Religion

Don’t Jump Right In

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

The first moments of a spoken message are critical.  In the first moments your listeners will make a lot of sub-conscious and conscious evaluations of you as a speaker, your apparent integrity, likeability, authority, etc.  One small but effective piece of advice is don’t jump right in.  Before you begin, take some time in a commanding pause where you stand before your listeners and make eye contact with them.  If you are leading the service, pause before preaching.  If you are introduced, then walk purposefully to the stage, put anything on the podium (Bible, notes, watch or whatever), then begin your “eye-contactful purposeful pause.”

This is not a hard and fast rule, but it is good advice.  I remember hearing Luis Palau speaking at a missions conference some years ago.  He was already preaching before he got to the steps up to the stage!  If you trust the sound crew to have your mic working, and if you have both boundless enthusiasm and a super-engaging dynamic persona, then feel free to do this too.  Otherwise, probably better to get set and pause.

One way of ensuring this pause is not rushed is to slowly internally state your opening sentence before you verbally state it.  It may feel strange, but if you begin this way with a calm confidence, listeners will be intently listening when you begin.  If you start like a runner at the gun, eyes down, still putting your notes down, etc., then it will take some time before everyone is listening (and perhaps some never will!)  The first moments of the message matter very much, so make sure nobody misses them.  Begin in a commanding and purposeful manner, don’t jump right in.

Solid Solitary Converts

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

We’ve probably all heard about evangelistic preaching that has somehow manipulated the crowd.  I remember sitting in the back row of a meeting with a very famous preacher.  When it came to the evangelistic part of the evening, he presented the gospel.  Then when it was time for the altar call, somehow the gospel message morphed into “if you have done this before but still struggle with sin, come forward…”  Naturally the numbers swelled significantly!  It may look great on reports, but it is manipulative and dishonest if these people are counted as converts.

I’m not in any way suggesting altar calls are inappropriate.  In some situations they are highly appropriate.  But manipulation and dishonesty in preaching is always inappropriate.  The end does not justify the means.  Let’s be sure to preach the gospel and pray for thousands to respond, but rather than get clever with the call, let’s praise God for solid solitary converts!

They Make It Look Easy

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This year I was in the States when the Wimbledon tennis championships were taking place.  So I missed the annual spectacle.  I’ve watched it many times.  Not just the tennis on TV, but the resulting tennis in the local courts.  People watch their heroes on TV, the best tennis players in the world.  Then they are inspired to go to the local courts and have a go themselves.  Courts that sit empty for most of the year are always busy the first week of July!  Why?  Because the best make it look easy.  It’s true in tennis, in football, in every sport.

In some ways that is our challenge as preachers.  We have to be the best that we can be.  We have to study exegetical stuff that would never be a bestseller.  We have to wrestle with the complexities of current trends and the complex motivations that move people to think in certain ways.  We have to somehow interact with all levels of social, religious, spiritual and fashionable trends, sometimes at very high levels.  Yet in it all, we have to be careful not to come across as high academics.  It’s tempting to do that.  After all, it’s easier to not translate from erudite verbosity to normal speech.  It’s better for the ego to dazzle and impress our listeners.  But remember the great tennis players.  They make something immensely complex look so easy.

Let’s strive to do the same.  Replace the twelve letter word with a five letter word or a couple of them.  Speak like a compelling communicator rather than a dull lecturing “expert.”  Let’s do the extra work and put aside our egos in order to communicate effectively.  Perhaps then the gospel will be free to access lives with all practicality.  Perhaps then people will rush out to the tennis courts of their lives and apply God’s word for themselves!

Truth Is Still True

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

We all know that truth is taking a bashing on many fronts.  The notion of truth is questioned like never before by philosophers as well as the countless pseudo-philosophers excited by a couple of books they have read recently.  The representatives of truth are under scrutiny due to numerous news stories of ship-wrecked integrity.  The security of truth is generally jettisoned as people find their personal security in personal shaped worlds of their own making.  The reliability of truth is continually undermined by “progress” that shows previous pronouncements from scientists and social commentators alike to have been premature at best.  The availability of truth is shaky in a world where access to information is greater than ever, but in-depth study looks much like infomercials or virtual investment scams.

Truth is under attack.  But truth is still true.  You know your audience when you preach next time.  You know how much “apologetic” is needed for the truth that you will preach.  You know what approach will work best for those people at this time in their lives.  But remember this, truth is still true.  When you have studied God’s Word and have a central concept, a main idea, a biblical truth to proclaim, then proclaim it.  State it.  Say it.  Preach it.  Whether or not you choose to tune the apologetic element of the sermon to a high pitch, make sure you state the truth.  In a world of false and flawed claims, truth carries an uncanny attraction.  In a world of false teaching, God desires for the truth to be known.  If you have something true to preach, preach it.  Truth is still true.

Who’s The Boss?

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It is so easy to get things turned around.  Sunday is rapidly approaching and you are not yet ready to preach.  You have to preach, your name is on the bulletin.  You probably have to preach a specific passage too, that’s on the bulletin as well.  But time marches on, life happens and you’re not ready.  It’s easy to forget who the boss is for this sermon.

It is tempting to take charge.  After all, you are the one who has to stand and deliver.  You are the one people will critique over their Sunday lunch.  You are the one people might be paying to preach.  So it is tempting to take charge, to make the text fit the sermon shape or idea you have in mind.  It is tempting to make the text your servant, looking in it for interesting points from which you can jump off and preach something or other.

Remember who is in charge. Preaching is God’s work.  They are His people.  This is His church.  You are empowered by His Spirit.  You are preaching His book.  So, no matter how tight the schedule may be.  No matter how distracted or tired you may feel.  No matter how daunting the text may be.  Prayerfully wrestle with the text.  According to most good definitions of expository preaching, the text is necessarily boss over the central concept, the main idea of the sermon.

As you pray your dependence to God and submit your urgings to take over to the superior inspiration of His Word, you will remain an expository preacher.  You may not be the best ever.  You may not have taken enough time to craft a masterpiece.  But if the meaning of the text is in charge and you prayerfully strive for relevance, you will be an expository preacher.  The church needs that.  Not necessarily the best or the brightest, but just little old me and you, presenting the best and the brightest Word of God to those He chooses to put before us.

Why Reject a Shortcut?

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If there were some technology that would help our preaching, surely we should consider it, right?  Sure.  I’d consider anything.  But some shortcuts are not worth the time they save.  I was contacted by a company that sells a technology for public speakers.  The technology is supposed to cut preparation by 90%, both the work and the stress.  I look past the hype and see a technology that I might support for business presenters and sales people, but not for preachers.  Why?

Because preparation is important.  Our process is as important, maybe more important, than our end “product.”  The technology in question allows a pre-recorded message to play into the ear of the speaker who then repeats what is heard.  Supposedly it creates a more natural presentation than a teleprompter.  I’m sure it would.  But more natural than genuinely natural?  I don’t think so.

Genuine Preparation Matters – The time we spend wrestling with the text, exegeting to the best of our ability, prayerfully developing, growing and crafting a sermon is good time.  It’s time with God.  It’s time for Him to work on us and in us so that when we preach it is not information transfer, but genuine preaching.  I’m glad I don’t have to spend hours turning pages in concordances, lexicons and commentaries.  Technology has allowed more time for genuine preparation, prayerful thought and wrestling with the text and sermon.  But I don’t want to cut preparation by 90% because when it comes to preaching God’s Word, genuine preparation matters.

Genuine Delivery Matters – Speaking with your head in your notes is not the most effective way to preach.  It is disconnected and can seem like a canned presentation lacking in the authenticity people crave.  But the solution is not to fake a natural delivery.  Pretending to speak naturally by some trick of memorization, the skill of an actor learning a monologue, painting eyes on your glasses that allow you to “look up” while really looking down at notes, or hidden technology . . . it’s all somehow a pretense.  If integrity matters anywhere, it matters in preaching.  Natural is good, but genuine is critical.  Get as natural as you can, but don’t compromise your integrity.  When it comes to preaching, genuine delivery matters.

So, my apologies to the company involved.  I wish them well in their business.  But for preaching, sometimes I feel the need to reject a shortcut.

Personal Presentation

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When I teach preaching I make only a passing reference to personal presentation. What you wear, how you look, it matters, but it’s kind of a simple issue for me. For one, I don’t think it is an issue worth fighting over or dying for. If a church expects me to wear a tie, I’ll do it. If they prefer casual presentation, I’ll do it. Some may choose to fight for change (usually in the casual direction), I’d rather fight for other issues in pulpit ministry!

Here’s my simple summary of what matters:

Don’t let how you look distract your listeners. Your clothes should match. They should be appropriate for the setting (a tuxedo can be as distracting as shorts in the wrong context!) Be appropriately well-groomed. Don’t wear a dark shirt if you raise your arms while preaching and are likely to sweat. If you happen to be attractive to the opposite gender, don’t dress in a way that might be considered provocative!

Don’t let how you look undermine your credibility. Sloppy clothes or grooming don’t convey a sense of credibility. As much as it depends on you, demonstrate some discipline in regards to what is inside your clothing too.

(Oh, and since we’re getting a bit personal, I try to have breath mints in my pocket too, for the sake of those I chat with afterwards!)

Any tips to add?

Complicated Passage, Clear Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I’m scheduled to preach on of those tricky ones.  You know, one of the crux interpretum of the New Testament.  There’s the end of 1st Timothy 2, the end of 1st Peter 3, the end of James, the end of 1st John, Hebrews 6, etc.  A passage that begs every exegetical skill you possess, or if you’re rushing, a passage that just checking two or three commentaries doesn’t resolve.

It is important not to avoid the complexity as we preach.  If your listeners can see the verses, but are confused by them.  Just avoiding them in your sermon is not the solution (tempting as it may be!)  You have to address them if you’re preaching through the book, or if they’re in your preaching passage.

It is helpful to acknowledge the difficulty. Just giving a simplistic explanation may satisfy a few, but many will be left wondering what the passage really means (and they will be left with less respect for your ability to handle and explain the Word to them!)  If it is hard to interpret, don’t pretend otherwise.  Nobody should expect you to find everything super simple.

It is important not to let the complexity overwhelm the main idea. Often the main idea of a passage is still clear, even with the complicated element present.  Be sure that your main idea is clear so that the sermon is a preaching of the text with applied relevance, rather than a pulpit lecture in theological method (a lived out excursus in the pulpit section of daily life).

Pray for me as I preach one of these tricky passages.  Pray not that I’ll stun people with my brilliance, but that I’ll handle the Word well and be sure to preach the Word, not merely lecture or present an exegetical curio for their passing interest.  Let’s pray for each other to always preach the Word with accuracy and applied relevance.

A Moment to Reminisce

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Who’s the best preacher you’ve ever heard?  What was the best sermon you ever listened to?  A few months back I sat in Westminster Chapel for a day conference on the resurrection.  During the breaks I imagined what others have raved about – the ministry of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  I was about 35 years too late.  But even so, I’ve heard some good preaching in the last 20 years.

What was it about that preacher that so impressed you?  I think back to composure, the natural style and the command of Scripture I saw in Joe Stowell when he visited England in the mid-nineties.  I think back to the obviously captured heart of David Needham as I sat under his teaching at Multnomah.  What impressed you in a preacher or teacher you’ve heard?

What was it about that sermon that resonated so deeply?  I think back to the sermon on heaven that stirred my heart heaven-ward and my life world-ward that evening in Minehead.  I think back to the overwhelming power of the cross at that Saturday afternoon service where the missionary to the Muslims shared so simply.  I think back to how my God seemed so big and my heart was stirred to worship by the little Chinese preacher with the presence of a lion.  I think back to how my life was provoked to pro-active faith action in a world of lost people by that weak missionary speaker in a bizarre jacket.

Take some time to reminisce the best preachers and the best sermons.  The ones you remember without effort, even though hundreds or thousands of sermons have come and gone since.  Thank God for that speaker, for that sermon.  Prayerfully re-live the impact as you reminisce.  It’s amazing how biblical preaching can resonate so deeply that it rings loud and clear years after the sound waves have dissipated.

The Patriotic Pulpit

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Since many who read this site are in the USA, I’ll take this opportunity to raise the issue of patriotism in the pulpit (4th of July weekend, etc.)  Now I recognize the potential irony since I am writing as an English man on the day when Americans celebrate one of our only military defeats in a long history!  But actually I raise this issue for preachers in every culture.

Some church cultures espouse a very strong patriotism, while others seek to eliminate almost every reference to the country in which they are located.  I don’t want to suggest that there is a right approach.  I do suggest it is an issue worth thinking about (I suppose I’m saying be patriotic on purpose, just like I say use Powerpoint on purpose or cross-reference only if there is a real purpose in doing so, etc.)

When the listeners are thinking about patriotic issues – such as on a holiday weekend, or a day given to remembering those who gave their lives in war, etc. – it makes no sense to pretend otherwise at church.  Hopefully we would refer to a major news incident, so why not a major holiday?  God does not call us to despise our nationality or be unpatriotic.  Yet at the same time He does call us and give us a new citizenship.  During the Olympics I’m definitely British, but in all of life I am Christ’s first and foremost.  I am Christ’s more than I am British or English.  I bring my ethnicity to the unity so wonderfully created in Christ, but I never confuse my ethnicity or nationality with my faith and identity in Christ.

It’s an issue worth thinking about.  Some people think their religion is determined by their passport.  We want to be careful not to encourage such thinking in any visitors to our church on a patriotic day.  Some people may overly esteem their nationality, so that it is held on a par with their faith.  We wouldn’t want to encourage that.  Some people may despise their ethnicity or nationality for various reasons.  Again, let’s not encourage that either.  Somehow we have to be sensitive to the patriotic and the disillusioned, the elderly who fought for our freedom and those that have somehow been hurt or marginalized by that same society.  We have to be sensitive to those with a clear understanding of their true citizenship, and even more to those confused about where home really is.  We want to honor both the diversity in the church and the unity of the church.

I’m patriotic, probably more patriotic than many English people these days.  I’m married to an American and have no problem enjoying their Independence Day (although I have a few one-liners ready if I need them!)  I appreciate good-natured patriotism from any nationality (including the Scottish!)  I just think we need to think through how we approach patriotism in the pulpit.  What do you think?