The State of Preaching

I don't know if I've earned the right to make such an evaluation, but here we go. I preached the first service of a weekend revival last night and after the service one of the members of the church engaged me on this very subject. He had spiritually grown up under the preaching of Steven Olford and others and he was lamenting the lack of preaching power and biblical depth in the pulpit today. After the service I went back to the pastor's home and spent the rest of the evening talking with the pastor's family (his wife and in-laws, who are retired Church of God ministers). Part of that conversation also turned to the state of preaching, particularly in the Church of God. Off of this non-scientific "survey" and my own convictions based on very little observation as well as the understanding I have gained here at Fuller both from classes and from teaching students, I want to make a few observations.

1. Based on homiletical training of students, almost all of the training for students focuses on exegetical and hermeneutical training. For instance, here at Fuller M.Div. students must complete both Greek and Hebrew as well as Greek Exegesis and Hebrew Exegesis prior to taking Homiletics. In other words you take four quarters of language study before taking one quarter of preaching. The basic homiletics class (called PR 500 here) is a 4 unit class that is required for the degree. After taking PR 500 the student must take 4 more hours in either homiletics or communications. Most students take a Preaching Practicum course or two (they are 2 hours each) to fulfill their last 4 hours (a total of 8 hours is required in the preaching area). All this to say that the students are heaped in language and study habits and are given some practical experience in preaching (most of the time you will preach twice in each class, so you may preach in class as many as six times before graduating. This doesn't count your field ministry experience where you will probably preach once or twice. The disconnect I see here is that we teach them how to put a sermon together but very little performance training.
2. My mentor, Dr. Clay Schmit, is one of the leading voices in the area of Performance Preaching. Many people are put off by the use of the word "Performance" because they associate the word with the wrong things. Actors perform by becoming a character they are not. Therefore, performance is viewed by many as being akin to fakery or falsehood. Interestingly, the same connotation is not given to soloists in the church. We don't mind that they perform a song. Why the double standard? Because we are still questioning the use of emotion in the pulpit. The subject of emotionalism in North American church history is long and complicated. From the Pilgrims stoic, unemotional delivery (described as the Perkins Method by O.C. Moore in his, "History of Preaching") to the firebrand style of George Whitfield, we are unsure as to how much emotion is too much - how much performance is helpful and how much is manipulative. However, any layperson will tell you that not only don't they mind some emotion from the pulpit, they would also appreciate it if a few more preachers learned the details of rhetoric and performance in their preaching. That is why the area of performance studies is growing and I firmly believe it is one of the missing pieces in how we train preachers today.
3. The lack of creativity in preaching is astounding. We all seem to be trying to emulate someone else. We try to preach like Rick Warren or copy the style of a Joel Osteen. We get sermons off the internet and try and preach them as our own. We discover someone else's outline and preach it as though it came from our sweet and brow. Preaching is not only about doing the study required to preach well, it is also about "finding your voice" in the pulpit. You have not been called to be someone else. God saw you as a unique vessel and decided to use you, your gifts, your talents, your personality, your quirky sense of thinking to be His vessel for sharing the Word. When we copy something from someone else we deny the reality that God desires to use us and that God knew what he was doing when he called us. Use your gifts. Be creative. A three point sermon with a poem at the end may have worked for someone else but each preacher must allow her voice to shine out.
   

Maybe these will resonate with some of you. Let me know. There is more to come.

Catching Up

It has been some weeks since I last wrote on the blog. Some catching up seems appropriate. Since my last writing I have been hard at work with some fascinating (at least for me) experiences to share. Here goes:

1. I spent several days with Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, the renowned preacher and former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. I became Fuller's official liaison for his "Preaching with Passion" Conference that the Seminary hosted. Dr. Ogilvie is an author (I have numerous copies of his books that he wrote as pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church) and a new, signed copy of his latest book, "The Red Ember in the White Ash". His inscription says, "To Jeff: God's man - a preacher with passion and my friend." Wow!
2. I have now given several lectures to M.Div students this quarter. I had to fill-in for my mentor, Dr. Schmit, who was on jury duty. I gave one lecture on "Text to Sermon" detailing how one goes from a passage through the daily process of study that will eventually end up in a sermon (I then spent the second hour preaching the sermon to them so that they might have a model to use and/or critique); Another lecture was on Narrative Preaching where I help the students understand the principles of how to do this genre of preaching. Most of that lecture was based on my book, which is required reading in the course.
   
3. Church of the Foothills (the Church of God congregation here in Pasadena that I am Interim Pastor for) is hosting an Arabic language service this coming Friday. It is supposed to attract a packed house of Arabic speaking Christians who live in the area. One of our Pre-School families left the Middle East after being persecuted for their Christian beliefs in a predominantly Muslim nation.
   
4. I am currently reading a book by Stephen Webb called, "The Divine Voice" which is an absolutely fascinating book about the Theology of Sound. His use of both the bible and dealing with the works of great philosophers and theologians, makes the book a unique read. It is helping to form my own understanding of the uniqueness and the power of preaching.
   
5. Joanie continues to get high marks from her new principal and the leadership of the school. I am so very proud of her and how she is growing in her life. She has been hired by Church of the Foothills to be their Minister of Music. Last week she shared her testimony with the Fuller Wives Support Group that she is deeply involved in. She is doing very well juggling her many tasks and the recovery from her hip replacement surgery continues to go well.
6. This weekend I will be holding a weekend revival in Whittier (about 20 minutes away). It is a big weekend for them and they are focusing on reaching out to their neighborhood, so I pray their efforts will be fruitful.
   
7. I have to register for Winter classes in a few weeks. It will be the last time I register for classes here at Fuller. After the Winter Quarter I will be preparing to take my Comprehensive Exams in the Spring and then I will be taking Directed Readings for the second half of my program as I prepare to write my Dissertation. While I have several years in front of me, it is amazing how time has flown by.
   

Better Than Any Words I Can Write - Malachi at 3 Weeks

Accomplishments

In the age of Reality Television, one interesting feature has come to light for me. The issue of competition has become the foundational basis for nearly all reality shows. Joanie and I have become fans of the show "Top Chef" - we've watched several seasons of it. Hits like "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol" have created a whole industry built up around competition between either well known stars in unfamiliar settings (ballroom dancing) or unknowns seeking to become known (to become the next "American Idol"). The one thing they all have in common, like the game show formats upon which they seem to be based, is that they engage the viewer in the "cliff hanger" motif. You never know who is going to win the competition.
The shows on television today that constantly receive the highest ratings are the major sports competitions - Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA Basketball Tournament, NASCAR races like the Daytona 500, and New Years Day Bowl Games, etc. Like Reality TV, they are competition based. This emphasis on competition leaks into the corporate world, into politics, and even into churches that seem to be in competition with other churches for parishioners, bigger budgets, and larger numbers. When High School athletics are on TV and the networks put on shows like "Kidnation" that glory in competition at the lowest ages; when parents fight to get their toddlers into the "perfect" Kindergarten or fear that their children's future educational lives may be ruined by not getting into a prestigious preschool; when young people assign value and importance to other people's lives based on what car they drive or what clothes they wear, competition has gotten out of hand. As my son, Jonathan, once said about Survivor, "How can you say that a bunch of people running around half-naked on a deserted island being filmed by dozens of camera people and then having those pictures sent out over the airwaves to millions and millions of people - how is that reality?"
Somehow we have to change the standard by which we evaluate what is foundational in people's lives. Competition isn't working. Something else has to supplant it that will make a better society... a better world. Maybe the better standard would be accomplishment (the symbol at the top of this post is the Chinese symbol for accomplishment). I think accomplishing something is far more important than beating someone in a competition. A child's crayon drawing is a far greater accomplishment than getting a soccer trophy. It shows development, creativity, and a growing understanding of the world in which the child is living. A soccer trophy means that your child has physically grown or developed at a greater speed than his peers. Eventually the others will catch up and pass them. What will they do then when their competitive edge is lost? Steroids? While I love sports and enjoyed my children playing them, it is not a great judge of their future accomplishments. Some traits from the world of competition may very well help in other phases of life, the ability to accomplish something is far superior to being able to win competitions at an early age.
Here at Fuller you hear a lot of students talk about education in terms of competition. This is especially true for those who want to go beyond the Master's Degree and get into a Ph.D. program. You have to get good grades to get into Graduate School. I understand that. In my own case, my strongest argument for getting into the Ph.D. program at Fuller may have been the high grade point average I accumulated in my Master's work. I understand how competition for spots can be fierce. However, the best thing about graduating with a Master's Degree was the learning that I received during the experience. When I received my diploma, it was the sense of accomplishment that I felt that was the most rewarding thing of all. Getting the grade was merely a way of judging how well I had accomplished the goals for learning in the course. It was not a competition. It was a challenge. I like challenges.
By the way, grades came out today for both the Spring and Summer quarters. I got my first A on a paper for the Ph.D. program. The first two papers I handed in (for the Fall and Winter Quarters of my first year) received A-. For the Spring Quarter I received an A. The difference between the two at this level of education is that an A- is a quality paper. An A paper is not of greater quality but has a deeper and better organization of thought that makes it of publishable quality. The difference is not really a subtle one. These are being graded by professors, all of whom have published several books and numerous articles and papers. They know the difference between a good paper and one that others in the field of your expertize will find meaningful. Getting an A is an accomplishment. No one is ever going to look and see if I got an A or an A- in any of my doctoral seminars. They will only look to see if I have the degree and completed my dissertation. However, it means a great deal to know that I may have reached a place where my thoughts and my work will be valued by others. It may mean that I have taken my first measurable step toward becoming a scholar. At the very least it is an accomplishment. And that feels good!
By the way, I got an A in Latin, too. That's not an accomplishment. That's a miracle.