I'll shoot straight. I've been visiting lots of churches over the past two years. And it seems like we've got the leadership thing down. We're "mean about vision;" we've "chosen to cheat;" and we've learned how to quarantine the pastor from criticism like he's Vladimir Putin.
But the messages are... how do I put this... bad.
We've drifted as communicators, I think.
In the evenings, while my boys are playing in the sand, and my extremely pregnant wife and I are catching up in beach chairs, eating ham sandwiches... we watch the surfers drift further and further away with the current. By the end of the night, they're walking blocks to get back to their towels and flip flops. They've lost their way.
Somehow, we pastors have lost our way with messages.
We want to be brash like Driscoll; to look like Furtick; to have cadence like Chandler; to be funny like Noble; and to have content like Stanley. So we try to be all of them, and the result is just a mess. We're focusing on the method and abandoning an authentic message.
To find our way back, we have to return to the message.
I think God is trying to get our attention as communicators. Just look at the events he's raising up: Rob Bell's Poets, Prophets, Preachers conference, where he addressed "The Story We're Telling." And Mark Dever's God Exposed Conference: "Awkward Preaching in a Comfortable Age."
And then there's STORY in October.
If you're a leader in ministry, no one feels comfortable telling you that your sermons need work. (Or that you need to lose 40 pounds, by the way.) You kind of have to assume this about yourself. Your ability to communicate is probably 80 to 90% of your ministry. Have you invested in your gift?
Ben, Thanks for your candid post. We often forget that God created everyone with a unique voice to be heard. There can only be one me. So I am working hard to be a better communicator, storyteller and paint a better picture of the greatest story ever told.
Posted by: Larry Rising | July 10, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Ben - right on. I second Larry's comment to say that once I heard a guest lecture by Warren Weirsbe. When asked what advice he would give a young preacher, he simply replied: "Find your own voice."
Posted by: Michael Kelley | July 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
i love that
Posted by: Ben Arment | July 10, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Hands down the best blog post I have read all year, Ben!!! Thanks for swinging from the bleachers with this one on a message that so many of us need to hear...praying that we will truly listen and be changed as a result! Blessings on you and your family!!!
Posted by: Nolan Bobbitt | July 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM
WOW - spot on. Someone once said that when you get to heaven, God is not going to ask, "Why weren't you Billy Graham (or insert name)?" He's going to ask why you weren't the person I created you to be. Thanks for the reminder!
Posted by: Josh | July 10, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Once again you calibrate me. I don't mean to be overly poetic, it was just the kick in the @$$ I needed. Thanks!
Posted by: Scott Harris | July 10, 2009 at 02:23 PM
one time, an elder in my church told me after the service, "those were some great sermons you preached today."
at first i was taken aback by his diplomatic honesty, but i thank God he had the courage to say something.
I think most people close to us are holding their tongues. We're certainly not asking their opinion, are we?
Posted by: Ben Arment | July 10, 2009 at 02:37 PM
Well said Ben. ppp09 was very much an eye opener.
Posted by: mitch | July 10, 2009 at 09:27 PM
I like this dude. Sometimes it feels like the people getting the most attention and are changing the most lives are these big name pastors, but thanks for taking us back to the Word. We constantly need to keep ourselves in check. Good stuff my man.
Posted by: Cameron Gwaltney | July 14, 2009 at 01:08 AM
nice Cameron. Looking forward to meeting you soon bro
Posted by: Ben Arment | July 14, 2009 at 10:24 AM