Alumni Perspectives
Steve Smallman Sr. (BDiv '67)
Rev. Steve Smallman Sr. (BDiv '67) stands in a small corner room. Four pastors -- doctor of ministry (DMin) students at Covenant Theological Seminary -- sit around the table. Books and papers are scattered across the table surface. The men listen intently as Smallman speaks; from time to time, they interject questions and comments. His baritone voice fills the room with a warm enthusiasm as he talks. Steve's strong hands move with excitement as he expounds on the book of Romans. "As pastors," he says, "we are called to appeal back to the experience of believers rather than to abstract theology. It isn't unbiblical to ask someone, 'Do you remember the patience of God working and how it was that the grace of God broke in at the beginning of your new life?' " After more than 40 years of pastoral ministry -- including four years as the executive director of World Harvest Mission -- Smallman spends much of his "retired" time teaching classes such as this one, Grace-Centered Discipleship. Discussing the process of salvation, Smallman concludes, with a look that is full both of seriousness and joy, "This is the Gospel as it is lived out in us." Smallman finished his undergraduate degree at Bob Jones University in 1962. "That was a time of pilgrimage theologically," he explains. "After teaching school for one year in Greenville, South Carolina, we moved to St. Louis to finish seminary."
After graduating from Covenant Seminary, Steve and his family took their first full-time call at a small church in McLean, Virginia. "When I went there, I never expected that I would be part of one church for 30 years," Smallman explains. "The church had about 60 people when I arrived. I was only 27 years old. I really shouldn't have been a pastor, but…" he pauses, then adds, "that's the way God works. I tell people we grew up together -- my family literally grew, I grew spiritually, and the church grew to roughly 1,200 members by the time I left. That sounds like a big jump, but stretched out gradually over a 30-year timeframe, it's just plodding along."
The unique reality of Smallman's years in ministry is how God allowed his life to overlap two major streams in the life of America -- one political, one spiritual. The city of McLean serves as a bedroom community for the Washington, DC, area. As a result, Steve witnessed firsthand a significant span of American history. "It was a time of enormous cultural shifts," Smallman reflects. "Lyndon Johnson was the President when we first arrived. We were there in the Nixon years. Some members of our church were part of his administration. During that time, Charles Colson became a friend, and I was involved in the beginnings of Prison Fellowship. During the Reagan years, Dan Quayle attended our church and worshiped with us during his time as Vice President. And Bill Clinton was President when I left." Yet, even in the context of these political waves, another circle of influence was imposed on the culture of spiritual understanding for Smallman and for many others.
"I remember when Dr. Francis Schaeffer spoke at the Seminary in 1965," Steve recounts. "The notes he was using became his book The God Who Is There. At the time, God was bringing me along to a fuller understanding of Reformed theology. I'd never heard of a 'worldview framework,' but as I listened to Schaeffer, I knew he was right." In the same way that the cultural-engagement of Schaeffer impacted Smallman's apologetics, a friendship with Jack Miller (founder of World Harvest Mission) helped shape his understanding of grace. "Jack Miller was a man like Francis Schaeffer in many ways. He had some basic vision and some ideas that powerfully impacted other people and helped shape a whole generation," Steve says. The flavor of Smallman's teaching beautifully reflects the richness of these influences. Speaking to this class of DMin students, Smallman says, "Spiritual life does not begin with conversion but with calling. Jack Miller said that we must wed grace and Gospel." As he continues teaching, Steve, who considers himself a fan of theologian Archibald Alexander, reads aloud from Alexander's work Thoughts on Religious Experience: "Many of our young preachers, when they go forth on their important errands, are poorly qualified to direct the doubting conscience or administer safe consolation to those troubled in spirit. In modern preaching, there is little account made of the various distressing cases of deep affliction under which many serious persons are suffering." Smallman has, in many ways, given his lifetime in ministry to teaching on this spiritual birthline. He has even written a book on the subject, Spiritual Birthline: Understanding How We Experience the New Birth (Crossway Books, 2006). Steve explains, "In many cases, to think of the pastor as a spiritual physician is a new thought. But pastors must be fluent in two areas. First, the pastor has to search the Word. I'm confident that many are getting that training. But pastors also have to be skilled in discerning the work of God in the souls of men, discerning how the fruit of the Scripture impresses itself on the hearts of people. And that is not so easy."
As class continues, Steve encourages this group of seminary students saying, "I want to talk to you as those who will be caring for the souls of people. I want to talk about an old phrase -- to speak of the pastor as the physician of the soul. The challenge before you is to be those who are sensitive enough to be a meaningful part of God's cure of souls. We've lost a fundamental art of the pastoral ministry, which is learning to listen and discern. We can never do it perfectly, but for future pastors -- those who will work with young people and children, who will work in frontline Gospel ministry and watch the Spirit of God effectually call people to Himself -- it is an exciting thing to be part of God moving into a person's soul." His strong hands move with excitement again, and Smallman concludes with a tone of serious joy. "We are not called to be salesmen for Jesus," he says, "but we are called to be midwives -- to come alongside as the Spirit of God moves to bring about this wonder of new birth. We don't make the change, but we pray, 'Lord, let us be a part of this amazing work of raising the dead, of bringing new life into the world. Give us a passion to want to be part of the birthing of people into the Kingdom and coming alongside them, nurturing them as physicians of the soul who have an expertise both in the truth of the Word and in the work of the Spirit in the hearts of men and women.' "
