Preacher’s Personal Life

The Connection Counts

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Preaching to the same people all the time is quite different to preaching to different people. I have the privilege of regular preaching in our home church, but also regular preaching to different churches and groups of people in my role with OM. I had an interesting experience recently that highlighted the importance of a preacher’s relational connection with the congregation.

Last year we spent a month on one of the OM ships while it was in the UK. This year I visited another of the ships for a quick four-day visit. I gave the same presentation on the subject of guidance that I did last year. It was almost identical. In fact, it was probably better since I took onboard a fair critique I received last year and adjusted that element this time. However, the response was very different. Last year I had numerous conversations after the presentation, and there was an openness toward the presentation and thankfulness for the session. This year there were some positive responses, but a noticeably higher level of negative reaction and outright rejection of the teaching. What was the cause?

Perhaps the people were different. No two groups of listeners are the same, and it is possible that the different situation onboard meant the listeners responded differently. Equally, it is possible that although content was the same, my manner of delivery was different. While there may be elements of both of these, I think the main issue was something else.

Timing. Last year I was onboard three weeks before I addressed this potentially controversial subject. People had heard me speak, connections had occurred, relationships were forming. This year it was scheduled as the first session. No history, no connection, no relationships . . . and a much more negative response.

If you preach to the same people every week, recognize the importance your connections and relationships have in regard to your preaching. If you are preaching to people who don’t know you, be aware of the risks that come when connection can only come from the delivery itself. Empathy and connection count whether people know you or not, and we are wise to think through the implications of this in our preaching.

Don’t Treat Everything as Essential

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

There is always a danger, when we are passionate about something, that our passion will run away with us.  For instance, a passion for expository preaching can easily be misdirected to areas that are not critical issues.  The nature of the Bible, the importance of effective communication, the spiritual and divine work in genuine preaching, the need for appropriate relevance, the nature of the gospel – these are key issues for me.  Here are a few issues that are not critical in my opinion, although we all might be tempted to make them core issues!  Three issues today, three more tomorrow, and what would you add?

Bible Version – I have my preference and I think I have some solid justification for my preference.  But this is not an issue I’ll fight over.  I tend to preach from the pew Bible in the church – that way most people are looking at the same thing.  If the church expresses a preference, then I honor that.  If they want The Message, or the King James Version, I suppose I will use that.  (In my preparation I will use my preferred versions and original languages, then shift to the version for preaching in the final phase of preparation.)

Length of Sermon – A church may want an hour, or they may want twenty minutes.  While I am not known for immaculate time-keeping, I am never trying to make an issue out of this.  Some people seem to think anything less than thirty-five minutes is not expository preaching at all.  Others are passionate in their view that people can’t concentrate beyond twenty-five minutes.  I think both are wrong, but I won’t make an issue out of it!

Form of Sermon – Only verse-by-verse is true preaching.  Only deductive sermons are expository.  Only narrative preaching connects with people. There are so many narrow views around.  Some seem to think that their sermon shape came down from the mount with the blueprint for the tabernacle.  I do not support the notion that expository preaching, by definition, implies any particular form.  Expository preaching is a philosophy of preaching.  The form of the sermon is my choice as the preacher – what will be most effective for communicating the main idea and aiming toward the sermonic purpose?

The Preacher’s Heart – Part 3

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Culture and call, community and communion.  All arenas of life, sub-plots in the story God is writing in us.  All are arenas of critical importance for us, since it is in respect to these that our choices in response to God’s initiative determine how God shapes our hearts.  The final two arenas:

Arena 5: Conflict – Conflict is guaranteed in leadership (it may be personal, relational, demonic, or organizational).  Criticism is also part of the package.  This is no less the case for preachers.  How do you engage with the inevitable conflicts that come your way?  These are not distractions from your growth as a leader, these are key moments in shaping your heart for leadership.  (Again consider how Moses was shaped by conflict in Egypt, and criticism in the wilderness.  Or think of David versus Saul, and versus Absalom.  And Paul faced challenges from the church as a new convert, conflict with Barnabas, persecution from Jews and opposition within the church regarding his apostleship.)

Arena 6: Commonplace –  In the ordinary mundane things of life you are being shaped.  The normal routine, when no-one is watching, when you are “plugging away” in your role, in your relationships.  To be shaped well: look for God in these times, keep learning, say yes to God (obey in the small stuff), stay grateful.  We can sometimes rush toward the exciting end of ministry, but remember how God shapes us in these low-key times.  For Moses it was decades in the desert, for David there were the years on the run, for Paul there was obscurity for the first years, and so much more.  For us, perhaps we have wilderness seasons, but also the repetitious routine of time in the study.

It all counts, as long as we choose to respond well.  God uses every element of life to shape us as preachers, as leaders, as men and women after His own heart.

The Preacher’s Heart – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Last time I introduced the first two categories in Reggie McNeal’s book, A Work of Heart.  These six “arenas” are the sub-plots of our lives through which God is shaping us as his followers, as preachers, as leaders.  How we respond to these initiatives will determine what we become.  Last time we considered briefly culture and call.

Arena 3: Community – We are, by nature, creatures of community.  Your family of origin, current family, relationships, friendships, all are shaping and sustaining you for leadership.  Issues here include love, forgiveness, identity, and purposeful relationships (mentoring).  Consider the influence of Moses’ families of origin, Jethro, Joshua.  Consider David’s family background, his mighty men, his Abigail.  Consider how Paul was shaped by Barnabas, Timothy and Silas, Luke, Epaphras, etc.

Arena 4: Communion – Your conscious cultivation of your own relationship with God – rest, conversation, devotion, worship.  It is so easy, with hindsight, to see the value of Paul’s time in obscurity, or David’s years on the run, or Moses’ decades in the desert and then the weeks on the mountain.  How much they fellowshipped with God, what sweet communion they enjoyed.  Yet at the time, without hindsight, so many would choose rather to dry up in the heart.

Any understanding of the Christian life that is not, at its core, about relationship with God and with others, is surely grossly inadequate.  Perhaps it would be a good idea to take some time to evaluate your own state of heart in respect to communion with God and community (how easy to fall into the trap of “lone rangering” in ministry…how dangerous!)

The Preacher’s Heart – Part 1

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Whenever you teach a preaching course you are faced with the same challenge.  It is possible to teach skills and principles, but it is not possible to fully train a preacher.  There is that element that can only come from God’s work in a person’s life.  Partially it is a matter of spiritual formation and maturity.  Partially it involves gifting and even natural ability (also a gift).  I’d like to take a couple of posts to scratch the surface of this vast subject.

Reggie McNeal’s book, A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders is a first-rate volume.  I refer to it as my favorite book on leadership.  As preachers, we are leaders.  Whether or not the other trappings of leadership and organizational structure exist, when we preach, we lead.  McNeal rightly points out that leadership is ultimately a matter of the heart.  God is always at work, shaping the hearts of leaders.  Our privilege is to respond to God’s initiative in at least six arenas of life.  The choices we make in response to God’s initiative “are the story of your life.”

Arena 1: Culture – Moses was shaped by Egyptian, Hebrew and Midianite culture.  Paul drew on his Jewish and Roman cultural background.  We need to study our own culture, and other cultures.  No culture is neutral, each has positive and negative elements.  So how do we respond to where God has placed us culturally?  God calls us to engage with culture, and also transcend it or be distinct within it.

Arena 2: Call – A sense of destiny and purpose is important in ministry.  Though each story is different, there is usually both critical moments and an ongoing discovery process.  Moses had the burning bush, and a whole lot of process to work through.  David was anointed by Samuel, followed by much time for soul-searching.  Paul knew both the crisis and the process.  Why you are here on earth, now, wired as you are (gifts, talents, skills, personality), for what purpose?  What is your sense of destiny and direction, passion and purpose? 

The choices we make in response to these realities are critical in the shaping of our lives.

In the next two posts I will share two more pairs of “arenas of God’s heart-shaping initiative” in all our stories.

If You Could Preach Any Passage

/ Peter Mead / 7 Comments

Just imagine you weren’t in the middle of a series.  Imagine you could free up two or three days to study any passage and then prepare a message just because you want to.  What passage would it be?  Would it be an old favorite that you haven’t looked at in a while?  Perhaps Psalm 23 or John 3 or maybe 1Corinthians 13?  Would it be something more obscure you’ve always wanted to study, but haven’t had the opportunity?  Perhaps a minor prophet, a story from Kings or the final few verses of an epistle?

If you could study and preach any passage right now, which would it be?  I’d love to hear.

Oh, and one more question – when are you going to do it?  Either in your church, create a gap and preach something just because you want to.  Or maybe find a small local church and offer to speak in their midweek service if they have one.  Or maybe get creative in some other way.  However you do it, just do it.  Every now and then it is good to preach something just because you have the desire.

What is Your Center?

/ Mike Roth / Leave a comment

Haddon Robinson says this of preaching:  “If preaching is not your center, then you will not preach. You will give all of your time, all of your energy, and all of your heart to other areas of ministry. However, if you are called by God to preach, if you burn to preach, if preaching is your center, then you will do whatever is necessary to make preaching central to your week of ministry.”

As you prepare to preach today, pray for God to work in power.  As you finish your pulpit ministry today and start to prepare for another week, prayerfully consider these words.  Perhaps you will find a renewed passion to make preaching central this week.  If preaching is your center, then you will find yourself doing just that.

Warning! Danger Lurking Nearby!

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

All sin is dangerous.  We should never be complacent about any sin or the risk it poses.  But surely the sin of pride should be top of our danger list as preachers.  Pride, a sense of independence, not needing God or others, is a strangely familiar companion to pulpit ministry.  Perhaps it is something about the stepping out from the crowd in order to speak to the crowd.  Perhaps it is a fruit of the respect many show toward those with up-front ministry.  Perhaps it is the result of the higher level learning that is expected of those who speak.  Perhaps the enemy turns up the pressure looking for a high profile casualty.  There are many perhaps-es, but one certainty – pride is a serious danger for every preacher.

Watch out for the warning signs.  A lack of prayer in preparation or following ministry.  An attitude of complacency and a sense of being capable in your own strength.  A yearning to get the microphone, then a resistance to giving it up.  A yielding to the temptation to say what you know will receive praise from the hand-shakers after the meeting.  An excessive appreciation of positive comments from listeners, and maybe an over-reaction to any who would dare to question or critique.  A resistance to sharing the pulpit with appropriate others.

Pride is always lurking nearby.  At the slightest hint of its presence, let us be diligent to humble ourselves at the foot of the cross again.  In our brokenness, perhaps God will lift us up and use us as preachers again, but let’s lose the notion that this is guaranteed.  He doesn’t need us.  Yet He chooses to use us – a fact that borders on a miracle if we really look in the mirror!

Struggling With Your Spouse?

/ Mike Roth / 1 Comment

Sunday morning is often an easy time to get into conflict with your spouse.  Somewhere between waking up and pulling up to the church parking lot, sparks can fly.

Haddon Robinson was asked by a seminary student, “How do you preach following a blow-out with your spouse?” Haddon answered, “Everyone wants to know you struggle, they just don’t want to smell the gun smoke. You have to make things right before you preach.”

Banish Boredom from the Sermon

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

They say that people no longer want to sit through a boring traditional sermon.  I don’t agree.  I don’t think people ever wanted to sit through a boring sermon.  Fred Craddock suggests that boredom is a form of evil, and I agree with Haddon Robinson that it is a sin to bore people with the Bible.  Take a moment to self-evaluate – are your sermons ever boring?

Boredom is partly a contagious attitude.  Somehow we have to make sure that we don’t find the sermon or its content boring.  The danger is always present since we spend hours working on the passage and sermon before preaching it.  Actually, I think the danger is often the opposite: that we get distracted by other things and fail to spend the necessary time in preparation.  Generally, the more time I spend preparing in a passage, the more excited I get about it (unless I’m trying to force it into some sermon form).  Whatever the cause, make sure you are not bored with the passage, the ministry, the routine, even subconsciously, or else it will contagiously spread to your listeners!

Boredom can be overcome.  During preparation, scan your outline or manuscript with a boring meter.  Note the parts of the message that are somewhat boring.  At these points overcome the problem before it occurs.  Engage the imagination in description or illustration.  Consider contemporary ways to communicate the ancient truth.  Can a story be used that will drive the message forward?  Is it a moment to reveal something slightly personal?  How does the text affect me – can I let that show?  Would it be helpful and appropriate to season the sermon with a hint of humor?

Enthusiasm and imagination are keys to unlocking boredom from a sermon, but try to overcome the problem ahead of time.  Try to avoid discovering the sermon is boring by the facial feedback of a disconnecting congregation.  It’s far easier to fix in the study than in the service!