While you Preach...
(Stay tuned at the bottom of this post for a whole lot of good stuff) While you preach there’s...
...a mom is struggling with her two year old, she won’t get much out of the sermons for the next year or two, but she will teach much by her faith and faithfulness (we all knew that - but there’s much more happening).
...the guy who doesn’t like you because he thinks you only work one day a week and that isn’t manual labor so you really have never worked. He thinks you don’t know much about the real world. Someday his mom will die or his son will go to jail or his wife will find a lump and you’ll stand beside him and pray and that feeling will change.
...the person who liked the previous preacher or who’s son preaches and he compares all you say and do to them, for they are “the standard” of what a preacher/youth minister should be. You should pray that no one his his son’s life will judge him as he judges you.
...the person who tries to focus but something you say causes their mind chase a rabbit. Ah, you too are probably a little ADD!
...the person who heard a line you said disagreed and you left them behind making a construct of an argument against a previous point. You’ve been there too.
...the lady who has a fight going on at work and something you said made them think about it in a good way then their mind went to a bad place.
...the people who have a fight going on with someone at church. They’ve become bitter and he led the prayer that day and all she can think about is “...and he claims to be a Christian” or “how dare they let him lead a prayer.” So they hear nothing you say.
...that gal who is struggling with guilt over sin. Be glad they are still in the struggle.
...the teen who is struggling with guilt they should not be carrying. They may respond - I call is shrapnel responses. You were aiming at the heart of one person but got another. Be thankful for their tender heart.
...that brother who turns in his Bible to read a reference and then reads the next verse, and the next and the next - then they have their own little thing going.
...that couple who are waiting for the results from a test and are just praying the whole time you are preaching.
And you were just trying to teach from Mark 6. And even though there’s a lot going on and God will use your words from His Words to touch the lives of others.
...So that...while you preach...hearts are touched and lives are changed! So eventually "while you preach" becomes "why you preach."
God has spoken to this matter: “...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 ESV).
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How blessed I am to be able to be associated with some remarkable people and to learn about their gifts and skills and usefulness to the Lord’s Work. There are so very many dedicated talented faithful young men who are doing amazing things. Sometimes I like to just share some good stuff that I hear about. Just in the last day or two I’ve been amazed as some of what I’ve learned:
Michael Whitworth, who is our general editor for Hope & Expectation and who is the web guru of The Jenkins Institute has written an amazingly engaging book called “The Epic of God.” It is on the book of Genesis. You should order it: http://michaelwhitworth.com/start2finishbooks/genesis/
Yesterday morning on iPreach we had Josh Allen and Daniel Howell on. Daniel is doing something I wish I’d thought of. He is offering a “Technology bootcamp” for churches. His skills are great. Here’s the thing: We all have to think about technology - presentation systems, sound systems - etc. Who do we call when we want to upgrade or learn how to get the most out of our systems or figure out how to get the most out of what we already have? Typically it’s someone who works in the field - and they are often trying to sale us something. Daniel isn’t. Hear the complete interview at http://theequipnetwork.com/
Then there’s my cohort Adam Faughn. This young man is making the most of his talents. Just yesterday he launched 2415publications.com. He and his family already do a neat ezing in addition to his blog. http://www.2415publications.com/ started yesterday with three NEW books from Adam’s pen. I’m sorry, people like Adam just amaze me.
Then I got to talk to Paul Spurlin. Paul’s one of those guys who you always want to ask - “what are you dreaming about now?” We’ve been working on Exposure Youth Camp with Daniel, Joey, Brendan, Jon and Jeremy lately. It looks like this awesome event will grow from 1160 last year to 1600 this year. If your kids don’t come to EYC...WHY NOT? http://exposureyouthcamp.net/ - you’ve got a couple of more days to register. This is a unique event. But that’s not really what got me to thinking about Paul. It was this. He does a weekly podcast called “SportsTalk the Podcast!” on Fridays. I like sports. I like to talk about sports. I like to listen to other people talk about sports. BUT I can’t stand profanity and on the radio it is becoming increasingly hard to find that. He also gives a great perspective that is not worldly but Christian and that is refreshing - http://paulspurlin.com/gallery
My associate Scott Bond, JR is working hard to put together some super resources for those who teach. If you have not clicked over to http://hashtagmedia.us/ - just wow! Thank you Scott for trying to help those who teach. This is, like so much that Scott does, amazing.
I could go on and on with some of these amazing people - but isn’t it awesome all that is happening?
One more thing. To the right of this page who will see something new that Jeff and I asked Michael to add. Click on “Send Voicemail’ and you can ask us anything. Something about our blog or about any post or a question for HelpDesk or a suggestion. It’s pretty neat. Go ahead, try it, we want to hear from you.
One more, one more thing: Our next webinar is Monday! It is on hiring a preacher and will have tips for both those looking for a minister as well as those looking for a job. To let you test it out and because we want some of them to be - this one will be free. To register go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=4744564119
That’s all for this Saturday. Have a grand one.