Preachers hear a great number of fascinating comments when they stand at the door after the service. One preacher reported the most unusual compliment he ever received: An old, soft-spoken gentleman came out to greet the preacher after the service and said, “Missed my nap today.” The preacher took it as a compliment. No doubt that is how the man meant it.
?A family asked a preacher to come to their home for dinner after church. The child of that family was quite precocious. To encourage conversation the mother asked the little girl how she liked the service. The girl replied, “I liked it, but the sermon
was a little long.” About that point the child remembered the preacher was present, got embarrassed and tried to restate her point more politely. She said, “Actually, it wasn’t really so long, it just seemed long.”
A
famous minister was delivering a speech at a banquet. He wanted to repeat the
stories he had told at an event at a church in town the following day, so he
asked members of the press to omit those stories from their newspaper accounts.
A young reporter rushed his account to his paper and said, “The minister
told a number of stories that cannot be published.”
_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.
A
minister once asked a minister friend how large his church attendance had been
on the previous Sunday. The man replied, “It was large and respectable.” The
first minister later found out only two people had come. He confronted his
friend, saying “You lied, you said the crowd was large and respectable and there
were only two people there!” The other minister replied, “That’s right. There
were two people. One was large and the other was respectable.”
_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.
Recently,
USA Today carried an article by Greg Toppo that told of the National
Anthem Project. What is the purpose? Teaching people the words and meaning
of the Star Spangled Banner. According to creators of the project six out of
ten people claim to know the words, but fewer than four out of ten can actually
recite them. In what came as a surprise to pollsters, surveys indicated that
only 31% of those fifty and older could get the words right while 45% of the
18 to 35 year olds could. The National Anthem project is sponsoring a record
setting performance of the song and many celebrities have signed on to help.
Not only do they want people to know the words they want them to understand
the meaning. They want people to know what the “bombs bursting in air” refers
to and what is behind the “see through the night.” Preachers have a similar
duty. Many in the church claim to know the Bible well. Do they really? Even
if they know the books, chapters and verses, do they know the meaning of those
words? This is the preacher’s challenge and opportunity.
_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.
Paul
Boller recalls an anecdote in the life of Lincoln. When Abe was a lawyer, he
was handling a court case in the courtroom of Judge David Davis. Davis held
up an unusually long bill that had been drawn up by an attorney who had a reputation
for slothfulness and drew attention to it. Lincoln commented, “It’s like
the lazy preacher who used to write long sermons. He got to writing and was
too lazy to stop.”
In a recent article
in USA Today, Rita Rubin wrote an article concerning the communication gap between
physicians and patients. She writes of Barry Weiss a professor of clinical and
community medicine at the University of Arizona, who remembered a time when
he consulted with a colleague about a diabetic patient. The consulting physician
looked at the patients infected foot and determined it must be amputated. He
said, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to deal with this with local
treatments.” The patient responded, “Does that mean I’m going to have
to go to Los Angeles for treatment.” Weiss likes to remind physicians they
need to speak so that the patient can understand. The same admonition could
be given to people involved with evangelism. It should especially be heeded
by preachers. Often preachers speak in theological code and assume the listeners
can break the code.
________________________
Michael Shannon,
Preaching September/October 2003
A
teenager came out of the church service and began to complain to her friends.
“That sermon was way to long,” she said, before realizing the preacher
was right behind her. Trying to dig herself out of the hole she had dug she
tried again; “Well, I guess it wasn’t that long. It just seemed
long.”
_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.
In the classic
comic strip, Hi and Lois, Chip is eating at the table with his family
when he announces, “I discovered something new in school today.” His
mother smiles and says, “Oh, really! What was that?” Chip replies,
“A level of boredom I never knew existed.”
While we hope that is not true of any teacher, we especially hope that is not
true of our preaching. The gospel is exciting and it takes a lot of effort to
make it boring.
_________________________
Michael Shannon,
Preaching July/August 2003
In a recent article in USA Today,
Rita Rubin wrote an article concerning the communication gap between
physicians and patients. She writes of Barry Weiss, a professor of
clinical and community medicine at the University of Arizona, who
remembered a time when he consulted with a colleague about a diabetic
patient. The consulting physician looked at the patient’s infected
foot and determined it must be amputated. He said, “I don’t think
we’re going to be able to deal with this with local treatments.” The
patient responded, “Does that mean I’m going to have to go to Los
Angeles for treatment?” Weiss likes to remind physicians they need to
speak so that the patient can understand.
The
same admonition could be given to people involved with evangelism. It
should especially be heeded by preachers. Often preachers speak in
theological code and assume the listeners can break the code.
_______________
J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.
“I have preached
the gospel now these thirty years and more, and . . . often, in coming down
to this pulpit, have I felt my knees knock together, not that I am afraid of
any one of my hearers, but I am thinking of that account which I must render
to God, whether I speak his Word faithfully or not.”
– Charles Spurgeon
The minister gave
his Sunday morning service, as usual, but this particular Sunday, it was considerably
longer than normal.
Later, at the door,
shaking hands with parishioners as they moved out, one man said, “Your
sermon, Pastor, was simply wonderful — so invigorating and inspiring and refreshing.”
The minister broke
out in a big smile, only to hear the man add, “Why, I felt like a new man
when I woke up!”
– from Joke Master
joke_master777@yahoo.com via Sermon Fodder and Joke A Day Ministries. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com.
In the classic comic strip, Hi and Lois,
Chip is eating at the table with his family when he announces, “I
discovered something new in school today.” His mother smiles and
says, “Oh, really! What was that?” Chip replies, “A level of boredom
I never knew existed.”
While we hope that is
not true of any teacher, we especially hope that is not true of our
preaching. The gospel is exciting and it takes a lot of effort to make
it boring.
_______________
J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.
Billy Gets Nervous Too!
Billy Graham’s hands often go clammy and his knees shake before he preaches.
While most would agree that standing in front of a crowd of people is probably not their favorite occupation, this is not a confession one would expect from the man who has preached the Gospel to more people than anyone else in history
It is, however, a confession that should encourage a great many of us.
“Every time I stand before a crowd I feel so unworthy to preach the Gospel,” Graham admitted. “I feel fearful that I many say something or do something that may mislead someone, because I’m talking to eternal souls who have the possibility of living in heaven forever.”
You don’t get a well fed church from serving fast food.
-Bill Hybels
Peggy Noonan, former
presidential speech writer, in her book Simply Speaking tells of an insight
she learned from novelist Edith Wharton. Wharton said that “no matter what
the gift of the writer, whether genius or dunce, the language of love is always
the same: ‘I love you, I love you, my darling, you are so wonderful . . . .'”
Noonan goes on to say, “The language of love is simple because love is
big. And big things are best said, almost always said, in small words.”
That’s something for all Christian communicators to remember, because we deal
with the biggest ideas of all.
________________________
Michael Shannon,
Preaching May/June 2002
Peggy Noonan, former presidential speech writer, in her book Simply Speaking
tells of an insight she learned from novelist Edith Wharton. Wharton said that
“no matter what the gift of the writer, whether genius or dunce, the
language of love is always the same: ‘I love you, I love you, my darling, you
are so wonderful ….'”
Noonan goes on to say, “The language of love is simple because love is
big. And big things are best said, almost always said, in small words.”
That’s something for all Christian communicators to remember, because we deal
with the biggest ideas of all.
___________________________
Illustration by J. Michael Shannon, Professor of Preaching, Cincinnati Bible
College & Seminary, Cincinnati, OH.