Preacher’s Personal Life

World Four

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

The world of the Bible, the world of contemporary culture, and the world of the local congregation. Three worlds in which the effective preacher must be able to move freely and knowledgeably. Then there is a fourth world in Robinson’s list. This is the inner world of the preacher. This one is easily neglected. Yet it is critical because it can color everything else.

As a preacher, I am studying the Bible, determining author’s idea, wrestling with sermonic purpose, considering effective ways to communicate, etc. Yet I do not stand aloof from the process of building the bridge as some kind of outside contractor. I am part of the culture. I am usually part of the congregation. I have my own presuppositions, history, family issues, temperament, baggage and emotional perspectives. The more we can prayerfully understand ourselves, hopefully the better we can avoid our own baggage becoming dead weight in our sermons. Homiletical harangues, sermonic scoldings and religious rants are often born out of personal issues. These tirades spell trouble for our listeners, so consider the fourth world. It is not healthy to navel gaze, but it is also wrong to be oblivious to our own inner realities. Allow the Holy Spirit, personal times of evaluation, helpful books from Biblical counselors and interaction with close friends help you know yourself. You’re building a bridge, know how your subconscious life may pre-determine the direction and manner of your construction.

The Holy Spirit and Your Preaching – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

Thankfully preaching is not just you and your listeners. It’s so much bigger than that. Your preparation is critical stewardship before God. Their openness to listen is also a vital stewardship of their opportunity. But there is also the Holy Spirit:

The Spirit of God is at work long before the sermon passes through the air. The work of God in the people of God is constant. Our privilege is to be a tool in that greater work. So long before we stand to preach, the Spirit of God has already been working in peoples’ lives – drawing them to Christ, convicting them of sin, disciplining believers, orchestrating life’s circumstances and so on.

The Holy Spirit is critical in the delivery of the sermon. The older writers referred to the “unction.” Today we might refer to the “anointing.” The fact is that true preaching goes beyond our preparation and ability (both of which require of us good stewardship), to have a contagious vibrancy that can only be credited to the delivery taking place in the power of the Spirit. This is not something that can be stirred up by our own pre-delivery ritual, but can surely be harmed by our character, motives, attitude – by sin.

The work of the Spirit continues after the sermon is finished. Thankfully it is not our responsibility to follow up on every individual in minute detail, convicting, encouraging, filling, urging, etc. When we lay our effort before the throne, God’s work presses on. Praise the Lord.

The Holy Spirit and Your Preaching – Part 1

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

When it comes to preaching, it is easy to refer to the Holy Spirit by way of excuse. How simple to bring in the Holy Spirit as an excuse not to do some difficult aspect of preparation, or to cover for a lack of attention to some aspect of the preparation process. This is very unfair. Preaching is a spiritual work, and so the Holy Spirit must be given His rightful place. Here are some thoughts that will probably stimulate other thoughts:

Preaching is our work and God’s work, not one or the other. Our responsibility for the mechanics of sermon preparation in no way negates the Holy Spirit’s role in the dynamics of sermon preparation. Likewise, the Spirit’s role in bringing fruit from the preaching event does not remove our responsibility to participate fully.

The foundational concern is the spiritual walk of the preacher. Everything that the Bible teaches in relation to the spiritual walk of a believer is also, and especially, true of the preacher. This relates to character, to life choices, to prayerful preparation for ministry and so on. This means walking in step with the Spirit, not grieving the Spirit, fanning into flame the gift of the Spirit, and living a life controlled by the Spirit.

The preparation process involves the Spirit at every step. Every stage of the process could be prefixed with the term, “Prayerfully. . .” We must prayerfully select the passage, prayerfully study the passage, prayerfully determine the author’s idea and so on. We should not work in a personal vacuum and then merely ask for God’s stamp of approval just prior to delivery.

(Ramesh Richard has a helpful appendix on the Holy Spirit and preaching in Preparing Expository Sermons which influenced this post.)

TIM Too

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I previously shared five areas of life and ministry that must be watched as we pursue Total Integrity Management. Here’s one more worthy of pondering:

Do you allow time for the text to work in you first? If you have a schedule that means every message is prepared at the last minute, this is a problem. Last minute may happen sometimes, but is it last minute every time? We need to schedule some gap so that we can study a passage and then allow it to soak for a while before considering how to preach it with relevance to others. Perhaps you should consider a 10-day lead up instead of a 5-day approach. Haddon Robinson, and others, suggest this. Do some initial reading and exegetical work the Thursday ten days before you preach. You can then set it aside until the following Monday or Tuesday, but it will have had some time to soak in. Perpetually rushed preparation is an integrity issue. We must allow time for the passage to work in us, so that through us, we can deliver God’s message with integrity, to others.

TIM in the Preacher’s Life

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Does TQM mean anything to you? These three letters were indelibly marked on my brain in university. I studied business theory when TQM was a big deal. Total Quality Management. The letters are stuck in my head even though the theory is not. However, I’d like us to consider something that matters to us as preachers – TIM. Nothing to do with Paul’s apostolic representative in Ephesus. Total Integrity Management. As preachers we must manage our lives and ministries for total integrity. This reaches far:

1. Personal life. We must be people who are above reproach, living lives that bear the scrutiny of watching eyes. This relates to relationships, fidelity, private interests, hobbies, tax payments, internet use, everything.

2. Preparation for preaching. We should do the study and preparation that people believe we do, and that we suggest we do. There may be short-cuts, and some may be legitimate at times, but watch your integrity. It is legitimate to learn from other preachers, perhaps even to use their wording of an idea, or illustration. But when you take, give credit where appropriate. If you short-circuit your ministry by lifting entire sermons off the internet, at least be honest about it and don’t give the impression you’ve been poring over the text for yourself.

3. The sermon’s connection to the text. We must have the integrity to be sure that our message is legitimately derived from the text we use. There is no excuse for springboard preaching, where the text is a launching point for our own thinking.

4. Illustrational material requires honesty too. It is fine to make up a story, Jesus did it. But be careful not to be dishonest in doing so. You know how to convey a story so people know it is fictional. If you didn’t experience it, don’t act as if you did. If our integrity is compromised in a small story, it is compromised. Even if a story is true, but is very bizarre, be careful. No matter how much you affirm its veracity, if people doubt it, then your integrity is undermined. Is it worth it for that story?

5. Emotional manipulation is not our trade. If the text is genuinely moving, let it do its work. But we are not charlatans who play with emotions to manipulate responses from our listeners. You know if this is a temptation or not.

We need to go for TIM. Ultimately, your integrity is your responsibility. Besides you, only God knows what’s really going on. Ask Him to convict you by His Spirit and keep your TIM on track.

Tell Me Why I Don’t Like Mondays?

/ Peter Mead / 6 Comments

Donald Sunukjian suggests that for men, preaching is the closest we ever come to giving birth (ladies reading this – you’re right, we have no idea!) He talks about this thing growing inside and then finally coming out in an intense delivery, followed the next day by the post-partum blues.

Maybe some preachers always feel refreshed and revitalized after preaching. Maybe some can’t wait to get stuck in to work the next day. But for those of us that are sometimes spent after preaching, what should we do with our Mondays?

Many pastors traditionally take Monday off, partially for this reason. Sunday is the busiest day, but also preaching is a uniquely draining experience. So that’s a place to start. Consider rest after the emotional and spiritual exertion of preaching. While rest may re-energize, there are times when it merely exacerbates the lack of motivation. So rest, but also be active. Physical activity, exercise, has a definite effect on our emotional, mental and spiritual reserves.

Consider reading things that are “just for me” on Mondays. Spiritually uplifting, devotional, relaxing, unrelated to present sermon series kind of reading (my wife would probably suggest reading a novel).

Be extra wary of activity with a raised level of temptation. Internet surfing, movie watching, time alone, travel, etc. All are risky, especially when internally depleted. Some of these may be unavoidable (travel), or even helpful (a safe movie), but always be wary. Sin crouches and often pounces when we’re extra vulnerable.

Select your company carefully. Some people energize and motivate, while others drain and discourage. Watch who you’re with on a day that starts with depleted reserves.

Mondays matter, so plan them carefully. Then on Tuesday? You’re pregnant again.

Internal Chaos? Be Encouraged.

/ Mike Roth / 3 Comments

In R.E.C. Browne’s classic work on homiletics The Ministry of the Word, he writes, “Creative work always brings creative workers to the edge of an abyss. It is there that the most creative work is done and it is there that conditions exist which may be the undoing of the worker: passionate faith gives rise to profound doubt; love of truth dreads error, bringing one to the verge of falsehood; depth of love increases ability to hate in the name of love; zeal drives the zealous towards fanaticism; desire to influence others brings one into the danger of being enslaved by those whom he would free. Great preaching, like great art, cannot be the work of those who know no chaos within them and it cannot be the work of those who are unable to master the chaos within them (p. 17).”

For those who preach regularly, this place of chaos is known all too well – and it can be paralyzing. I pray the Lord strengthens you to continue His work proclaiming this Word that brings life. May the apostle Peter’s words be of encouragement to you today: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 4:10-11).”

Mike and Peter have responded to a comment on this post.

How Being a Preacher Can Kill Your Bible Study

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

The stages of sermon preparation are not a hard and fast series of steps. It is possible to have a useful thought for the introduction, conclusion, illustrations, and so on, very early in the process. Yet these are all stage 7 elements – message details. So even though it is possible to have thoughts at any time, it is usually better to note them and leave them until later. This is especially important in stage 2 – passage study. A commitment to expository preaching requires that we keep stage 2 unpolluted by stages 5-7.

1. As you are studying your passage you are not looking for a sermon. If you collapse stage 6 – sermon shape, into stage 2 – passage study, you will undermine the whole process. It is critical to study the passage first, to understand it, rather than to form it into a sermon.

2. If your mind creeps ahead, make a note and get back to stage 2. We’re all tempted to see our points as we study. Write them down and put them aside. That is not yet. We easily look for our sermon structure, will there be two points, or three? Inductive or deductive? Don’t. Write down any thoughts and then put that aside.

3. Be clear on your goal in studying a passage. What is the goal of studying the passage? It is not to find the sermon. It is not to determine the points of the sermon. It is not to utilize our Greek or Hebrew until we feel we have fulfilled some sense of duty. It is not to parse verbs endlessly, or do word study after word study. The goal of studying the passage is to find, with some degree of confidence, the passage idea. The goal of stage 2 is stage 3 (and part of stage 4). The goal of studying the passage is to know what the author’s idea was, and why he wrote it. Seems obvious, but we easily forget. In fact, many of us have never been told that. I don’t recall my seminary profs training me to exegete a passage so that I grasp the author’s main idea. But that is the goal. All the Bible study skills we have are there to work towards that.

Determine the main idea of the passage, with as much confidence as you can achieve in the time you have. Then you are ready to start considering the purpose of your sermon, your sermon idea and your sermon outline. Do these things too soon and you may abort your Bible study.

The Preacher & Prayer

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Sometimes the obvious needs stating. Preachers should be pray-ers. While it may be possible to follow a procedure and produce a sermon, we must never lose sight of the fact that it is not possible to achieve life transformation unless God is at work. Thus, we need to be on our knees. I could leave it at that, but let me give some examples of how I stimulate my own prayer life regarding ministry (although I know I could do so much more):

1. Pre-prep prayer. Before planning the preaching calendar, and then before preparing a series or a specific message, pray. For example, while driving I will sometimes mentally survey through forthcoming ministry in my mind and pray for each meeting. I might cover three to six months worth of varied ministry in a decent length car journey.

2. Pew and pulpit prayer. Before moving into the role I have now, I was in a more normal local church situation. This meant I could go to the church and run through my message on the platform. I know some preachers who like to pray through their notes as preparation, which is a good option. For me it works well to actually preach through the message and then pray about it. So after preaching it through I would spend time pacing the platform, praying for the meeting, then sitting in the pews and praying for the people who would be there. It is easy to be specific in the prayer when you can see in your mind the people who will be sitting there. (It is not so easy to do this when you preach in different churches, or your church meets in a rented facility. To be honest, I miss these times.)

3. Pre-preaching prayer. Before the sermon, if possible, I like to be near the back of the room. That way I can be thinking through the message and praying for the specific people who are present. Unfortunately some churches expect the speaker to sit on the front pew, or even worse, to run the whole meeting.

Just three of many many possibilities. I’d love to read what other preachers do, please comment. Whatever you do, may you be like James the brother of Jesus, aka camel knees.