Archives For Pastoral Ministry

You Can’t Pack Everything Into Your Sermon

Erik Raymond —  May 1, 2013 — 4 Comments

Recently my family of 8 packed into our mini-van for an early Spring vacation. When I say “packed in” you may be thinking in terms of seats (i.e. a Honda Odessy only has 8 seats, therefore, we were packed in). This is not what I mean. We were packed in. The trunk was filled to the top, the floor had shoes, books, bags, and blankets. The front seat was full of distractions for the little kids as well as entertainment for adults and big kids. We were packed in. But then when we got closer to our destination (10 hours away from home), we went to Costco to buy food for the week. In this we were now officially fully packed in. Kids balanced cartons of eggs, coffee, vegetables, and milk while we finished our course.

The vacation ended and my normal duties resumed last week. I prepared a sermon and then delivered it on Sunday. After I was finished I was reflecting upon it and critiquing various elements of it and I was drawn back to our road-trip.

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Some Practical Help for Leading a Prayer Meeting

Erik Raymond —  April 3, 2013 — 5 Comments

In retrospect, prayer meetings are romantic. After all, what seems to be common to every revival and season of gospel renewal? People praying. God moves a few people to begin praying and then he powerfully answers them. Consider Charles Spurgeon, arguably one of the most influential preachers in church history, when asked about the secret to his success, he reportedly said, “My people pray for me.” God uses prayers. God uses prayer meetings.

If they are romantic in retrospection then prayer meetings are also intimidating in planning and seemingly complicated in execution. Several months ago I wrote a post arguing why prayer meetings were important and why pastors should lead their churches by insisting on regular meetings of prayer (Why You Should Attend a Prayer Meeting). I received a lot of feedback, none negative but most discouraged. People universally agree on the need for the meetings but get discouraged by the tone or the direction of the time.

In this post I want to highlight a few areas that I believe are important to helping get a meeting off the ground. These are items that grew organically out of our own context as we wrestled together with what we are trying to build. I sat down with another one of our pastors and we analyzed why our meeting was not being well attended and thriving. We had to ask and answer some hard questions. A lot of it came back to us as leaders. In the last year we have seen our group steadily increase and become a vibrant band of men who regularly sacrifice time to meet early in the morning for the purpose of frontline prayer. It is awesome. God is using it greatly!

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Beware of These Preaching Shortcuts

Erik Raymond —  March 18, 2013

We like shortcuts assuming that they get us to where we are trying to go. If they do not then they are dangerous, unproductive detours. In his book The Priority of Preaching, Christopher Ash argues that there are no shortcuts for preaching with authority. He writes, “The authority is a wonderful authority, but it is an authority borrowed only at great cost. This is why there are no shortcuts that work.”

Ash then helpfully warns preachers of three common shortcuts that preachers are tempted to take. I’ll state his points and briefly summarize them.

1. Beware of the shortcut of individual interpretation. This is the notion that we can just beaver away at the passage like we were the first person to ever read it. Many, many Christians have gone before us and wrestled with these same passages. No matter how trendy it is today to have our own interpretation of things Christians preachers must know that they we are accountable to God and one another to hear what the passage really means. “We must not be lazily idiosyncratic.”

2. Beware of the shortcut of second-hand interpretation. When listening to others we must not just copy others. Ash tells the story of how early in his ministry he heard a famous preacher nail a sermon and figured that he and his hearers would be better served if he just copied the sermon and delivered it as his own. The result was a true failure. Why? First the context was completely different, so the style didn’t translate well. Secondly, the sermon was terribly superficial. He had not been gripped and shaped by the passage. In short it wasn’t in them. You can’t expect to put the sermon in someone else if it is not in you first.

3. Beware of the shortcut of mystical authority.“We need desperately the fresh filling of God’s Holy Spirit when we preach, and can accomplish nothing without his sovereign power; but that power does not in general come upon preachers who have not bothered to prepare, and the filling of the Spirt is not a God-given compensation for willful idleness.” In short: Get to work bro, God will show up in your study too. Don’t presume upon God’s mercy and grace while serving your laziness.

Good reminders. More from Ash’s book here.

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Reflections from the Mid-Point of Life’s Marathon

Erik Raymond —  January 30, 2013

This past year I ran my first marathon. As I ran I continued to chart my progress and endurance. Each mile marker rendered judgment against my goals. How am I doing? How will I finish?

The marathon is a fitting analogy for life. With the passing of each year there is a mile-marker of personal evaluation. There is an opportunity to take inventory, evaluate progress, and look ahead toward the finish.

To be honest, I have not done a lot of the latter. I have not looked ahead to the finish line and estimated my time. Like so many others, I like to live “mile-to-mile” making quick adjustments, taking advantage of quick bursts to make up for moments of laziness on the hills of life. While these inventories and adjustments are an integral part of doing what we set out to do they will not compel us in the same way as look at the end.

A look at the end of our life, the finish line, will bring a couple of things into focus:

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I Always Forget: We Can’t Microwave People Into Maturity

Erik Raymond —  January 24, 2013

Over the last 15 years I have gone through many variations of personal fitness goals. As I look back at the years and the goals I can see a common thread: I stick with what works and get frustrated with what does not seem to work.

I suppose there is nothing wrong with this; if we are not meeting the clearly defined goals then the process or technique should be reevaluated. At the same time, sometimes it requires a little more time and patience in order to see goals met. Smaller, incremental goals are quite helpful in evaluating the overall progress.

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With Ministry Think “Smoker” not “Microwave”

Erik Raymond —  October 23, 2012

You act like you need to microwave everything.

It’s amazing how subtly our thinking can be shaped. It has been said that we live in a society with short patience and high demands. This combination creates an approach where we want what we want right away.

The above quote is an indication of this. It was made to me by a brother I have a great deal of respect for. And he was referencing my desire for a quick turn for implementation on everything, particularly ministry-related items. His point, which has made more of an impact over time than it had originally, was that we don’t have to be impatient and rush everything. There is time to think it through.

This is very tough for me. When I become convinced of a course of action I just want to go. And go quickly.

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How Can You Encourage Your Pastor?

Erik Raymond —  October 4, 2012

[NOTE: I realize the potential of this post. On the one hand it can seem rather self-serving. Since I am a pastor it is kind of like the kid putting his Christmas list on the refrigerator. At the same time, there is something extremely valuable in the quotient of this pursuit. Therefore, acknowledging the value and the awkwardness, I press ahead.]

How can you encourage your pastor?
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