions. Well, we're going to the phone lines 888-589-8840 as we are talking to Steve Rogers. If you have a question for Steve concerning his dad, Adrian Rogers, we'd love to hear from you. And so give us a call and we'll talk about that. Steve, I was curious. So your dad, you know, he's a generation ahead of me, and he was my hero in the faith. I'm wondering who was his hero in the faith.
Steve Rogers: People ask me that and they asked me, who did your dad pattern after? Did he have a mentor? And I don't think he really did, as far as heroes, people he quoted and people that influenced him. he quoted Billy Sunday a lot and Charles Spurgeon. And so, you know, people from, you know, that were dead and gone, someone that, And a lot of people don't even remember him that, my dad would quote a lot. And I would think he got a lot of, and I don't know how he listened to them. This is pre cassette tapes, maybe reel to reel. Probably heard him live. Vance Havner.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: And so, you know, Dr. Cat down in Albany, Georgia. You know, he kind of kept Vance, Havner's ministry alive because he was influenced, really a big influence. W.A. criswell First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
Caroline: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And Jon Rice, and the Sword of the Lord publication. A big influence on my dad. Jon Rice, a great hero. Yeah. Steven Alford.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Steven Holford. I remember when first, time, I went with my parents to Israel, this was in 1968, and we flew out of NewSong York City and they thought the coolest thing in the world was to go to Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan. You got, went in the lobby of a building and you went up the elevator and there's a church in a skyscraper. Skyscraper. We got to meet Dr. Olford. And they worked a lot together in both of their later ministries. And of course Dr. Over did. Had, ultimately located, relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And so he, he was influenced by Billy Graham, but he didn't preach anything Like Billy Graham?
Caroline: No.
Steve Rogers: And I've got a picture of my dad. I don't know if you've seen it, where Billy Graham came to Vero beach at Dodgertown, back when the Los Angeles Dodgers used to do spring training in Vero. And Billy Graham preached probably on the pitcher's mound. And afterwards, a bunch of young preachers. My dad was going to Stetson university. He's probably 20 years old. He's sitting there with Billy Graham, who was probably about 30, very young, but he was pretty famous even back then. That was probably 1952 or something like that. and they, continued friendship throughout their life. and then my dad was, on the board of Focus, on the family. So James Dobson was a dear friend. Bill, Bright. Campus, crusade. When my dad was in Merritt Island, Florida, it was controversial because he brought Bill and Vonnett Bright. They weren't even Baptists. Lord have mercy. The Presbyterians. What are we gonna. The world's gonna end. And so that was really like that. That was like, groundbreaking then. A lot of people were scared to do that then. Then when my dad did it. Then it's okay to have Bill Bright here.
: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And so my dad, liked, he would quote Warren Wiers be a lot.
: Uh-huh.
Steve Rogers: And so people like that. So all these people, I. Most of them aren't people that you would say, well, those aren't the preachers. Where's this preaching style from? I don't know. Yeah, it's kind of. Kind of unique. You know, his peers, he certainly preached nothing like Jerry, Vines or Charles Stanley. Nothing at all. You know. And they're both very, very biblical. Both very biblical. Preaching the Bible, same theological convictions, I mean. And, you know. And my dad was close with Jerry Falwell going way back.
Caroline: Yeah.
Steve Rogers: And. And, back when the Southern Baptists were searching whether they were going to continue the slippery slope to liberalism or turnaround. I was in a room in Jacksonville, Florida, hotel room with my dad sitting there with Jerry Falwell and some other people. And Jerry Falwell has said to my dad, he said, if you, Southern Baptist would, get your act together and clean house, I think I could become a Southern Baptist. And then my dad told him, he said, jerry, if we don't get our act together, I think I'm just going to take my church, Bellevue Baptist Church, and we're going to leave the Southern Baptist Convention and we'll be joining you on the outside. So isn't that interesting, both of Those guys, it wasn't about denominational loyalty or what camp I'm in. It was like they wanted to be, conviction about the Bible and other convictions they had, you know.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen m to that. Well, the phone lines are filling up. We have Jim on the line from NewSong Jersey. Jim, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: yes, I just want to mention, the evangelist that preached that meeting where Dr. Rogers and his father got saved was evangelist Fred Brown from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Caroline: Yeah, Fred Brown, the evangelist that he preached that meeting when, they came forward. I've heard Fred Brown mention at different times.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that right? Well, I'm assuming that wasn't a very big church.
Steve Rogers: North Northwood Baptist Church, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: What year would that have been, Jim?
Caroline: Oh, I don't know, but Fred Brown has been dead for 20 years, at least. 20 years.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he was 14. He was 14 years old, Steve. So that would have been.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, my dad was born in 31, so do the math. Yeah, yeah. 47.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Wow.
Steve Rogers: That sound right? No, I can't do math. Good. 1945.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: 45, yeah, that sounds good.
Steve Rogers: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's amazing, Jim. Well, praise the Lord for that. What a day. You know, I think about this, Steve, a lot. When you preach, you don't know how the Lord is going to use that. And you know, if you see one person come to Christ, sometimes you can think, well, I thought there should have been 10 or 15, whatever, but that one, you don't know who that one is. So that guy had no idea that this 14 year old kid is going to lead multitudes to faith in Christ. And so God, uses our lives to touch other lives. So thanks for that, Jim. I appreciate, you bringing that up. God bless you, brother. Well, we have, Gary on the line from Arkansas. Gary, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hi, good morning, guys. Morning. I've heard a lot of, a lot of, Adrian Rogers sermons and one I heard just reminded me of what happened to me. He said he was, I don't know how old he was this point, but he, he was doubting his salvation and he stopped in the road and got out of his car or something and just said, God, we got settled this right now. He said, there's things he said, you know, he's. I don't even know. It was then or when he was younger, he said, but God had me. I went through the same thing and I was seven. So I saved, I was seven, you know, I didn't go through a major explosion of any kind. And so, you know, I go, but I get to college and I gotta heard all these testimonies of people that had, you know, been in alcohol, men and all the stuff that they had been through. God brought them from it. And I thought, well, maybe I didn't do something right, you know, maybe, you know, and that started to. I finally went to, Little Southern Baptist Church over in Eastern Arkansas and I went to the association on Pastor and I said, look, I got to figure this out. And he said, he asked me all the questions. You believe? Yes, I believe in the Bible. And let me ask you one really important question. Do you believe God would lie to you? And I said, I never thought of that. But he, he said, let's see what he told us until we go to the Bible, brings up Jon 3:16, he gets into Romans. And we said, you know, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And he's in the, the other one I remember about, you know, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. He said, do you think God would lie to you? no. He said, then let's call on him right now. So I left there knowing. He said, don't believe, don't trust your feelings. Trust what the word of God says.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Yeah. You know, Steve, I remember, I think that was in one of Adrian's books where he talks about digging. I think he was on the football field, if I remember correctly. He dug a hole in the ground, stuck his nose in it.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Because he wanted to get low before the Lord. yeah, yeah, that's a powerful, that's a powerful story.
Steve Rogers: Yes. And that's a great story of, you know, my dad, you know, heard the gospel and got saved, but God, you know, was speaking to him. And I think that was the point where, God kind of put a, put a mantle on him for ministry. He said he was praying and basically saying, God, I don't even know how you could use me. I'm certainly not worthy. And he said, I laid down on the grass and then I couldn't get any lower than the surface of the grass, but I felt like I ought to be a little lower. So I dug a hole where my nose was and stuck my nose so I could get just a little lower. And yeah, and then, you know, and then when my dad was 16, he went to Ridgecrest, North Carolina, with the church youth group. And whoever spoke there I don't know who it was, but, you know, he came back with a conviction that he was going to go into full time ministry. And he had never preached. He said, I. When he was 16, he was not never on any debate club, any, any type of thing, and never got up and talked in front of anybody. And then people were amazed. by the time my dad was 18 or certainly by 19, his preaching was powerful, convictional.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Steve Rogers: he learned, to tell powerful illustrations.
Caroline: Yes.
Steve Rogers: I don't know where he got that. There was no Christian radio, no cassette tape minister you could get a hold of. And, God put his hand on him.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: He just got that from the Lord. He was excellent at telling jokes and telling stories. And the illustrations would, I mean, they would hit and hit hard. And his, you know, the best illustration, Steve, as you very well know, are the ones that take the word and really, you know, inject it into your life. So the illustration is not just for illustration's sake, it's to illustrate a truth of scripture. And he was great at that.
Steve Rogers: He got that from Jesus, by the way.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, he did. God bless. Gary. We have one more call. Greg from Mississippi. Greg, welcome to the program.
Caroline: Thank you, Pastor Jeff. Good morning, Brother Rogers. Yes, it's amazing having your guest on this morning. I'll have in my hand. I was reading this morning, Brother Rogers, believe in miracles, but trust in Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: It's always been my favorite. but one of my favorite moments would have, Brother Rogers would sometimes finish up the message, and I think it was on Hebrews 9. 27. But as he would slowly come around the podium and go down the steps, he made the statement, I use
Steve Rogers: it here at the courageous word that,
Caroline: you know, when we stop, time to go. Unless the Lord. Terri. So, we don't get to take what we have. The only thing we get to take is who we are. Still brings cold chill bumps to me to this day. And we just. Yes, we just. We love. Love brother Adrian Rogers and love, y'.
Caroline: All.
Caroline: Thank you for taking my call.
Steve Rogers: Yeah, he. That brings up, Jeff, an Adrianism.
: Yes.
Steve Rogers: I don't know if this was original with my dad, but he certainly said it. You can't take it with you, but you can certainly send it on ahead.
Caroline: Yes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he would say, you know, when you die, you leave behind all that you have and you take with you all that you are. And, which is. It's another little phrase that's very powerful because it's so true. You can't take any of that stuff with you, but as you said, and your dad said, but you can send it on ahead as we store up treasure in heaven. Well, Steve, this has been, very enjoyable. I love to think about your dad. I'm glad that God put, those dreams in my mind just in the last week, because it was really out of the blue. And, when I was an outside salesman, I had a big, grocery bag of your dad's tapes series and individual tapes. and I would listen to some sermons for four, five, six times. I used to laugh and say, I think I can preach this better than Adrian because he hadn't listened to his sermon six times. But I have. I mean, I knew every. Every inch of that illustration and all that stuff. But such a blessing. And so, Steve, how can we, Just in the minute we have left, how can we best pray for your family?
Steve Rogers: you can pray for my wife. She recently had a small stroke and she lost some peripheral vision. We're praying for God to restore that. You can pray for my mom, who is 93, and my mom says, I'm mad at Adrian. And I say, why? She said, well, I watch him on tv, and he never ages. And here I am, you know, in my 90s, and he's all young and youthful and I'm old. So she said that with a twinkle in her eye. Anyway, pray for mom in her, you know, in her 90s, still going for the Lord.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. Well, thank you, Steve, for being my guest. Thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. I'll be with you again tomorrow. Go out today. Shine for Christ and share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Romans 8:31–39
"31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
33 Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
In this episode of Real Truth for Today, Pastor Jeff Schreve welcomes Steve Rogers, the oldest son of the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, for a special conversation remembering one of Pastor Jeff's greatest heroes in the faith.
Steve shares personal stories about his father, including Adrian Rogers' powerful preaching voice, his gift for memorable phrases and illustrations, his commitment to the Word of God, and his journey into ministry. They also discuss Dr. Rogers' influence on the Southern Baptist Convention and how he stood firmly for biblical truth without compromising.
The conversation also highlights the worldwide impact of Adrian Rogers' ministry. Steve explains how a pastor-training course they recorded shortly before his father's death eventually reached more than 40,000 pastors across five continents. They discuss practical ministry lessons Dr. Rogers taught, including putting God first, protecting one's marriage and family, being faithful in ministry, and finishing well.
Live
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