Many Christians have likely heard a sermon, read a book, or been influenced by the teachings of Chuck Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Tony Evans, Robert Jeffress, J. Vernon Magee, or Charles Ryrie. What do all these Christian leaders have in common? They are all graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary along with the founder of Young Life, Jim Rayburn, and the author of the Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson. In addition, DTS has had many notable faculty members over the years including both Dwight Pentecost and Howard Hendricks. Although there are many theologically solid seminaries today, it would be difficult to find any more influential in today’s church than DTS.
What many do not know is that this future hotbed for Biblical preaching and teaching nearly closed its doors not long after it was founded in 1924. Due to weak income, concerned creditors pressed the school’s administrators toward bankruptcy. On the very morning when the school was to be foreclosed upon, co-founder and the school’s first president, Lewis Sperry Chafer called all the other founders into his office to seek God’s provision and mercy that the young institution might be rescued from financial ruin.
As they prayed around the room, Bible teacher, preacher, theologian, and author, Harry Ironside, (aka the Archbishop of Fundamentalism) uttered a very brief prayer based on Psalm 50:10. He prayed in faith, “Lord, we know You own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of them and send us the money. Amen.”
As they continued to pray in the privacy of that room, a man entered the school’s business office and said that he had just sold two train carloads of livestock and had been working all morning to arrange another business deal with the money. Encountering continued resistance, he told the lady at the front desk that he felt God compelling him to give the money from these cows to Dallas Theological Seminary adding, “I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check.”
The receptionist thanked the generous donor and took the large gift immediately to President Chafer’s office. Aware that they were praying for the school’s financial future, she knocked lightly on the door to avoid creating a distraction. When the president opened the door, she told him what had just happened and handled him the check. As he examined it, he found that it was made out for the exact amount needed to prevent insolvency. Dr. Chafer looked across the room and spoke to Dr. Ironside who had just prayed with boldness, brevity, and faith and said, “Harry, God sold the cattle!”
The story sounds too good to be true, but all of those present attested to its validity. With this crisis averted, the school continued to operate and has ever since. It’s obvious that God knew what type of influential ministers and authors this school would produce and took care of the fiscal needs so it could keep functioning. Economics and finances are necessities of this life but they are not beyond God’s ability to provide. In fact, Jesus promised that His Father who feeds the birds will also supply our needs as well.
Some skeptics may call this miracle a coincidence, but it would take stronger faith to believe that than that God had specifically answered Ironside’s precise prayer. The Almighty knew about the school’s crisis and had already set in motion the events that would precipitate the gift even before they began praying, which is what Jesus also told us. In Matthew 6:8, He said, “…your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” But He also told us to ask, seek, and knock so that we might express both our faith and our dependence on Him and then give Him the glory for His answers.
As we ponder the amazing provision of God for DTS, let us praise Him for His daily provision for us as well. Blessings, George