Dr. Alan Benson is speaking at this year’s graduation. He and his wife Michelle spoke with Pastor Walton this week about life, ministry, and leadership.
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Episode Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have two services at Harvest Baptist Church every week, the first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM Sunday. We have Japanese and Korean translation during our 10:45AM service.
That’s also the service we livestream at hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. This week, Dr. Alan Benson will be preaching from Titus three in both services. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming back Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, Pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey. Hafa adai, Chris. Yeah. Exactly. I was gone, a week for my daughter’s graduation from college, along with some others, including the daughter of our guest today.
I’ll introduce them just in a minute. But, always only gone about six days, but always miss being home on Guam, and I’m glad to be back. This is a big week for us at Harvest. We’ve got graduations taking place. HCA, Harvest Christian Academy graduation is Friday night, and, and then, on Sunday night is Harvest Baptist Bible College graduation.
Both of these are just fantastic celebrations of some great students who have applied themselves and worked hard, and we enjoy the privilege of celebrating them. Chris mentioned that Sunday morning, Dr. Alan Benson will be preaching for us. Dr. Benson is here for the commencement services.
He’s our commencement speaker, and so he’ll be the keynote speaker on Friday night and then again on Sunday night. And in between there, we’ve asked him to connect, with our church family. He’s been here before and so not new to the Harvest family, but we’re really happy to be able to welcome him back. I’d love to invite you to come. Just like any time, if you come to Harvest, you’re gonna hear the word of God being lifted up, in practical, relevant, you know, biblical ways, and, and we’re gonna worship God, I hope, with all of our hearts and find the fellowship that we should have in the body.
And so let me invite you to join us this Sunday, at Harvest. And, it is really good to have, my friend, Alan Benson, his wife, Michelle, my friend too, Michelle, here with us. Dr. Benson, has had a really influential ministry over the years. Pastored for, I was looking at the resume, twenty some years, right?
Alan Benson: That’s right.
Gary Walton: Alan, so pastored for twenty some years. Spent, six years or so in the administration of Bob Jones University, Executive Vice President and then Acting CEO, is that the right title?
Alan Benson: That’s right.
Gary Walton: There. And, and then, God has directed him now. He’s the Executive Vice President for Business Development at Livium, which is a technology company producing software as a service. So a new venture. I want to ask you about all of those, Dr. Benson, as we get going. But first of all, thank you for being willing to come out to Guam and join us. Thank you, Michelle, for joining them.
Alan Benson: It is absolutely our privilege. We got to be here for the first time in 2019 and have waited with bated breath to come back. And so seven years later to be back and get to see all that God has done in those seven years and the many people that we know, young people whose lives we got to be a part of, to hear the stories of them coming and being a part of the ministry here, either in summer ministry or then now here permanently, I feel like we were co-laborers because of the impact this place has had in their lives as well.
And so a joy to come here and and be a part of this special time of the year when you get to celebrate a harvest from all of the work that you guys have done in sowing seeds and education over all the years.
Gary Walton: Well, really, you are, I think, uniquely, qualified for this position that we’re asking you to do. I mean, your background is pastoral, which is our heart. Education, not just on the, you know, the collegiate level, but you’ve been involved in Christian education on multiple levels, different schools throughout ministry. And so and now, you know, just the business part that’s kind of been a part of your career all through as well. So we’re really privileged, to be able to have you, and I know that you’re going be a blessing to our graduates. Michelle, thank you for coming along. Michelle is the director of student health at Bob Jones University. How long have you been in that role?
Michelle Benson: I’ve been in that role since 2020, right when COVID hit. Oh, yeah. So, yes, I’ve been, a nurse on campus, and I have the privilege of knowing several of your teachers that are here. I had them as students at Bob Jones. So it’s been neat to reconnect with them.
Gary Walton: Well, there’s a lot of connections people here that are connected with you in multiple ways. And so, yeah, we’re thankful for that. Glad that you’re here. Why don’t you introduce us a little bit with your little bit of your story, background. Alan, why don’t we start with you, and then Michelle, So you can fill
Alan Benson: I, for many, their perspective would be that I grew up on the mission field. I’m actually British, was born in Northern Ireland, but very early my family immigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada. And so I was part of a church plant. Missionary came to a very, very Catholic town, my hometown. We came from Northern Ireland, so we were very, very Protestant.
So he didn’t necessarily come to reach us, but as the Lord led him, he came to our home, presented the Gospel to us. Long story made short, in seven months, my mom, dad, and five siblings all came to faith in Christ. Wow. We waited till the ice came off the rivers, and all seven of us were baptized the same day.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Alan Benson: I remember that because they decided to go youngest to oldest, which meant I went first and came out and stood there and froze while everybody else got baptized. So I never got over my baptism. But we became members of of that little church plant. There was 11 of us. We were seven of them.
Wow. And that really is is my faith background. So I knew that little church. I knew a pastor that loved me. There was one little Christian school, and I left home when I was 13.
Go live in a in a type of a dormitory to be able to get Christian education. Wow. And through all of those influences, I became aware of Bob Jones University. We made a trip when I was in tenth grade and visited for Bible conference, and there were more Christians there than there were people in my hometown. Yeah. So it was like, wow. Is unbelievable. And so the Lord opened the door, and I I came south and went to Bob Jones University.
Gary Walton: And I wanna ask Michelle a couple questions in a minute, but I wanna stop on that for a second because that’s an unusual thing. I mean, even for students from Harvest, you know, that end up at BJ, it’s a significant student body, and there is something about that that all of a sudden surrounded by so many people that, you know, genuinely desire to serve God and invest their lives, and that’s a pretty cool thing. You experienced it right away.
Alan Benson: Yeah. And it was formative for me, really. All kinds of challenges with going to college, but that atmosphere was unique to me, and I can’t explain the many ways and many opportunities that I grew in my faith through friendships and societies and ministry opportunities, and God used that in a number of ways, but one of them was to direct me to my wife. We got married before she was done college and then have spent life in ministry together. But that that’s kind of the the journey from there.
God used ministry to help me see my need, and so I continued education really because I kept feeling my need. And so I went through seminary, and God continued to use that formatively in my life. And so really from my early years all the way through the churches I pastored, God has used Christian education in an incredible way in every part of our journey.
Gary Walton: Wow. That’s really great. Michelle, what about you? You met in college, but what about before that?
Michelle Benson: I grew up in a Christian home. My parents were saved when I was young, so they were first generation Christians. But just desire to grow and learn and just pour into my brothers and I. And my mom worked two jobs. My dad worked to put us through Christian school.
And I know that’s probably what a lot of families here experience as But they thought that that the sacrifice was worth it. And I’m so thankful that they did. That was, so I had the privilege of going to Christian school all the way through twelfth grade and graduated and then went to Bob Jones University and studied nursing and then became a nurse. And I’ve had a neat career through that and have now ended up back in education starting the Student Health Department at the university.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Wow, that’s fantastic. Quick overview, but served in a couple different areas. I think if I can remember the biography, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan. Yep. Right? And then back to South Carolina, I get all the pieces? Pretty close. Yeah.
Alan Benson: Well done.
Gary Walton: Yeah. And thank you.
Alan Benson: I don’t remember them all.
Gary Walton: And, you know, in both churches and education, I guess I already said that both churches and educational settings. Michelle, tell us about your family. You have four girls.
Michelle Benson: We do. We have four daughters. They are three of them are married. And our youngest just graduated along with Emily Walton. My youngest daughter is Becca, and she knows and loves a lot of people here. She was here for two summers. She was here the summer of the big storm.
Gary Walton: Mawar, yeah.
Michelle Benson: So she was on the team. So she sends her love to many people here and just had an incredible two summers here at on Guam. She loved it. But we have five grandchildren, and they live in Greenville, South Carolina near us. And we are very blessed.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Becca came out, yeah, like you said, the summer of Typhoon Mawar. So we have a summer ministry team that come and helps specifically with our Cool School, which is coming up, by the way, if anybody’s interested in that information. So Cool Schools, she helped with that. And then a couple of weeks of camp and she just poured herself into our ministry. She’s loved here and thankful for her investment here as well.
Alan Benson: Well, when I mentioned the opportunity to co-labor together in shaping young people’s lives, one of them was my own daughter. Mhmm. Impact of coming and serving here for two summers in her life and her passion for ministry was very, very obvious. She’s the kind of girl that’s adventuresome and a learner. So for her to decide to do anything twice spoke very highly of the value she saw in it, and she, without hesitation, wanted to come back for second summer here.
Gary Walton: Yeah. That’s fantastic. That’s encouraging, really. Yeah. Alan, you know, you serve in pastoral ministry, higher education, now business, world. What are some leadership principles that have remained true in every season of your life?
Alan Benson: You know, some of them are are are simple and universal, and sometimes I think we make things too complicated. But I would start off by saying, as early as possible, settle your mission. No matter what field it is or what season it is that the Lord has you in, settle your mission, because if you don’t and you tie your identity to a position, whether that’s a pastoral one or an executive leadership role or life brings change, and we will see that as a negative if we have tied our identity to the thing rather than to the anchor, to mission, right? And so as a believer, what is it that God is doing in my life, and and how is he wanting to shape me to be like Christ? And if I settle that there and things change and the seas become tumultuous, it’s still challenging, but I can always step back and take the objective look and say, okay, God, This is now what you’re doing to accomplish that in my life.
It’s not like I’ve lost the mission or I don’t know where I’m at or I’m floundering. It’s that this is now the next season you have me in to accomplish that thing, it’s not a waste, and I’m not lost. And so I I think as early as we can, settle settle in your heart the the mission of what it is that that not just you are called to do, but what is God doing in you? Mhmm. And then attach your your clear activities based on purpose and priorities to that.
That rather than I’m gonna do this or I’m gonna do that is what is God doing first in me, and then as he’s doing that, what is he doing to to accomplish then through me? And I wanna attach my best efforts to that. Right? So that that makes me live for a goal that’s bigger than myself, whether that is growing a business or being directly involved in ministry and seeing people pursue their own personal sanctification or ministry pursuits, that my my best way to expend my own efforts and through the giftness God has given me is in accomplishing his goals in in other people’s lives. And when I do that, I I will never waste effort.
Mhmm. Right? So really those two things as anchors are what I would challenge people to focus to live on. We’re living in an age where people struggle because they can’t settle their identity. We know it because of all the things that are happening politically or all the things that are happening morally and culturally.
People are struggling with identity all over the place. We as believers will struggle the same way if we don’t anchor our identity and then our mission in light of that identity in Christ. And so my challenge is settle that, life is gonna bring change. But there isn’t any progress without change.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Alan Benson: So it’s not bad unless I find myself without an anchor, and I just drift on that sea.
Gary Walton: Alan asked me earlier, hey, what are we gonna be talking about? And I told him, I’m gonna surprise you. And, you know, the first one up, I think it’s a challenging question right off the bat, and that was a home run answer. Really fantastic. I, you know, I encourage people to go back and and listen to that again.
I thought that was really, really rich. You know, you’re gonna be talking to primarily young people, you know, graduates this weekend. A lot of you know, it’s so exciting, you know, graduation weekend. Everybody’s got everything in front of them. As you look back for you, is there a defining moment where you felt like God kind of clarified that mission for you? I mean, how how would you put that in your, like, high school, college life?
Alan Benson: Yeah. So, I mean, there were there were moments. I mentioned getting baptized. Yeah. And the day I got baptized, I had my pastor announce that God had called me to ministry. Mhmm. Had absolutely no idea what that meant. So I grew up, you know, 20 people meeting in the basement. That was church. Yeah.
But this man would come one day a week and pick me up at my public school, and every week we were just going to do something, play ping pong, whatever. And it never really dawned on me, but before we ever got to whatever it was we were going to, say, oh, I have one thing to do. And he would stop at a nursing home, or he’d make a hospital visit, or he’d make an evangelistic call. And it took years before I realized that that was more about me than the people we were visiting. And it was that that God used a burden my heart for ministry.
I literally would have said on that occasion if you had asked me, so called you to ministry, what does that mean? I would have said without hesitation, I really don’t know, but whatever that guy’s doing, that’s what I wanna do. Cool. And it was really that clear. Like many young people got to college and all the choices, and and Gary, I’ll be honest with you, was a pragmatist.
So going into college, I knew enough then to say, okay, if I start in ministry and it’s not what God has and I change, everybody will think I’m backslidden. But boy, if I start in accounting and then settle this thing and change to ministry, everybody will think, oh, I’ve had revival.
Gary Walton: Thinking. Right?
Alan Benson: And so I did. I started in accounting and two years into accounting through classes. I was from Canada. I went and took a test about my language. I thought, oh, French will be easy.
I’ve done it all through high school. Stupid. I actually took the test well. And they put me in an advanced French literature course, And I said, Oh, no, no, you’re not. But God even used that because I made the decision, Oh, I know what I’ll do.
I’ll take Greek. So I’d already started in Greek. Okay. And so two years in when I changed my major to to Bible theology, it was an easy transition because I’d already taken my Greek classes. And really, there was a juncture in my college career where very clearly it was like, I’ve called you to ministry and you need to pursue it in preparation.
And that was through a number of circumstances. It was ministry team opportunities. It was leadership opportunities on campus. It was opportunities, though I wasn’t a ministry major, to get to to preach in a in a student gathering. And God put all those pieces together that for me all rose to the occasion of there is nothing that satisfies me more than doing that. The other side of that was I was in accounting and I thought, I will not survive if I do this for the rest of my life. Like this bores me to death.
Gary Walton: A little push and a pull.
Alan Benson: And that’s exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah. You know, God uses a push and It a wasn’t a voice in the night. It wasn’t writing in the sky. It really was what I would say, if any man desires the office of a bishop. That’s what was going on in my heart.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Amen. Michelle, you’ve walked alongside Alan through, you know, a couple decades of ministry leadership. What have you learned about staying grounded personally, spiritually through life, through change?
Michelle Benson: Well, you know, the without the Lord, it’s impossible. I think bottom line, without that relationship with him. And I think what I really I loved being a pastor’s wife, but what I really loved was just being another woman in the church. Growing, loving community, Bible studies, just just, you know, that daily time in God’s Word and growing with the other women in the church. And I just, you know, that’s what I love through the years and still continue to do and love. And also just being a nurse, the Lord gave me a lot of ministry opportunity through that as well, through, you know, to ladies in our church and through different ministries I was able to be involved in.
Gary Walton: Yeah. So many opportunities.
Michelle Benson: So many.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Michelle Benson: So many. Being in the medical field, you know, just how God can use that in full time service as well. And that was something when I was in school, I was like, well, if you want to marry a pastor, you should be, you know, whatever X, Y, Z everyone thought you should be. And I thought, no, the Lord’s called me to be a nurse. And honestly, the Lord has used that so much and opened so many doors with women and children and just so many people in our churches. The Lord has allowed me to use those gifts that he gave me to serve him.
Gary Walton: Well, you both have spent years, you know, investing in people. When you look back, what what kind of decisions or habits seem to matter most over the long haul? What you know, as you’re investing in people, what are you trying to help them, encourage them to do?
Alan Benson: You you know, Gary, it’s it’s interesting. The the most valuable relationships, and I don’t mean that just to me personally, I mean in light of seeing God do things in people’s lives, were the relationships that were very much more personal than professional. Like even being someone’s pastor, there’s there’s a relationship there. But the relationships that that God used the the most were when somehow that that wall of professional ministry came down and the relationship was very personal.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Alan Benson: And and so we shared life more than in a sense just getting to share truth or share advice, which we do a lot of, and we all exist on different relational levels. But I can go all the way back to being a youth pastor, and God gave us seasons as a youth pastor. I think at one time I counted three years, and there was just under 30 young men from those three years that ended up in full time ministry. It’s like, okay, how could I duplicate that And honestly, looking back, it was because even as their youth pastor, the relationship was very personal with those with those young guys. They would come and ask me about ministry and struggles and how did you know and how do you prepare?
And so I I moved into teaching a preacher boys class as part of our Christian school to say, hey, you guys are asking questions. Let’s do this. Let’s actually focus on on ministry preparation though you’re in high school. And and then God used those things. And so getting the opportunity to move really into people’s lives.
Love it. To really feel with them, to hurt with them, and at that level, then share God’s truth with them. Those were the most impactful relationships for seeing those people go on and serve God.
Michelle Benson: I think being real and letting people know you’re not up on a pedestal, that we struggle just like you struggle, and just having that transparent, real relationship to say, hey, I’m just like any other woman in the church. You know, I’ve got my husband and my children and trying to balance life and and just being just being real and just saying, hey, we’re right where you are. Let’s grow together. Let’s do this together, You know, and encouraging him and just and just being that relatable person, I think, been very helpful.
Gary Walton: Yeah. There’s no substitute for shared experiences. Right? Walking
Michelle Benson: through Serving together.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. You just can’t can’t replace it. Alan, you know, this weekend, you’re speaking to graduates stepping into an uncertain future. I mean, now more than ever. We talked about some of those things earlier. What do you think young adults today need most to understand about purpose, calling, faithfulness?
Alan Benson: You know, Gary, it’s it’s interesting. I’m I’m now living full blown in a technology world. Yeah. A company that I’m working for, we actually finished just building our own AI. And so I live in that world a lot, and I actually don’t like the terminology of AI.
It’s really not intelligent. It just knows how to respond to data that it’s given. It’s really more machine learning, which I like because it keeps it out of any thought of human. And we are facing a day where everything we know is gonna be challenged by technology. How we learn, what we do, how we entertain, all of it is gonna be changed by technology.
That’s the reality. And I’m more convinced than ever that the Scripture’s grounding, particularly in Proverbs, is necessary for us to be image bearers. Wow. That process of of getting to what Proverbs describes as wisdom, which ultimately is really skill for living, has never been more important. Like, get knowledge, get understanding, get discretion that results in wisdom. Like, that’s a proverbial process. So knowledge is just the the information. Right? We’re bombarded with it. What do I do with that?
And that is moving then to understanding. It’s the correlation of facts. How do I put a and b together so that I can start to think about what is coming next that I haven’t been exposed to? And that leads then to discretion, that I’m beginning to build this filter of making right choices and learning when I make wrong ones that ultimately leads to skill for living, which is building this theological grid through which I filter all the affairs of life so that I can make God honoring choices. That’s what this generation needs.
It’ll look different than it did for you and me because the information will be different. How they screen it will be different. But we need this generation to be thoroughly grounded, not just in knowledge. Don’t just need to know their Bible. But how should I live in light of God’s truth because I correlate the affairs of life, and I submit my decisions in discretion to God’s authority? That’s biblical wisdom, and that’s what they need.
Gary Walton: Man, I’m looking forward to, you know, the opportunity that you have to influence our graduates and and really our staff. I mean, all of these things that we’re talking about today are so relevant, to where our students are and our graduates are, so I know you guys are both busy people. Thank you for being willing to take out some time, travel out to Guam. You are, we’re thankful that you’re here, thankful for your personal friendship. Alan, you’ve been good to me.
You’ve been good to Harvest. You know, Alan Droll at, to Bob Jones University was very significant and kind of given us a foot in the door in a couple of really important areas. So always been such a good friend to the ministry and personal friend to me, and I’m really thankful for that. Glad that you’re here. Looking forward to how God’s gonna use you both in the graduations and and, in our services on Sunday.
So thank you guys for coming.
Alan Benson: The privilege truly is ours. Thanks for having us.
Michelle Benson: Thanks for having us.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. Two services Sunday, 08:45AM, 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service. We also bring you that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.