It is altogether appropriate that this issue of the Southwestern Journal of Theology which is focused on the ministry of preaching should be dedicated to Jesse Northcutt. Preaching in America during the last half of the twentieth century has been greatly influenced by his teaching and his writings. His career as a teacher of preaching has already spanned four decades and is still in progress. Without a doubt the impact of his ministry will extend well into the twenty-first century. He is active in the classroom and the preaching laboratory beyond his second retirement. He has an established reputation as a leader in seminary administration.

It is now possible to make an assessment of his ministry. Robert A. Baker, long-time professor of Church History at Southwestern, wrote of him:

Everyone recognized him as a most gifted teacher. I suppose that he could almost have had his choice as to which discipline he would teach, so great was the appreciation of the faculty for him. When he spoke in chapel his exegesis was invariably thorough in the original languages, his interpretation was impeccable, and his ability to communicate was exceptional. Withal, his intensity and enthusiasm in the pulpit were impressive.^[1]Robert A. Baker to Scott L. Tatum, February 3, 1984.

Another colleague who has known him for more than forty years, Boyd Hunt, professor of Systematic Theology at Southwestern, wrote:

Through the years, his enviable reputation with his faculty colleagues, his students, the seminary administration and trustees, the denomination, and the Fort Worth civic community is impressively documented in the leadership roles he has been asked to assume. Throughout his career the offices have sought the man, not the man the offices. As a leader he is not the kind to run either from difficulty or from hard work. He serves selflessly and well. He has not shunned innovation, yet he has led with a firm and unwavering commitment to the seminary’s basic priorities. He instinctively eschews empty negativism and presses for positive solutions. It may be a while before another matches the achievement which his offices and titles represent.^[2]Boyd Hunt to Scott L. To.tum, February 4, 1984.

Northcutt will be remembered as an excellent teacher. He has taught approximately ten thousand preachers among Southern Baptists. He majors on the fundamentals in the classroom. He reminds his students that they should learn the basic skills of sermon construction before they attempt to become innovative in preaching style. He does encourage the use of imagination and the employment of personal gifts and skills. He often tells his students, “If I hear you preach years from now, I will be disappointed if you are still preaching in an elementary or mechanical way. Use the principles I am trying to teach you to build your own style of preparation and delivery.”

He stresses the priority of responsible hermeneutics in preaching. In recognizing interpretation as one of the preacher’s most sacred duties he wrote:

This is true because Scripture is the revealed truth of God given to man for the purpose of redemption. Serious and eternal issues are involved in the proclamation of this truth. Lives of men today and eternal destiny tomorrow depend upon accurate and effective interpretation of the truth of God as revealed in Scripture. Such a task cannot be done without the Spirit’s aid.^[3]H. C. Brown, H. Gordon Clinard, and Jesse J. Northcutt, Steps to the Sermon (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1963), p. 47.

He recommends the grammatico-historical method of biblical interpretation. Proper understanding of the authorship, date, first readers, social conditions of the times, original word meanings, grammatical construction, context, and purpose of a text is essential. Principles of interpretation as outlined by Northcutt in Steps to the Sermon are excellent guidelines.

The thousands of students whom he has taught will benefit throughout their lives from his influence on them. President Russell Dilday said about him:

My fond appreciation for Dr. Northcutt goes back to my days as a student in his preaching classes where he became my model for excellence and quality in pulpit style. From there my friendship and admiration for him have grown more profound year by year.^[4]Russell Dilday to Scott L. Tatum, February 8, 1984.

The second area in which Northcutt has distinguished himself is in his preaching. He practices what he teaches. His messages from the pulpit always point to the Word of God. There are rarely ever any references to himself. He never “plays to the gallery” and is annoyed by preachers who do. In the learning center of the A. Webb Roberts Library at Southwestern there are scores of audio cassette tape recordings of his chapel sermons and other addresses. His sermons are clearly biblical expositions. They have a useful and observable structure when they are analyzed, but the structure is never either heavily apparent or cheap. He performs the task of hermeneutics in such a way that his hearers know both what God said and what God is saying in scripture. His delivery is usually extemporaneous following thorough preparation. He seems always ready to proclaim the gospel. On one occasion when Northcutt was presiding in chapel, it became apparent that the speaker for the day had not arrived. An emergency existed. Who would preach? Northcutt himself stepped to the pulpit, read a scripture, and proceeded to present the message. He did so without reference to the absent speaker and without apology. Only a few people on the platform knew that he had not been scheduled to preach that day.^[5]Trozy Barker to Scott L. Tatum, March 6, 1984.

One representative sermon by Northcutt may be found in Southwestern Sermons.^[6]H. C. Brown, ed., Southwestern Sermons (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1964), p. 161. It is entitled “A Drama in Christian Joy.” In it he described the situation of Paul in prison and showed how a Christian can find joy in spite of circumstances. Another representative sermon was published in More Southern Baptist Preaching.^[7]H. C. Brown, ed., More Southern Baptist Preaching (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1960), p. 77. Its title is “My Church, the Claim of Christ.” Its thesis is that the church belongs to Jesus. Preceding the sermon in that book is Northcutt’s description of his method of sermon preparation.

The third area where Northcutt has rendered in­ valuable service is in seminary administration. Both as Dean of the School of Theology and as Vice President for Academic Affairs, he excelled. He was the first person to serve in the latter office at Southwestern. In those capacities he worked with four of the six presidents at Southwestern. President Naylor said of him:

In the years that I walked here at the Seminary, he proved himself a committed servant of the Lord, a faithful friend, a Southwesterner in devotion and in dedication. He knew the seriousness of transition from Dean of the School of Theology to Vice President for Academic Affairs. This was a trusted voice in the denomination. He had an unusual gift for relating Southwestern to the institutions with other denominational ties and doctrinal persuasions.^[8]Robert E. Naylor to Scott L. Tatum, March 3, 1984.

When Russell Dilday became president, Northcutt was especially valuable to him in making the transition into his new leadership. He said of Northcutt:

As you would imagine, he became one of the most valuable persons during my transition to leadership in 1978. I encouraged him to be very frank and direct with me as we looked ahead at future plans. I wanted him not only to affirm the good ideas, but to tell me honestly when a decision was going to bring trouble. Even though the president might want to go ahead with the decision, at least I would know where the pitfalls were. He indicated to me that he was not that comfortable telling the president that an idea was a bad one, but with my encouragement he would do so. He certainly did provide that kind of counsel for which I will be forever grateful.^[9]Russell Dilday to Scott L. Tatum, February 8, 1984.

After Northcutt’s retirement from the office of Vice President for Academic Affairs, his successor, John Newport, said of him:

I cannot imagine a person who could have been more helpful in a transition period. He never publicly or privately criticized me (although I made mistakes). However, he always encouraged me and was willing to help when I requested (which was often in the early months). My ex­perience is typical. In a time when modesty and an authentic humility are increasingly rare in Christian leadership circles, he models these important qualities for us.^[10]John Newport to Scott L. Tatum, February 29,   1984.

What is the explanation for the outstanding career of this giant of a man? God’s eternal plan was operating as surely here as with Jeremiah to whom God said, “Before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer. 1:5). Jesse Northcutt had the heritage of a strong body and a sharp mind. He worked hard, and he had the prayers and encouragement of his family and friends. A brief survey of his life is an interesting pursuit.^[11]Material from this point forward is based on numerous taped interviews with Jesse J. Northcutt in the spring of 1984.

Jesse James Northcutt was born at Haskell, Texas, on June 10, 1914, the son of Elijah Lecil Northcutt and Mittie Pearl Lamkin Northcutt. When as an adult he obtained a birth certificate he was surprised to notice that the doctor who delivered him had listed June 11 as the date of his birth. Because his mother had always referred to June 10 as the date, he concluded that the doctor had probably made an error in his records. Through the years he has celebrated the earlier date. He has almost no recollection, of events in his early childhood at Haskell. He was next to the youngest of seven children. He had four brothers and two sisters. When he was about four years of age his family moved to Ranger and a bit later to Olden, a small town nearby. His father was employed in a lumber yard that specialized in rig timbers used in the manufacture of wooden oil derricks. Jesse remembers playing amid the timbers and stacks of lumber. It was a sort of private world for him, his brothers, and one or two close childhood friends. As they played together they would sometimes watch the trains go by on the Texas and Pacific Railroad and perhaps wonder about far distant places.

Jesse’s mother was a strong, courageous, calm woman. Her people, the Lamkins, were well respected in the area where she grew up. Her father was the Justice of the Peace. The little town of Lamkin in Comanche County was named for the family. Usually she was not afraid of anything, but a West Texas storm was an exception. One of Jesse’s earliest experiences was of a storm so fierce that his mother sent his father to bring him home from a visit to a friend’s house nearby. She felt safer with all of the family gathered under one roof.

His mother was a Christian example to her children, although childbearing and the almost overwhelming responsibility for rearing a large family kept her from being active in a church until later in life. She was a gentle and loving person. She always took up for the underdog. She accepted life with all of its difficulties without bitterness. She maintained a positive and optimistic attitude. She transmitted these qualities of patience, love, and courage to her children. She taught them the highest Christian moral principles.

Jesse’s father had grown up on a farm near Dublin. Later his family maintained a large acreage adjacent to the Spade Ranch near Colorado City. When Jesse was about six years of age his father was called on to move back to the farm. He had to relieve one of his brothers whose wife was ill with tuberculosis and had to be taken away for treatment. This move opened a new chapter in the life of young Northcutt.

He loved farm life. Six hundred and forty acres gave him plenty of room to grow. Throughout life he remembered with joy the childhood experiences on his grandfather’s farm. It was for that reason that as a seminary professor he bought a small farm near Ft. Worth and for a number of years enjoyed living on it and raising cattle.

Among his childhood pleasures were swimming, hunting, and horseback riding. He enjoyed going into the woods to gather the firewood that his older brothers had cut. He heard the coyotes howl at night. He remembers the crunch of the wagon wheels rolling through the snow and ice in winter. In the summer time he learned to be careful of the rattlesnakes that lived with the prairie dogs in one certain pasture.

The school teachers roomed at his grandfather’s house. On cold evenings they would entertain the children by making pull candy, peanut brittle, or divinity. As a special favor they allowed young Jesse to start to school at age six rather than at age seven which was more normal in those days. The school house was a simple two-room building. He and one little girl were the only pupils in the first grade. Before the year was over she had died.

The larger children were helpful and protective toward Jesse. The big boys would let him play in their games. In baseball they would “take his third strike” and let him run. His older brothers demonstrated unusual care for him. Family ties were especially strong.

In the cold of winter it was hog-killing time. After the butchering the family would preserve the hams and make sausages. They ate much of the fresh meat. Jesse learned to like liver and it became a lifetime favorite food for him.

Later the Northcutts moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, where Jesse’s father resumed his employment with a lumber company which served the booming drilling activity. Once again Jesse’s playhouse was the lumberyard where the huge timbers were stacked. He and his younger brother shared their play and friendship with two neighbor children. Their mother was a devout and emotionally expressive Christian. This family invited Jesse to attend their church with them. This opened a new chapter in his life.

When he was about ten or eleven years of age he began attending the Sunday School at the Methodist Church in Duncan. His first Sunday School teacher was an employee of the Post Office. He was a neat and clean young man. Jesse admired him for his kindness and for the way he made the Bible interesting to young boys. He looked up to him because of his positive Christian influence.

Jesse did well in his junior high classes. He was so highly respected by his teachers that the principal of the elementary school would ask him to look after some of the younger children when teachers had to be out of their rooms for a while. At that time he had no idea that he himself would someday become a teacher and an administrator.

On the playground he thought of himself as a frustrated athlete. He was skinny and tall. His hands and legs were not always well coordinated. He played all of the games with pleasure, but usually was on the second team. He enjoyed baseball, football, basketball, and track.

When he was about twelve years of age Jesse began to attend Sunday School at the First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma. He had known that the Northcutts were historically Baptist people. He had a friend, Conner Russell, with whom he played basketball. It was he who invited him to attend the church with him and he became one of three positive influences in his conversion. Conner was a clean-cut young athlete. There was something different about him. Later he became a Baptist preacher, but even as a youth he was an effective witness.

A second influence was a Sunday School teacher who frequently reminded his class members of the importance of becoming Christians. He believed that it was his responsibility to lead each member of his class to know Christ as Savior.

His junior high school principal, a Mr. N. Hill, had a profound impact on his conversion experience. He was a stern disciplinarian, often carrying a wooden paddle with him in the halls to enforce his rules, but he was at the same time a man of concern and compassion. One day he asked, “Jesse, are you a Christian?”

The question startled him. He evaded the issue momentarily, and then he lied, “Yes, sir, I am.” The untruth haunted him. He was deeply convicted that he was a lost sinner indeed. His spiritual condition became an increasing burden to him. The church was in a time of revival meetings. A special evangelistic service was conducted in the Sunday School department where Jesse was in attendance. The pastor and the visiting evangelist presented the gospel. Jesse’s young friend, Conner Russell, witnessed privately and personally to him during the invitation hymn, and he made a life-changing decision to become a Christian. He later said, “For everything I knew I gave myself to Jesus Christ.” He was baptized in the First Baptist Church of Duncan, Oklahoma.

Later, when he was a student in Oklahoma Baptist University, he went through a period of spiritual unrest. He doubted that he had been converted earlier. He made another profession of faith and was immersed a second time, but as the years passed he became convinced that the decision he had made as a youth of thirteen was the valid experience. He interpreted the subsequent decision as a deepening of his commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Following his conversion Jesse found himself exceedingly interested in the life of the church. He seemed to realize that there had been a missing dimension in his family background. The members of the congregation became his new family. He was regular in attendance at the services of the church. Sunday School was a place of learning biblical truths that he hungered for. The Church Training program provided an outlet for him to express his ideas about Christ and his faith.

As he continued to grow as a Christian he began to sense that God was calling him to preach. The idea frightened him. He tried to put it out of his mind, but the thought would not go away. There were three reasons for his attempt to avoid entering the ministry. In the first place, he definitely did not want to do it. Second, he came from a background where preachers were not particularly admired. Up to that time he had not known any preachers who might have been attractive role models for him. His general impression of ministers was somewhat negative. This was a definite problem for him.

The third reason he tried to put preaching out of his mind was that he really did not think he was qualified to preach. How could God use a youth like him? He was timid and shy. He would sometimes walk across the street to avoid having to talk to people. He wanted to be more gregarious, but he felt so inadequate. He could not think of himself in a pulpit speaking to crowds of people.

While he was in the midst of his struggle against the idea of a call to preach, he began to get involved in speaking at school. On one occasion he delivered an oration in the junior high school assembly, and others were so impressed they encouraged him to be more active in debate and public speaking. He entered and won first place in the county oratorical contest. He was beginning to feel more comfortable in front of people and expressing himself. Some of his feelings of inadequacy were beginning to diminish.

At this point in his life there was what he called a rather symbolic experience. As his family followed his father in his work they moved to Mineola, Texas. Jesse joined the First Baptist Church there when he was a junior in high school. On a given Sunday afternoon he was restless, uncertain about life, and unusually pensive. Without really knowing why, he started walking east along the Texas and Pacific railroad tracks. Coming to a clump of trees he went aside and sat down to think and to pray. He looked up and saw a preacher who had been the guest speaker at the church that morning. He was walking down the tracks and was witnessing to a hobo. God seemed to say to Jesse that he ought to be what that man was and to do what he was doing. The searching youth interpreted the experience as something of a sign from the Lord. He thought, “Maybe I ought to preach.” He continued to think and pray about the matter.

The Northcutt family moved back to Duncan, Oklahoma. The various churches were in the midst of a city-wide revival meeting. They had built a tabernacle and huge crowds were attending. The whole city seemed to be stirred. In the course of this series of services Northcutt publicly dedicated his life to the gospel ministry and more specifically to preaching.

His pastor, Thomas P. Haskins, was Jesse’s ideal model of what a preacher ought to be. He loved people. His sermons were interesting and inspiring. His character matched the truth of his messages. He was gracious, patient, and generous.

Opportunities to speak came early to young Northcutt. His first sermon was preached in the church at Duncan shortly after his commitment to the ministry. Like so many others, he began by using a sermon by George W. Truett. On Sunday afternoons the church would send out “gospel teams”—a layman and a young person—to conduct religious services in school houses. They would sing, give testimonies, teach Bible lessons, and preach. Jesse was an occasional participant for a while, but soon he was the regular leader of the services at Liberty School House.

While he was growing as a Christian and gaining experience and confidence as a preacher, he continued to do well as a high school student. He was admired by the other students and was respected by his teachers. He participated in oratorical contests that were popular in those days. He was a skillful debater. His team went to the state contest and was eliminated in the semi-finals by a team that went on to win the national championship. He was on the B team in high school basketball. He was president of his sophomore class, president of his junior class, and secretary of his senior class. He graduated as salutatorian of his class, and received the Kiwanis Club medal as one of the most outstanding high school graduates.

At this spiritually sensitive and formative state of his life, two of his debate partners died suddenly, one in an automobile accident. This moved him deeply. He was the only one of the three left alive. “God must have a special plan for my life,” he thought. The stewardship of life took on a new dimension for him.

He was serious about living an exemplary Christian life. When somebody questioned his playing sandlot baseball on Sunday afternoon he decided not to do it any more for the sake of his Christian influence. He later felt that he probably took life too seriously and made too many rules for himself. At that time he thought Christians ought not to attend movie theaters. He came later to believe he deprived himself of some of the normal and legitimate pleasures in life.

Jesse Northcutt became a pastor rather early in his ministerial career. During the summer following his graduation from high school and before he entered Oklahoma Baptist University, he had the opportunity to accept the call of a congregation to be its pastor. T. P. Haskins of the First Baptist Church in Duncan was conducting a series of evangelistic services at Velma, Oklahoma. He asked young Northcutt to conclude the revival series by preaching on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The church had not been having regular worship services. What had been a nice building at one time had been allowed to deteriorate. Windows were broken out, doors sagged, paint was peeling from the woodwork, and birds were nesting in the auditorium. The only lights were gasoline lanterns that frequently died and had to be pumped up. The condition of the church house was symbolic of the spiritual welfare of the community. Older people were discouraged. Young people lacked leadership and incentive. Some of the boys and girls had been to the state reform school. Many others found pleasure in vandalism. It was to this challenge that God called Jesse Northcutt to his first pastorate.

The task was not easy. The young pastor was often discouraged, but he had boundless faith. Experience thrust education upon him. He had attended few funerals, but rather soon he was called on to conduct the funeral of an aged woman. He had never been to a wedding, but he was asked to marry a young couple. He said, “I really didn’t know enough to be a pastor. I barely knew the facts of life, but when situations arose, I did my best to handle them.”

Often worship services were disrupted by rowdiness. On one occasion mischievous boys threw handfuls of shelled corn through the broken windows to startle the congregation. They would let the air out of the tires of the automobiles.

Pastor Northcutt was determined to change things. One of the deacons, an older and well-respected man, was deputized by the sheriff of the county to keep order at the church. The wild young people understood that kind of authority. The pastor developed a friendship with them. He was near enough to their age to identify with them. His personality and his conduct appealed to them. Gradually the disruptors from outside came in to hear the preaching of the gospel. Many of them were converted and began to help with the reviving of both church and community. So effective was his leadership that the chairman of the school board came to Northcutt to ask him if he would be the principal of the school. They needed a man to do at the school house what he had done at the church house. Of course, he declined. He had a college education before him.

As the situation at Velma improved, a call came from the Little Beaver Baptist Church. Northcutt began preaching two Sundays a month at Velma and two Sundays at Little Beaver while carrying on his studies at Oklahoma Baptist University. His second pastorate was much stronger than his first, and he was gaining experience and confidence. What he learned during the week in his Bible classes helped him with his preaching on Sundays. Since both of his churches were near Duncan, he could do much of his pastoral visiting by going there on Saturdays. Most of the people came into town from the country to do their shopping for the week. The pastor would find his people on the streets and talk to them as a form of pastoral ministry.

Getting a college education in the depths of the Great Depression was not easy. People were poor, and money was hard to obtain. Pastor Haskins had given him a fifty­ dollar bond to get him started, and Jesse’s older brother who was in the army sent him ten dollars a month. With the meager amount his churches paid him he was able to pay his bills without going into debt. During his first year at the university he shared a bachelor’s apartment with three others –Orvil Reid, J. C. Segler, and E. V. Johnson. Reid, a senior, was the father figure. Northcutt was the cook. They lived on beans and biscuits.

When Reid moved to a boarding house during the second semester he asked Jesse to be his roommate. The freshman considered it an honor to be chosen by the senior whom he had come to respect so much. Reid was a physical fitness fanatic. He had excelled in track and field events. Sometimes all three of his roommates would wrestle with him, but often he could overcome them with his superior strength. He was an inspiration to his young roommate, but more than athletically.

Reid’s example was a pattern for Northcutt’s formative years as a pastor. He believed in personal witnessing. When he met a person he sought as soon as possible to explain the way of salvation and press for an immediate conversion experience. Northcutt was never quite comfortable with that style of evangelism for himself, but he strongly believed in life-style witnessing and he knew the priority of evangelism. The second emphasis was on discipleship. Reid followed up on his converts. He got them to make a commitment to tithe. His zeal at that point was as strong as in his evangelism. He led the churches he served to major on biblical stewardship and to support the denomination through the budget. The third emphasis was on world missions. Reid was already a volunteer as a foreign missionary, and he instilled in Northcutt a strong belief in the importance of seeking to win the world to Christ.

The O.B.U. years were especially happy ones for Jesse Northcutt. He majored in English and was particularly interested in his studies in history. He took enough Bible and religion courses for another major in that field. He was a student grader for the courses in Greek. He was an excellent student, and his grades qualified him to graduate Magna Cum Laude. He was active in the Baptist Student Union and the Ministerial Alliance. He was president of the B.S.U. during his junior year. He enjoyed participation in the Kalalian Club, which was a social organization on the campus.

He remembers his university teachers with gratitude. Notable among them were A. L. Aulick, his Bible teacher. This former pastor gave helpful direction to his young ministerial students. L. T. Wallace was the Greek professor whom Northcutt admired and for whom he served as grader. Professor Mundie of the biology department took care to show the appropriate relationship between science and religion. He strengthened his students’ confidence in the Bible. Northcutt felt that this met a specific need in his life at that time. C. W. Patton, who taught history, opened the minds of his students to the sweep of God’s activity in the world. Forbes Yarborough, teacher of religious education, was also a member of the faculty at that time. Northcutt’s concept of what it means to be a good teacher began to make its shape as he studied with these outstanding men.

Falls Creek Baptist Assembly had a large part in his spiritual and social development. As early as his teenage years he attended the assembly with members of the First Baptist Church of Duncan. When he himself was a pastor he organized groups from his churches to go to Falls Creek to camp out according to the arrangement in those days. They were blessed by the speakers, the pro­ grams, and the recreation there. He remembers hearing W. T. Conner and H. E. Dana from Southwestern Seminary. He admired the scholarship of Conner and the fresh, popular way Dana presented the truths of the Bible. Northcutt’s mind was being challenged and his horizons were expanding.

In the beginning of the summer following his freshman year at O.B.U., Jesse Northcutt met the young woman who was later to become his wife. Fannie Yaeger and a young couple -from Little Beaver, Oklahoma, where she had grown up, visited the services at Velma, Oklahoma. He had not met Fannie previously because she had been away teaching school at Ponca City. She had already graduated from Oklahoma State University. Her people were successful farmers and were highly respected in their community. When Jesse met her he was impressed by her outgoing personality and her friendliness. As their relationship developed throughout that summer he began to see in her all of the qualities he admired in a Christian woman. He believed she possessed personality traits that complemented his more reserved, somewhat timid personality. He loved her aliveness. She never seemed to meet a stranger. She had a genuine love for people. Before the summer was over they were engaged to be married. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1933, they were married at Little Beaver Baptist Church, where he was the pastor. An old-time friend, and pioneer preacher, J. J. Ward, performed the simple wedding ceremony following the Sunday evening service. The young couple began life together in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he completed his sophomore year and the two remaining years before graduating from O.B.U. in 1936. They were supported by the salaries of the two pastorates. The people often gave them canned goods and meat as they commuted between the church fields and the campus. The first of their two daughters, Shirley Ruth, was born on January 4, 1935.

During most of his last two years in 0.B.U. Northcutt was pastor of the Pocasset Baptist Church at Pocasset, Oklahoma, having resigned at Velma and having stayed half time at Little Beaver. Following graduation he became pastor full time at Eaves City Baptist Church at Eaves City, Oklahoma.

During his last year at O.B.U. the three seminaries sent recruiters to meet with the seniors. Both Southern Seminary and New Orleans Seminary offered scholarships to Northcutt and suggested the possibility that he might have an opportunity to teach for them someday. By that time he felt a strong urge to be a teacher of religion, an idea that he had not thought about in connection with his call to preach.

Southwestern Seminary’s recruiting was being done at O.B.U. by Fred McCauley, who had been Training Union Director for Oklahoma Baptists. He knew Jesse Northcutt and became his champion. He recommended him to President L. R. Scarborough. When Scarborough came to Shawnee, Northcutt told him about the scholarship offers from the other seminaries and their suggestion that he might become a teacher. Scarborough replied that Southwestern could not offer any scholarship, but that they were looking for teachers. Later Northcutt recalled that he probably attached more meaning to what the president had said about teaching than was really intended, but, of course, the opportunity did indeed come.

As the Northcutts prayed and sought God’s leadership they were convinced that they should go to Southwestern. They moved to Ft. Worth in August of 1936, and he began his seminary education. The total enrollment of the seminary that year was 440. He commuted each weekend with a carpool to Eaves City, Oklahoma. Fannie stayed in Ft. Worth most of the weekends with their child, but did go with him to the church field from time to time.

During the Northcutt’s second year at Southwestern Fannie was employed as a school teacher at the Eaves City public school. They moved into the three-room parsonage and lived on the field, which was a more satisfactory arrangement for them. Jesse continued to commute, but he stayed in a dormitory room in Ft. Worth Hall from Monday evening through Friday afternoon. The Eaves City church was a typical oilfield boom town church. The building had a sawdust floor and was not finished on the inside. The attendance averaged in the sixties and seventies in Sunday School. Sunday evening crowds were larger than they were for Sunday morning worship because of the oil field work schedule. The people were gracious. The salary of forty-five dollars a month was hardly adequate, but it was in keeping with the ability of the congregation. The Northcutts barely got by financially, but they did not go into debt. Jesse was developing his pastoral skills, his study habits, his academic standards, and his personal disciplines. These qualities would serve him well throughout his life.

He admired his seminary professors. H. E. Dana deepened his love for Greek and New Testament by the inspirational quality of his teaching and preaching. L. R. Scarborough challenged him in evangelism. His intense emphasis on personal witnessing did not quite match Northcutt’s more reserved approach to evangelism, but he caught the dynamic spirit of the man. Baker James Cauthen gave him an unusual zeal for world missions. His humble spirit was contagious. He could describe a remote African village as if he had lived there for years. R. T. Daniel, who had recently come to teach Old Testament, was an example of scholarship for young Northcutt and seemed to deepen his desire to teach someday at Southwestern. S. A. Newman was somewhat of a confidant to him. Northcutt found it easy to discuss his spiritual pilgrimage with him. Jeff. D. Ray was an older, practical teacher of preaching and pastoral ministry. He gave his students a solid foundation in expository preaching.

The professor whom Northcutt admired most was W. T. Conner. He saw in him the combination of a deeply committed Christian and the most brilliant mind he had ever known. This professor challenged all of the capacities of the student who ultimately would follow him as a teacher of systematic theology at Southwestern. In spite of Conner’s drawling monotone, Northcutt listened to every word he spoke with relish.

The years during which Northcutt was completing the work on his Master of Theology degree went rapidly. He studied diligently while he was on the campus. He was a caring, ministering pastor on the weekends. At home he was a loving husband and father. During the last year of his undergraduate studies he became pastor of the County Line Baptist Church at County Line, Oklahoma. It was a larger congregation and was stronger financially. The people were missionary-minded and evangelistic in spirit. The organizations in the church were vital and growing. With the increased membership there were occasional problems that tested Northcutt’s leadership ability. He steered clear of getting involved in disputes between people. He served as mediator, friend to all, and pastor. After a fire that destroyed some of the educational facilities, he led the church to purchase a house, move it, and remodel it as an educational building.

Northcutt’s seminary teaching career began as soon as he received the Master of Theology degree. As graduation approached, W. T. Conner talked to him about do­ing doctoral work at Southwestern and teaching in the fields of New Testament, Greek, and Theology. Conner was not chairman of the faculty, but he seemed clearly to be the leader. He evidently had talked to President Scarborough about Northcutt. The president called Northcutt for a conference about teaching. He asked him two questions: “Do you tithe?” “Do you teach the people in your church to tithe?” When the professor­ to-be answered in the affirmative, he was employed. Of course, the school was small enough then for the president and the faculty to know just about anything they needed to know about a student who was a prospective faculty member. The total enrollment was 657. His starting salary was one hundred dollars a month. A like amount from his church provided a comfortable income during a depression economy that still prevailed in 1939. A week’s groceries could be bought for just a few dollars at Leonard Brothers Department Store in downtown Fort Worth.

For several years Northcutt really had three tasks: pastor, teacher, and graduate student. After having served two years at County Line, he became pastor at Rio Vista, Texas, where he stayed for seven and a half years. E. Leslie Carlson, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, had recommended him to this church where W. T. Conner had once been the pastor. The congregation that had been having preaching only two Sundays a month became a full-time church. Because of its close proximity to Fort Worth, Rio Vista was an ideal place for him to serve. His family could be with him most of the time, and he could be at home with his family far more than other professors who had to commute long distances on the weekends. Outside income was almost absolutely essential to survival in the light of the meager seminary salaries. During the Rio Vista years, the Northcutts’ second daughter, Jesse Ann, was born in Fort Worth on October 10, 1942.

World War II brought new stress and new responsibilities to Northcutt. He accepted the problems as challenges. He ministered to the families whose sons were being sent off to fight the war. He wrote letters to the servicemen. He prayed for his people and for world peace. He preached sermons that were supportive and inspirational. He sensed a restlessness among the young people who remained at home, and he organized a recreation program at the church to try to help them. He often played softball with them. He participated in as many of their activities as his schedule would permit.

What the graduate student learned in his seminars, and what the young teacher prepared for his classes, he also preached to his congregation on Sundays. He was especially happy that he had chosen systematic theology as his major field. Old Testament and New Testament were his minors.

But a new dimension was about to be added to his ministry. From the beginning of the seminary in 1908 until 1944, Southwestern had had only one professor of preaching – Jeff D. Ray. He had reached the age of normal retirement in 1925, but had continued to teach for almost twenty more years. Jesse Northcutt was selected to succeed him. He taught homiletics and pastoral duties, as the courses were then called, for the next four years. In this new field he felt both competent and comfortable.

After teaching at Southwestern for nine years and enjoying pastoral ministry and preaching on the weekends, Northcutt began to be burdened by a desire, to be a full-time pastor. He had a shepherd’s heart and could never get away from the idea that God wanted him to give himself to the pastorate. In 1945 he had conducted a youth revival at the First Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas. The pastor, Millard Jenkins, was quite elderly at the time and encouraged the youth evangelist. The people in the church were most responsive to his preaching. The thought passed through Northcutt’s mind that when Jenkins retired the church might look in his direction. He liked the idea, but tucked it away in his mind and did not mention it to anybody.

About two years later Jenkins announced his retirement, and the pastor search committee did indeed contact Northcutt. They decided to invite him to come to their church to preach in view of a call without hearing him at Rio Vista. The memories of his preaching in the youth revival were still in the minds of the congregation. After his visit to the church in Abilene in early March of 1948 they called him to become their pastor. After much prayer and soul searching he accepted. He and his family had an unusual sense of peace that they were doing the right thing. They meant to stay in Abilene indefinitely. So sure were they that they bought their cemetery lots there.

The church was most responsive to new leadership. The former pastor continued to live in Abilene, and he was the new pastor’s most enthusiastic supporter. This made the transition a happy experience for everybody. Jenkins was like a loving father to a favorite son. The church was ready to do anything the new pastor suggested. The people were faithful in attendance and generous in their giving. They were vocal in their praise of the pastor’s preaching and leadership. For two years the honeymoon never came to an end. Sunday School and Training Union attendance grew steadily. The auditorium was packed for the worship services. The mid-week prayer meetings that had been held in a small assembly room were moved to the church auditorium and often there were as many as six hundred people in attendance.

The evangelistic spirit of the church was strong. The influence of L. R. Scarborough, who had come from that pastorate to the presidency of Southwestern, was still a positive factor. The organizations stressed outreach. Northcutt visited newcomers to the city and prospects for membership. Parents frequently brought their children to the pastor for counsel when they made their decisions to become Christians.

Roy Fish, who later became professor of evangelism at Southwestern, recalls the influence Northcutt had on his conversion. He was a nineteen-year-old boy who listened to him preach Sunday after Sunday at Abilene. He said, “What I heard in his sermons and what I saw in his life were powerful factors in drawing me to the Lord.”^[12]Roy Fish to Scott L. Tutum, February 3, 1984. He made his profession of faith, and Northcutt baptized him. When he came to the faculty he often referred to the lifestyle of evangelism and the biblical preaching that were so important in his own background.

Charles S. McIlveene, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Lufkin, Texas, was a student in Hardin­ Simmons University when Northcutt was pastor in Abilene. He remembers how the students admired the pastor. Often they would seek his counsel. The young preachers were impressed with his messages and probably sought to preach some of his sermons in their own part time churches. During a Youth Week observance, McIlveene was chosen as Youth Week pastor. He considered it a signal honor. He recalled,

Dr. Northcutt was very supportive and helpful to me in the preparation of the sermon I preached that Sunday evening. He was an excellent role model for me as a preacher and as a pastor. He had real interest in us as students. When I entered Southwestern I was pleased to learn that Dr. Northcutt was returning to resume his teaching. He was my professor for all of my preaching classes. He was my friend and advisor.^[13]Charles S. Mcllveene to Scott L. Tutum, March 9, 1984.

The Abilene pastorate was rather brief, but it was highly successful. It was a bridge between the long Jenkins tenure of thirty-two years and the pastors who would follow. Some significant changes were made. For the first time the adults in the Sunday School were graded by age. Large designations to specific causes began to be channeled through the church budget. This resulted in much larger gifts through the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention. World missions had always been a priority.

With the growth of the church a new auditorium was needed. During Northcutt’s leadership the congregation employed an architect, planned the new building, and began to raise money. The construction took place while James L. Sullivan, who later became president of the Sunday School Board, was pastor. Elwin Skiles, who followed Sullivan, used to say facetiously, “Northcutt planned the auditorium, Sullivan built it, and I had to pay for it!”

Northcutt was destined to return to Southwestern. He was the preacher for the campus revival in the fall of 1949. President E. D. Head expressed the wish that he would come back when he felt his ministry at Abilene would allow it. W. T. Conner would need a successor in the field of theology, and Head felt that Northcutt was well qualified for the position.

As the months went by and particularly at the beginning of each new semester at Hardin-Simmons University, Northcutt longed to be back in the classroom. President Head encouraged him to join the seminary faculty again. He was reluctant to leave Abilene after only two years of ministry there, but the conviction that teaching was his primary calling continued to deepen. He talked to George S. Anderson, a leader in his church, about the matter. Anderson recalled that L. R. Scarborough had come to him for counsel about a similar decision he was trying to make years before when he left Abilene to go to Southwestern. Anderson said in both cases, “If God wants you to go to Southwestern, that’s what you must do.” Northcutt moved back to Ft. Worth in January of 1950 to teach theology.

Even though he had been gone only two years he began to feel that he was dreadfully far behind in his reading of theological literature. Preparing and delivering his lectures was a more difficult task than he could manage comfortably. He continued to be the interim pastor at Abilene for several months after he left there. The strain of moving, teaching, reading, and commuting was too much for his good health. He began to be nervous and depressed. About six weeks before the end of that first semester of his new teaching career he had to have medical attention. He returned to his doctors in Abilene and they recommended that he secure a brief leave of absence from his teaching for complete rest. His old friend at Abilene, C. M. Caldwell, a wealthy oil man, made arrangements for the Northcutt family to spend the summer in his cabin at the Paisano Assembly in West Texas. There Northcutt rested, enjoyed fellowship with his family, climbed mountains, played golf, and regained his health. He later said,

I had overextended myself. I had burned up all of my juices – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I discovered that the out-of-doors helped me. Playing golf may have saved my life. It was one thing I could do that would un­wind me.

He returned to his duties the next fall but, knowing his limitations, he paced himself more carefully. He continued to play golf regularly throughout his seminary career. This “dark night of the soul” early in life probably gave him a compassion for others for whom he would be a supervisor in seminary administration, in the classroom, and in the preaching laboratory. He was known as a gracious, patient, and supportive professor. He was unusually well suited by temperament to deal with struggling young ministers.

Initially, upon his return to the classroom, theology was his field. He had succeeded W. T. Conner as chairman of that department. His colleagues were well pleased with his teaching. President Head and others in administration admired him and were most supportive. His students loved him and looked forward to his classes. But Northcutt himself was not as comfortable teaching theology as he wanted to be. He was not enjoying his ministry as much as he had in the field of preaching and pastoral ministry where he had previously taught. He reflected on the words of David Gardner, then editor of The Baptist Standard, who had once said to him, “If you teach theology you have to have a tough mind.” Northcutt did not envision himself as “tough­ minded” enough. God opened another door for him.

Northcutt’s entire background uniquely qualified him to be a teacher of preaching. He believes that there is no better preparation for teaching preaching than a strong background in theology, New and Old Testament, and the biblical languages. Providentially he had all of that in addition to four years of previous experience in the teaching of preaching. He agrees with G. Earl Guinn, who said, “The coinage of your theological education will have limited circulation aside from your preaching.” The primary use of theological education by most pastors is in the preparation and delivery of sermons. When Guinn left Southwestern to go to be president of Louisiana College, Northcutt was asked to become professor of preaching again. He resumed a happy and successful pilgrimage as a homiletician. He was glad he had majored in theology and had taught in that and other strongly biblical areas before settling on what would be his main life’s work.

Now he was in a teaching position where he was both comfortable and happy. It was not long until he began to be recognized as a competent scholar and leader in his field. He was a much sought after preacher at conventions, conferences, and churches.

Sometimes his invitations to speak at special conferences took him to Glorieta, New Mexico, or Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Occasionally his family would go with him. Mrs. Northcutt and their daughters especially enjoyed the trips to the west. They enjoyed vacations from time to time to places like Yellowstone National Park and Red River, New Mexico. Northcutt recalls one trip to Red River when they were traveling through the Rocky Mountains on the hairpin curves of a highway with no guard rails. His wife and daughters were frightened almost into hysteria, but he was enjoying the thrill of the experience enough to laugh about it. The Northcutts enjoyed family life. Their daughter Ann was interested in track and field events at Rosemont Junior High School where she was on the track team. Her parents often attended meets and encouraged their daughter as a young athlete. Their daughter Shirley was one of the cheerleaders at Paschal High School, and the family were regular spectators at the football games when she led the cheers.

But things in the seminary family were not quite so happy. Tensions were developing between many of the faculty members and the administration. President Scarborough had been a strong leader, and the faculty itself for years had really been the administration. W. W. Barnes, professor of Church History, had been chairman of the theological faculty. W. T. Conner had been the usual spokesman for the faculty. Now these strong leaders were gone. Head saw the need for a new administrative structure. As the student body grew and new faculty members were added, the simpler organization of earlier years could not handle the increasingly complex situation. The seminary trustees were reorganized into appropriate committees and authorized a new administrative structure for the faculty. These changes resulted in tensions between faculty and administration. Throughout those difficult days Northcutt did not participate in criticism of President Head and of Ray Summers, who had been made the director of the School of Theology. He said, “I owed too much to them. It was they who had let me return to Southwestern.” At the same time he maintained strong ties of friendship with those who were dissatisfied with the administration. When Summers resigned as director to return to the classroom full time, President Head called members of the faculty to his home by twos and threes to ask whom they might desire as the new director. Their unanimous choice was Northcutt. The trustees elected him as temporary director after Head had announced his retirement in 1953. When J. Howard Williams became president the temporary directorship became permanent. Northcutt gained the respect of his peers as an able leader and administrator. The years proved the wisdom of the choice. Ultimately the title became Dean of the School of Theology.

As the seminary grew, additional teachers had been added to the department of preaching. H. C. Brown and later Gordon Clinard joined the department. Northcutt was chariman at the same time he was director of the School of Theology. The three men worked together for years and seemed to have complementary strengths. H. C. Brown was a diligent scholar and a stickler for details. He distinguished himself as a writer of books on preaching. He was a gifted teacher and knew the mechanics of homiletics, but he himself was not comfortable as a pulpiteer.

Gordon Clinard was both an outstanding pulpiteer and a most effective teacher. Rarely does one find the combination. He was popular with faculty, students, administration, and the people in the denomination. The three men in the department—Brown, Clinard, and Northcutt—collaborated in the writing of what has been one of the most widely used texts on homiletics. They entitled it Steps to the Sermon. Because of his background as a theologian, biblical scholar, and as a pastor, Northcutt wrote chapters on discovering sermon ideas to meet people’s needs, biblical interpretation and gathering materials and illustrations for sermons. Brown wrote chapters on understanding the task, maturing the sermon ideas, and formulating the structure. Clinard wrote chapters on sermon style and sermon delivery. Each man contributed from his own unusual strength.

As Dean of the School of Theology, Northcutt made a tremendous contribution to theological education in general, and to the welfare of Southwestern in particular. He had come to the task at a rather difficult time, but he brought with him a warm pastor’s heart from Abilene, and a sympathetic and compassionate spirit developed during his own pilgrimage through personal illness. In the earlier years there was a great need for building faculty morale and fellowship. The healing process was made easier by the coming of President J. Howard Williams. His genial warmth of personality won the hearts of the entire seminary family. Williams died after only five years and was followed by Robert E. Naylor who was a strong administrator and outstanding leader for twenty years.

Northcutt’s style of leadership in the school of theology was similar to that which had made him a successful pastor. He sought to build consensus. Where there were sharply divided opinions he was patient with both sides, often postponing decisions until faculty members could resolve differences among themselves. On some occasions after a close vote, he would suggest the matter be deleted from the agenda to be brought up at a later time when agreement could be achieved. Sometimes he would discuss matters with the persons who would be affected by decisions to avoid unpleasant surprises for them. There were times, of course, when he had to take a firm stand even if a high degree of unanimity was impossible. He recalls the divided opinions during a time of curriculum restudy when he had to exercise strong leadership when some were not too pleased with the results. At the time of the proposal of the Doctor of Ministry degree program, there were some who opposed it, fearing it would put additional burdens on professors who were already fully loaded with work. It was necessary for Northcutt to press forward with the plans even though the vote in the faculty meeting was close. Sometimes faculty members felt he sided too much with the administration and needed to be more sensitive to the wishes of the faculty. But all in all the years when he was dean were happy and productive. He was always respected as a Christian gentleman. In 1969, in recognition of the outstanding contribution he had made to the seminary, he was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the annual alumni banquet at the Southern Baptist Convention meeting that year in New Orleans.

As time went by there seemed to be developing something of an administrative vacuum at the seminary. No one person was in charge of the overall academic affairs. Northcutt frequently was asked by President Naylor to coordinate the work of the deans of all three schools. Finally in 1973 there was an administrative reorganization in which Northcutt was elected Vice President for Academic Affairs. Huber Drumwright succeeded him as Dean of the School of Theology.

The new vice-president continued his excellent style of leadership, which now included the entire seminary faculty. He organized the academic affairs procedures for a smoother operation. He developed the faculty manual. He formed the faculty committees and instituted a rotation system for them. The graduate council and the curriculum council were established. Long-range planning was inaugurated and flow charts were used to guide the seminary family in doing its work. Northcutt enjoyed his years in administration very much. He regretted the fact that he was not able to teach as much as when he had been dean.

The sudden death of his wife Fannie on January 11, 1978, plunged him into deep sorrow. She had been his source of strength. She had never wavered during the long years of sacrifice while he was preparing for ministry. She had encouraged him to complete his education. She had been an ideal pastor’s wife during the eighteen years when he served the churches directly. She loved people. She was cheerful and optimistic. Her husband thought of her as more than fifty percent of the team. His success in seminary education would not have been possible without her. Had she lived, he probably would have retired from the seminary when he reached sixty-five. They had planned in that direction. He had asked her to insist that he not go on beyond his years of maximum usefulness. With her death, however, he began to reassess his future plans.

President Russell Dilday, who had succeeded President Naylor in 1978, asked Northcutt to continue at the seminary beyond normal retirement. He was elected as the E. Hermond Westmoreland Distinguished Professor of Preaching, and he resumed full-time teaching in 1979. He retired from his position as Vice President for Academic Affairs and was followed by John Newport.

This return to the classroom after his retirement was most fortunate for a man who was working his way through his grief and learning to live alone. He found healing in the new relationships with young preachers. He adopted them as his family, and they adopted him. They became his fan club. They convinced him that he had much to offer them. They restored his self­ confidence. On some occasions he invited them out to his farm for weekend retreats when he would share with them out of his long experience. They responded with their keen appreciation for him as a person. They would help him celebrate his birthdays, and one day he was surprised to find his office “decorated” with bathroom tissue in the fashion that teenagers employ when they wish to express special favor. This ministry of love by students for a favorite teacher gave him strength for the living of difficult days.

The Jesse and Fannie Northcutt Lectures on Preaching and Pastoral Ministry had been established in 1976 to emphasize the significance of these two disciplines in the life and work of the minister. The lectures were funded through an endowment begun by Mr. and Mrs. Ray Graham, Sr., of Houston, the Northcutt family, and friends of the family. These annual lectures are presented by a practicing, established professional who demonstrates himself as effective in preaching or in pastoral ministry in the conservative, evangelical tradition. The first lectures were delivered in 1979, about a year after Mrs. Northcutt’s death. They served to show the interrelationship of preaching and ministry. James Flamming, son-in-law of the Northcutts, and at that time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Abilene, Texas, where Northcutt had once served, was the inaugural lecturer. His general theme was “Minister of the Word.” The three lectures were, “The Preacher as Servant of the Word,” “The Word Serving the Pastor-Preacher,” and “The Pastor as Servant of the Word.” Those who heard the messages agreed that they fulfilled the purpose for which they had been designed in a marvelous fashion. They also were an appropriate memorial to Mrs. Northcutt and described the life and work of her husband. In Flamming’s introductory remarks he paid tribute to Northcutt as his teacher and friend as well as his father­ in-law. He called him “a prince among preachers.”

After having been a widower for more than three and a half years, Northcutt married Nannie Don Beaty on August 1, 1981. He had proved that he could live alone, but indeed he was lonely. Nannie Don was a most appropriate choice for him. He had known her for many years. She had been secretary of the School of Theology while Northcutt was the dean. She began serving as secretary to the Vice President for Academic Affairs when he moved to that office. Because they had worked together for twenty-five years they knew each other well. He observed that she knew him far better than he knew her because of the working relationship. He admired her orderliness and competence. He gives her credit for much of the organizational expertise for which he became known. Their friendship developed into love, and they have found fulfillment in each other. With her gracious personality she has found joy in being a part of the larger Northcutt family. His children and grandchildren have accepted her with loving appreciation.

Northcutt views the five years since he returned to full-time teaching as some of the most satisfying years of his ministry. In 1984, when he reached the age of mandatory retirement, he was asked to continue teaching in an adjunctive capacity. He is active and alert. He is a popular and productive teacher, and the churches in the area are blessed by his supply preaching. His fruitful ministry goes on.