New position

It is my tremendous joy to announce to anyone tuning in to my blog that beginning in September I will be taking a part-time staff position at Woodlands Church. I will be working with pastor John Jordens in the area of small groups and (hopefully) helping to develop a series of classes that will further the cause of adult Christian education in our congregation.
I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to my pastors and elders for giving me this opportunity to serve Christ and his body. I am filled with both eagerness and holy fear as I make this transition and will try earnestly to keep you updated on the progress of things.
Pray for me.
Grace be with you all.

To pastor is to suffer

Richard Baxter, in his The Reformed Pastor, has the following to say about pastors who would avoid suffering by avoiding their duties. This is nothing short of a blaring alarm to not take the task of ministering lightly.

"...the common way of escaping suffering [is] to neglect the duty that would expose us to it. If we did our duty faithfully, ministers would find the same lot among professed Christians as their predecessors have done among Pagans and other infidels. But if you cannot suffer for Christ, why did you put your hand to his plough [sic]? Why did you not first sit down and count the cost? This makes the ministerial work so unfaithfully executed, because it is so carnally undertaken; men enter upon it as a life of ease, and honour [sic], and respectability, and they resolve to attain their ends, and have what they expected right or wrong. They looked not for hatred and suffering, and they will avoid it, though by avoiding of their work."

First Sermon

Well, I have had a few busy weeks lately (hence my absence from blogging), partly as a result of needing to prepare the sermon I preached last Sunday at Community Church. I was blessed to be invited by Pastor Thomas to fill in for him and preached from Titus 2:11-14 on "Living in Light of the Gospel."

This was my first sermon in an actual local church setting. I've preached on occasion before this outside of a local congregation, but somehow this felt different. To bring the Word to God's people on the Lord's day seems more weighty than at other times. Perhaps I am mistaken on this, but nonetheless the event was significant for me and I trust it is a step along the path of the Lord's appointing.

Now for the nitty gritty, as they say. How did the sermon "go"?  Below is my attempt to self-assess my message (admittedly a dangerous task), including the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good
On several points, I'm not ashamed of my sermon from Sunday. First, as best as I knew how, I stuck to the text. To my knowledge, I didn't swerve to the right or to the left of the passage's meaning or the author's intent. Second, and related, as best as I knew how I maintained a "Gospel-centered" approach. Titus 2:11-14 of course makes this easy- Paul's focus is on how one's life ought to be lived in light of the Gospel- but nonetheless I tried to keep coming back to the Good News. Lastly (for now), I felt as though in general my "nerves" had little effect on my delivery.

The Bad
One thing that, were I able to do it again, I would change in my sermon relates to how I address my audience. Specifically, I would intentionally address unbelievers as unbelievers and press them with their need for Christ. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to do this (it's annoying at best to hear the Gospel tacked on at the end of a sermon, totally disconnected from the message as a whole). Still, the bad apples ought not make us swear off fruit altogether. Another "bad" aspect of my message was the way in which I backed off on bringing in corroborating Scripture to bolster and refine my exposition. This was partly my fault, partly the result of restrictions imposed on my by my professor (as much as the message was for Community Church it also happened to work out that it filled a class requirement I have). Still, I feel as though this was a negative thing for me to do: in my future preaching I will aim at bringing in whatever texts I sense will help clarify the message and teach God's people his Word.

The Ugly
While in general my nerves didn't affect me, this is not to say they had zero impact on me- one of the sore spots of my sermon was the fact that I completely passed over a rather large portion of my message. No one in the congregation noticed, but I did (about half-way through), and it threw me a bit. On the upside, the part I blanked on was exactly the part I had told the Lord in prayer that morning, " Lord, I'm not so sure these parts fit." Perhaps the Lord thought the same thing and providentially helped me to "forget."Nonetheless, I learned a lesson. One more "ugly" thing in my judgment concerned my closing prayer. More and more I think it important to prepare for this portion of the sermon as much as for the rest. This is I'm sure more a matter of personal taste and what one is comfortable with, but for my own money I intend to no longer "wing it." Lastly, the only thing I can say is that it felt as though I had lead weights on every part of my body. My intention is never to be hyperactive in the pulpit, but still I hope to be dynamic and use my body to reinforce the message. I felt as though this was lacking.




Well, I'm sure there is more- much more- but for now these are some things I learned last weekend and will no doubt assist me in any future opportunities to preach the Lord will give me.

Valley of Vision: Christlikeness

I love The Valley of Vision. Here is one of my favorites (Find it at http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/dailydevotion_detail.php?3473).

Christlikeness

Father of Jesus,

Dawn returns, but without thy light within

           no outward light can profit;

Give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may

     see thee,

   the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul,

   rejoicing over me in love.

I commend my heart to thy watchful care,

   for I know its treachery and power;

Guard its every portal from the wily enemy,

Give me quick discernment of his deadly arts,

Help me to recognize his bold disguise as an

     angel of light,

   and bid him begone.

May my words and works allure others to the

     highest walks of faith and love!

May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence

     by my example!

May worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance

     with thee!

May the timid and irresolute be warned

   of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus!

Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace,

   to show others the joy of thy service,

May my lips be well-tuned cymbals

   sounding thy praise,

Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness

      sparkle around me

   and a lamp of kindness sunbeam my path.

Teach me the happy art of

   attending to things temporal

   with a mind intent on things eternal.

Send me forth to have compassion

   on the ignorant and miserable.

Help me to walk as Jesus walked,

   my only Saviour and perfect model,

   his mind my inward guest,

   his meekness my covering garb.

Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit,

   my delight the gentle ranks of the meek.

Let me always esteem others better than myself,

   and find in true humility

   an heirdom to two worlds.

Your preaching...stinks

My wife and I just returned last night from a long, though wonderful, week in Chicago. I was there taking a class on preaching at Moody Theological Seminary, along with ten other students all eager to serve the Lord in the ministry of the Word.

The highlight of the week was preaching on James 4:11-12 before my fellow students. While there is obviously stress involved in prepping for and delivering a message that will be evaluated by your peers (not to mention by your professor), the experience is overwhelmingly positive in nature and incredibly educational. In particular, the following "lessons" I found helpful, so helpful I thought I'd pass them along.

1. We preach before God.

It is a terrifying thing to know that every eye in the room is literally filling out an evaluation form as you preach. Everything about your sermon, from introduction to conclusion, exegesis to eye contact, your fellow students and teacher are giving you a score on. All of this equals one thing: pressure.
Ultimately, however, standing before your peers reminds you that one day you will stand before the Lord himself, who will ask us to give an account for each word we've ever uttered, every sermon we've ever preached. Surely this is the greater motivation for excellence in exposition. 

2. We preach before humans.

We preach before God. But we also preach before and to flesh and blood. One of the lessons I learned on this point was the importance of clarity in preaching. This applies not only to our words, but also to body language. Everything in the pulpit either helps clarify our message or obscure it. For instance, I learned of myself that I tend to both pace and tap the tips of my fingers together ("spider fingers") as I preach, something others found distracting. While painful to find out, such things are necessary to learn as I think about communicating the Word to others. Of course, we don't want to take this too far- some preachers are overly self-conscious of the way they are "coming off" to others. But this doesn't mean we don't strive for clarity in every sense.

3. We preach in real life.

I was tempted to think that since I would be away from work and home, preparing for my message would come easier for me than if I had been in my "normal" routine. But real life follows us everywhere. Driving an hour into the city each way, each day, through Chicago traffic proved exhausting. As did living out of a hotel room. Focus came hard. It was a good reminder that preaching never happens under sterile conditions- life is messy. Even on the very morning of my message, on the way into the city, my wife and I saw what appeared to be an awful motorcycle accident just outside our hotel. Any hope of concentrating after that was shot. But, in the end, God is gracious and gives all that is necessary to get his Word out.

4. We preach imperfectly.

My preaching, ultimately, stinks. Others may not think so (necessarily), but I know the truth. I know where I messed up, lost track, and didn't accurately communicate what I wanted to say. I further know that even if I had hit all my points perfectly according to plan, nothing I could have come up with could do justice to the glory of God's Word- I will always fall short of its purity. The treasure is indeed in clay pots, the message is uttered through faltering lips. And yet, God is pleased to use it. The wonder of all wonders is that the Lord condescends to work with such insufficient tools, and our words...in some inexplicable way...become his. How great a God we serve!

Next week...Chicago!

Greetings everyone! I would simply like to ask everyone who tunes in here to pray for me concerning next week, as I will be in Chicago for a class at Moody. The course subject? Preaching. During my time there, I will be delivering a sermon based on James 4:11-12, for which I would appreciate your intercession (not for my sermon only, but for those of my classmates, too). Also, if you would be so kind, pray for my endurance level and for wisdom concerning several opportunities possibly coming down the road.

Thank you all

Sound words from a sound man...

Helpful words for aspiring ministers from Dr. Carl Trueman of Westminster Seminary:

http://www.reformation21.org/articles/a-question-of-priorities.php