Amy Townsend recently sat down with Jenny to talk about formation, calling, and the joy of spending time in God’s Word.
Amy Townsend: Jenny, welcome. What was it like stepping back onto campus today?
Jenny Salt: Thank you Amy. I’m thrilled to be here. I drove up the circular driveway and saw BBH (Benson Barnett House). In one sense, nothing has changed. But I’m also very conscious that the place has changed a great deal, because the people have changed. That’s the wonder of Bible college, isn’t it? People come, and then they go out. It’s lovely to be back, and my love and memories of SMBC have never grown dim.
Amy: Yes, we have a phrase at SMBC: you come, you grow, you go. Students and people change, but our vision and our convictions stay the same. We love that SMBC students go onto all kinds of ministry. After twenty-five years at SMBC, you moved to a different context. What are you doing now?
Jenny: The funny thing is that I was about to turn 60. Who starts a new sphere of ministry at 60? It just seemed a natural thing to do, so I did.
For the last five years I’ve worked with the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church, among women in ministry. I meet with women to encourage, support and equip them, and I do some training as well. I work with the Archdeacon of Women’s Ministry. I do the things I love, like preaching and training women in preaching. It’s been a wonderful five years.
“We were told that you come to Bible college thinking you’re going to do business for God, but in actual fact God does business with you.”
Amy: What do you remember of being equipped as a gospel worker yourself?
Jenny: I remember thinking what a thrill it was to open the Word of God every day and learn from faithful, clever people who could help us understand it better.
“We were told that you come to Bible college thinking you’re going to do business for God, but in actual fact God does business with you.”
I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, but he certainly did. It’s a formative time, a transformative time. You rub shoulders with people from all sorts of backgrounds, all with a love for God and a desire to grow.
I’d been a Christian for about fifteen years by then, yet I felt I was being given new eyes. I think it’s the doctrine of perspicuity.
Amy: Yes, the clarity of Scripture.
Jenny: Ironically, the word perspicuity needs a little bit of clarity so you understand what it means. So you can read the Word of God as a new Christian, and you can understand it, and then you can read it after 20, 30 years of studying, and you still are seeing beautiful new truths or truths with more depth.
As a student, I found that wonder at every turn. I was learning and growing, and marvelling at who God is, what he has done, and how he shows his love for this world through the gospel.
There was also a weekly time when missionaries came to share their experiences. Every week I would think, “This is where the Lord would have me go.” And every week it changed, because we were presented with new needs. Yet for all the places in the world that need the gospel, I felt a very strong sense that I should stay right here. That’s how he worked out his purposes with me. I came, and I stayed. Twenty-seven years later, I was still here.
“So you can read the Word of God as a new Christian, and you can understand it, and then you can read it after 20, 30 years of studying, and you still are seeing beautiful new truths or truths with more depth.”
Amy: What spiritual practices did you take up as a student that you’ve carried through these decades of ministry?
Jenny: I came to realise how important it was to have a time in the day where I’m reading the Bible for the sake of listening to the Lord, and speaking to him.
At SMBC, I developed the habit of journaling. I’m more of a writer than a speaker when it comes to thinking. I write the passage at the top, write out a prayer, read the passage, and then write more prayers.
That habit grew at college. I’m an early bird. Back then I didn’t like the traffic, and Sydney is full of it, so I would get here early and have my quiet time at a cafe or in the college dining room. I found that what I read in that half hour or forty-five minutes would resonate with me through the day.
John Piper, in Taste and See, writes about spending time in God’s Word each day. He compares it to stocking the pantry with food you can chew on all day. That’s exactly what I want. I want God’s Word resonating in my heart and mind throughout each day.
You can do that as a student. The danger comes when you move into ministry and life gets busy. If you handle the Word of God daily in your work, it’s easy to say, “I’m in the Word every day, so I don’t need to worry about devotions.” But I think it’s vital to carve out that time. I’ve done it ever since.
“If you handle the Word of God daily in your work, it’s easy to say, “I’m in the Word every day, so I don’t need to worry about devotions.” But I think it’s vital to carve out that time.”
I also like it when people ask what I’m reading. I don’t want to be tempted to pull something out of thin air and cover my tracks.
Amy: So what are you reading at the moment, Jenny?
Jenny: This morning I read Psalm 80. It’s a psalm of Asaph, and what struck me was the line, “May your face shine upon us once again.” There’s this image of the Lord’s face shining on his people.
There’s also the image of a vine. I think the context is exile, and the vine has been broken down. Then there’s a part that speaks of the branch, or the son, depending on how you translate it, whom God has raised up. I thought, what a beautiful thread. Step back from the psalm and think about what it means to know the Lord’s face shining on us. It shines in the true vine, the true branch, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what I read this morning.
Amy: I love that, in your time as a student, as faculty, and now in ministry, you’ve lived as a child of God who is willing to learn and to submit to his Word and his will.
You came to college open-handed. Lots of students come to SMBC for different reasons. Some use the language of calling and have a strong sense of where they’re headed. Others have no idea, they simply long to grow in knowledge and be better equipped for lay or formal ministry. What would you say to both?
Jenny: Calling is an interesting word. As Christians, we are all called to trust the Lord God, to serve him, and to point people to the Lord Jesus. Sometimes the word can lock us into something the Lord might not have for us, so we need to be careful.
I love the idea of coming with a bit of a blank slate and letting God guide and show you where he would have you go. At the same time, people have strengths, gifts and experiences that will feed into what they do long term. It’s good to be aware of those and to think about what you’d love to do. Often the Lord takes us to places where we can use the gifts he’s given us.
So I would say we are called, but where he takes us is sometimes not where we expect.
“It doesn’t matter who we are or what we do. If we follow the Lord Jesus, we’re involved in ministry.”
Amy: Suppose someone came to you and said, “I’m thinking about ministry. What do I need to know?” What would you tell them?
Jenny: The word ministry can carry the same baggage as calling. People think of vocational ministry as the real thing. But we’re all in ministry. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we do. If we follow the Lord Jesus, we’re involved in ministry.
When someone tells me they’d like to be in full-time vocational ministry, I’m always curious why. Has someone encouraged them? Do they hold a certain view of it? I don’t think this is always the case, or even often the case, but some people have a romantic idea of what full-time ministry involves. So I’d want to hear more about what they’re thinking.
Then, if they’re considering Bible college, I’d encourage them to go and see what God will do. See how he works out his purposes and makes them more like Jesus. Not everyone will end up in full-time vocational ministry. And we shouldn’t think that those who do are a cut above other Christians. I don’t think that’s true at all.
But at the same time, if there is an opportunity to go into vocational ministry, that’s a wonderful thing. You’re set aside, so to speak, to serve God’s people, point them to the Lord Jesus, and equip others to do the same.
I never expected to be in vocational ministry. Never, ever. And yet here I am, thirty years down the track. If that’s where the Lord is taking you, guiding you and equipping you, what a wonderful thing.
Amy: Your life after SMBC has led in many directions. But you also had an exciting project recently. What was it?
Jenny: It came out of the blue. I received an email from the head of publishing at Crossway in America, asking if I would consider being one of their ESV narrators. I wondered if it was a scam. I couldn’t work out what the angle was.
It wasn’t a scam. They said they would like me to be their narrator, to read the whole Bible aloud. I started about a year and a half ago, and it took me about that long to finish.
Each week I would practise and then record. For the rest of that day and the next, the passages would go around and around in my head. The Word of God was echoing in my heart. It wasn’t just words on a page. This was the living Word of God, rumbling around in my heart and mind, because I had spent five hours reading it out loud behind a microphone.
Amy: It sounds like the Lord has been cultivating a love, a reverence and a dependence on his Word in you your whole life. What a beautiful project to bring all of that to fruition.
Jenny, you’ve encouraged so many listeners today. Is there anything you’d like to finish by saying?
Jenny: I love that the Lord knows us. He is good, powerful and sovereign, and he knows us. He will always do what is right. What I’ve learned, and am still learning, is that I can trust him. I can seek him and ask him to lead me. Because he always does what is right, I can go into the future, whatever it holds, with full confidence.
Listen to Jenny read the New Testament on Spotify or Apple Podcast, or purchase the full audio Bible