I just say, “In this particular situation in the western world…” then I would perhaps share something. Then I’d say, “That isn’t really relevant to your situation here. Help me here: What is a similar situation?”
Preaching: It does seem as if—given the necessity of application and the increasing hunger for that—it becomes increasingly important for the preacher to become a student of culture as well a student of Scripture.
Stuart: That’s one of the first things I was told when I went to Elmbrook. I was a Brit. I had traveled in America for a number of years, but I had never lived here. At first every gaffe or every time I put my foot in my mouth, they would shake their heads wisely and say, “He’s British, you know.”
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But then as time went on, I remember someone came to me and said, “Stuart, our understanding is you should study the Scriptures and find out what God is saying, then study the culture so you can relate what God is saying to where we are living.”
I said, “That’s right.”
They said, “We think you’re much better at the former than the latter. So we have taken the liberty of enrolling you in some magazines, etc.”
I was very grateful. That is a practice that I have continued ever since. Of course, as I am traveling, I can take the magazines with me since I can’t always keep up with the talking heads of television.
Sometimes when I am overseas, there are international programs that give fascinating insights that you don’t get here. I remember in the early days of the Iraq situation, listening to a roundtable discussion. There wasn’t an American in the conversation—it was all Europeans—and they were coming from all over the map, not only geographically, but philosophically and politically. That is a wonderful learning experience.
Preaching: As you travel and preach all over the world, are there some places that are the most enjoyable places to preach?
Briscoe: Well, there are different kinds of enjoyment. I think of a church in Manila in the Philippines. It is one of the most remarkable churches I have ever seen. It is so alive; it is so buzzing. They have no property whatsoever, but they have thousands of people attending all the time. When you go there it is like being in church with a live wire.
I was just in Cairo in Egypt speaking in the largest evangelical church; there were at least 7,000 people attending. It was absolutely remarkable. They have an auditorium that seats about a thousand, so the only way they have 7,000 people attend regularly is by having the congregation divided up into different segments; and they have a particular time that they come. Thursday night is student night. I spoke to a thousand university students that night. Friday morning I spoke to young couples. So clearly just to see a very live, growing, thriving church . . .
