A Reverent Maverick
Anne Graham Lotz says her success is due to God. Yes. But she is still an extraordinary preacher.
Keri Wyatt Kent | posted 10/21/2008 09:25AM
Though we are sitting in her office, Anne Graham Lotz is beginning to preach, in the best sense of the word.
"You remember in the Old Testament when Elijah had the contest with the priests of Baal? And all day long they tried to get the fire to come down and they couldn't. And then Elijah said, 'All right, now it's my turn.' And he dug a trench around the altar and had water poured on the altar until the sacrifice was soaked, the wood was soaked, the stones were soaked, and water filled the trench?
"Elijah was making it impossible for anything to happen unless God did it. If God didn't send down the fire, that thing was never going to catch fire. He wanted all the glory going to God, so when the fire came down, everybody would know it was the Lord."
She pauses. "When I look at my life, God's given me many things, but he's withheld many: education—seminary or Bible training—many things. And he made me a woman. To be honest, there was a time before I started BSF [Bible Study Fellowship] when I wondered why God hadn't made me a man. If I had been a man in my family, I wouldn't have had to struggle with missed opportunities.
"I think the fact that God made me a woman is water on the altar. You can come to a Just Give Me Jesus revival and see what God does there. Nobody can credit a seminary, nobody can credit my being Billy Graham's daughter—I left home at 18. I just have to credit the hand of God in my life. Without God, it would have been impossible."
Lotz does not fit neatly into any stereotype of evangelicalism. She believes in the inerrancy of Scripture, and also that she can "agree to disagree" with others on the meaning of certain texts. She believes women can be ordained, but has chosen not to be. Though she strongly defends a woman's right to preach, Lotz is not a feminist crusader; in fact, she thinks that "feminists have done us all a disservice." Lotz considers herself to be a teacher who happens to be a woman.
No matter the paradoxes, she has been successful by any standard. She has written award-winning books and preached to tens of thousands of people around the world. She acknowledges and has walked through the doors her family name has opened. She never went to college or seminary, but she has become a respected Bible teacher with several honorary degrees in her own right. Her AnGeL Ministries (the name is formed from her initials) will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, with many of the original staff still on board. She's known for her integrity, which, after 32 years in ministry, is no small accomplishment.
Henry Blackaby calls Lotz "women's spiritual statesman. She always speaks the truth in love; she's a great communicator. Her greatest desire is to honor God, not men," he says. "Many people could be used more [by] God, but they are distracted. She's very, very obedient, and God's anointing is on her."
She has peacefully defied denunciations of what she feels is her calling: biblical exposition in classic evangelical style and doctrine.
The most quoted descriptor of her gift came from her father, who called her "the best preacher in the family." While Billy Graham preached a salvation message to the unsaved, Lotz believes God has called her to bring revival and a message of repentance to those within the church. But those revivals are strongly evangelistic and begin with a message calling the audience to get right with God by accepting Christ.
"My aim is to know God and grow in that knowledge of him," Lotz says in her gentle Carolina drawl, which is peppered with words like "precious." "I want a relationship with Jesus that is contagious. I would like for people to see God in the broken pieces. I hope people look at my life and say, 'If God could do it for Anne, he could do it for me.' My daddy says that the only explanation for my ministry is the Holy Spirit. I agree."
October 2008, Vol. 52, No. 10
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