"I Prayed for My Preaching and got answers I didn't expect." - Leadership Journal
Posted by: introspicere <introspicere@...>
Included in this post is an article I received by way
this weeks Leadership Weekly newsletter email which is
a part of Leadership Journal. I am hopeful that you
will find this piece as encouraging as I did.
To subscribe, complete the form at their Web site:
ChristianityToday.com/go/leadership/
May God continue to richly bless you in your
ministries for Him.
Peace always,
Hugh C. Keith
Introspicere
http://www.introspicere.org
===========================
I Prayed for My Preaching
And got answers I didn't expect.
by Joe McKeever
I had been preaching for more than two decades, and I
should have been at the top of my game. The church I
served ran up to 1,500 on Sunday mornings, and the
live telecast of our services covered a fair portion
of several states. Most of my colleagues thought I had
it made, and if invitations to speak in other churches
were any sign, they thought I could preach.
But I didn't.
My confidence was taking a beating as some of the
leaders let me know repeatedly that my pulpit work was
not up to their standards. Previous pastors carried
the reputation of pulpit masters, something I never
claimed for myself. To make matters worse, we had
numerous vacancies on staff and my sermon preparation
was suffering due to a heavy load of pastoral
ministry. But you do what you have to do. Most days,
my goal was to keep my head above water. Every day
without drowning became a good day.
That's when I got serious about praying for my
preaching.
Each night I walked a four-mile route through my
neighborhood and talked to the Father. My petitions
dealt with the usual stufffamily needs, people I was
concerned about, and the church. Gradually, one prayer
began to recur in my nightly pleadings.
"Lord," I prayed, "make me a preacher."
Asking this felt so right I never paused to analyze
it. I prayed it again and again, over and over, for
weeks.
Now, I was in my fifth pastorate. I owned a couple of
seminary degrees. I had read the classics on preaching
and attended my share of sermon workshops. I was a
veteran. But here I was in my mid-forties, crying out
to Heaven for help: "Lord, make me a preacher."
I knew if my preaching improved, if the congregation
felt better about the sermons, everything else would
benefit. I knew that the sermon is a pastor's most
important contribution to the spiritual lives of his
members. To do well there would ease the pressure in
other areas. So, I prayed.
Then one night, God answered.
Four specific requests
Without warning, in the quietness of a dark night on
the city streets, God spoke within me: "What exactly
do you mean by that?"
The question hit with such force that I laughed aloud
and said, "What a great question. Wonder what I do
mean?"
For the rest of my walk, I pondered God's probing of
my too-general prayer. I knew I was not asking for
public acclaim or to be on anyone's list of great
preachers. I just wanted to be effective, to do well
what God had called me to do.
Later that night, at home, I listed four specific
requests and began to direct them toward the Father.
I never want to stand up to preach again without a
good grasp of the Scripture. I'm tired of not being
clear about the text in front of me.
I want the message from God to have a firm grasp on
me, to grip my heart. I want to preach with genuine
passion.
I want a good rapport with the congregation. I'm tired
of that "glazed-over" look on the people's faces. I
want to make contact with them, to communicate
effectively.
I want to see lives changed. If the point of preaching
is for the Word of God to make a difference in people,
then it must be in order to ask the Father to give me
success in doing it.
I learned something about my prayer life. For years,
my prayers had been tainted by the curse of
generality. It had been "bless this" and "help that"
and "strengthen him" and "encourage her."
One day I noticed in Luke 18 this interchange between
the Lord and blind Bartimaeus, whose plaintive cries
of "Jesus, have mercy on me" had reached the ears of
the Lord. Over and over, the beggar of Jericho called
into the air for mercy, over the shushing and
objections of locals who were embarrassed by his
carryings-on.
"Bring him to me," Jesus said. When Bartimaeus stood
before Him, our Lord asked, "What do you want me to do
for you?"
We moderns are tempted to rebuke the Lord for His
callousness at this point. "Lord," we would say,
"anyone can see what he needs. He's been begging for
mercy. He needs his sight." But the question was
whether Bartimaeus knew this. He could just as easily
have asked for money, for a better begging site, for
assistance, for a training program for the blind, or
for a hundred other things.
The Lord simply asked the man to be specific in his
prayer: "What do you want?"
"Lord," he said, "I want to receive my sight."
"Then, do," said the Savior. And he did.
>From that point on, I prayed these four requests in my
nightly walks: a good grasp of Scripture, its firm
grasp on me, good rapport with my listeners, and
changed lives.
Soon I was without a pulpit and without a church.
Good news from exit interviews
The conflict in the church I was serving intensified
to the point that we brought in a mediator. He
interviewed church leaders, watched videos of my
preaching, and polled the congregation, then filed his
report. "Joe is not a pulpit giant," he said, "but he
is a pretty fair preacher." I was encouraged by that.
Then he recommended I leave the church.
I agreed. I took a one-year leave of absence, and I
waited by the phone.
A few invitations for revivals and conferences came in
during the year; however, none but the tiniest
churches would consider me as a potential pastor. My
confidence in my preaching was at an all-time low.
Not by coincidence, the church that called me as
pastor a year later was also at an all-time low. It
had suffered a disastrous split. Half its 1,000
members had left, and the remainder was burdened with
a great load of debt. Our first five years together
were not easy. Gradually, however, we began to see the
Lord was up to something special. One day I looked
around and realized that we had become a healthy
church again, one that is a pure joy to serve.
That's when the other surprise appeared, one just for
me.
After attending a Saddleback conference on
purpose-driven churches, we began sending response
cards to church visitors. These notes trickled back
into the church office, telling what our guests had
noticed first, liked best, and appreciated least about
their visit to our church. To my utter amazement, many
were impressed by the preaching.
I still recall standing at my secretary's desk reading
two cards that had arrived in the morning mail. Both
expressed thanks for my sermons. "I am totally
surprised," I mumbled.
She looked up from her work. "Pastor, everyone loves
your preaching."
"I guess I didn't know it," I replied.
To be honest, I'm still not quite convinced. But I've
decided that's all right. The object of my prayers was
never that people would like my preaching. It wasn't
even that I would like it. It was a prayer for
effectiveness in doing what God called me to do.
Good music, it is said, is music that is written
better than it can be played. Perhaps that's how it is
with the gospel of Christ. The message is far superior
to any human expression of it. A gracious Father takes
the efforts of his frail servants and uses them to
change lives.
Next year marks my fortieth anniversary in ministry,
and I still feel inadequate about my preaching. Not
only is that all right, I think it's the appropriate
way to feel about a calling so far above the capacity
of any of us mortalsto proclaim the riches of Christ
in human tongue.
It forces me to pray for my preaching.
Joe McKeever is pastor of First Baptist Church of
Kenner, Louisiana. fbck1@compuserve.com
Copyright 2002 by the author or Christianity Today
International/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information on Leadership
Journal.
Winter 2002, Vol. XXIV, No. 1, Page 59
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
health.yahoo.com