What makes a good preacher? What makes a great context of teaching the congregation always longs to hear? Is it in the ability of public speaking? Is it on the knowledge of the preacher? Or is it just a fluke happening to every son and daughter of God?
No.
Wes Tracy’s article pointed it out. “Good Preaching Comes from Good People”
My personal thoughts about the article
Teaching other people to be a good person by not being one is the biggest mistake a preacher can make. As most people remind us to “walk the talk” and “Practice what we preach”, it is always hard for us to choose what to say to others and what to teach them. Somehow our actions are talking as we speak. We can always remind them to “focus on the Word I am telling you, not the person in front of you” but let us all be honest that that’s going to be hard for them.
Imagine this scenario, someone is teaching you how to fish without any experience of fishing. Your first reaction would be “where are you getting all these? Who are you again?”. Now, let’s make it deeper and more life-threatening. You are about to climb a really high mountain, and you are being led by your tour guide. In the middle of the journey, when there is no chance of turning back, he said to you “you know what, this is my first time climbing a mountain”.
I hear your thoughts, “I can’t be entirely perfect to be a preacher”. I am not saying you have to be perfect. I am saying that you have to be perfectly honest. If you are truly a good person, honesty is the glass that will magnify it.
Although it is true that they have to focus on the words we are saying, wouldn’t it will be a lot easier to for them to see your works also. When we are speaking in a small group of people it is a lot easier to say your words by mouth; but as we aim to be heard by the multitude, they will not hear our small voices, they will just see our actions.
I wanted to point out some common mistakes we believe the better way to preach instead of having a credible action.
It was never a matter of public speaking skills. Although it helps a lot to know how to talk clearly in public. I mean, honestly, we wanted to hear someone who speaks clearly on the microphone every Sunday. We wanted someone telling jokes in the middle of the preaching so that we can find an anecdote we can laugh at and can relate to. We want to hear it clearly because that is easy. But that is not always the case. Some preachers didn’t have this gift. Some of them are as boring as a piece of wood. But here is a takeaway, those boring piece of wood is not going to be a boring one when we knew how useful they are on their own ministries. There is a lot of preachers that we find really boring in terms of public speaking but as we knew their works, their words became an adventure to us. Their words are not just words when we knew where it came from. When we knew that it came from an experience of helping others, fighting for the poor, caring for the widow. A single note becomes harmony. A boring story becomes an adventure. Simple preaching becomes our inspiration to be a better person. Now that is good preaching.
It was never about the knowledge of the preacher. Don’t get me wrong. It is important for the preacher to be knowledgeable. Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. When we know what is right we can do what is right, as simple as that. But “knowing” what is right is not as powerful as doing what is right. Some preachers totally focus on the list of how to be a good person and totally neglect those list and present it to the congregation anyway. We know we are knowledgeable. We have to be one. But when we forgot the use of that information in our brains it will remain there and it will become as good as a dead idea.
It was never a fluke. Young Christians, grow up. Do not believe in something like luck, we know everything happens for a reason. Everything is intentional. Sometimes something happens because we intended it to happen. If we want to be a good preacher we intend to be a good preacher. If we want to be a good person we intend to be a good person. God has given us a chance to decide. Some preachers might say “I delivered a great message today because I was filled by the Holy Spirit”. That is not an accident. We invited the Holy Spirit. It is not a fluke.
It was always about our credentials. Not as a professional credential, that we can do this and we know that. It is about our credentials in Christ. It is about our credential that when we say to the people to “repent” we actually experienced repentance. When we preach about standing up for the Name of Jesus, we must be ready to stand up for the Name of Jesus and when the moment comes we actually did stand.
Action preach louder than words.
A good person is not a perfect person. A good person is a credible man (or woman) when he/she admits that their mistake — even if it costs them everything they’ve got. By losing everything they will gain credibility. As a preacher (or at least planning to be) we must not be afraid to lose everything except our credibility. Have a good heart and let credibility amplifies it. Pray to God to give us a clean heart that will shine upon the nation. A heart that will be raised by the good works we’ve done not because of our strength but of God’s alone.
Two qualities of a Good Pastor
Standing for the truth. He stands on the solid rock of God. He can have an entirely different set of characters. He can be funny to present his sermons. He can be merciful to those who are in need. He can be serious about his teaching. But one thing must remain, his consistency on the Word he is carrying. Consistency is hard. Everyone knows that the first year as a Pastor will be so nice and so energetic. The following years are going to be hard to handle. This is where consistency must take place. When the loud praise and worship music fades, the truth must remain. When the noise of all the activities is all gone, the truth must remain. When the multitude of the congregation becomes five to ten faithful attendees, the truth must remain. His truth must remain. A good preacher will not be swayed by the opinions of other people. His preaching must not be changed when someone is offended. He must speak the truth with love but speak the truth nonetheless.
He knows/recognized/correct his mistakes. I cannot stress this enough. Our Pastors are not perfect people. They make mistakes. Little mistakes like typing a small ‘g’ for God instead of capital ‘G’ on his PowerPoint (I’ve met a Pastor that is not so good at typing his sermon on the computer so every time he saw a mistake on His PowerPoint, he will politely apologize for the mistakes. Apologized for every single one). Big mistakes that would offend someone. Big mistakes that would cause him to humbly say “I am sorry, this is entirely my fault”. For me, personally, this is really brave and instead of losing his credibility, it will only solidify his intention as a preacher. His intention of winning souls more than losing his prestige and reputation.
Also, I mention he must correct his mistake. Not by his own power but by willingly asking the Holy Spirit to guide him on his path. Again, knowledge is as good as dead meat without application of it. Mentioning our mistakes is as good as nothing if we’ve done nothing about them.
The important things the congregation must consider
If a church is choosing a Pastor to lead them or they are praying for someone to hold the position, they must consider these things.
What he has done. What are the things he has done in the past that manifest his good heart? It would be better if it was done not by the way he is saying it by the testimony of the people around him. It is not about the great services he organizes or his talk to a huge congregation in an arena of believers. It is about a tiny detail of faith during a ministry. One example is being faithfully caring for those who are in need without wanting them to give something to him. Without expecting them to be a member of his church. He simply helps because God commanded us to help. That is a credible ground to stand on when it comes to choosing a Pastor when comes to choosing a leader. He must have past battles. He will lead so he must have an experience of blazing a trail.
What he is willing to do. Our past victory must not sustain our future goals. The congregation must think about the future of the church with this candidate. We know that we can never know exactly what is God’s plan for the church. All we know is that it is good. Which is a clue right under our noses. God’s plan is good, so if His will is for this candidate to be the leader of the church, we can rest assured that God already gave His plan to this him. The congregation will just ask “what did God tell you to do with His church?” and if he is truly called by God, he’ll know what to say.
Final thoughts. Being a leader is hard. Being called to proclaim God’s wisdom is harder especially with our human wisdom. But as Christians, we are called to preach his good news and trust in Him no matter how hard our circumstances are. So I say if you are being called by God to preach, check your identity in Christ, know your credibility in His Word and get those hands working because the harvest in this world is plenty!
You can read the stated article above here:
https://pointloma.whdl.org/sites/default/files/publications/TP%20201%20Preaching%20Teacher.pdf pg. 11