The press release said: Dr. Tim Keller to speak at Belhaven University. Which in and of itself is a pretty big story. But I got curious to find out how this event really came about. That’s where Joe Hickman and Chad Smith fit in.

Here’s the lead paragraph from the Christian Newswire email (a service most Christian journalists subscribe to:

JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 2, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ — Dr. Tim Keller, Founder and Pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times Bestselling Author, is coming to Belhaven University on Thursday, February 24. He will be speaking on his new book “King’s Cross,” in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall at 7:00 pm. The doors to the event will open at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public. Reformed University Fellowship, Lemuria Books, and Belhaven University sponsor this event jointly.

Usually when we get such an event notice, if it concerns a writer or speaker from within The Aqulia Report community of readers, we simply publish the press release to get the info out.

Now, most of our readers know all about Tim, and many of you know at least a little about Belhaven. But events of this nature don’t just ‘normally ‘happen.’’ And in this case, we understand how ‘Providence Happens’ when we learn the rest of the story. Here it is in the actual words of two of the key players – Joe Hickman and Chad Smith.

Joe is the manager of the co-hosting bookstore and is a member at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. Chad is the RUF Campus Pastor at Belhaven. But back in the early 90’s the two of them were students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and were part of the RUF ministry there when John Stone, who had been the leader of RUF Belhaven, had the same post at UT Knoxville.

Joe came to Jackson to attend Reformed Theological Seminary and took a part time job in a bookstore. As in many cases, marriage and a family required more and more work and soon part-time seminary became no seminary and full time work. Joe has been handling special events at the store since 2005.

Which takes us to the beginning of our story at the Lemuria Book Store. Here’s how Joe tells it;

I have been “expressing interest” with the publisher for an event with Keller since his first book (Reason for God). Back in October my representative at Penguin Putnam told me that they wanted a “formal request” for an event on the new book. They said they wanted events with around 250 in attendance – I said I thought 500 would be our minimum. Before I got the yes from the publisher I emailed Ligon Duncan (pastor of FPC Jackson) and then talked to Chad. Chad came up with the idea of using the Belhaven Arts Center and we haven’t looked back.

Here’s the story from Chad’s end:

After Keller’s publisher contacted him Joe talked to me about partnering with RUF and we discussed how we could put this event on together. I suggested that we involve Belhaven because I thought they had a great venue (Belhaven’s Center for the Arts), that is centrally located in Jackson, and of course I knew it would just be a wonderful event for the university. I began talking to Dr. Parrott (President of Belhaven), and of course he was very gracious and eager to work with us. What I love about how this all came together is Lemuria’s involvement. Lemuria is a wonderful bookstore, and in many respects, represents the ‘market place of ideas’ in Jackson.

In a phone interview with Dr. Parrott, he gave me the general outline of this background, and added the support of the entire Belhaven campus as one of the three co-sponsors of the event. Dr. Parrott feels that this event will have long lasting impact on both the university and town. Joe and Chad agree.

Chad puts it this way:

This will enable us to potentially reach an audience of skeptics or others curious about Christianity, which likely would not happen if it was being put on by a church or seminary for example. With this event, the Gospel will be declared in the center of culture, so to speak, and I am sure Dr. Keller is also very happy about that. We in RUF are thrilled to be involved because this fits so well with our philosophy of ministry where we seek to bring the Gospel to the very center of culture ourselves on the college campus.

Joe agrees:

I think we’re going to have 1000 people or more show up – and we haven’t really started the publicity yet. I do think it’s a special thing – big for Jackson and big for us. My hope is that some of the entrenched Christians will come out their shells a bit and not be fearful to come shop at our store. But most of all I hope a few non-Christians will make it into the auditorium.

The Lemuria bookstore, one of the three sponsors of the Keller event, is a story of its own. Joe tells it this way:

We’ve been in business for over 35 years and often make the list of top Independent Book Stores in the Country. We’re a general bookstore – we have a large Children’s section and a large fiction section. We also do Fine First Editions and a lot of author events. When John Evans started the store in 1975 his goal was to make, for his community, the best bookstore he possibly could.

It’s not been easy in an industry full of competition (three big box stores, Amazon, and now e-readers) but the store has grown from a small apartment to over 5000 square feet.

I’ve been the manager here for most of the time I’ve been here and have been scheduling events since 2005. If you look at the events listing on our site you can see the kind of stuff we do – you can also look at past events. Authors like John Grisham, Anne Rice, Pat Conroy, Jim Harrison, Charles Frazier, Eudora Welty, etc. – I am constantly working to try to figure out which authors I can bring to town that will be exciting or interesting or great literature.

Of course, we should not forget what the event is all about. Tim Keller is on a book tour to promote his new book. Let’s go back to the press release and see what it has to tell us about his new venture and about Tim himself:

Keller’s new book is about the life of Christ as found in the Gospel of Mark. The publisher describes it as a, “revelatory look at the life of Christ as told in the Gospel of Mark. In it, Keller shows how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God. Like Keller’s other books, it speaks to skeptics and is ideal for the faithful, those who are looking for a closer connection to Jesus and a saving faith.”

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Keller graduated from Bucknell University, Gordon-Cornwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He spent his first nine years as a pastor at Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia. He left Hopewell and founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989 with his family. Christianity Today has called Redeemer, “one of Manhattan’s most vital congregations.” It draws about 4500 attenders to its services on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side. Keller is an acclaimed speaker and evangelist as well as a very successful author. He has published many titles including “Generous Justice,” “The Reason for God,” and “Counterfeit Gods.”

So, if you’re anywhere close to Jackson, MS on February 24th, you might want to get in line during the afternoon; I suspect it will be SRO.