I was trained to be a preacher in seminary—how to do hermeneutical exegesis, an introduction, three points, and a proper conclusion. They even showed me how to hold a Bible in one hand while signaling the worship leader with the other.
We each took turns preaching in front of the class while the professor sat in a sound booth recording constructive commentary on top of our sermons. The more we yelled, the better we did. We even got bonus points for arranging our sermons into acronyms.
When I entered the real world, I was surprised to see my sermons fall flat. They were perfectly suited for note taking, but I was shoe¬horning content into my messages just to serve the structure I was taught... [read on]
GREAT article. Love the story about Alex. You are an excellent writer, Ben.
--Terrace Crawford
www.terracecrawford.com
www.twitter.com/terracecrawford
Posted by: Terrace Crawford | October 16, 2009 at 09:28 AM
Good stuff, Ben! Thanks for writing it and sharing it!
Posted by: Kevin Womack | October 16, 2009 at 10:49 AM
"They even showed me how to hold a Bible in one hand while signaling the worship leader with the other."
i laughed pretty loudly at this...
and then sighed because i've had similar experiences!
Posted by: david | October 16, 2009 at 10:53 AM
oh i'm dead serious about that one
Posted by: Ben Arment | October 16, 2009 at 11:20 AM
I really like this line: "Arguments access the mind. Stories access the heart. Guess which one God wants."
Great reminder.
Our lives preach a story about who we are and what we believe. This reminds me of what don miller talks about in his new book, the call to stop daydreaming about a story and starting living your story. Letting the story teller write the play while you star as the main character is very difficult to do, but necessary.
Posted by: Kyle Reed | October 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM
This is an incredible article Ben, very meaningful for me - This post has me thinking, not just consuming. Thanks!
Posted by: Andrew Morgan | October 19, 2009 at 07:37 AM