Today I start my biannual migration to Kenya to teach classes at Africa Theological Seminary for six weeks. I will be teaching Major Prophets, Old Testament Biblical Theology and New Testament Biblical Theology. Pray that true spiritual growth, and not just the passing of knowledge, will take place.
Some of you have been praying for the publication of an article I wrote on Isaiah 61. By God’s grace, my article continues to find favor with an academic journal. Last week they sent me a typeset proof to review (one of the last steps, if not the last step, before publication). Praise be to God that progress continues. In addition to finding a number of mistakes that I made, some issues crept in during the typesetting process, especially with some of the phrases in Hebrew. Pray for the final proofing process.
Lastly, I love going to Kenya to teach. I do not like being away from my family for these extended periods. Pray for God’s grace to abound over the miles.
Paul at Dallas/Fort Worth airport starting his migration
This past weekend Steve Taylor (a colleague at ATS) and I represented Africa Theological Seminary (ATS) by riding in the annual Jon “Just Get ER Done” Memorial Motorcycle Ride in Minnesota. All the funds raised in this ride go to purchasing motorcycles for pastors in Africa. Over the years, this ride has purchased and given away 244 motorcycles. ATS and “Just Get ER Done” ride have had a long partnership with many of these 244 motorcycles going to ATS alumni. You can read more about the ride at jonjust.com/memorial-ride.html. (And no, I did not ride a Harley. Cindy and David borrowed a Kawasaki 650 for me to ride.)
The ride was started by David and Cindy Just after the tragic death of their son Jon in a motorcycle accident. Jon had a profound love for Jesus that was demonstrated in his life and was passionate about motorcycles. So a memorial ride to raise funds to help pastors in Africa is the perfect way to remember Jon. More about Jon’s life is available at: jonjust.com/jons-story.html
Praise God with me for David and Cindy who have allowed God to take the tragic and work it together for good. Praise God for a successful ride with the largest number of motorcycles that they have ever had: 88. Pray that God would bless their obedience and efforts to help African pastors.
African Christian scholars have, quite unknowingly, provided a window on how the Arab culture would most likely view the Bible, if they were Christian. As it turns out, African culture and Arab culture are remarkably similar. Using cultural dimensions (one of the principle areas in my PhD dissertation), there is very little differentiation between African culture and Arab culture.
Sub-Saharan Africa is predominately Christian, and its scholars have produced excellent Bible commentaries and study Bibles with a sub-Sahara African lens. The Arab world is predominately Muslim and has produced little in terms of Christian literature, which makes it hard to directly know how the Arab world would likely view a passage. Studying the Christian literature of sub-Saharan Africa provides researchers with an incredible opportunity to view the Bible through the Arab cultural lens vis-à-vis the sub-Sahara African lens. Granted this is not a perfect lens, but it is probably the best we have at the moment.
Like my fellow African Christian scholars, I unintentionally provided a window on the Arab culture and how they would likely interpret the Bible if they were Christian. While the cultural closeness of the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa were clear in my research, the implication of how this can illuminate the distinctly possible view of Arabs on the Bible escaped me (and once again reminded me that I am not as smart as I think I am).
During a very providencial conversation over tea with James Bryanson about the cultural similarities between the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa, it became clear to James that my research had potential value to better understanding the Arab world. This conversation was the catalyst for me to start repackaging my PhD research into a more accessable format. Please pray for this repackaging. Also if you have any comments and/or suggestions with this endeavor let me know.
Also please pray for personal support and that God would grant success in finding people who will pray for, take mission trips to and give to Africa Theological Seminary.
My official title is Vice President Development. My job description says that I am to: “Raise awareness of the work at and encourage prayer for Africa Theological Seminary (ATS). Engage with and encourage people to financially support ATS.” While I have received coaching and guidance, this is new ground for me and I find myself often asking “what am I doing?” This feeling is compounded as our support is low. I ask myself, if I cannot raise enough support for myself, how am I to do this for ATS. Please pray that God’s grace would abound.
Micah Joy took a week off from her summer job at the Oklahoma State University library and spent some time with us, along with her dog Zane and guinea pig Fred. It was great to have all the Cox kids in one city at one time.
Donna, Miriam, Paul, Micah Joy, Zane, & Nehemiah
Back in February, I mentioned that one of my writing projects was turning a reflection on Isaiah 61 into an article. By God’s grace, this article has moved forward toward publication. A journal asked for revisions and given that the revisions are acceptable, they plan to publish the article. Praise God that this article is moving forward. Pray that it would continue to find favor and eventually be something that would bless the body of Christ.
One of my tasks is to raise awareness for Africa Theological Seminary (ATS) which hopefully results in more people praying for, taking mission trips to, and financially supporting ATS. ATS now has an updated page, icmusa.org/ats, on International Christian Ministries’ (ICM) web page (as ATS is a ministry of ICM). Have a look the new page and let me know what you think. Please pray that the Lord would grant success in raising awareness for ATS.
On Sunday I preached at Calvary Chapel Garland. A video of the service can be found on our Facebook page: facebook.com/thecoxfamily.org/.
Recently the South African Theological Seminary posted the 2019 graduation video. The link that jumps to where I am hooded and receive my diploma is: youtu.be/CyLxMVsX1sM?t=3984. If you want to watch the whole graduation use this link: youtu.be/CyLxMVsX1sM.
On Thursday Amos and I finished co-teaching Old Testament Introduction and today I finished grading the final exams. A few days after Easter I will head back to the USA. Praise God for the partnership that Amos and I have. Pray that God would speed my journey home.
The day Amos and I made this video, Amos was in a motorcycle accident on his way home. A drunk man, who was standing alongside the road as Amos approached, unexpectedly walked onto the road. Amos hit the man, lost control of his bike and took a hard fall to the pavement. The man who was drunk, ran away from the scene while bystanders aided Amos. By God’s grace (including a visit to hospital to be checked out) Amos was not seriously injured, although he is quite sore. One of the bystanders knew the man who was drunk, tracked him down and took him to the hospital. Praise God that Amos was not seriously injured. Pray that he recovers quickly from the bumps and bruises.
Last week my computer stopped booting. Praise be to God that all the information on my hard drive seems to be intact and that everything for my PhD was complete before this. Given that my current laptop is seven-years-old, I think I will replace it once I am back in the USA. Pray that I can be fully back up and running soon.
On Saturday Africa Theological Seminary (where I teach) had its graduation. (Not to be confused with the South African Theological Seminary where I will graduate in May.) Here is a video with a few highlights of graduation.
My time in the U.K. was great. My friends there are passionate about God and walking with Him. Hence it was wonderful to spend time with them. I trust that God, by His grace, used my teaching time on Sunday in the U.K. for His glory. Praise God for the time I had with my friends and the oppurtunity to share God’s word in the U.K..
Last week and the first part of this week I taught New Testament Introduction (NT Intro). While I was in the UK, I found out that there was not enough students for the Elements of Greek (EoG) class to make, the class I had planned to teach. So my first class was switched from EoG to NT Intro. Very thankfully I have taught NT Intro before so the change was fairly managable. All the students in NT Intro are students I had last year (hence you have recently seen a video with their prayer requests (cox-net.com/2018_eog.html). Praise God that NT Intro went well and pray that God would help the students intergrate the material into their thinking and application of the New Testament to their lives and ministry.
In our Febuary update, I mention the “backend” services I have been working on (setting up accounts, getting biographical information, writing support profiles, etc…) to support relationship development for Africa Theological Seminary (ATS). Please pray that I can get all this “backend” stuff finished in the next week or two.
Lastly, I have yet to hear anything from the external review of my PhD. Please keep praying for God’s favor. If my external review takes the “normal” amount of time (although “normal” seems to rarely apply to the Cox family), I should hear something by next week.
Below are a couple of pictures of me speaking at ATS chapel.
“Love what we do … Hate being apart” is how my wife very accurately captured the dynamics of the start of my bi-annual migration to Kenya to teach for nine weeks; I leave today. I will spend a couple of days with friends in the UK and speak to a church there on Sunday. Your prayers would be appreciated.
Below is a picture Donna and I took on a hike on Saturday as we tried to get some extra time together before my migration.
