Preaching III (Retrospective Embarrassment)
News of the 6 minute sermon or the consistent 8 to 10 minute sermon must have spread like wildfire across south Texas. Suddenly I found myself with more opportunities to fill in at surrounding churches when the local preacher was out of town. Sure the six million dollar man was an engineering marvel, but how much greater marvel than a six minute preacher?
The great thing about being a visiting preacher is you can take your best sermon with you and be "spectacular" in many places. The great preachers are those who have the discipline to be "spectacular" in the same place year after year. The bad thing about being a visiting preacher is you start to believing that you are spectacular.
I even got to fill in a time or two at our home church where my dad was the preacher. This presented two unique challenges. First, my dad was (is) a good preacher. Second, up to this point I was still preaching his sermons. You see the difficulty?
Pressed to come up with my own material, at our home church, I once delivered a sermon (that still embarrasses me when I think about it) how the worship service can go as long as it needs to because 1 hour just may not cut it. I said something like "the bulletin says what time the assembly begins not what time it ends." It wasn’t that I was saying anything wrong (the reason for my retrospective embarrassment) it’s just not the place to waste time with such nonsense. It’s the first taste I had of preaching issues or agendas instead of Christ. Not to mention, how do you transition to an invitation after a sermon like that?
I had passion and conviction as a young man but it was greatly misdirected. I had (have) three qualities that lend themselves to being a great orator: First, I can read rather quickly and retain an immense amount of information. Second, I’m quick on my feet and can improv / adlib as necessary. Third, I have an enormous amount of confidence and stage presence in front of people. The problem was (is) that no one likes to listen to an arrogant, self-righteous twerp. I had (have) three qualities that lend themselves to being a horrible messenger of God. First, I had to be right. Second, I had to be affirmed / approved. Third, I had to be the best.
I understand that we are the product of our church environment and our churches positioned themselves on quite a few three-legged stools. I probably wasn’t much fun to be around. Surrounded by like people of like mind and practice probably obscured those negative qualities in me. We tend to confuse arrogance with passion, self-righteous behavior with conviction. I thought the Bible was a weapon to be used for winning arguments not an instrument to be used to win people.
Preaching was (and in some places, is) more about getting people to tow the line rather than inviting people to walk with Christ. I preached a lot of sermons at a young age. It would not be until some time later that I quit preaching sermons and began to deliver messages.
My next stop was Abilene Christian University and a myriad of preaching opportunities.
6 Responses to “Preaching III (Retrospective Embarrassment)”
Your list of the 3 things that make you a great preacher made me smile. All of those things are true. I know because I had the privilege of listening to a sermon in person and sitting in a Wed. night class that you taught. You definitely held my attention, and I remember some good thoughts I carried away with me. But your comment about thinking quickly on your feet and having a good stage presence made me think about an impression I had and that was you’d be good in show business! That’s a compliment by the way!!
A once well-known preacher in the Memphis area has since been a lawyer and a stand-up comedian. He was said to have commented that there were a lot of similarities in the 3 professions.
I’m glad you’ve stayed with preaching!
I have thoroughly enjoyed your personal calling and
preaching comments. You are a dynamic speaker and
great teacher!
I think we all go through the stage of needing the affirmation. And we of the coC grew up in an environment of having to be “right” on all issues and doctrinal stances. Enjoying the series!
i was raised to believe the bigger the ego you give your child, the greater chance of them having some left over after meeting the world. this may be flawed, but i think i have enough ego left to argue this point….sigh.
i like how you described your negative qualities as being obscured. and then the differentiation of preaching vs. delivering.
i was never a pulpit minister (as a girl in the coC, i’m sure you’re surprised) but this post takes me back to some of my own blush-worthy leadership moments. thanks.
i am enjoying this series.
Great lists. I had the thought that the first 3 of your list would probably be at the top of many Search Committee’s lists.
As I struggle with the decision of whether I am going to truly START preaching or not, I really appreciate your words here. I am all too often looking for affirmation when I speak.
I just finished a book (that I highly recommend and will be plugging over on my blog) by a preacher for preachers. One of many excellent points he makes has to do with the preacher’s desire to tell stories. Often, he says, the stories have little to do with the message. They simply exist to get the speaker some nice nods and positive comments. We tell anti-parables: earthly stories with earthly meanings.
I’m learning from your series. Keep it up, bro.
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