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MBC professor lives out the theology
he teaches

Dr. Brad Harper looked relaxed and comfortable as he sat at his desk, wearing a white shirt with red stripes and a Tabasco tie. He said his love for Mexican food caused a friend to buy him the Tabasco tie. When he was a pastor, his congregation saw the tie and thought it wonderful. He now has a collection of seven or eight -- all of them gifts.

He said he keeps hoping that a student will buy him a tie. "I really want a student to find a Tabasco bow tie. Ties really bug me because they are always in my way. If we could just get a bow tie renaissance somehow, we could go back to that, and then I wouldn't have to worry about getting them into my food."

The lyrics of "Thy Word" played softly from a tape recorder on his desk. A coffee cup that read, "40 isn't old unless you're a tree" sat next to his computer. A black and white photograph of his family rested on a corner of his desk.

The photograph pictured Robin, his wife of 15 years; his son Drew, 11; his daughter, Breegan, 8; and his son Cory, 5.

According to Dr. Harper, he and his wife are very different. "She is the most thoughtful person I know," Dr. Harper said, "and frankly, I'm not. That's both a help to me and also creates difficulty for us sometimes because I'm not as thoughtful as her."

Another difference between Dr. Harper and his wife is their choice in movies. While Mrs. Harper watches movies to experience reality, Dr. Harper watches movies to escape reality, he said. Smiling, he added, "[Robin] watches movies with Meryl Streep in them because they are real life. I never want to watch a Meryl Streep movie because I will be depressed for the next five days."

Dr. Harper also said that he has a different temperament than his wife. He said because of Mrs. Harper's sensitive nature, she is sometimes melancholy. But Mr. Harper has "the most non-melancholy temperament in the world. I'm very up all the time," he said. He said the balance between their temperaments is helpful but also difficult because he does not understand his wife's temperament at times. "I've really learned from that. I think I've become a softer, less judgmental and more caring person because of her," he said.

Dr. Harper's biggest dream is to be a godly husband and father to his children. He also dreams that his children will decide to follow Christ on their own. "I can die and nothing else matters, nothing else makes any difference, nothing else that's bad that's happened in my life really matters if I've been a godly father," he said.

"He's such a great dad," Mrs. Harper said. She said he tries to spend individual time with the children. Dr. Harper takes the kids out to basketball games or breakfast. "He enjoys being with them as people. He doesn't talk down to them," she said.

She said that Dr. Harper's sense of humor comes alive when he's with his children. He makes up stories to tell them. The stories have neighbors named Lulee and Dooney. In one story, Lulee and Dooney go to the zoo. Dr. Harper makes the animal sounds for his children as he tells the story. Yet no matter what the story is about, instead of saying "And they lived happily after ever," he ends the story with, "And they all sat down and had cookies and milk."

Dr. Harper's oldest son, Drew, loves drama, opera and Shakespeare. According to Dr. Harper, Drew writes plays and movie scenes. Drew reads to his family every night, using a different voice for each character. The family reads together three to four times a week. Right now, Drew is reading to them from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

Dr. Harper said Breegan is "my little redhead. She's a wonderful, loyal friend." She loves horses. She has a 90-pound chocolate Lab that sleeps on her at night. "She's lean and mean, tall and strong," Dr. Harper said.

"Cory has two speeds," Dr. Harper said. "Turbo and off. He goes 100 miles an hour all the time, smashing into walls." Dr. Harper said that his youngest child loves rock 'n' roll. He listens to Eric Clapton, Petra and Fleetwood Mac. He plays the guitar and drums.

Dr. Harper shares his youngest son's fondness for music. "I'm a '70s rocker. I played [guitar] in garage bands in college," he said. "I love the music of the '70s because it's natural, and in the '80s it became so highly synthesized. I didn't like '80s music that much." The names of his bands were Shephard and Cross Reference.

Along with his love for his family, Dr. Harper's great passion is theology. "Since the time in fifth grade when I finally decided that it wasn't a good idea to be a bush pilot in Alaska because it was just too cold and too dangerous, I wanted to be teaching God's word. And that has never varied," Dr. Harper said.

"When I read God's word, I see myself in the pages" he said. "I see myself in the lives of the people described in scripture. I see myself in the blunderings of Peter. I see myself in the cowardice of Abraham. I see myself in the writings of John -- of wanting to grab hold of Christ."

He said that the Bible is a human book. In the midst of being inspired of God, it's humanity being lived out in a relationship with God. He said, "For me, theology is finding out about God in the real world.

"As I see myself in those people and see the grace of God in the midst of their failings, that changes me because I realize that God can have grace on me, too," Dr. Harper said.

The No. 1 thing that Dr. Harper would change about himself is his selfishness, he said. "Larry Crabb, in his book about marriage, 'Men and Women -- Enjoying the Differences,' spends the first 100 pages saying the primary problem in all marriages is selfishness. He says that we are all selfish and have an amazing ability to justify our self-centeredness."

Dr. Harper said he has a tendency to think of himself before others. Sometimes, when he has an argument with his wife about a particular issue, he wants to win rather than resolve the conflict. He said he should put reconciliation over the desire to win.

"At the end of my life, the people that I'm closest to and that I'm in contact with and spend a lot of time with aren't going to remember the theology I told them," Dr. Harper said. "They're going to remember how I served them."

The quality that Mrs. Harper most admires in her husband is his "love for God. It sounds very spiritual, but it's true. It's not something he just talks about. He loves God with all of his heart. It's the No. 1 quality that attracts me to him," she said.

According to Mrs. Harper, her husband thinks of God's word as more than a profession. God's word is a passion. She said he holds himself accountable to the scriptures and is willing to change his life if he needs to.

His sister, Coleen Morris, said she admires Dr. Harper for his desire to lead people to their own relationship with the Lord. She describes her brother as a great man who is crazy about her family. "He's very good," she said. "Whether it's good or bad times, he's willing to write and say that he loves me and is praying for me. He's one of my most favorite people."

Ms. Morris, who is eight years older than her brother, said she remembers Dr. Harper comforting her when she was in trouble with her parents. She said he would tell her how much he loved her, no matter how much trouble she was in.

Ms. Morris' twin brother, Jeff, sometimes tortured Dr. Harper. Jeff would pin his kid brother down and pretend to spit on him. When the saliva nearly touched Dr. Harper's face, Jeff sucked it back in. Ms. Morris referred to the game as the "spit torture thing."

"I remember when Mom would let him play poker with his friends until [late]. Then they'd go into the backyard and smoke cigars. That's about as rebellious as he got," Ms. Morris said.

Dr. Harper's fondest childhood memory was of his mother praying for him. He would run down the hall of his home and see his mother on her knees in her room. He listened to her as she prayed.

Prayer is how Dr. Harper applies the Bible to his life. He said prayer helps him think about what he reads.

"The truth of God's word changes my life," Dr. Harper said. "I have the privilege of talking with other people about [God's word] and see their lives changed too.

"Even more important, it's the truth about God, when brought together with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that confronts me with Jesus Christ. And that's what I want because He is my only hope in a dark world. He's my only hope for sin in my life. He's my only hope for the future. He's my only hope to be able to live in this life [and] bring any kind of satisfaction."