From Trevin Wax.
Last week, the evangelical world was rocked by the death of Ronnie Smith, formerly a teaching pastor at the Austin Stone Community Church, who moved with his family to Libya to teach at the International School of Benghazi. On Thursday morning, gunmen shot and killed him as he was jogging near the U.S. consulate.
I never met Ronnie, but a couple years ago, a mutual friend gave me his excellent book, The History of Redemption. It includes passages from the Bible, arranged in chronological format in order to show the story of God keeping His promise to send redemption through His Son. The illustrations by Christopher Koelle are stunning, and the book comes with an audio CD.
If you want to help Ronnie’s family, you can make a donation here or purchase The History of Redemption. All of the proceeds benefit his family.
In response to the shooting, John Piper encouraged Christians to take up the mantle and continue the mission:
I call thousands of you to take Ronnie’s place. They will not kill us fast enough. Let the replacements flood the world. We do not seek death. We seek the everlasting joy of the world — including our enemies. If they kill us while we love them, we are in good company. Jesus did not call us to ease or safety. He called us to love for the sake of his name. Everywhere. Among all peoples.
Below is a news report about Ronnie’s death, including clips of Ronnie in 2010 preaching on the grand narrative of Scripture.
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