Author: Peter Mead

Other Low Times Factors

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday I began a response to Peter’s comment regarding low times in ministry.  It is not at all uncommon for those giving out to get into situations where they are empty themselves.  Yesterday I wrote about the prevention that can be done via good spiritual relational habits.  I wrote briefly about curing a situation where the coldness has come in.  Much more could be said, but here are three further factors to consider:

Spiritual Warfare. The enemy targets specific people at specific times.  There is a spiritual warfare dynamic that we must not ignore.  It could be that there is a spiritual warfare component in a time of discouragement or “coldness.”  This is not always the primary issue, so directly addressing it and focusing on it cannot always be the primary cure.  However, it is no coincidence that those seeking to build up other believers and see people saved from the kingdom of darkness face a whole variety of temptations and difficulties in life and ministry.

Divine Distance. I don’t like that title, but I can’t think of a better one right now.  It seems that there are times when God is very clearly active and overt in His dealings with us.  There seem to be other times when He may allow us to go through some form of dryness . . . perhaps because of the positive benefits of trials of various kinds in respect to our spiritual growth and maturity (Rom.5, James 1, etc.)  I’m not going to develop this theologically here, but simply recognize that negative situations could be spiritual warfare related (solution?  Look to God in prayer).  Or they could be God trying to get our attention (solution? Look to God in prayer).  Seems safe to me to allow any circumstance, whatever the cause, even cause unknown, to allow that to push us back up close to Him.  May be we need greater sensitivity to let any prod push our eyes upward?

Mundane Matters. Times of spiritual dryness may be attacks, or God trying to get our attention, or personal drifting in our relationship with God.  However, they could be indicative of other issues too, often quite mundane.  Getting enough rest?  Sleep?  Weekly break?  Exercise?  How’s the diet?  Any stresses in other areas of life manifesting in this one?  Worried about something else?  I remember Bill Hybels talking about his own struggle at one point and trying to fix it by spiritual disciplines, but then discovering that it wasn’t at root a spiritual issue, but an emotional and physical one.  As he put it, there are several dials on the dashboard, we need to be aware of all of them.

Other factors and suggestions?

spiritual warfare

divine distance

physical complexity

Low Times?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

The site received a comment from another Peter today.  Let me quote, respond and perhaps you’d like to join in?

I was wondering do you ever go through low times during your preaching?  It feels like sometimes I am preparing sunday school lesons and bible study classes for the youth at my Church and then when I preach I spend a lot of time studying, but then there are times where I just feel low.  Kind of like I am spending so much time trying to help others that I feel empty myself.  Any sugggestions on getting through these kinds of times?  I probably didn’t even ask that well but just wondering if you ever go through times like this?

In a word, yes.  I think all preachers, indeed, all believers, go through times where they feel spiritually dry in comparison to other times.  So much could be said about this, but I’ll leave plenty of space for others to add their comments.  A couple of thoughts from me:

Prevention rather than just cure. This kind of situation can be partially prevented to avoid it happening so often.  There is a danger that comes from relying on ministry preparation for personal spirituality.  I am not of the opinion that we should separate ministry preparation from devotions to the extent that one is cold and professional, and the other personal.  Ministry preparation should be working in us before it comes through us to others.  However, to lean on this giving out can easily push us over a point at which we are not ministering out of the overflow of a full personal spirituality, but from an emptying tank.  Good relational habits are important – not cold disciplines in which boxes get ticked in a daily diligent diary of dutifulness, but healthy interaction with God in a daily love relationship . . . reading His Word, communicating with God in prayer, responding to God in worship, etc.  As well as the vertical relationship, we also need to recognize the value of genuinely stimulating horizontal relationships.  All of this can go so cold in ministry . . . a growing distance from God and a lack of genuine relationship with others that is spiritually stimulating (much easier to just give, give, give).

Cure too. Is there a cure to spiritual dryness?  In simple terms I would suggest repent, return and respond.  Repent of your sinful tendency to lose sight of the relationship, return to the fullness of what it means to be in Christ, in relationship, (not through a duty-driven behaviour that tries to fix things from the outside in), all in response to His love for us.  We love because He first loved us, so we often need to expose ourselves to the attractive power of that love demonstrated on the cross.  Solutions that are focused on ourselves seem to be missing the point.  We go dry because we lose sight of Him, so looking to ourselves is not the solution.

Other reasons? There can be multiple factors related to this critical issue.  Tomorrow I’ll raise a couple more . . . anything you would add?

Ask for Double

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I was listening to Howard Hendricks again recently.  He referred to a medical doctor who had gotten hold of a series Hendricks gave on the book of James.  The doctor told him, “I’ve listened to that series about twenty times, and now I think I get what you’re saying!”

When we look carefully in the prophets, and in the gospels, and elsewhere, it is evident that hearing is a critical component of spirituality.  This is not to suggest that reading is not important, of course, but there is something about hearing.  Hearing the Bible, and hearing the Bible preached.

I wonder if we should do more to encourage people to use their ears in their personal spiritual lives?  How many of the people in our churches have never considered getting the Bible on CD or MP3, and yet have significant chunks of time when they could be listening to the Word?  How often do churches produce CDs of messages, expecting only the children’s Sunday School teachers or the absent to make use of them?  Perhaps it would be worth suggesting the possibility that people might choose to hear the sermon more than once!  (Now the pressure is really on you – imagine asking for double the time!  Your message better be biblically solid, clear, engaging and relevant!)

Put Your Feet Up?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Do you have a few teachers you would have been delighted to have studied under personally, but didn’t?  I do, and near the top of that list would be Howard Hendricks.  I’ve been blessed by some of his disciples, but at the moment am enjoying listening to some of his teaching.  Here’s an old quote he used from the president of Yale addressing the board of the great institution:

Ladies and Gentlemen, if I don’t spend time every day with my feet propped up on the desk, dreaming about what Yale ought to be, you need to fire me because I am no longer the leader of Yale – I am simply a pathetic manager of the institution.

Please don’t get upset if you happen to like being a manager of something, but please get the point.  Leaders need to spend time thinking and dreaming of what the ministry, institution, church, and even family, ought to be.  I suspect that in the busy-ness of ministry and life many of us are falling considerably behind in our think-time, as Hendricks would put it.

Let’s be very wary of a preaching routine, and a ministry routine, that lacks time to think and dream.  Sanctified prayerful dreaming is an element of true eternity-shaping ministry that I sense is lacking in many today.  Let’s make space and dare to dream, then ask God.  He is able to do abundantly beyond all that we ask or even imagine . . . with many of us that is not even half a challenge.  Let’s consider putting our feet up so that we can be leaders, and because it’s exciting to see God being God!

Examining the Extent of Explanation

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Biblical preachers should study to a higher level than they preach.  In the days, or even weeks, that we have to study a passage in anticipation of preaching it, we should probe and study and push and delve.  The study should incorporate all appropriate study methodology (appropriate to the genre, to the text, to our own abilities and skills).  The study should also appropriately consider the input of others (a variety of “experts” in printed form, or in real conversation if you have access).

The result of all that study should be more fodder for explanation than you have time to preach.  Even if you could cram it all in, what about emphasizing the relevance for today’s listener in terms of application and support materials, etc?

It is an important skill to learn to limit the extent of the explanation given in a sermon.  I suppose the best measure I’ve come across is what Donald Sunukjian said . . . “as much as necessary.”  That is in no way a negative comment on explanation (like I might say “let’s have as much vegetable as necessary in a meal, but unlimited meat”).  It is a comment demonstrating the high value that needs to be placed on emphasized relevance.  In Sunukjian’s terms, “explain as much as necessary, then apply, apply, apply.”

So how do we determine the necessary extent of explanation (and background information, demonstration of exegesis, etc.)?  A couple of key values come to mind, you may add others too:

1. A commitment to serve, not to show off. Every preacher faces constant temptation from insidious pride.  It is so easy to show off all the study you’ve done, all the skills you have, all the extra information you’ve gleaned.  Value service rather than display.  Value people over performance.  We all need to make sure our motivation is as much “for their sake” as possible, and as little “for my sake” as possible.

2. A sense of personal security, rather than insecurity. Insecurity abounds in the human race.  If our antenna are attuned we can spot it all around us, all the time.  An insecure preacher (for personal reasons, or as a result of criticism, etc.) will try to establish their right to be preaching in various ways.  One is to demonstrate excessive exegesis to undergird their ministry (and even personal worth).  A secure preacher is not concerned with how they look, or even if they’ll be criticized, but is concerned primarily with pleasing the Lord as they handle His Word for the sake of His people.

Let’s examine the extent of our explanation.

Perhaps the Greatest Test?

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We all know that some moments are more challenging than others.  What would be the greatest test of your ministry as a preacher?  Would it be to preach with your preaching professor in the pew?  Would it be to preach with a famous preacher visiting to hear you?  Would it be to preach as a stand-in guest preacher for someone famous (when listeners are expecting him, but get you instead)?  Would it be to preach with a loved one present who does not know the Lord?

Perhaps the greatest test of a preacher is not preaching, but not preaching, if you see what I mean?  Let me put it this way.  Perhaps the greatest test of you as a preacher has very little to do with your observed ministry in the pulpit, but a lot to do with what is unseen.  What if your listeners could watch you behind closed doors?  What if they saw how you treat your spouse and your children?  What if they could see the “real you” when no eyes are looking?

The truth is that we whisper-preach with our words, but we megaphone-preach with our lives.  I’m keeping this post short.  Today I’ve scheduled a day-off … handling school for the morning to give my wife the day off, and then something all together this afternoon.  Now the rubber meets the road!  Forget exams and big events and special sermons and ministry . . . perhaps today is the greater test!

Application Weak Spots

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Last week I was teaching preaching alongside another instructor in a preacher’s training conference.  At different times we both pointed to three levels of application, and we both pointed out a weak spot . . . but the two sets of categories were very different.  I suppose this should be two posts really, but here are the lists of three:

Targets of Application – Mark Meynell offered three levels of application.  The first, and the one we tend to be best at, is at the level of private application (for instance, our personal spirituality, ethics, devotional life, etc.).  The second level is the relational (for instance, relationships in the home, the workplace, the church, etc.) and he stated that we tend to do okay on this level.  The third level, however, is the weakest.  This is application at the social level (engaging with the world).

Personal Targets of Application – I offered the following three categories of application, again noting that one is usually considerably weaker than the other two.  The first level is the level of conduct, or “the hands” – that is, application in terms of what to do.  The second level is the level of belief, or “the head” – that is, application in terms of what to know/believe.  Depending on the preacher, one of these is usually stronger than the other.  Some seem very quick to present practical applications (often forgetting the inherent value of “belief” application), others tend to emphasize applications in respect to belief.  Both are necessary and often appropriate (depending on the passage and the listeners).  There is a third category that lies underneath both of the first two, but one which is often ignored.  The third level is the level of the affections or “the heart” – that is, application in terms of core values, love and spiritual relationship.  If people do, based on what they know, then there is still another step deeper into the functioning of humanity – to the level of the affections, values, desires, loves.  Consider Ephesians 4:17ff to see how Paul moves deeper than conduct to knowledge, then deeper again to the role of the heart.

Application is not easy.  Two different sets of categories, both pointing to an area of specific weakness.  How can we better apply in respect to engaging with the world?  How can we better apply in respect to the affections of the listener?

Big and Mini Hope – part 2

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Yesterday I presented the need for preaching that doesn’t hide from, deny or avoid the big eschatological hope presented throughout Scripture.  People need that message of hope, God knew that, and so He gave us plenty of it in the Bible.  But now for the mini hope . . .

Mini hope. Perhaps these two points don’t go together.  But maybe they do.  Just as people need the big hope of “that day” to mark and shape “this day,” so people need confidence that God’s Word can change their lives today.  It is so easy to preach a legalistic, moralistic, guilt-driven message of needed change, but fail to encourage people with the hope of the empowering grace of God, the hope of the present indwelling Holy Spirit, the hope of the deep personal love and concern of God, the hope of life-changing intimacy with God.  Ever since eleven frightened men were transformed by a genuinely empty tomb and risen Savior, empowered by the Spirit and proclaiming hope to the world – this world has been marked and changed by a gospel not of mere pressure to improve yourself, but genuine darkness-shattering hope of the Gospel.

Why do I call this mini-hope?  Because most of the time people don’t feel their need in global and history-making terms.  They feel like they are small people in small lives with relatively small challenges that feel overwhelming to them . . . and good preaching offers hope and help and encouragement and the working of God in His love in relatively small, but deeply meaningful ways.  Most messages are not a spiritual mountain-top, but reminders of the hope of the gospel in the ongoing struggles of life.  Mini hope, but critical.

It seems to me that true biblical preaching should be infused with hope – both big ultimate eschatological hope, and day-by-day glorious new covenant hope.

Big and Mini Hope

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Christian preaching should be infused with hope.  This is because the Bible is infused with hope.  While every generation likes to think that their generation is different from all that have come before, the fact is that almost every generation has been lacking in hope.  I was just reading of the collapse of the 50’s optimism in the 60’s.  Dostoyevsky’s famous line, “If God does not exist, everything is permissible” springs to mind.  And if it is possible to state this in relative terms – God does not exist even more now . . . in the perspective of my culture, at least.  Culture changes, but needs do not.  The God is dead movement in the 60’s is not making the cover of news magazines now, but “new atheism” (great misnomer) gets plenty of airtime.  We may not live in fear of nuclear war as we did then, but what of terrorism, or even the fear of ecological disaster?  Times change, but hopelessness persists.

Biblical preaching should be infused with hope, big hope and mini hope:

Big hope. The Bible is shot through with messages of hope that this world as it is is not all that there ever will be.  We are people in a privileged position in that we know the end of the story is not what we see in front of our eyes, but more than that, God has told us the end of the story already.  You could say it is not written yet, but it’s already been written.  Sad to see how much of Christendom has moved to ignore or platitudify (new word?) the eschatological hope that pervades Scripture.  Oh yes, eschatology may be divisive, errors have been made, sensationalism has been embarressing at times, etc., etc., but one thing we can’t get away from, or redefine our way out of (at least not convincingly), is that God certainly gave us a lot of “big hope” in the Bible.  As we preach the Word, people need to hear and see that we are people of genuine hope.  A hope that is not irrelevant or incomprehensible, but a hope that lifts our eyes to that Day so that our lives are changed today.

Tomorrow I’ll share the mini hope . . .

Of Lecterns and Pulpits

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Lecterns and pulpits are worth thinking about.  After all, we so easily take them for granted.  Perhaps you’ve always had one, perhaps you’ve always seen preachers preach from behind one.  However, if our goal is to effectively communicate God’s Word to people, we need to consider every aspect of our preaching.  So here are a few thoughts on these pieces of ecclesial furniture.

Don’t hide. I suppose this is the basic thought in this post.  Don’t hide.  Remember that communication includes body language, which means that people need to be able to see your body language.  Be careful not to slouch or lean on the pulpit.  If they can’t see a significant percentage of you, then you probably need to elevate your energy levels to appear normal in your expression.  Be deliberate in letting your gestures show above and beyond the pulpit (reach higher and wider).  Seriously consider coming out from the castle!  Let the pulpit hold your notes, but don’t feel obligated to stay there yourself.

Do familiarize. Make sure everything is ready ahead of time.  If it is adjustable, adjust it appropriately (which doesn’t mean it should be up to your armpits just because you’re tall!)  Make sure any notes you use will be visible (why are some lecterns at such a high angle?)  Make sure you have a glass of water if you need it, etc.  If there is anything more technical than a glass of water, make sure you know how it works ahead of time – any light, controls for visual media, etc.  Obviously if you’ve preached from the same pulpit for a while, then this isn’t as necessary, but it’s always worth double checking before the meeting.

Don’t criticize. You may understand the negative impact of “barrier furniture” to communication, but be very careful not to criticize it.  Even if it holds your notes in a near vertical position, makes your water glass nearly inaccessible, blocks your listeners from hearing “with their eyes” and looks like a wooden battle ship, or upended casket, or whatever . . . keep these thoughts to yourself.  You can move to the side, or make the best of the situation from behind there.  But if you give voice to these thoughts you will not come across well, and the person whose father built the monstrosity in 1924, or who donated the money to buy it in honor of their spouse’s homegoing . . . well, you know how they’ll feel!