Through the Decades - 1970's
© Robert Shettler

They were the best of times and the worst of times is one way that you can probably state the “70’s. Those days were marked by the Vietnam conflict, rebellion against government and administration, personal searching, growth and education. There hasn’t been any good music since the “70’s. It was the time of the first “official” dance on campus. In the picture published in the “Western Recorder,” I was cropped out and that was a blessing. They missed me by one person.

This was also a time of running from the call of God on my life. To see the impact upon this college in my ministry today, I’ve divided into four specific segments: the first segment I would call the early years, or the years that reflect revival. It was through the Baptist Student Union and the vesper services at night, along with the Choir tour and the revival trips that probably impacted my early days at Georgetown College more than anything else. Joe Price was the student director of the spring tour that we took in my freshman year. It was a time of going through the northeast and visiting small churches. I saw the need for the gospel of Jesus Christ in those locations that were not in the Bible belt, or areas where Baptist work was not very prevalent.

Beyond that, it was the opportunity to go to Sligo Baptist Church, First Baptist of Winchester, and a church in Cincinnati, Ohio where we did a weekend revival for Youth. I was asked to lead the music. Most of you don’t want me to sing, and my music abilities were minimal. I was able to stand and smile and wave my arms profusely, trying to direct people. It was a time of growth. My first revival at Sligo I was asked to preach one night and I agreed to preach on James 5 in regard to prayer. After about three and a half minutes I had said everything that I knew to say and there was a lot of time left. It was a learning experience. A few weeks later I was invited to go to Cincinnati to do the same thing. As we were loading the car the word came that the preacher for the weekend was not going to be able to make it and I was going to have to do the preaching. It was a divine appointment – an opportunity to do something that I had never done. I had one sermon and had worked on it a little more, but where were the other three going to come from?  I called my Dad in Covington, Kentucky and asked him if I could borrow a few sermons. He was reluctant, but he did. On the way to that revival I begin to rework them and use illustrations that I thought would relate to young people. We did have an appearance of God in a mighty way in those days. There were youth who turned from drugs and alcohol and reunited with their families. It was truly a time of revival for individuals and for that congregation. Those were very special days. I will never forget them. But I’m here to say that I probably left those days of revival to the next stage: that of rebellion.

It was rebellion that was probably typical for that day and time. There was a lot of rebellion around the war. I was like the prodigal son in a foreign country; I had not come to my senses and I was not really seeking to go home. I was searching to find myself. I was sort of like the young man the two college fathers were talking about, when he said, “I’m spending $20,000 a year for my son to find himself but he’s not even looking.” There were several things in my life that happened which caused this rebellion. I was searching, I was trying to grow and I was struggling with education and God’s will for my life. There came a broken relationships and I blamed God and probably was very angry with him. Those were the rebellion days.

The next phase at Georgetown – relationships – this phase overlaps with the other two areas and on into my graduation and beyond. I believe one of the benefits of this college is the opportunity for us to build relationships. The student/faculty ratio is a very critical piece. Those relationships have gone on for many years, and even though some of those people are no longer at this college or alive, they have had a large impact on my life.

People like Dr. Frank Powell, who was my faculty advisor while I was the student director for the intramural program for two years.  It was through this position I learned more than any place in my life how to deal with people – how to work through conflict – and how to grow through situations that seem to be utterly impossible. Dr. Bob Davis afforded me the opportunity to work with the basketball program and to be involved in many ways in the physical education department of this college. Dr. Tom Cortz was always there, a person that I could go to and years later he was President of Samford University where our youngest daughter, Kelly, received her Bachelor Degree. That friendship and relationship was rebuilt. Dean Bergman, one of those who was my advisor as I was a resident advisor, one who walked beside me, one who guided me, one who gave me great encouragement. One other I would include would be Harold Waking, another one of those individuals who was only in my life for a short period, but as a professor of Psychology impacted my thinking, my desire to follow God and planted many seeds in my life that still I look back on. These are just a few thoughts around those relationships. I think it’s probably very important. I will say that during these days of revival, rebellion and the building of many relationships this college helped me become the pastor I am today. It was through those rebellion years that friends and faculty reached out to me, accepted me for who I was, not judging me but walking with me, and guided me gently – not pushing, just leading me along the way to become what I needed to become.

As I look back, let me frame just a few things. I was running from God but he was the hound of heaven who continued to seek me and to find me. I was rebellious in many ways but I was also still connected. I attended the Georgetown Baptist Church because I didn’t have a car and I could walk there. I enjoyed one part of the service more than anything else and that was the singing of the Lord’s Prayer after the collection of the offering every Sunday. But it was in this time that I rebelled but stayed connected to the church. I knew where my roots were. I knew I needed to go back. It was even through the New Testament classes and other classes that had a spiritual emphasis that guided me and kept me from going further off the path than I did.

What about today? I find myself in a university town, in a town with a community college. The University of Florida has over 50,000 students and Santa Fe Community College that has nearly 17,000 students. Our church is six blocks from the University of Florida, God has placed me there with a vision to reach out to the student body of the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College. Now do I understand? How has my preparation at Georgetown helped me in ministry today? The fact is that there are many other students in the same boat I was in, searching, seeking, trying to find, looking for ways to connect with God. Looking for answers of life that aren’t always what we find in the textbook but what is learned through real-life situations. It was through these events that I believe in my own life God has prepared me to reach out and minister to students today. It’s not only a privilege to share with you that God has called me to a congregation that has a vision not only to reach the students but where we have over 80 faculty members, PhD’s and medical doctors who are connected to the university and have an influence on the upon the student’s of the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College. This college gave me the understanding that there will be days of spiritual highs and spiritual growth through college. There will be moments and days and even periods of rebellion, but the thing that brings all of that together is not only relationship with Holy God but our relationship to a community of faith and our relationship to individuals who have compassion, understanding and learning to help us, in spite of our own faults and shortcomings, to become what God has called us to be. I am thankful for this college and for those people who invested in me, for those who lead the way for my days here and for those who are continuing to lay a foundation for a college that is academically strong but spiritually sensitive to the training of leaders not only of today but of tomorrow.

Psalm 71:17-18  ^“Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. ¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”