Chuck Quarles lives out the Great Commission as a SEBTS professor
January 19, 2017
Chuck Quarles lives out the Great Commission as a New Testament professor at Southeastern by serving God’s Kingdom in several capacities.
At Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), Quarles is attracted to the school’s passion for missions and evangelism. “It really trickles down from Dr. Akin to everyone else,” Quarles said. “The balance of those two commitments in biblical scholarship I see at SEBTS is unique.”
“The last thing I would want our graduates to be is all head and no heart,” Quarles emphasized. “It would be tragic for them to walk away with knowing how to parse Greek verbs and analyze Greek syntax but without a passion for reaching the nations with the Gospel.”
Missions are constantly at the forefront of Quarles’ mind. He referenced Ezekiel 33 when God tells the prophet that he is like the watchman who guards the city. If a watchman does not take his trumpet and sound the alarm, he is responsible for the city’s destruction. In a spiritual sense, if the watchman failed to sound the alarm of God’s pending judgment he shared responsibility for the person’s doom. “That is a sobering thought,” Quarles said.
Quarles has a shofar, or a ram’s horn, from Israel displayed on the bookshelf in his office as a reminder to sound the warning like the watchman. “This trumpet reminds me that I have a responsibility to get the Gospel to those who have never heard it,” Quarles added. “Our students have that responsibility too.”
Quarles has participated in local and international ministry efforts as a pastor, missionary and professor in Kentucky, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Africa. While serving in Romania, Quarles, his wife and three children suffered great persecution and had to leave the place they planned to spend the rest of their lives.
As in Colossians 2:4-6, Quarles has a heart for evangelism causes him to pray for God to open doors of opportunity to present the Gospel. Recently while his father was dying, Quarles shared the gospel with a man who then confessed faith in Christ.
Quarles has a great urgency to faithfully share the Gospel. “I am still looking for opportunities to build relationships with my neighbors,” he added.
Gray Allison, past president of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, is an inspiration to Quarles. “He is probably the most faithful personal evangelist I have ever met,” Quarles said.
Reading missions biographies helps fan the flame for Quarles to be passionate about missions and evangelism. Two missionaries he especially admires are William Carey and Adoniram Judson because “both men faithfully shared the Gospel over a period of years at great sacrifice and continued to witness despite seeing few results at first.”
Quarles daily seeks to live out his calling to fulfill the Great Commission and encourages others be faithful to the Gospel as well.