I confess, I am a refugee from “normal” church. I haven’t attended regular church services for some time. I’m not against regular services, you understand, I just haven’t been able to connect for a number of years now. One of the main reasons for this is that I am easily bored.
I’m not enamored of what I will call “packaged” preaching. You know, “Three Steps for a Better You,” “Finding your Ministry Purpose,” or “Getting Debt-Free through Stewardship.” I’m not saying that these sermons aren’t helpful to many. They just don’t do it for me.
In the early 80s I faithfully attended services at a church where the second the pastor began to preach I was overcome by incipient narcolepsy, at least that’s what I think it was. My wife was constantly poking me to wake me up, stop my snoring, and to wipe the drool off my chin. In the mid-90s I was an accidental pastor and saw the results of my own preaching! I could put ‘em to sleep with the best!
I don’t believe that preaching is dead, I just believe that “good” preaching is hard to find. This is why Monday was such a good day for me. Next-Wave editor, Scott Bane, is a church planting pastor in Indiana. He is not preaching on a regular basis yet, but over the last couple of weeks he was in South Africa preaching at a “camp” meeting. He sent me the links to his talks on Monday. And I listened to all of them in one day, as I traveled from here to there.
Wow! Now that is what I have been missing, powerful Biblical preaching that proclaims the truth about God. I think I may have been born again, again! Of course, what do I expect? When the Holy Spirit is communicating the heart of God through a person that is yielded to be a conduit to His voice, the preaching has the power to change lives. That’s the kind of preaching we need more of, that’s for sure.
