Style Over Substance
I believe that one of the biggest problems in preaching today is the entertainment factor. Preacher's are so concerned with entertaining the crowd -- afraid that the crowd will get bored and go somewhere else. Well as R.C. Sproul has said so well "I have never heard of anyone in the bible or anywhere else, that has come into the presence of God and was bored". And yet, most churches are entertainment driven, I cant wait for the days of substance to return and when what is being preached is how we are remembered, and not the show that we put on. Any salesman can "preach" -- only a man of God can teach the people.
Unfortunately it looks like a whole new generation of style absorbed preachers will be arriving soon. Of course instead of being graded on dividing the word rightly -- he is being praised for staying away from kids that smoke and for singing his sermons, even the title of the article is called "That Little Man is Awesome". Maybe it's just me -- can I get a witness??
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Some of the story:
'That Little Man Is Awesome'
8-Year-Old Preaches Up a Storm At a Florida Storefront Church
By Gregory LewisSouth Florida Sun-SentinelSaturday, April 1, 2006; B09
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- In a tiny house of worship at McNab and Powerline roads, Terry Durham is a star.
Although only 8, Terry draws crowds of worshipers eager to hear him preach the Gospel and praise the Lord.
"The Lord makes you feel good," Terry wailed from the pulpit recently. "He says, 'Who am I? I am Doctor Feelgood.' Yeah!"
But on Mondays, the boy church members call Minister Terry slips back into childhood. He is a first-grader at Oriole Elementary School. He excels at football and likes to play on a swing set.
Terry and his twin brother, Todd Jr., hang out at the Boys & Girls Club after school. They shoot pool, and they are careful to keep their distance from the older kids who smoke cigarettes.
Come Sunday, he's wearing an oversize suit and alligator shoes again and packing them in at his grandmother's storefront church, True Gospel Deliverance Ministry.
As generations of preachers have done before him, Terry stands in the pulpit, bouncing, dancing and singing his sermons. As Todd punctuates his brother's points with drum licks, the congregation of 60 responds: "Yes!" "Tell it!" "Preach on!"
4 comments:
The poor kid is being manipulated for entertainment sake. This is religious star search.
You are not kidding - it is so sad when they are coming to church to see the show, and not truly worship God. This is self-glorification at its best.
Nick
RC Sproul obviously hasn't read acts lately:
Acts 20.7-12
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
"Paul talked still longer" is rendered "He talked on an on" in the NIV
Excellent reference! I have often thought about Eutychus being known in heaven as the kid that fell out of the window in Acts. R.C.'s reference had to do with born again belivers in it's context.
Nick
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