Most introductions are soon forgotten but some are so unusual or potent to be memorable. My favorite is an ingenious and well-improvised introduction made by Dr. Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. He tells about it in his book, Prayer: My Soul's Adventure with God.

Before he even started his giant church, he began preaching at a drive-in theater. Congregants could drive in to the parking lot and listen to his sermon through speakers on the posts next to their cars while Schuller preached from atop the snack bar roof-top. In order to attract a large crowd and get people to come to a drive-in theater to worship, he in-vited the best-known preacher he could think of, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, to speak one Sunday.

Peale accepted and the crowds arrived, lining the streets and overflowing the 1700-car lot. Schuller had everything he wanted for this momentous day -- hundreds of people, Dr. Peale, a sunny sky -- except for one important item: the written introduction he had planned to use in presenting Dr. Peale. Even though he was unprepared to introduce one of the most popular speakers in the world, he did not panic but pulled off a good introduction.

I prayed silently, What do I say, Lord? ... I listened. God answered. Out of my mouth came these unthought-of words: 'Ladies and gentlemen. We have with us this morning -- live and in person -- the best Positive Thinker in the world today. His name is a household word. His words? Many of us have been inspired by them. If you get to meet him personally and know him as a friend like I do, you'll never be the same. His name? The greatest Positive Thinker alive today -- Jesus Christ. And here to tell us all about him is Norman Vincent Peale.'

Like Schuller, have you ever had to introduce a speaker and wondered what to say? Or, worse, have you ever been the speaker and wished you had written your own introduction instead of hearing the one someone else made in presenting you? A poor introduction can leave your audience flat but a good one can make them eager to hear you. That's sufficient reason for every preacher to prepare an introduction of himself for every group where he speaks and isn't known.

Do You Really Need an Introduction?

I began to think of preparing my own introductions a couple of years ago when I was the guest preacher in a church where no one knew me. A staff member there called me a few weeks before I was to preach and asked me to send my resume so he could prepare his introduction of me.

Much to my surprise, when I arrived at the church on the day I was to preach, I looked in the program for that morning's order of service and found printed on a separate sheet, front and back, my complete resume listing all the schools I'd attended, every job I'd ever held and all the other information I'd put there! In the introduction the staff member had only to refer the congregation to my resume and say, in effect, "Here he is"! It wasn't much of a kickoff. I'm just glad that I hadn't included my weight on my resume! Throughout my sermon I wondered how many people were still reading it.