PreachingNow

There was some controversy in the media recently when Newsweek magazine included a picture of Martha Stewart on the cover. At least the head was Martha Stewart's — apparently the artists at Newsweek used computer technology to place Martha's head onto the body of someone else.

Being in the magazine business myself, I had never thought about using such a clever technique to get the cover picture you want. Now there are unlimited possibilities for future covers of Preaching magazine! In fact, if you'd like to see some possible future covers of Preaching featuring some of our Contributing Editors and friends, just click here.

And rest assured, no Contributing Editors were harmed in the filming of these covers.

Michael Duduit, Editor (click here to see me get in on the act)
michael@preaching.com
www.michaelduduit.com

Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues.

Preaching requires call, not just desire

A call to preach is more than a general call to all believers, Erwin Lutzer told a Southwestern Baptist Seminary chapel audience. All believers are called to follow Christ, he said, but a call to preach is a special calling.

Lutzer, pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago since 1980, told the seminarians, "Paul went into the ministry not because he read a want ad but because he was called by God. Paul writes that he was appointed by God as a preacher, apostle and teacher."

Lutzer — preaching from 2 Timothy 1:9 in a message titled, "Was You Called or Did You Just Went?" — said, "There are many people who may be gifted but are not specifically called to the ministry of heralding the Word of God. It is also more than a desire to preach. You don't preach the Word because you feel a little more comfortable doing that than something else."

Lutzer said specific qualifications accompany the call, such as a Christian character, giftedness, a mature perspective, inner compulsion of the Holy Spirit and confirmation by the body of Christ, he said.

"The definition of a call is simply an inward conviction birthed by the Holy Spirit and confirmed by the Word of God and the body of Christ," Lutzer said. (Baptist Press, 3-17-05; Click here to read the full article.)

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=20381

Are you sacrificing in ministry?

In his book A Godward Life (Multnomah), John Piper writes about the life of Irving Hetherington — born in Scotland in 1809, called to preach in 1835, then called to go to Australia as a missionary. When he asked his fiancée, Jessie Carr, if she would go with him to the mission field, she replied, "Where you wish to take me, there I wish to go." And so in March 1837 they set sail for Sydney.

The first week en route, Jessie came down with a sore throat and fever. She told Irving she had no fear of death, because, "I have long taken Christ for my portion and set my hopes on Him." As Irving wept, Jessie died that same night.

Alone in Sydney, Irving was assigned a territory 50 miles long by 30 miles wide. Piper writes: "He rode a horse to his little groups of believers in rain and heat. When a drought weakened the horse, he walked. He tried to study on the way and get his sermons ready. His biographer tells the following story: 'One Saturday night he had to walk thirty miles; and, after climbing a hill, and while resting on a log at the summit, the idea of ministers in Scotland complaining of being Mondayish after two services, and without other fatigue, struck him as so ludicrous that he could not help bursting out into a loud 'guffaw' of laughter, which sounded so strange in the darkness and loneliness of the bush.'

Piper continues: "What this powerful story did for me was to put the pressures of my ministry into missionary — and biblical — perspective. How easy it is to begin to assume that I should be comfortable. How quickly I can start to expect an easy and hassle-free ministry. . . .

"Here in America, where everybody speaks English and eats pizza, I bellyache over an extra meeting, an ill-timed hospital call, and too many choices. Then I read of Irving Hetherington, and I think of 'normal' missionary life. I see my 'sacrifices' in a new way." (Click here to learn more about the book A Godward Life.)

What kind of ship is your church?

In his book Doing Church as a Team (Regal), Wayne Cordeiro writes: "Some time ago, our church "adopted" the USS Reuben James, a frigate deployed to the Persian Gulf. We agreed to pray daily for the crew and provide the sailors with tapes and books. We also sent them copies of our weekend services so that they could televise them over their internal system on Sunday mornings while at sea. At the completion of her Gulf tour, the Reuben James docked in Pearl Harbor. I received an invitation to become the crew's guest on a short excursion into the Pacific.

"After a thorough tour of the quarters and decks, I took my place by the captain as we pulled anchor and sailed into the deep blue with a crew of 800. At a safe distance from land, the gunnery detail fired a few rounds from the ship's massive cannons. As every sailor scurried back and forth, I noticed something. Everyone knew exactly what his or her role was. Each person on that ship had a job, a function, a responsibility and a purpose for being there — everyone except me, that is. I was the only one tagging along for the ride.

"By contrast, some months later, my wife, Anna, and I took a three-day cruise around the islands for some R&R. On deck, I noticed 400 lazy, sun-ripened human beings lounging around the pool with 40 uniform-clad workers scurrying around trying to keep them happy. In a moment of reflection I heard the Lord say to me, 'My church must be a battleship, not a cruise liner. If you are to pierce the darkness and rescue souls lost on the scratch, you cannot be a ship of spectators. Everyone must know why they are on board.'" (Click here to order a copy of Doing Church as a Team)

ILLUSTRATION: Fellowship, Church — Need for

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the minister decided to visit him — it was a chilly day. That evening, the minister found the man at home all alone sitting by a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for his minister's visit, the man welcomed him, and led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The minister made himself at home but said nothing.

In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, he took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The minister glanced at his watch and chose this time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more, with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

With that, the minister smiled at his host, shook his hand, and let himself out. (from Mikey's Funnies)

ILLUSTRATION: Silence

Mother Teresa once said, "We need to find God, and He can't be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, see how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls."

ILLUSTRATION: Purpose, Work

In the new book Sermons from Duke Chapel (Duke Univ. Press), William Willimon has collected many of the outstanding sermons preached in that beautiful university church over the past 70 years. One of those sermons was preached by Gerald Kennedy in 1957. Nearly a half-century ago, Kennedy said, "John Wesley, who was the spiritual father of the Methodist Church, lived to be an old man of eighty-eight. He started with poor health as a child, did enough work to kill one hundred men, rode up and down England in all kinds of weather, preached any number of times a day, and seemed to thrive on it.

Toward the end of his life, somebody asked what the secret of his health was. He said, 'The main thing was that I got up at four every morning, and I preached at five. It's the best exercise in the world.' I take his word for it. I haven't tried it!

"But I think what he was saying was this: when a man has a sense of a high purpose in life — when he is doing something he knows is worth doing — somehow it even affects his physical strength. He doesn't get tired. He has great resources, great reservoirs of power. The man whose life is meaningless never finds renewal and power from within." (Click here to learn more about the book Sermons from Duke Chapel.)

ILLUSTRATION: Memories, Children

A family in Colorado tried unsuccessfully for years to save enough money to replace their ancient bathroom fixtures with new modern sleek ones. But each year as skiing time rolled around, the bathroom money went for a family skiing trip.

The children are now grown. A son recently wrote to his parents. He talked about the annual skiing trips and the wonderful memories he had of them. His father chuckled as he read the letter. He said to his wife, "Honey, I'm glad we spent the bathroom money for those skiing trips. I can't imagine our son writing home and saying, 'I sure do remember our wonderful bathroom fixtures.'"

Our children are with us such a short period of time. What have you done with them lately to build some beautiful memories? (Bill Bouknight, "Just a Thought")

ILLUSTRATION: Youth, Sexuality, Television

In a recent commentary, Rebecca Hagelin observed, "One of the most alarming findings in the amazing Parents Television Council study of MTV's Spring Break programming (March 20-27, 2004):

"In 171 hours of MTV programming, PTC analysts found 1,548 sexual scenes containing 3,056 depictions of sex or various forms of nudity and 2,881 verbal sexual references. That means that children watching MTV are viewing an average of 9 sexual scenes per hour with approximately 18 sexual depictions and 17 instances of sexual dialogue or innuendo. To put this in perspective, consider that in its last study of sex on primetime network television, the PTC found an average of only 5.8 instances of sexual content during the 10 o'clock hour — when only adults are watching."

(Click here to read the full commentary, which includes some graphic descriptions of MTV programming.)

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1319399.html

"Preaching With Passion" conference
features multitude of workshops

Plan now to attend the 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, James Earl Massey, Ray Ortlund, Jr., Robert Smith, Jim Shaddix, Mike Glenn, Bill Self, Carol Noren, R. Leslie Holmes, and more. The annual conference is sponsored by Preaching magazine.

Here's a sample of the many workshop titles that will be offered:

• "Refining Your Style of Communication"

• "How the Devil Can Speak Through You and Me"

• "The Need for Dead Preachers"

• "Revitalizing Expository Preaching: Deductive & Inductive Approaches"

• "Preaching Through Your Pastoral Storm"

• "The Romance of the Pulpit: Preaching Christ with Passion"

• "From 0 to 20 in 2 hours: When There's Not Much Time to Prepare the Sermon"

• "Be Quiet and Pay Attention: The Role of Listening in Preaching"

• "Passionate Preaching for Fractured Families"

and many more! 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!

Registration is $250, and 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.

Airline Discounts Available for NCP

Participants in the National Conference on Preaching can take advantage of discounts on Northwest, Continental and Continental Express Airlines. Discounts of 5-15% are available, based on the type of fare and the date ordered — the earlier you purchase your tickets, the greater the available discount. To make reservations or get information, contact the Northwest Meeting Services Reservation Desk at 1-800-328-1111 (open Mon-Fri, 7:00 am to 7:30 pm Central), and refer to WorldFile NYTTN.

Student Discounts Available

If you are a full-time student at a seminary or college, you are eligible to attend the conference at a substantially-reduced cost. Call us (800-288-9673) for more information.

FROM THE MARCH-APRIL ISSUE OF PREACHING . . .

In a Pentecost sermon, Marvin McMickle says, "The church is supposed to be the city that sits on a hill whose light cannot be hidden. The church is supposed to be the salt in the earth that brings seasoning and preservation to the whole community. The church is supposed to be the wellspring of hope and help and healing in a sinful world, but that does not seem to be the case.

"On the surface of things it would seem that we have enough churches and enough Christians to get the job done. There are only 6 police precincts in the entire city of Cleveland, but there are over 800 churches. There are only 21 political ward clubs in this city, but there are over 800 churches. There are now fewer than 100 schools in Cleveland, but there are over 800 churches. If you were to add up all of the members who attend all of the churches in Cleveland it would seem that we have more than enough people to get our message out, and make our presence felt and transform this entire city. But despite having over 800 churches, our influence is limited, our effect on civic life is minimal and our ability to prevent social problems is negligible.

"I have only one thing to say about this situation; the church needs some power. We do not need new music or new pews or new instruments nearly as much as we need new power. We do not need new buildings as much as we need some spiritual life in the buildings we already have. We have choirs and preachers, but they have no power beyond the walls where they operate. We have auxiliaries and activities, but we cannot or we will not alter the circumstances in the lives of people who are sitting just outside the doors of most of our churches."

Every issue of Preaching contains insightful articles on preaching, plus great model sermons and practical resources. If you're not a current subscriber to Preaching magazine, click here (or call, toll free, 1-800-288-9673) to go begin your subscription!

Also in the March-April issue of Preaching: Sermons by William L. Self, Marvin A. McMickle, Gary D. Robinson, and Bill Bouknight, and much more. Order your subscription today!

LINK OF THE WEEK

If your church is thinking of future building or expansion, there's a very helpful resource to assist you in doing preliminary planning needs. It's a nine-page booklet called "Rules of Thumb," and it is produced by LifeWay Church Resources to provide general guidelines for estimations of property, building space, and other needs prerequisite to actual planning. The booklet is available online as an Acrobat PDF document, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to use it (free download from www.adobe.com). You'll find "Rules of Thumb" at

http://www.lifeway.com/churcharchitecture/rules.pdf

ILLUSTRATION: Self-Pity

"Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self." (Millicent Fenwick)

Dad was checking up on his kids' use of the Internet. He noticed that they kept track of their passwords by writing them on Post-it notes, and saw that their Disney password was "MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto." Dad asked why it was so long.

"Because," his son explained, "they say it has to have at least four characters."

ILLUSTRATION: Wisdom

An angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, infinite wisdom, or infinite beauty.

Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom.

"Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning.

Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Say something."

The dean sighs and says, "I should have taken the money."

A young naval student was being put through the paces by an old sea captain. "What would you do if a sudden storm sprang up on the starboard?"

"Throw out an anchor, sir."

"What would you do if another storm sprang up aft?"

"Throw out another anchor, sir."

"And if another terrific storm sprang up forward, what would you do?"

"Throw out another anchor."

"Hold on," said the Captain. "Where are you getting all your anchors from?"

"From the same place you're getting your storms, sir."

Signs the preacher is addicted to westerns

• His sermon on Revelation is titled "Showdown at High Noon."

• At the end of the service, he replaces altar call with "roundup."

• Refers to the Deacons Meetings as "a campfire chat."

• Keeps referring to "brothers" as Hoss and Little Joe.

• Walks into the pulpit with a hearty, "Hi-Yo Silver"

• Always refers to his Bible as "My Six-Shooter."

• Forces ushers to tie bandanas around their faces and pass around ten-gallon cowboy hats instead of offering plates.

• When performing a wedding, he begins the ceremony with, "Howdy Pardners."

• Constantly threatens to preach well past "High Noon."

• Refers to the next churchwide fellowship dinner as "gathering around the chuckwagon."

• His new three-week sermon series: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

• Asks for the song "Rawhide" to be sung as a call to worship.

• He keeps mumbling two words: "Holy Chaps!" (from Mikey's Funnies)

And finally . . .

The Easter Bunny is filing charges.

Bryan Johnson portrays the furry character at the Bay City (MI) Mall, according to a March 25 Associated Press story. He suffered a bloody nose after being pummeled in an unprovoked attack by a 12-year-old boy who sat on Johnson's lap the day before the March 18 incident.

Johnson, 18, kept his cool during the attack — thinking it inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to fight back while on the job — but he's not willing to forgive and forget.

"They (the sheriff's deputies) told me it was up to me, and I feel that the boy should be prosecuted," Johnson told reporters. The case will be forwarded to the prosecutor's office this week for action.

Johnson told Bay County Sheriff's deputies that the boy hit him in the face at least six times before running away.

No word about whether the boy attempted to bite the bunny's ears off first.

Not a current subscriber to Preaching magazine?
Learn for yourself how valuable Preaching magazine can be to your ministry. You can have every issue of Preaching magazine delivered direct to your home or office for just $39.95 a year. (Additional postage outside the US) To see sample content from recent issues and to subscribe, go to http://www.preaching.com. Or you can call, toll free, 800.288.9673 (outside the US, call 615.599.9889).

Why not share PreachingNow with a friend?
Just forward your copy to them, or copy and paste the entire newsletter into an e-mail message for them. And if you're not already on the list, you can add your name to receive each week's edition of PreachingNow free of charge, just by going to: http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/subscribe.html

Missing an issue of PreachingNow?
Visit PreachingNow's website and access our archive of all issues of PreachingNow from the very first up to last week's issue! Simply go to: http://www.preaching.com/preaching/preachingnow.html

Problems with links?
A few PreachingNow readers report that the links embedded in some articles do not work for them. Whenever you have a problem making a link work, you can find the full current issue (complete with working links) at: http://www.preaching.com/preaching/preachingnow.html

Received this by mistake?
We sent you this weekly newsletter because your email address was added to our subscriber list. If you did not add your address to this list, and/or it was added without your consent, you may unsubscribe by going to:
http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/unsubscribe.html