One Preaching Lesson I have Learned-Part I

Glad to be blogging again. I have decided to do a two part blog on “One preaching lesson I have learned”. I’ve been blessed to have many great men teach me about the pastoral ministry, whether it be in seminary or in the local church. I have been taught many things, but only have learned a few.

I have been teaching the Bible for a few years. I’m not sure how “good” I am at it, but I think I have gotten better over the years, and in the last decade and a half I’ve had the opportunity to preach in many different situations. In that time, I’ve strived to improve, to think more clearly, to speak more accurately, to prepare more completely, but as any pastor knows, you never “arrive” as a preacher. One simple truth I have learned over the years is Preaching is an art more than a science.

Some pastors will heartily agree with the above statement, but others, probably younger Reformed and evangelicals (my tribe) will disagree. Exposition for most us is machine like. “Plug n Play” is the appropriate term. Read the text, give a point, give an application and repeat. While this approach is efficient in jamming as much text and truth as possible in a 45 minute sermon and it will get you a 4.0 in Preaching seminars, if used thoughtlessly this style will fail to connect with a congregation. Admittedly, in this blog I offer no new methodology or even approach but some general principles that I have found helpful over the last several years in connecting as an artist and not as a machine.

I will give six principles over 2 weeks, but let’s be clear from the beginning. The most important part of preaching is and always will be the content of the sermon. Pastors are teachers. In fact, teaching is our first obligation, so the doctrines and Gospel that is being taught is paramount. That being said, the way we teach our people matters.  These blogs won’t be lengthy, but I hope hits the spot with someone.

  Preaching is More Art than Science  (6 principles (part 1))

1) Pull more than push- The congregation wants to follow along with you, or they wouldn’t be there. Too many pastors attempt to use force of will, personality or voice to “drive” congregants to obey, give, help, repent etc. This may lead to some rote obedience, but it rarely tells the people “WHY?” they should adhere to the sermon. Practically, this means, as you walk through a text explain your thought process, where a point came from and struggles you have seen or experienced. Sometimes interaction helps. Rhetorical questions, asking for simple responses or “ show of hands” is a way of keeping the audience engaged not just with the sermon, but with the preacher. The goal is to take them on a journey in the text, the history of the text, the context, through the characters in the scripture but to always land squarely on the Gospel. All Christian preaching must point to Christ and his finished work.

2) Preaching is storytelling at its highest form- Preachers are storytellers- (cringe, I feel it from some). As mentioned above, that does not mean that we are supposed to be telling cute, contrived illustrations about everyday life to make the Bible “interesting.” The Bible is the story of God redeeming his people through the blood of his Son- that is far more interesting than anything that Hulu Plus can put online. A storyteller always weaves his tale with a beginning, a climax and an end. Playwrights often had it organized as ACT I, ACT II and ACT III. The storyteller has a point, and crafts everything to get that point in a way to keep the audience entertained (to laugh, shriek, or cheer). The pastor uses the selected text, analogous texts, illustrations and applications all while making a “Beeline to the Cross” as Charles Spurgeon phrased to not just engage and entertain the audience but to lead them to an understanding of God’s call of repentance that leads to literal action. In other words, the pastor’s storytelling is to be used for transformation not just information- regardless of how vital the information may be. Preaching is a one-of a kind storytelling that has a higher purpose. The purpose of preaching is to affect the HEART. The heart is the totality of a person. The pastor’s preaching should be pinpointed as a light through the emotions, will and intellect of a person and it should shine on the cross of Christ. A disjointed outline with “Preacherisms” often struggles to coherently convey a message to the entire heart of a person.

3) Sermons should be crafted to be heard first,and written second. Some of the best preachers in the world have manuscripted (written word for word) their sermons. This includes men like Jonathan Edwards and many Puritans. I am eternally grateful for that practice, because without the manuscripts of some of these men and the outlines of Spurgeon and John Macarthur, I never would have learned to be a bible teacher or an expositor. Please remember, Pastors that our main way of communicating with our people is not through written sermons, but through the spoken word, proclaimed at a particular time and place. This means, your oration, your voice afflection , your tone of voice, your mannerisms ALL MATTER. Preachers can have a wonderfully written manuscript but if that sermon is delivered with boredom, anger or sarcasm, that sermon loses its impact as the PREACHED WORD—Praise God, the Holy Spirit works through our sinfulness! That does not mean that you fake exuberance or use “King James English”. It means that you are aware of your responsibility as a messenger of God at the moment you proclaim the message of the Gospel.

One of the practices that have helped me is to watch and listen to professional storytellers. Garrison Keillor for example, and to pay attention to the way they use voice, timing, and rhythm. This purpose isn’t to copy the storytellers but to add more storytelling qualities to our preaching. 

That’s the first three, three more next week. Thanks for reading. If you have any comments or questions, please inbox me on Facebook. My prayer is that this helps pastors and congregations.

In Christ,

Richard Crowson

Pastor/Planter Redemption Hill Church, Sioux City IA

If You Feed Them, They Will Come

How are we going to get all the way to Iowa? What am I going to do once I get there? I had no problem with the first question.  I knew God would provide and oh how He did. We were so unbelievably shocked at how many people the LORD used to bring us here.  We will be sharing the story with our grandchildren for years to come.  The second question I repeatedly asked myself once a day before we moved to Iowa. Now that we are here, I ask myself this same question about three times a day.  What exactly am I suppose to be doing?  I am so unbelievably blessed with a husband that has a vision, a plan, a goal, and a passion for this journey.  I am not saying that I don’t have a passion for the church plant but the planning process has lied entirely at his feet.  The church planting internship has been preparing him for this for the last year.   Several times a week he would come home very excited about a new idea.  He would go into depth about his plans and visions until my eyes started crossing.  My job was to get us here.  Now that my job is over the question is front and center of my mind every single day.  Now what?

When my husband first introduced us to Michael Frost’s B.E.L.L.S. strategy (Be Generous, Eat, Learn Christ, Listen to God and Sent) I was immediately intrigued.  It seems quite simple.  Could this BELLS thing work?  What does it look like? I am a natural server so “Be Generous” and “Eat” should be a piece of cake (you see what I did there?).  Three weeks later I am finding “eat” to be the hardest goal to accomplish each week.  This actually requires me to go out and meet people.  If there is one thing I am not, it is an evangelist.  I am unbelievably shy and keep to myself.  It is something God has been working out of me for several years.  I am usually ok if I know the majority of people in the room.  I have to force myself to talk to people.  Once I get over the initial fear I am so very glad I did.  I have met some wonderful people.  My prayer for the last several months has been God reigning in this area of my life.  

Eat.  The idea is that once a week you share a meal with a non-believer and a believer. (If you have a family it is encouraged that you share at least one meal with your family per week) Those are the only rules with “E”.  It doesn’t matter who, where, or when.  You can combine the two or keep them separate.  The BELLS strategy allows for creativity.  It allows you to work within your skill sets.   I love to cook.  I am no Chef Ramsey let me assure you.  I am basically self-taught and elementary level at most.  I have no idea what half of those gadgets are or how they are used. All my “cooking stuff’ was either a wedding present or was purchased at the Goodwill. Eating meals together as a family (no matter how small) is extremely important to me.  Staying at home has allowed us to do that.  We eat almost every meal at the table together.  It has made a huge difference in our marriage and communication.   We may eat the same ten chicken recipes but we eat them together.  I am grateful for the time we have now because we may not always have it.  God has allowed me to stay at home during this season.  Who knows what tomorrow may bring? 

What am I suppose to be doing? After three weeks of praying over this question and the “BELLS” one thing is obviously clear.  I am already in my kitchen.  Why can’t I invite people here?  Who said that we had to eat in a restaurant or in a coffee shop?  I took the idea and have run with it.  Well I ran about ten feet until I hit a road block.   Inviting believers to our home has not been a problem.  We have been extremely successful in that area.  Part of that success is because we are new in town and believers are curious about who we are and what we are doing.  We get invited to restaurants to discuss our church plant every week.   Richard has lunch once a week with local pastors to discuss Sioux City and each other’s need/prayer requests.  However, I have not had any success in getting non-believers into our home.  My several attempts (I must admit that my approach has not been the best but I am working on it.  Again the shy thing. ) have utterly failed.  I can’t really invite men over for dinner without giving them the wrong idea or having wives/girlfriends question both parties’ motives.  The women have been polite but I could definitely tell they were not interested in coming over either.  Needless to say, I am still trying to figure this one out.  I will not give up though. 

One of our neighbors has an interesting habit of lingering outside our door while I am in the process of cooking something.  He conveniently needs to borrow something during dinner time.  He stops by at least a few nights a week.  It is starting to become a “no-knock-come-right-on-in” type of friendship.  He politely declines when I invite him to eat.  I know he wants to eat a home cooked meal. I know he is tired of frozen burritos and McDonald''s.  He practically drools on the table every time he comes over, but I will not push him.  However,  I have accidentally discovered if I bring him a meal and leave it on his table he will eat it (or give him a ‘to-go’ container.  He calls them 'doggy bowls') You better believe I am counting that towards my "E"! My goal is to bring him something once a week.  Not necessarily an entire meal. Cupcakes will suffice. Patience and baby-steps is the name of this game.  

I am trying to balance blessing people and not offending them with offering food.  I have discovered that people’s pride can be greatly wounded if I suggest that they come over for dinner or bring them a meal.  Some people are just not comfortable taking a handout from a church.  It doesn't matter what my intentions are.  They just do not want anyone suggesting that they cannot provide food for themselves or their families.  I have crossed a line several times and I am learning how to word my suggestions carefully as not to offend.  I need a back-up plan for “E”.  We are only three weeks in to this, and I am going to give myself a learning curve here. I will figure it out.  For now, I am sticking to many wise womens' life motto: If you feed them, they will come. 

Praying for direction and His Will to be done.

If you would like more information about Micheal Frost’s BELLS strategy here is a link to a PDF file that will go into greater detail: The Five Habits to Highly Missional People

In Christ,

Amber

p.s. what exactly does this kitchen thingy do?