Preaching and criticism

I apologize now for the continual posts on topics such as God, Religion, Church, and theology. As a Bible College student I really can't help it. I know two things very well. My faith and sports. And seeing how nobody wants to hear me rant on about the Cincinnati Bengals (I probably will at some point however) or the Reds who have absolutely sucked the past eighteen years then my faith should have to provide sufficient amount of ideas and topics for me to post. To anybody reading this (all though I don't know who would listen to a barely experienced nineteen year old Bible nerd) you should understand that I get carried away in my writing. I have a style that I have deemed theological throw-up. When I am writing something I will just start typing/writing everything that comes into my mind on the subject. It is only later that I organize and add supporting details and facts to what I have said. Since this is a blog it is very possible that you will simply receive tons of theological ideas in an apparently unorganized and non flowing passion, simply because I doubt I will receive grades for what goes on to these posts. But don't worry, for some of the tricky stuff and when I say outlandish things I will break down and throw in a quote or two and more likely than not some scripture. However, this post should not be overly theological, but we'll see what happens. I never know myself.

There are very few preachers that I will go out of my way to listen to. In this exclusive list includes such people as Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio (spelling? didn't feel like finding it) and my brother simply because he is my brother and not because he is an amazing preacher. I come from a church called Lakota Christian Church. It was a great place to grow up. The Minister there is named Dr. Stephen Sams. Stephen was a great pastor in the sense that he truly and deeply cares about people. He is one of the greatest pastoral men I have met. However he is not the greatest speaker. Despite this fact I would not trade him for any other minister to come into Lakota. This brings me to my first point to acknowledge the fact that there is more to a pastor than his preaching. My mom at times would complain that Stephen was not doing the greatest job preaching. I would argue that he spent a lot of time taking care of the church and the congregation. However my mom would not understand this as part of Stephen's job. "He's being payed to preach," she would say. However, if you hire a minister there are always going to be people demanding his attention. There is never enough of one man to go around to a congregation. Which brings me to the point that if you expect some type of amazing preaching (depending on the size of the congregation) more people will need to be hired for the regular pastoral duties. I am interning at a church this summer called First Christian Church. It is a church of about 1700 people right now and they are still growing rapidly. They say (all though no one in the world knows who "they" are when they start quoting statistics like this) that they are the third quickest growing church in America. Very possible since they have gained over 600 people in a brief 18 months. This church however has hired a "Pastoral Care Minister" whose job is simply to watch over the people. He does hospital visits, house calls, counseling, talks with people, baptism consulting, and things such as that. This frees up the Senior Minsiter, Craig Grammar, to do the preaching at which he is very talented. Also at my home church Lakota there have been new hires which has allowed for Stephen to further his ability in speaking. All I am saying in this point is to encourage your pastor if he isn't doing the greatest preaching job. Maybe he isn't that great of a preacher but despite his abilities he is probably having way too many things thrown his way. Encouragement and help will go a lot further than simply criticizing.

However, there are those speakers out there that you have to be wary about. Some preachers have such charisma that a congregation or any type of audience through any type of medium will take that speakers word as truth. There are two men especially that come to mind when I think of this problem. One of them I like and the other I think could emerge as the anti-Christ or something along those lines (I say that sarcastically because I won't go into Revelation much in my posts). The first man that I like is Rob Bell. Bell has the amazing ability to connect with any type of audience. You just have to simply watch his Nooma videos to fall in love with what he says. Also there is the book Velvet Elvis which is absolutely amazing. However, the problem with Rob Bell is that he is not always correct, nor is any other human being. But this means that for serious followers of Christ we cannot simply stop searching and just agree with everything that Rob Bell says. In his book Velvet Elvis he even talks about this to an extent. I do not have the book here with me right now so I won't put the quote in but what he essentially says is that our personal study and devotion and wading through the tough parts of the Bible is a true form of worship, not just listening to earthly men speak. Rob Bell is great though for new Christians, or anyone who is looking for some extra advice and words of inspiration in their personal studies. 

The other speaker I think of though I cannot stand. If there were ministers that I could say I hate the two of them would be Benny Hinn (because he is ridiculous) and Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen has incorrect doctrine, theology, and ways of ministering to people. I laugh every time I see one of his books in the stores because its just his face covering the entire book. I think he should be the president of the Narsicissts of America club. I mean he's a minister but I honestly have to think he just loves seeing his face everywhere because if the words Joel Osteen are mentioned you will most likely see his face nearby (except on this blog). If you want my true feelings of Joel Osteen you should go to this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IuiUOapK1w. I have to agree with Mark Driscoll that Osteen is preaching an incorrect message. It is a problem that pastors like Joel Osteen have such influence as they do (mainly because 75% of the church is women looking at him because apparently he's good looking or something). Thats something that gets to me all the time is the fact that most Christians today do not know what it means to study for themselves. I have seen many people that had to have everything spoon fed to them. I may be spoiled with the speaking that I have heard because I've had access to sermons from Driscoll, Stanley, and my former youth minister who was incredibly talented when he spoke once or so every other month. True he had more time to prepare for each sermon he preached at our church but he was very charismatic and applied things to our lives all though I had to pull myself out of the trap of just accepting everything he said and losing my own personal devotion. 

My advice to anyone out there is to find a preacher that speaks to you. I have given you a few ideas here and each one has a podcast like Mars Hill sermon, North Point Community, or even Lakota Christian Church. Check these out and find a pastor that can relate things to you. Listen to Rob Bell, listen to these other guys, but follow it up with your own personal search. Follow it up with your own walk to be more like Christ. If you do these things, then you will begin to find a system for personal devotion like you have never discovered before. I love preaching, but I loved it even more when someone at school told me that something I said pushed them to find something in the Bible. A preacher's job should be to take a text or lesson, apply it to someone's life, make it personal, and push them to make their own discoveries, ideas, and personal revelation. A preacher should be a guide, not just an information database. To next time I hope I've given you some stuff to chew on. I'll be getting even deeper into my crazy mind soon....