Until this morning, my favorite living preacher was a British guy named Tony Ling. I have never known a man who had such a command of the word of God, who was funny (even when hearing him tell the same story or joke 30 times), and who was as genuinely prophetic in the way he ministered as Tony Ling. I was changed every time I heard him preach, not just because he was such a skilled orator or teacher, but because God did something through that man that changed people – changed the Church. There is a passage in the New Testament, Ephesians 4, that lists a group of gifts that Christ gave to the Church for its maturity: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. The gifts are not apostolic guidance, prophesying, evangelism, etc. The gifts are the people. Tony Ling was a phenomenal gift to the church, a true prophet. Tony died today. He was living by faith when he died.

I don’t know the details of his death. I know he had prostate cancer, and had suffered with that for some time. Last summer when I had stage 4 melanoma and was looking at the likelihood of death, I wrote Tony to let him know about my cancer, and to thank him for his influence in my life. He took the time to write a thoughtful and compassionate reply, and shared about his own cancer fight. He prayed for me. I read his letter out loud to myself. (Messages from prophets should be read out loud – that includes reading the Bible in my opinion.) In reading his letter I found myself strengthened in faith and resolve, and loving Jesus more. I am grateful for his prayers on my behalf. I had many encounters with Tony over the years, and all were important to me. But two stand out as altering the course of my life. I will share a bit about one of those times. (If you want, ask me about the other time, which is another very good story.)

As much as I loved Tony and his preaching, I was only able to get him to come to Memphis once during the twelve years that I led Covenant Community Church. If I remember correctly, I think it was mid-week. We did not have mid-week meetings usually, so I don’t think most of the church got to hear him preach. But I had Tony in Memphis, and I wanted to make the most of it. There is a place in the Bible where Jesus says, “If you receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, you will receive the prophet’s reward.” That seems an odd verse to me, but I respected Tony as a prophet, and I wanted whatever reward was in his possession.

Scott Goodwill teaches at Living Light Church in Kenosha, WI. You can find some of his teaching on Living Light Online YouTube channel.

A young man was working on staff at our church at that time named Scott Goodwill. (Scott has turned into one of the finest teachers of the word that I know, and is actively ministering in churches in Wisconsin, Michigan, and parts of England; and is himself an Ephesians 4 gift to the church.) Tony enjoyed having some time to himself. He was always eager to spend time in the word of God, and was happy to be left alone. So Scott and I conspired to get Tony in my office on the ruse that it was quiet and he could have some private time. But we really intended to pester him and to pick his considerable brain. We offered him my office, got rid of the rest of the staff, and then ambushed him for about an hour.

I don’t remember many details of that hour, but I remember that the thing I wanted most was for Tony to share how he approached the Bible. The first time I had ever heard Tony speak was at an elder’s retreat outside of Chicago in the mid 1980s. There were about 60 leaders from churches across the US, and a few had flown over from England. Tony stood up and talked for over an hour without any notes on “the table”. He walked through the Bible from the story of Noah in Genesis to the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation – with no notes. He mused that you can have a church without a pulpit, without pews, without a choir or stained glass. None of those things are necessary or commanded. But you cannot have a church without a table. It is the only piece of furniture that the Bible commands us to have. It changed the way I thought about covenant, about provision, about fellowship, about the church and about communion. I had never heard anyone preach like that before. Over the years I heard Tony do that numerous times on numerous topics, and each time was revelation to me.

Scott and I got Tony to talk about how he came. to the Bible, how he related to the Word, and how he studied. I am not telling you what he said. I will tell you that I learned to approach the word with imagination, with humor, and to read the word in a living dialogue with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I learned to look through the word to understand what God is really like. He is relatable, emotional, he has deep feelings. He is patient and loving and has great wisdom. He takes joy in his work, in his world, in his people. He is a good Father, the best Father. He hides himself so that we have to look for him, but he is easy to find…just like a good Father. He takes us to work with him, rather than send us to do chores. He empathizes with us. Knowing him is life. Knowing about him is not nearly so valuable as knowing him.

I learned that the Bible is written to provoke us to seek – to ask questions. God seasoned his revelation to us with odd details and bizarre stories that are there purely to draw attention to mystery. It makes us humble, because we are not going to figure it all out; and when we think we have, we almost always get it wrong. But mystery is not a mind game that God plays with us to prove how superior he is to us. (He IS gloriously superior, and yet shares his divine nature with us!) It is an invitation to seek…and to find.

In his latter years, City Church Coventry produced a series of short videos called Tony Tuesdays. This is from one of the last videos, and quite powerful. There is a Tony Ling channel on YouTube of his recent devotionals.

I learned to approach the word as a tapestry, and to recognize strands that run throughout that tapestry (like “the table”); but to realize that I cannot understand the tapestry by examining the strands, nor can I understand the strands without stepping back and looking at them as part of a tapestry. I learned that there is some value in systematic theology, but much greater value in dynamic theology – the theology of movement and life, one that unfolds, that is revealed in story and personality.

Tony taught me many things; but he fundamentally changed the way I approach the Bible, which for me is now less of a text book and more of a playground or a workshop where I meet and relate to a good good Father, and where my Father teaches me about himself…and about me.

Tony was studious, but he had a life. He was full of stories about his family and about ordinary people in the church who kept him laughing and kept him humble. Tony was a great man, and a great role model. I am richer for having Tony in pieces of my life, and the church is healthier and more prophetic because of the gift that was and is Tony Ling.

Well done, good, faithful, covenant brother. It gives me joy to know that you sit today with your feet under the table of the King!