Tribute to Adrian Rogers Getting Low

I was at a party in a home years ago when Adrian Rogers was there, and I couldn't wait to corner him and ask him some questions because I was doing research on the life of J. Sidwell Baxter back then and I knew Adrian Rogers and Sid were friends. The line was long to get to Dr. Rogers as he graciously spoke to folks one by one. I waited my turn to talk to him and I was literally the last one at this party so I finally walked over to him and said, Hi, Dr. Rogers.

Can you tell me when was the first time you met J. Sidwell Baxter? And he told me it was at a preacher's conference in California. And I replied, Really? I didn't know that. And Adrian Rogers took his two big hands and planted them firmly on both sides of my cheeks and jawbone and he lifted me up off the ground and pulled me to within one inch of his face and while I was in that vice grip he said in his big booming voice, There's a lot you don't know, young man.

Then he turned me loose and I was scared to death. But he was right on two counts. I was a young man back then and there was a lot I didn't know.

But I guess the difference between me and some other folks was the fact that I was willing to learn. And I spent the next twenty years as a learner. The meaning of the word disciple is learner, friends.

Jesus had some important truths to teach his men and he taught those truths to them over and over again until they finally sank in. And it's taken him years to teach me some of those truths as well. And eventually they began to sink in.

I learned that you don't become an Adrian Rogers by winning a popularity contest but by a surrender of your will to the will of God. Adrian Rogers was my pastor for twenty years and I learned a lot by observing him. You don't get to be a man of God overnight.

It takes time. Well, let's start this tribute to Adrian Rogers by starting with him as a young man when he got saved. Number one, he went low right from the get-go.

He was walking home from school and he crossed a field and he got down on his knees to pray. And he told God that he wanted to be used of him and he was willing to get as low as he could so he could get closer to God. And he realized on his knees praying he was still too high off the ground.

So Adrian threw himself face down on the ground and prayed with his face in the dirt the same prayer. Then he realized he could go lower. So he took his finger and he dug a hole in the dirt and stuck his nose in there and said, Lord, that's as low as I can go.

Well, you know what, friends? It's remarkable what God can do with a man like that. And God took that young man with his nose in the dirt and let him become the pastor of the biggest church and the biggest denomination and then made him president of that big denomination. God then plastered his face all over television, all over the globe through a televised ministry with love worth finding.

But Adrian was used of God because he stayed low. Number two, he stayed low. When Dr. Rogers was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, he was hosting some bigwigs in Memphis and they went out to a local restaurant for breakfast.

Adrian saw they had a back room in that restaurant, so he quickly went in there and started moving chairs and tables together to accommodate his important guests. Just then a waitress entered the room, read him the right act, and chewed him out for rearranging her chairs. In his mind he said, Lady, don't you know who I am? I've got some important guests with me and we want privacy.

But he didn't say that with his lips. Instead he acquiesced to her authority and apologized for his rudeness. He kept low in his daily living.

Number three, he finished his race low. The last time I saw Adrian Rogers I was in a room with him and two other men, Ted Rendall and Henry Blackaby. We were dedicating the library at the Stephen Olford Center and Adrian was there to lead us in prayer.

It was one of his last public appearances. He had cancer and he didn't have long to live and he was so sick from chemo he could hardly walk two steps without it using up all his strength. It was time for us to leave and he threw his big arms around me and he hugged me as hard as he could and he wouldn't let me go.

And somehow he did it again. He yanked me off the ground to his face and my chin rested on his shoulder while he hugged me in an embarrassing moment. I didn't realize it at the time but it was his way of saying a final goodbye to me because he knew he'd never see me again.

He was humble that day as he hugged me and he finished his race crossing the finish line low. His last words in the hospital were I'm at perfect peace. I believe a lot of us who would like to be an Adrian Rogers never get the chance because we're not willing to go low enough and stay that way.

But Adrian knew the lower he got the closer to God he was. I never knew a man who reminded me more of Jesus than Dr. Rogers. And I'll close this tribute to him, friends, with one last story about him.

It was pouring down rain and the night was dark as I dropped my family off at a local restaurant in Memphis and I parked the car. Hurriedly I ran through the parking lot beneath an umbrella and I took two leaps up into the lobby of that restaurant. A figure was there before me with his arms outstretched and he gave me a big bear hug and welcomed me saying Ernesto.

That's what Dr. Rogers always called me. And as he was hugging me I felt I had left this earth and was in another realm altogether and Jesus was welcoming me to heaven. Adrian made me think of Jesus who was lowly in spirit as well.

By the way, I can't wait to get to heaven because I miss those hugs from Adrian.