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9.3.08
Erskine president cites power of prayer
during opening chapel service at seminary
Erskine Theological Seminary welcomed President Dr. Randall T. Ruble as guest speaker Wednesday for the opening chapel service of the fall semester.
Seminary classes started on the Due West campus Tuesday.
Ruble, formerly vice president and dean of the seminary, took the pulpit in a renovated Bowie Chapel, thanks to the generosity of a benefactor.
"You've been in this building for 23 years," the president of the college and seminary told students, faculty and other guests. "The chapel needed dressing up. I congratulate you on what has happened."
Ruble said he is a big believer in the power of prayer.
"When I was growing up in Lexington, Virginia, I was taken to a Presbyterian church, put in a Sunday school class and made to memorize Scripture," he remembered.
That exercise paid off, he said, as he can recount numerous verses still today.
But there is one verse that has stuck with him throughout his life and has had an impact on how he lives his life.
In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says during the Sermon on the Mount, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
"A-S-K -- ask," Ruble instructed his listeners.
The president says that he prays with every visitor who comes to his office in Belk Hall.
Ruble said he believes in the power of prayer because he has seen it at work numerous times, not only in his own life, but also in the lives of others.
He cited several examples he had encountered during his years at the seminary.
The first involved praying for a dying man, Parker Bowie, during a chapel service. Ruble said he was a junior faculty member at the seminary at that time and got a call about Bowie's bad condition before chapel one day. Those gathered in chapel prayed for the man and later, Ruble received a call in his office that Bowie's health had improved and he was going to recover.
"That was a big example of the power of prayer," Ruble said.
He talked about a seminary student who recounted in his senior sermon that he had received a bill from the business office saying he owed about $1,700. The student didn't have the money, but he asked God to provide it. He went to the post office the following day and found a letter from a lady who had written him a check covering almost the entire amount.
The student had met the elderly lady one evening when his car broke down and he spent some time talking with her while he waited for help. He saw her once more when he went to her house to thank her for helping him.
Ruble said the same student had a similar experience during his last semester. The business office notified him that he owed even more money than the time before. The student again prayed and asked God to provide, and he received another envelope with a check from the same woman covering his debt.
The student said during his senior sermon that he might not have learned everything he needed to know while a student at Erskine Seminary, but Ruble said there was one thing the student was sure of -- that "God is faithful and will always provide for your needs."
Ruble also shared the story of a student who started a prayer group after chapel each day and kept the prayer requests of everyone in the group written down in a composition book.
"Most if not all of these requests and petitions were answered," he said.
Ruble also relayed testimonies about how he prayed with the Rev. Neely Gaston, now seminary executive vice president, before he came to the seminary about the sale of his house. Gaston came from an economically deprived community and houses just were not selling. Gaston's house sold and he enrolled in the seminary.
"I just believe in the power of prayer," Ruble said. "It's something that I would encourage you to do."
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