A Video Conversation about the Pros and Cons of Video Venue Preaching

http://media.indwes.edu/media/WSHP560+-+Video+Venue+Preaching/1_4rpmy61v

Are You a Modern or Postmodern Preacher?

Preachers and preaching have changed dramatically over the past few decades. While we don’t refer to the categories of “Modern” and “Postmodern” as often as we used to, all of us have been primarily shaped by one or the other. I’ve written the playful dialogue below for my Narrative Preaching elective course. I play the part of the interviewer and invite two students to play either the part of the Modern Preacher or the Postmodern Preacher. The sketch below presents a generalized, maybe even stereotyped, caricature of the two sides. The goal is to playfully get at distinct preaching trends in each category. Read the interview and consider the one with whom you identify most.

 

Interviewer: Hi, I am going to be interviewing two preachers who represent two very different approaches to preaching God’s word. I invite them to introduce themselves.

 

Modern Preacher: Hello, I am a preacher whose ministry style and convictions have been shaped mostly by Modernity. You can call me Mo.

 

Postmodern Preacher: You can call me Po. I have been shaped mostly by the Postmodern context in which I live.

 

Interviewer: My first question is, How do you view Scripture? Mo, why don’t you start.

 

MO: That’s easy. Scripture is God’s timeless word to temporal people. It is inspired and inerrant. The bible is full of objective and absolute principles for living. If people would just learn to live by biblical principles, their lives and relationships with God and others would be much healthier.

 

PO: I view scripture not as a bunch of principles detached from each other but as a unified account that tells one grand story. Once one begins to see her story in light of the biblical story, life becomes meaningful and worth living. The Bible is a story book not a proposition or principle book.

 

Int: Isn’t the bible full of both principles and stories? Aren’t there principles derived from the story, and stories that are behind and lead to the principles? It seems to me the bible does tell one grand story, but throughout the biblical story there are principles that can be applied to life as long as those principles are not disconnected from relationship with God. In other words, the principles don’t work unless a relationship with God is at the center. Okay, next question, what makes a sermon biblical?

 

PO: If the sermon is authentic and faithful to the biblical text and to the contemporary context, it is biblical. Even if the preacher never opens the bible, the sermon could be more biblical than the sermon that strings together 10 different passages, cut and paste style.

 

MO: Hold on! You’re telling me that a sermon could be biblical without a passage being read. That’s not true. People need to know that the word of the preacher is coming from the word of God. A biblical sermon will have at least one or, preferably, more passages read during the sermon and, even better, the preacher will work word by word, phrase by phrase, verse by verse through the passage that is read.

 

PO: That sounds like bible-olotry. The bible in and of itself doesn’t have power apart from relationship with God. I can preach a sermon without reading any scripture at all that is more biblical than the sermon where the preacher quotes 9 passages, assuming that what I am saying aligns with the contours of the biblical story.

 

MO: You can’t have a sermon without a bible passage. That’s just a talk or a devotional or a speech. You need a text to have a sermon.

 

PO: Nope, you need a relationship with God to have a sermon. And your sermon must align with the contours of the biblical meta-narrative.

 

Int: Well, maybe we need both a biblical text and a relationship with God to be able to preach a sermon. Next question…how do you typically structure your sermon?

 

MO: I structure my sermon around the main points of the text. For some reason, I usually end up with three points. These points are the bridge between the bible and my people, they are propositional truths that grow out of the text but connect in relevant ways to my context. People can leave the sermon event with something to apply to their life situations. I also give my people an outline so they can write down the points, usually fill-in-the-blanks. The sermon structure is neat, linear, and logical. I want the sermon to inform and make sense to people. 

 

PO: I want my sermon to inspire people, even if it doesn’t make sense. I try not to give into the temptation to tidy everything up in a neat sermonic package. I want people to feel the angst and disequilibrium that may come from the biblical story. For this reason, I don’t structure my sermon into linear points, which seem good at information but not inspiration. Instead I structure my preaching of a text (yes, I do use the bible) around the elements of narrative like setting, problem, climax, and resolution. This seems to draw people in so that they experience the powerful plot of the text in the preaching moment, instead of merely going home with their outline filled in. To me, the inspirational experience listeners have during the sermon matters more than the information they take away after the sermon.

 

Int: I wonder if both kinds of sermons are needed. Aren’t there times when a sermon needs to be more didactic and logical? And aren’t there other times when a sermon should inspire change instead of simply inform? And, shouldn’t the genre and flow of the passage being preached determine, at least to some extent, whether the sermon uses a linear or narrative structure? I can see I’m upsetting you, so I will get to the next question. Let’s talk about important but secondary issues such as delivery style. How would you describe your preaching style?

 

PO: I try to be conversational, since I don’t see myself as the ultimate authority on God or his word. I simply talk to people and try to create a sense of dialogue with them. I invite them to be participants with me in discovery. I often develop sermons that raise more questions than the sermon answers. Sometimes, I think we preachers try to answer more questions than we have answers for. I want the sermon to be crafted, in a sense, communally not authoritatively. I want it to feel like a dialogue not a monologue.

 

MO: But you are the authority, anointed by God and trained to interpret the scriptures and proclaim good news. You are not called to “talk” to people; you are called to prophetically challenge people to conform to the image of Christ! The bible does have answers! What do you mean when you say your sermon raises more questions than it may answer? Are you a relativist or a proclaimer of truth?

 

PO: Of course I proclaim truth but I also invite listeners to be participants with me in the construction of truth. I believe we get at truth best when we invite multiple voices and considerations into the dialogue. Narrative presents just as much truth as propositions; but narrative invites people into the process of discovering truth instead of simply sitting back and filling in blanks.

 

MO: Are you saying that even nonbelievers can help the church get at truth? Can’t you see how this could lead the church off-track-if any Tom, Dick, or Harry is helping to craft truth? Are you an advocate of relativism and pluralism?

 

PO: Easy there, narrow-minded one! I believe the truth of the Gospel can stand up and shine even when less than perfectly reliable sources are engaged in getting at the truth. God even used Balaam’s donkey in the bible to speak truth.

 

 

Int: Can’t the preacher be both a prophetic authority and a communal conversationalist? Don’t you think that the preacher who is sensitive to congregational voices might actually increase his/her authority as a proclaimer? And, doesn’t your congregational context determine, to some extent, how you preach?

 

PO: I am preaching mostly to people ages 20-45. Many of them don’t even believe in the validity of the bible, but all of them are willing to explore a relationship with Christ. They are more interested in encounter with God than an encounter with principles. In my opinion, narrative sermons are better at creating an experience through which young adults encounter God.

 

MO: Most of the people in my congregation are between 45-70. We are mostly Boomers who want to know how the Bible works in real life. We want life-application. Our lives are complicated enough. We don’t want more tension and questions; we want clarity and answers. My people don’t want me beating around the bush. They want me to be clear and concise about the bottom line.

 

INT: You guys would make a great teaching team at an inter-generational church full of people with a diversity of needs when it comes to the preaching event. MO, young adults need to hear linear sermons that are clear and full of life-application from time to time. And PO, the Boomers and Builders need to explore the Gospel tensions that they may have uncritically assumed for far too long. Plus, there are multiple learning styles within each generation. Therefore, mixing up preaching styles is helpful. If you didn’t feel led to leave your present ministry positions, I wonder if each of you would be willing to explore the possibility of preaching like the other person from time to time. What do you say?    

The Best Preachers are the Best Listeners

As part of my doctoral studies, my cohort and I visited Seoul Korea. We were hosted by the Kwanglim United Methodist Church, one of the largest churches in the world. The church had 50,000 members at the time. How can church leaders care for and disciple 50,000 people?

The Korean pastors had a unique way of accomplishing this. The church employed approximately 30 pastors whose primary ministry was to visit the homes of all church members annually. Every one of the 50,000 members received a visit each year! I had the privilege of observing one of these visits. Shortly after arriving in the member’s home, the pastor would sit on the floor, a Korean custom, across from the church member. The pastor invited the member to detail what was going on in her life, including any prayer requests. The pastor listened intently. Then, when the member was finished sharing the good, bad, and ugly in her life, the pastor preached a 10 minute mini-sermon that was geared specifically to the needs of this member. In other words, the pastor first listened with his heart, mind, soul, and strength and then spoke with the same.

The best preachers seem to be the best listeners. The preacher who lives among the people, listening to their dreams, disappointments, and delights, will be able to preach with profound insight and relevance. There are several ways that a pastor can “listen” to the congregation at a profound level that is sure to foster profound preaching.   

OBSERVATION

“Listen” to your congregation before, during, and after you preach. If you aren’t speaking next Sunday, do this while another pastor preaches. Look around the room and observe the moods of the people. Do people seem anxious, bored, tired, energized, or open? What were their reactions to different parts of the sermon? What parts of the sermon seemed to connect with them most? What parts of the sermon seemed to flop? Perhaps you can videotape the congregation during the service so you can review it after the event.

INTERVIEW

            Interview five members per one hundred people in the church you serve who are diverse in terms of age, spiritual maturity, gender, ethnicity, and class. Ask each of them to list three characteristics of good preaching and three that describe bad preaching. If possible, follow up with clarifying questions regarding any ambiguous statements. You can do these interviews via email, phone call, or in person. Perhaps you will want to use a combination of these interview formats.

SURVEY

            If you are going to distribute an open-ended survey to your entire congregation during a worship service it has to be clear and brief. Try limiting the survey to only 3-5 questions. What open-ended questions can you ask the entire congregation in a survey that will accurately reveal the preaching needs and preferences of your congregants? Here are a few questions to consider including in your survey to the congregation: Why do you attend church? What three things do you need most right now? How would you describe your relationship with God? What do you hope for from the weekly sermon? How would you describe the preaching in the church? When you receive all of the data from the survey perhaps you can take a retreat to reflect on and listen to the hearts of your people. If you have some researchers in your church, maybe they can analyze and categorize the content from the survey.

Listening long and hard to the needs of people in your congregation will enable you to speak into their lives with refreshing depth. The best listeners are the best preachers because they scratch where their people itch most.

EXERCISES

            1. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and reflect upon how the sermon confirms that Jesus was insightfully aware of peoples’ deepest needs.

            2. Upon completing the observation, interviews, and survey, respond to the following two questions: How must my preaching change? How must my preaching not change?

An Election Year Plea to Preachers

According to the polls, Donald Trump is the leading candidate among Evangelicals. To me, this is clear sign that the American Dream has replaced the Christian Gospel. The American Dream that compels me to make a way for myself, to “get mine,” could not be more contrary to the Gospel of the Christ who came to give not to get, to empower the marginalized not to extol the powerful.

Donald Trump has made more than a few comments denigrating women, minorities, and the poor. Listen to any speech he gives and you will quickly note the arrogance and egotism that drives him. Narcissism hangs all over him like a bad $4000 suit. Yet, Trump is the leading candidate among Evangelicals. How can this be? I don’t hate Trump or want to demonize him. I pity him. My expectations for Trump are rather low. However, my expectations for the Church of Jesus Christ, the one who came to serve in selfless love, are really high. Frankly, I am disappointed not in Trump or the Republican Party. I’m heart-broken by the Church for even considering a candidate like Trump to be not only viable but desirable.

Perhaps Trump, if elected, will get us closer to the American Dream than many of us under 50 have ever been. Taxes will be cut. Illegals will be booted and kept out so we have more. If taxes are cut and illegals are gone, we might end up with enough discretionary income to buy a second or, better yet, a third car. A larger home in a better neighborhood is a likely result. But will we better off?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ in more than a few ways flies in the face of the American Dream. In fact, one cannot simultaneously chase the “stake my claim” dream of the West and the values of the Christ. That split allegiance leads inevitably to a double life that tares the soul in two. Professing Christianity while practicing Trumpianity will lead to disastrous disintegration.   

How do we fix this thing? Enter the Christian preacher. While preaching, in part, may have gotten us into this mess, I’m convinced preaching may be the way out. Maybe it’s time for preachers to change the title of our sermon series from How to Manage Your Money to Overcoming American Greed with Christian Generosity, from The Road to a Better You to Making the World a Better Place, from Your Best Life Now to The Christ-Life Now. To the point, preaching in America, perhaps now more than ever, must articulate the distinction between Americanology and Christology, calling the Church to forsake the former to embrace the latter.

I’m not suggesting that preachers ought to stand up this Sunday and rail against Trump with hair-fire, I mean hell-fire and brimstone. As tempting as this might be for some of you, it will merely apply a temporary band-aid to a surgical need. The better way is, as is often the case, the longer way. If we preach “Christ and him crucified,” as Paul did, over and over again, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, in creatively insightful ways, the tide will turn. If we preach the will and the way of Christ in a winsome and faithful manner now, when another Trump-like figure arises in a decade promising to fulfill our self-centered dreams, we won’t budge from the anchor of the cross.         

Am I oversimplifying complex issues with a simplistically myopic response? Well, you make the call. Just don’t say I’m ugly or assume that I’m a criminal because of my ancestry or build a wall to keep me out of your sight. That wouldn’t be very Christian.

Rap Up Your Preaching: What a Preacher Can Learn from Rap Music

Lately my 12 year old son, Zach, has been listening to rap. He carries his Ipod around the house blasting the funky music for all of us to hear. If his Ipod is not available, usually because I confiscated it, he will rap for us. If I believed in rap karma, I would conclude that I’m being punished for the torture I subjected my family to when I was Zach’s age. Rap was my thing, or “thang,” back then. I went to sleep listening to NWA, The Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy. I’m thankful that Zach prefers a much more wholesome brand of rap, like the Christ-exalting lyrics of Lacrae and Andy Minneo. Regardless, I’ve grown tired of rap, I suppose from imbibing too much of it as a kid. I suppose it could be worse. At least there’s no country music playing in our home.

Since my pastoral eyes and ears are trained to locate redemptive value in just about anything, I’ve discovered several ways that rap music can inform Christian preaching.    

Familiar but Fresh: The best rap songs will often use a familiar tune with fresh lyrics for a new generation. Listeners hear the familiar tune but in a fresh way. The fresh lyrics give the familiar tune a new feel. And that gives the song a captive audience. I remember Nice and Smooth did this with Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car (80s) in their rap song Sometimes I Rhyme Slow (90s). We preachers are called by God to tell the old familiar story in new and fresh ways. How do you preach on Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost year after year after year and stay fresh in the retelling? Rap music shows us how. Reinterpret a familiar biblical text with a fresh twist of lyrical content for a new generation.

Memorable Mantra: The catchiest rap songs of all time utilize a cleverly and strategically repeated phrase. One of Lecrae’s most popular songs is All I Need is You, a proper name for a song that repeats the title in the song at least 15 times (then I stopped counting). The phrase is not redundant; it actually helps the message stick with power. The best sermons employ a strategically repeated memorable phrase. I used the phrase “God’s got it” as a repeated mantra in a sermon a few years back. Several years later someone who heard that message was trying to encourage me with the same phrase God used through me to encourage them. A short phrase that encapsulates the singular thrust of a sermon can have a powerful and lasting impact upon listeners.  

Concretize the Conceptual: Of all the musical genres out there, rap music is tops at making concepts concrete. Concepts like love and faith are concretized in rap. It’s not hard to picture what the rapper is saying because rappers typically use word pictures. Here’s an example from a 2003 rap song called Whatever you Say.  “I usually play the background, you know clean cut, Soft spoken well dressed dipped out straight chillin, When I’m in the club yo, sipping the Sprite with the, Ill lemon mixed in it sippin’ on it I was just chillin’, Til I saw you, that’s when my heart stopped knees gave, Head sweating jaws locked I was sweating you.” I’ll stop there, because expletives follow. But you get the point. These lyrics are earthy not ethereal. The rapper gives us the sights, sounds, and smells that enable us to enter the scene of the picture he paints. The most effective preachers do the same. You don’t just hear what they say, you see it.  

Voice for the Voiceless: Public Enemy’s Fight the Power still rings in my head. I listened to that song so many times during my teens that, even though I’ve not heard it in 25 years, I can still rap it, Chuck-D swag and all. Public Enemy was trying to voice through rap the experience of young African American men. My favorite Beastie Boys song back in the day was You Gotta Fight for your Right to Party. The Beastie Boys were trying to be a voice defending the right of suburban teens to get drunk. Obviously, the aims of the preacher are much higher. The preacher, through the sermon, must not only be a prophetic voice proclaiming the will and way of God; the preacher must also be a priestly voice articulating the hurts and hopes of those who have no voice or words to express their pain. When a preacher proclaims with words something deep in me that I have not found a way to articulate, I lean into whatever else the preacher has to say. In other words, when the preacher articulates with honesty and profundity the pain and the angst of the human condition that I know is real, I am most inclined to listen when that preacher proclaims the good news of Christ I hope is real.

Feel free to jump in and add you insights to the list. But remember, no country music lyricsJ

Lenny      

Take Your Congregation Deeper at Lent

I was a pastor in the local church for 15 years before I joined the faculty of Wesley Seminary in 2010 to invest in pastors. Every year during Advent, leading up to Christmas, and Lent, leading up to Easter, I went on a prayerful quest for creativity. How can I tell the old, familiar story in new and fresh ways? I typically preached evangelistically during Advent and for deeper discipleship during Lent. Since you probably already have your Advent sermon series and small group curriculum sketched out in detail, here's a Lenten resource.


I wrote the book True Depth: Moving Beyond Cultural Churchianity to help Christians swim out of the safe shallow waters and into the deep adventurous waters with Christ. Most churchgoers want a more faithful, fruitful and fulfilling relationship with Christ than the one they are currently experiencing. I wrote True Depth for them.


True Depth is practical, theological, and accessible. Even my 12 year old son, Zach, enjoyed the book. He said "Dad, this was cool. It wasn't bad." I think, hope really, this was his way of saying the book was awesome:-) I've had mature Christians read the book and they noted how God exposed for them a blind spot in their spiritual growth. True Depth is for new believers, seasoned saints, and everyone in between who wants deep-end discipleship.


True Depth is affordable and it comes with free sermon notes and small group leader's guide. You can access these resources and purchase the book at https://wphstore.com/product/BKC295.


I wrote the book to inspire disciples to go deeper in our journey with Christ than we've ever gone before. I pray God will use True Depth toward this purpose.    

Learning 7 Skills from 7 Preachers

Every preacher has at least one primary strength from which all preachers can glean. I have been preaching for more than 20 years and teaching preaching for more than 10 of those years. I love listening to preachers who hit the proverbial ball out of the park in key areas, especially in areas where I strike out or get singles. Here are 7 skills we can learn from 7 different preachers. All of the following preachers have sermons that can be easily accessed on the internet.

Andy Stanley and Conversational Delivery: Stanley breaks many of the old rhetorical rules. At times, he talks too fast, uses too many hand gestures, and doesn’t enunciate well. Yet, tens of thousands of people listen to him live and online each week. Why? Because he replicates in the preaching event what happens naturally in conversation. He seems natural, conversational and, as a result, authentic. In conversation we don’t always enunciate, we talk too fast when excited, and we get overly animated with our hands. So does Stanley and that’s one reason why people listen to him. Preach like you converse and listeners will feel like they are in dialogue with a real person not a plastic pulpiteer.

Christine Caine and Passionate Testimony: Caine has grown in popularity as a preacher over the past decade, even in surprising circles where female preachers are not endorsed. Even naysayers sense the passionate conviction with which she preaches. She does not simply tell us about God, she tells us about her experiences with God. She sprinkles her powerful testimony into her sermons. But, she is careful to share her testimony in ways that help the listener know God, not her, better. Caine shares her story in a manner that helps listeners access their stories in light of the story of God as revealed in Scripture. Caine’s credibility and authority are anchored in her experience with God. The listener senses, “she walks with God.” Caine shows preachers how to be testimonial without being self-centered.

Fred Craddock and Inductive Progression: Craddock was a pastor and teacher of preaching for more than half a century. He recently passed away but not before passing on a legacy for those who dare to preach. One of the main hallmarks of his preaching was his ability to replicate for listeners the journey of joyful discovery he experienced while preparing the sermon in his study. Craddock contended that too often preachers reverse what happened in the study by starting the sermon deductively. They begin with the bottom line discovery it took them a week to discern in the study. This makes the sermon dull and boring. The listeners are handed the main thrust of the sermon at the outset and they have no reason to listen beyond the sermon introduction. Craddock, as well as Jesus in his parables, taught us the art of the inductive sermon by taking listeners on a journey of joyful discovery. Sometimes Craddock would hold back the sermon focus and resolution until the last minute of the sermon. Craddock’s sermons moved toward the focus inductively instead of starting with the focus deductively and proving it.

T.D. Jakes and Contextual Colloquialisms:  Jakes puts biblical concepts and narratives in the language of his people with power. He playfully connects the characters in the biblical text with contemporary images and situations. He is careful, when he does this, not to neglect the historical and literary context of the text. Instead, he contextualizes the exegetical realities of the text so that the world of the bible and the world of the listener are merged. So, Jakes might describe Moses as shedding his high-top Air Jordan sneakers because he is on holy ground. He might paint a picture of Pilate as a divorced politician coasting toward retirement. Jakes finds ways to contextualize biblical realities by using the colloquialisms of his people. He does this in ways that are faithful to the intent of the text and to the realities of his context.

Steve Deneff and Itch-Eliciting: Steve is my pastor so I have the privilege of hearing him on a weekly basis. His sermon introductions are lengthy. He will use the first 10-15 minutes trying to expose and elicit an itch in listeners that we didn’t even know we had. He exposes our assumptions and debunks them. Steve recognizes that the sermon introduction must elicit an itch the listener will want to have scratched. If not, the listener might not listen. Steve knows his context. Most of the congregation consists of long time churchgoers, people who might assume we already know what we need to know and live how we need to live. Steve has to work extra hard in this context to help us feel an itch we didn’t even know needed to be scratched. He does this masterfully.

Barbara Brown Taylor and Poetic Word-Smithing: There is no one alive who is better at stringing words together than Taylor. She weaves biblical exegesis into the sermon seamlessly without saying “look at my word study” or “check out the historical background of the text.” She is more subtle, more artful in her weaving of the “then and there” of the text with the “here and now” of her context. Taylor poetically words her sermons in a way that blurs the lines between the biblical world and our world, so that our story is caught up in the story of God. She is a manuscript preacher, so her delivery may not be charismatic enough for some. Her content, not her delivery, is her lead card. One gets the sense from listening to Taylor that she labors over every word to find just the right one to fit with all of the others. Listen carefully to the way she uses words to concretize concepts, to paint profound pictures.

Eugene Lowry and Tension to Twist: Lowry is a genius at developing narrative tension in the sermon. And just as listeners are feeling the tension of the biblical text, Lowry will pull a fast one and offer a new twist on a familiar passage. Here’s an example. I heard him preach on the familiar Mary and Martha passage in Luke 10. What is typically preached from this text is the tension between serving and Sabbath, between doing and being, between busyness and stillness. Lowry starts there but then digs deeper to create a new tension and twist. He pulls a fast one by revealing that Mary is not to be commended merely because she sat still at the feet of Jesus but because she was counter-cultural. Mary took on the posture of a disciple, a role reserved for men alone in her culture. Martha stayed in the kitchen doing what women did in that day. Jesus commended Mary not Martha. Lowry used tension and twist to help us see this familiar biblical narrative in a new light.  

What skills from the preachers above do you most need to adopt in your preaching today? These skills are not the ones we traditionally learn from a basic preaching course. They are advanced skills that come with experience and intentionality. Go online and check out the preachers who possess the skills you need to enhance your preaching.

Serving Christ with you,

Lenny Luchetti