CIU Today Fall 2016

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Schiffman: A
professional and
personal relationship
CIU Professor of Ministry Studies Dr. Shirl Schiffman
assisted Robertson McQuilkin on a number of writing
projects. She remembers him as “no-nonsense, very
straightforward, sometimes even blunt in conversation, and
at the same time warm and outward focused.”
“He looked you in the eye and connected with you,”
Schiffman said. “He could also be very, very funny.”
She also described him as one of the best speakers and
writers she has known.
“He had an ability to communicate deep theological truth
in relevant, accessible language,” Schiffman said. “More
than any other theologian I know of, McQuilkin was
able to make what it means to be in Christ — to actually
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — not just
understandable, but real for the people of God.”
Schiffman also personally witnessed McQuilkin’s integrity
after his resignation from the presidency of CIU to care
for Muriel, his first wife who suffered from Alzheimer’s
disease.
“I visited him quite a few times after he stepped down
and Muriel’s Alzheimer’s grew worse,” Schiffman said.
“You would leave with tears in your eyes, not because her
condition was so sad, but because his love for her was so
evident, and the love between them was so evident. It was
amazing.”
Schiffman also knew McQuilkin’s passion to see the world
reached for Christ. She says McQuilkin returned from 12
years of missionary work in Japan “because he had the
opportunity to lead CIU that has sent out thousands of
missionaries all over the world.”
“The last sermon I heard him give was a strong call that
the needs are still great, and God’s people must care about
the salvation of people to the ends of the earth just as God
does,” Schiffman said.
Are the Absent Safe
with You?
In Robertson McQuilkin’s writings and often in
his speaking, he would address how Christians
talk about others. His thoughts seem even more
relevant in a world where many feel entitled to
say anything about anyone through social media.
I have consulted with multiple congregations
in the past 10 years split into painful division
because of emails being forwarded beyond
the original intended author. Here I will just
paraphrase an experience Robertson shared from
his early days as a missionary in Japan with his
wife Muriel:
We were the new missionaries and the more
experienced couple had come to dinner to
welcome us. It turned into a painful evening
of them “helping us” by pointing out failures
and weaknesses of all of the other missionaries.
They left that evening with a date for another
dinner being set and I was not looking forward to
another evening of roasting co-workers.
Muriel assured me she would make sure the next
evening’s conversation went differently. Our
home had a large wall with no pictures on it. She
made a small cross stitch and hung it on the wall.
They arrived and noticed the new addition to our
decor. The wife walked over, read it, and then
called her husband over to read it:
The absent are safe with us.
(Robertson paused like a good stand- up
comedian and then said), “It was one the quietest
dinners we had ever had.”
Are the absent safe with you?
—Dr. Roy King is a former CIU professor and
church consultant
He had an ability to communicate
deep theological truth in relevant,
accessible language. –Shirl Schiffman
“ “
19 CIU Today