Preacher’s Personal Life

Prayer, Preaching, Professionalism?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

 

Is there any stage of the preaching process that we should not be bathing in prayer? When people are first exposed to training in homiletics there is often an initial concern. Is this “process” reducing a highly spiritual ministry to a series of stages, techniques and professionalism? That would depend on the instructor, but I’d hope the answer would be no.

We should be praying at every stage. We should prayerfully select the passage and make sure it is a true literary unit. We should prayerfully study the passage and determine author’s purpose and idea. We should prayerfully consider our congregation and determine appropriate sermon purpose, idea, strategy and details. We should even pray about delivery, and of course we should be praying for the people as well as ourselves throughout the process.

Prayer does not result in a bypass around the work. Praying as we select the passage does not mean we will receive direct revelatory guidance about what to preach. Praying during passage study and sermon preparation does not excuse us from the long hours of wrestling with the text or the often grueling work of crafting the preaching idea, and so on. So we don’t pray begging for a hard work bypass. If we do receive an objective direct revelation then we should obey, but prayer is not primarily about that. Prayer is a lot about dependence, about humility, about asking for wisdom as we do our part of His work.

Let us be preachers who do not shy away from the work involved in our ministry, but let us also be preachers who never fail to pray at every stage in the process.

Preaching – Spiritual Gifts, Learned Skills And . . .? – Part 2

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Yesterday we considered spiritual gifting and learned skill. I would like to add two more elements into the mix today. Two things we should dwell on in regard to preaching:

Spiritual Element of Preaching – In the old days this slightly intangible element was called “unction.” Today many tend to refer to “anointing.” Effective preaching takes more than gifting and training. There is that intangible aspect closely tied to personal spirituality, prayer, and the mystery of divine enabling. Personal holiness should be above reproach. There are various factors in this, but no guaranteed recipe.

Personal Passion for Preaching – This is not a passion for personal glory or attention. Vanity and pride should be abhorred in pulpit ministry. But I refer to that burning in the bones, that deeply felt desire to study and communicate God’s Word. Perhaps this is partially a gift issue, or an anointing issue, but it is an issue worthy of consideration.

These four elements all beg further thought. Should you preach this Sunday? Should I? Can we not? Why?

Piper’s Ten Tips from Edwards

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The final chapter of The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper contains ten lessons from the preaching and writing of Jonathan Edwards. I’d like to list all, but highlight a handful for us this morning.

So here’s a list of half of the ten. Preachers should Saturate with Scripture their messages, and employ analogies and images, driving the teaching home with use of threat and warning. They should plead for a response and be intense. It is easy to see where Piper received his greatest preaching influence. Now the other half:

Stir up holy affections – Edwards was right in recognizing that the theological tradition he was such a big part of can easily fall into a mind and will centered anthropology. He was not an advocate for unthinking fervor, for the preacher must also enlighten the mind. However, if all the preacher does is educate the brain and pressure the will, he is missing the driving seat of a person, namely the affections. This is a lesson we would all do well to ponder biblically. Hence we should probe the workings of the heart.

Yield to the Holy Spirit in prayer – the preaching event is such a divine working that we are foolish to lean on our own “professionalism” as communicators. Who among us would say that their ministry has enough or too much prayer in it? For our preaching to reflect the Christlikeness that it should, we must be broken and tender-hearted – a fruit, in part, of much prayer.

Preaching’s Core Vision

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

“We shall never have great preachers until we have great divines.” That was C.H.Spurgeon’s opinion. In the busy world we now inhabit, a world of phone calls, emergencies, emails, travel, financial complexities, family responsibilities and ministerial intricacies, we need to freshly recommit ourselves to the core vision of the preacher. Our core vision is not a philosophy of ministry, a theological stance or sense of calling. Our core vision is God Himself.

We have the privilege of being so captivated by the greatness and grace of our Lord that every moment of our lives is lived in the shadow, no the glory, of that vision. A deep awareness of who God is will continue to drive us back to His Word, diligently pursuing more of Him so that we might respond further. This is not about discipline and effort, this is about delight and response. We dive into His Word so that we might see Him more clearly, be captured more fully, and be stirred more deeply. Then we will preach more effectively.

Our preaching should flow from a personal intimacy with God and a personal commitment to His Word. That is what our people need.

Spiritual Warfare and Preaching – Part 3

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Since spiritual warfare is a reality we face as preachers, perhaps there is more we should be doing in order to stand firm against the wiles of the enemy? Again, I would love to hear your suggestions. I would like to focus my thoughts on one key area – prayer.

Preaching Prayer Partners – I am a firm believer in the importance of prayer partners. We are blessed with a network of prayer partners that stand with us in prayer as we minister. This is not just the privilege of missionaries, why not preachers too? Seek out a group of people who will pray for you as a preacher, your family and your ministry. Then remember to communicate regularly, appreciate appropriately and pray for them as well.

Preaching Prayer Teams – This is one of the most difficult things to organize, perhaps because it has so much potential. Find a small group who will pray during the service, interceding for those ministering (preacher, music team, etc.), and for those in attendance. The challenge is first of all finding people willing to miss the service, then finding people who understand what it means to intercede throughout the time rather than for just the first few minutes. Training, encouragement and appreciation are vital.

Personal Prayer Life – Arranging for others to pray for you and your ministry is no substitute for a dynamic personal prayer life. In this area I am more of a pragmatist than a spiritual disciplines fanatic. Do whatever it takes to stimulate and cultivate a healthy prayer life – journaling, prayer-walking, prayer while swimming, prayer while pacing, prayer-driving, etc. There really is no substitute for time with God.

Enjoying Exegesis

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At its core, a commitment to expository preaching is a commitment to biblical exegesis. If we are going to rest our eternity on the message of the Scriptures, and entrust the needs of our congregations to that message, then we must diligently pursue the meaning of the text. Our ministry demands a disciplined, responsible and wholehearted commitment to exegesis. While our exegesis should be rigorous, we should not allow it to become a chore for us. The journey of discovery as we wrestle with God’s Word can be a lifelong delight. As Richard Erickson puts it, “…always keep the ball rolling, however slowly. . . . Strive not for perfection, but for persistence.” His book on New Testament Exegesis is on its way to me, and I look forward to reading it. But more importantly, let us enjoy the privilege of studying God’s Word.

One of my professors at seminary, Dr Bruce Fong, now at Michigan, would always start class the same way, “Well, good morning class, always a pleasure to welcome you here. No place on earth I’d rather be, than studying God’s Word with you. Man, O man! What a privilege!” Let us never allow the pressures of ministry, the problems of people and the perpetually approaching deadlines to steal from us the joy of studying God’s Word.

The Problem of Performance

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The danger of performing is not only there when preaching a first-person sermon. It is a danger every time we preach. After all, as a preacher we study an ancient text, determine its main idea and its contemporary relevance, then design a message to communicate both the meaning and the relevance to the congregation who will sit before us on Sunday morning. Our goal is not to fill time, but to stir people and to see lives transformed. As has been said many times, we preach to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. And if we’re honest, there are ways to get that done. It is not out of our reach to spin a story a certain way in order to turn the emotions of our listeners, or ask a rhetorical question that we know will poke a nerve of guilt in them. So how are we to avoid stepping up to the pulpit and treating it like a stage?

1. Give preparation time to soak. Last minute preparation will lead to last minute desparation wherein “preaching tactics” will seem like our only hope. We must be diligent to begin the study and thinking process early enough for a message or a series to soak in before we must pour out. Even if all we can do is to start reading and making some notes ahead of time, it is worth it. Performance is lines through an actor, but preaching is truth through personality (Phillips Brooks succinct definition). Allow time for the preparation to become a part of who you are so that you preach something you truly believe and know deep down.

2. Prepare more, not less. In the quest for “natural” delivery, it may be tempting to prepare less. The hope is that what comes out will be less of a performance and more “from the heart.” The reality is that unprepared preaching will often lean heavily on our own abilities. It is better to craft, to sweat, to wrestle, to pray, to think and to think some more. As I have written before, in an ideal world it is best to write out a manuscript in full and edit it closely and prayerfully. All that extra work will result not in performance, but genuine preaching “from the heart” as well as “from the text” – choosing to do minimal work will compromise both the text and your heart, leaving only any performance skills you may have.

3. Pray. Not just a “bless this effort” prayer, but real prayer. Personal wrestling with the God who is at work in you first. Persistent wrestling for those who will receive the message. There is a great spiritual battle raging around you and around them. Let us not fight in the pulpit a battle we have not first heavily engaged in the closet.

Preacher’s Worst Nightmare

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong for a preacher. What is your worst nightmare? Last week I was at an event at All Souls in London, where a preacher referred to arriving at a church and realizing the message he planned to preach there was one he had preached there before. Is that a nightmare? What about sitting in a service as the first part dragged longer and longer, leaving less and less time for the message? I haven’t enjoyed that experience when it has happened. Or the other extreme. A couple of years ago in the Caribbean I was asked to preach for twenty minutes, but when we arrived at the church I was told my message would be live on the radio and I had to finish on the dot at 10:05am . . . and I was introduced at 9:00am. A twenty minute message squeezed into sixty-five. I’m sure you could add to this list of preaching nightmares.

But the worst nightmare? That’s easy. Preaching a sermon that is all me and no God. That’s the worst nightmare.

Perpetual Preaching Student?

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To be the best stewards of the ministry the Lord has entrusted us with, we need to keep stretching ourselves. There are many ways to do this.

Preaching Passages – Choosing to preach difficult passages or subjects is often helpful. For those who speak in a variety of churches, it is helpful to have them select the passage rather than choosing your own every time.

Preaching Books – It is good to read books related to the field of preaching and related fields like communication and hermeneutics. If you click on “Review” in the right-hand bar, you’ll find reviews of several very helpful books.

Preaching Exposure – Look for opportunities to hear preachers from outside your own church or circle of influence. Perhaps a respected preacher online, or better yet, a conference or event. It may be hard for pastors to get to other churches on a Sunday (of course), but there may be the odd opportunity to do so, or midweek events. Take the opportunity to listen to good preachers and evaluate what they do well.

Preaching Training – Look for opportunities to take seminars or courses designed for preachers. Perhaps in a local Bible school, or in other venues. There is much to be gained from any course in preaching, just remember that you will get out as much as you put in to the experience.

Preacher Fellowship – It is easy to miss this one, but perhaps this is the best of all. Look for ways to get together with other preachers. Perhaps for an evening every couple of months, or perhaps for a few days less frequently. Opportunities to discuss, to learn, to study together, to pray together, to stimulate each other in your ministry. I am planning for such a get together and cannot wait. I will report on the experience so others can benefit too.

How do you stay fresh and stimulate your own growth as a preacher? It is easy to settle in to a pattern, but it is privilege to be a lifelong student of preaching.

Lack of Application? Not Just A Pulpit Problem.

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A follow-up thought to yesterday’s post. The difference between a true expository sermon and an interesting biblical lecture is often the speaker’s awareness of sermonic purpose. As Bryan Chappell wrote (Christ-Centered Preaching, p52) “Without the ‘so what?’ we preach to a ‘who cares?’” In his own way Haddon Robinson has put it like this, “Preaching can be like delivering a baby, or like delivering a missile – in one your goal is to just get it out, but in the other your goal is to hit the target!”

Perhaps the problem goes deeper though. While it is true that we must think through the purpose for a sermon before preaching it, there seems to be an issue at an earlier stage in the process. Are we saying that it is possible to study a passage, but not follow through and consider its application? Hermeneutical purists argue about whether application is a part of the hermeneutical process. Yet as preachers our concern is not academic wrangling, but bringing the Word of God into the lives of His people, by the power of His Spirit, to see His purposes worked out. May we never fall into the trap of studying a passage, determining the author’s intended meaning, but failing to consider the contemporary application of that passage in our own lives.

Perhaps a lack of application in the pulpit is the fruit of a lack of application in personal study. The implications are frightening.