Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

Will Willimon on intellectual curiosity, theology, preaching and communion

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet Will Willimon today.  Probably everyone who reads my blog has their own pastor/scholar heroes.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lesslie Newbigin, Eugene Peterson, and Will Willimon are some of mine. 

Today I had the opportunity to hear him interact with some Duke Divinity School students in Ken Carder’s Introduction to Christian Ministry course (of which I served as the Teaching Assistant last year). 

Here were three of my favorite ideas Willimon shared today:

1. "As a pastor, it helps to be an intellectual. Amidst the ordinary, getting excited about ideas helps."
2. “By their 50's, pastors need theologians. Ministry is too dangerous, too peculiarly demanding. At that point, you need more than just liking people.”
3. "Some biblical texts are all gospel or all law. I preach them in their onesidedness and then let communion balance it out."

Willimon was Dean of Duke Chapel for 20 years and had now been a United Methodist Church bishop in Alabama for five years. He blogs at http://willimon.blogspot.com/ and has two new books out. 

The Early Preaching of Karl Barth: Fourteen Sermons with Commentary by William H. Willimon by Karl Barth and William Willimon (Paperback - Sep 2, 2009)

Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching Fresh by William H. Willimon (Paperback - Oct 2009)

See also Bishop Willimon's Podcast -- The iTunes link will only work if you have iTunes, which is free program that works on PC's and Macs, installed on your computer.

Tim Keller on Willow Creek, ecclesiology, and preaching

I highly recommend New York City pastor Tim Keller's first two blog posts:

The "Kingly" Willow Creek Conference

He describes Willow Creek as "kingly", Reformed as "prophetic", and emerging as "priestly."  I agreed with him--giving a couple lengthy comments--trying to show that the "kingly" has particular strength with regard to evangelism. 

I had previously interacted with Keller about large church vs. small church ecclesiology in the comments of David Fitch's blog in December THREE QUESTIONS FOR THE ATTRACTIONAL PRACTICIONERS WHO QUESTION THE FRUIT OF MISSIONAL: A Response to Dan Kimball

His second post encourages pastors to be involved doing pastoral care and not just preaching. 

Preacher-Onlys Aren't Good Preachers

He writes

I pastor a church with a large staff and so I give 15+ hours a week to preparing the sermon. I would not advise younger ministers to spend so much time, however. When I was a pastor without a staff I put in 6-8 hours on a sermon. If you put in too much time in your study on your sermon you put in too little time being out with people as a shepherd and a leader. Ironically, this will make you a poorer preacher. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed Keller's thoughts on preaching at

Gordon Conwell's PulpitTalk - Volume 5.  Spring 2007 - Preaching to the Heart.

• Preaching to the Heart by Tim Keller. Pastor's Builders Series- Audio Resource.
  
• Unintentional Preaching Models by Tim Keller. Notes from Pastor's Forum Seminar.
  
• Reading and Preparation by Tim Keller. Notes from Pastor's Forum Seminar.

There he talked about how he plans sermons far ahead of time, reads lots of newspapers and books, and believes it takes 3,000 sermons to become a good preacher.  He says he did less preparation in his early years of preaching.  He only decided to make his preparation more tight after he had to preach multiple times the same sermon.  He talked about liking:

Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon by Bryan Chapell (Hardcover - Mar 1, 2005)

but likes to put the theological aspect at the end of the sermon after the application. 

They have also just recently announced that 150 Keller sermons are now available on the Redeemer website for free.  Free Sermon Resource. 

The June cover story of Christianity Today profiled Keller: How Tim Keller Found Manhattan The pastor of Redeemer Church is becoming an international figure because he's a local one. By Tim Stafford | posted 6/05/2009 09:47AM

He has three books:

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy Keller (Hardcover - Oct 30, 2008)

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller (Hardcover - Feb 14, 2008)

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller (Hardcover - Oct 20, 2009)

Willow Creek's 6 characteristics of good preaching

On October 11th in his sermon entitled "All In" on the church's 34th anniversary, Bill Hybels shared Willow Creek Community Church's renewed commitment to six characteristics in their weekend teaching.  He said that he had gotten together over the summer with 20 leaders from Willow to talk about weekend teaching and they came to a consensus around six characteristics.   

Hybels said

teaching at weekend services needs to be:
1. Biblically based--coming right out of the text of the Word of God.
2. High challenge--not low challenge, not a mild dose of anything.
3. Intellectually rigorous--we're not going to dumb it down for any reason or anyone.  We want to produce intelligent Christians who think with a Christian worldview who can really interact with the complexity of a really complex world.
4. Theologically stretching--not just the easy parts of the Word of God but the doctrines that force us to think deeply and to put our roots down deeply. 
5. Clear application--so that we all know what to do with the Word of God when we have to put it into practice on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  
6. Accessible--We want it to be accessible to people who walk in the door who don't understand the Bible because they didn't grow up with it.  It should be accessible to rookies and veterans. 

Hybels went on to note that they have tried to embrace these characteristics in their September-October series The Forgotten Way.

Notes:

Willow Creek is the third largest church in the U.S.A., 23,400 weekly attendance for 2009, according to Outreach Magazine.

Download Willow Creek sermons at iTunes or watch the video at their Media Player. 

Follow Willow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WillowCreekCC

Teaching pastor Nancy Beach and Darren Whitehead (http://twitter.com/darrenwh) share the teaching duties with Hybels. 

Interesting trivia: Beach notes on her blog post Anniversary Celebration at Willow that "On the very same weekend that Willow Creek was launched, the phenomenon known as Saturday Night Live also began."

Better than PowerPoint--how the CEO of Thomas Nelson does presentations

Michael Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, tells us what software he uses to do presentations.  See his post
My Current Presentation Tools

I have not seen anyone recently give such a comprehensive and clear introduction recently to presentation technology and software.

See also other communication tips at my post:

Superb practical tips about preaching: Communications professor Lori Carrell in Rev.

Superb practical tips about preaching: Communications professor Lori Carrell in Rev.

I wanted to draw your attention to an outstanding series of articles by Lori Carrell, a professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin, who has done research in cooperation with the Center for Excellence in Congregational Leadership, which is owned and operated by Green Lake Conference Center/American Baptist Assembly in Wisconsin and has received funding from the Lilly Endowment.  Each article is three pages long from Rev. magazine and contains some of the best practical advice about preaching you can find anywhere.  Carrell has her Ph.D. in communication, is very familiar with how pastors think, is a Christian herself, and is a highly awarded professor.  I am impressed.  We need more of this kind of research on topics related to pastoring.    

Check out these PDFs online. 

Lori Carrell, "Sermons Most Likely to Succeed: Do sermons actually change beliefs and behavior? An ongoing study reveals hard facts," Rev. Magazine (May/June 2007), 71-73.

This is the most dense article--sharing findings from an extensive survey of what is most effective in preaching. 

Lori Carrell, “The Perils of PowerPoint Preaching: Research reveals that the use of PowerPoint slides during preaching is often more of a distraction than a transformative tool,” Rev. Magazine (Mar/Apr 2008): 91-93.

This article argues finds that much PowerPoint use is distracting. 

Lori Carrell,"Are You Wasting Your Sermon Prep Time?" Rev. Magazine (May/June 2008), 91-93.

This article explains what pastors do in sermon prep time and follows pastors who have tried to improve their effectiveness in preparation.

Lori Carrell,"Reaching the Choir: Are you transforming your listeners or simply telling them what they already know?," Rev. Magazine (July/August 2008), 95-97.

This article suggests a method for moving people from what they already know to specific challenges. 

Lori Carrell,"Why Your Preaching Matters More Than You Think," Rev. Magazine (September/October 2008), 158-159.

This article explains how greatly congregation members value preaching. 

See also her book:

Lori Carrell, The Great American Sermon Survey (Mainstay Church Resources, 1999).

I give Rev. magazine credit for having regular columns from:

• David Kinnaman, author of UnChristian and president of The Barna Group;
• D. Michael Lindsay, assistant professor of sociology at Rice University, and a reputable sociologist.   

Both move beyond the numbers to offer their take on what church leaders should do but they also both deal responsibly with statistics. 

Sermon on Colossians 1:15-23 - The Supremacy of Jesus: Pursuing depth of spirituality the right way

We are in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  I preached last Sunday (April 20, 2008) at Granville Chapel in Vancouver where Amy and I served on church staff from 1999 to 2005.  Granville Chapel is in the midst of a series in Colossians and I preached on Colossians 1:15-23.  The audio is only 19 minutes 32 seconds including the Scripture reading and the introduction of me.   

The sermon can probably be summarized by this excerpt.

Colossians 1:17 says, Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
If Jesus were not present, nothing would be made.  If Jesus did not continue to pour out his reconciling power, the universe would dissolve. 
And the Colossians worship angels?!  We scour magazines for tips on making our life better?!

Here is the MP3 audio recording

The Supremacy of Jesus: Pursuing depth of spirituality the right way - Colossians 1:15-23 Sermon MP3

PowerPoint Slides: Download colossians_1.15-23 PowerPoint 2003.ppt

PowerPoint PDF: Download colossians_1.15-23 PowerPoint 2003.pdf

Related:

I mentioned Vancouverite author Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) which is the #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller Paperback Advice list.  Note these related resources:

• Katelyn Beaty's post "Another Brick in the Oprah Empire" from Christianity Today's LiveBlog on May  9, 2008.
• Greg Boyd, author, professor, and pastor, April 20, 2008 substantial review: Eckhart Tolle'€™s "A New Earth" Book Review
• Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun's February 9, 2008 article "Tolle has valid insights, but not 'the answer'"
• Dorothy Cummings of the Catholic Register's March 7, 2008 article "Tolle's 'New 'Earth' pains the body"
• I have previously written about Oprah: Frank Rich of the New York Times wrongly says that Christianity Today affirms Oprah's Spirituality
• ThinkChristian's April 25th post "Oprah's New Earth" has a number of other links.

C.S. Lewis quote:

• PDF of "Weight of Glory" sermon by C.S. Lewis.

CBC Television Series "The Week the Women Went" which I mentioned in the introduction.

Update:

My wife Amy Rowell's sermon from April 27th is now online at Granville Chapel's website.  See www.amyrowell.net.

Title: Focus on Christ Regardless of the Consequences
Text: Colossians 1:24-2:5
Date: April 27, 2008
Location: Granville Chapel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Note: The audio begins with Jeannie Wright doing the Scripture reading.  Jeannie is blind and reads using braille.
Click here to listen to audio

Instructions: MP3's play on any computer.  To save it to your computer, right click on the link and click "Save Target As . . ." (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As . . ." (Mozilla Firefox) and you can save it to your desktop.  It will then be on your computer and you can listen to it whenever you want.

 

My sermon "The Spirit-led Missional Church" (Acts 11) Audio

I preached Sunday, March 30th at Clayton Presbyterian Church in Clayton, North Carolina.  My text was Acts 11:1-18 as part of a series in the book of Acts.   I would argue that this is one of the most important texts on the church in mission in the New Testament. 

The iTunes link is Clayton Presbyterian Church Podcasts (will only work if you have iTunes - a free program - installed on your computer). 

The direct link is Clayton Presbyterian Church Sermons - you can download the sermon there or listen to it streaming. 

I have also made a copy of the recording and put it here.

The transcript is

here as a Microsoft Word document

and here as a pdf

Summary:
In the sermon, I suggest we appreciate the passion for un-churched people that seeker-driven churches embody.  I also suggest, however, that there is real value in churches that are very diverse and ignore the seeker-driven philosophy of reaching a specific target audience.  I suggest that Acts 11:1-18 (which essentially retells Acts 10) in which Cornelius, the Gentile centurion comes to faith in Jesus, exemplifies what mission in the church should be like.  Not only are unbelievers reached but diverse ones.  I suggest that the Acts 10-11 narrative can serve as a paradigm as we think about the mission of our churches. 

Here are some of the points I draw out from the narrative:  Change is hard.  We all like to stay in our comfort zones.  Prayer is where it starts but our prayers are often weak.  We are prodded by the Spirit to obey what is clear.  We are to do this work with others.  The message of Jesus is simple.  The Spirit goes before us.  What can we do to get out of the way so that people can see Jesus?

Additional notes on some of the examples in the sermon:

• I mention Donald McGavran - one of the founders of the Church Growth Movement
• Saddleback Church - I reflected a bit about Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Church at Strengths of the Purpose Driven Church and Sober Advice For Those Considering the Megachurch. 
• I reflect more on this issue of having a target audience at: Why pastors should be both goal-setting fanatics and goal-setting cynics
• Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh, PA
• I mention in passing the difficulty of change in organizations (including churches) and list a number of business book titles that try to address this problem.  Perhaps the one to start with is: Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

• The quotes I used in the message that you might enjoy. 

1. There is the old pastor’s legend about the pastor who wanted to move the piano to the other side of the sanctuary and the way he got away with it was by moving it an inch every week.   Source: I can't remember where I heard this one. 

2. Pastors often overestimate what they can change in one year but underestimate what they can change in five years.  Source: I first heard this from Sandy Millar at Holy Trinity Brompton Church but I don't think it was original to him. 

3. Erik Erikson  “all change is perceived as loss.” Source: internet.   

4. If you find the perfect church, don’t join it or it will no longer be perfect.  Source: I can't remember. 

5. Like Noah’s ark, it stinks being inside but it is still better than being outside.  Source: I can't remember.   

6. Mark Twain: "It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." Source: internet. 

7. G.K Chesterton: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” Source: internet.

Best Podcasts for Church Leaders

Here are the best podcasts for church leaders that I have found. 

Update: January 30, 2010.  

Here are some suggestions I gave a friend recently: 

• Video podcasts: Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation, Reliable Sources, NBC Nightly News; Audio podcasts: Shields and Brooks. I know those are all politics but those are the ones I almost always listen to. T
  
• Here are lots of other good ones that I listen to as well: Rob Bell Mars Hill; John Ortberg Menlo Park; Will Willimon; Mark Goodacre NT Pod; Harvard Business IdeaCast; Willow Creek; Andy Stanley North Point Ministries; BusinessWeek--Behind This Week's Cover Story; Catalyst Podcast; The Kindlings Muse; Neue; This American Life. 
  
• iTunes U also has a treasure trove of good stuff--Duke, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, MIT. I love the "Recently Added" option in the left column of iTunes which tells me the latest podcasts that have been downloaded.

Original Post October 10, 2006

The ITunes links will only work if you have the free ITunes software installed on your computer.  See below for more directions.  I have also put the MP3 location for each link in case you don't want to bother with ITunes. 

Catalyst Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Catalyst Conference was this past weekend.  It is this cool conference for pastors under 40.  See my preview of it here.  There are good interviews with Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Andy Stanley, Eugene Peterson, and Donald Miller.

Defining Moments Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location. These are samples of the Willow Creek Association Defining Moments audio CD's.  They are good 10 minute interviews but really leave you wanting more.  And that is the point.  They want your church to become part of the WCA and then the pastor will get the full CD's.   

Emergent Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Emergent Village is the main organization of the Emerging Church movement.  These podcasts are usually just plain good theological discussion.  You will enjoy them even if you aren't "emerging."  The first seven are with Yale theologian Miroslav Volf. 

Mars Hill Bible Church (ITunes): MP3 location.  Rob Bell, of the NOOMA DVDs, Velvet Elvis author and author of spring 2007 book Sex God, has more people download his sermons than anyone. 

Mosaic (ITunes): MP3 location. Erwin McManus, author of The Barbarian Way, and numerous other books, and pastor of Mosaic in LA. 

MPPC Sermon-Cast (ITunes): MP3 location.  John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and author of The Life You've Always Wanted and other books, is an outstanding teacher. 

North Point Ministries: Life Rules (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series on relating with one another.  This is with Andy Stanley, pastor of the #3 influential church in the nation according thechurchreport.com and author of the new book Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication. North Point only podcasts their most recent sermon series. 

Practically Speaking (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series for church leaders based on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and friends. 

Covenant Worldwide of Covenant Theological Seminary has thirteen classes that are podcast.  They actually have many more for free at their website here. Below are the ITunes links. 

1. Old Testament History with V. Phillips Long (now at Regent College).
2. Biblical Theology with Gerard Van Groningen.
3. Life & Teachings of Jesus with Daniel Doriani.
4. Life & Letters of Paul with Hans Bayer. 
5. Ancient & Medieval Church History with David Calhoun.
6. Reformation & Modern Church History with David Calhoun. 
7. Calvin's Institutes with David Calhoun.   
8. Christian Ethics with David Jones. 
9. Apologetics & Outreach with Jerram Barrs.
10. Youth Ministry with Mark Davis. 
11. God and His Word with Michael Williams. 
12. Humanity, Christ and Redemption with Robert Peterson. 
13. Spirit, Church & Last Things with Robert Peterson.

See also my post about the best audio on the internet which is my most popular post. 

Other ITunes podcast links:

The below ITune links either aren't as strong as the ones above or are not directly related to church leadership.  But I thought I would place them anyway for your to see what is available and what I'm listening to.  The links below will only work if you have ITunes installed on your computer.  If you don't, I'm sure these MP3's are available but you will probably have to google them.  I don't want to take the time to find them right now. 

NYT Op-Ed Podcast (New York Times and other NYT is good.)
NPR (Anything at NPR.org or podcast is good. National Public Radio)
Moyers on America (PBS)
Nature (Science journal)
Science Talk: The podcast of Scientific American (Science journal)
Relevant Podcast (Relevant Magazine for Christians in 20's)
Jesus Asked (Book by Conrad Gempf; Zondervan, 2003. Read by the author in 15 minute segments.  "In the Gospels, when people asked Jesus a question, he often replied with one of his own. This book looks at the questions Jesus asked and how they can enrich our understanding and faith.")
PeterKreeft.com (Christian Catholic philosopher)
wiredparish.com (interview with Rob Bell is pretty good)
Willow Creek podcasts (not much there right now except a few random sermons)
Leadership Network  See my posts about listening to these video venue audio segments here.
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Gordon-Conwell Chapel
Donald Miller a few posts from a while ago
BusinessWeek - Climbing the Ladder
Christian Audio podcast - Devotional Classics
Duke Chapel Podcast including Richard Hays and Walter Brueggemann
USA Today's Pop Candy - on pop culture

Here are some basic instructions to get you started using ITunes for podcasts.

Basically, you download ITunes here.  It is free.  I would recommend doing it.  You might as well learn what people are talking about and it is free and convenient to have ITunes download your MP3's for you. 

Basically, ITunes like Internet Explorer doesn't work unless you are connected to the internet. When you open ITunes and see the ITunes store, go to the right side of the page under "Quick Links" and click "Power Search."   On the next screen, click "Podcasts" which is on the right side of the page.  Under Title, put "Mars Hill Bible Church" and then click "Search."  You will have found the podcast for Rob Bell's church.  Click on Mars Hill Bible Church.  Then you can see the main page for the podcast.  At the bottom, all of the episodes are available.  If they are not in the right order, click on "Release Date" to have them organized from most recent to least recent.  You can either "Subscribe" at the top so that you get each new sermon as it is posted on the net each week or you can just click "Get episode" and download the past sermons that you want. 

You can click on "Podcasts" under Library on the left side of your screen.  This will show you all the podcasts which you have downloaded and subscribe to.  Right in front of the title of the podcast you have downloaded is a little triangle pointing right or down.  If it is pointing down, you can see all the details of what episodes you have downloaded.  If it is pointing right, the details are hidden.  When you click on the name of the podcast, it is highlighted and a little arrow appears to the right of the title.  You can click on this arrow to go to the ITunes home page for that podcast.  You right click on the icon of the podcast on its ITunes home page to get its ITunes link (url). 

If you want to get back to searching for more podcasts, just click on the left side of your screen where it says "ITunes store."  In the ITunes store, you can always click back to the ITunes front page by clicking the little house at the top of your screen. 

The podcasts you download are audio computer files called MP3's.  Podcasts are generally free.  You can also download audio books or songs but you have to pay for them. 

Unlike the Apple song files, you can play the podcast MP3's on any computer and MP3 player. You can also burn them on CD's and play them on some CD and DVD players. 

For convenience, you might want to be able to access your ITunes MP3's without ITunes.  Here is the default location where podcasts are downloaded to your computer:

C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts

If you want to make a shortcut, go to My Documents, My Music, ITunes, ITunes Music, Podcasts.  Then right click and click Create Shortcut.  Cut that Shortcut folder and paste it on your desktop. 

You can grab the MP3's there if you want to transfer them to your MP3 player or a CD.  I

You can double click the photo on this post to get a bigger photo of what my ITunes looks like. 

Audio of my wife Amy Rowell preaching on suffering in Taylor University Chapel

My wife, Amy Rowell, spoke in chapel Wednesday at Taylor University.  I introduced her.  Amy has her Masters of Divinity degree from Regent College in Vancouver, BC and has served on church staff in a number of capacities including pastoral care, children's ministry, adult education, women's ministry and preaching.  Like me, she is serving as a professor of Christian Educational Ministries at Taylor.  She and I share one full-time position and take turns hanging out with our one-year-old Ryan. 

The text she chose was Mark 5:21-43 which includes the healing of the bleeding woman and the daughter of Jairus.  Through expositorily preaching this narrative, she outlines a realistic and robust theology of suffering.  She specifically reflects on the untimely death of her mother in April.  She had three main points.  Here is my paraphrasing of them:  (1) Jesus is compassionate and has the power to heal.  (2) Sometimes Jesus doesn't heal at the time we'd like.  (The daughter of Jairus died when Jesus stopped to heal the bleeding woman).  (3) But Jesus walks with us on the road and heals when we eventually arrive home. 

The mp3 and streaming audio are available at Taylor's website here.  Sadly, the video folks had the day off so didn't get her filmed.

This is a photo of us after a wedding in August 2006. 

How to find movie clips to use in your sermon

   I recently had a student who told me she loved movies.  This woman watched lots and lots of movies.  I was wishing she would read a few more books and go out more often with friends.  But I also encouraged her to write down a movie clip she could use in teaching for each movie she watches.  One of my students emailed me that she is sometimes doing this.  (See the end of this post). 

I don't have this habit down myself but I would like to!  Movies can be a big waste of time but if you are reflecting on them, they can be edifying. 

You can send those clip descriptions into Preaching Today and get paid $75 for each one!  See here for a list of their illustrations which you have to pay to access (but you can still the list).  See here for their guidelines on submitting articles. 

Or get some practice and share your insights with the world by starting a free blog entitled "______'s Movie Illustrations" on Blogger.com.   

I gave my students a Movie Clip assignment in Teaching and Learning Strategies  The Microsoft Word assignment sheet is available free for download at the following link: Download mfilm_clip_assignment.doc

There are a few examples at Leadership Journal’s Website .  Search for “Movie Clips to Show or Tell”.

Here are some books which give movie clips for sermons:

1. Movie-Based Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching - Volume 1 by Craig Brian Larson
2. More Movie-Based Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching: 101 Clips to Show or Tell (Movie-Based Illustrations) by Craig Brian Larson
3. Videos That Teach 4: 75 More Movie Moments to Get Teenagers Talking by Doug Fields
4. Videos That Teach 3: 75 More Movie Moments to Get Teenagers Talking (Youth Specialties) by Doug Fields
5. Videos That Teach 2 by Doug Fields
6. Videos That Teach by Doug Fields
7. Group's Blockbuster Movie Illustrations: Over 160 Clips for Your Ministry! by Bryan Belknap
8. Group's Blockbuster Movie Illustrations: The Sequel by Bryan Belknap
9. Group's Blockbuster Movie Illustrations: The Return by Bryan Belknap

I have created an Amazon.com Listmania! list entitled "Using Movie Clips in a Sermon" if you want to see the covers of the books. 

The reason I mention all of this is that I got an email from Kerrie Schene, one of my students from that class.  After the course had ended, she thought of two movies that could serve as illustrations.  She didn't put her email to me in the "correct form" for the class assignment but I still thought it would be worth sharing with you.  I'm proud of her for watching movies and thinking about the themes and how she might use them in teaching.

Hey, Andy!

How's it going?  I hope your summer is going well with Amy and Ryan in Upland.  I hope you guys are getting some good relaxing time amidst plans for this fall. 

This is random, but there were two times this past semester when I had seen movies/remembered movies with good scenes in them that reminded me of our movie scene presentation in Teaching & Learning.  So, I'm not sure why, but I randomly remembered those just now and wanted to send you them before I forgot once again!

Okay, the first one I saw over Christmas break-"Christmas with the Kranks".  The basic gist of the movie is a married couple in Suburbia boycott having Christmas and decide to skip the traditions and go on a cruise instead.  Then, their daughter decides to come home for Christmas at the last minute so they scramble to make it a good Christmas for her.  The main scene that I thought was really good was one that parallels Christ's gift of mercy, redemption and grace to us.  It's one of the last few scenes in the movie.  Tim Allen's character decides to give his obnoxious neighbor and his sweet wife (who has cancer) his cruise tickets.  His neighbor refuses to take them and insists that he can't pay for them, though Tim repeats that they're a gift over and over and finally the neighbor takes them in amazement.  After I saw that, I said, "That is such a perfect scene to teach God's free and undeserving gift of Jesus to us!" 

The second one came to mind on the spring CE retreat, actually.  I was in the Lectio Divina room (which was awesome, btw) and my scripture to read was 1 John 3:1-3-

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

The word "lavished" was what stuck out to me the most from the passage and made me think of the movie "A Little Princess".  I don't know if you or Amy are familiar with it-there are a couple different versions, but I was thinking of the most recent version made probably in the mid-90's.  The main story is about a girl named Sarah who came to America from India with her father to live in a boarding school as he goes to war-WWI.  He dies while she is at school and the cruel headmaster makes her become a maid at the school and she has to live in the attic with another servant girl named Becky.  They live in very poor circumstances, but still try to hang to some hope despite them.  They notice that a very rich man lives across the way and they can see both him and his butler, who dresses like an Indian sheik, through the windows.  He sees the girls and notices their living conditions.  One morning they wake up to beautiful surroundings.  They have big comfy blankets, pretty robes and slippers and a table covered with hot food that they haven't tasted in forever.  The girls are so excited and try everything at once and exclaim at the beauty of it all.  They end up playing and dancing in the sunlight through the windows and that was the main scene that I thought of when reading and thinking on the word "lavish".  The colors and cinematography in this movie are great, and definitely help when the cold attic is transformed with beautiful colors and sunlight.

So, I hope that maybe these can help for class next year if you are teaching a section of it at all or in the future.  I have just had those in my head for a while and kept forgetting to share them with you.  Again, I hope you are all enjoying the sweet country summer that exists in Upland, Indiana. :)  See you in the fall!

Kerrie Schene
Women's Ministry/CARE Ministry Intern
Southland Christian Church
Lexington, KY

Should pastors borrow sermons from other people?

Today, Skye Jethani posted an article on Leadership Journal's Out of Ur blog entitled: Word for Word: what is driving pastors to plagiarize?

Skye gives us an excellent little summary of the pertinent factors that are adding to the temptation to plagiarize sermons. 

I would also add that "great preachers" have four things smaller church pastors do not: (1) a research team, (2) 25 hours a week to spend on sermon prep, (3) other teaching pastors to preach Wednesday night and next week and (4) an outstanding staff who visit people in the hospital and coordinate worship details.

What else is leading pastors to plagiarize?

People explicitly encouraging them to do so. Read this article at Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox on pastors.com

Don’t be original – be effective!
by Steve Sjogren

Sjogren, pastor of the 6000 attendance Cincinnati Vineyard church, essentially argues that "everyone's doing it and it is practical!" Here is a quote:

First of all, stop all of this nonsense of spending 25 or 30 hours a week preparing to speak on the weekend. The guys I draw encouragement from – the best communicators in the United States – confess they spend a total of about 15 hours preparing for their message. As I have already said, they get 70 percent of their material from someone else . . . Regardless of what you have heard or been taught – hit a homerun this weekend with the help of a message master!

Of course it is appropriate to borrow sermon ideas, quotes, and even outlines from others. It is part of research. We may also draw a quote, idea or outline from a commentary. But I think we must ask ourselves these questions when we borrow.
1. Do I feel complete integrity in this content? Am I repeating traditional American Christian cliches or is this material solidly rooted in Scripture? Am I seeking to live this material?
2. Is there an appropriate way for me to document where I have received my material? Do I put a note in the bulletin that gives credit to the original preacher? For example: "The message material today is based on the sermon series by Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan entitled 'Where else is the cross true?'" Or do you say somewhere in your introduction "Today I'm drawing material from a sermon preached earlier this year by John Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California entitled "'The Church on Monday Morning?'"
3. As the person set aside for study in this congregation and looked to as an example of integrity, am I putting aside an appropriate amount of time for preparation for building up my community in God's word? How can I regularly inform the elders of my church about my study habits so that they can protect, encourage me and hold me accountable? "Elders, I just wanted to give you an update on this next sermon series. I'm planning on drawing 70% of what I say directly from Ed Young's recent sermon series. I will probably be spending only 7 hours a week on sermon prep during that series instead of my usual 15. Let's talk about it after the series again and see if you have any concerns about whether I did not spend enough time in preparation or if I should more explicitly indicate the sources of my sermon material."

Later note August 14, 2006:

See also the common sense article from Leadership Journal in 2003 entitled:

An Honest Sermon by Mike Woodruff and Steve Moore (which is available for free at the moment).

Guidelines for Using Movie Clips in a Sermon

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Film and television clips can be a rich resource to draw from when teaching. They can be used at the beginning, end, or middle of a presentation to capture attention, stimulate interest, create a desire to know more, illustrate principles, summarize, or provide a powerful, memorable wrap-up to a message. Here are some preparation and presentation guidelines to help you make efficient use of this effective resource.

GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION

1. Select examples that capture the mood as well as the message of your point
2. Select examples that don’t require a ton of explanation to set up
3. Select examples that won’t require an apology afterwards (You can find more info at http://www.pluggedinonline.com/ or http://www.movieguide.org/ about movie moral content though I am partial to the reviews of movies at http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/ since I know three of the reviewers personally).
4. Select only that segment that serves your specific purposes—edit, edit, edit!
5. Don’t be afraid to select examples that may be unfamiliar

GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATION

A good clip doesn’t stand on its own; it requires a good set up and wrap up

  SET UP—Think Past, Present, and Future

1. Past: Describe the background, setting, time, place, etc
2. Present: Identify the characters and action of the scene
3. Future: Describe any future aspects of the story that would clarify your clip
4. Focus attention by telling them what to watch for, e.g. Pay attention to…,” Be sure to watch for…,”  “Take note of….”
5. Don’t forget to warn the audience of anything they might find offensive or disturbing

  WRAP UP

1. Let the clip speak for itself OR summarize the point you’re making quickly
2. Answer any lingering questions the clip may have raised
3. Don’t get caught up in a personal running commentary on the film as a whole

LICENSE ISSUES

Your church will also need to have a video license to show clips of movies.  Yes, even clips of movies as I understand it though this guy disagrees.  Here are a couple of providers in the USA: MPLC and CVLI  The Willow Creek Association report about the issue is here.  In Canada we used ACF

This handout was originally created by Faye Chechowich, a professor of Christian Educational Ministries at Taylor University, and added to by Ted Ewing, pastor of First Church of God of East Central Indiana.  It was further revised by me for my course Teaching and Learning Strategies (Fall 2005) at Taylor University. 

See the next post which will talk about how to find movie clips. 

APPENDIX: MOVIES I HAVE SEEN IN THE THEATER THIS SUMMER

I have watched three movies in the theater this summer and would probably recommend all of them.  See the reviews of them at Christianity Today: Superman Returns (2 1/2 stars), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (3 1/2 stars), and X-Men: The Last Stand (3 stars). 

You should know that Pirates of the Caribbean is part of a series so the plot does not resolve whatsoever.  The next movie comes out in May 2007.  It is fun.  It is also a bit difficult to follow if you don't remember the previous film.  I read Wikipedia's plot summary of the previous film at Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl which helped a lot. 

Superman Returns is also well done I think.  Some of my family thought it was predictable.  I liked it.  There are a few thoughtful moments.  (As far as superhero movies go, see the 4 star reviews from Christianity Today of Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2 now both on DVD.  They are great.)

X-Men 3 was the most intellectually stimulating for me because I could think of some parallels to some issues in our modern world.  Again, it might be helpful to read the plot summary of the previous films at Wikipedia at X2 and X-Men to appreciate all of it. 

Two Outstanding Ortberg Sermons without a Text

John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, is probably my wife Amy and my favorite preacher.  He is funny, winsome, biblically sound, practical, and clear.  I was at Willow Creek's midweek New Community service last week and people cheered when they announced John was coming back to guest teach again August 2nd.  He is deeply loved there by the people he taught for years. 

We have recently listened to two outstanding sermons by him.  You can find his sermons here.  He 3/05/06 sermon "An Ordinary Day with Jesus" is practical and thought provoking.  It is based on the adult curriculum of the same title. 

His next one on 3/12/06 "The Church on Monday Morning" is also incredible.  It is about the people of the church getting out and making a difference for good in the community.  It is inspiring!

In neither one does Ortberg focus on one specific text.  And yet his theology is good and it is practical.  Amy and I have been taught to focus on one text in preaching and we teach our students to do the same.  And here our favorite preacher isn't!  Cognitive dissonance - oh no! 

I would explain it this way.  In these two sermons, Ortberg briefly outlines the biblical principles that could be exegeted from many passages and focuses his sermon on fleshing out application.  You could look at them as long application sections of an expository sermon where the exposition is assumed! 

There is a place for these topical sermons but a congregation needs a steady diet of Scripture or they will depend on the preacher and his whims.  But if you want to hear good topical sermons, listen to these two.  They come highly recommended.   

Logos for Sermon Series

Bravo to Wheaton Bible Church on their logo "Deeper Still" on the spiritual disciplines.  We do want to get deeper and we want to become still.  You can use it like a pun either way.  I like the phrase and the image.  I like the p going deep and becoming the i in still. 

I have heard three of the messages (June 25, July  9, 16) and they have all been good.  You can download and listen to them here. 

How do you preach about helping the poor?

Here is an email from one of my students and my response. 

Hi Andy!

I hope that your summer has been going well and that you are enjoying visiting practicum students! I am doing well here at ________Church in ________, and I actually gave my first ‘sermon" this past Wednesday night.  The thing is, I have to give another sermon this upcoming Wednesday, and I am scrambling to gather information that would be helpful.  I am going to be speaking on the sheep and the goats parable, but not from a view of judgment, but rather, I would like to focus more on the "unto the least of these" aspect of it, to encourage action in the jr. higher’s.  I was wondering if you could refer me to any resources or if you have any notes on the topic that you wouldn’t mind sharing with me?  That would be great! But if not, that’s ok too! Thank you so much!

~Name~

Dear _______,

Great for you preaching!  This is not an easy passage to exegete but it is indeed an inspiring one for us to serve the least of these in our paths.  The good samaritan might be a tad simpler if you want to go that route.  You don't have the judgment to worry about explaining.    

For Preaching Ideas and Illustration Inspiration:

§ Tony Campolo has a heart for serving the poor.  Any of his sermons would probably be inspiring.  They are at his website here.  Maybe start with "Missions: Getting Beyond the Kingdom of Ticky-Tack."  These sermons might give you some inspiration or illustrations.  We will likely meet with him on Capstone.  It is not specifically on Matthew 25.   

§ John Ortberg's sermon on 3/12/06 "The Church on Monday Morning" is also incredible.  It is about the people of the church getting out and making a difference for good in the community.  It is inspiring!  You can find his sermons here.  It is not specifically on Matthew 25. 

§ The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne  is also a great new book by a young person.  We will meet with him on Capstone.

Biblical Study:

§ Here are a list of good commentaries if you have the chance to get to Taylor's library.  Here are some Links to Lists of Good Commentaries  One of the Matthew commentaries by Craig Keener would be great.  He married an African woman and has a deep passion for justice and simplicity.  We will meet with him on Capstone.  Also D.A. Carson's commentary is solid.  He clarifies that it is not that your good works get you into the kingdom of heaven but rather: "The reason for admission to the kingdom in this parable is more evidential than causative."

§ Ron Sider's short book  Scandal Of The Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like The Rest Of The World? (Paperback)
by Ronald J. Sider would also give you some good stats and a good summary of the Bible material about serving the poor.

§ Here is my link to Bible study resources on the net.   

I'm glad you are preaching.  It takes a lot of time and it is easy to get discouraged in the preparation so hang in there! 

I would write out what you want to say in complete sentences so that you can basically read it.  Once you have it how you like it basically, then read it over to yourself 3-4 times outloud.  By the 4th time you will basically have it memorized and you will just need to glance down at it.  Writing it helps you have down exactly what you want to say and reading it a number of times helps you get ready to deliver it clearly.  Once you have studied hard, write strongly and passionately what you think.  This is your strength!  Call me on my cell if you need more help ________

Let you prayer be: "Lord I can't help but want to look good and impress people when I preach.  But more than anything, I want YOU to look good!  Please be glorified in what I say." 

I'm going to post my letter to you (without your name) on my blog.  Maybe someone else will have some good ideas.   

Grace and peace,

andy

Click on the category to the side entitled "Senior Capstone Trip" to find more posts about our January capstone trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. 

Media and Preaching

A fellow professor e mailed me this question:

I'm looking for a book that can help explain the communicational importance of using electronic support during worship. Any ideas you have for me to peruse would be appreciated.

Here is what I said:

Check out these in this order. You can see my notes below.

High-Tech Worship?: Using Presentational Technologies Wisely (Paperback) by Quentin J. Schultze

Publisher: Baker Books (January 2004)

Schultze was in my class this year because he has been a visiting scholar at Taylor. This book is short and wise and would fit your purpose I think.

Communicating for a Change : Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication (Hardcover) by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones

Publisher: Multnomah (June 1, 2006)

Andy is one of the leading communicators in the nation. (He is speaking at Willow Creek's Leadership Conference this year). This is his new book.

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture : How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church (Emergentys) (Paperback) by Shane Hipps

Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties (February 1, 2006)

Taylor communication professor and my friend Kathy Bruner is reading this book. She says it is good. He has been on Leadership Journal's Out of Ur recently. See my blog post responding to his article about Video Venues here.

-- The rest of these books I don't know much about. Abingdon (of United Methodist roots) has published all of them.

· The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry (Paperback) by Len Wilson

Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk&CD Rom edition (March 1999)

· Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship (Paperback) by Len Wilson, Jason Moore

Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk & DVD edition (April 2002)

· Media Ministry Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Visual Communication (Paperback) by Tim Eason

Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk & DVD edition (April 2003)

· The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Culture and the Gathered People of God (Paperback) by Tex Sample

Publisher: Abingdon Press (September 1998)

---I have a few other books about how to use movies in teaching here.

Favorite Audio Updated

Today I have fully updated my earlier post which lists "the best" sermons and lectures on the net for free. Check it out here.

Review of Preaching Re-Imagined by Doug Pagitt

I read Doug Pagitt's book Preaching Re-Imagined Zondervan (September 1, 2005) today.

Doug is the pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis and a member of the leadership of Emergent.

Summary:

He questions the value of 1-way lecture preaching. He calls it "speaching." He modestly presents his own model which he calls "progressional dialogue." Concretely this includes having a Bible study on Tuesday night regarding the upcoming Sunday sermon with a number of people from the congregation. He can learn from them and quote them in the sermon. He also gives 10 minutes of open-mic discussion time after his sermon so that people can suggest applications, ask questions, and hear from one another. He also encouraged people to blog about the sermon afterward.

Reaction to thesis:

As someone who is currently a college professor, this seems obvious in the classroom. Yes present content but don't always lecture the entire class period. Give some opportunity for some interaction and questions.

I also teach my students an interactive classroom and small group teaching method called "Shared Christian Praxis" by Thomas Groome from his books Christian Religious Education and Sharing Faith.

However, the sermon is a different thing and for a variety of reasons this 1-way lecturing is the norm. In short (this is my summary - not Doug's), there are people (especially Reformed) who believe this is the right way. Second, there is tradition. Third, it is impractical in a college lecture hall of 100 people (or a church auditorium of 1000) to have good discussion.

Pagitt says the 1-way lecturing model of preaching has a particular effect on the relationship between the pastor and the congregation. It cultivates a sense in which the pastor is admired, unquestioned, and isolated. He or she "the one who knows the Bible." He doesn't think that these effects are particularly biblical nor good for the community nor good for him in the long run.

Still, Doug advocates that the preacher should not just give into the whims of the congregation. The preacher is to prepare and speak courageously to challenge the community in the area of its blindspots. There will simply be times when they point out his blindspots as well and times when they will challenge one another.

Application of thesis:

For me, there have been times when I have listened to sermons that I badly wished it was appropriate to ask questions. Sometimes the preacher says something particularly insenstive and I want to be able to ask: "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you said . . . but I'm sure you don't really mean all the nasty implications of that if it were taken the wrong way, right? I just wanted to give you the opportunity to clarify."

Recently, I was at a conference at Granger Community Church and we were allowed to put questions in a bowl on our table. At the end of the morning and afternoon sessions, they tried to answer the questions. That was great!

When I led a young adult ministry, I invited in speakers and invited them to speak for 1/2 hour and then take questions for 15 minutes and then we would encourage people to stay around for dessert. The whole evening was around round tables (dinner, worship, speaker, Q&A, dessert) so that also facilitated discussion.

Similarly, I have done a lot of preaching and one of the first shocks in preaching is how little real feedback you get. During a sermon, people nod off and sleep. Very few people physically or verbally interact with you as you would if you were talking in a small group. (This is not true in an African-American church. I just visited Enon Tabernacle in Philadelphia in January and the interaction was incredible).

Afterward, people typically say, "nice sermon" but that's about it. To get some decent feedback, I eventually had some of my fellow preachers fill out a form for me each time I spoke: (1) what helped me hear was . . . (2) what would have helped me hear better was . . . (3) this sermon inspires me to . . .

I have loved studying the passage I will be preaching on with my small group before I give the sermon. They have reminded me where people are at and given me fresh approaches. I highly recommend that practice.

All in all, I think Doug's approach has much to commend it and I plan on continuing to push the envelope like Doug in encouraging interaction.

Recommendation of who should read this book:

If you have questioned the polished, manuscripted, impersonal, talking-down-to, zero-feedback, difficult-to-apply-to-everyone sermon, this book will be a fresh breeze. If you have forgotten those very real concerns, this book will be a good reminder to keep things fresh.

I think this is a great little provocative book to have students read in preaching classes. I think students in preaching classes are intuitively asking the questions Doug is asking and this book would give them a forum for dealing with those questions. They are asking:

Who am I to preach?
I don't want to use a manuscript - that's boring. I want to walk around and gesture.
How do I not manipulate people but keep them with me?
How do I apply this sermon to people I don't even know and who are at totally different places in life?

This is a must-read for preaching professors (if that needs to be said).

I read the book during my son's two 1-hour naps today so it is a pretty easy read. I only intended to read chapter 2 because Doug says this is the summary of the entire book. If you can't do anything else, do that.

This book is not perfectly written. The book has some quotes from people in his congregation which could probably have been condensed, etc. It is not meticulously researched as he cites just four outside sources in the entire book. But I don't think these things really matter.

This is Doug telling us why he does it the way he does it. I think it is valuable, fresh, honest, and in most cases persuasive.

Resources:

Here is Doug Pagitt's blog and the blog for the book and you can find discussion at North Park professor and New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's famous and outstanding blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Also, you can hear Doug on a panel at the Princeton Seminary Emerging Church/Theological Education Caucus (#2) if you like audio like I do. See also my preaching bibliography, teaching bibliograpy and use of media in teaching and preaching bibliography.

Listen here to Richard Holland of Master's Seminary who vehemently disagrees with Pagitt's take on preaching. If you would rather not listen to the MP3, see the notes Mark Shivers took here.

I love listening to sermons and lectures. Here is my list of some that are available on the net.

Do Better Theology and Preaching by Learning from IM Slang

Instant messenger users use a whole variety of acronyms and shorthand. For example, IMHO is "In My Humble Opinion" and ROFL is "Rolling On the Floor Laughing." To learn more, listen to the 5 minute report on NPR here and better yet see the exhaustive list of lingo on Netlingo.com

Asked whether Shakespeare would approve of this affront to traditional English, professor David Crystal says this: "He would have loved it. I have no doubt. The IM people extend the range of the language, the expressiveness of the language, the richness of the language and they infuse it with play."

How to Do Better Theology and Preaching by Learning from IM Slang

1. IM slang reminds us that stating things in fresh ways is delightful for both writer and reader, preacher and listener. (In addition to Shakespeare, this reminds me of Mark Twain and Winston Churchill and their fun with words. See my post here about the Mark Twain Ken Burns DVD). The apostle Paul also made up words a bit (e.g the "super-apostles" in 2 Cor 11:5 and 12:11). Germans are well known for making up their own words to try to capture new trends in theology: think Heilsgeschichte = "salvation history." Stating things in fresh ways in theology is supposed be fun and enlightening - not the bane of generations who follow you. (Ever read any poetry? It is supposed to be fun and enlightening too.) As a professor, I encourage my students to put what they're learning in their own words. We should not be immediately fearful of people who don't use the categories and terms that everyone has always used. Maybe they are orthodox in their theology but we just don't recognize it because they are doing theology and having fun! What a concept! Or maybe they are sharp and seeing things we didn't. Either way, let's encourage them forward. Sure, it would be nice if they could sometimes "translate" or "approximate" what they are saying into traditional language so the old-timers could understand them but let's not make them do this too soon. This is like making a poet explain their poetry in prose.

2. We can be inspired by the style of these IM slang writers. The phrases put into slang by these young people are cutting in their clarity and brevity (e.g. GUD Geographically UnDesirable; ESO Equipment Smarter than Operator; RTBS Reason To Be Single; POS Parent Over Shoulder). They are also exuberant in their emotions from anger (as can be seen by lots of swear word shorthand) to hilarity (e.g. AWGTHTGTTA; Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again; GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running; LLTA Lots And Lots Of Thunderous Applause). They also tend to be humble and self-deprecating (e.g. GIWIST Gee, I Wish I'd Said That; IIRC If I Remember Correctly; WIT Wordsmith In Training). IM words tend to be relational because of all forms of written communication, this one gets the fastest feedback (LYLAS Love You Like A Sister). If we can ever do theology and preaching with forthrightness, brevity, exuberance, humility and relationality we will be doing a whole lot right.

Sermon Audio Reports: Wangerin, McLaren, Buechner, Capon, Foster, Groome

I have been listening to more sermon audio. See a list of lectures and sermons available at my earlier posting here.

Probably the biggest delight was a sermon by Walter Wangerin on The Manger is Empty. It is interspersed with music by Ken Medema. I will give away the final line since you will probably not listen to it. Like the babydoll Jesus in the manger in a Christmas play represents the exalted Christ, so the body in the coffin at a funeral represents a deeper reality. Great story - worth listening to - even though it isn't Christmas-time. (Wangerin has written my favorite book on marriage As For Me and My House).

It was interesting to hear more about how Brian McLaren started Cedar Ridge Community Church. He reminisces about this and other things in his "Road Ahead" swan song series from January 2006. He is stepping down as Senior Pastor at the end of the month. They have a new pastor, Matthew Dyer, coming from the UK (I believe). McLaren talks about how he attended an Episcopal church in the early 1980's and had a booming small group (60 people) studying the Bible - some Christians and some not. He had hoped to start a church in cooperation with the church he was attending but because it was across the river, it was in a different diocese. For this and other reasons, it didn't work out to do with them so he branched off independently.

He remembers most fondly meeting with the one other elder in the church in the early days for breakfast at Denny's and then going and praying in one of their cars afteward. McLaren uses Paul's farewell speech to the Ephesian elders as the basis for his comments. What I like about McLaren is his pastoral ability to say things in everyday language with the right sensitivity. (He does not do this in his fiction because he is trying to be thought-provoking.) His ten commandments on how to treat the next pastor are brilliant.

I also found a site with lots more sermon audio. There I listened to two short reflections by esteemed author Frederick Buechner. In "A Moment of Grace" Buechner reflects on an experience he had with Maya Angelou. Angelou commented that despite the obvious fact that she is an African-American woman and he is a Caucasian male, her story and Buechner's "are the same story." Angelou then relates an incident of racism where a man calls some white soldiers "our boys." Buechner asks if the reconciliation that later occurs might be paradigmatic for churches today. Why not admit our sin and then be reconciled to one another? In the second reflection, Buechner tells a story about his alchololic father (who later committed suicide) and then reflects how someone told him: "you were a good steward of your pain." Buechner talks about other ways of dealing with pain such as ignoring it but explains that our pain can be the source of our greatest passion and gifts to the world. I thought Buechner's voice and style sounded a bit like Larry Crabb - who I like to listen to.

I read a short article from a Oct 8, 1990 Christianity Today about Buechner which I thought was an excellent introduction to his thought and life. Earlier today, I was reaffirming to myself the need to tell stories when we communicate. I loved this section from the CT article on Buechner's understanding of preaching and will remember especially his words in red below.

Buechner's concern to communicate theological truth with careful nuance and "eye-catching" style represents more than an artisan's pride in his work. He bemoans much contemporary Christian preaching and writing as anemic in style, lacking passion and color. Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale (1977), the published version of his Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale on preaching, stresses again and again, "The news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen."
"If you're a theologian writing a sytematic theology," Buechner says, "perhaps you don't need to worry so much about being creative and imaginative with the words; you're mainly interested in clarity. But if you are preaching or doing apologetics, it's crucial to do it as vividly and passionately as you can manage. If you want what you're writing about to come alive, you've got to know what it looks like and smells like and feels like. The magic of words is that they have power to do more than convey meaning; not only do they have the power to make things clear, they make things happen."

I so appreciate Buechner's perspective here. I think so much preaching is indeed "anemic in style, lacking passion and color" and in general I like Buechner's solution. The only thing I would add is the need to be deeply rooted in the Scriptures.

I was glad to see that he had a positive experience at Wheaton College. I have a friend, John Noble, doing his Ph.D. in Old Testament at Harvard University so I was considering applying to Harvard Divinity School for my Th.D. Plus, I have so enjoyed publications from Harvard Business School. But I decided against it for various reasons. It is interesting to see that even the non-evangelical Buechner was caught off guard by the atheist(s) in his classes when he taught there.

Today I also heard Maya Angelou giving her reflections on the death of Coretta Scott King on the One Hour Special on NPR. She wanted to clarify that Martin was never intent on divorcing Coretta as at least one biography has insinuated. She reminisced about late night chats with her friend Coretta. This article says that she attends three churches: one in San Francisco, one in DC and one in her hometown. Her poem "Christian" is excellent - explaining that saying she is a Christian is not because she is perfect but because she is needy.

I also listened to a quick sermon on the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 by Robert Farrar Capon. Andy Crouch, (Christianity Today writer who my students and I just met with in January) and Loren Wilkinson (one of my professors at Regent College) have highly recommended Capon. Andy and Loren's lives reflect the importance of meals, simplicity, rejection of extraneous technology and fellowship. The unique insight from Capon's exegesis is that he suggests that the older brother already owned the farm and the fatted calf. I think that could be the case but I'm not convinced. It seems in the story that the father is still quite in charge even if he has given away 1/2 of his inheritance to the younger brother. I doubt he has given the other 1/2 to the older brother yet. That though is a cultural issue that perhaps a good New Testament scholar could uncover for us. I would need to look it up in the Luke commentaries (Bock, Bovon, Evans, Fitzmyer, Green, Marshall) for a start or Craig Keener's IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament.

I also listened to a short sermon by Richard Foster of Celebration of Discipline fame. He suggested from 1 John 3:20 that there may be things that we condemn ourselves for that God does not condemn us for. We may feel bad because we are fat or made a bad business decision but God does not condemn us.

1 John 3:20 TNIV
20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

I think Foster is right in that surely God does not condemn us for those things he mentioned but I'm not sure if that is what this text is about. Foster acknowledges that the more obvious explanation is that John is here reassuring his readers that "there is nothing you have done that God isn't big enough to forgive" (my paraphrase). I think this is most likely interpretation but again I would be interested in seeing what the commentaries (Brown, Marshall, Smalley, Akin, Burge, Kruse, Meye Thompson, Stott) say.

I also listened to a retelling of the story of Jairus by Thomas Groome. I use Groome's Christian Religious Education and Sharing Faith as textbooks in my teaching and curriculum classes. Groome, a Catholic professor at Boston College, retells the story in first person which is actually quite engaging. Groome is known for his very dense prose.

I also listened to a sermon by Will Willimon (the pastor to pastors, former Duke chaplain, and now a bishop) but my baby was crying so I didn't get as much out of it. I plan on listening again to a meaty lecture by Yale theologian and acclaimed author Miroslav Volf on "Kingdom and Calling."