Letters: Tributes to Lynn Craft, Golden Gate Seminary

Thanks for Lynn Craft

Lynn Craft was a committed Christian, Sunday school teacher, deacon, husband, father, son, brother, grandfather, athlete, friend, adviser and leader.

Lynn represented Texas Baptists for over 40 years in the highest levels of American finance and investment. His giftedness and wisdom are manifest in his leadership of the Texas Baptist Foundation.

At the same time, he taught my wife, Charlotte, and me in Sunday school, and he and his wife, Becky, were important in the life of our son, Todd, as Bible teachers and friends.

Thanks to Lynn and to his beloved Becky.

Joe Hyden

Dallas

Goodbye, Golden Gate Seminary

Golden Gate Seminary’s (campus) closing was the loss of an old friend for those who graduated from this mission point. The Bay Area was the ultimate world of missions for us. We ventured into “the real world,” making theological ideas less lofty and more tried and true.

It’s true all the world’s a mission point, but Golden Gate offered world religions and no perks for being a Christian. I remember sitting next to a homeless man regularly in my home congregation, 19th Avenue Baptist Church in downtown San Francisco. It was the real world on steroids. You could work in urban missions in Oakland. Or see how weird religion could get at the University of California at Berkley.

Beyond what many say, there were no “fruits and nuts” in San Francisco—just real people who had often never heard of Christ or Christianity.

Goodbye, old friend. Your witness will be missed. May we ever keep those who need Christ in the Bay Area in our heart and prayers. Thanks to all who made Golden Gate a success to all her graduates. May her witness never fade in our hearts.

Joel Blaylock

Allen