Comments for preaching.org

Comment on Other People’s Sermons by Mark Weekley

Mark Weekley — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:53:50 +0000

I can’t even preach my own sermons over, after having moved congregations! There is a specific time, ethos, set of issues, and spiritual place where a congregation comes from…and to think a “good” sermon speaks without consideration of the Holy Spirit’s movement in our flock…isn’t that blaspheming…and we all know what Jesus said about THAT!

Comment on Performance in Preaching by Mark Weekley

Mark Weekley — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:45:32 +0000

I definitely believe people want to hear the Biblical story of God dramatized in worship. To bring it to life is an encounter of the Word being made flesh before people’s very eyes! Why not have “actors” in the church play the roles of the people in the text, and have the Word read through them? Or, the sermon can be a dialogue between the preacher and the Word. Creativity and ingenuity in bringing the Word to life is what Jesus did with the parables. We should try!

Comment on The Place of the Pulpit by Byron Gardiner

Byron Gardiner — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:31:43 +0000

Kevin, I have seen the barrel pulpit. It is wonderfully unique as is the cowboy church.

My favorite pulpit was the one my father stood behind in the church he pastored back in the 60′s at the Bible Baptist Church in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. The pulpit was large and it was made of wood, but for the Sunday evening service this pulpit held the red beacon. On one side of the pulpit, at the very front where the whole congregation could see was a round red bulb. I was just a kid but I knew something important was about to happen as we were getting near the start of the service. I would watch my father look to the back of the church through a window that looked into his study where a deacon was doing a count down with his fingers 4, 3, 2, 1 and the pointed finger that meant we were on the air. At that same moment the red bulb glowed and we knew we were sharing God with Portage La Prairie and the rural community. I can’t think of a better pulpit that could hold that round red bulb of hope for the community. One hour later the red bulb went out and we were off the air until next Sunday evening.

Comment on Other People’s Sermons by Ken Cherrington

Ken Cherrington — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:21:33 +0000

If I would preach some one elses sermon, I would fall flat on my face. My first sermon was one that I searched out the Word of God and came up with a word, by faith. It wasn’t eloquent but it was from Gods’ Word. People that get their messages out of books or from the internet are either lazy or they can’t hear from God. I tried preaching a message that I had heard preached and thought it was great but when I tried to give the same message, it just didn’t have an impact. I preaced it with my own study and in my own form but God let me fall on my face. We have to hear God for our own people. In churches just like in people, we are at different levels of growth.

Comment on Preaching is Boring Because… by Ryan Giesbrecht

Ryan Giesbrecht — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:31:47 +0000

Who is this preacher Dave? It is true, when preachers have more experience outside their office, they can connect with a greater diversity of people in the congregation. We must be careful, though, to make sure the sermon doesn’t become about us and our experiences, though, but rather about Jesus and His life. His life was very exciting, much moreso than ours could ever be!

A preacher must exegete his audience and culture. He or she can’t do that very well from the confines of an office. One must get outside and engage the world a little to see what the questions are and see what the appropriate language to use is. One must be in the world but be careful to not become of it!

Comment on Tone Sculpting by Ryan Giesbrecht

Ryan Giesbrecht — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:25:03 +0000

Jeremy, I think you’ve really captured my struggle with preaching. I tend towards a mono-tone in preaching, and it is probably mostly due to a lack of connection on my part to the audience. In my limited preaching experience, it has been the connection with the audience that has led to impact, and that seems almost to transcend, or dictate, the tone of voice used. When I am disconnected, I am monotonous, but when I connect with them and it feels closer to dialogue than monologue, then I can be more natural and have greater tonal bandwidth.

Comment on Tower Building and the Origin of Postmodernity by Jeremy Favreau

Jeremy Favreau — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:18:59 +0000

Babel: divine deconstruction of sorts…

Comment on Tone Sculpting by Jeremy Favreau

Jeremy Favreau — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:49:13 +0000

I agree that tone is secondary to the content and that different preachers will have different ranges–both literally and in terms of personal style. That being said, I think that a big part of the tone question has to do with the directness of the communication.

Do you feel like you are really talking to someone when you preach? Are you intently looking people in the eyes, not just because you know you should lift your eyes from time to time but because you really want to connect with them?

These things may seem detached from vocal tone, but I believe that they are closely linked for two reasons: first, our voices will follow, to one degree or another, the flow of what we are saying if we’re really “living it;” second, if our natural tone is rather flat, the intensity and passion of truly connecting with people through visual contact and maybe referring to people directly, asking rhetorical questions, or even asking for feedback on certain ideas (all depending on context and the ability to steer dialogue well), these things will help compensate for the issues with tone.

Comment on Performance in Preaching by Dave Navarro

Dave Navarro — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:33:45 +0000

I was just writing about some struggles I’m having with application. I think assimilation might be the key. We let the text work us over for a while, and then it becomes clear how we are to perform the text, and how our listeners are to perform the text! If preaching is acting, I guess it’s method acting. And I think I’m ok with that.

Comment on Preaching is Boring Because… by Dave Navarro

Dave Navarro — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:22:08 +0000

One of my favourite preachers is a world-traveling, art-loving, mountain-climbing jazz pianist with the better part of an architecture degree. What a wealth of knowledge and experience this guy brings.

I guess what I’m saying is that this guy has “a life,” and it definitely enriches his preaching. He does a lot of stuff, and he does engage life truthfully and transcendently. I have to say, I like listening to him use the imagery of climbing Mt. Baker more than I like listening to a preacher talk about books and church politics (not to be disparaging).