Preaching in Birmingham
Preparation & Reflection
Preaching Debut
It’s an honor to be counted among those entrusted to bring forth the word of God to the church. Each of us possesses a unique voice and approach to preaching, and each has been given particular gifts from the Lord for the work of ministry. As a preacher in any context, I don’t need to stress the importance of sitting under the ministry of God’s word regularly, both in your private devotional life and while gathered together as Christ’s Church.
Consider the number of voices that are speaking to us on any given day, vying for our attention, in a way, ministering to us from various perspectives and held beliefs about the world. They are as plentiful as the world is covered in water. People in your local community, news anchors, political figures, radio hosts, podcasters, streaming services, self-help gurus, and the occasional provocative TED talk.
Who do we listen to? What informs our view of the world and how we interact in it?
It would be too shallow of an assessment to say that preaching is purely a public speaking practice or the equivalent of giving a clever TED talk for a Christian context (though not everyone attending a church is a genuine follower of Christ—time will tell). To be sure, the craft has technical aspects worth noting, but to those uninitiated, there is also a spiritual dimension.
What awaits a willing recipient of God’s Word—a person genuinely conforming to the image of Jesus, is:
Divine revelation for the present
Personal conviction and repentance
Practical theological guidance
Wisdom and encouragement
Stirring the affections of the heart
Impactful joy and pervasive hope
Nourishment for the soul
“Preacher”
In the quiet of my heart, I sometimes wonder if I have lived up to the recognition and affirmation of my big brothers and mentors in the faith over the years. They saw the passion burning within, God-given gifts, and the desire to reach the lost. One such elder brother, who has been there for so much of my formative years in the Lord, never ceases to start our conversations by referring to me as preacher.
An endearing greeting and amusing quirk, but what was always constant was the confidence he had in the Lord to work and speak through me. It’s not an exceptionally high IQ, a kind of vivacious personality, a revved-up engine of creativity, nor any formal training in elocution that can set apart a preacher as an instrument of God. It is, simply put, the Holy Spirit’s work. He empowers me to work hard in preparing the altar for worship, but He also provides the fire that aims at the heart.
“In preaching you cannot produce at the same time the impression that you are clever and that Christ is wonderful.”—James Denney
So, whether you are more of an evangelist, a teacher, a prophet (forth-telling), or a shepherd at the pulpit, your aim ought to be the proclamation of the Gospel over and against any attribute or gift we possess as communicators.
San Diego and Oxford
By God’s grace, I’ve been honored to preach on both sides of the pond to people of different generations, varying cultures, backgrounds, economic classes, etc. I’ve heard it said that what separates good and great preaching is the initial question asked by the minister.
A good minister asks, “How do I preach?”
A great minister asks, “To whom am I preaching?”
I valued my time in Oxford. It was a wonderful opportunity to minister in a particular context full of transient people—not just students but those working temporarily in the city and, of course, the occasional visitor brought in by tourism. Oxford is most known for its academic esteem and influence on the world’s stage. So, if you were to listen to the sermon I preached in this context, you would already notice adjustments to both the content and delivery of the sermon.
The message didn’t just reflect a specific approach or the congregation in attendance. It was also shaped by the leadership and culture of the church that my family and I were serving at the time. Those who have heard or watched me preach before commented that my delivery was more subdued and less passionate than in the San Diego context. Being new to the city and church, I did feel an unspoken expectation to not cut against the grain or ruffle feathers. There was a standard for a sermon to be more academic in substance, but there was also a temptation to preach more to the head and not the heart.
I can take no credit for any affirmations received, any collective or individual stirring, buzz, or welling up of tears in the congregation. In those moments, one can only praise God for the work of the Holy Spirit.
I used to be partial to harsh evaluations of sermons, almost to a degree of consumeristic compulsion, but I have learned through the years that giving an accurate assessment of a sermon depends on who that minister’s congregation is. If you’ve heard me preach in San Diego, Oxford, or in Birmingham, you could quickly come to three different assessments of my homiletics. Things like creativity in approach, dynamics, style, passion, timing, etc, can vary sharply.
Consider the differences in the time allotted to preach in each of these settings:
San Diego = 45 minutes (to an hour)
Oxford = 35 minutes
Birmingham = 25 minutes
Preaching in these different contexts also revealed certain would-be crutches in the form of standard features that I typically include in my sermons. It’s healthy to ask questions like:
Am I covering too much detail in the way of historical or literary contexts that may not affect the meaning of the text or help reinforce the textual point I’m making?
Does the congregation need to know the structural features of the text or about a word’s etymology, semantic range, or cognates?
What would this message be like without emphasizing some of these lesser-known features?
When I’m asked to evaluate another person’s sermon, which occurs regularly, I first consider who they’re preaching to before going into any objective or technical feedback. If your congregation requires a fast-paced, energetic delivery like you’ve just downed two cups of coffee before coming up to the pulpit, then do that! If your community is invested in doctrinal depth and strict confessional adherence, then draw those truths out of the text (if they’re present in the text).
Preparation
My family is standing on the precipice of welcoming our third child, and our anticipation has us eagerly looking around the corner. As you can imagine, this busy seasonal drift means that it was easy to feel the mental stall out of lack of bandwidth or limited headspace to focus fully on the task of preparation.
Creating space for prayer, which is one of the most vital aspects of preparing to preach, was hard to come by. I also can’t say that I measured up to my expectations of due diligence in studying the text. Suffice it to say, I did not live up to the 1 hour of study for every 1 minute preached ratio imparted to me by one of my mentors—a tremendous biblical expositor whose standard for excellence has always been an ever-present reminder.
I was assigned Psalm 51 (link to the sermon). An individual lament of King David over his sin against the Lord—he had committed adultery with a married woman called Bathsheba, got her pregnant, and conspired to cover up the crime, which ended in her husband being killed. Quite a heavy topic to cover, but I was game to take that deep dive into biblical repentance.
Self-evaluation
Without going into a systematic evaluation, here are just a few points of reflection and assessment:
Tablet or paper notes?
I typically use a tablet to house my notes, but this time around, I printed out sheets to use at the pulpit. I usually move from one to the other side of a music stand, and I found that not flipping the pages over caused me to lose my place twice.
Powerpoint or no powerpoint?
I don’t usually use a projector while preaching, and I prefer to lock onto the text and focus on the delivery without referring elsewhere for visual aid. For this message, I used a diagram rather than bullet points to help people grasp the subject matter and latch on in another way.
Pace and spot revisions
As I was preaching, I “left some content on the page” in favor of something the Holy Spirit was revealing and directing me to say in the moment. I was also mindful of pace and of aiming for a reasonable end time if it exceeded 25 minutes (and it most certainly did).
Quotes or opinions
Selecting quotes from reputable people throughout history can be very helpful in supplementing points. Whether you’ve chosen to reference a cultural icon of the local area or a famous author, theologian, or preacher, the length of the quote can be equally as important. Is it too complex, or is it too simple? In other words, does it require more elaboration than time permits?
Emotion
There was one instance where I felt tears welling up as I preached. I consciously held it in to avoid detracting from the message. Some will tell you to go there with your emotions as long as you have some semblance of composure, while others are adamant about keeping dry eyes at the pulpit. In the moment, my instinct was not to go there, but perhaps the Lord used the brief tremble for onlookers to engage more wholeheartedly with the message.
Another big brother in the faith I highly respect and admire has this powerful gift of empathy, especially when he preaches. His ministry showed me that a genuine show of emotion can pave a lane of empathy for a congregation that would otherwise not have opened up.
What would I include if given more time?
A deeper dive into the issue of idolatry as it relates to self-salvation and sexual immorality.
A useful acronym or alliteration to frame idolatry.
Dealing with objections to the concept or practice of repentance
Sitting in the pocket and taking the time to elaborate on further dimensions.
Developing more illustrations or free associations to broaden the scope of the application.
Slowly teasing out the irony of David’s condemnation of the “rich man” when confronted by Nathan.
Though the features of Psalm 51 were reiterated in my closing prayer, a one-sentence summary piecing together a robust definition of biblical repentance would also be helpful.
What would I adjust to keep it on time?
Drop the 3-point sermon format in favor of driving home one main point. Other dimensions can branch off, but only if it compliments or amplifies the single point.
Conclusion
Preaching at my church is an honor. It’s a labor of love for those captivated by the utter beauty and majesty of our Lord, Jesus Christ. May every message preached faithfully at pulpits all across the world bring Him glory! And may He draw weary hearers and onlookers away from their sin and into His loving arms. Amen.