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Most of us who preach have been influenced by pastoral mentors -- those ministers who created models for us when we were young. As a young person, I was fortunate to have as my pastor one of the outstanding preachers of his generation, Adrian Rogers. When news came of Dr. Rogers' death on November 15, I couldn't help but recall how much he had influenced my own view of the power of preaching to transform lives. Even as a fourth-grade boy I was captivated by his remarkable voice and his dynamic proclamation of the gospel. For years he became my model of a passionate, effective Christian preacher. In the years since, I had many opportunities to listen to Adrian Rogers preach, and I continue to believe he was one of the most compelling preachers I ever had the privilege to hear. To each generation, God gives a handful of exceptional preachers; he was such a model for our own age. (If you'd like to learn more about him or listen to the memorial service via streaming audio, click here.) http://www.bellevue.org/templates/cusbellevue1103/details.asp?id=1360&PID=303795&mast Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: Will the media let the U.S. win? The problem with multiculturalism.
Can teams help produce better sermons? In an article in the October 2005 issue of Technologies for Worship magazine, Len Wilson and Jason Moore write an article for media ministers whose pastors don't seem willing to plan ahead. One of their suggestions is to encourage the pastor to meet as part of a "creative team environment." They note: "Pastors have also been trained to design worship by themselves. Many have an alone (and lonely) understanding that God's word is only revealed to writers in quiet rooms surrounded by books and that to proclaim God's Word, one must go into isolation. In fact, the early church as outlined in Acts was a riotous atmosphere of interchange -- quite different than the traditions we've been handed down from monasteries and writers. . . . Pastors are trained in modern-era seminaries that place a heavy emphasis on books. Books -- both reading them and writing them -- are individual experiences. A by-product of such a book emphasis is that pastors are trained to think and work alone in their ministry. "There are multiple problems with working alone, including loneliness and busyness. One of the worst, though, is that a bad idea remains a bad idea. Most of the time, lone sermon planners don't know it's a bad idea until the words spring from their mouth as they are delivering the message. This is mostly avoided in a team environment where creativity is exponential and a bad idea is a path to a good one. Learning to trust in the power of a team takes lots of time and many small steps, but results in savings of time as well as better worship."
Be honest with young ministers In
his book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation,
Parker Palmer points out that as older ministers share their experience
with younger pastors, it is important to be open about the difficultuies
as well as the joys of ministry: "Many young people today journey
in the dark, as the young always have, an we elders do them a disservice
when we withhold the shadowy parts of our lives. When I was young,
there were very few elders willing to talk about the darkness; most
of them pretended that success was all they had ever known. As the
darkness began to descend on me in my early twenties, I thought
I had developed a unique and terminal case of failure. I did not
realize that I had merely embarked on a journey toward joining the
human race." (Click
here to learn more about the book Let Your Life Speak)
Church must answer authority question before culture will In his new book Who Are You to Say? Establishing Pastoral Authority in Matters of Faith (Brazos Press), Dale Rosenberger writes, "As Christians, we live in a world that increasingly does not know what to do with us. We live in a world where our presence is rebuffed even before we get to anything like witness in our deeds or testimony with our words." Recognizing that as the increasingly secular cultural environment in which we live and minister, he notes that "Until we answer this question among ourselves -- Who are we to speak up about matters of eternal destiny? -- we will be consigned to margins and relegated to ineffectuality." Rosenberger is senior minister of First Congregational Church in Ridgefield, CT, and writes from the perspective of a pastor who recognizes that issues of authority lie at the heart of the growing distance between church and culture. He reminds the church that -- despite our efforts to live and even worship in a self-absorbed, self-fulfilling manner -- we are under the authority of Another. He says, "Stark exposure to God's eternal truth in Jesus would relieve us of living the lie that we are self-made, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining masters of the universe." And he adds, "Before others can hear us, before we can convince them of living life with the Lord as their primary audience, we ourselves will first have to attempt this feat." (Click here to learn more about the book Who Are You to Say?)
ILLUSTRATION: Stewardship According to a recent study by Barna research, "In 2004, two-thirds of all adults (65%) donated some money to a church or other place of worship. . . . The average amount of money donated to churches was $895 per donor in 2004. On the face of it, that sum appears healthy: it is substantially more than the average amounts over each of the past several years. However, when inflation is factored in, the current dollar average is actually less than the amount that houses of worship received in the late 1990s. From 1999 through 2004, cumulative annual giving to churches increased by $89 per donor, representing an 11% rise since before the turn of the millennium. After factoring in inflation, however, churches are actually getting about 2% less than the current value of the money contributed in 1999. "Protestants continue to give more generously to their churches than do Catholics. Protestant adults gave an average of $1304 to churches in 2004, compared to $547 given by the typical Catholic. The most generous donors of all, however, were evangelicals, who averaged $3250 in church giving. . . . "The survey data reveal that no matter how it is defined, very few Americans tithed in 2004. Only 4% gave such an amount to churches alone; just 6% gave to either churches or to a combination of churches and parachurch ministries. Although generosity, stewardship and tithing are higher profile issues among born again Christians than to other people, relatively few born again adults -- only 9% -- tithed to churches in 2004." (Click here to read the full Barna report) http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=187
Ed Young, Jr. featured at National Conference on Preaching The 2006 National Conference on Preaching promises to be one of the strongest programs in the long history of this series, starting with the keynote address on "Preaching Creatively" by Ed Young, Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX (our host church for the conference). A remarkable team of speakers will be on hand for NCP 2006, including: Haddon Robinson, Calvin Miller, Dieter Zander, Jack Graham, Doug Pagitt, Steve Wende, Bryan L. Carter, Timothy Warren, Leroy Armsrong, Jr., and many more. You'll draw insights and encouragement from the theme-related addresses on preaching creatively, plus great sermons and many practical workshops. Mark your calendar now to be part of the conference, which is April 24-26, 2006, at Fellowship Church near Dallas, TX. Click here for additional information or to register! (Register now and save $55 off the regular registration fee.)
ILLUSTRATION: Forgiveness David Jeremiah tells the story of poet Edwin Markham, who -- as he approached retirement -- discovered that the man to whom he had entrusted his financial portfolio had spent every single penny. Markham's dream of a comfortable retirement had vanished in an instant. Of course he was furious; and with time, his bitterness grew by leaps and bounds. One day, Markham found himself trying to calm down by diverting his attention to drawing circles on a piece of paper. Looking again at the circles he had drawn on the paper, Markham was inspired to write the following lines:
Those words today are by far Markham's most famous among his hundreds of poems. But more important than his professional accomplishment is the freedom from anger he experienced by offering forgiveness to the man who stole his lifelong savings.1 Are you plagued by anger and bitterness? Have you been holding a grudge? Forgiveness is a healing experience, not just because it frees the offender but because it can free you from the hurt. (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 11-17-05) 1. http://website.lineone.net/~andrewhdknock/StoriesA-H.htm
ILLUSTRATION: Christmas An old pioneer traveled westward across the great plains until he came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He gawked at the sight before him: a vast chasm one mile down, eighteen miles across, and more than a hundred miles long! He gasped, "Something musta happened here!" A visitor to our world at Christmas time, seeing the lights, the decorations, the trees, the parades, the festivities, and the religious services, would also probably say, "Something must have happened here!" Indeed, something did happen. God came to our world on the first Christmas. (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited)
ILLUSTRATION: Christmas -- Joseph A grade school class was putting on a Christmas play that included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the innkeeper instead. He was really bitter about this. So during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the innkeeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted. Joseph answered, "We'd like to have a room for the night." Suddenly the innkeeper threw the door open wide and said, "Great, come on in and I'll give you the best room in the house." For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn't know what to do, and a long silence ensued. Finally though, thinking quickly on his feet, Joseph looked in past the innkeeper, first to the left and then to the right and said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let's go to the barn." And once again the play was back on course. It is obvious that Joseph cared deeply for Mary. He would not have risked his own reputation and protected hers if he did not. But his love was deeper and grounded on more than love for his bride to be. For you see he understood that obedience to God -- even in the most dire of circumstances -- creates a life of substance and character. (Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, December 2004. Adapted from a story by John Simmons.)
ILLUSTRATION: Hospitality The story is told of a Kansan who owned a general store. He was a well-intending man who made a habit of offering a verse of Scripture whenever anyone purchased something from him. The group of people who sat around the store in this rural area enjoyed the exchanges, because some of the purchases challenged the imagination. One winter day a Texan stopped in, wanting to buy a blanket for his horse. The locals knew that the store stocked two types of blankets. One sold for $60, and the expensive one cost $89.95. He showed him the first. "No, that's not good enough. I need something warmer for my horse." He showed him the second blanket for $89.95. "That's not good enough, either. Don't you understand? This is for my horse, and nothing's too good for my horse. Now show me your most expensive blanket!" The store became very quiet as the storekeeper reached under the counter to the $89.95 stock, pulled out a plaid one, and spread it on the counter with great finesse. "This is our finest and the only one I have. Colorfast, 100 percent wool, with a very tight weave. It sells for $250." "Now you are talking. I'll take it." He counted out the money, folded the blanket, and left with a big grin on his face. As the shopkeeper opened the cash drawer and carefully counted the money, he said, "Matthew 25:35, He was a stranger and I took him in."
"A
man who says he cannot find God is like a robber who says
he cannot find a policeman." (Adrian Rogers)
What
do you get when you cross a Klansman with a Unitarian?
Kids' Letters to God -- Part 2 Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God, Dear
God,
And finally . . . For one criminal, even his local church didn't provide quite the sanctuary he had anticipated. According to a Nov. 22 Reuters story, a fugitive being chased by police in southern Italy last week gave them the slip by running into a church. Unfortunately, he found the church occupied by police officers who let him join the service, then took him to jail. The 48-year-old man was wanted for escaping from house arrest. As police chased him, he got away and dashed into a local church, where other police were attending mass. They recognized him and arrested him. Before taking him to jail, however, they honored his request to attend the rest of the mass. Let's hope he spent that time praying for forgiveness -- and better judgment.
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