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

Holiday Reflection and Rewind

Good to be able to blog again, I took the holidays off, my wonderful wife, Amber, did check in a couple times, so be sure to read her stuff. The holidays were fun. I enjoyed my first Christmas with my wife’s family; learned that there is a difference between dressing and stuffing, and discovered that eating a spoonful of black-eyed peas for good luck is not a universal cultural custom, in fact, Amber managed to find the only bag of black-eyed peas in the Sioux land area to ring in the New Year’s the right way.  I struggled through the  sorrowful New Year’s Eve bowl performance by my beloved Ole Miss Rebels (kingdom stuff), which was almost as disappointing as the non-White Christmas that I experienced for my 36^th straight year. The food, trees, ornaments and music and people are exhilarating to me, in other words, I am a Holiday Season nut, and I never get tired of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day triumvirate.

The Holiday seems to generate a multitude of pastoral blogs that focus on how Christians should treat them. Should Christians “do Santa?”? Did Pilgrims really eat with Native Americans on that first Thanksgiving? Is New Year’s a remotely Christian holiday? Does gift giving promote consumerism? All of these questions are debated, sometimes to the point where “heat” far outweighs “light.” I have some random observations about the holidays that some may find helpful:

1-Some holidays are civic and some aren’t- All holidays should be civil but some are civic. The lesser two holidays of Thanksgiving and New Year’s are civic holidays. They are holidays that the culture-at large recognizes and enjoys due to a historical event or celebration. Thanksgiving is an American celebration that is unique (Canada celebrates its thanksgiving on October 12). It is a time where our culture shares turkey, cranberry sauce and football, in recognition of a meal between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag tribe in Plymouth MA, in 1621. The feast was celebrated by George Washington and proclaimed a holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863; it was a day of prayer and feasting as recognized by our government and the culture at large. The Thanksgiving celebration is not found in Scripture or church history, therefore how should Christians respond? By praying and feasting! American Christians have so much to be thankful for today. We live in a prosperous nation, and have religious freedom to worship our Lord openly without fear of reprisal. Christians and non Christians alike can appreciate the blessings of Thanksgiving for many identical reasons. Freedom, family, food and football, alliteratively sums them up.

We as Christians do need to remember that many holidays we enjoy are cultural ones and it’s good to participate in them. For example, the Fourth of July is a holiday that many Christians don’t like celebrating. Why? Because it’s a celebration of America and the freedom Americans enjoy as opposed to the spiritual freedom found in Christ. I think that it’s wise to make a distinction between civic liberty and spiritual freedom found in our Lord, but our freedom in Christ is celebrated in two holidays that are both civic and Christian- Christmas and Easter. These two holidays would not be recognized by Americans if the Incarnation and Resurrection were not historical facts, so we celebrate those two with the vigor and integrity they deserve. The Fourth of July to a Christian is a civic holiday that can be enjoyed with Christians and non-Christians as being an American citizen is a wonderful gift given to us by our Lord.

Christians long for connections to the broader culture. We want to be relevant in all areas of life; music, movies, podcasts, and books have all been produced in the last decade emphasize the importance of cultural relevance. The glad enjoyment and participation in civic holidays is one way to achieve that end. 

2-Non-consumerism is not the same as glorifying God-. So many beloved Christmas movies (It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas Carol, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and stories like “Gift of the Magi” are about Christmas being a time where people and their needs are more important than money or stuff. However, Consumerism and Christmas clearly seem to be happily married. Most retail establishments focus their entire year on the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas to have a successful sales year. In fact, the day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday” due to the fact that stores will get in the “black” for the year. Our most popular images of Christmas in our country are not the images of the God-man as a baby in a manger but Santa Claus, in a red suit giving gifts to children, which was popularized by Coca-Cola and Hallmark. This means of course, that our consumerist holiday’s most iconic image comes from 20^th Century marketing. Most Christians “go with the flow”, some may reject Santa Claus, some may give more to charity, some might be more stringent in sticking to a budget, but overall Christians spend too much money on Christmas. There have been other Christians, many who are quite thoughtful that have rejected the gift giving concept almost altogether as a protest to consumerism. I can appreciate this sentiment, but one must remember that when stuff is the focus (even if “stuff” is the object of the protest), Christ isn’t the object of worship. In other words, Christmas to the Christian is not a protest to anything but it is the special day when we intentionally remember that Immanuel came to Earth .We must remember the first point of the blog. Christmas is a Christian holiday. It’s our holiday. Yes, the culture at large celebrates it and I enjoy the general Christmas “culture” (music, food, celebration etc.) but the point of Christmas is the Incarnation. Admittedly, I don’t know for everyone how that sacred truth makes someone think about Christmas budgets (or non-budgets) or if, Santa is a good (or bad) personification of a civic Christmas, but I do know that when the focus of the season is stuff and not the One, we have not celebrated Christmas.

3-Traditions are more important than anyone realizes- As a culture, Americans are not extremely traditional. We are a “melting pot” of cultures so much of our culture comes from older countries and cultures that moved to America to begin anew. That is a major highlight of our national character. We are more “forward focused” than almost any other nation on Earth. It has led to our economic success and scientific progress. Of course, Progress always has its casualties. One of those casualties is the idea of “home” .People in the U.S. more frequently move; we have the highest divorce rates in the world and in many ways are lonelier than ever. I have talked to several people in Sioux City that dread the holidays because going home for the holidays is a painful chore they do once a year to maintain peace. The holidays for many are a blur that they would rather slumber through or be teleported from rather than endure with a plastic smile. No blog on the holidays can correct deep dysfunction, but a couple pointers on how to return to “home” might help.

Traditions are important. Families that have holiday traditions communicate “rootedness”. For example, my family for over a decade saw the “Christmas Carol” at the Theater Memphis. It gave me appreciation of theater, Dickens and a love for an enduring Christmas story. It also helped frame my holiday experience as “home”, it has been years since I have seen the play, but when December 1^st hits, memories flash into my mind. I feel anticipation and warmth. It’s small but important. Establishing need not be that difficult. Movies enjoyed, cookies baked, ham or turkey smelled and ornaments hung consistently in the same way every year creates an atmosphere for positive memories of” home” and rootedness .For Christians, simply reciting a version of the birth of Christ on Christmas Day, or taking the family to a communion service at your church on Christmas Eve or other simple but deliberate customs that point to Immanuel can build the sense of “home.”

No, traditions do not make heartache from the pain found in many broken families disappear ,nor would making a certain pie every year for 50 years for Thanksgiving keep marriages together, but they are small bits of “home” that can make the holidays special.

4-Food is more than food- It’s no mystery, Americans do love to eat. Coming from the South, food is intertwined in our culture more than any region. Americans, however may love food, but don’t have a deep affinity for meals. Much of our eating is done alone and quickly. We invented drive –thru fast food, pizza-by-the-slice, ice cream cones, and TV. dinners. All of those innovations changed how we eat in our modern world. Mobility has been the key motivator in our nation’s culinary landscape. While, there is nothing sinful about ordering pizza by the slice (Amen and Amen). Jesus, however, understood the beauty and intimacy of a “traditional” sit-down meal. For example, he gave us a way to remember him by, “The Lord’s Supper”, His final discipleship time on earth was the “Last Supper”, he was seen as an enemy by the Pharisees, because he “ate with sinners”- which 1^st Century inhabitants knew as a symbol of love and fellowship; Christ refers to himself as the “bread of life” and, one of his most powerful parables taught by Jesus about the love of God was the “Great Banquet.”

The holiday season is full of “sit down” meals, whether it’s Christmas or Thanksgiving lunch, a New Year’s party at a friend’s home or the numerous “get togethers” that dot the holiday calendar. Menus may vary, and the size of groups most certainly do., but all of us can do one thing during these meals- VALUE THEM. Meals taken together are refreshing, relaxing, festive, and serve as natural icebreakers. Few things signify connection with people like sharing a meal together. What does this mean for Christians?

First, Christians should offer simple thanks to God for these meals. God has provided food, friends, stories, smells, corny jokes and memories through a simple mealtime. The Bible says that “all good things come from God.” This includes the smallest of blessings. Secondly, invite others to join your family, for many the holidays are an emotional struggle, their families are torn, and holidays are a war zone complete with verbal grenades and failed mediating peacekeeping efforts. These people won’t ever have a “second” family, but simply inviting them to enjoy your healthy holiday experience can be an encouragement. Finally, don’t just eat together in the holidays. Obviously, Thanksgiving dinner should not be eaten every week (I type this with a tear), but the love and connection between friends and families should happen more often a few times a year. Throughout the year, try to make it a point to eat dinner together three times a week, or organize monthly desserts and coffee meetings with friends in your church, or invite a neighbor to lunch occasionally. Christians must remember that small, consistent acts of love usually have greater impact than complex, massively planned efforts. Beauty is usually simple.

These are a few reflections on the holidays. I hope they are helpful.

 In Christ, 

Richard

Letter to a Church Planter #3

This is the 3rd installment of "Letters to a Young Planter", the contents came from my journal. The idea I stole from Pastor Calvin Miller's book Letters to a Young Pastor

Dear Young Planter,

You will ask this a million times "What's my church's biggest weakness?" If you don't ask that every once in a while, you are foolish. I guess the answer varies from church to church, but overall I've learned that my answer isn't that hard.I've learned who the greatest weakness in the plant is. It's me!

That's not silly false humility, I believe God has equipped me, just like he has you. You will find (I hope) the greatest ministry work you will participate in is, of course, Prayer!  Planters that don't pray; don't stay (pretty catchy?) It's true. Pastoral work drives you to your knees and planting keeps you there.
I would pray and pray; I would pray for God to move, do powerful things, and he would often answer as only he can, but after reading 1 Peter, I realized I had neglected my greatest gift other than Jesus- my wife. I wasn't an absentee husband, but I could be overly critical and sometimes mean spirited.
 It was not intentional, but it happens.... It also is bad for ministry.

The book of 1st Peter offers admonishment we need. As a planter, you will get to know 1st Peter well, it's a book that gives instruction to a misplaced, misunderstood and marginalized church. Two verses should grip you. They are 1st Peter 3:7 and 1st Peter 4:7.  To summarize, the first one says that you need to love your wife in an understanding way, SO YOUR PRAYERS won't be hindered. The 2nd says we should be self controlled and sober minded FOR THE SAKE OF OUR PRAYERS. Pretty powerful; God cares how we live our lives. Here's a more direct translation.

Translation: all that begging God for resources and people and vision and stuff doesn't matter if you are mean to your wife and don't take personal holiness seriously. Desire for a "touch from God "and spiritual power and vision can be held in check if we don't fight to be sober minded and love our family!  The key to your success may not be your cleverness or "cultural exegesis" (you will learn that term in time), but it will probably be rooted in your integrity of character.

Look around, the pastors that "fall from Grace" are often the most talented and most brilliant. They simply forgot to take their non-public life seriously; this cut off the spiritual lifeline to Christ through prayer and over time they "Died on the Vine".  If you want to last, cultivate character.

Finally,You want to be missional and impactful. Praise God, but you won't do it without prayer and your prayers won't do it if you're greatest gifts: your relationship with God and your beautiful bride aren't first in your life! Learn this lesson now; hopefully God will bless your family and your ministry!

Keep Plowing
Richard

Dear Church Planter, Letter #2

I began a series of blogs that are modified journal entries in the form of letters meant to encourage church planters

Dear Church Planter, 

“I want to do Big Things for God!” That phrase has been exclaimed, echoed and endured in the austere halls of seminaries to the hangout spots of youth ministry centers across the country. We love big things. No one cares about the world’s shortest skyscraper, no fast food joint markets an “efficiently, simple” hamburger; Humans seek superlatives.  Bigger, stronger, faster, and prettier are all adjectives that are seen as synonyms for better. Superlatives aren’t wrong but they aren’t everything. What you will find that church planting from the ground up recalibrates a pastor to enjoy simple blessings that aren’t big.

The goal of a church plant is to establish a growing, healthy, doctrinally sound, mission sending body. That should be the goal of all churches, regardless of age. However, the church planter has the calling to initiate and to lay the foundation for such a church. You and your core group are the ones that have the honor (sometimes toil) of connecting with skeptical people in the community- with atheists that think Catholics are out to lunch and Baptists are from Saturn, friendly neighbors that honestly don’t care about spirituality but think churches that “do good stuff are ok as long as they don’t cram the Bible down my throat”, good folks that have been perpetually wounded by thoughtless Christians and keep you at an arms length, and a whole lot of people that fit in no category, just lost souls that are making it through one day at a time. The church planter gets to show the love of Jesus and slowly change critics minds, slowly is the operative word.

You will pray and plead God for a huge harvest- you should! You want that!! God will put Christians in your path that will lock arms with you. Hopefully, you will see multitudes come to faith, maybe 1,000 at one time- Crusade style,, but in tough, fresh soil- it usually doesn’t work that way. It’s the little blessings you hide in your heart. An agnostic tells you that he read that portion of Mark’s gospel you recommended- WIN. The humanist social worker that has rejected Christianity but is now considering how a Christian worldview gives dignity to the poor, that’s a WIN. A store employee calls you “pastor”, because you are friendly to her and you and your wife gave her cupcakes- WIN.  The above stories happened in our first few weeks in Sioux City; yours will be different, guaranteed! None of these above stories are our goal. We want salvations and church gathering, but we love our neighbor because they are our neighbor, and we will always rejoice in little victories.

In Christ,

Richard

Those Who Sow in Tears

I am not going to lie.  Last week was hard for us.  We have been here six weeks and still do not have a single church member.  Our hearts are heavy and our heads are hanging low.  What are we doing wrong?  Why won’t people come? We saw a glimmer of hope last Sunday. Our neighbor finally accepted our invitation to join us for church.  He was also going to bring his girlfriend.  YES! Progress has been made.  They came into our apartment that morning, and stayed for exactly three minutes.  Then they left. Technically they came and I am counting that.  We still love our neighbor and still minister to him.  One day he will stay much longer. We are being patient. 

Every day we go out and every day we return home empty handed.  We spend our time and resources meeting others.  Resources we do not have an unlimited supply of.  The harvest is ripe and we are so willing to be used by God.  We came here, right?  We sold half of our stuff and moved across the country on faith, right? Where have we gone wrong?  We are desperate to see some fruits of our labor. We are tired of seeing sin destroy the lives of our neighbors, this community, and this city.  We are tired of seeing the hopelessness in their eyes.  We are tired of seeing our neighbor drown his sorrows in alcohol. We are tired.  Rest assured, we have not thrown in the towel.  We are being patient that nothing we have done has been in vain.  We continue our days bathed in prayer and diving into scripture.  We get up every morning and head out the door.  We know that the time of rejoicing is just around the corner.  

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126: 5-6

The Lord has led me to memorize the Psalms of Ascent.  I have made it successfully through Psalm 126.  I have read this verse at least forty times since moving to Sioux City. Somehow, I kept missing the significance of it.   One morning I was reading through a devotional book and read the very familiar passages of Luke 8: 5-8, 11-15:

“(5) A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear….  (11) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.  And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

After reading this, I almost fell out of my chair. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest.  I had ears to hear and I most definitely heard.  In that moment I was granted Hope and Peace.  I had a promise. Psalm 126:6 is a promise.  Those who go out with the Word of God with the intention of spreading the Gospel will return home with shouts of joy.  We will return home bringing our sheaves with us.  We are not responsible for the birds, the rocks, the thorns, or the soil.  We are responsible for the seed.  The Word of God.  His word will not return void.  We will see the fruit of our labors.  God is so good.

“and let us know grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” Galatians 6:9

Dear friends. Do not give up. You will reap.  You can count on it.

In Christ,

Amber

Dear Church Planter, Letter #1

One of my favorite ministerial books is by Calvin Miller; Letters to a Young Pastor is a collection of pastoral essays written in a personal letter form. It’s one of those books I read selections from on a monthly basis. The work has the unique mix of practicality and thoughtfulness. For the next few blog entries, I’m going to use Miller’s format; most of these blogs will be sourced from my personal journal.

Dear Young Planter:

You have read all the books, blogs and even listened to the podcasts. They are good, always be reminded that fresh ideas keep you on “your game.” Please heed this! Understand that you don’t need them. You need the Scriptures, nothing else. I’d be a hypocrite to say extra-biblical writing is wrong to read. I read Dickens; I try to read Shakespeare. I count Luther, Spurgeon and Piper as close friends that I will meet one day. It is doubtful that I would be in the church planting “business” if Jonathan Edwards hadn’t published David Brainerd’s biography and if it hadn’t landed in my hand years ago.

The reason that all of the above writers have had impact in my life (even Dickens!-Christmas Carol?) is because the Scriptures shaped, encouraged and influenced their writing. The same is true of the church planting gurus of today, and tomorrow, and the day after. Gurus come and go, but only the Bible is eternal. Think about it. Planters in new areas have to answer some pretty complex questions.

How do I bridge a culture gap? How do I live as a minority? How do I communicate the Gospel of Jesus to people that think my accent is backwater and weird? Where’s the post office? (Ok, that’s not too complex). These questions are not easily answered; in fact, you may never answer them fully. That’s why you need an eternal source that bridges all cultures, all accents written by one that is King over every village and city to have ever existed.

Keep on plowing,

Richard

Everyday Missions?

I enjoy apartment life. You have enough space to make your own, and the community owned amenities compound the experience. One less-than-stellar facet of our apartment complex is the fact that our building has to share one washer and dryer. This may seem splendidly spartan to some readers, however, to our many friends on the international field, our privilege is showing. My wife, the problem solver, found us a cheap Laundromat on the edge of our neighborhood, squeezed a few extra dozen quarters from the budget and christened Monday at 9:00 am Laundry Day.

Amber does the laundry; I help. Ok, I get in the way; therefore, I would stay in the apartment and do my daily administrative tasks while she got the laundry done. Well, last week, the plans sort of changed. She asked me to go with her; the laundry load was large, so I was her additional muscle. The Laundromat was a loud, musty image of the 21st Century America. The clientele was Native American, African American and Hispanic. The signage in the facility was in three languages. Even though she was new, Amber had developed a few friendships there, not “super-deep” “besties”, no weepy counseling sessions, but casual friends you make at a Laundromat. I watched as a few rowdy kids said hello to her, a Native American man clearly recognized her.

The owner is a hard working Vietnamese man named Steven , Amber has gotten to know him fairly well, just through conversations at his Laundromat. Today, she told him that we were planting a church in Sioux City and before she could present the Gospel, He shut down, but he was kind. Right now, he isn’t interested, but we will love him. What’s next for our journey with Steven? There’s no perfect solution, no “magic bullet”. We will pray for him and his business; it’s a pretty good Laundromat. One day I hope to speak the Gospel of Light in Love, until that happens, we will be there on Monday mornings with a bunch of quarters and hope for Steven.

In Christ,

Richard