Living a Legacy

Dr. Loritts recently met with Moody for a wide-ranging interview.

Dr. Loritts, your weekly radio program (Living a Legacy), your website (Beyond Our Generation), and some of your books all focus on reaching the next generation. Why is that your primary ministry focus?

Well, I go back to sovereign foundations in my own life that were deeply embedded in me. The way I grew up—my parents wanted to instill in their children an appreciation for what previous generations experienced, what they believed, the values that they had. So I grew up with that sense of connection. But also, subtly, I guess it influenced me to understand that my life matters, not only for now, but I'm leaving an impact on future generations. I suppose all of that sort of came to the forefront of my mind when I got married and began to realize—okay—these are not just isolated decisions or choices.

Is a legacy something that only older people should think about? If you're 20 years old, should you be thinking about leaving a legacy?

Absolutely. Some of the younger guys that I mentor say, “I don’t care about leaving a legacy. I just want to survive right now.” That's categorically irrelevant because if you're living, you're going to leave one. Our choices and decisions and patterns of life have consequences, and they're beyond our control. So you might as well be intentional about it.

And actually, I think that as soon as you can, early, even your pre-teen years, you should have a sense that your life matters and that there's a future and that you stand on the shoulders of those who came before you. Part of my life and my decisions is to accomplish and do things in such a way that I become a floor and not a ceiling for the next generation.

Each generation seems to face its own unique challenges and experiences. What do you think this generation needs, perhaps more than any previous generation?

I think this is probably the most informed generation ever on the face of the earth because we can google everything. Now the challenge is that we don’t confuse information with wisdom. You can google knowledge, but you can't google wisdom.

So the unique challenge of this generation is to finish an “endurance ride” because wisdom is the product of having persevered, having been forced to apply the knowledge that you have so you can appreciate the nuances of life. Our greatest challenge is the challenge of resilient character. That only comes by the application of truth.

I'm a fan of this younger generation. I'm a cheerleader for them, for their creativity, for the options that they leave open. But I'm a little bit nervous that they don't finish an endurance ride. You can only develop character, you can only develop integrity, and you can only develop wisdom by going through things and not running when things are difficult and hard. I think that's one of the greatest challenges of this generation.

What words of advice would you give to today's pastor or Christian leader, and would your advice be different than what you might have said 20 or 30 years ago?

I don't think it would be different. It might be applied differently. The very first thing I'd say is this: Your relationship and intimacy with God is categorically everything. Everything. Don't make the dastardly assumption that gifts, talents, and abilities can allow you to shortcut that intimacy with God. Don’t operate from your gifts or your talents or your abilities or the opportunities that come through your experience. Really press into the heart of God. Everything that God uses in our lives is to build us up as well as to make an impact.

The very first thing is to make sure that you don't separate that walk and relationship with God from the calling that God gives you. It should be the pipeline that influences everything. The second thing that I would say is to make it your ambition that your character will be greater than any platform that you stand on. Now that's a noble thing. Does that always happen? No, it doesn't. But it should be that you’ve “got more under the counter than you put on display.”

And the third thing I would say is to remember that you can’t minister where you’re “not.” You can't be fruitful where you're not planted. I think it was Jim Elliot that famously said, “Wherever you are, be all there.” Don't get so caught up with where you'd like to be that you miss the harvest of now. Plant yourself and pursue faithfulness because faithfulness is its own marketing strategy. It's its own brand and, over time, faithfulness produces a bumper crop.

We sometimes see Christian leaders fall and end in disgrace. What would you say to the pastor or leader who wants to “bulletproof” him/herself against that kind of failure?

Well, there's no formula, but there are things you can do. I love what my friend Mark Demoss says. He says, “Finishing well is just living well until you finish.” That might sound like a cute statement, but that's a profound observation when you start to think about it. It’s the realization that all I have is right now. And holiness is not just something that I grow into. It is that, but it's also a decision that I make every single moment of my life.

Understand something about accountability: No one can really hold anybody accountable. All accountability is voluntary. Stay in the moment. Transparency, humility, and voluntary accountability are your friends.

This year's Founder’s Week theme is Transformed: The Power of the Gospel. How does the gospel transform us?

The gospel is everything. “If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). The gospel itself is the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It changes everything about us. It keeps us connected to the Savior. We’re saved by grace, but it is that same grace that sustains us. And that grace gives us a heart of gratitude that keeps us pressing into the cross and keeps us preaching the gospel to ourselves every single day. We never get over it. It's just too wonderful.

I think Paul defines the impact of the gospel on us on a daily basis in Galatians 2:20 when he says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” He connects the death of Christ to the daily victory that we have, and that's all under the canopy of the gospel. So the gospel is everything.

You continue to teach and instruct as an adjunct professor at Moody Theological Seminary. What do you enjoy most about teaching at the seminary?

I find it extraordinarily stimulating! Typically, seminary students are a little bit older, and there's some real-life application that surrounds the questions that they ask and how they deal with issues. I like the multiplying component to that. What’s that old, corny line? “It’s not how many seeds there are in an apple, but how many apples there are in a seed.”

I enjoy preaching, don't get me wrong. I’ve spoken to many crowds, and our church is very sizable, and that has a wonderful sense to it. But I have to tell you honestly—the smaller group where you can interact and the hearts that are connected, you can see the real transference there as well as the application. There's a joy that comes from that that's hard to describe.

Usually what happens to me by the end of a week that I teach is that I have what I call an “invigorating tired.” I'm wiped out, but it's been so wonderfully fulfilling that it's just a blessing.

Do you sense that seminary students are different now than they were 20 or 30 years ago? And if so, is it a good difference?

I don't know if it's good or bad. It is what it is. I think that students today are products of the culture. They’re more fluid, and I don't say that in a negative sense. They’re more flexible. They come from varied backgrounds and experiences.

The grad school or the seminary-level students, they've had a little bit more of a runway in terms of exposure to biblical content and that kind of thing. There’s probably a difference between them and undergrad students. But I love the way they think in terms of options because it mirrors the culture. It's more difficult to typecast them, and I think that's a positive thing.

I'm 74 years old, and for those of us who were educated in Bible colleges then, there was a legacy of the fundamentalist/liberal controversy. There was a bit more of a separatist mindset that we had concerning our Christianity. We were not really that exposed to other things. Now, I think this batch of students, they come from a broader spectrum and background that's not necessarily as buttoned up and tied down as our background perhaps was. I'm not saying that's good or bad, but it is what it is.

When you speak at this year’s Founder’s Week—or when you speak anywhere for that matter—what do you hope that your listeners will take away with them?

This question sort of gets into my philosophy of preaching and speaking. Preaching is not speechmaking, okay? In recent years, I've learned to really press into this. It's not about necessarily “doing well.” Although I'm going to be prepared and I want to do well, that’s not necessarily the focal point. The focal point is that I'm going to be a part of a team. The people who put together the Founder’s Week program have spent time praying, and so I’ll pray about what I'm going to share.

It’s all about the people. God has a word for them at that moment in history, and hopefully—by His grace and strength—what He's placed in my heart will touch their hearts. My desire is that they’ll make much of Jesus, that they'll love Him more, that they'll follow Him more closely, and that God will use that to put wind in their sails so they will, in turn, be a blessing to others.