I WAS IN THE PULPIT TODAY
by Norman Bales
Pulpit preaching is in my blood, and that's why I gladly accept every opportunity I have to do it. Mark was away on vacation today, and he asked me to deliver the sermon. That like saying "sic 'em" to a dog."
Funny thing about being in the pulpit. For years I preached every Sunday. Sometimes I would think, "I'd love to have this Sunday off." Now, I don't preach every Sunday, and there are many Sundays I wake up thinking, "I really wish I could preach today."
I'm well aware of the fact that expository discourse isn't all that popular in the contemporary church climate. Communicators are trying to come up with all kinds of creative ways to compete with the high tech world in communicating the message of Christ. If you're going to have a sermon at all then you expect the guy who does it to be wittier than David Letterman, more dramatic than the winner of this year academy award for best actor, and able to deliver well thought out deeply theological content in an understandable fashion in less than ten minutes. If that's the job description, I don't need to apply.
I know I'm old school, but I've dabbled in all the attempts to communicate in more interactive ways. I've used film clips, object lessons, various forms of dialogue, breakout groups, You name it I've tried it. I even used PowerPoint in today's sermon. Nobody came out talking about how wonderful the PowerPoint was. PowerPoint preaching is a little bit like umpiring. You know you've done it reasonably well when nobody says anything. You know you used it horribly when people say, "But you should have done this."
When I first got acquainted with PowerPoint, I used to throw up about forty slides. Today I used less than ten. About five years ago, I watched and listened to an exceptionally powerful sermon, and I thought the preacher made the best use of PowerPoint I had ever witnessed. He used three slides, but where he placed them in the message made all the difference in the world.
To continue baseball analogy, preaching can be compared to pitching. A baseball pitcher has to know when to use the fastball and when to use the change up. Preaching methodology is much the same way, and few of us master it. I certainly haven't.
Still it was good to face the challenge of putting together a logical, practical presentation that didn't put everybody to sleep. There are enough pitfalls that confront the speaker to keep you humble no matter how long you've done it. I'm reminded of the story of the lady who complimented the preacher after the sermon one Sunday morning. She bragged on his presentation. "Brother, that was such a powerful sermon this morning."
He said, "I really can't take credit for me. I just speak what the Lord has given me."
The lady said, "It wasn't that good."
Mine wasn't either.
