I was 19 years old when I began my first year at Shasta Bible College, which I was sure would be my only year at the time. I had just returned from 6 months with missionaries in the jungles of South America, I had a desire to serve God but wasn’t sure how or where.
Somewhat to my dismay I quickly learned that I’d have to take a class on preaching taught by Pastor Al Franklin. I didn’t have anything in particular against Pastor Franklin but I did against preaching. I mean I didn’t think it was for me, I’d rather do something with hands than with my mouth. To spend several months learning the art of publicly declaring God’s Word seemed to be a waste of time for me personally.
Nevertheless, it was a requirement and there was nothing I could do to get around it. There were about half dozen of us in that class and all together that’s also about the total number of sermons we had preached. We were like a bunch of cities boys about to learn to herd cattle, it’s one thing to watch Bonanza and another to get up on that horse and do it yourself.
That’s when Pastor Franklin walked in the room with his classic smile from ear to ear and proclaimed:
“Well men are you ready to get preaching?”
He didn’t wait for our answer and before we knew it he was assigning books and chapters and verses and making a schedule for us to preach to our classmates. It was all a little fast for me but Pastor Franklin knew what he was doing. He knew that preaching wasn’t natural for most and sometimes you’ve got to push a little but once you get that preaching cart going, once a man feels the fire of God’s Word in his bones there’s little you can do to stop him.
Thinking back on this first class in my first year at Bible college 20 some odd years ago what astounds me was the enthusiasm, hope, and positive outlook of Pastor Franklin. He carefully guided, corrected, and sometimes pushed us towards Biblical exposition. It’s hard to imagine that he really saw anything in us, or that he thought our sermons were anything special. Yet, he always encouraged us and gave us opportunities both in class and outside of class to practice our new and growing skills in preaching.
I clearly remember preaching my first sermon before Pastor Franklin and my fellow students. Our task was to first preach an entire book, then a chapter in that book, then a verse in that chapter and finally a keyword from that verse. I choose the book of Ephesians. After I finished that initial sermon Pastor Franklin exclaimed,
“Caleb, you did it, you cracked the book!”
What he meant was that I had cracked it open, I had discovered it’s main themes and it’s message for myself. It was true, it was the first time I had really begun to dig deep in the God’s Word and discover its truths for myself. To this day Ephesians remains one of my favorite New Testament books.
Christina and I attended Pastor’s Franklin’s church, Grace Baptist in Redding, while we were studying at Shasta Bible College. There we grew as we consistently heard solid Biblical truths taught expositionally, passionately, and practically. There we grew as we saw an example of a pastor who cared enough for the people of God to prepare enough for them to feast on the Word week after week. There we grew as we experienced pastoral care, heartfelt love for the saints, and personal attention.
Pastor Franklin might be best known for his decades of faithful expository teaching of God’s Word and certainly he has earned that accolade. However, for me Pastor Franklin’s influence stretched far beyond great sermon outlines, explanation of the text, and practical application. He allowed us to see the inner workings of his life and ministry. He taught the theory then he showed us the machinery, he let us get our hands dirty, he didn’t hide the bruises and bumps of ministry from us.
There were five or six of us Shasta Bible College students who attended Grace Baptist at the time. For us Pastor Franklin organized something he called PIT (Pastors in Training). It was in a way an appropriate acronym as pastoral ministry isn’t always mount-tops and grassy plains.
Often after the Sunday evening service he would invite us all over to his home for a PIT meeting. There was a lot of laughing on those evenings, a lot of stories, and a lot of practical advice that you can’t find in theological textbooks. One Sunday evening after the service he took us up to the baptistry and had us practice baptizing each other. I guess you could say we became Anabaptists that evening!
Pastor Franklin was passionate about Bible interpretation and as an offshoot of that passion he collected all kinds of fossils and often spoke on the truth of a literal 6 day creation. The foyer of the church was a mini museum of fossils, most of which Pastor Franklin himself had discovered.
I took this video below of Pastor Franklin after visiting his church on prefield before we went to Ukraine in 2007.
I still feel the impact of Pastor Franklin in my life every time I open the book of Ephesians, and every time I prepare a sermon. God used him to help shape my approach to ministry, to preaching, and to the church. I’m grateful for his example and the few years I had as a young man to learn from such a faithful pastor.
On October 10, 2019 Pastor Al Franklin moved on into the presence of our Lord where I’m sure now he is enjoying that which he lived his life for, the glory of God!
