Preacher’s Personal Life

Preaching and Practice

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I know I recently started Darrell Johnson’s book and mentioned that I would review it, but have not had a chance to finish it since.  And I know that I should probably finish that before I start another.  But, well, too late.  I just started into Michael Pasquarello’s We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken. So far so good.

Here’s a taste:

If we are what we know and love and become what we do and say, our way of speaking will be intrinsic to, and indicative of, what we are and what we hope to be by the grace of God.  And while most preachers will acknowledge the importance of “practicing what you preach,” they give too little attention to the manner in which the character of a preacher’s way of being, the conversation of one’s loves, habits, and desires, is communicated as “preaching what you practice.”

It is vital that we realize that “effective preaching” (a term Pasquarello would probably resist) is built not only on the communication of our words, but more substantially by the communication of our life.  So I am challenged by the relative clarity of not only “practicing what we preach,” but actually “preaching what we practice.”

Worth pondering.

Gracious Reinforcement

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Isn’t that what God does with us?  Gracious reinforcement.  Over and over God patiently teaches us what we need to learn – not just information, but lessons of the heart, lessons of life, lessons on His character, His values, His heart.  There is a certain rhythm in life, subtle and below the surface, inaudible, but real.  It’s the rhythm of God’s dealing with us as His children.  None of us learn what we need to learn first time, every time.  For most of us, most of the time, it takes time, patience and repetition before something sinks in.

What we observe in our own spiritual walks, or in the lives of those around us, is part of what the preacher is called to participate in.  Preaching is not a one-hit job.  You don’t present a truth and then move on knowing the listeners now have that truth under their belts.  You don’t encourage a specific response to God and then look for horizons new in your preaching ministry.  The truth is that preaching also needs to tap into the rhythm of patient change, of gracious reinforcement.

Oh, there are crisis moments, but not every Sunday.  There are times when a single message will radically transform a life.  Pray for that, preach for that, but know that most fruit grows imperceptibly slowly.

The difficulties that come with this ministry are not simple.  While God works inaudibly and often below the surface, the preacher works audibly, visibly, obviously and overtly.  This opens the preacher up to the challenge of avoiding monotony and sameness while preaching to graciously reinforce the handful of big big ideas that weave their way through Scripture.  Patience required implies discouragement faced, and it does come in so many forms – natural and otherwise.

And all along the way, as we look to God to work His heart changing work in others, asking for patience and strength to press on . . . all the while He is working in us, in our hearts, and patiently, persistently, He presses on.  Praise God for His gracious reinforcement in us, and hopefully, through us too.

Table Talk

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Today’s post isn’t one.  It’s a 35-minute interview I did with Mike Reeves over at theologynetwork.org in their Table Talk series.  It’s all about preaching and how our view of God influences our view of the Bible and therefore our approach to communicating it.  So, here’s the link and I hope this is helpful: theologynetwork.org – Table Talk.

Preacher’s Block

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Years ago I read Heralds of God by James Stewart.  I just read a response paper sent to me by a friend.  It’s time I read the book again. He reminded me of Stewart’s advice regarding preacher’s block, or those times when artistic inspiration simply is not flowing, but discouragement is pouring in like a flood.

It is too easy to listen to our moods.  It is too simple to await the great thoughts before we begin.  Stewart quotes Quiller-Couch, “These crests [of inspiration] only arise on the back of constant labour.”  How true it is that moments of inspiration tend to reflect hours of perspiration.

I have a lot of preparation to do this week.  How easy it is to allow the flesh to control the process and wile away the hours with relatively meaningless tasks while awaiting some flash of divine enablement.  Can I trust the Lord to enable me as I graft at the preparation?  Bend the knee and pray.  Pick up the book and read.  Take up the pen and write.  Stretch out the fingers and type.  Simple really, but how easy to justify another path.

Down, But Not Out!

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

I have been reflecting recently on what regular up-front ministry involves.  Whether one is a youth leader, a church leader, a regular preacher, a Sunday School teacher, etc, these and other ministries share something in common.  I’ll use preaching as the example for this brief post.

After preaching, if you are like most preacher’s, you probably don’t feel great every time.  It is nice, but it doesn’t always help to receive the positive feedback from folks.  Even with all positive feedback, it is easy to come away discouraged and drained, often self-evaluating and majoring on the minor mistakes made.

To go through this on a regular basis can lead to higher level (or should I say, deeper) draining.  Some of the great preachers of history struggled with depression.  Many of us also face the energy sapping that comes from regular ministry, whether or not it gets to that level.

I don’t want to use Paul’s words in 2Cor.4, because that would be an insult to the persecution he faced (and many of our brothers and sisters today).  However, in a very scaled down version we do need that same sense of being knocked down, but not knocked out.  Sunday comes, we give.  Monday comes, we may be drained and discouraged.  But Tuesday comes and we must stand up and press on!  How?  Only by keeping our eyes on Him who doesn’t change and is the same Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!

The Challenge of Rest

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The theme of work and rest is woven throughout the warp and woof of Scripture.  While there may or may not be some progression in the revelation concerning sabbath (no need to get into that here), the theme of rest persists from creation to Hebrews (again, not getting into an exegetical discussion on that either, tempting though it is!)

I sometimes look at others slightly enviously in this respect.  I used to have a job that began when I left for work and finished when I chose to pack up and come home.  I see people with employment that they can forget about when they leave and genuinely have a free weekend.  Perhaps one day is busy with church, and the other is busy with other activities (a change is as good a rest, so some say).  The issue faced by someone taking rest seriously is how to get that in the midst of weekend projects and commitments.

Somehow that seems like a slightly easier challenge than many others face.

For many, and I presume to include people heavily involved in church ministry, the challenge of rest is slightly different.  Putting to one side the busy nature of Sundays and acknowledging that for many the day of rest has to come somewhere else in the weekly calendar.  But that’s the problem.  For many of us our work, whatever that is, is always there and always hanging over us.  It’s not easy to leave the desk and forget about the message you’re preparing for this Sunday, or the series coming up in a few weeks, or the ministry schedule and necessary early research for next year’s preaching calendar, etc.

So there’s the challenge – how to be sure to get the rest that we need physically, emotionally, mentally and, of course, spiritually, when the demands continue to hang over us?  One day off every week.  One genuine vacation/break every year.  One sabbatical every X years.  Sorry to add another thing to think about, but God has made it’s importance clear, so how do we meet the challenge of rest?

Mentoring Preachers

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

On Friday I suggested that mentoring is an ideal approach to training preachers, while in no way diminishing the value of formal training or personal improvement approaches like reading, attending seminars, etc.  On Saturday I offered the concept of mentoring to a small group of church leaders and suggested that biblically mentoring is at the heart of ministry, and especially the core ingredient in leadership development.  Instead of viewing church life as seasons of stability interrupted by periodic crisis when transition needs to occur, we would be better off viewing leadership development and even transition as a continual process.

So regarding mentoring, I’d like to offer a couple of clarification comments:

1. Mentoring by definition implies a purposeful relationship for building up another person.  Stanley and Clinton define mentoring as “a relational process in which one person empowers another by sharing God-given resources.”

2. Mentoring is not imitation. The person being mentored is invested in by the mentor, who shares resources and helps the “mentee” to be who God made them to be, not to be who the mentor is.

3. The mentor is not in control of the mentee’s life. Mentoring can easily be abused when the agenda becomes the mentor’s agenda and the mentee becomes a person somehow “owned” by the mentor.  The agenda is really the mentee’s, even though the mentor may sometimes know what would benefit them more than they do.

4. There is no reason why the mentor should not be surpassed by the mentee in some way. The mentor is not an absolute limit beyond which the mentee may not pass.  A good mentor will look to leverage their own resources for the sake of the mentee, as well as the resources of others that either may be able to access, always leaning on the Lord since He is the giver of all resources, and looking to launch the mentee into greater fruitfulness, growth and maturity.

So much more could be said, but perhaps that can come via comments or in future posts.  The question is, are we being mentored and are we mentoring others in the realm of preaching?

Fierce Attention and Affection

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I was just reading a synopsis of an intriguing book.  The book is about the importance of conversations, both at work and at home.  Nothing to do with preaching though?  Well, perhaps more than might be obvious.  I was struck by the author’s second principle – “Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real.”  She writes that it is too easy to try to please so much that the truth gets hidden away in exchange for a trinket of approval.  In the next section she writes of the need for fierce affection for the other person.  I won’t pursue that in terms of conversations, but what about our preaching?

How easily we slip into routine prayer, routine preparation, routine textual study, routine sermon forms, etc.  How different would it be if we gave a more fierce attention to the text, and pursued a more fierce affection for our listeners?  What does the text really say?  What do the listeners really struggle with?  And although it feels even less comfortable in this context, what if we fiercely prayed about the next sermon?

Ok, so the word “fierce” may seem out of place here.  I tend to agree.  But I like the thrust of it, the sense of not going through the motions, but stepping out from behind the mask of normalcy to genuinely pursue the meaning of the text, the lives of the listeners, the heart of God.  Whatever we call it, let’s go for it!

Preaching and Response

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When the Word of God is preached, something happens.  God’s Word, inspired by God’s Spirit, pointing toward God’s Son, spoken by a person empowered by the Spirit of God for their calling from God’s Son, to people prepared by the Spirit of God – it’s a recipe for response!

At times we can see that response.  We get to see the people moved, the individuals gripped, the lives changed.  Sometimes we see something at the moment of preaching, or soon afterwards.  Sometimes we only see the response over months and years of ministry.

At other times we don’t see the response.  We preach our hearts out and are devastated by polite niceties.  Or perhaps we don’t see the response we long for.  Perhaps we get the response of criticism, or argument, or outright attack.  Not quite what we had in mind when we prayed for lives to be changed!

Nevertheless, let’s be committed to preach for response, even an apparently negative one, rather than playing safe and settling for nothing other than polite platitudes.  Obviously any one of us could abuse this post.  We could take it as an excuse to wind people up, to create tensions, to lack sensitivity.  We must all answer for our own motivations, and of course, we will answer as preachers for how we have taken the opportunity to present God’s Word (2Tim.4:1-2).

Let’s not settle for smooth, let’s rather preach the Word with sensitivity to God and to His people, with a prayer-fuelled passion to see Him prompting response rather than apathy, transformation rather than safety.

Distorted Perspectives

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

There are some preachers that claim to be oblivious to negative emotion in regard to preaching.  That is to say, when it’s done, it’s done.  No looking back, no regrets, no negative emotions.  I don’t believe there can be too many like that.  For most of us preaching involves giving of ourselves and often feeling vulnerable and low afterwards.

It’s important to remember that our own perspective on our preaching is not fully trustworthy.  Sometimes what felt horrible to you will have been a real blessing to some listeners (and genuinely not horrible to the rest).  Sometimes what felt like a stunning message to you will have felt somewhat flat to most listeners (and perhaps even poor to some)!

It is important that we don’t trust our own feelings in post-sermon self-evaluation.  Perhaps you have a spouse or friend who understands your need for encouragement afterwards and constructive critique a day or two later?  Perhaps you’ve found it best to always come back to the Lord and hand it all over to Him?  Perhaps you have learned to reason with your own flawed thinking and pray it through?

I’m not going to suggest one approach to handling this issue, but I raise it to suggest that you may need to find an approach that works for you and keeps you pressed up against the Lord in the dangerous post-preaching phase of ministry life!