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This is the time of year when I'm on the road talking to pastors. Last week I was in Montgomery, Alabama, speaking to a group of Southern Baptist pastors. As you read this I am at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary (in Lincoln, Illinois) presenting the Webb Lectureship on Preaching. Next week (Nov. 13-15) I'll be at Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon, speaking for the Rice-Siefke Institute of Preaching. Then I'll be leading a series of one-day preaching conferences in Bradenton, Florida (Nov. 28), West Palm Beach (Nov. 30), and Oakland, California (Dec. 4). I love being part of such events, not only because I enjoy talking -- I am a preacher, you know -- but because I enjoy talking with pastors and with young people who are preparing for ministry. It never fails that I come away from such an event with some great new insights and ideas gained from other preachers, both in formal dialogue and informal conversations. It is a further reminder that while there is a time when I need to be speaking, I do tend to learn more when my mouth is shut and I'm listening to someone else. I also love such events because I get the chance to meet and visit with Preaching magazine and PreachingNow readers. So if I'm going to be in your neighborhood, I hope you'll come by and say hello. Michael
Duduit, Editor There will be no issue of PreachingNow next week. The next issue will be dated November 21.
Memorize your notes In a slim volume called Learn to Preach Before Next Weekend (Big Fish Publishing), James Richard Wibberding describes a process for memorizing sermon notes in order to free the preacher's delivery. He notes, "Preaching without notes takes method, not genius. Prepare your sermon like scenes in a play. Then you need only recall the order of the scenes. The details of each scene will come to mind with that scene. Your notes trigger the scene in sequence. Memorizing this sequence will allow you to memorize very little and preach note free. If you forget a few trifles, it won't hurt the story. And you will gain poise and audience connection." Later in the book he says that "internalizing" notes involves four steps; the first is to "Learn the scene sequence. First, memorize the scene summaries until you can say them without trouble. . . . If the sermon is formed into cohesive scenes, you need only a mental kick to trigger the scene and the details will come. "This works when the kick is a short sentence on paper. But, if it is short, there is not much to remember. Why not etch the scene list on your brain? That way, you have no paper list to lose your place on. It could make life easier." The additional steps are: Learn transitions, Learn key language, and Learn the introduction and conclusion. (Click here to learn more about the book.)
Humble greatness It is a blessing to all who love preaching that a collection of sermons by James S. Stewart has recently been re-released. Walking With God (Regent College Press) was originally published in Scotland a decade ago, but this new edition makes Stewart's masterful preaching available to yet another generation of preachers. When Preaching magazine did a survey of readers and Contributing Editors at the start of the new millennium, many were surprised to see that James Stewart was ranked as the outstanding preacher of the twentieth century. That was little surprise to those who know Stewart's preaching. There's a wonderful little story that is told at the beginning of a memoir included in the volume: "One evening in April 1975, some hundreds of people gathered at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh at the invitation of the publishers of an American magazine with world-wide circulation. They were gathered to do honour to two of the greatest figures in the field of New Testament scholarship of their day. One of these was Professor James S. Stewart. "He arrived by car at the appointed time. The doorkeeper told him that the limited parking space was for VIPs only. Professor Stewart apologized, drove his car a further half mile to a parking place, left it there and walked back (with his wife) to the hall. There are two things to be said about that. First is that James S. Stewart was regarded as a figure of international stature, whose name was revered throughout the English-speaking world. Second, of course, is that it simply did not occur to him that at that time, or at any other, he could possibly have been a VIP. These facts taken together may help to explain why the name of J.S. Stewart still rings bells." (Click here to learn more about the book Walking With God)
Why the human sexuality debate matters Philip Jensen is the Anglican archbishop of Sydney and an influential evangelical leader. He regularly speaks and writes on key issues impacting the church. In recent weeks he has addressed the debate over how the church should deal with questions surrounding issues of human sexuality. In one address he noted: "I have taken the view from the beginning that the crisis over human sexuality is a very deep one indeed. The idea that we are somehow to blame for making so much fuss about sex is ludicrous. Human sexuality is so powerful a gift and so basic to our human nature, and so fraught with both good and ill, that it is bound to occupy a large part of our thinking. Indeed it is all part of our cultural reappraisal of the roles of men and women, with vast consequences for the quality of family life and the good of the begetting and nurturing of the race. "In the end, it is also a crisis over biblical authority and its clarity; hence the importance of Biblical Theology. Here is a crucial sticking point. To accept various contemporary ways of reading scripture will leave us vulnerable at all points. We will not defend the uniqueness of Christ, if we will not defend the plain teaching of scripture on human sexuality." In another address he observed, "The present debate about human sexuality often betrays a failure to grasp how the interlocking teaching of scripture in Old and New Testaments can be brought to bear on contemporary life. The Bible is read subjectively, or as an endless succession of small segments without a proper connecting link or a single voice. The lack of a proper approach to the Bible prevents its message ever impacting on the church. You cannot say with authority, 'The Bible says . . . ' Once people lose confidence in the word of God, the preaching ministry of the church is lost. Once the preaching ministry is lost, the world's message is heard in the church, instead of the church's message heard in the world. Then the churches decline." (Click here to go to a page showing recent addresses by Archbishop Jenkins.) http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/senior_clergy/archbishop_jensen/latest/
ILLUSTRATION: Persecuted Church The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is November 12. In connection with that event, this story by Randy Alcorn is appropriate: In January 1999 Gladys Staines' husband and sons were martyred for Christ in India. Graham Staines was a missionary from Australia who specialized in work with lepers. On January 23rd of 1999, Graham and his two sons, Phillip (11 yrs.) and Timothy (6 yrs.) were murdered by a large mob of militant Hindus. They had gone to a Christian camp in the jungle, where Graham was ministering. At midnight the mob attacked, setting fire to the jeep in which Graham and his sons were sleeping. They were burned alive. When the fire finally cooled, they found the charred body of Graham Staines with his arms around the bodies of his sons. Graham served the Lord in the jungles of Orissa for over 34 years. He was described as "a wonderful, gracious, self-effacing man of God, full of faith, confidence and humility; warm-hearted, and a wonderful father." At his funeral, the streets were thronged with masses of people -- Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They were there to show respect for Graham and his family and to show their solidarity against the actions of the killers. Despite the fact that persecution of Christians has increased in recent years, the president of India came forward and said, "that someone who spent years caring for patients of leprosy, instead of being thanked and appreciated as a role model should be done to death in this manner is . . . a crime that belongs to the world's inventory of black deeds." The response of Gladys and her daughter Esther was on the front page of every newspaper in India (with one billion people, soon to pass China as the most populous nation on earth). Gladys said, "I have only one message for the people of India. I'm not bitter. Neither am I angry. But I have one great desire: that each citizen of this country should establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who gave his life for their sins . . . let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ's love." Gladys shocked nearly everyone, because people assumed she and Esther would move back to Australia or somewhere else in the west. She said no, God had called them to India, and she would not leave. (In fact, she'd been very hesitant to even come to San Diego, as she didn't want to leave the work even for a brief trip.) She said, "My husband and our children have sacrificed their lives for this nation; India is my home. I hope to be here and continue to serve the needy." When asked how she felt about the murder of her dad, Esther, as a thirteen year old, said (in words that sound straight off the pages of the book of Acts), "I praise the Lord that He found my father worthy to die for Him." After Gladys spoke at the conference, an Indian national leader stood up and said that the impact made by the response of Gladys and Esther has been amazingly powerful, with many Hindus coming to Christ because of their witness. The people of India have looked at this situation and asked, "Why would a man leave his wealthy country and serve lepers in India for 34 years? Why would his wife and daughter completely forgive the killers of their family? Why would they choose to stay and serve the poor? Who is this God they believe in? Could it be that all we've been told about Christians has been lies? Could it be that Jesus really is the truth?" The people of India are seeing embodied in the Stains an otherworldly perspective and strength in Christ that stands in stark contrast to the dark, fatalistic and impersonal gods of Hinduism. I look forward to meeting Graham, Timothy and Philip in the world for which we were made, the one made for us. And if I get there first, I'm putting in a request to be there for their reunion with Gladys and Esther. Postscript: Since this article was written, God provided funding for Gladys and Esther Staines to build a forty-bed leprosy hospital in memory of Graham, Philip and Timothy. (Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching biblical truth and drawing attention to the needy and how to help them. He is the best-selling author of twenty books (over two and a half million in print). His new novel, Deception will be released in the Spring of 2007. For more information go to www.epm.org)
One-day
preaching conferences Three more Preaching Truth in a Whatever World events are still available for Fall 2006. These one-day preaching conferences explore strategies for effective biblical preaching in a postmodern world. Led by Preaching editor Michael Duduit and a variety of guest speakers, these conferences offer a valuable time of insight and refreshment for those who proclaim the Word. Preaching Truth conferences will be held in the following cities: Tampa
Bay, FL -- Nov 28 For more information or to register, call (800) 288-9673, or visit the website at www.preaching.com/truth
ILLUSTRATION: Sin In 1939, a coast guard vessel was cruising the Canadian Arctic when the men spotted a polar bear stranded on an ice floe. It was quite a novelty for the seamen, who threw the bear salami, peanut butter, and chocolate bars. Then they ran out of the food. Unfortunately, the polar bear hadn't run out of appetite, so he proceeded to board their vessel. The men on ship were terrified and opened the fire hoses on the bear. The polar bear loved it and raised his paws in the air to get the water under his armpits. We don't know how they did it, but eventually they forced the polar bear to return to his ice pad -- but not before teaching these seamen a horrifying lesson about feeding polar bears. Some people make the same mistake with sin that these sailors nearly made with the polar bear. They begin feeding it -- a little at a time without thinking through the consequences. "It says something about our times," writes Willard D. Ferrell, "that we rarely use the word 'Sinful' except to describe a really good dessert." (King Duncan, Collected Sermons)
ILLUSTRATION: Expectations Old man Johnson limped into the doctor's office and said, "Doc, my right knee hurts so bad, I can hardly walk!" The doctor slowly eyed him from head to toe, paused and then said, "Mr. Johnson, just how old are you?" "98!" Johnson announced proudly. The doctor just sighed, and looked at him again. Finally he said, "Sir, I'm sorry. I mean, just look at you. You're practically one hundred years old, and you're complaining that your knee hurts? Well, what did you expect?" The old man said, "Well, my other knee is 98 years old too, and it don't hurt!"
ILLUSTRATION: Funerals, Assumptions A young preacher had recently arrived in the community when he was contacted by the local funeral director to hold a graveside service at a small country cemetery. There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no family or friends left. The young pastor started early to the cemetery, but soon lost his way. After making several wrong turns, he finally arrived a half-hour late. The hearse was nowhere in sight, and the workmen were relaxing under a nearby tree, eating their lunch. The pastor went to the open grave and found that the vault lid was already in place. He took out his book and read the service. As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workmen say, "Maybe we'd better tell him that's a septic tank."
Alexander Whyte, a great Scottish preacher, would typically begin his public prayers with an expression of gratitude. One cold and rainy day -- as his people wondered how he could be grateful in such conditions -- Whyte began, "We thank thee, O Lord, that it is not always like this."
From the sponsor of this week's edition: 360-Degree
Leadership: Preaching to Transform Congregations Praise for 360-Degree Leadership: "Principle, passion, and practice are beautifully blended here. It should restore confidence in the pulpit and help many a pastor to perceive ministry in a more integrated way." -- Dr. Derek Tidball, London School of Theology "Prepare to be challenged. 360-Degree Leadership argues persuasively that leadership and preaching are two sides of the same gold coin." -- Craig Brian Larson, editor, PreachingToday.com http://www.bakerbooks.com/360degreeleadership/
ILLUSTRATION: Children, Recognition A very dirty little fellow came in from playing in the yard and asked his mother, "Who am I?" Ready to play the game she said, "I don't know! Who are you?" "WOW!" cried the child. "Mrs. Johnson was right! She said I was so dirty, my own mother wouldn't recognize me!"
Ten
more reasons to attend the As if the previous ten reasons to attend the 2007 ICOP in Cambridge, England were not enough, here are ten more to add to the list:
What other reasons do you need? Registration is now available at an earlybird discount -- register today and save $55 off the normal rate. To learn more visit the website at www.preaching.com/icop or call (800) 288-9673 (outside the US, call 615-312-4245.)
Christmas Political Guide Since today is election day across the USA, and since Christmas is just around the corner, here's a helpful guide to assist you in keeping things straight: Republicans
say "Merry Christmas!" Democrats
get back at the Republicans on their Christmas list by giving them
fruitcakes. Democrats
let their kids open all the gifts on Christmas Eve. Republican
parents have no problem buying toy guns for their kids. Democrats'
favorite Christmas movie is "Miracle on 34th Street." Republicans
first began thinking like Republicans when they stopped believing
in Santa Claus. Democrat
men like to watch football while the women fix holiday meals.
And finally . . . Keeping up with the Joneses is about to take on a whole new meaning. According to a Nov. 3 Associated Press story, more than 1,600 people with the name "Jones" will gather in Cardiff, Wales to try to break the world record for the biggest assembly of people with the same last name. They hope to break the current record by people with the last name held by the Norberg clan, who gathered 583 people together in Sweden in 2004. Jones is the most common surname in Wales. The event is called "Jones, Jones, Jones." Guinness World Record officials are due to attend to validate the attempt. Participants from New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada are planning to sit in the audience for the two-hour program. No word yet on plans for the Smith get-together.
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