Our long-time friend Chris Chmielewski, from Northeast Christian Church, has stayed close with my wife Harriet even though we haven't been part of the same church for several years. They get together at Starbucks and talk on the phone and text. Chris has recently been a student at Louisville Bible College, for a degree in Christian Counseling. Her husband John is periodically an elder at their church, and all of their four kids have been very successful in life thus far. These are good people.
Chris recently told Harriet she wanted to encourage me as a new pastor (I guess I'm still fairly new in this) by giving me three of her favorite books from Louisville Bible College: Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones, Preaching by Fred B. Craddock and Speaking with Bold Assurance by Bert Decker & Hershael W. York. I just finished reading the Stanley book, and feel like I learned a lot.
Having just completed It by Craig Groeschel a week before, I feel like this book goes hand in hand with it. The spirit I've felt over the past two months or so at Drennon, plus my recommencing my blog writing, plus serving as Spiritual Director at the next KSR REC, plus getting the invitation to Africa (which we're still praying about), plus all the Christian reading I've been doing on our new Kindle, plus reading It, and finally Chris sending me these three books, has overwhelmed me.
To focus on the Stanley book for this post, I'll just say that it has really helped focus me as a preacher. I say preacher and not pastor, because this book is all about preaching, or speaking, just one aspect of being a pastor. The half hour or so of preaching I do each week is just one tiny speck of the pastoral position, but it's always one that receives a lot of attention. For me, this book confirms a lot of the changes I've been making on my own. One big idea from the book is about Finding Your Voice. One of the things I've been trying to do these past two months is speak with more passion and more volume. It's not something I'm trying to do in a calculated, mercenary way, but something I'm feeling because I want our small congregation to passionately desire Jesus and a life with Him.
Other things that've really struck me with this book is focusing on one big idea, placing the Scripture exactly where it fits within your sermon (not just in the beginning), having more catchy hooks to grab attention, what we do during our service and even where I speak from. I'm very seriously thinking about the tall table and chair/stool idea. The conversational tone of this approach really appeals to me, and I've seen it over the past few years many times with great success (at least in my mind). I want our people to love coming to church, and unfortunately I have a lot to do with that.
I have truly enjoyed this learning process I've entered the past couple of months, and don't really know how it came to me. It's like everything is coming together all at one time, and honestly it's not been easy, especially since I have just registed a few weeks ago to try to recertify as a National Board teacher at my school. This requires submitting a long portfolio of information, which I truly don't have time for with all of this going on with our church life. Oh how I wish I could serve the church full-time, but I know that's not to be right now...
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