L to R: Kenny Board, Andy Kern, Paul Craesmeyer, Georges Craesmeyer, Dean Reinheimer, Dr. W. Edward Bedore, Tim & Lori Board, Paul Turner, David VanWyck, Pastor Mike Keshan
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:27-28 NKJV
Back in the early 1990s, Ed & Linda Bedore served as missionaries with Things to Come Mission at a Bible and Ministry Training School in Embu, Kenya. This experience prepared them to spearhead the launching of a similar school in Wisconsin, Berean Bible Institute, where I completed the bulk of my undergraduate training for ministry.
As a newly married man, I was full of youthful vigor and ministry ambition. I was very familiar with God’s Word, rightly divided, and this dispensational understanding of Scripture compelled me to embark upon the endeavor of “making all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph.3:9). Dr. Bedore was a very wise man having a breadth of experience before and after he and his wife were saved later in life. He knew how to come alongside and redirect the passion of this young buck, along with many others, from being preoccupied with mere Bible knowledge to a Pauline balance between the doctrinal and practical truths of Scripture.
I often left Dr. Bedore’s Practical Dispensational Theology classes feeling humbled by how little I really knew God’s Word; but one time, he arrested my attention with a statement that jarred me like never before. During a break between classes, we were discussing the distinctive nature of Pauline doctrine when he deliberately distilled the conversation into the heart of the matter by declaring with resolute biblical conviction: “The Grace Message is Jesus Christ.” In so doing, he reminded me that Paul’s gospel is preeminently “the preaching of Jesus Christ” and that he did it “according to the revelation of the mystery” (Rom.16:25). The focus of my heart and ministry were therefore encouraged to be upon Jesus Christ and living in total dependency upon Him and the Word of God to the praise of His glory.
After two decades of serving in churches, camps, and conferences across America and visiting foreign mission fields, I wholeheartedly affirm Dr. Bedore’s distilled wisdom. The heart of the Grace Message or Paul’s gospel is indeed Jesus Christ Himself according to at least three preeminent truths.
1. Preaching Jesus Christ as Almighty Creator is Foundational to the Grace Message – Col.1:16 cf. Acts 17:22-31. From everlasting to everlasting, there is one true and living God who reigns in majesty supreme. God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Holy One of Heaven who has revealed the glorious triune nature of the Godhead through the handiwork of His exquisitely designed creation (Ps.19:1-4; Rom.1:20). Dr. Bedore had a passion for the majesty and magnitude of the Creator and he deliberately mentored us to champion this truth by equipping us with the tools of convictional leadership needed in our generation (2 Tim.2:2; Titus 2:6-8).
2. Preaching Jesus Christ as Merciful Savior is Central to the Grace Message – Col.1:13-14, 20 cf. Acts 13:38-39; 26:18. The blazing center of God’s glory vested in the Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the heart of the Paul’s gospel of grace. At Calvary, Christ Himself bore the undiluted wrath of the Father on behalf of rebel sinners, and His royal blood provided redemption for all mankind. Salvation today is received as a free gift of grace through faith alone in Christ to the praise of His glory (Rom.3:21-26; 4:5; 2 Cor.4:3-4; Eph.1:13-14; 2:8-9). Dr. Bedore had a passion for evangelism and faithfully taught us to reach out with the good news of salvation so that lost sinners could be saved by having their sins forgiven, be justified through Christ’s righteousness imputed to their account, and therefore pass from spiritual death to life in Christ Jesus for the glory of God (Rom.5:1; Titus 3:5).
3. Preaching Jesus Christ as Exalted Head is Functional to the Grace Message – Col.1:18 cf. Acts 20:28-32. The practical reality of Paul’s Gospel is that Jesus Christ is Lord and therefore in charge of the Church, which is His Body. Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it so that He could give Himself to it in order to magnify His glory in and through His people (Gal.2:20). This indwelling life of Christ is experienced as they live in surrender to Christ by presenting their bodies unto Him as a living sacrifice day by day (Rom.12:1). It was for this reason that Dr. Bedore rephrased C.T. Studd’s famous declaration to: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done ‘in Christ’ will last.” All his students remember that Dr. Bedore famously had a passion for Romans chapter five as it was not uncommon for him to take us to the first several verses in virtually any given class period. This text was significant to him because of its relevance to tapping into God’s grace needed for daily living for the glory of His name amidst the adverse circumstances of life (Rom.5:1-5).
As the founding director of Berean Bible Institute, Dr. Bedore led with indomitable determination at the helm because he was a man of resolute biblical conviction whose passion was Jesus Christ and the Word of God. This conviction was also inherently practical for ministry training because he understood the importance for Christ’s preeminence to not only be personally experienced but also lived out in the context of hearth and home. “Sound doctrine properly applied results in godly living” was his consistent emphasis.
Looking back, it is not surprising that our course work included classes on Bible Doctrine and Theology, Bible Exposition through the entirety of Holy Scripture, Biblical Worldview, Apologetics, and Pastoral Ministry along with classes on Biblical Marriage and Family Life. Dr. Bedore instructed his students that we will be personally held accountable by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself at the Bema for the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us from the Most High God (2 Cor.5:10). Defending the faith like a soldier, advancing the faith like an athlete, and cultivating the faith like a farmer are three dynamics of this sacred trust for which God’s servants will give an answer through the testimony of their lives (2 Tim.2:1-7). Having now passed from this life into the presence of his Savior, may Dr. Bedore’s legacy beckon to our hearts to be all in for the cause of Christ so that our lives, in similar fashion to his, may echo throughout eternity to the praise of God’s glory in Christ Jesus.
