Dr. Nicki Coertze -- The Spurgeon Conference

Recently, there was a Spurgeon conference at my church (Founders Baptist Church). The basic theme I would label it as the Integrity of Preaching the Truth of the Word of God. The guest speaker was Nicki Coertze from Christ Seminary in South Africa (affectionately known as Brother Nicki). In addition to being an exceptional preacher of the Word, he has a special place in my heart as he ministers along side some friends of mine (the Beakleys and the Macks). Also, a supporting church of his happens to be in my dad's hometown in West Frankfort, IL. He addressed the issues of the trend of preachers compromising and "tickling the ears" instead of preaching the Truth.

While Brother Nicki addressed the seriousness of these issues, there were some memorable quotes of his during his week long series; some of which were hysterically funny! My favorite was in his response to a church organization criticizing Christ Seminary's training his pastors-in-training to be "dogmatic". His response in a written letter was as follows:

"I must humbly apologize for appearing to be too dogmatic. It was never my intention to be dogmatic. I meant to be "Bull-dogmatic". It is better than being "cat-matic" and be pussy-footing around the issues!"

Too funny!!!! More memorable quotes as follows:

"Goats like to bump heads. You can't build a church on goats."

"Repentance doesn't save, but no one is saved without repentance. ... "

"There's a difference between being crude and being honest."

"A positive message will fill the pews, but it will fill hell as well."

In all seriousness, Brother Nicki Coertze will likely be remembered for these classic quotes above. (There should be a Coertze book compiling his quotes, similar to one done for Spurgeon's) During his preaching, Dr. Coertze has a tone of humility and gratefulness for all that God has done in his life, yet is boldly firm in Biblical doctrine, and exhorts us to be faithful in adhering to the truth, and demonstrating genuine love among the brethren. Very memorable, and I consider him a personal hero.