Preacher

Before The Sermon

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

One of the challenges of the pandemic has been preaching to a camera without people present. Thankfully we are currently able to meet, but there have been many Sundays of just preaching to a camera. When there is an actual gathering of people, and you are preaching, there are lots of things to be aware of between the beginning of the service and the sermon itself.

1. The Time – this is number one for a reason. Sometimes delays happen. End of service still needs to arrive on time. Maybe the announcements take too long, song introductions become mini-sermons, a technical hitch slows things down. What is the result? Well, you need to preach shorter. Be aware of where you can trim time from your message (an illustration that can go, a shortcut through the introduction, removing the review of the series so far), and be careful not to edit out important elements (the major points, the key transitions, etc.) Pray that you will not be annoyed by the adjustment. People can read people and at least some of your listeners will sense it.

2. The Pre-Message Messages – between the announcements, any interviews, prayers, songs, etc., there is usually quite a bit said before you get to preach. Listen to it and maybe you can integrate elements into the message. Especially if someone has done something nerve-wracking like a testimony, be sure to acknowledge and thank them. However, you have a sermon to preach, so make sure an engaging opening (or a terrible one) doesn’t distract you and weaken the message. (And if you are like me, there are sometimes quite amusing comments that come to mind in relation to what has happened earlier in the service. These are often better left behind when it comes time to preach!)

3. The Speaker Introduction – especially if you are a guest speaker, you don’t know what they are going to say about you right before you preach. Generally just say thank you and get on with it. Clever retorts made without time to evaluate can really backfire. (A note to those introducing a speaker. Please only say what is helpful. Too much praise, too much humour, or too much time all make it harder to preach effectively!)

4. The Service Mood – sometimes a congregation is laughing after you’ve been introduced, sometimes they are in a deep and sombre moment. Perhaps they have been bored to death already, or maybe they are distracted by the crying infant. It is helpful to read the congregation and launch accordingly. Adapt your introductory comments as appropriate.

5. The Congregation – as well as evaluating the mood of the congregation, it doesn’t hurt to be aware of the people. If you are not in a position where observing would be awkward, observe and pray for your congregation. This sermon is not about you preaching it, it is about them hearing it. Pray for their hearts to be open and for yours to be beating with Christ’s heart for them.

6. The Journey – minor detail, until you make a mistake. Be sure to check your journey from where you are sat to where you will preach. Any steps? Any microphone cables? I remember one church where I had to climb a literal staircase to get to the pulpit. I was thankful for those extra moments when my introduction came far earlier than expected (and my end time was pre-determined by being a live radio broadcast – I did a lot of thinking and praying on my way up those stairs!)

7. The Focus of the Preacher – it is good to be aware of all these things and probably other things too. At the same time you are thinking about the message. In the midst of it all, remember to pray. You want to preach focused rather than distracted or distressed.

Anything else you would add to this list?

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Seven Benefits of a Slow-Burn Project

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A lot of ministry happens on fairly short notice. The weekly rhythm keeps ticking like a metronome, and it tends to get interrupted by emergencies. Church emergencies, outside ministry requests, family issues, as well as things going wrong in the house, etc., there is always something pressing. This is why sermon preparation tends to fit into the few days before Sunday. And sometimes it is like a game of Tetris making it fit!

If you don’t already have one, consider adding one more thing to your load. A slow-burn, no-pressure, long-term project. Something that motivates you biblically and theologically.

Here are seven benefits of this kind of approach:

  1. Redeem the time without stress. When people talk about redeeming the time, it sometimes becomes a frantic multi-tasking that ends up costing us sanity and productivity. Having a slow-burn project allows you to use ten minutes here and there in a way that feels enriching rather than annoying.
  2. Read different materials. I don’t tend to have the time to read journal articles when I am preparing a sermon. But with a slow-burn project I can accumulate and gradually engage with different types of materials.
  3. Get assistance in your research. It is rarely helpful to ask around for a resource when sermon prep is pressing (other than going to that friend who has a good commentary to borrow, of course). But with this kind of project I find that I ask more random people if anything comes to mind and sometimes get some very helpful things in return.
  4. Dig deeper into the text. When Sunday is coming, the sermon has to come sooner. But with a long-term project there is room to analyse the biblical text more thoroughly. If you have enough Greek or Hebrew you can really dig in and dwell in the text. You can become really familiar with a passage, its parsing, its logic, its nuances, its uniqueness. No pressure. No rush. (And if you are probing something theological or historical, you can probe so much deeper there too.)
  5. Find schedule-shifting motivation. When there isn’t a deadline pressing you on a project, there will be times when that project lies almost dormant. And other times when you feel that spark that motivates you to move other things out of the way in order to make progress on the project. That is always the best kind of pressure, the kind that builds up inside your soul to give attention to something that is motivating you.
  6. There may be a surprising ministry outcome. Don’t rush this part, but a slow project can yield surprising fruit. Obviously there may be a sermon or a series to be had, but don’t rush into that. Could there be a seminar or workshop that would help others? It could also be a magazine, or journal, article. Maybe it will move you into an academic season and become a thesis or dissertation. Perhaps a book.
  7. There will be a welcome personal outcome. Whether or not your slow-burn project yields an outcome in terms of specific ministry, it will yield all the great fruits of long-term pondering on and dwelling in God’s Word. It may be that it sparks an interest in another aspect of Scripture, or a writer from church history, or an aspect of theology, that becomes heart food for a future season of life and ministry. The slow-burn project may yield an outcome of real value for others, but it will almost certainly do something even deeper in you.

What slow-burn long-term project have you found has had a big impact in your life and ministry?

Strange Authority Speakers: 12 Concerns

/ Peter Mead / 9 Comments

Some time ago I heard someone speaking that I had never heard of before. I watched with a growing sense of dismay. What bothered me so much? I have pondered this speaker as well as others I have heard in the past, and have concluded that the unifying thread in my concerns was this: the strange authority with which this person spoke.

I am thinking out loud in this post, trying to help myself figure it out. Here are some concerning features of that strange authority that may be helpful to ponder. If any of these are true of your ministry, I would urge you to honestly talk through this post with a church leader or two. If several of these are true of someone you listen to, maybe you shouldn’t be listening to them?

1. Having to declare their authority generally means they are not an authority. If you speak your subject well, then people will recognize your authority. But speak of your authority on a subject and people may feel that you are trying to make it so.

2. Factual errors do not belong in the pulpit. I scratched my head as one speaker declared something about my country that is simply not true. A factual error may be just a single sentence in passing, but it undermines credibility for every other statement that is made.

3. Poor handling of Scripture is an indication of immaturity at best. You may not know the technical hermeneutical or exegetical label for the error, but when statements about the Bible seem curiously unusual, unique, or novel, you do well to be suspicious. “Let me show you something you have never seen before…” or “God showed me a deeper meaning in this verse…” or “this doesn’t mean what it has always been understood to mean…” – all red flag statements that I have heard from “strange authority” speakers. A slight interpretation misfire here and there is probably true of us all (especially in our early days). Blatant lack of exegetical accuracy, however, should always fire a warning flare!

4. The Bible is stunningly relevant, but don’t make it sensationally so. When the Bible is used, out of context, to point to something so current and contemporary that people are supposed to gasp in appreciation, the discerning will raise an eyebrow of concern. When the Bible is carefully handled and presented appropriately, the relevance to the lives of even the most mature and discerning of listeners will be deeply felt and lastingly appreciated. Sadly, the undiscerning will praise sensational speakers enough to fan the flames of their ministry.

5. A speaker can’t assume knowledge, but please don’t assume ignorance. “If you study this subject like I have…” or “If you study the whole Bible you will see…” or “If you read John’s Gospel through 200 times you will start to notice…” (Again, three statements I have heard from “strange authority” speakers over the years.) We cannot assume knowledge in our listeners, or we will speak over their heads. But if we assume ignorance, we may sound patronizing or condescending.

6. Being condescending in tone does not mean the speaker is above their listeners. Tone is subjective and so someone who is confident may seem arrogant to someone else, or condescending to someone else. But if the listeners (plural) are feeling talked down to as a collective group, then something is not right. It indicates that a strange feeling of authority may be present in the mind of the speaker.

7. Ignorance is invisible in the mirror, but we all need to find out how much we don’t know. In one particular case I joined the message several minutes in, but within a minute it was evident that the speaker was not biblically educated. Another time I bought a book at a retreat, before returning it because it was filled with errors and typos. A seminary education is not a requirement for all. I have known some “self-taught” people that I respect very highly. But I have also heard some stunning ignorance and errors from speakers. Strangely, these people often have the greatest confidence in what they are saying. It isn’t easy, but it is helpful to try to find out what we don’t know.

8. Differentiate helpful and unhelpful credibility indicators. There is a credibility that comes from a position in a church or in a respected ministry, as well as degrees from respected institutions, or publications from respected publishers. But beware of echo chamber credibility. Years ago I heard a speaker who had a couple of travelling “fans” who came to our church retreat just to hear him speak. They were convinced he was the greatest Bible teacher around. After hearing him, many of us, including the church leadership, were not convinced. His ministry had a following. His ministry self-published his books. He was well known. But, something wasn’t right. Having a group of followers at conferences, or on social media, is not the same as having credibility and a genuine platform.

9. A strange authority speaker may try to sell their subject, instead of actually saying something. The best way to sell your bakery is to give people a taste of a perfect croissant, not a presentation on why baked goods are the most important food of all. In the same way, even if you are asked to motivate listeners for a specific subject, that doesn’t mean you have to just enthuse about the subject. Give them a taste of something good. Biblical teaching on family relations? On origins? On end-times? On spiritual gifts? On church growth? Whatever the subject, don’t just enthuse about the subject. Actually show what the Bible says on a particular aspect of the subject and how that makes a difference. Once people enjoy a croissant, they are likely to try the baguette or the custard slice.

10. Whatever the subject, evaluate the direction of gaze. At the end of the presentation, are listeners thinking about the speaker, about their ministry, about signing up for their mailing list? Are they thinking about themselves and how they need to learn more or try harder? Or do listeners have the gaze of their hearts fixed on Christ in a genuinely helpful and transformative way?

11. Where is the accountability? Strange authority speakers will tend to make much of God’s influence on their ministry. However, their human accountability will tend to be difficult to pin down. A handful of less informed fans forming a token board is not sufficient. Are there church leaders and people of real standing caring pastorally for this speaker? If someone had a concern, who would they go to? Would they be confident of being heard?

12. Does their ministry stir concerned prayer? God really uses some specialist speakers, and even some quite quirky speakers. Pray for people who have a speaking ministry. And when something doesn’t feel right, pray then too. Pray before you raise concerns with them, or their ministry. Pray before you talk about them to a church leader or responsible person. Pray for God to help them grow, or to help them go. In some cases God’s people would be better served without that person doing their ministry. God is more than able to answer that prayer. It may not be clear what you can do, or if you should do anything at all, but you can pray.

What would you add to this list?

A Contagious Pulpit

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I remember Haddon Robinson saying that a mist in the pulpit will result in a fog in the pew.  It seems so obvious to say it, but there is a strong connection between what is going on in the preacher and what will go on in the listeners.  This is true both positively and negatively.  Here are some examples with brief comment:

Negatively

1. Nerves & Stress.  If you are nervous, they will join you in that.  If you seem stressed, you will put them on edge.  Whatever your preparation has or has not been like, make sure you go into preaching by faith rather than self-reliance, or self-concerned stress.

2. Coldness & Distance.  A congregation is like a dog in this regard: they can always sense if you don’t care for them.  Pray until your heart beats with God’s heart for these people, especially when you sense that indifference and lack of love that so easily creeps in for all of us.

3. Boredom & Disinterest.  Nobody wants to listen to someone who is not particularly interested in the passage they are preaching or the God they are speaking about.  In fact, they won’t listen.  Your disinterest will transmit so that they mentally leave the venue long before you leave the pulpit.

Positively

4. Warmth & Connection.  Maybe you have met somebody so warm and congenial that you found yourself warming to them as the conversation progressed.  The same is true in preaching: your love for them and enthusiasm for the God you speak about will increase their temperature toward you and Him!

5. Clarity of Image.  Whether it is an illustration or the retelling of a narrative, this principle applies: if you can see it, so will they.  Be prepared enough to be able to see what you are describing and you will be surprised how much more your listeners feel like they are immersed in the movie, not just enduring a monologue.  Blow the fog away, describe what is vivid to your mind and it will be clear to theirs, and engaging to their hearts too.

6. Responsiveness & Worship.  This goes way beyond enthusiasm and even interpersonal warmth.  This is about response to God.  If you are moved by the passage and the message to worship and obedience birthed from stirred affection, then that will increasingly be the response of your listeners too.

There are many ways in which we  will infect our listeners as we preach.  What “diseases” do we want to carry to them?

Pride and the Preacher

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

One of the greatest problems for preachers is pride.  It is an insidious and relentless foe that will look to creep in at every stage of a life spent in ministry.  What might we be proud about?

1. Knowledge.  The preacher is a public speaker who is seen as an expert.  Whether you have a PhD in theology or have simply studied a couple of resources, your listeners will tend to perceive you as an expert.  And while knowledge is not a bad thing, what does knowledge do?  It puffs up.

2. Ability.  Whether it is spiritual gifting, or natural charisma, or learned skill, preaching involves some ability in public speaking – something many people dread deeply.  Thus, there will be countless opportunities for pride as we speak to others.

3. Position.  It may be elevation on a 12-inch podium before less than a dozen listeners, or it may be a prized pulpit for years on end, but pride in position is always knocking at the door of our hearts.  Society may not revere the Reverend anymore, but many in our churches will certainly reinforce the honour of being a guest speaker, or a pastor, or a leader, etc.

4. Influence.  Whether there is position or not, preaching implies influence.  Preachers can influence lives and how they are lived.  Preachers can influence emotions and create all sorts of churning in the hearts of our listeners.  There are guilty folks convicted, there are vulnerable folks attracted, there is plenty of potential influence, both for good or for bad.  Pride seems to be a lingering smell where influence is involved.

As well as what might be a source of pride, there are also some occasions that may provoke it:

A. When preparing.  Do I need to invest the time in textual study?  Do I need to invest the time in preparation of the sermon?  Do I need to invest the time in prayer?  Maybe old notes, or old knowledge, will see me through?  Preparation should be a season of humble study and personal application, but it can easily drift into prideful self-trust instead.

B. When criticized.  How do you feel when someone pokes a hole in your message?  What if they aren’t particularly educated?  What if they are a younger believer than you?  What if their criticism is wrong?  What if they are right?

C. When praised.  This can be worse than criticism.  The best message they’ve ever heard?  Knowledge may puff up, but what then can praise do?  Just as we need to have a plan for criticism, we also need a plan for handling praise.  Both can stir profound pride problems within the preacher.

D. When ignored.  What if your listeners sit through your message and then don’t even begin to apply it?  What if their lives continue as normal?  What if your careful study and exegesis is considered merely your opinion?  What if the follow up conversation is still just about the weather or a TV show when you have poured your life out for their benefit?

What else may stir pride in the preacher?  When else might we be vulnerable to this great enemy?

Marginally Helpful Preacher Metaphors – Part 3

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We have thought about the preacher as a video painter, and as a gallery guide.  Here’s the third in my list:

A Quirky Detective – When you are preaching epistles it may be helpful to think of yourself as a quirky detective.  You might be thinking that quirky is a strange qualifier to add, but hang in there, I have a paragraph to come up with a justification for that bit.  Epistles are powerful.  They offer a unique presentation of gospel truth and application of theology to a specific situation.  When an epistle does its work, it can really work in the heart and mind of a listener.  So what is the preacher to do?  Are we supposed to ignore the contextual features and offer sterilized theological argumentation using a blend of biblical and theologically loaded terminology?  Or are we supposed to hold out the epistle in all its uniqueness, helping listeners to see how the letter was designed to change lives then, and consequently, watch them feel the force of it now?  A good preacher of epistles ignites the imagination, clarifies the thinking of the writer, demonstrates its compelling relevance to today, and allows the text to do what the text was inspired and designed to do.  A detective holds up something as apparently insignificant as a piece of mail and shows how it unlocks and clarifies a real life (and death) situation.  And since people might expect an epistle to be just another boring letter, it probably doesn’t hurt to be a bit quirky too (all the best TV detectives are a little bit unique!)  There is more to preaching epistle than that, but there shouldn’t be less.

As before, feel free to add your own metaphors in the comments and I might develop some (giving credit).

Preach First and Last Sermons

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I don’t know if you count.  My temperament tends to count.  I keep track of what I’ve preached, when, to whom, etc.  I keep records partially out of necessity and partially out of interest.  Whether or not you count sermons, take a guess, which one is today’s?  Is it number 15, or 100, or 1250, or 3500?

Let me encourage you today to preach as if it is your first. Preach with all the naivety of a new preacher.  Remember?  Back when you expected lives to be changed immediately by the sermon you preached.  Back when the spring in your step conveyed an excitement about what God is doing in your life and what He wants to do in their lives.  Forget the nerves, the mistakes, the unrefined skill, and so on.  But remember the enthusiastic expectation of that first sermon.  Preach like that today.

And preach as if it is your last. Imagine that today’s sermon had to count because there would be no more.  Imagine that all the weight of God’s work in your life had to be transferred with urgency today to those sitting before you.  Forget the slowness of mind that may come, or the feeble frame that you may have to carry up those steps.  But imagine how powerful the weight of matured passion and perspective will be in your last ever sermon.  Preach like that today.

Be You

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There are many elements of style that can be studied and worked on.  But one thing that is really important is to be you.  Philips Brooks’ famous definition of preaching as “truth through personality” is important to remember.  It is truth through your personality!

Preaching, like much of Christian ministry, is incarnational in nature.  And the flesh the truth takes on is yours.  That means your strengths and your weaknesses.  Your personality.  Your humor.  Your mannerisms.  Your temperament.  You.

AJ Gordon referred to preachers taking on someone else’s personality as moral plagiarism.  The temptation is always there, but we must resist.  We can learn from others and even take onboard aspects of the style of others, but there is a fine line between that and taking on a personality that is not yours.

This is no excuse for poor communication.  There are aspects of our personal style that each of us could strive to improve for the sake of effective communication.  However, to merely introduce the personal style of another is not the solution.  It will not be you, and therefore, it will not be effective.

The Tone of the Shepherd

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

One of the central roles of a church leader is to protect the flock from false teaching.  It is a responsibility to take seriously.  However, without very deliberate thought it is easy to fall into one of two extremes.

Extreme 1 – Just Really Nice Shepherd. Your desire to be liked drives you to avoid any controversy and confrontation, leaving your preaching as a parade of niceness.  I’ve heard plenty of this in my time.  It is the kind of preaching that seems to skirt any issue that might offend.  The desire is unity at all costs.  I sense that where this kind of preaching prevails, it reflects a situation where Evangelical Christians are perceived to be irrelevant, unaware and standing for nothing.  Let us not set that tone from the pulpit.

Extreme 2 – Angry Bashing Shepherd. Your desire to be right drives you to bash freely at every person, idea or stream of Christianity you disagree with.  I remember sitting through a very painful retreat where the famous speaker seemed to take every opportunity to have a go at top Christian evangelists and ministry leaders.  It was unhelpful for the immature believers confused by it all and would have been offensive to any unbelievers present.  We must be aware of how we are perceived.  Non-christians see us as very angry people who just can’t get along with each other.  Let us not reinforce that from the pulpit.

Why do we fall into one extreme or the other?  I think our personality will influence it.  I think our culture will influence it (in my experience I see the English church often falling into the former extreme, whereas the North American church often tends toward the latter extreme – obviously there are exceptions in both cultures).  I think fear drives both extremes – fear of any confrontation or discord on the one hand, and fear of not having all the answers in our personal theology and philosophy of ministry on the other.  I think a lack of thought leaves us at one extreme or the other.

As preachers we must think carefully about our role as shepherds.  Sheep want neither a nice shepherd too polite to offend the prowling mountain lion, nor an angry shepherd lashing out at every bush, shepherd or other sheep that crosses their path.