Archive: God Lets me in on the Fun

By Sara L. Anderson

Bob Tuttle cannot be appropriately wrapped up in a box and labeled. Every time you think you have him tagged, he’ll do something that surprises you.

The label seminary professor doesn’t seem to match the vision of Tuttle tooling around Chicagoland in his Jeep-like Suzuki 4 x 4—top down, Christian music blaring from the speakers (and it ain’t Bev Shea, folks). No sedentary academic life will do for Dr. Robert G. Tuttle Jr., E. Stanley Jones professor of evangelism at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. The man who reads several books a week “just to keep a day or two ahead of my students” runs three miles four or five days a week and bench presses 200 pounds.

The hugs he gives and gets from students in chapel and warm conversations punctuated with “bless your heart” belie an intensity anyone conversing with Tuttle for more than ten minutes discovers.

There you are, sitting across a restaurant table from him. He leans over to make a point, his face inches from yours; his eyes seemingly pierce to the hidden recesses of your soul. You wonder if this isn’t a little like what Adam and Eve felt when they encountered God in the garden, and you wish you could grab some emotional fig leaves.

“Do you believe God cares about the details of your life?” he asks. The tone demands a response.

“Uh, yes,” you say, determined to meet the gaze.

“But, do you really believe that?”

“Yes,” you say again, this time with more conviction.

“I know you do,” he says, leaning back, “but I wanted to make sure you knew that you believed it.”

Bob Tuttle is intense. Bob Tuttle cares. Bob Tuttle cares intensely. Those qualities are not lost on his students. At the beginning of each quarter, Tuttle lets it be known that he will disciple a half dozen students that term. Within a few hours his calendar is filled. He meets with each student for an hour every week. They commit themselves to pray for each other, and Tuttle directs the students to keep a daily journal—to record what they are learning and how God is working in their lives.

For evangelical students in particular, whose theology is challenged every day, Tuttle’s office is a safe haven, a place to be encouraged, a place “off-limits to the devil.” One of his disciples said of Tuttle, “I wouldn’t have made it through seminary without him.” A sign on his wall in cloister-like Pfeiffer Hall reads “Hang Tough and Press On.”

Garrett-Evangelical, on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has long been labeled ultra-liberal by evangelicals and shunned by many theologically conservative students. But Tuttle feels the assessment has been too harsh. “The Spirit of God is at work on this campus,” Tuttle says.

He points to a revision of Garrett-Evangelical’s statement of purpose and philosophy drafted by seminary president Neil Fisher and refined by the entire faculty. Previously three emphases ruled the seminary—Women’s Images, the Church and the Black Experience, and Peace and Justice.

However, the revision paper reestablishes the priorities of Garren-Evangelical as Critical Reason, Evangelistic Commitment and Prophetic Witness (the three emphases of the previous 10 years are now under this category). “You can’t talk too much about social justice,” Tuttle says. “But it’s faith in Jesus Christ which releases the power of the Holy Spirit, which empowers social gospel. Now evangelism has equal emphasis with the other three [emphases] together,” Tuttle affirms.

Tuttle labels himself evangelical and charismatic, yet shows (and has earned) profound respect for (and from) colleagues not of his theological persuasion. “We’re a faculty because it takes all kinds of body parts to minister effectively,” he says. “The only way for the needs to be met is to let everyone in on our fun. Other faculty members may not agree with me, but as far as I can tell they are all affirming of me. And I am affirming of them.”

Check out Bob Tuttle’s resume and you’ll find him even more difficult to box up. He earned an undergraduate degree at Duke, a master’s in theology at Wheaton College, a bachelor of divinity at Garrett and a Ph.D. at the University of Bristol, England. He has served in local churches in Illinois, North Carolina and Colorado, was visiting preacher for the Bristol Circuit in Bristol, England, then taught at Fuller Theological Seminary (the first Wesleyan-Arminian seminary) and Oral Roberts University before coming to Garrett-Evangelical.

So how did he wind up in Chicago? While Garrett-Evangelical had evangelicals on the faculty, it was expressly looking for one to fill the E. Stanley Jones Chair of Evangelism. When Tuttle came for the interview he pulled no punches about his concern for evangelism and his theological perspective. In true Tuttle style he told his questioners, “I’m not going to interview one way and act another. I’m not going to lay low for a year; I’m going to hit the ground running.”

His honesty was obviously appreciated, and he got the job. “My Garrett-Evangelical colleagues appreciate that in me—the fact that I am an upfront evangelical,” Bob says.

While Tuttle has had his share of influence at the Evanston school, he has also received an education there. “Garrett- Evangelical has helped me articulate my views on social justice and has made me far more aware of feminist and racist issues,” he says.

Early in his tenure Tuttle came face-to-face with feminist issues. In one of his first classes Tuttle referred to Susanna Wesley as a great lady. Several female students slammed their books on their desks and walked out, leaving Tuttle wondering what on earth he had done. He later learned that to the feminists, lady is a demeaning term used by white southern males to keep women on the pedestal and out of the work force.

This understanding and his concern for communicating the Gospel clearly has led Tuttle to avoid language which would create unnecessary barriers between him and his students. “I don’t give an inch theologically, but I don’t make gender references to God because I want to keep as many people on board as possible,” he explains. “When I’m in my closet I pray to God the Father. I will not refer to God as Mother. I baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I don’t try to rewrite Scripture, but I try to be sensitive to words that heal.”

That ties in with another perspective Tuttle has developed at Garrett-Evangelical: “Theology has to be lively, to be relevant to where people hurt. I was orthodox before I came here. Now I have more freedom to make sure that not only do I preach the truth, but I preach the truth in such a way that I am sensitized to what people are hearing.”

He also makes sure he has opportunity to practice such preaching, warning that professors become “dangerous” when they remain in the classroom. He solves this problem by spending one weekend per month (he doesn’t want to be gone more than that—he and his wife, Artie, have five children, aged seven to 27) preaching in a local church. The focus of these Faith Renewal weekends is often on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, prayer, evangelism and understanding the importance of the body of Christ. Once a quarter he takes students with him, and they do most of the speaking. Bob is booked until ’92.

Maybe that’s because these preaching excursions do not merely serve as continuing education to keep his preacher’s license from getting dusty. They are borne of his concern for people and their hurts. “You stand up in front of people, and it brings tears to your eyes,” he says. “That compassion was the source of Jesus’ anointing. Turn the pages of Scripture,” Tuttle says. “Jesus is healing everything that wiggles—sometimes stuff that’s stopped wiggling.”

But compassion in healing or evangelism does not exist apart from love. “You must always see the great commission in light of the great commandment,” he says. “I don’t love you to evangelize you. I evangelize you because I love you.”

Still, his ability to see needs and his desire to minister to those needs are not oppressive to Tuttle. “The Gospel doesn’t increase our burden,” he says. “The Gospel increases our vision.

“Ultimately God does all the changing; God does all the converting,” Bob continues. “But God loves me so much, God lets me in on the fun.” And whether he’s teaching, meeting with a disciple, preaching or running three miles with President Fisher, Bob Tuttle is having a ball at Garrett-Evangelical.

Sara L. Anderson is associate editor of Good News and of Bristol Books, Good News’ book publishing arm.