I’m a big Philadelphia Eagles fan. Have been all my life. But this particular iteration of the Eagles is one of my favorites of all time. The owner wants to win. The front office is smart and savvy. The roster is among the most talented in the NFL. The players are highly skilled with a great work ethic. The whole organization is filled with a strong desire and commitment to be the best they can be. The team works like a family that loves one another and wants the best for each other. And, the entire team seems to be in sync with the vibe of the city. Led by Jalen Hurts, an A+ leader and a young believer in Christ (who needs to be discipled by someone), and who lives to get better and win, this version of the Eagles is easy to root for.
Two things that I haven’t mentioned are coaching and accountability. All the talent, all the skill, all the commitment and desire, all the savvy brilliance of the front office would be frustrated and fruitless without superior coaching and accountability. Even great players with great skill and desire to be the best need a coach or coaches holding them accountable to correct mistakes, improve technique, and execute their training.
Pastor, you need all of that as well.
In addition to personal holiness, you need skill, talent, training, work ethic, single-mindedness, discipline, AND a team of coaches that will help to bring all that together and hold you accountable to use all that talent, skill, training, and single-minded focus to bring God great glory.
So, with all that in mind, here are a few suggestions to get started:
- Gather a prayer team that will pray for your walk with God and personal purity.
- Pray that God will raise up some Godly men (hopefully from within your elder board) who will always have your back and support you for the glory of God.
- Dust off your old seminary notes and find an evaluation form. Tweak it if you want to, but start handing it out to 3 women and 3 men, four or five times a year, to get honest feedback on your delivery, clarity, substance, organization, and relevance.
- Consider signing up for some type of refresher course on sermon development.
- Pick a book on some aspect of preaching and do a slow read through it, maybe 10 pages a week, so that you have time to soak in the concepts and adapt them into your own preaching style.
Here’s a bibliography you might start with:
The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative, Steven D. Mathewson
Preaching with Freshness, Bruce Mawhinney
The Supremacy of God in Preaching, John Piper
Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching, ed. Leland Ryken & Todd Wilson
Preaching the Cross, Dever; Duncan; Mohler; and Mahaney
And finally, here’s an inspiring quote from the past:
“Preaching is magnificent work if only we could get preachers like Nathan. If our preachers had only something of Nathan’s courage, skill, serpent-like wisdom and evangelical instancy. . . . We ministers must far more study Nathan’s method; especially when we are sent to preach awakening sermons. Too much skill cannot be expended in laying down our approaches to the consciences of our people. Nathan’s sword was within an inch of David’s conscience before David knew that Nathan had a sword. One sudden thrust, and the King was at Nathan’s feet.”
Alexander Whyte, Referring to Nathan’s
Encounter with David in 2 Samuel 12
Bible Characters, p. 122.
I’m praying for you, men. You have one of the most important jobs on the planet. May God continue to give you grace to continue to grow.
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