Recognized as a distinguished alumnus of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Dr. Roy Blackwood would want to assign the “distinguished” part of the honor to Jesus Christ. Dr. Blackwood was honored at a dinner this spring at the seminary, as many friends offered tributes to his impact for Christ’s kingdom through his life.

I remember first meeting with him in 1977, when I was asking the Lord how to apply His Lordship to the news media. Dr. Blackwood was very busy with the care of many people and churches. Yet he was gracious enough to find time for someone from the secular news media. I had been a reporter for the Associated Press and wanted to understand Christ’s Lordship in all areas of life better as I headed to write news and commentary in Indianapolis, Ind.

Dr. Blackwood described the doctrine of Christ’s kingdom, based on his doctoral thesis on William Symington’s Messiah the Prince. He drew circles and stick figures to show how Christ ruled over the individual, family, church and state. That teaching attracted Ruth and me to Second RPC when we moved to Indianapolis a year later.

Roy was busy in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the new Southside RPC and the development of the Columbus, Ind. and Lafayette, Ind., RPCs. But he kindly made the time to tutor me in systematic theology. Earlier, at the Ligonier Valley Study Center, I had learned of the importance of theology from R.C. Sproul and his associates.

Roy and I covered the traditional outline of the doctrine of God, doctrine of man, Christ, the atonement and other subjects. He created written exams based on Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof. It was an excellent background to the kingdom doctrine. Messiah the Prince by William Symington seemed like very pleasant reading compared to Louis Berkhof’s prose. At the same time, I was learning discipleship from Roy through his example and his teaching and preaching. A couple of books helped—The Lost Art of Disciplemaking, by Roy’s friend, Leroy Eims, and the Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. Leroy was a staff member of the Navigators disciplemaking ministry and helped Reformed Presbyterians in Pittsburgh, Pa., after World War II, including Ken Smith and Roy.

The key was Roy working with a few men in personal Bible study with an emphasis on commitment, or personal practical application, as the Apostle Paul had with Timothy. The goal was for each of us to work with a few men, who could share their faith with others, who would go on to teach others also.

Roy was pouring his life into the lives of men such as Jim McMahon, Jack Baumgardner, Dean Filson, Don Fields, Frank Schutz, Rich Johnston, Don Prichard, John Hanson, Keith Magill, Jim Bishop and Michael LeFebvre. They would spend weekly personal time with Roy, or sometimes in small group studies. In our living rooms he would go through the life of Christ in the gospel of John, and young men and women would bring their friends to hear the gospel and the claims of Christ.

As men progressed in faith, Roy would help us learn what was called ABC Bible study. The label sounded childish, a reminder of first grade. Yet in substance it was a very challenging approach to the Bible. The analysis (A) gave us a chance to work through a chapter, writing out the themes or an outline, doing word studies or checking commentaries. Then we looked for a best verse (B) to summarize the theme, or a verse that spoke to us in a special way.

The key was the commitment (C). What were we going to do with what we had learned in the chapter? How would we obey? In what specific way would we be doers of the Word? Some applications were very specific: “I will by the grace of God give up all television sports for a week.” That sounds easy most weeks. But try it when the Indiana Pacers are headed into the NBA playoffs.

Some applications could go much deeper into personal relationships and problem attitudes. The approach gave Christ a simple but regular way of convicting us of sin and helping us to change from what we had been to what Christ wanted us to become. Or it could be a way to remind us of a basic truth, such as Christ’s love. “The ABC method of Bible study is still my main tool in ministry,” wrote Don Fields of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in a recent tribute to Roy, and that came after 46 years of working with college students in IVCF ministry.

Out of that vision for discipleship came prayers for congregations to multiply as well, with Roy helping in the development of RP churches on the Southside of Indianapolis, along with Lafayette and Kokomo, and later Elkhart, Ind. More recently he has helped with a new RP church in Grand Rapids, Mich., as well as the start of Christ Church RPC on the west side of Indianapolis.

What this approach provided was a way of regularly working on the exciting truth that we are not stuck as we were. We could be changed by Christ. If I was selfish, I could develop applications to grow out of it. If I needed to break a bad habit, I could commit to grow a new and better one, with the help of memory verses and the prayers of friends and regular accountability.

As Dr. Blackwood taught seminary-level church history classes, we could see these kingdom and discipleship themes come alive in another way. He had earned his Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in the early 1960s, writing his thesis on Scottish RP pastor William Symington and his classic books on the atonement and Christ’s kingdom.

We learned how William Farel and Martin Bucer became “Pauls” in some ways to a young, shy John Calvin. Calvin then was used to multiply what he had learned in the life of Theodore Beza and thousands of others in subsequent generations.

A young man named John Knox also found his way to Geneva, Switzerland, where he learned from Calvin and took the lessons back to his homeland after the persecution lessened. Earlier in Scotland, Knox had learned from another “Paul,” named George Wishart, and went on to teach many others.

Archibald Johnston, or Lord Wariston, was the lawyer for the Covenant of the 17th Century, working with Alexander Henderson. Wariston’s grandmother, Rachel Arnot, had hidden Robert Bruce in persecuting times and likely told her grandson the Scottish Reformation stories of faith and courage, in a different Paul-Timothy pattern through the generations of that family.

The pattern was similar with Martin Luther, who learned something of justification by faith from the Augustinian monks, found it dramatically in the book of Romans, and went on to train Philip Melanchthon and generations of the Lutheran church.

Later in history, the preaching of George Whitefield had an influence on the subsequent conversion of William Wilberforce, who went on to lead the abolition of slavery in the British empire, in the name of Christ. Roy helped many of us learn to read church history in a new way, through the themes of Christ’s kingdom and the Lord’s work the Lord’s way, through 2 Timothy 2:2 and Matthew 28:18-20.

As part of these courses, Roy took individuals and families on history tours, to Scotland and the Middle East. Seeing the tide come in and out helped students better grasp the martyrdom of the two Margarets, who died at Wigtown for their faith in Christ in the persecuting times of the late 1600s.

Roy’s wife, Margie, provided an important complement, teaching our children a mix of Covenanter history, evangelism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism during the Sabbath evening worship service. She was a quiet help to Roy, putting a practical edge on the great kingdom doctrine, with a special love for people.

Perhaps the most profound lesson I learned was a practical one. Somehow Roy knew I would be tempted to neglect my wife and children, maybe because he knew there would always be another news story to write. He warned me that I would never regret spending too much time with my family.

He also denounced the thought that quality time was more important than quantity time. “That’s a lie from the pit of hell,” Roy said. I don’t recall him ever being so forceful in condemning a falsehood as that one, and I heard him loud and clear. My wife and children benefited from him helping me keep those priorities straight.

His counsel on family time was very wise and reflected Roy’s willingness to help us learn from the mistakes of his generation, the Greatest Generation, of the men who had fought in World War II and gave us a better life. He had seen too many evangelical leaders, very talented and godly men, get so busy building great ministries that their wives and children suffered. He didn’t want any of us to fall into that trap. That willingness to share such a profound lesson set him apart as a leader.

He also led from many strengths: a gifted academic background; a grasp of church history and unique understanding of 2 Timothy 2:2 in the Reformation; a capacity to lead men and women to Christ through Gospel of John studies in our homes; skill in discipleship as the foundation for real church growth; a vision for the church helping the state, through a personal ministry he had with top government officials in the city and state. Roy understood that Christ was King over the state as well as the church and that church and state could cooperate for kingdom advancement. They would come into conflict as well, but His kingship meant that Christ could work through them both in a cooperative way, with both sectors looking to Christ for guidance.

One example was in the early days of Prison Fellowship, as Roy had a prisoner living in his home and working on a community service project, with the state calling on the church for spiritual help that the prisoners needed in order to be ready to come back to society after time behind bars. At one point, then Indiana Secretary of State, Ed Simcox, thankful for Roy’s personal counsel and Bible study with him, made Dr. Blackwood honorary secretary of state.

As busy as Roy was, God used him to bring a special emphasis on the family priority in a very unusual way in our lives. Not by his plans, or session direction, Second Reformed became a welcome place for families that wanted something better for their family than the world seemed to be offering in the 1980s.

Some families were attracted to the psalms and a cappella singing because evangelical churches were switching from traditional hymns to an entertainment-style approach to worship. Others just felt that their larger families of five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or eleven children were welcome among us. In some other churches they sensed that an abundance of children was perceived as a problem instead of a blessing.

God had equipped Roy to help these families in transition, some from a background of secularism, others coming from charismatic worship to a desire for more depth in theology for their children, others from evangelicalism to a more Reformed perspective. He could help them see that their heart’s desire for family reflected a desire for covenant theology even if they had not heard the theological terminology. They wanted to see their children walking with the Lord, for more than one or two generations, in the spirit of Isaiah 59:21. Those desires of parents reflect the heart of the RP Church and its history in Scotland and America, and were rooted in the doctrine of Christ’s kingdom.

He taught Reformed theology as well as anyone, but he didn’t use the labels very often. He taught the Scriptures, and later people would realize they had learned the doctrines without an emphasis on the labels.

Often he would talk about “thinking kingdom.” This approach helped me in a practical way when a prominent Democrat in Indiana was debating a switch of parties. He was from the southern part of the state, and his Christian faith propelled him forward as the leading pro-life voice in the General Assembly. He was more conservative than his party nationally but had a strong influence in the legislature because he could swing a group of instinctively conservative Democrats behind him on several social issues such as abortion and gambling.

I remember asking Roy if I was wrong to advise him not to switch. So many others were telling him to switch, but I thought he would have more influence as a Democrat. Roy helped me look beyond the parties to talk about what was best for Christ’s kingdom—to seek first Christ’s kingdom and the other issues would fall into place more easily. The kingdom doctrine had a way of lifting our sights beyond the immediate tyranny of the urgent, to discern what is best for Christ’s long-range plan, of reaching people for salvation and then helping them grow and change on the basis of God’s Word.

God equipped Roy in a special way for this multiplying ministry by his board membership and/or wise counsel for several ministries, such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship; Geneva College; Prison Fellowship; Operation Mobilization and its literature-distribution ministry on ocean-going ships; the Navigators; and the Institute in Basic Life Principles. The Navs had him teach during the summer at Glen Eyrie on his studies of discipleship in the gospels. Bill Gothard had him teach hundreds of young people about life calling at youth seminars. He gave these ministries wise counsel and some Calvinism, which didn’t carry the Calvinist label because he was just teaching the Bible.

Coming back home to Indianapolis, he brought helpful kingdom resources to us as fathers and mothers, as we tried to figure out everything from corporal punishment at appropriate times to the challenges of the teen years. Or he would learn a new way to help us share the gospel more effectively. Or we would gain a bigger world vision of Matthew 28:18-20 through what he learned about what Christ was doing in other parts of the world.

He won’t like all this praise. I remember writing something else about him several years ago and asking him to check it for accuracy. He gently suggested that I had used the name “Blackwood” too often.

RPTS Prof. Rick Gamble noted of Roy, “In countless situations I saw Roy take a back seat himself and put someone else ahead of him. He did not seek the spotlight but always wanted to keep the lights blazing on the One who promised to build His church.”

Like John Calvin, Dr. Blackwood would want the name of Christ to be praised, just with thanks for what Christ has done through the Blackwoods among us in central Indiana.

—Russ Pulliam