Around the world, we have all experienced disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic. Huguenot Fellowship Trustee Ruth Ann Leduc talks with Dr. Yannick Imbert, William Edgar Chair of Apologetics Professor and Dean of Faculté Jean Calvin, about the impact of the pandemic on the seminary, and how the faculty and staff have navigated these challenges.
Click here to view this 10-minute inverview.
Critical Days for the Church in France
The law currently being debated in the French parliament – officially named ‘the Law to uphold Republican Principles’ - is really the culmination of many years of terrorist acts carried out by radical Islamists, and the government’s response to curb these separatist movements. But will it actually have a greater negative effect on evangelical churches?
As Pastor John-Raymond Stauffacher, President of the Union of Evangelical Reformed Churches, and graduate of Faculté Jean Calvin seminary says, “Everyone agrees to kill radical Islam in the bud, but this law, as it is formulated, is disconnected from its avowed aim.”
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Frustrated by years of terrorism inflicted by radical Islamists, France’s parliament is debating a law to end Muslim separatism. French evangelicals fear their churches will become collateral damage….
Click to continue reading this helpful summary from Christianity Today.
Henry Lewis Smith
Following is the obituary of Henry Lewis Smith who served on the Board of Trustees of The Huguenot Fellowship for many years. Henry will be remembered for his gracious service, especially for rallying collections on Reformation Day in support of the mission of The Huguenot Fellowship.
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Henry Lewis Smith — PCA historian, seminary professor, pastor, disciple-maker, and the longest-serving presbytery clerk in the denomination – has died. He was 88.
Henry died on February 5 at his home in Opelika, Alabama. He served as stated clerk of Southeast Alabama Presbytery from 1985 until retiring from the position in October 2020.
During his 68 years of gospel ministry, Henry discipled countless young men by inviting them to join him in the Lord’s work and teaching them along the way. Many of those men eventually became pastors themselves. He also trained men as a professor at Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Born in Chinquapin, North Carolina, on June 9, 1932, to the Rev. William and Carrie (Lewis) Smith, Henry earned his Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1956 and was ordained the same year.
He served as senior pastor of Monroeville Presbyterian Church in Monroeville, Alabama from 1957-1963. From 1963-1966 he pastored First Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church of Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was there that he met Anna Beth Lynn of Rock Hill, whom he married in 1964. They were married for nearly 50 years before Anna Beth passed away in 2014. They had four children: Henry Lewis (Hank), Jr., Sara Lynn, Timothy Jefferies, and Anna Elizabeth (Lisbeth).
In 1966 Henry took a call to serve as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Winter Haven, Florida. Jim Smith (no relation to Henry) recalls how as a teenager and brand new Christian, he witnessed Christian life and ministry firsthand from Henry.
When Henry needed to make pastoral calls to hospitals or homes, he invited Jim to accompany him. In his zeal to serve, Henry sometimes overlooked details that others might consider important. Once he asked Jim to ride with him to a hospital visit, and it was only after they had left Winter Haven that Henry mentioned the hospital they were visiting was over two hours away in Gainesville.
What Jim didn’t realize during his long car rides and pastoral visits was that Henry had been praying for him for years. As a sixth grader, Jim had served as a crossing guard at an intersection Henry frequented. Henry observed how the young crossing guard did his job responsibly and began praying for his future.
Years later Henry offered a challenge to Jim by asking Jim to prayerfully consider whether the Lord might be calling him to pastoral ministry. Jim always appreciated that Henry saw the call to ministry as responding to the Lord’s call, not taking Henry’s advice. It was always about serving the Lord.
Jim did sense a call to ministry, and after graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson, in 1984 he served churches in Mississippi, Florida, and Pennsylvania. He is currently the director of programs at the Center for Community Resources, and pastor for congregational care at St. John’s Reformed Church in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Never Apologized for Asking Others to Serve
Daren Deitmeier had a similar conversation with Henry about a call to ministry. At the time Deitmeier’s family attended First Presbyterian Church in Prattville, Alabama, where Henry served as senior pastor and then assistant pastor from 1978-2005.
For Henry, the PCA wasn’t simply a church body, it was a group of people — people with stories — and Henry loved to tell those stories.
The Deitmeier family started attending First Presbyterian in September 1993, joined in December, and in January Henry asked Deitmeier to teach a Sunday school class. Henry made no apologies for asking church members to serve the church.
Deitmeier recalls Henry saying, “I will never hesitate to ask God’s people to do His work.”
Henry mentored Deitmeier the way he mentored Jim and other young men, by inviting them to join him in the church’s work. Pastoral visits and car rides became opportunities for young men to watch the nuts and bolts of ministry firsthand.
“You sat at his feet and learned so much,” Deitmeier said. “It was natural and there was no agenda.”
Eventually Henry asked Deitmeier to prayerfully consider whether the Lord might be calling him to pastoral ministry. Deitmeier began earning his Master of Divinity degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary’s Montgomery campus, where Henry taught church history and Old Testament classes. Deitmeier now serves as pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Aledo, Illinois, and stated clerk of Northern Illinois Presbytery.
The seminary classes combined Henry’s gifts for mentoring and love of history.
“He left an indelible stamp on the lives of many people,” Deitmeier said.
Embraced the Work With Gusto
Henry never hesitated to ask others to do the Lord’s work, and Henry himself embraced that work with gusto. He served as stated clerk of Southeast Alabama Presbytery for 35 years, making him the longest-serving presbytery stated clerk in the denomination.
For many years Henry also chaired the General Assembly Committee of Thanks. The committee’s report concludes each General Assembly, and with its mix of local Presbyterian history, information on the hosting presbytery, and heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make General Assembly possible, it was a perfect combination of Henry’s passions.
Melton Duncan began serving on the Committee of Thanks with Henry beginning in 2003. Duncan was immediately taken by Henry’s Southern gentlemanly ways and love for history.
For Henry, the PCA wasn’t simply a church body, it was a group of people — people with stories — and Henry loved to tell those stories.
Duncan believes Henry’s interest in the history of the PCA was part of his being a history lover, but it was also a way to bring the denomination together as a family. Pastors like Henry who left the mainline Presbyterian denomination to start the PCA lost more than church buildings in the split. They lost friendships and connections that went back generations.
Serving on the Committee of Thanks was a way for Henry to tell the story of the PCA, the new family story.
“He delights in knowing the personal story of the PCA,” Duncan said. “He has a passion to tell new folks about where the family has come from.”
Henry also wanted to tell the story correctly. Duncan said Henry was one of the first PCA commissioners to request that the denomination draft a resolution on racial reconciliation. He was part of the PCA’s delegation to the 1977 NAPARC conference on race relations. The conference adopted a statement which began by confessing serious inadequacies with respect to NAPARC member churches concerning race relations in the church.
Later, he worked toward the founding of the PCA Historical Center and supervised many projects at the center.
Smith with his twelve grandchildren, who called him “Doodaddy.” He called his grandchildren “Doodaddy’s Dozen.”
Henry earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary and taught at the seminary from 1979-2018. After retiring from First Presbyterian Church in Prattville, Smith worked as stated supple at Camden, Bethel, and Prosperity ARP churches from 2001-2010.
Henry is preceded in death by his wife, parents, and brother William Clifford Smith. He is survived by his sister Lena Smith Knight of Birmingham, Alabama; four children: Henry Lewis, Jr.,of Opelika, Alabama, Sara Lynn Smith T (Dozier), Timothy Jefferies (Rhonda) of Birmingham, and Anna Elizabeth Chapman (Ben); and twelve grandchildren: Winston Smith T of Fort Hood, Texas; Henry, Sara Hollis, Dozier, Vera Elizabeth, and Joanne Smith T, all of Opelika, AL; Wheeler, Hollis, and Wrenn Smith of Birmingham; Anna Beth, Chap, and Nancy Chapman of Birmingham.
Services will be held in Opelika, Alabama, on Tuesday, February 9. A graveside service, open to all, will be at 11:00 am at Garden Hills Cemetery. An in-person, socially-distanced memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Opelika at 1:30 pm. (Reservations are required for the church service. Call the church at 334-745-4889 if you would like to attend.)
The family will receive visitors outdoors at the church at 2:30 pm. Reservations are not necessary for the graveside service or the 2:30 outdoor visitation. The service may be viewed via livestream at https://tpcopelika.org/live/ at 1:30 pm CST.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Southeast Alabama Presbytery, 300 Opelika Rd #3133, Auburn, AL 36830, to a fund that will provide a small monetary reward to those who recite the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Pray for French Congress
Urgent Prayer Needed for the French Congress
"This is the first time, as President of the Protestant Federation of France, that I find myself in the position of defending freedom of worship. I never imagined that in my own country something like this could happen," - François Clavairoly, president of the FPF
For weeks now, many have publicly decried this bill as extremely damaging to the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion in France.
“Libérticide” is the phrase we like the best – “Freedom Killer” is the best translation.
Tomorrow, this bill moves to the National Assembly where it will be voted on in approximately two weeks. Already, over 2,650 amendments have been proposed, however, several major problems remain.
What's the problem? It’s supposed to curb radical Islam. Isn’t that good?
The first thing is that it doesn’t apply to most Muslims! In France, most mosques are dubbed “cultural centers” and organized as 1901 associations. This law applies to 1905 associations.
So, which associations are 1905? 4,000 of the 5,000 registered 1905 associations are Protestant Churches (and 90% of Evangelical Churches are 1905 associations!)
So, rather than limiting Islam, it is a slap in the face to Evangelicals and promotes the idea that that religion is guilty until proven innocent, houses of worship are centers of terrorism, and anything that is related to faith should be controlled and erased.
Here are four aspects of this law that directly affect the Evangelical Church in France:
1. Evangelical Churches will need to apply to their prefectures every five years to keep their status as a church. For any reason, the prefecture could close the church without any hearing or other legal process.
2. Churches will need to declare foreign funds over 10,000 EUR, and “certify their accounts” which is like getting audited financials and costs several thousand euros. The churches who can’t pay? The pastor is personally fined 9,000 EUR and the church is uncompliant.
3. Article 44 – “The government’s representative… can temporarily close a place of worship if certain positions, ideas, or theories are shared or certain activities are done which incite hatred or violence towards a person or a group of people or would justify or encourage such hate or violence.” This puts the State in a position to audit preaching and teaching in a Church.
4. Homeschooling – although not widely practiced among Evangelicals in France as is in the US – would still be made illegal except for children with health issues, intense sports/artistic activities, live too far from a school, or have other situations specific to the child but whose parents can justify their ability to teach. There is no exception for religious or philosophical abstention.
Please pray that the voices of the French Church are heard and that the law is rejected or approved with the modifications desired by the FPF and the CNEF.
In Christ,
David Broussard
President, Impact France
A Guide to Donor Advised Funds: 3 Reasons Why They Are Helpful
Since 1930s, donor advised funds have been available and offered by community foundations and more recently have become available through sponsored charitable gift funds.
One of the main benefits of a donor advised fund is that it allows individuals with philanthropic intent to have their charitable assets professionally managed and distributed to desired causes at a fraction of the cost of a private foundation.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider a Donor Advised Funds (DAF)
Charities shouldn't lose 3% (or more) to transaction fees.
Giving online comes with fees. While Huguenot Fellowship offers simple ways to setup a reoccuring donation using a credit card or a bank transfer, with less fees, all of these methods come with fees. Using a Donor Advised Fund, you can give cash or stock without any fees and 100% goes to the charities that matter to you if you chose the right DAF.
Give more by saving 20% or more on taxes.
The tax deductibility of contributions made to a donor advised fund can also be leveraged. This leverage is achieved by contributing highly appreciated assets. By using a donor advised fund, you can transfer your stock securities directly to the DAF without selling them. Then they, acting on your wishes, will sell these assets under a 501c3 with no taxability and then issue the gift to the organization of your choice. This means if you have owned a stock security with significant gains, you can avoid capital gains taxes on the sale of that stock by giving it directly, effectively increasing your donation to the charitable organization of your choice, while allowing the deduction for the full amount on your taxes. The US is one of the most philanthropic countries in the world and government incentives like this will help others give more than otherwise possible.
Timing flexibility
Perhaps the biggest advantage is the ability to make donations to the account and receive immediate tax benefits for doing so, while also being allowed to disburse the money from the accounts according to your own timetable. In other words, you can choose to pay out a donation to an approved charity right away or invest the money in the advised fund account and let it grow tax-free until you’ve designated the charity of your choice. This allows you to make a decision to give and separate that from the receiving entity immediately allowing you to make the donation at the right time or change your giving priorities based on greatest need.
Here are some examples of Donor Advised funds that you may consider partnering with: CharityVest, National Christian Foundation, Fidelity Charitable administers a donor-advised fund for Fidelity, Schwab Charitable administers the Schwab Charitable Fund, and Vanguard Charitable administers a donor-advised fund for Vanguard. (National and local organizations not connected with financial institutions also administer donor-advised funds; these funds are often set up to benefit a specific charity or region.)
Each of these funds have different fee structures and benefits. Some of the more recognizable funds take a small fee, but allow in-kind gifts like Real Estate and allow you to transfer assets to the DAF and invest them in the interim while you decide the organization to give towards.
Other funds, like CharityVest, sell your assets immediately on receipt, but have less restrictions on the charities you donate towards and charge no fees at all. This can be useful if you are simply donating stock and have already a charity in mind you’d like to give towards.
We hope this is helpful!
Qualified Charitable Distributions
Are you at least age 70 1/2 and subject to making a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) each year from an IRA account?
If so, did you know that you can instruct the trustee of your IRA to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) directly to The Huguenot Fellowship, and normally receive two important benefits? First, a QCD counts towards satisfying your RMD (up to $100,000). And second, a QCD is not treated as taxable income. (Of course, no tax deduction is permitted for the contribution, since the distribution is not included in income.) Lower income may result in further tax benefits also. Note that in order to qualify, your IRA trustee must send the contribution directly to, and payable to The Huguenot Fellowship.
401(k) plans are not an eligible source for making a QCD. However, consider opening an IRA and rolling over funds from your 401(k), and thus be all set to make a QCD the following year.
Thank you for your faithful support of The Huguenot Fellowship!
(Not intended to give tax advice. See IRS Publication 590-B regarding IRA distributions. And, be sure to consult with your tax advisor and IRA trustee.)
The Forgotten Giscard
Any Answer to Catholic Popular Religion?
The Forgotten Giscard
William Edgar
Among the losses in 2020 that may have escaped our radar is the death of Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing. VGE, as he became known, likely succumbed to Covid 19 at the age of 94. His long, public career included being President of France (1974-1981). His friend, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, editor-in-chief of Le Point, told readers that VGE could be summarized with one word: l’incompris (the misunderstood one).
Almost inevitably French leaders, dating back to its kings, had to live within a paradox. French people require their leaders to be both aloof and understanding. In modern times this enigma remains sharp. Charles De Gaulle famously quipped, how can anyone govern a country with some 246 different cheeses? He ruled, indeed, from a high perch. So did his successor Georges Pompidou. As did his successor the Socialist François Mitterrand. VGE had all the makings of an aloof ruler but fought against this image throughout his career. He came from one of the most distinguished families of France; he graduated with high honors from the very best schools; he represented the center-right. His father obtained the privilege of calling his family “d’Estaing” a sign of nobility. (An ancestry going at least as far back as the distinguished Count, Jean Baptiste C. H. H. d’Estaing (1729-1794), who among other accomplishments led in a blockage against the British at Sandy Hook, New Jersey.) He even spoke with a cultivated upper-class lisp! At the same time, he sought more than any of his predecessors to modernize France. To do that he needed diplomatically to pull away from Charles De Gaulle, who had been unable to respond to the crisis of mai ’68 wherein so many French institutions were put into question and revolution was so close at hand. He also had to square off with Georges Pompidou, under whom he served as Finance Minister.
How did he go about modernizing the country? Some of the smaller, yet symbolic, ways include inviting the garbage collectors of Paris to a leisurely breakfast for a show of friendship and also in hopes of conversations which would better help him to understand the working man’s issues. French Presidents don’t do that! He also chose not to live in the Elysée Palace, but in the humble residence of Eugénie, Empress under Napoleon III. On a larger scale, he balanced the budget, no small accomplishment in hard times. He lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, which may have cost him the next election, as young people are typically left leaning. His most ambitious endeavor was to foster the construction of Europe. After the cruelties imposed by the Nazis, the memories of which were still fresh in people’s minds, he showed considerable courage in working on the European Community with the Germans, a project which he believed would carry France onto the world platform.
Where was he spiritually? His early education was in parochial schools. He was married in the Church. Yet as a political leader his relations to the Vatican were cordial at best. He would not identify France with the Catholic Church except in formal ways. Or is that all there is to it? Two legislations he pushed aggravated relations with Catholics, as well as with conservative Protestants. (1) In 1974, VGE promoted the law crafted by his Minister of Health, Simone Veil, decriminalizing abortion. Known as la loi Veil, it was (euphemistically) known as IVG (interruption volontaire de la grossesse – voluntary interruption of pregnancy). Veil (not to be confused with the theologian Simone Veil, who converted from formal Judaism to evangelical religion) argued for a “compassionate” view: no woman ever wanted an abortion, which always created a crisis for her, but that abuse was so rampant it was better to legalize it. (2) The second was to allow no-fault divorce, seen as an antidote against the perceived male-bias of the present law, which required finding fault with one of the parties, empirically often the insufficiencies of mothers. Perhaps most significantly of all, he endorsed the privatization of religious convictions, rather than supporting the historic view that France was the “eldest daughter” of the Church.
According to Jean Duchesne, privatization ought to be a wakeup call to Catholics in need of embracing modern life. (See his article in Aleteia [https://fr.aleteia.org/2020/12/08/giscard-la-fin-dune-epoque-le-catholicisme-populaire/].) Rightly navigated it should be a platform from which to be more public in one’s faith. He recounts seeing VGE attend mass in New York with Cardinal Lustiger. It caught him off guard since Giscard’s private religion was thought to be, well, private. He goes on to argue that Catholicism today needs to be a religion of the people, popular without being “populist”, and that Giscard showed the way. Disappointing for most of us, though, is that Duchesne’s popular religion meant being open to such things as abortion, divorce, and even higher criticism of the Bible.
Our Seminary in Aix also wants the Christian faith to be popular, but in the sense that the Reformation forefathers intended it: able to be understood by the people, not open to every kind of ethical or critical accommodation. It is not likely that VGE knew our Seminary. But did he unwittingly contribute to recognizing a need for a version of the Christian faith which is popular, yet still orthodox? May neither Giscard nor French people be incompris on such a high priority matter. It’s a matter of life or death.
Good News of a Great Joy
Paul D. Wolfe
December 2020
“Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy...”
It’s that most wonderful time of the year, when our hearts and minds turn to the announcement of good news.
And as the President of the Huguenot Fellowship, I get to make an announcement here!
I’m thrilled to report that the governing board of Faculté Jean Calvin (FJC) has officially named the seminary’s professorship in Apologetics “The William Edgar Chair of Apologetics.” Hand in hand with that happy step, we at the Huguenot Fellowship have now created a special fund which will be devoted to supporting the Edgar Chair at FJC for years to come. This transatlantic partnership of our two organizations fulfills a desire to honor a dear brother and faithful servant who has been vital to both!
Over the course of a distinguished, decades-long career of teaching and writing, Bill Edgar has labored faithfully and fruitfully in the field of Christian Apologetics. Bill taught at FJC for eleven years before moving his family to the United States in 1989 to teach at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. In the thirty-plus years ever since, he has continued to be a devoted supporter of the seminary in Aix: serving as the President of the Huguenot Fellowship until 2019, as well as traveling frequently to FJC to teach there in person. Bill is now an internationally-renowned expert in his field, and a beloved member of the extended FJC family. To top it off, he and his wife Barbara have lovingly lived out together the faith he has taught and defended all these years, by their warm hospitality and gracious encouragement of countless friends and strangers around the world.
The theological discipline known as “Apologetics” involves the explanation and defense of the Christian faith in a world in which that faith is sometimes regarded with misunderstanding, or skepticism, or opposition...and sometimes all of the above! Apologetics brings together a wide range of subjects and interests—everything from theology to philosophy to popular culture to interpersonal relationships—in order to answer questions concerning Christianity and to show its truthfulness. Because Bill has devoted his life to this worthy calling, putting his name on the FJC chair of Apologetics was an irresistible fit—especially since he once occupied that professorship himself. This means that FJC Apologetics Professor Yannick Imbert, who once studied under Bill at Westminster, is now the first occupant of the Edgar Chair. Parfait!
We’ll have more to say about this new initiative in the months to come. But we wanted to get the word out here at the close of 2020. Like I said, it’s the time of year for good news. We couldn’t wait.
Want to get involved?
Then www.huguenotfellowship.org is the place to go!
There you’ll find a link (“Announcing the William Edgar Chair of Apologetics”) where you can learn more, make an initial contribution (including by stock donation), and sign up for email updates. We’d love to keep in touch with you via email and save some trees.
Our goal is to raise up to $1,000,000 over a multi-year campaign. This would enable us to contribute annually a portion of the salary for the Apologetics professorship. Now that we’ve hit the ground running, we should be able to support the Edgar Chair in this way beginning early in 2021. As I’m sure you can imagine, the events of 2020 have put FJC in a tight financial spot, so this new campaign presents us with a golden opportunity to keep the seminary going at a time when its message is so needed.
Please consider joining us as we honor our dear friend and seek to advance the cause of truth that he himself has served so well for so long.
Oh, and Merry Christmas too! Good news of a great joy, indeed.
Yours,
Paul D. Wolfe, President
The Huguenot Fellowship