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Pastor-Teacher, Rev. Ric Webb
My name is
Ric Webb. I am presently the Pastor of
Heart's Journey.
Previously, I served as the Pastor of the
Gum Springs Bible Doctrine Church in
Arkadelphia, AR. I have spent many years of my
life preparing, day in and day out, to do
what I do right now, and that is, study and
teach the Word of God. My spiritual gift is
pastor-teacher, and hence, the burning
desire of my soul is to do just that-- study
and teach; share the Good News of the Gospel
of Grace and the clear teaching of the Word
of God. I have dedicated
my life, my spirit and my soul to this
purpose, to fulfill the ‘mission of my
ministry’ in the cause of Christ, to see
unbelievers come to a saving knowledge of
Him and to see believers edified,
encouraged, and built up in the Faith.
My theology
is dispensational, and if I may say it this
way, an ‘enhanced classical’
dispensationalism. By that I mean the
Classic Dispensationalism of Chafer with the
enhanced and fine-tuned clarity, of R. B.
Thieme. My doctrinal and theological
background is not only dispensational and
pre-millennial, but grace-oriented, and
above all, Christ-centered, for He is the
center-piece of the Word of God, the
focal-point of everything we study and
everything the application of that study is
designed to produce in us. He is the Way,
the Truth and the Life; and there is no
access to the Father outside of Him,
no absolute truth apart from Him, and
no spiritual or eternal life without
Him!-- John 14:6.
If you
desire to “press on” just remember that
those who approach the Bread of Life in
humility, with true spiritual hunger and
thirst, will never leave empty or
unsatisfied. God has sworn to fill the
needs of, and supply what is lacking in,
all those who seek Him in faith--
Hebrews 11:6.
The contents
of
hjministries.org are the
fruits of my labor in the Word, but alas,
not mine alone. I am indebted, and
eternally grateful, to the labor and sweat,
and the study and insight of many, many
excellent pastor-teachers and theologians
who have trod this ground before me.
The first,
of course, is my friend and mentor, Dr.
James Brettell, whose practicality in all
areas of ministry, and whose lifestyle, have
been and continue to be both an example and
an inspiration.
The second
is the man under whose ministry I was saved
as a young boy, Rev. Jim Myers. Jim was my
pastor at Grace Bible Church in Hot Springs,
AR-- where I grew up-- for the first twelve
years of my life. He and his wife, Phyllis,
and the others who taught our Sunday School
classes, laid a solid foundation of Bible
doctrine in my soul, a foundation that Dr.
Brettell would build on a decade later. I
have much respect and gratitude for him, and
for his present work in Kiev, Ukraine.
Dr. L. S.
Chafer is another man whose labors in the
area of a thorough Systemic Theology which
is both premillennial and dispensational are
without a doubt monumental in the impact
they’ve had on any man who has taught sound
Doctrine in the past fifty years.
I would be
remiss without mentioning Col. R. B. Thieme,
Jr., the pastor-teacher for more
pastor-teachers than probably any other man
in the twentieth century, certainly the
latter half of the twentieth century, at
least. As a P-T I have the utmost respect
for his diligence and dedication to the Word
of God, for his faithfulness in ministry
over the past fifty years. Not every P-T
will have the impact that his ministry has
had, but if we stay faithful to the task
ahead, if we “run with divine endurance
the race set before us”-- Heb. 12:1--
there is waiting at the finish line the
“wreath of glory that never fades,” 1
Peter 5:4.
There are
two other men who had a definite and lasting
impact on my life: One is Ranger Gary
Horton who, in the camps I attended as a
teenager, always shot straight with us about
‘real life in a real battle’-- the Angelic
Conflict. The other is Gene Cunningham
who, although he doesn’t know it, has had
more impact on my teaching ‘style’ than any
other communicator. I believe that the Word
of God must be clear, that it must be
concise, its principles, promises and truths
expounded in a way that makes sense, that
grabs the mind and engages the heart,
because of the grace, compassion, mercy,
love and forgiveness that is found there.
His ‘style’ of teaching always did that for
me, and I pray that mine will do the same
for the many, many others in my generation
who are lost, who are hurting, who are
helpless and hopeless without the Light of
Life or the Word of God.
You will see
glimpses of these men and their
ministries in my teaching. For that, I make
no apologies; truth is truth, and sound
Bible teaching is sound Bible teaching. To
paraphrase a great Christian writer and
commentator, “I have a first class memory,
but a second class mind.” Originality in
the spiritual realm, I believe, consists in
simply teaching the truth in the power of
the Spirit of God and to the best of your
God-given ability, and standing firm and
fast on the convictions you hold in the
Word. Because someone else has said
something first, or maybe even said it
better, is no cause for jealousy or envy
among P-Ts. Instead, it should cause us to
rejoice in that truth itself, it
should cause our fire for study, growth and
service to burn that much brighter. We
ought to take that principle, that point, or
that doctrine and cycle it through the
channels of the soul until it becomes part
of us. And then in our teaching,
with our own personality and our own sense
of expression, it can come forth as
something exciting and fresh for the sheep
of our fold.
Your brother
and fellow soldier in the Conflict of
Christ,
Ric Webb
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