Carlton Harris (ThM, 1983) currently serves as the Acting President of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). If you visit his office, you will find his study wallpapered with books—every academic seminarian’s dream. Better than the books, you will find Carlton sitting at his desk, his smile cozy, and his words warm and deliberate. He will listen to your story and ask thoughtful questions, his desk transformed into a habitat for pause and hospitality. Carlton finds his current ministry sweet spot looks like presence. He says, “It’s more about my words and my actions and my being with people—to be engaged, to be present, to listen to them, to feel, and to help them feel felt and seen.” Loving people well means being present with them, something Jesus exemplified throughout his earthly ministry. He became the God-Man that we might know the Truth and God’s perfect love through his presence. Carlton models his Savior’s ministry of presence.
Carlton married his wife Carol as soon as he graduated from college, and the newlyweds then headed to Dallas Theological Seminary. When asked about the key things the seminary provided, Carlton answered tools and relationships. You cannot make it in ministry alone. You need friends, especially long-term friends. Carlton met one of his best friends playing Hebrew roulette. The objective? Guess which student the professor would call on to answer a particular question. For study breaks, Carlton perused the bookstore shelves or read satirical pieces from The Wittenburg Door in the basement of Mosher Library. Carlton and Carol practiced their ministry of presence during their DTS days, even on a seminary budget. One time, a distinguished theology professor and his wife came over for dinner. In broke seminary student fashion, a green, folding card table served as their dining room table. Carlton’s hands stayed latched onto the table legs, wobbling as the professor and his wife cut into their supper. Carol especially cared for the single men. An artist, she used her gifting to bake and decorate birthday cakes. Carlton would then drop her off at the bank, where she worked, and transport the cakes ever so carefully to the campus mailroom, so that the single guys would have a sweet surprise waiting for them after class.
In addition to the friendships, Carlton enjoyed getting to know his professors. He loved to hear Dr. Walter Bodine (ThM, 1966) pray. Other students did too, skipping the start of their classes to hear his prayers. Sometimes, if Dr. Bodine’s students were too busy, including Carlton, they still showed up to hear the opening prayer before heading off to the library to type out their papers. Once Dr. Don Sunukjian (ThM, 1966; ThD, 1972) preached a chapel message on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7 to ask, seek, and knock. The Father delights to give good gifts to his children, so Dr. Sunukjian said, “If you love the ice cream, ask for two scoops!” earning him the nickname Two-Scoops Sunukjian. Dr. John D. Hannah (ThM, 1971; ThD, 1974) was one of Carlton’s favorite professors, so much so that he took History of Doctrine twice. If you have ever had Dr. Hannah, you have heard him preface a discussion with This is exciting! and punctuate it with his signature laugh, Ha-Hhaa. You are also familiar with his crisp logic and feisty passion, including his compassion—a rare and wonderful blend of “intellectual brilliance and heart,” according to Carlton. Dr. Hannah’s compassion is one of the reasons why Carlton admired his professor so much, along with his big view of God, witnessed especially through his dependence-laced prayers.
After graduating with his ThM at twenty-five, Carlton was the Assistant Director of Houston Bible Institute (now the College of Biblical Studies in Houston). Afterward, he also served full-time on staff at a church plant in Houston. Additionally, Carlton served as a chaplain to the Houston Rockets, concurrent with his roles at the college and the church. Carlton and Carol then moved to Ohio, where he transitioned into the role of a lead pastor, shepherding a thoroughly multi-cultural church. This was followed by a move to California to pastor a church that desired to be more multicultural. Carlton then went on to serve as the Executive Vice President of National Ministries for the EFCA, moving to Minnesota, before transitioning into his current role as Acting President. Along the way, Carlton and Carol had three children, and they now have seven grandchildren. The couple celebrated their forty-sixth wedding anniversary this past May.
Carlton likes the variety that comes with his current role with the EFCA. Every day is different, populated with planned and unplanned assignments. He enjoys providing relational, strategic, and organizational leadership, investing in emerging leaders, and taking opportunities to gather leaders together to preach and teach.
After thirty-five years of pastoring, Carlton enjoys serving the church as a layperson, alongside Carol. Committed to engaging with the church in fresh ways, they offer pre-marital counseling. It is a sweet time in life, living out a whole-hearted devotion to the church while savoring slow Saturday mornings, attending Bible studies and events, and supporting the church financially.
You will find compassion, σπλαγχνίζομαι, on Carlton’s shorter list of favorite Greek words thanks to one of Dr. Hannah’s chapel messages. The verb means to have pity or to feel sympathy or compassion. Crack open your lexicon, and you will see that it is not a surface-level pity. Compassion’s roots run so deeply that it elicits a visceral reaction from your body. In your gut—where you get butterflies and the bottom falls out of your stomach—that is where compassion moves you, your inmost insides. Compassion is a force that fights against inertia to move you, so that, in Carlton’s words, “you do the hard work of feeling what it is like to be the other person,” the object of compassion. Jesus frequently felt compassion for others: the crowds, the sick, and the bereaved. He saw them. He did not look away. Instead, he spoke to them and touched them. He still feels compassion for us today. The ministry of presence requires compassion as well as humility. The humble see reality more clearly, and clarity deepens compassion. Humility enables you to see God and the whole creation in relation to God with greater definition. You catch a glimpse of the Father’s love for his image bearers and his vision for their lives. Humility primes your heart for movement. It quickens compassion. Carlton and Carol have a big view of God and the plumbless depths of his heart. Their convictions shape their lives. Carlton and Carol pray that everyone they meet feels seen and loved, and they hope their words and actions cause others to thrive. They seek to love people as they go. With Carlton, what you see is what you get: a man with a clear view of his Savior and a heart ready to be moved.
