Origins of The Hendricks Center

Darrell Bock:  

This special edition of The Table is a recording of Jeanne Hendricks, the wife of Professor Howard Hendricks, or simply known affectionately on campus as Prof. Howard Hendricks had a distinguished career at Dallas Seminary, hitting the campus and innovating literally from the moment he started teaching as he was the founder of the Christian Education Department. And then that followed with the establishment of a core course that all first-year students took on how Bible study methods and how to study the Bible. Almost every student knows about Acts 1:8, knows about observation, interpretation, application, and correlation. All those ideas were deeply embedded in what Prof did on campus. He also developed a reputation for the Christian family and writing about the Christian family taught courses on it as well as mentoring. In 1986, that was all put together to establish the founding of the Howard G. Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership. That's what it was called at the time. We now just call it the Hendricks Center, and it involves Christian leadership and cultural engagement today. But the foundation that Prof laid and the values that he brought to the Center are still with us 37 years down the line. So I invite you to listen to this very interesting interview with Prof’s wife about the founding of the Center and the values of Prof, which we still quite value today. 

Darrell Bock: 

Welcome to The Table where we discuss issues of God and culture, and we have a special edition of The Table today. As you can see, we're not in the studio. We don't have the normal background. 

We are at the home of Jeanne Hendricks and we are going to look at the origins of the Hendricks Center. So Jeanne, thank you for having us into your home, and we really appreciate you taking the time. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

It's a privilege to have you. Thank you, so much. 

Darrell Bock: 

So we're going to walk through the origins of the center and we're going to consider the life of Professor Howard Hendricks, and who better to ask than his wife. 

So I'm going to start at the beginning, and that is tell us a little bit about how Prof grew up in Philly. I know there are parts of the story that I'm aware of, but I'm just curious if I were to ask you that general question, what would you tell me before you met him? What was his life like? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, this is ancient history, you understand? 

Darrell Bock: 

Yes. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And I always think, although I lived all of those years when the center was being formed, I realized it went back to the very beginning, how his parents were separated. He was living with his grandmother, but he discovered himself in grammar school. He loved being the class clown. He discovered that it was fun getting other people in trouble, as well as himself. 

Darrell Bock: 

So the humor goes way back? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yeah. He's just in grade school. He did have a teacher, beginning in the sixth grade, who took him under her wing, and that was a change. But the big change came because he was living with his grandmother and she took him to this church, small church around the corner from where they lived. And the pastor led him to Christ and he became a believer. 

And this was a whole new world to him. And as he got older and had to face, when he got to 18, of course, it was a World War II. He was faced with the decision of whether he was going to go into the military or not, but if he was in farming or medicine or the clergy, then he didn't have to go. He decided to go into the ministry, which caused a huge, huge trouble in his family. 

His father, who was in the military was very angry with him, but the Lord had, of course, plans. So he goes to Wheaton College and there his life was just really changed as he's studying the Bible and realizing the enormity of this whole Christian life thing. He had a number of professors that were very impactful in his life. Dr. Tenney was one of them. 

Anyway, he discovered he was still using his childhood advantage of making people laugh and take charge of the situation. He became the president of the senior class, and he just loved studying the Bible. He was a Bible major. And then, of course, he went to Dallas Seminary. 

Darrell Bock: 

Okay, so let's stop there. Let me just recover one thing. So I take it that the family background, which was chaotic, helped to form what became a major concern in his life, which was the Christian family in a stable family environment. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. 

Darrell Bock: 

And that would've been pretty important, I think, in his formation and in the way he developed a sensitivity for the family. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. But he learned that he loved people. He had several advantages. First of all, he was sort of a people person. Came from that kind of a family. Furthermore, his grandfather had been with the Metropolitan Opera, so he had a wonderful tenor voice singing. So he always, in the youth programs, he was always on the platform leading the singing. 

And, of course, he became famous for his one-liners, making the teenagers audience laugh. And he would, this is World War II, so he's teaching them a new song, V Is for Victory. And then he would turn it into a round. And you'd understand that we were involved in Christian Endeavor, major organization, and the city was divided into branches. He was part of Northeast Branch. I was part of Southwest Branch. So I only saw him on the platform. He gave himself a nickname. Nobody knew who he was. He was just this figure that was always in charge. He called himself Nate at that time. So everybody loved Nate. But that was when he was a teenager. 

Darrell Bock: 

So this was in Philly? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's in Philadelphia. And then of course, he went to Wheaton College and graduated and decided to go to Dallas Seminary. 

Darrell Bock: 

So, how'd y'all meet? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, that's a story. 

Christian Endeavor was this big organization, but once in a while we all came together in some big church downtown in Philadelphia. So we were in a big group, and he announced that we were all invited to this big downtown hotel. And we all show up at the hotel because this is a big deal, he said. And you're going to have a special speaker for high school kids. 

So we all show up at the hotel, and sure enough, they introduce this guy, from all places, he's from Dallas, Texas. And he's introducing this thing called Young Life for high school kids. And of course, when Young Life meets, they always have a lot of fun. And that night they were looking for the shyest little girl in the room. Now, there are hundreds of us in there, and I am this very, very shy little girl, blonde hair, blush bright red when I'm embarrassed. And they have a spotlight and they're going around the room looking, and I'm sitting at the very back table and I'm trying to be invisible. 

But, of course, it landed on me. So they drag me up like a suspect going into a squad car on the platform. They asked me the question and I gave them the answer. I was a high school kid. And, of course, it's no, no, no, because they rigged question. But I stood there and argued with him. 

As I recall, I was taking Latin at the time, and I'm explaining why my answer was rooted in the Latin phrase or something like that. 

Darrell Bock: 

Something that would impress all high school kids, no doubt. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And the place is just coming down roaring with laughter. But the guy down at the speaker's table, who was Howard Hendricks, who is the MC of the evening, said to his buddy, "Who is that girl?" 

And, of course, nobody knew me, and he said, "I don't know, but I'll find out for you." 

So five months later, our little West branch group is over in New Jersey at a very primitive Boy Scout camp having our thing by ourselves and who shows up but this music leader. And I said, "What's he doing here? He's from someplace up north." 

Anyway, it was Howard Hendricks, and I didn't pay any attention to him. He led all the singing and everything. He's made an announcement and he said, "Now on Sunday night, we're going to have a sing down by the lake, so be sure and bring your flashlights." 

We all show up with our flashlights. But he came up to me at the end of the meeting after the benediction, and he said in a very gentlemanly way, "Excuse me, but I have forgot my flashlight." It was a planned event. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah, sure. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And that night he introduced himself. I found out that he was only 18 years old. He just graduated from high school. He's going to Wheaton College. And he asked me if he could write to me. 

And I thought he was putting me on. What college guy would want to write to a high school kid back in Philly? Anyway, he did, and we became pen pals, so to speak. But he was very gentlemanly, and he was different from any boy that I ever knew. 

And I told him right off as we were getting to know each other that I was not planning to get married. And he said, "That's very interesting." 

But I had the same idea. And he was cagey. He just knew exactly how to work me. 

Darrell Bock: 

That's a great story. So he's at Wheaton, and then he goes on to Dallas, right? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Right. And with this Bible knowledge now that he had, he was absolutely transfixed by Dr. Chafer and this experience that so many early students had where they sat in the class, Dr. Chafer would speak or teach on the Holy Spirit, for example. And when he finished, he would turn off the light, walk out the room, and the class is still sitting there transfixed because of the power of this message. 

And I think it was about that time that how I began to think, what is it about... I know it's the Bible, but how is it that a man can get up and talk to a group of people and leave them with such an impression? I think that was really the beginning. 

Then as he was a student there at Dallas, he also went, on weekends, over to Fort Worth and became a youth pastor for a Westminster Presbyterian church there. And he loved doing that and realizing the effect he was having on these teenage kids at that church. The power of having a leadership position and recognizing that it's not me, it's the Bible. It's the word of God. And he's trying to put this all together. How does this work? Because he had such... In fact, when he graduated, then he took in Fort Worth, he became a pastor of the church, many of them that were from that youth group. 

And the whole development of this leadership position, I could just see it working in his experience. So he didn't talk about it a lot to me. I'm just getting it from watching him. 

Darrell Bock: 

So there are two things going on. There's this deep DNA about the power of the word of God- 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yes. 

Darrell Bock: 

... Which he is picking up. I imagine he picked it up initially at Wheaton and then it all Dallas did was reinforce that. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. 

Darrell Bock: 

And then there's this leadership development, and particularly leadership aimed at very young people in developing them from a very early point on, with a total commitment to a kind of discipleship that leads into real Christian maturity. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. 

Darrell Bock: 

Both of those pieces, of course, are very, very important to everything that Dallas does even now. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Oh, sure. 

Darrell Bock: 

And really is a part of what we regard, I think, as our own DNA in terms of the way we train people to lead people into the word of God and lead them into maturity in the faith. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Exactly. 

So as he developed on, and as I said, he started the pastorate, but this is Fort Worth. And Dr. Walvoord had him coming back on weekdays to teach because he was a theology major, and he loved to teach. 

And again, he was growing in this whole concept of realizing the power of the word of God, but also the way it affected people, that some people used it, or God gifted them in a way that they could teach other people. I don't know. I'm assuming that that concept was growing in his mind, like I've got to find out. There was an obsession that he had. How does this work? How do you make other people want to know the word? 

He was excited about the word, but how do you make other people get excited about? 

Darrell Bock: 

Interesting. Well, of course, one of the lines that he's known for all the students is that it's a sin to bore people with the Bible. So let's turn to the time when we come in, informs a new department, Christian Education, which doesn't fit the normal mold of what seminary education looked like at the time. Completely new innovation. 

I don't know how to ask this question delicately. How was that received when it was initially proposed? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, I have to be very honest with you, it was not well received. You see, as he served in the pastorate and he understood, I am well qualified to teach these adult people, but I do not know what to do with these little kids in the junior department. 

So he took one summer... Wheaton College, in their graduate school, it was in its infancy at that time, but the Christian education concept was growing. So he took that course from them. Then there was a professor at NYU, and he signed up with him, but he only got a little way with him. And Dr. Walvoord called and said Dr. Chafer had died. And Dr. Nash, who was the registrar, had a heart attack at the same time. 

And he said, "Howard, you've got to come back here and teach theology for me." 

So we packed up the little kids and all went back to Dallas, and that's when he started to teach. 

Darrell Bock: 

So he was teaching theology to begin with? That's something I didn't even know? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That was his major when he was in seminary. 

Darrell Bock: 

I see. And then there's this transition, right, because of this other concern, I guess? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, he said to Dr. Walvoord, "I'll come back and teach theology if you let me teach one course in Christian Ed." 

Darrell Bock: 

The cagey prophets at work, huh? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, he came back and he was allowed to teach. But I have to admit that some of the older members on the faculty were not happy about it. They felt he was introducing some foreign idea that was not consonant with seminary. 

However, it grew. And as you know, the department was founded and he loved it. But again, this whole idea of leadership, how do we develop these little children and young people into becoming people who will again, teach others? So the obsession was growing in his mind. 

Darrell Bock: 

This is interesting. I was talking to my wife, Sally, last night. We were talking about Prof, and she said, "The one thing that I really appreciate about Prof, is I never felt like an appendage to you," you speaking about me. A seminary prof's wife, he always related directly to me, and he seemed to have an ability to see potential in people that they didn't see in themselves. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

I'm a good example of that. I mean, as I told you, I was very shy little girl, and I didn't know what I was getting into. Because as I said, he made me a teacher of this little class. But then as we were mingling with other people, he was always putting me out where I had to do something that I hadn't done before. 

And he wasn't a teacher in that he taught me at home, but whenever I asked him a question, he would say, "Well, go study Romans 8 or whatever, and then we'll talk about it." 

That was the way he taught me. So it was a very informal thing as well as my sitting in and listening to him. Of course, I wasn't in his classes at the seminary, but I had all these other opportunities to hear him. 

Darrell Bock: 

So this innovation that he brought, which wasn't initially well received... He and I have talked long and hard about this because of my own experience. But eventually he did something and he and I have talked about this a lot, that sometimes when you're in a situation where people are uncomfortable with what it is you're trying to do, the best thing to do is to just show its effectiveness. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yes. 

Darrell Bock: 

And to do what you think is right. And if the Lord is honoring it, it'll get lifted up and then it'll be regarded. So you think about here he founded this department that was innovative and was challenged initially, but by the time I came as a student in 1970s, the Christian Education Department at Dallas Seminary was well recognized and was leading other schools in the area, et cetera. 

And the whole mentorship, discipleship, leadership thing was very, very prominent in his thinking. All of that was going on. So he just let what he was doing speak for itself. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

He did. But remember, he realized early on, this is not a solo performance. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yes. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And what he started to do was to look for other leaders. For example, one of the earliest ones was Tom Landry, because he used to go over to the practice. Every Wednesday he went to the practice field and he got to know Tom and they became friends. 

But he was observing how Tom interacted with his players. And then he did the same thing with any leader that he could find. He was very much involved with the military. He found out from some friends that the military was teaching leadership up in Virginia. So we went up there and he got invited to sit in on their leadership training, and then we eventually went to the Pentagon where he began teaching some of the guys at the Pentagon. 

So his field of reference was growing in a number of- 

Darrell Bock: 

So he was really a student of leadership long before the leadership center came along. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

... He was fascinated by it. I think this question of what makes somebody so important and attractive that all these other people want to come- 

Darrell Bock: 

Interesting. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

... And learn from him. And, of course, he used his... As I said, when he was a teenager, he used his singing voice and then he used his ability... He had an ability for one-liners, make the audience laugh and feel comfortable with him. 

Darrell Bock: 

So we come to the 1980s, and he's prominent. You've already alluded to his relationship he had with the Dallas Cowboys and Tom Landry. He's well-known internationally. I think I came across him the first time going to some event for Campus Crusade that I attended. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yeah, that was another with Bill Bright, he was very much involved with the, which is now Crew. And of course, a lot of students came to the seminary just because he taught every summer for campus crusade 

Darrell Bock: 

Of course, I was a young lifer, so I was crossing tribal lines by doing this, but still, he was just captivating. And what was beautiful about it was he was captivating on the one hand, but the word was coming across on the other. 

That combination was just so uniquely stirred by the way he taught. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, he was very much involved with understanding that is not in the person. So he did a lot of reading. One of the first books that he talked about a lot was The Training of the Twelve by AB Bruce. 

Darrell Bock: 

Sure, yes. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

It was one of his basic studies. And then Barkley's commentary on the Book of Mark, because The Training of the Twelve sort of moved him into the Book of Mark, where he realized that it was the very first chapter of Mark where Jesus got the 12 together and realized you got to have a group and work with you. You can't do this by yourself. You may be that figurehead, but it's not all about you. 

Darrell Bock: 

Interesting. 

So let's talk about the origins of the center a little bit. We're in the 1980s, and leadership is a challenge. And there's a citation, I think, that comes in. As I walk into my office every day in the Hendricks building, there's a display with a picture of Prof, and there's a quote there about the importance of character in Christian work. 

And what I see him doing with the Center is focusing on, all right, now, what does it take to be a leader? And then what does a leader do with the stewardship and responsibility that he has as a leader for the people around him in forming an organization that's going to go somewhere? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Right. You have to know what you're doing and pass it along to other people in the proper way. As I said, you didn't do it by yourself. For example, the Center was an idea, but you couldn't get that idea into formation without help. So you had to have a financial help. So you had Bill Seay, Bill and Marge Seay. Bill once served as the mayor of Highland Park. And he funded the thing. 

Then you had other people come along like, well, of course right out of the military was his right-hand man. 

Darrell Bock: 

Thinking of Chuck? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Pardon? 

Darrell Bock: 

You thinking of Chuck Swindoll? Or are you thinking of someone else? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

No, not Chuck, but let me see. The guy was Andy Seidel. 

Darrell Bock: 

Andy Seidel. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yeah. He helped him put together. There was a number of young men that he called around him that were very gifted people. And then there was the woman, Pam Cole. 

Darrell Bock: 

Oh yeah, sure. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

I mean, when she came on board, she was in... See, Howie was not a detailed person. 

Darrell Bock: 

Oh, really? Yeah. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Everybody knew that. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah, exactly. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

I mean, he had ideas and Pam took care of all those details. Brad Smith was another one that- 

Darrell Bock: 

And Andy Wileman. Yeah. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

... Andy Wileman. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

So he had this group of people that he depended upon. They were all gifted people and he loved them, but he loved his students. 

In the early days, the seminary used to give the professors a page with the pictures of each new student that was going to be coming into the class. 

Darrell Bock: 

We still do this today. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And he would sit and memorize the night before the class. When he got to the school, he would greet each person. They're brand new, they've never been there, and he knows their name, where they're from, and it just blew them away, of course. 

He just loved doing things like that. Of course, the school was small, so you only had 15 or 20 students, but it was one of his favorite things to do. 

Darrell Bock: 

So he forms the center and builds around the leadership idea and builds around this training of both character and organization. The seminary has also ended up initially placing spiritual formation which, speak about another innovation, coming to a seminary, it's an educational institution, and we're going to invest not just in the classroom and what they learned, but we're actually going to pay attention to where they are spiritually. 

Spiritual formation came in during this time, and the center was initially responsible for the spiritual formation of the student. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right, yes. 

Darrell Bock: 

And worked on that. That's actually how my relationship with the center began, because I helped... When they were planning the curriculum to develop the spiritual formation, they turned to me as one of their consultants, if you will, to help build that program and build its base. 

And that's actually where I got to know Prof. We were working on the spiritual formation side of things and very informally connected to the center. And then eventually when Bill Lawrence came in, he asked me to come help more formally. And so I had this, I guess, sidebar relationship to the center for years. And we would go out for lunch once a semester and just talk about leadership and the savior evangelical. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

He was, I think, gifted in pointing out who were specific co-leaders. You were one of them. He knew. He just sort of knew intuitively, this guy is going to make it. He's going to be able to take charge. And so it was a gift that God gave him. 

And of course, as you know, there were a number of groups that spun off of this ministry, like Family Life Ministries and so forth. 

Darrell Bock: 

All formed by people who he had discipled, basically. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. His disciples. He loved every one of his students. We had this house and we had a big house before this one. And Thanksgiving or any other time, we had filled with students. 

Also, he tried to convince the seminary to make it a formal thing, but we went out and visited alumni. But he wanted to know what happens to you when you get out there in the field. 

Darrell Bock: 

Sure. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Because it's not always a pretty picture. But the seminary felt like they couldn't do that at the time. But he was very much interested in the alumni. 

Darrell Bock: 

So here's an interesting fact, because this relates to how I came into the center. So what happened, of course, in the eighties, we were in one situation. And as we move into the eighties and then the millennium comes and we're into 2000s, the world around us is shifting immensely. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Exactly. 

Darrell Bock: 

And so Mark Bailey and I started these podcasts. We started these podcasts which were not connected to the center originally that we would do. And then in 2010, when we went to Cape Town for the Lausanne global event, we met with alumni. Mark and I. 

And Mark asked a question. He said to the alumni, "What can we do to continue to serve you?" 

And he said, "Well, keep these podcasts coming. They really minister to us." 

And it was 50 people in the room. And it was like this came up and everyone signed on to the idea and reinforced it. So I'm walking out of that meeting with Mark Bailey and I said, "You know, we do these podcasts. They're ad hoc. We do them when our schedules match, when we think something is important enough to talk about. But there's no rhyme or reason to what we're doing. We're just doing it as it pops up as a need. They're asking for more intentionality in terms of how we do this." 

And so that started the conversation and our culture had shifted to the point where it became clear you couldn't lead well, even if you had great character and you knew how to build an organization without understanding what's going on around you. And so that led into the request of my coming into the center and, one, launching a podcast with some intentionality behind it. We ended up calling it, of course, The Table and helping the church cope with what has been a massive cultural shift from the time when our ministry started all the way even to the present. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's true. Yes. 

Darrell Bock: 

And so we came in and again, we used to meet once a semester, just go out to lunch and talk about what was going on and the challenges that that produced for the church in the way of thinking through what's going on. 

Andy Seidel was still connected to the center when I first came. And so we put these two wings now, leadership, which of course Bill, your son, now helps us with and has just been a wonderful addition for us. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's encouraging. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah. And of course, I've had responsibility on the cultural engagement side, but that's how the center emerged. We were trying to fill out the way the leader functions in the world and to make them aware of how to do it. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And moves with the way the culture is moving. 

Darrell Bock: 

Exactly. Exactly. And so that was the challenge in the life of the center. So let me ask you this, and this'll kind of be where we're laying the plane. What are some of the things about leadership that you absorbed from Prof that when you think of the leadership center, these are things you can't forget? 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, I would have to say relationships, first of all. This was not my background, but I learned so much, so much from him because he just glommed on to people. It didn't matter who they were. 

Now, of course, there were always some who sort of backed off, but then there were the guys like Chuck Swindoll who came up and Chuck would sit on the very front row in the middle. The minute the class was over, Chuck would be out the door with him asking questions, that kind of thing. So he developed this sense of people who were teachable, I guess, is the best word. 

But the main thing that hit me, and I think hit his family as well, he was always involved with some student. Whenever he traveled, he took students with him, especially in the early days when the children were young. Always took students with him when he traveled. He was always trying to get to know people. Not to impress them. His relationships, he just knew how to move into a person's life. 

I mean, I experienced it myself, but I saw it with all these other people. And it wasn't a fake thing. It wasn't like he's trying to get them to do something for him. He just wanted to know people and to love people. God gave him that ability. 

Darrell Bock: 

It's interesting. One thing I remember about Prof, I've talked to Bill about this a lot. That I remember being an event. It was a student orientation event, and we were sitting next to one another. This would've been somewhere in the 2000s. 

And Prof, actually, were times when he was actually quite shy himself, even though he was so extroverted. It was an interesting contrast. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's exactly right. 

Darrell Bock: 

So he is very low-key. We're just having a conversation, and the tone is about this. It's pretty quiet. And then it comes time for him to speak, and all of a sudden all this energy just pours out of him. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Exactly. 

Darrell Bock: 

And I'm sitting next to him and I'm going, where'd that come from? I mean, because the decibel level just leapt up. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

The minute he got on a platform in front of a group of people, you're right. It just exploded out of him. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And he loved it. See, he learned that when he was in grade school, when he was making a fool out of himself. But he learned that, I hate to call it the thrill, but it was something in him that it was a satisfaction. When he saw a group of people in front of him, he just had to relate and say whatever it was. 

Darrell Bock: 

Well, he is connecting and capturing them. And I remember being so impressed with the difference and the ability to modulate up and to grab a big crack. Because what it meant is he was grabbing a big cloud. It was like he was putting his hands around everybody. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. 

Darrell Bock: 

And pulling them in and drawing them into whatever it was he was talking about. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

I think, personally, he was very shy. Because of his background, his family, and so forth, he never thought of himself as being important. He just was so amazed at what God had done in his life. And if he knew we were sitting here talking about it. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah, I know. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

He'd say, "You don't need to do that." 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah, I know. Yeah. But the fact is he's an example of the thing he often would talk about, which is God can take anyone from anywhere, and they seemingly seem to have very little to offer. And God can shape them and mold them and make them into a leader. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

That's right. 

Darrell Bock: 

And Prof was consumed with, how do you do that? How do you do that well? Let's study how we do that. Let's think about how we do that. Let's think about the character that the person has, the organization that they're attached to that they have to give energy to, and let's also think about the way they have to understand what's going on around them in order to make sense out of what's going on. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

And it's all based on the scriptures. 

Darrell Bock: 

And rooted deeply, deeply, deeply in a conviction that Jesus Christ makes sense out of life, that God is at work in His grace, that people need the Spirit of God in order to make sense out of their lives. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Yes. That whole truth of the power of the Holy Spirit, which I know he got from Dr. Chafer, it never left. He understood if the Holy Spirit is not working in your life, you're wasting your time. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yeah. Well, that's a good way to wrap up what we've been talking about, because the one thing that is constant in his life, and the reason he would be very uncomfortable that we're doing this, so we apologize, is here's a man who drew on the resources that God provided, lifted the Lord up in his life and teaching so that other people will be drawn to the light. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Right. And I think that he never forgot that we will all stand before the Lord to give account for what he has given to us. And he was very moved by the fact that God had given him some skills. He didn't make them up. God gave them to him. 

And he used them for God's glory as best he could. 

Darrell Bock: 

Well, he was a very gifted man, and you've given us a gift today by sharing what the life of Prof has been like. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Well, I thank the Lord every day. I see his pictures I've got around here, and I just am so amazed that God led me into his life. I'm so honored and privileged to even still have the name Hendricks. 

Darrell Bock: 

Well, thank you Jeanne, very, very much. 

Jeanne Hendricks: 

Thank you.