Heath Lambert: It is Christmas time and as has become our custom on Truth and Love, we want to invite a Christian minister onto the podcast and just find out some more about him. This week, we are just thrilled to welcome Dr. Ligon Duncan to the podcast. Duncan because we want to find out some more about you, your family, and how you celebrate Christmas.
Merry Christmas! Heath Lambert: Merry Christmas to you! So most people listening to this are going to be familiar with you, be familiar with your ministry. My mother was a godly Southern Baptist who strayed into Presbyterianism and is a graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She actually cataloged the church music library at Southern when she was a student.
Ligon Duncan: s. And so, I grew up in a home where my mom was the music director at my local church, and my dad was an elder in my congregation, so the church was very much at the center of life. And, you know, for my earliest days, I remember having conversations with my mom about the Gospel and she was sort of the theologian of my life and we had wonderful conversations. I think that was a genuine profession of faith, but I was theologically confused.
I think it was a closet Arminian. Ligon Duncan: And I went to a youth conference when I was 14 years old and heard a pastor preaching on Ephesians 1 and I suddenly realized, okay, before I ever reached out to God in faith, He had already reached out to me in grace. And the only reason I reached out to Him in faith is because He had reached out to me in grace. And when I got that straight, suddenly my struggles with assurance just were done. Ligon Duncan: And that had such a profound effect on me in combination with my youth pastor, who was just amazing, really poured his life into me.
Plus my mom and dad and a faithful pastor in my home church and I really felt like I want to help people like this for the rest of my life. So, really at an early age, I felt called to ministry. And when I went to Furman to do undergraduate work, I deliberately did history and English, just a good liberal arts background because I knew I was headed to seminary. So, I felt a call to ministry pretty early.
