Preacher’s Personal Life

When Listeners Aren’t Satisfied

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Preaching is complex. Take, for example, the matter of listener satisfaction. If they aren’t satisfied, it could be a good sign, or a bad sign. Likewise having everyone happy may mean something is wrong. So how do we navigate the issue of listener satisfaction, after all, dissatisfaction expressed is seldom water off a ducks back (for most of us). Taking some prompts from Boyd-MacMillan and blending them with my own thoughts, here are a few comments to prompt our thoughts. This is by no means a definitive list of thoughts, but it is a start:

1. Expressed dissatisfaction is often overstated. Many people find it hard to express dissatisfaction fairly. It’s as if something wells up within and then bursts forth, often with excessive force. Boyd-MacMillan says that Christians “often express criticism in apocalyptic terms.” Instead of simply stating, “I don’t like his style,” they will instead assert that “he betrayed the gospel of Jesus Christ!” It is a good skill to learn to tone down excessive criticism as well as excessive praise (“that was the best sermon I ever heard!!!” probably wasn’t).

2. Recognize that tension fired your way is often nothing to do with you or your preaching. People react to the innocent provocation of pet peeves, or the poking of raw nerves of various kinds. You may become the focus of the critique, but don’t take all critique at face value.

That’s enough for now, more to follow tomorrow. Feel free to comment from your experience and perspective.

What If You’re Not Ready?

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

It is so important to understand the text before you preach it!  I don’t mean just knowing what the big words mean.  I don’t mean just having a collection of exegetical insights to share.  I don’t mean even having a sermon vaguely based on certain parts of the text.  I mean really understanding what the text is saying – understanding it’s unity, it’s message, it’s point, it’s purpose, it’s role in the broader flow of thought in the book.  What if you’re not ready though?

Suggestion with several caveats to follow: If you’re not ready, don’t preach it.  Instead preach an old message again that you are confident is biblically sound.

Just think what an example that might be for the congregation!  “We were scheduled to be in Epistle XYZ 4:15-22, but I’ve been studying it over several weeks and still am not there yet – some passages take real work to really grasp!  So I’ll keep on studying, but for today, let’s look again at . . . ”

Caveats a coming!

1. Chances are, they won’t remember a message you re-preach.  But it would be honest to tell them it’s worth a second look at this old message rather than trying to “slip it through.”

2. Recognize that as a Bible student we never fully plumb the depths of any passage and as a preacher we shouldn’t really present all the plumbs either!  It takes wisdom to know the difference between “I’ll never fully plumb this passage” and “I haven’t grasped the fundamental unity and flow of thought in this passage.

3. It is in no way a good example if you simply started too late.

4. Whether you are a paid pastor preaching weekly, or an unpaid preacher preaching periodically, there is an element of commitment involved.  It will undermine your credibility if you follow the above suggestion more than very rarely!  (In fact, if you are only doing one section in a series from the same book, you can’t simply make the subsequent weeks shift by missing your section.  Get help earlier in the process and make sure you grasp the passage before you preach it, for surely you must preach it!)

5. It is probably better to take this post as a strong prod to really be prepared, rather than actually trying what I suggest!  (I’d be interested to hear if anyone has ever publically announced their need for more time to study a certain passage!)

The World’s Most Influential People

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Sitting on my desk is a recent copy of Time Magazine.  The main reason that I still get it is that they offered to almost pay me to receive it (that’s an exaggeration, before you start asking for details).  It is the edition with the world’s 100 most influential people.  Interesting collection of people from Obama to Sarkozy, Pacquiao to Nadal, Oprah to Palin and Michelle Obama to Rush Limbaugh.  A largely predictable list that doesn’t stir massive response from this sporadic Time reader.

However, I have one complaint about the list.  One person is missing.  The faithful biblical expositor.  Oh yes, Rick Warren made it on to the list after a year of critique from various sides.  I’m glad he’s on there.  But I’m thinking about faithful preacher at the normal church on 53rd and Main.  I’m thinking about the faithful expositor at 13th Presby-Bapto-Angli-Independent Bible Church.  I’m thinking about the unknown preachers I shared a week with recently in a country many people have not heard of.  I’m thinking about the relatively no-name preacher in a relatively unknown church somewhere.  Preachers like you.  Preachers like me.  Preachers who study the Word and faithfully, prayerfully present the meaning of the text and emphasize its relevance to the lives of their listeners.  Preachers who plug away for little or no pay (on earth), for little or no thanks (on earth), for little or no acclaim (on earth).

Only eternity will tell how much genuinely lasting influence has been exerted by the preachers who’ve looked beyond fame and position to serve faithfully in this vital ministry.  Unnamed preacher in unknown church.  Time missed you.  Eternity will not.  Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord!

The Mastery Challenge – Rationale pt 2

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Here are the last three points of rationale for my list.  This follows on from the last two days of posts.

5. The brick wall approach urges book by book study – By definition it helps avoid the “mastery of preferred proof texts approach,” or the “selected doctrines based on preferred theology approach,” or other less than ideal approaches.  To be a real Bible man or woman, I’m convinced we need to really know the books of the Bible (i.e. verses in context!)

6. The brick wall approach taps into personal motivation – What do you want to study next?  Romans?  Revelation?  Psalms?  Esther?  Nahum?  This approach says go for it!  When the heart is in the task, the study is a delight.  When discipline alone is boss, then the tanks feel permanently empty.

7. The brick wall approach recognizes that study is never exhaustive – So you’ve done a few weeks in John, and for now you feel that is enough.  You’ve come to a point of closure, thanked the Lord, finished well and moved on to another book that is attracting you.  Does that mean you are done with John?  Of course not.  In a few months or years you’ll come back, motivated again, and you’ll go deeper and further.  By then you’ll be building on top of other bricks that have been laid in the mean time.  Perhaps a study of Psalms will bring John’s use of Davidic Psalms out in a fresh way, for instance.

This approach encourages success by generating achievable goals, by tapping into personal motivation, and by progressively building throughout life in a way that never suggests completion, but recognizes progress continually.

I could add more rationale, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  I’m not saying this is the only way, or even the best way, but I’ve yet to find an approach to Bible mastery that has tempted me to change my approach (or to change what I suggest when asked for my suggestions!)

The Mastery Challenge – Rationale pt 1

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Yesterday I shared my foundation and brick wall approach.  This post won’t make sense without reading that one first.  Here are seven of the underlying thoughts that make me think this approach is a healthy one:

1. Motivation is Key – This approach is designed primarily to facilitate the motivation of the individual.  Too often Bible study is shot through with guilt associations and the need for motivation is overlooked.  That we should be motivated to study God’s Word does not mean that we always are motivated!

2. Success breeds motivation – Too often people begin a study program and then fail to complete it.  This leaves a lingering guilt.  Think of how many times people start reading through the Bible in January, but give up in February or March (Leviticus or Numbers tend to wipe them out).  This model that I am suggesting has success built in.  Every time a Bible book is selected and studied for a couple or a few weeks, there is a point of closure, a point of successful completion of a task that can be celebrated before the Lord (giving thanks to Him).  I would even suggest a deliberate act to celebrate.  Perhaps enjoy a favorite bar of chocolate, or listen to a certain praise song . . . anything, but do something to mark the completion of a season of study (all while giving thanks to the Lord for the privilege and His help).

3. Demotivation by integrating the two halves kills study – People typically try to read through and study at the same time.  The problem is that it is hard to retain anything and keep up the required reading pace.  So people get bogged down in the Pentateuch, while their motivation is really to study a New Testament book (but that seems so far away!)  Much better to give yourself permission to just keep moving in the read through, and study what you want to study.

4. The foundation covers the need to study the whole counsel – Instead of feeling compelled to study Leviticus as you read through it, this approach accepts that often you will read through it quickly, but when the motivation is there to study it, you will have opportunity to really get stuck into it.  By constantly cycling through the whole canon, you are getting the bigger picture of God’s revelation, which in turn provides continual context for the book studies you pursue concurrently.

Tomorrow I’ll share the other three points of rationale that make sense of the brick wall (book by book) approach.

The Mastery Challenge – Suggestion

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

Back on April 7th I wrote about the need for us all to prioritize mastering, and being mastered by, the Bible.  Winston commented and asked for my suggestions on this.  I’ll share my thinking briefly here.  I’d encourage you to read the earlier post again to refresh your memory and stir the motivation – it is here.

My approach is to split personal Bible study into two halves.  These two halves are best explained as a foundation and brick wall approach:

Half 1 = Foundation – The foundation is to be reading through the whole Bible.  My strong encouragement is to keep reading through the whole Bible, at a fairly persistent pace.  Allow the big story to wash through you.  Don’t get caught up in details, or in trying to remember every interesting fact you find.  Don’t try to pronounce every long name.  Just keep moving.  Like pouring water through a sieve, the goal is not to retain, but to be cleaned and to get a big picture awareness of the Bible God has given to us.

Half 2 = Brick Wall – With the other half of the time available I suggest getting your teeth into study.  By default I would suggest a book-by-book approach.  God didn’t give us a topical index, or a collection of proof texts; He gave us a collection of books.  So pick a Bible book and study it.  Use whatever skill and resources you have.  Begin with inductive study of the book, constantly moving between analysis of the details and synthesis of the whole.  If you have original language skill, use it.  If you have quality commentaries, eventually consult them.  Make it your goal to master and be mastered by the book you are studying.  After a few weeks of this you will find that your motivation for that book wanes and you feel like you are coming to finish point in your study.  I like to be able to explain my way through a book, section by section, without looking at the text.  Perhaps you would choose another way to define the finish line.  Then move to another book you want to study.  Periodically you can do a topical study, or a character study, or a theological study, or whatever, but default back to book by book.

Tomorrow I will share my underlying thinking that helps to make sense of this approach.

When Training Is Spurned?

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I received this comment a few days ago from a reader of this site:

How do you convince a man who fights against every opportunity placed in his way that he needs, that he requires, further training in preaching?

Answer that and I’ll be grateful! I know the need, but a lay-reader in my congregation has no concept that he does. Short of removing him from preaching there is beginning to seem little else that can be done to get this need through to him – and the reality that this must come before anything else. Excuses to avoid the training come thick and fast from him – and most make no sense anyway!

If we could answer that question, many of us would be grateful.  Recently I was co-leading a preaching course in a city.  Four years of preparation had gone into that event (not from me, I came in at the last minute).  It was a great success, but the big church pastors of the city felt that they did not need it, they were above what we were offering.  This greatly disappointed the organizers who strongly insist that those pastors do need the training that was given!  What to do?

I suppose training in preaching is not dissimilar to preaching itself.  You cannot force it on people.  Even if they are coerced into being present, they need to want to hear it.  In preaching that is why we must work so hard on our introduction in order to motivate the listeners to care about the message – we rub salt on their tongues to make them thirsty for God’s Word.  In the same way, we need to carefully consider winsome ways to motivate people to be open and receptive to training.  Forcing attendance will not work.

This post is not a definitive answer to the question, but I hope it could be the start of a conversation.  What will motivate the resistant to participate in preaching training?  What barriers must be overcome?  For instance:

Pride is a barrier – so we must be careful not to give the impression that we have it all together and they don’t.  Sharing the joy of learning and demonstrating that you’re a learner can motivate others to join the joyful journey of lifelong learning.

Insecurity is a barrier – I constantly observe how insecurity and pride go hand in hand.  The resistant may feel deeply insecure and scared of opening up to input that will shine light on their inadequacies.  Again, humility on our part, as well as a generous dose of encouragement might help (it’s tempting to never encourage lest we demotivate them from taking training, but the opposite may be true).

Overwhelmedness is a barrier – it all might seem like too much at once.  Perhaps giving people a small taste of good training is the way to go – a one-day seminar in the church for all the preachers (I’ve found these quite effective, invitations welcome!), a single magazine article, a single particularly helpful post on this or another site.

What else?  I’d love to hear more thoughts on the complexities of motivating preachers to take helpful training.

Short Cuts to Nowhere Good

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There are a couple of short-cuts taken by many preachers that need to be highlighted for the sake of Biblical Preaching.  Please be sure to read the explanation as well as the heading (it’s amazing how people miss the point of what’s written sometimes!)

1. Prayer. Prayer is not a short-cut.  It is a necessity.  It is critical.  However, it is not a short-cut.  In fact, praying in preparation will probably make the preparation take longer, but it is worth the longer journey.  Many preachers think that all they need to do is pray and then preach their impressions.  This is neither pleasing to the Lord nor helpful for the listeners.  Why do some preachers think God is so pleased when they essentially dismiss the Bible by skirting around the study process in preparation?  I suspect that if we pray “Lord, please show me what I should say from this text!” that His answer would include “I want you to say what the text says.” God takes His Word very seriously, so should we, and prayer is not short-cut around the blessing of spending significant time and effort wrestling with the true and exact meaning of the passage.

Tomorrow I will add another short-cut that is not worth taking if we are to be Biblical Preachers!

We Need Repeated Prodding

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I believe we need repeated prodding on this issue.  It’s a critical issue in ministry and church health.  I believe it is the heart of biblical ministry.  Here’s a prod from Explosive Preaching, 145:

There is no greater tragedy for preaching today than the senior pastor who claims to be too busy to mentor preachers.

I say, amen.  This line comes at the end of a paragraph describing the mentoring of Martin Luther-King Jr by J. Pius Barbour.  He would spend time every Saturday with a group of younger preachers who would practice their sermons in front of him and the group.  Then on Sunday, after he had preached, he would ask them to analyze his sermon under the headings of content, delivery and audience reaction.  Talk about accountability as well as mentoring!

It takes effort, time and sometimes even sacrifice.  Yet mentoring is multiplicative ministry, it is exponential ministry, it is biblical ministry.

What’s Fresh?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

If you are a regular preacher, then the chances are that you have a rhythm in your preparation.  This is good in many ways.  However, it also runs the risk of getting into some well-worn ruts.  If you are an irregular preacher, then perhaps your preparation process lasts over several weeks.  This is also good in many ways.  However, it also runs the risk of getting into ruts (you forget what you decided you should improve next time).

Both schedules also run the risk of lacking freshness in content.  Regular preachers feel the pressure of the weekly cycle, irregular preachers sometimes end up preaching on a passage that they have personally “moved on” from by the time the Sunday comes.

As you look ahead to your next message, whether it is this Sunday or this summer, what is fresh about it?  What will be fresh when it is delivered?  Is it time to freshen up your delivery in some way, or do you have a standard sermon form you always fall into, or is it time to pour effort into specific wording, or perhaps your support materials (or lack thereof)?  And is the text, the truth, the walk with God fresh?