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What a way for a preacher to go. According to a Jan. 10 AP story, Rev. Jack Arnold, 69, collapsed and died in mid-sentence of a sermon after saying "And when I go to heaven . . . ." The Presbyterian minister was nearing the end of his sermon Sunday (at Covenant Presbyterian Church in the Orlando suburb of Oveido) when he grabbed the podium before falling to the floor, according to Rev. Michael S. Beates, associate pastor at the church. Arnold had been the senior pastor of the church until the late 1990s. The cause of death is believed to be cardiac arrest. He had bypass surgery five years earlier. Before collapsing, Arnold quoted John Wesley, who said, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done . . . I go to be with Jesus." Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues.
Pastors of growing churches spend time on preaching In a recent column for Church Central, church growth expert Thom Rainer says his research shows that in churches which are effectively reaching unchurched people, the pastors spend significantly more time preparing to preach than in the non-growing churches. "If time is a good measure, the leaders of effective churches prepare well for the sermons they preach each week. By a ratio of greater than 5 to 1, the leaders of the effective churches spent significantly more time in sermon preparation than the pastors of the comparison churches. Effective preachers spent an average of 20 hours a week and comparison church pastors spent an average of two hours a week working on sermons. "What did the comparison church pastors do with the 18 hours of "extra" time that was not spent in sermon preparation? For the most part, they were counseling church members; visiting hospitals, homes, and nursing homes; performing weddings and funerals; and spending several hours each week telephoning absentee and inactive church members. "The pastors of the effective churches did not neglect these duties, but they did spread the work of ministry among the laity of the church." (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/template/Article.html/id/21784
Are your sermons 'thickburgers'? In a recent issue of the LeaxdershipJournal.net newsletter, Gordon MacDonald thinks about the many sermons he has preached over the years, and wonders how their nutritional makeup compares to the new Hardee's Monster Thickburger, which has been described as "an artery-clogging mountain of Angus beef slabs, bacon, American cheese, and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame-seed bun. . . . At 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat — quite possibly one of the most lethal pieces of food out there." MacDonald writes, "Week after week people were kind enough to come to my preaching table and listen. And what were they given? I would like to think they received hope, grace, direction, encouragement, insight into the ways and means of God. "Sometimes, I was tempted to sweeten the ingredients of my sermons with stuff that sizzled like Hardees' Thickburger — clever stories, humor, tales about things that interested me. Don't misunderstand: there's an appropriate place for such things in sermons. But one can cross a line into something that's akin to poor nutrition. Now with all the cute possibilities offered by dazzling technology, the temptation grows. "James Denny once said, 'No (preacher) can both convince a crowd that he is clever and that Jesus Christ is mighty to save.' "I wonder: did my listeners grow? Did they feel the stab of conviction that leads to change? Were they challenged to push themselves into new opportunities? How many to whom I have preached saw Kingdom-possibilities for their week in the home, at work or at school as a result? Was I able to hand them off — as did John the Baptizer — to Jesus? "I marvel at the privilege of the preacher: that people would give us 25-35 minutes of monologue time to talk about 'eternalities,' to serve up a meal of truth and spiritual direction. It had better be good stuff. God save us from homiletical 'thickburgers.'" (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2005/cln50103.html
Use creativity to enhance existing services In a recent column, Sally Morgenthaler encourages worship leaders not to simply call on people's creativity to develop new worship models, but to use that creativity to enhance the existing services they already attend. "Most folks have creative abilities that have lain fallow for years. They need a chance to turn their fear and entrenchment into creative energy. What about painting a watercolor-on-nylon art work for Pentecost? Or painting four pieces that depict the major themes of the Lord's Prayer or composing a poem of lament or reading the account behind a hymn to images put together in PowerPoint® by one of your teens? Not all 'we've never done that before' folks can go there. But if there are some, there's hope. It's just a whole lot harder to throw rocks and complain when you're contributing. "One church I worked with decided to do the unthinkable: create a traditional worship design community. It's going great guns. And they're branching so far out artistically, you might call them emergent. (The average age is 64). Imagine. If we spent as much time, energy, and creativity on our old services — investing them with the gifts that have gone unnoticed and unused — I wonder if we might get a better shot at changing up A Mighty Fortress once in a while? (Click here to read the complete article.) http://www.preachingplus.com/displayworshipfocus.aspx
Tips for great church websites An organization called Great Church Websites recently issued a release citing the top ten tips for church websites. Among the tips:
ILLUSTRATION: Fear, Enabling During the January 17, 1994, Northridge/Los Angeles earthquake, over one hundred Californians literally died of fright. This was the conclusion of Robert Kloner, cardiologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. Apparently a terrorized brain can trigger the release of a mix of chemicals so potent it can cause the heart to contract — and never relax again. David Jeremiah observes, "Fear of the results of an earthquake is understandable. But there are lots of less traumatic things that produce even greater levels of fear than earthquakes. In fact, fear of dying has been ranked lower on some surveys than the fear of public speaking! Maybe that's why Moses was so fearful when God asked him to go and speak to Pharaoh about setting the Hebrew slaves free. God reminded Moses that He who made the human mouth could also enable it to speak. He also provided a helper, Moses' brother Aaron. Has God called you to do something for which you feel unqualified? He has the resources you need and is prepared to give them to you. "God's
commandments are God's 'enablements.' He will never leave you
without the ability to do what He has called you to do."
(Turning Point Daily Devotional, 1-6-05)
Illustration: Commitment There was once a beautiful young woman who was married to a wealthy but elderly gentleman. One day he asked her, "Honey, if I lost all my money, would you still love me? I mean, if I lost my mountain chalet, my yacht, and even my French Villa, would you still love me?" "Of course I would," she cooed, "and I would miss you too." Real
commitment is a rare commodity these days. Couples promise to
love each other for better or worse, for richer or poorer, but
over 50 percent of those commitments fail. All of us long for
someone whose commitment to us is unconditional and eternal. That
someone's name is God. The reason churches are crowded these days
is that people want to meet this someone who never fails or forsakes
us. (Bill Bouknight, "Just a Thought")
James Earl Massey featured at 2005 National Conference on Preaching James Earl Massey will be one of the featured speakers at the 15th annual National Conference on Preaching, slated for April 18-20, 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee. The theme of NCP 2005 will be "Preaching With Passion," and an outstanding line-up of speakers will be participating, including William Willimon, Dave Stone, H. Beecher Hicks, Ray Ortlund, Jr., Robert Smith, Jim Shaddix, Bill Self, Carol Noren, R. Leslie Holmes, Mike Glenn, and more. The annual conference is sponsored by Preaching magazine. In addition to the plenary sessions and workshops for preachers, NCP 2005 will also have workshop tracks for worship leaders, student/youth pastors and ministry spouses. So plan to bring your entire leadership team! The
regular registration is $250, but if you register before March
1 the cost is only $225 — a $25 savings! Additional registrants
from the same church (and spouses) can register for just $100
per person. For more information or to register, call 1-800-288-9673
(outside the US call 615-599-9889), or visit us on the web at
www.preaching.com/ncp.
ILLUSTRATION: Church, Priorities Robert Kopp shares this story: There was a church in desperate financial straits. An elder went to the pastor and asked him to say something about it to the congregation. He said, "My job as pastor is to promote the spiritual welfare of the church. Financial problems are supposed to be handled by the board." A few weeks passed and the problem became worse. Again, the elder went to the pastor and asked him to say something about it to the congregation. Again, he said, "My job as pastor is to promote the spiritual welfare of the church. Financial problems are supposed to be handled by the board." A few more weeks passed and the problem became much worse. The elder went to the pastor and said, "We're in trouble. We can't pay our bills. We can't even pay your salary." The pastor said, "Why didn't you tell me it was so bad? But you know my job as pastor is to promote the spiritual welfare of the church. Nevertheless, I will ask you to speak about it at our next board meeting." After the pastor opened the next board meeting with prayer, the elder stood up, looked at the board, then looked at the pastor, and said, "Pastor, we have a spiritual problem in our church." Kopp adds, "There are no financial problems in churches. There are no relational problems in churches. There are no denominational problems in churches. Those are only symptoms of a spiritual problem."
ILLUSTRATION: Desire, Selfishness It was a kid's birthday party, and the time had come to serve the cake. As the cake was brought in and placed on the table, little Marty said, "I want the biggest piece!" His mom quietly pulled him aside and said, "Marty, it's not polite to ask for the biggest piece." With a puzzled expression, Marty replied, "Well, how do you get it, then?" (from
1001 Quotes, Illustrations & Humorous Stories; click
here to learn more about the book.)
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ILLUSTRATION: Communication Sometimes meanings get lost in translation, don't they? As those whose calling involves communication of the Word, we above all people recognize that sometimes words don't communicate exactly what we intended. I just read an article written by an airline flight attendant. He shared the story of a passenger from Bombay, India, on the way to his first visit to the United States. As the man was served, he nodded his head and replied, "From the heart of my bottom, I am thanking you." The flight attendant learned that this was one of the only English expressions that he knew, and was quite proud to say it with every gesture: "From the heart of my bottom, I am thanking you." The attendant wrote, "Now, if I were to thank people from the heart of my bottom, I am sure they would be offended. I think what he was trying to say was, 'from the bottom of my heart,' but there was no way we could convey to this man that this sentence was wrong. Although we had a fun time trying, I am sure he spent his American tour thanking people from the heart of his bottom." It
does matter how you say it.
ILLUSTRATION: Predictions, Weather It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?" "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever." "How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked. The
weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood
like crazy." (Pastor Tim's PearlyGates List of Clean,
Theologically Incorrect Jokes)
"In
this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up,
that makes us rich." (Henry Ward Beecher)
Leader
Links is a monthly web-based publication for Christian
leaders. The January issue is now available at www.leaderlinks.com,
and features articles by Bill Hybels and Bob Buford, featured
leadership resources, plus much more. Interested readers can
also go to the site (or just click
here) and subscribe to LeadingNow, a monthly e-mail
newsletter featuring ideas and resources for Christian leaders.
Leader Links is a publication of American Ministry
Resources, which is the publisher of PreachingNow,
Preaching magazine
and preaching.com.
ILLUSTRATION: Wealth J.H.
Jowett once said, "The real measure of our wealth is
how much we should be worth if we lost our money."
Great truths from small children — Part 1 • No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. • When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. • If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person. • Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato. • You can't trust dogs to watch your food. • Reading what people write on desks can teach you a lot. • Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. • Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac. • Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time. • School lunches stick to the wall. • You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. • Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. • The best place to be when you are sad is in Grandma's lap. • It's hard to unlearn a bad word. • Ask Why until you understand. • It's easier to see the mistakes on someone else's paper. • A pencil without an eraser may as well just be a pen. • It's only fun to play school when you're the teacher. • Sometimes the best one in the play has the fewest lines. • Twelve is a lot older than eight. • Sometimes your best move is blocked by your own checkers. • Some nights it's not worth fighting over who gets the top bunk. •
Don't expect your friends to be as excited about your "100"
as you are.
And finally . . . A Romanian couple named their son Yahoo "as a sign of gratitude for meeting over the Internet," according to a January 13 Reuters story. Cornelia and Nonu Dragoman met online and carried on a three-month relationship over the net. They married and had a baby this Christmas, naming their son in honor of one of the web's most popular portals. "We named him Lucian Yahoo after my father and the net, the main beacon of my life," Cornelia noted. The baby was welcomed home to a family reunion with cousins Google and Priceline in attendance.
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